Textile and Fashion 2030 - Use & Consumption

Hello again!
Now I am at the final stage of my course and my field study for the Textile and Fashion 2030 project. Since I last wrote I have had full focus on completing my literature review and my final report.
I would like to say that this work consisted of three main parts. The first part was about understanding and formulating my task and my contribution to the Textile and Fashion 2030 project, this part took quite a long time as this depended on the question being processed by a few different people involved in the project before it was clear and could be stated. The second part consisted of going through relevant literature and compiling it in my report and understanding the current state of research in the field. The third phase consisted of drawing conclusions through the literature used for the study, this through deductive reasoning. During this process I came up with several interesting conclusions about how the literature shows quite different results in terms of which process affects the environment most, depending on when it was written / published. Please read my report when it is available to share my findings.

Next week, the final presentation of the work will be done over Zoom - as a virtual defense - which will also be an interesting phase as this presentation method requires a new presentation technique where you need to be technically oriented to preform well. For this I am a little nervous and unsure, as it is new and hard to know what is experienced as most professional and smooth as I have no experience in presenting online on camera. What I guess would be important to think about is camera, lighting, audio and if I should stand up or sit down. Sitting down while presenting would feel kind of weird. Anyway, for this presentation I really need some practice to make sure everything works as expected.

I would really like to share my lessons after the seminar, to be able to give tips on what is important to think about while giving a virtual presentation..

Thank you for reading - and I would love to hear your comments on anything.

First Update About Product Management Internship at a German Luxury Fashion Company

Hello everyone,

My third month as an intern in the product management team has just started. Since my last blog entry, it has been a very busy time in the office due to forced process changes that occurred as a result of Covid-19. Since this department is in close contact with many other departments within the collection production process, such as Design, Operations and Sales, ever since there are many face-to-face meetings detained during the entire collection creation process. During one calendar year there are four collections designed based on the four seasons (Pre-Spring, Spring/Summer, Pre-Fall and Fall/Winter), each including three phases (pre-sales phase, sales phase and after sales phase).

Now that the world is restricted when it comes to personal contact and business travels and the company must generate liquid assets while reducing liabilities many procedures have to be adapted accordingly. 

On the one hand, sales clients from retail and wholesale customers can, for example, not attend the Pre-Sales collection handover in the showroom in Germany as it has been handled until now. Hitherto, all salespeople from all over the world were invited into the showroom in Germany for the collection presentation, happening four times a year. However, this pandemic does not allow such get-togethers and using Photoshop and InDesign, we created presentations and overviews to make it a vividly digital experience. We have been busy digitalising all Colour Cards (cards that include all style specifications for the relevant fabrics). The major challenge was to actually visualise the fabrics in a very good quality. In case the vendors are slightly bigger, many fabrics are digital already. But as the company also sources from very small vendors, those fabrics are most likely not digital yet. 

On the other hand, collections complexities (depth and width) for the Pre-Spring and Spring/Summer collections in 2021 had to be cut at the same time. Therefore, our department was in charge to reconsider all styles for the upcoming collections. This required fast action because they were already set up and ready for production. Instead of focusing on the next collections only, we had to revise everything and cut it by about 30% while considering all regulations and wishes. In other words: every third item had to be removed. Based on figures and facts from previous seasons, decisions were taken in consultation with the designers, operations team and those customers having the highest turnover. Nonetheless, it was also partly determined on the basis of experiences and gut feelings. Hence, amongst others I have been analysing margins, order units and order volumes and compared these with, for example, minimum margins that got to be achieved anyhow. 

In the meanwhile, new collections for Pre-Fall 2021 were created, also taking into account the effects that Covid-19 will still have by the time the items are delivered into the stores. This refers to new ways of working, such as home office and remote work along with new travel behaviours that are likely to occur and will impact the collection creation in the future. This is what I am still working on now to influence the decision makings for the new collection creations of Fall/Winter 2021. I will keep you posted on this in the upcoming blog entry. 

// Josephina

Digital Transformation of Circular Business Models

Hi all!

