Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: 2,0, University of Applied Sciences Hannover, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this chapter is to identify how fashion specific challenges, that occur within the supply chain, can be approached using Fast Fashion. It will be explained what sub strategies Fast Fashion consists of and how these can solve the problems of the fashion industry. The focus is on strategic aspects of Supply Chain Management. First of all the focus of this academic paper lies on the conceptual fundamentals. This chapter will define and discuss the terms Supply Chain, Supply Chain Challenges and Fast Fashion. Secondly, the focus lies on the specific challenges of the fashion industry that occur within the supply chain: Perishability, Demand Volatility and Lead Times. Then Fast Fashion and its sub topics – Quick Response, Sourcing, Supply Chains – will be explained in detail. Following this, a case study of the Spanish fashion retailer Zara is presented to illustrate how Fast Fashion works in practice. This chapter is aimed at recognising how Fast Fashion approaches the fashion specific supply challenges de facto. At the beginning of this chapter, the company Zara will be introduced. Afterwards, a closer look is taken at how Fast Fashion works in practice based on the example of Zara. Finally, the knowledge gained from the academic paper will be summarised in a conclusion.

This handbook is a compilation of comprehensive reference sources that provide state-of-the-art findings on both theoretical and applied research on sustainable fashion supply chain management. It contains three parts, organized under the headings of “Reviews and Discussions,” “Analytical Research,” and “Empirical Research,” featuring peer-reviewed papers contributed by researchers from Asia, Europe, and the US. This book is the first to focus on sustainable supply chain management in the fashion industry and is therefore a pioneering text on this topic. In the fashion industry, disposable fashion under the fast fashion concept has become a trend. In this trend, fashion supply chains must be highly responsive to market changes and able to produce fashion products in very small quantities to satisfy changing consumer needs. As a result, new styles will appear in the market within a very short time and fashion brands such as Zara can reduce the whole process cycle from conceptual design to a final ready-to-sell “well-produced and packaged” product on the retail sales floor within a few weeks. From the supply chain’s perspective, the fast fashion concept helps to match supply and demand and lowers inventory. Moreover, since many fast fashion companies, e.g., Zara, H&M, and Topshop, adopt a local sourcing approach and obtain supply from local manufacturers (to cut lead time), the corresponding carbon footprint is much reduced. Thus, this local sourcing scheme under fast fashion would enhance the level of environmental friendliness compared with the more traditional offshore sourcing. Furthermore, since the fashion supply chain is notorious for generating high volumes of pollutants, involving hazardous materials in the production processes, and producing products by companies with low social responsibility, new management principles and theories, especially those that take into account consumer behaviours and preferences, need to be developed to address many of these issues in order to achieve the goal of sustainable fashion supply chain management. The topics covered include Reverse Logistics of US Carpet Recycling; Green Brand Strategies in the Fashion Industry; Impacts of Social Media on Consumers’ Disposals of Apparel; Fashion Supply Chain Network Competition with Eco-labelling; Reverse Logistics as a Sustainable Supply Chain Practice for the Fashion Industry; Apparel Manufacturers’ Path to World-class Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Slow-Fashion Industry; Mass Market Second-hand Clothing Retail Operations in Hong Kong; Constraints and Drivers of Growth in the Ethical Fashion Sector: The case of France; and Effects of Used Garment Collection Programmes in Fast Fashion Brands.

The ways in which we design, make, transport and then discard clothes has a huge social and environmental impact. This book covers responsible business practices and sustainability in the fashion industry from the raw fibre stage, through production, to the point of customer consumption. The concepts of responsibility and sustainability are fast becoming essential factors in business decisions and Supply Chain Management and Logistics in the Global Fashion Sector leads the reader through the multiple stages in the supply chain that can impact on business strategy. A perfect resource for students studying fashion and for those working in the sector who wish to identify the latest thinking as they plan sustainability strategies, the book is divided into four clear sections. Part I of the book examines sustainability in the supply chain by identifying the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic and environmental) and considers how fashion brands are innovating in this area. Part II looks at fashion logistics and supply chain operations by assessing fibre, yarn and fabric considerations, logistical issues for both garment production, and service delivery, stock control, transportation, barriers and risks. Part III develops the logistics theme further by identifying recent trends and case studies that highlight agility and lean management structures, and the application of transparency enhancing radio frequency identification (RFID). This section further applies modelling and simulation techniques from the automotive and pharmaceutical industries to the fashion sector. Part IV considers how sustainability can be embedded into the multi-tiered fashion supply chain and its selling environment.

This is the first book to introduce and explain the concept of sustainable consumption with reference to the clothing sector. It uses various case studies to detail sustainable consumption behavior in the industry. Consumption is a key issue and is a major driver when it comes to sustainability in any industry, including clothing sector. Several studies which have highlighted the need for sustainable consumption in the clothing sector are discussed in this book.

Fashion Supply Chain Management: Integrating Sustainability through the Fashion Supply Chain provides a comprehensive guide to the entire supply chain management process as it relates to the fashion industry; how fashion supply chains work from raw material to finished product, and how generic supply chain concepts are applied in the fashion context. It focuses on contemporary strategic issues with which the sector is currently confronted, some of its current challenges and the innovative ways the sector has developed to respond to these challenges. Concepts such as sustainability, fast fashion, raw materials, logistics and reverse logistics, costing, lean and agile manufacturing and other supply chain strategies are expertly covered in this work, with each area underpinned by the new technologies required to support supply chains in the fashion industry. Each chapter is complemented by an in-depth case study from a relevant global organization so that readers can gain real-world insight, alongside pedagogy to aid student comprehension, including quizzes, end-of-chapter activities, and role play scenarios. This key work is an essential textbook for students studying fashion supply chain, operations, and logistics as part of fashion management undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Fully comprehensive on theory yet applied to practice, it will equip students with the tools and understanding for a future career in the fashion industry.

From journalist, fashionista, and clothing resale expert Elizabeth L. Cline, “the Michael Pollan of fashion,”* comes the definitive guide to building an ethical, sustainable wardrobe you'll love. Clothing is one of the most personal expressions of who we are. In her landmark investigation Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth L. Cline first revealed fast fashion’s hidden toll on the environment, garment workers, and even our own satisfaction with our clothes. The Conscious Closet shows exactly what we can do about it. Whether your goal is to build an effortless capsule wardrobe, keep up with trends without harming the environment, buy better quality, seek out ethical brands, or all of the above, The Conscious Closet is packed with the vital tools you need. Elizabeth delves into fresh research on fashion’s impacts and shows how we can leverage our everyday fashion choices to change the world through style. Inspired by her own revelatory journey getting off the fast-fashion treadmill, Elizabeth shares exactly how to build a more ethical wardrobe, starting with a mindful closet clean-out and donating, swapping, or selling the clothes you don't love to make way for the closet of your dreams. The Conscious Closet is not just a style guide. It is a call to action to transform one of the most polluting industries on earth—fashion—into a force for good. Readers will learn where our clothes are made and how they’re made, before connecting to a global and impassioned community of stylish fashion revolutionaries. In The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth shows us how we can start to truly love and understand our clothes again—without sacrificing the environment, our morals, or our style in the process. *Michelle Goldberg, Newsweek/The Daily Beast

This book adopts a case study based research approach to examine the contemporary issues in the fashion industry. It documents real-world practices in fashion business from production, marketing to operations. Founded on an extensive review of literature, these case studies discuss the challenges that are pertinent to the current business environment in this important industry, provide benchmarks and generate insights to practitioners as well as suggest future directions to researchers. The book serves as a nexus of the theories and the industrial practices that advances knowledge for both the academia and the private sector in fashion business.