Call for papers

Special thematic section on Fashion Communication
SComs – Studies in Communication Sciences

Guest Editors
Nadzeya Sabatini, PhD (USI – Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland)
Teresa Sádaba, PhD (ISEM Fashion Business School, Spain)
Lorenzo Cantoni, PhD (USI – Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland)

The Journal
SComs – Studies in Communication Sciences SComS is an international open access journal of communication research that is jointly edited by the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Studies (SGKM) and the Faculty of Communication Sciences of USI – Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano).

The call
Fashion Communication includes communicating the brands, designers, and clothes, while reaching potential customers through media channels.
In recent years, digital media (e.g. own website of the brands, mobile applications) have started to play a major role in the fashion communication domain. Beside official communications, also single users/laypeople are co-creating through web 2.0 tools the image and reputation of brands, and shaping the very concept of what is fashionable (and what is not). Social media systems are also used by famous bloggers, celebrities, and social media influencers, who are helping companies to communicate in new ways.
Moreover, companies have now the opportunity to better listen to their clients and prospects, not only studying their reviews and comments, but also following them during their daily activities – and outfits – through images published on social networks.
Also the fashion media environment is facing major changes: traditional magazines are also becoming eCommerce platforms that launch their own media and fashion bloggers are becoming fashion brands.

The aim of this special issue is to promote new theoretical and empirical interdisciplinary research on how various communication practices impact upon fashion industry and on societal fashion-related practices and values. A more explicit recognition of the role played by communication in fashion could offer new and exciting directions for research and may help better understanding the actual needs of the market in order to enhance practices within the sector.
All types of research are invited for the application, including empirical/case studies, evaluation/impact studies, assessments, ePortfolios, etc.
Theory development: adaptations of existing theoretical frameworks to better explain how communication formats work in the fashion domain, and measurement issues of the new formats of fashion communication are especially invited.
All contributions should be innovative and should advance the knowledge base of related fields.

Topics of interest
The major topics of interest focus on communication aspects in the fashion domain. They include but are not limited to:

• Visual communication in fashion
• Media in fashion
• Fashion communication in the retail environment
• Corporate communication in the fashion domain
• Fashion brands and communication with consumers (e.g. management of consumer feedback)
• Digital fashion communication (e.g. digital media channels, blogging, User Generated Contents, online reputation)
• Fashion shows as a communication object

Article format
The length of papers in this special issue should be between 6,000 and 9,000 words (including abstract, footnotes and references).

Key dates
Full papers are required no later than 31 January 2018
Notification of Acceptance will be provided by 31 March 2018
Final papers should be submitted by 31 May 2018

Submitted papers will go through a double-blind peer-review process.

For further inquiries, contact
Nadzeya Sabatini, PhD
Institute of Communication Technologies
USI – Università della Svizzera italiana
Lugano, Switzerland
nadzeya.sabatini@usi.ch