The Why of the Buy: Consumer Behavior and Fashion Marketing

Stefani Bay , MA, ITAA, is an Associate Professor in the Marketing and Management Department at The Illinois Institute of Art - Chicago. Her interests include the psycho-social/cultural implications of dress and their connection to the formation of consumption patterns. She is currently a freelance writer and speaker, as well as owner and head designer of Stefani B jewelry. Bay previously owned and operated a chain of vertically integrated retail stores that sold her exclusive line of women's wear, and served as Public Relations Director for several upscale restaurant groups, all of which have enabled her to deliver experience-based education to her students.

Penny Gill is President of PWG Communications Inc., a writer/editor and marketing communications consultant based in White Plains, NY. Her more than 25 years of experience in both trade journalism and public relations/marketing communications encompasses the apparel/accessories, home furnishings, consumer electronics, and retailing fields, among other industries. She has contributed to publications including Stores, HFN, Apparel Industry Magazine, Furniture Today, and This Week in Consumer Electronics (TWICE), and has provided public relations/marketing communications services to clients in the fashion, healthcare, non-profit, and other fields, including Du Pont Textile Fibers division, F. Schumacher, 3M Do-It-Yourself division, Fisher-Price, National Retail Federation, and many others. She is co-author of Introduction to Fashion Merchandising (Delmar), and holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College.

Richard Petrizzi , MBA, is an Associate Professor in the Marketing and Management Department at the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago. He is a member of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the National Speakers Association (NSA), the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA), and Who’s Who Among America's Teachers. His experiences as an entrepreneur, contract trainer, and administrator have provided him with a strong foundation for creating a results-driven and learner-centered pedagogical environment. Petrizzi’s research interests include topics in communications, negotiations, consumer behavior, professional selling, and emotional intelligence.

Patricia Mink Rath , MS, is a consultant in marketing education in Winnetka, Illinois. Her fashion merchandising experience includes work as a retail executive in the fashion departments of specialty and department stores in the Chicago area, Boston, and San Francisco. She has taught college level courses in fashion marketing and merchandising, consumer behavior, retail buying and management, French culture and language for over three decades. Fluent in French, she has led fashion merchandising classes in Paris and Provence. Rath has traveled in Europe, Central America, and Asia and gives illustrated lectures on fashion in both English and French. She is a lifetime member of the Alliance Francaise du North Shore, Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) and the Marketing Education Association (MEA). She is co-author of a number of texts and other educational materials for students and teachers.