An Exploratory Study on Product Lifecycle Management in the Fashion Chain

New Product Development (NPD) in most manufacturing sectors is stressed by an increasing global competition and pressure to improve product quality and innovation, reduce product cost and time-to-market (TTM), and rapidly respond to changing customer needs and shortened product lifecycles. These requirements are increasingly fulfilled by applying the PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) approach, a widely accepted concept that generally defines the adoption of a large number of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) solutions for managing product data along the product lifecycle. This contribution shows the results of research concerning the application of PLM within the luxury fashion supply chain, conducted in 2009 in Italy, with the analysis of 20 companies of the leather market. The research shows some of the differences that exist between the luxury industry and other more PLM-oriented sectors (e.g. automotive) in terms of adopted ICT tools, criticalities, problems, and benefits expected and realized.

Small Manufacturers vs. Large Retailers on RFID Adoption in the Apparel Supply Chain

The apparel industry is one of the most rapidly growing sectors of the radio frequency identification (RFID) market, and within it, large retailers have been driving RFID adoption. However, the continuation of this industry’s fast-paced growth is questionable due to the uncertainty associated with how manufacturers, especially small ones, would react to the retailer-led RFID initiative. The literature suggests that the relationship between small manufacturers and large retailers could promote or inhibit RFID adoption among the manufacturers. In order to study the impact of the relationship between small manufacturers and large retailers on the small manufacturers’ RFID adoption decisions, this research develops a 2×2 (two-by-two) game model and conducts outcome stability analysis. The results show that, in the 2×2 game framework, (i) the retailer’s opportunistic behavior is unlikely to occur due to the strong stability associated with the manufacturer’s do-nothing option; (ii) the do-nothing option, however, may lead to missed opportunities for both parties; (iii) the retailer’s pressure tactic is not effective in persuading the small manufacturer to adopt RFID; and (iv) the retailer’s collaborative strategy also does not guarantee the manufacturer’s RFID adoption. The discussion of these results concludes with specific suggestions for how to encourage RFID adoption among the small apparel manufacturers.

RFID Technology in the Fashion Supply Chain

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a new technology that has received considerable attention from academics and practitioners due to its large scope of application, advantages and potentialities. This chapter aims to highlight the potentialities associated with RFID in fast moving Fashion Supply Chain Management (FSCM). The research emphasizes the technological contribution to the Fashion Supply Chain (FSC) such as speed up logistics activities, increased quality, reduced prices, and more responsive improvements for customer satisfaction. The chapter reviews the RFID technology, presents the benefits, disadvantages, and barriers associated with it. To explore the deployment of the RFID technology in the Fashion Supply Chain (FSC), a case study investigation of companies in different FSCM nodes was carried out. A cross-case analysis it is also presented to achieve a deeper understanding about this technology in a fast moving FSCM context.

Matching Manufacturing and Retailing Models in Fashion

The aim of this chapter is to examine the interdependencies that have been established with reference to the manufacturer-retailer interaction in textile and apparel (TA). Retailers’ strategies seek to reduce the risk of losses from unsold stock, mark-down policies, and stock-outs. These strategies call for manufacturing suppliers to adopt new practices for fulfilling orders flexibility, rapidly, and efficiently. The practices of “lean retailing” imply new manufacturers’ strategies, mainly in term of “lean manufacturing.” We examine the implications of these processes on the evolution of the relationships between industry and distribution. The chapter addresses the repercussions of the development of lean methods on the development of other formulas having a significant impact on the relationships between industry and distribution, specifically in TA. We then discuss further developments that may be proposed in TA and its channel relationships by shifting from a perspective of supply to one of demand.

Time-Constrained Fashion Sales Forecasting by Extended Random Vector Functional Link Model

Forecasting is about providing estimation of the future that cannot be observed at the moment. In this chapter, the random vector functional link (RVFL), which is a variation of the artificial neural networks (ANN) model, is used in establishing a fashion sales forecasting model. It is well-known that the RVFL inherits the learning and approximation capability of ANN, while running much faster than the traditional ANN. In order to develop a real world forecasting application, we propose a time-constrained forecasting model (TCFM), implemented by an extended RVFL, in which the user can define the time limit and a precision threshold for yielding the forecasting result. Real datasets collected from a fashion retail company are employed for the analysis. Our experiment has shown that the proposed TCFM can produce quality forecasting within the given time constraint. Future research directions are outlined.

