•Three main sustainability issues in fast fashion are identified.•Introducing blockchain to fast fashion industry for a circular economy.•A blockchain-based system architecture to meet the reuse ...challenges in fast fashion.•The proposed system helps improve supply chain circularity.
Circular supply chain management is required for firms to transition from a linear make-use-dispose economic model to a more sustainable circular economy. However, it faces the critical challenge of tracing the reuse of materials over multiple life cycles involving a variety of stakeholders. Blockchain technology can help manage the complexities of circular supply chain management. This paper takes the first step in developing a system architecture of blockchain-enabled circular supply chain management in the fast-fashion industry. The system architecture was validated by two experts in blockchain technology and supply chain management. Managerial implications are discussed for implementing blockchain technology to advance the circular economy agenda.
•The study analyse the current SSCM approach of companies in the fast fashion industry.•A content analysis was conducted on the reports of 9 companies in the sector.•A conceptual map was developed ...based on the Seuring and Müller’s (2008) framework.•The compliance, monitoring, and auditing activities are critical in SSCM.
In recent decades, the fast fashion industry has been characterized by widespread operations across both developing and developed countries. Due to the economic, social and environmental problems in developing countries, companies increasingly focus on sustainability and try to ensure the same quality and standards in working and production conditions throughout their supply chains. Although the tension in the exchange of resources between developing and developed countries lies at the heart of current sustainability activities, what these companies are actually doing to manage their supply chain has not yet been explored in depth in the literature. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Seuring and Müller (2008), the current study attempts to fill this void by conceptually mapping the current situation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in the fast fashion industry by analysing reports from 9 companies that use the same reporting guidelines. The results of the study reveal that these companies focus significantly on supplier compliance with their code of conduct, employing further monitoring and auditing activities to prevent production problems in developing countries, improve overall supply chain performance and set sustainability criteria for their suppliers.
A fast fashion system combines quick response production capabilities with enhanced product design capabilities to both design "hot" products that capture the latest consumer trends and exploit ...minimal production lead times to match supply with uncertain demand. We develop a model of such a system and compare its performance to three alternative systems: quick-response-only systems, enhanced-design-only systems, and traditional systems (which lack both enhanced design and quick response capabilities). In particular, we focus on the impact of each of the four systems on "strategic" or forward-looking consumer purchasing behavior, i.e., the intentional delay in purchasing an item at the full price to obtain it during an end-of-season clearance. We find that enhanced design helps to mitigate strategic behavior by offering consumers a product they value more, making them less willing to risk waiting for a clearance sale and possibly experiencing a stockout. Quick response mitigates strategic behavior through a different mechanism: by better matching supply to demand, it reduces the chance of a clearance sale. Most importantly, we find that although it is possible for quick response and enhanced design to be either complements or substitutes, the complementarity effect tends to dominate. Hence, when both quick response and enhanced design are combined in a fast fashion system, the firm typically enjoys a greater incremental increase in profit than the sum of the increases resulting from employing either system in isolation. Furthermore, complementarity is strongest when customers are very strategic. We conclude that fast fashion systems can be of significant value, particularly when consumers exhibit strategic behavior.
This paper was accepted by Yossi Aviv, operations management.
The purpose of this study was to determine the adoption groups of the fast-fashion consumers, evaluate the consumers’ perceptions of the fast-fashion in different groups, and model the role of ...“social or status image”, “uniqueness”, and “conformity” on the level of fast-fashion consumer adoption. The consumer adoption groups were determined as “innovators”, “early adopters”, “early majority”, “late majority”, and “laggards” by using a domain-specific innovativeness (DSI) scale. Consumers’ perceptions of fast-fashion were evaluated from cognitive and emotional aspects and the differences across the consumer groups were investigated by using Kruskal-–Wallis test and Mann-–Whitney U test. The roles of “social or status image”, “uniqueness”, and “conformity” on consumer groups were modeled by using ordinal logistic regression analysis. As a result of the research, consumers’ perceptions of fast-fashion were found to vary across different consumer adoption groups in terms of “being in-style products”, “expressing self-image”, “imitating the luxury fashion products”, and “frequent renewal of the collections”. Further, the findings revealed that the probabilistic relationship between different levels of consumer adoption based on innovativeness could be modeled based on the motivations of “social or status image” and “uniqueness”.
