Reflections on Richard Jones, Founding Editor of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management

Citation

Taplin, I.M. (2008), "Reflections on Richard Jones, Founding Editor of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management", Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 12 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfmm.2008.28412aaa.001

Reflections on Richard Jones, Founding Editor of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Volume 12, Issue 1.

Reflections on Richard Jones, Founding Editor of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management

In 1986 I began working on a series of new research projects. The focus was on structural changes and new patterns of work organization in the clothing industry. Part of my interest was in how industrial districts worked to provide an institutional framework for industry growth, with particular emphasis upon northern Italy. In the latter region, despite high labour costs, small firms were flourishing as decentralized production allowed employers to circumvent the rigidities of formal labour markets and gain requisite levels of production flexibility. My other interest lay in examining what was happening to the organization of work in the US clothing industry as firms there struggled to compete against a plethora of low cost imports from developing countries. I was able to subsequently team up with Jonathan Winterton whose similar interest in the UK clothing industry permitted us to do comparative work.

In each of these projects, as I delved deeply into current research done by others I came across two things. One was a reference to an especially relevant article in the 1984 issue of Hollings Apparel Industry Review, a journal I had not otherwise heard of; the other was references to the work of Richard Jones on trade and production in the clothing industry, some of which were also published in this Journal. As I located the articles and read more of Richard’s work I corresponded with him sharing details of my own research. This proved to be the beginning of a very informative relationship, in part because of his extensive knowledge of the economics of clothing in the UK but also his ability to write more broadly about industry trends. In my discussions with Richard I learned more about his role in developing the Hollings Apparel Industry Review (HAIR) which started as the in-house journal produced at the Department of Clothing Design and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University in the early 1980. Richard started this document in what he refers to, in a typically understated way, as a “Blue Peter” approach (apologies for the UK-centric cultural reference) because of an obvious gap in the literature base which needed plugging in order to support the newly developed Bachelor’s program in clothing now being offered at what was then Manchester Polytechnic. At its inception HAIR was essentially a statistics journal with a few papers included; as the number of papers increased the publication became the Journal of Clothing Management and Technology and while continuing to be produced in-house it now was an externally reviewed journal. The impetus for this change came from an increased number of paper submissions from faculty outside Manchester Metropolitan University and Richard’s firm belief that a more professional footing should be found for the Journal. He worked with dogged enthusiasm to build up a reviewer base and in this capacity I became more formally involved.

In 1995 he invited me to be one of the keynote speakers at the 2nd annual Global Marketing and Logistics for the Clothing Sector Conference at UMIST, Manchester and at that time we spoke extensively about further changes he was planning for the Journal. Because of its growth in popularity he had decided to take the next logical step from it being an in-house journal to one that was commercially published. His motives were partly guided by a desire to increase the subscription base outside of the UK and he felt that only a specialist publisher could facilitate this. He also felt that the resources of a specialist could help increase the legitimacy of the journal in the wider academic world something he viewed as necessary if the growth was to continue. The focus of the journal was to remain substantively the same but the audience dramatically widened as knowledge of its existence spread. Henry Stewart Publications was chosen as the specialist publisher of the now renamed Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management and the first issue appeared in October 1996.

In his meetings with Henry Stewart, it was decided that a North American Regional Editor would be a useful addition to the Editorial Advisory Board and I was honoured when Richard asked me to fulfil this role. My task was to work with Richard to advertise the Journal in North America by utilizing my academic contacts, to work with potential authors encouraging submission, and to organize special issues that would focus on aspects of the US clothing and textile industry which at that time was undergoing significant changes, in part because of the passage of NAFTA. We shared information about submissions, objectives to help the Journal further grow, general publishing and reviewing strategies, and more esoteric aspects of editing a journal in its commercial infancy. The challenges to take the journal from an in-house publication to one that would be more widely respected and received in the international academic community were truly great. Under Richard’s determined leadership this was accomplished in a fairly short period of time, and the Journal has continued to grow in esteem in the discipline.

Although he was not alone in taking the journal through its various iterations prior to it becoming commercially published, his inspired leadership is mainly responsible for its sustained growth in the early years. When Henry Stewart sold the Journal to Emerald in 2001, the latter’s interest was motivated in part by its success over the previous five years. During that time the journal had established itself as one of the major outlets for the publication of research on various aspects related to clothing and textiles and had attracted a worldwide audience of readers and submissions from academics at major research institutions outside of the UK.

Throughout my long association with Richard I have always been impressed by his determination tempered with patience in his role as Editor. He worked assiduously with many authors helping junior scholars in particular frame and structure their arguments in ways that would enable their work to be published. His tireless efforts to ensure that all aspects of the editorial role be accomplished professionally and efficiently are laudable as was his ability to deal with legions of academics who themselves can be notoriously incapable of meeting deadlines. I remain convinced that without his leadership not only would earlier versions of the Journal not have prospered but the status and acclaim of its current form would be significantly diminished. If ever there was a case to be made for a journal to be inseparable from its editor then this is it. Finally, while doing all of this administrative work (in the latter years with the unerring assistance of Deirdre Berriman the journal’s administrator) he was able to pursue an active research agenda of his own. He published numerous articles and in 2002 an excellent text entitled The Apparel Industry (Blackwell) that is a concise overview of the UK industry structure as well as global issues pertaining to trade and production. His skill at presenting complex economic data in a readable format is evident in this book which appealed to academics as well as industry specialists and has established itself as one of the foremost texts in this area.

While the Journal is passing into very competent hands under the leadership of Steven Hayes, it does so in large measure because of the firm footing that Richard has built for it. Rarely has a journal gone from its inception to becoming a major presence under one Editor who really deserves a huge amount of credit for many of its accomplishments. I am sure I can speak on behalf of many on the Editorial Advisory Board in thanking Richard formally for his leadership and vision. Throughout the long tenure in this position his good-natured and competent administrative style has been much appreciated and will be missed.

Ian M. TaplinProfessor of Sociology, Management and International Studies, North American Regional Editor, JFMM