Strategic Partnerships in the U.S. Textile and Apparel Industry

This chapter provides a comprehensive investigation of strategic partnership social value, economic value, relational distance and fairness. Application of social exchange, transactional cost analysis, and distributive justice theories provides the theoretical basis for this research. Results from qualitative interviews with U.S. textile industry executives, a national quantitative questionnaire and case study research with a successful company that engages in strategic partnerships provide a multi-faceted understanding of strategic partnerships. While social and economic value were reported to occur in strategic partnerships, the relationship between social value and fairness was the only relationship found to be statistically significant (r = .68, P <.001). Implications for industry and future research possibilities are discussed.

Quality and Environmental Management Systems in the Fashion Supply Chain

Consumers and stakeholders have rising concerns over product quality and environmental issues, and therefore, quality and environmental management have become important topics for today’s fashion products manufacturers. This chapter presents some empirical evidence of the adoption of quality management systems (QMS) and environmental management systems (EMS) and their impact on fashion and textiles related firms’ supply chain efficiency. Although both management systems are commonly adopted in the manufacturing industries and becoming a passport to business, their actual impacts specifically on the fashion supply chain have not been explored. By investigating the adoption of ISO 9000 (a quality management system) and ISO 14000 (an environmental management system) in the U.S. fashion and textiles firms, we estimate their impact on manufacturers’ supply chain performance. Based on 284 publicly listed fashion and textiles manufacturing firms in the U.S., we find that fashion and textiles firms operating cycle time had shortened by 15.12 days in a five-year period. In the cross-sectional analysis, the results show that early adopters of ISO 9000 and high-tech textiles related firms obtained more supply chain benefits. We only find mixed results of the impact of ISO 14000 on supply chain performance.

Fashioning a Socially Responsible Garment Supply Chain

The high street fashion industry is a dynamic, challenging global industry and one of few sectors under simultaneous pressure for short lead times and low costs. However, the increasing use of complex global supply chains in order to meet the challenges of the new competitive environment has also increased focus on issues of worker exploitation in globally dispersed production networks. Although there is evidence of a rising consumer demand for low cost, fashionable clothing sourced through ethical supply chains, the nature of the high street fashion industry is not conducive to the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Qualitative research was undertaken to understand the interplay of obstacles and drivers of CSR implementation in Sri Lankan export garment manufacturers.

A Mass Customisation Implementation Model for the Total Design Process of the Fashion System

Global economic development has been increasingly segregateing the design and manufacturing functions of industries both geographically and administratively. In response, fashion companies in advance economies have increasingly operated as brand houses that engage in design and marketing as their sole activities. The total design processes of the contemporary upstream fashion supply chain is therefore investigated and analysed as an integrated fashion system. A new conceptual model of mass customisation aligning the activities and interests of the collective fashion supply chain producers is subsequently developed with its associated implementation strategies. This model takes a consumer-centric approach, and places designers/brand houses as the instrument and channel for mass customisation. The objective is to enable the prospect for small medium fashion enterprises to deploy the vision and principles of mass customisation in a more coordinated, cost effective, and responsive way. The prospective benefits and practical issues of this new model are discussed.

Fast Fashion Business Model

The greatest difficulty any apparel company encounters is managing demand uncertainty and controlling strategic consumer behaviors (consumers’ propensity to delay purchase intentionally until a sale occurs). Fast fashion retailers, however, have overcome these challenges by supplying the small quantities of latest fashion with agility, which has resulted in profitable revenue gains. This paper reviews what a fast fashion model is, why a fast fashion business model is becoming prominent in today’s apparel business, and how the supply chain is managed in a fast fashion business model. By examining the operation strategies of two successful fast fashion retailers (Zara and H&M), this study concludes with the elements of the fast fashion business model that can be effectively adopted by fashion retailers and future of fast fashion business model.