The clothing sector is under increased global scrutiny as the second biggest polluter behind the oil industry. What was once termed the ‘democratisation of fashion’, fast fashion has become a low ...cost, high speed and resource intensive market. As a result, sustainable consumerism has gained traction, with innovative alternatives such as collaborative consumption and product service systems becoming more popular. However, despite growing concern, sustainable alternatives remain a niche market compared to the scale of global fast fashion. Rental clothing schemes remain under-researched in the UK. These collaborative consumption schemes promote a circular economy through reducing waste and increasing life cycles. This paper examines the determinants of rental clothing adoption by employing semi-structured interviews, specifically accounting for different generations across rural and urban areas. It presents a UK perspective on rental clothing.
The findings suggest that the affordability of rental is dependent on the nature of the items and adoption is driven by style, sustainability desires, and geography of consumers. This paper concludes that to increase the adoption of rental clothing schemes, trust in schemes and increased accessibility are essential to allow them to become mainstream alternatives to fast fashion.
The continuous level of consumption in the fast fashion industry has a concerning effect and needs to be addressed through a strategic approach, as it has a considerable environmental, social, and ...economic impact. The study contributes to a better understanding of the barriers hindering the transition toward a more sustainable future in the fast fashion industry through qualitative research. We conducted the qualitative research using the Grounded Theory, which allows an evaluation from different and multiple perspectives, resulting in a more exhaustive and justified result. Our approach was exploratory, and the results will be tested in future studies. The purpose of the paper was to map the road to sustainable fashion by understanding the obstacles/barriers, and solutions/drivers for sustainable development. The sustainability fast fashion organizational barriers were identified in the international literature through a structured literature review and further tested for the Romanian market through interviews. After the NVivo Analysis, the identified barriers referenced the most to least, from a Romanian organisational dimensions perspective were financial barriers, insufficient management engagement, lack of Romanian governmental support and infrastructure, eco-friendly packaging, and stakeholder and supplier barriers. The most mentioned driver dimension from an organisational point of view was the existence of a financial reward system for stakeholders, funding programs from the Government and EU, the implementation of mandatory regulations, and the possibility of creating an infrastructure.
The ethics of the fast fashion industry have been called into question with the emergence of new consumption paradigms, such as anti-consumerism and sustainable consumption. This study aims to ...explore the conceptual structure of fast fashion avoidance beliefs that have led to the anti-consumption of fast fashion. Data were collected from female consumers aged between 20 and 39 years with experiences of purchasing fast fashion brands in Korea and Spain. The structure of avoidance beliefs was compared through second-order factor analysis, and the data were analyzed using multiple regression. The structure of avoidance beliefs showed satisfactory validity and reliability in Korea, whereas deindividuation and foreignness were not included as negative beliefs in Spain. An analysis of the association between negative beliefs and anti-consumption showed that deindividuation and foreignness had positive effects on the anti-consumption of fast fashion in Korea. In Spain, poor performance and irresponsibility had positive effects, while overly trendy style had a negative effect on the anti-consumption of fast fashion. These findings contribute to the literature on anti-fast fashion consumption as part of the ethical apparel consumption movements. We can understand global consumers’ anti-consumption of fast fashion, diagnose the current status of fast fashion in the global market, and even suggest future directions for fast fashion retailers.
This study analyses the problem of multi‐tier supply chains, including suppliers, producers, wholesalers, and retailers. Decision‐makers should analyse the social, environmental, and economic ...constraints in a multi‐dimensional business context. We analyse these issues by considering the corporate social responsibility (CSR) concerns. A scorecard‐based mathematical model, consisting of mixed‐integer linear programming, is developed to assist fast‐fashion decision‐makers in supply chain policy formulation. The model is validated through a practical case study using IBM CPLEX Optimizer. The results indicate that involving the social aspect can increase the profit compared to considering only the economic impact, under high environmental costs with low return on investment. Furthermore, the mathematical model is able for the case study to optimise the distribution network of the entire multi‐tier supply chain, considering CSR concerns, in less than 5 s. This research has implications for the advancement of multi‐tier supply chain optimisation and provides a basis for future distribution decisions for firm stakeholders.
In this article, we combine a workplace-centred Labour Process Theory approach with a multi-level Global Value Chain perspective to link digital labour process transformations in the fast-fashion ...value chain to broader dynamics of digital value chain restructuring. Drawing on a case study of H&M and Zara, we show how these retailers’ digital supply chain management strategies are linked to the de-skilling, standardization and rationalization of tasks and to the emergence of new digital forms of labour control in production, logistics and retail. At the same time, we find that the effects of these transformations on working conditions are mediated by workers’ position in the value chain as well as by gender and capital-labour power relations. The article contributes to debates on value chains and digitalization by revealing how, under digital capitalism, the ability to control and digitally integrate labour processes in complex store, logistics and manufacturing networks represents a key source of power in buyer-driven value chains.
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