Library Guides: Apparel, Merchandising and Design (AMD) Research Guide: Indexes & Databases

Outside Resources

Windowswear.com
"This is a retail visual merchandising database and community .... Its archives date back to 1931." Full access to this resource is not available through the library. The AMD program reportedly has a subscription.

To Broaden Your Search - Try Google Scholar

Apparel & Textile Databases

Berg Fashion Library
A cross-searchable portal providing access to an expanding array of content collections including the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Fashion Business Cases, eBooks, Reference Works and Images. Also includes a Museum Exhibition archive.
Berg Fashion Library tutorial
Academic Search Ultimate
This database covers almost all subject areas and is especially good at interdisciplinary areas. Good place to start for class assignments. It contains full text articles for more than 6,500 journals.
ABI/INFORM Global
Search worldwide business periodicals for in-depth coverage of business topics.
ABI/INFORM Global tutorial
Academic OneFile
Access thousands of articles covering a wide range of subjects. A good starting point for research. You can sort your results by academic journals, magazines, news and other included source types.
Business Source Elite
Business Source Elite provides full text for nearly 1,060 journals covering business, management, economics, finance, banking, accounting.
Business Source Elite tutorial
Web of Science Core Collection
Web of Science Core is a database of “core publications” across all disciplines. This database has a cited reference search tool that can be used for searching for a specific item from a citation.
Scopus
A large database containing scholarly journal articles and conference papers on any topic in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts & humanities. Includes cited references and h-index information.
Scopus tutorial
Gartner
[Notice: Access to this resource will be discontinued June 30, 2025.] Gartner provides research and analysis for information technology (IT) industries, and analysis of the use of IT in a range of areas, including data analytics, software engineering, supply chain management, and apparel merchandising. Gartner also includes reports about topics that cut across industries including generative AI, data management, and technology trends. All ISU students, faculty and staff have access to Gartner's content through a subscription funded by ISU’s Information Technology Services.

Please note: access to this resource requires an ISU Net-ID. This resource is not available to members of the public visiting Parks Library.
Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases
Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases aims to bridge the nexus between fashion education and the industry. It presents real-world cases on challenges facing the business of fashion, tackling important issues such as sustainability, technology, ethics, and leadership. Cases are periodically updated with new content including those by Educators for Socially Responsible Apparel Practices (ESRAP).
Vogue Archive
An archive of Vogue, the fashion and lifestyle magazine, from the first issue in 1892 to the present, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. It contains every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by garment type, designers, and brand names.
Vogue Archive tutorial
Women's Wear Daily
This archive contains the WWD’s full run of past issues and supplements from its inception in 1910. Its deep archive contains records of how the fashion industry developed over the 20th century. Students and researchers from fashion, business, gender studies and history benefit from the primary source material that includes advertisements and images presented in page-image format with searchable text.
Women's Wear Daily tutorial

Women's Wear Daily (Publisher's Website)
This proxified link to the publisher's website grants access to only THREE concurrent users. So if you can't access the platform at any given time, chances are that three users are already accessing it. You may therefore need to try again later.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) iLibrary
This is the knowledge base of OECD which contains books, papers, podcasts and statistics. When prompted to login, select "Sign in via your institution" option. Search for Iowa State University then use it to login. You'll be automatically authenticated if you are already logged in with your University ID.

AATA Online
AATA covers literature related to preservation and conservation of our material culture heritage. As a part of the Getty Conservation Institute the database also includes subject-specific bibliographies.
America: History and Life
Covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With indexing for 1,700 journals from publications going back to 1910.
Artstor on JSTOR
The Artstor Digital Library is a nonprofit resource that provides over 2.5 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research. Artstor also includes multimedia such as videos, oral histories, panoramas, etc.
BCC Research
Research reports about industrial/ manufacturing industries, including chemicals, advanced materials, energy, and cell biology. Reports are comprehensive treatments of specific areas in basic and applied sciences.
The Library's subscription only includes reports produced by BCC Research. It does not include content from BCC Research Partners.
Credo Reference: Academic Core Collection
This is a good starting place for term papers - to get a basic overview of almost any topic. It also includes short videos and high-resolution art images across all subject areas. Results link out to content in other databases provided by the ISU Library.
Design and Applied Arts Index: DAAI
The Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI) contains over 212,000 annotated references from more than 500 design and craft journals and newspapers published from 1973 onwards, and data on over 50,000 designers, craftspeople, studios, workshops, firms etc., making it the largest index of its kind in the world.
EconLit
Find articles from hundreds of economics journals.
Godey's Lady's Book
According to the Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, Godey’s Lady’s Book pioneered a format still employed by magazines devoted to women’s issues. Founded in 1830, the magazine focused on women’s domestic issues including fashion, health, and home. Also published were works of fiction, poetry, and essays by eminent scholars of the time, among them, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
HEARTH: Home Economics Archive: Research, Tradition, History
Titles published between 1850 and 1950 were selected and ranked for their historical importance. The full text of these materials, as well as bibliographies and essays on the wide array of subjects relating to Home Economics, are all freely accessible on this site.
Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more.
JSTOR
JSTOR spans many disciplines, primarily in the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences. It includes digitized current and back issues of academic journals, books and primary source materials.
OTEXA: Office of Textiles and Apparel
The Office of Textiles and Apparel is responsible for maintaining and strengthening the competitiveness of the U.S. textile and apparel industries. The database includes detailed information about trade data, trade preference programs, export promotion and other programs that impact textile trade policy.
PrivCo
PrivCo contains data and business information on non-publicly traded corporations, including family-owned, private equity-owned, venture-backed and international unlisted companies. To access PrivCo without registering a personal account, click the “Direct Access” button.
SAGE Business Cases
Sage Business Cases provides faculty, students, and researchers with access to authoritative business cases from over 120 countries and across all business disciplines.
Small Business Source
The Small Business Source is a comprehensive resource for small business owners and those interested in starting a business. Users may search within specific ‘Business Topics’ and ‘Business Types’ relevant to their needs.

Finding Newspapers and Other News Content

Finding Newspapers
This guide provides information and links for accessing current and historical newspapers. The information is available mostly online but some historical content is available on microfilm.

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