Geater Montreal is the third largest city in North America for the garment industry in terms of labour force, after Los Angeles and New York. The industry has however changed partly into a service industry, centered on fashion design, with a focus on international competitiveness but also the role of fashion in Montreal's economic and territorial development. Our article analyzes careers in the fashion design sector, sheds light on the evolution of creative sectors, and shows how these sectors could be better supported to favor local development, as neighborhoods and space design appear important in these creative sectors. We situate our analysis in the theoretical context of career theories, and analyze key moments in careers and the role of intermediate organizations and government programs in supporting these careers. Our paper makes a contribution to our knowledge of career paths in the fashion industry, but also to the role of relational proximity in supporting these careers, and thus local development. It highlights the importance of personal connections, the milieu in which the individual works and functions, the creativity of the individual, as well as the role of the local support organizations and professional associations, including agencies of the provincial government. 1. Introduction Greater Montreal is the third largest city in North America for the volume represented by the garment industry in terms of labour force, after Los Angeles and New York, and according to recent statistics, Montreal has 75% of jobs in the garment industry in Quebec (Canada), with 50,000 jobs in manufacturing, distribution, and retail. If, a few years ago, statistics from the garment manufacturing industry led to believe that it was declining, a major study of the Human Resources Council of the Garment Industry [1] indicates that the industry is rather transforming itself. In recent years, industry has changed partly into a service industry, centered on fashion design, that is, design within manufacturing companies, but also a strong focus on self-employed fashion designers who are seen as a source of international competitiveness and contribute to highlight the role of fashion in Montreal’s economic and territorial development. This focus on design is important given the important competition from low-wage countries for the traditional clothing manufacturing, but also the important competition from the top tier fashion cities, such as Paris, Milan, and New York. Montreal has tried to find a niche in between these two extremes, defining itself as a second tier
References
[1]
CRHIV-Conseil des ressources humaines de l’industrie du vêtement (CRHIV), “Un autre pas vers l'avenir: transformation de l’industrie du vêtement au Canada,” in étude d'Information sur le Marché du Travail 2011, CRHIV, Montréal, Canada, 2011.
[2]
G. Tavano Blessi, D. -G. Tremblay, M. Sandri, and T. Pilati, “New trajectories in urban regeneration processes: cultural capital as source of human and social capital accumulation—evidence from the case of Tohu in Montreal,” Cities. In press.
[3]
A. Battaglia and D. G. Tremblay, “22@ and the innovation district in Barcelona and Montreal: a process of clustering development between urban regeneration and economic competitiveness,” Urban Studies Research, vol. 2011, Article ID 568159, 17 pages, 2011.
[4]
D. G. Tremblay and L. Thomsin, “Mobile work: an analysis of its benefits and drawbacks,” International Journal of Work Innovation, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 100–113, 2012.
[5]
D. G. Tremblay and é. Genin, “IT self-employed workers between constraint and flexibility,” New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 34–48, 2010.
[6]
D. G. Tremblay, “Transformations of work in a global context: employment systems, autonomy, and work-life articulation as main challenges,” in Sociology Today; Social Transformations in a Globalizing World, A. Sales, Ed., Sage, Los Angeles, Calif, USA, 2012.
[7]
P. M. Menger, “Artists as workers: theoretical and methodological challenges,” Poetics, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 241–254, 2001.
[8]
N. M. Rantisi and D. Leslie, “Materiality and creative production: the case of the mile end neighborhood in Montreal,” Environment and Planning A, vol. 42, no. 12, pp. 2824–2841, 2010.
[9]
J. L. Rosenbaum, “Tournament mobility: career patterns in a corporation,” Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 221–241, 1979.
[10]
S. E. Sullivan, “The changing nature of careers: a review and research agenda,” Journal of Management, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 457–484, 1999.
[11]
S. E. Sullivan and Y. Baruch, “Advances in career theory and research: a critical review and agenda for future exploration,” Journal of Management, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 1542–1571, 2009.
[12]
E. H. Schein, “Career anchors revisited: implications for career development in the 21st century,” The Academy of Management Executive, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 80–88, 1996.
[13]
M. B. Arthur, Claman, and R. DeFillippi, “Intelligent enterprise, intelligent careers,” The Academy of Management Executive, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 7–20, 1995.
[14]
R. J. DeFillippi and M. B. Arthur, “Paradox in project-based enterprise: the case of film making,” California Management Review, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 125–139, 1998.
[15]
R. DeFillippi and M. B. Arthur, “Boundaryless contexts and careers: a competency-based perspective,” in The Boundaryless Career: A New Principle for a New Organizational Era, M. B. Arthur and D. M. Rousseau, Eds., Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA, 1996.