After immense work to complete the internship now it has come to an end. Digital technologies are considered as enablers to transform the businesses. The use of industrial 4.0 technologies is a stepping stone in this transformation. The textile and fashion industry is considered as one of the most unsustainable industries in the globe. Incorporating circularity practices is a solution to overcome the issue. The fashion system is originally considered as a linear model of take, make, and dispose. So this industry with a digital step can be transformed towards circular business models. Due to the prevailing condition of COVID-19 countries are lockdown and people are experiencing social distancing. Therefore the use of digital technologies to enable businesses is need ever than before.

This research is carried out to understand how digitalization enables the transformation of circular business models. Using the literature review approach it is able to identify digitally-enabled elements that can transform the business models towards the circular economy. Among them, reconfiguration of the value proposition of the design plays a major role. This design gives life to many business models. Bring back the materials into the system designs need to be developed incorporating circularity practices with digital technology. Further consumer is identified as the main actor since they are the sellers, suppliers, co-creators, and responsible actors of purchase, use, and dispose of. So consumer engagement via digital channels is important. Towards the roadmap, it is identified the need for collaboration with stakeholders. Further, the research identified the challenges that need to overcome in the process. They are lack of using digital technologies, financial barriers, security issues, consumer awareness, and lack of skills and capabilities.

The topic needs more action research to innovate designs enabled with digital technologies for the circular economy. From this research, I gained vast knowledge on the topic and the practice of conducting literature review research. For the successful completion of the field study, I received support and guidance from my supervisor Olga  Chkanikova. Also, the support and motivation from received from the peers are unforgettable.  

Reshoring: the influences on decision making process for fashion retailer

Blog 3/3

Here comes my third and last blog. Last couple of days, I have been fully engaged with my research. From different formats of papers, I choose to write research papers. After going through all the peer reviewed articles, I summarize my findings that work as an influence for fashion retailers to move their production facility back to the home country. 

Cost is the primary measure as the trend of offshoring started back in the 1960s to prevail the low labor cost of developing countries. Later other costs related with offshoring come into considerations like transportation cost to long distance, travel cost, increasing communication cost in two different geographical locations, cost of long inventory to support delivery delay. Bringing back production in a near proximity location helps to reduce these costs incurred for offshoring. In the meantime, in some previously offshored locations for example in China labor cost increases to a significant level that bounds retailers to rethink about the location choice. Development and innovation work can progress more smoothly when both design and production facility co-locates as sometimes it’s difficult to coordinate it from long distance. Also, communication challenge in two different locations hampers the progress of product and process innovation. Time to market i.e. lead time reduces significantly when firms reshore. Thus it becomes more flexible to react with customer preference. Manufacturing location to a long distance makes the supply chain more complex, less flexible with asymmetric flow of information and high level of inventory. Reshoring helps to adopt the trend of fast fashion that requires small batch production within shorter lead time. Besides, long distance transportation increases CO2 emission and unsustainable practices. Sustainability performance of a firm is badly impacted by the location decision where the manufacturing will take place. As a result, growing emphasis on sustainability encourages firms to reconsider their production location.

The findings of my research shed the light on the area of reshoring that will help future practitioners for further exploration. Firms offshore previously, now show the tendency to bring back the production facility by analyzing the benefits of reshoring. Most of the research papers in this area are conceptual and explore why firms reshore. So, future research can focus more on how firms reshore. I find the topic most interesting to invest my time in the last two months. Hope you guys also enjoy your time to find some new insight of your research area. 

Have a nice summer!!

Corporate Field Study Post III: A Certification Mark for Upcycling

Last week, we reviewed two examples of small- to mid-size businesses working with textile secondary raw materials to create upcycled products. This week, we discuss a certification mark for upcycling. 

Over the past weeks, this corporate field study has demonstrated that there is a current industrial movement to further develop upcycling throughout the textile and apparel industry. One example of this effort is an upcycling design and production system/manufacturing method and manufacturing certification called Upmade. This system enables textile and apparel businesses to implement industrial upcycling and become certified under the system. The benefit to a business of doing this is that it will be able to more easily source and turn textile secondary raw materials into useful products, which decouples economic activity from virgin textile material use and reduces waste. The certification criteria require a 90-100% share of waste materials in a product’s base material, although there is an exception for buttons, thread, zippers, fusing, and so on, which may be new. Interestingly, Upmade represents that it is scalable, which is something that many businesses struggle with when implementing upcycling production processes.

