1. Finding Books
2. Finding Articles
3. Trend Information
4. Market Research
5. Local Information
6. Additional Research Guides

Finding Books

Searching the catalog for books on design and merchandising: Try a keyword search: Retail* Try a subject search: Business Planning Browse the stacks:

• Costume History GT 510 - GT 580
• Details and Accessories GT 2050 - GT 2220
• Ornaments, Jewelry GT 2250 - GT 2281
• Fashion, Fashion Designers TT 490 - TT 927
• Merchandising HF 5000s

Finding Articles

• DAAI: Design and Applied Arts Index - ELECTRONIC
• ProQuest -- ELECTRONIC Multi-disciplinary database Including both fashion and business publications, as well as magazines such as Time and Newsweek.
• Vogue Archive -- ELECTRONIC A complete searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designer and brand names. The Vogue Archive preserves the work of the world's greatest fashion designers, stylists and photographers and is a unique record of American and international fashion, culture and society from the dawn of the modern era to the present day.
• Fashion Theory -- ELECTRONIC and PRINT This scholarly journal is available both in print, on the lower level and online through a number of sources.
• WWD Online (Women's Wear Daily Online) -- ELECTRONIC The fashion industry's daily news source. It covers the entire gamut of fashion and the business of fashion: ready-to-wear, couture presentations, and market overviews. Online version of Women's Wear Daily. Our subscription includes the archive back to 1994.
• Berg Fashion Library - ELECTRONIC
• Journal of Brand Management -- ELECTRONIC Scholarly journal focusing on brand strategy. Available with full-text from 2000.
• Journal of Consumer Psychology -- ELECTRONIC Scholarly journal available electronically from 1992.
• Journal of Culture and the Retail Image -- ELECTRONIC Student-reviewed journal featuring articles by students in Drexel University's Department of Design & Merchandising. This journal focuses on the fashion retail environment and contemporary culture.

Trend Information

• Fashion Snoops -- ELECTRONIC Forecasting and trend analysis for the fashion industry. It provides practical information from worldwide retail floors, runways, trade shows, and more. It includes Girls, Boys, Junior Ladies, Young Men, Mini Girls, Mini Boys, and Denim. Access is available from ON-CAMPUS ONLY.
• View -- PRINT This magazine focuses on fabric forecasting.
• View2 -- PRINT This magazine gives forecast and trend information for color, textiles and men, women and children fashion.
• Women's Wear Daily Online (WWD) - ELECTRONIC
• WGSN-edu -- ELECTRONIC "WGSN is the world's leading online business-to-business news and information service for the fashion and style industries. It currently offers over 300,000 pages of the most comprehensive, invaluable and up-to-the-minute international style intelligence."

Market Research

Try these recommended databases first:

• IBISWorld -- ELECTRONIC Industry Reports on over 700 industries in the United States using the NAICS standard. Reports include: key statistics, segmentation, market characteristics, industry conditions, key factors, key competitors, industry performance and outlook.
• Mintel Reports -- ELECTRONIC To access the reports in Mintel, you are required to set up an account first, using your Drexel email address. It's very quick! Log in to Mintel Reports from our Databases by Title page. After accepting their licensing agreement, you will need to create your username (Drexel email address) and password, and then you're in. SEARCH the reports for FASHION to locate reports such as Handbags, US, Jeans - US, and Spending Power of Young Adults - US. Note that new reports are being added all the time. Or just browse on the first page under RETAILING. Pay particular attention to each report's Executive Summary, Market Size and Trends, Market Segmentation, and Future and Forecast.
• Tablebase -- ELECTRONIC Statistical data on companies, industries, products and markets. Note that only 5 concurrent users are allowed on at one time. If you get a page asking for a log-in, wait 30 minutes and try again.

Local Information

• Center City District of Philadelphia Reports -- WWW The Center City District collects all kinds of information regarding demographics in Center City and publishes them in free reports. 
• Philadelphia Inquirer - ELECTRONIC
• Wikipedia, Philadelphia Neighborhoods
• City-Data
• Plan Philly
• SimplyMap -- ELECTRONIC A web-based mapping application that lets users create professional-quality thematic maps and reports using United States demographic, business, and marketing data. Data sources include the U.S. Census and Census projections.
• University City District -- WWW Provides the same kinds of information as the Center City District, but focuses on West Philly. Be sure to look at its publication, State of University City.
• Google Maps
• Yelp

Additional Research Guides

• Drexel University Libraries' Business Plans and Entrepreneurship Research Guide -- WWW 
• Drexel University Libraries' Market and Advertising Research Guide -- WWW
• Drexel University Libraries' Researching an Industry Research Guide -- WWW