[16]
L. Cadin, A. F. Bender, V. Saint-Giniez, and J. Pringle, “Carrières nomades et contextes nationaux,” in Revue de Gestion des Ressources Humaines, pp. 76–96, AGRH, Paris, France, 2000.
[17]
D. G. Tremblay, “New types of careers in the knowledge economy? Networks and boundaryless jobs as a career strategy in the ICT and multimedia sector,” in Communications and Strategies, pp. 81–106, IDATE, Montpellier, France, 2003.
[18]
C. Jones and R. J. DeFillippi, “Back to the future in film: combining industry and self-knowledge to meet the career challenges of the 21st century,” The Academy of Management Executive, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 89–103, 1996.
[19]
D. T. Hall, “Protean careers of the 21st century,” The Academy of Management Executive, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 8–15, 1996.
[20]
M. Lorenzen and L. Frederiksen, “The management of projects and product experimentation: examples from the music industry,” European Management Review, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 198–211, 2005.
[21]
R. Kaiser and M. Liecke, “The Munich feature film cluster: the degree of global integration and explanations for its relative success,” Industry and Innovation, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 385–399, 2007.
[22]
M. Banks, A. Lovatt, J. O'Connor, and C. Raffo, “Risk and trust in the cultural industries,” Geoforum, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 453–464, 2000.
[23]
R. Caves, Creative Industries: Contracts between Art and Commerce, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, USA, 2000.
[24]
A. De Vany, Hollywood Economics: How Extreme Uncertainty Shapes the Film Industry, Routledge, London, UK, 2004.
[25]
A. S. De Vany and W. D. Walls, “The market for motion pictures: rank, revenue, and survival,” Economic Inquiry, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 783–797, 1997.
[26]
P. M. Hirsch, “Cultural industries revisited,” Organization Science, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 356–361, 2000.
[27]
P. M. Hirsch, “Processing fads and fashions: an organization-set analysis of cultural industry system,” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 4, pp. 639–659, 1972.
[28]
P. M. Menger, “Marché du travail artistique et socialisation du risque: le cas des arts et du spectacle,” Revue Fran？aise de Sociologie, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 61–74, 1991.
[29]
P. M. Menger, “Artistic labor markets and careers,” Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 25, pp. 541–574, 1999.
[30]
D. Lupton, Risk, Routledge, Abingdon, UK, 1999.
[31]
J. L. Klein, D. G. Tremblay, and D. R. Bussiéres, “Community based intermediation and social innovation. A case study in Montreal's apparel sector,” International Journal of Technology Management, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 121–138, 2010.
[32]
J. L. Klein, D. G. Tremblay, J. M. Fontan, and N. Guay, “The uniqueness of the Montreal fur industry in an apparel sector adrift: the role of proximity,” International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, vol. 7, no. 2–5, pp. 298–319, 2007.
[33]
D. E. Super, The Psychology of Careers, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, USA, 1957.
[34]
D. T. Hall and J. G. Goodale, Human Resource Management: Strategy, Design, and Mplementation, Scott Foresman, 1986.
[35]
K. Weick, “Career as exentric predicates,” Executive, vol. 2, pp. 6–10, 1976.
[36]
A. Holbrook and D. Wolfe, Eds., Knowledge Clusters and Regional Innovation: Economic Development in Canada, Queen's School of Policy Studies and McGill-Queen's University Press, Kingston, Canada, 2002.
[37]
J. N. H. Britton, D. G. Tremblay, and R. Smith, “Contrasts in clustering: the example of Canadian new media,” European Planning Studies, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 211–234, 2009.
[38]
K. Acheson and C. J. Maule, “Understanding Hollywood's organization and continuing success,” Journal of Cultural Economics, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 271–300, 1994.
[39]
C. Jones and B. B. Lichtenstein, “Temporary inter-organizational projects: how temporal embeddedness enhances coordination and uncertainty,” in Handbook of Interorganizational Relations, S. Cropper, M. Ebers, P. S. Ring, and C. Huxham, Eds., Oxford University Press, London, UK, 2008.
[40]
C. Dubar, La socialisation. Construction des identités sociales et professionnelles, Armand Colin (Collection U), Paris, France, 1991.
[41]
D. Gibson, J. L. Gonzales, and J. Castanon, “The importance of reputation and the role of public relations,” Public Relations Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 15–18, 2006.
[42]
J. P. Truxillo and P. Corso, Dictionnaire de la Communication, Armand Collin, Paris, France, 1991.
[43]
A. Yagoubi, “Performance vécue: la carrière créative des designers de mode à Montréal,” in Proceedings of the ARUC-GATS Colloquium “Performance, organisation et temps de travail: les défis”, octobre 2011.
