Apparel Design Scholarship Practices: Analysis of ITAA Professionals’ Design Abstract Proceedings From 1999 to 2017

We explored the topical trends of the International Textile and Apparel Association professionals’ Design Abstract Proceedings (DAP) and how apparel design scholarship has been cited in the discipline for the past two decades. Using a content analysis, three research objectives were as follows: to examine (a) designer-identified keywords trends of the DAP, (b) to examine DAP directly cited in scholarly works, and (c) to examine DAP not directly cited but related to designers’ scholarship. Six overarching themes (inspirational references, apparel design, technology, sustainability practices, textiles, and nonapparel) were identified through the keywords analysis and used for further analyses. We found that design scholars were not used to cite other relevant scholarly works or their own works in their scholarly design work. The study findings provide an awareness for the strong need to establish citation practices for design scholars, which will add to the body of knowledge in clothing and textiles and increase the impact of design scholarship beyond the discipline.