New, scalable, upcycling solutions like this one make it easier for designers to become inspired to upcycle with textile secondary raw materials. It also makes it easier for businesses to manage the sourcing of textile secondary raw materials. Easier access to sourcing such materials allows for better planning and more space for designers to decide where to go with their designs by using the details of the textile secondary raw materials to their best advantage.

In addition, this certification mark helps to manage the risk that comes with textile secondary raw materials and toxic chemical legacy substances that may lurk within. The Upmade certification mark intends to provide independent assurance of a manufacturer’s capacity for upcycling production that complies with textile quality, chemical toxicity, and fair labour standards. Transparency via the certification mark for consumers is also a welcome benefit.

My blog entry about the digital transformation of the supply chain and its influence on sustainability in upstream processes (3/3).

This is my third and last blog entry here, in which I want to talk about the development of my field study project. I have worked so far on all parts of my article, which is including the literature review, discussion, and conclusion. Additionally, I had a final meeting with Olga to talk about the last corrections I need to do before I hand in. My main concern for the field study now is to review my own paper and to give it a nice journal like outlook.

After my last blog entry, I worked mainly on the results, which is my literature review. The literature review has been made with 10 peer-reviewed journal articles and 10 webpages. All of them will answer the questions in which technologies exist do transform the supply chain digitally, how they affect sustainability in which challenges regarding sustainability do exist. Many results could be found, which needed to be processed in a concise but professional way. Afterwards I have been working on the analysis and discussion and wrote afterwards directly the conclusion, which will answer all questions. 

After finishing everything and receiving the recommendations from Olga I have been working on implementing them. Furthermore, I have been editing my article and I was looking for a way to have a journal-like appearance in the article. After I finished the report to upload this one I was working on my presentation, which I will do in PowerPoint. I was looking for a nice template in order to fill it with the necessary information. This has been challenging as much information has been collected which needs to be presented in a nice way. Therefore, I needed more time than expected for this task.

Personally, the field study has been an enjoyable task to do even though I miss due to Corona the lectures, and contact with my classmates. What has been challenging was the contradicting information about the field study on Ping Pong. Nevertheless, I can understand that it was hard for all parties to collect all information together to write them all down at ping pong in a systematic way. Still this has been stressful many times and was responsible for many discussions. In the end everything went as planned and all the work is done.

WargoTex – Research Findings and Method Evaluation

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I am currently waiting for the responses from the three collaborating companies of the WargoTex project in order to assess the opportunities and challenges for joint business model development in the fashion and textile industry. As it turned out, the current circumstances strongly influenced the company’s ability to cooperate, resulting in just one company submitting sufficient results. However, Björkåfrihet’s input was fortunately very valuable and helped me finalise my research findings. Besides their international engagement in sustainable development and social solidarity, Björkåfrihet operates several second-hand stores across Sweden and is already involved in a number of circular initiates that aim to reduce textile waste. 

While Björkåfrihet agreed to the high potential of joint business models for circularity to sustainably transform the fashion and textile industry, a number of current issues are yet to be solved. For Björkåfrihet, the main challenges are reported to lie in the pricing of the redesigned garments, the time capacity for the redesigning process, the access to skilled designers, the input quantity of post-consumer textiles, as well as the difficulty to scale up redesigning operations. The challenges for a successful development and implementation of a joint business model for circularity seem overwhelming compared to its opportunities, however, initial reluctance lies in the nature of change, particularly when aiming to achieve substantial change in an industry with a complex supply chain. The main opportunity for a joint business model for circularity is indeed the achievement of a sustainable transformation of the whole fashion and textile industry and if regarded as a flexible umbrella business model rather than a static determination of corporate responsibilities, a joint business model can avoid negative implications such as a loss of corporate autonomy and operational flexibility. 

Although the findings of my research proofed to be sufficient, I can confirm the expected difficulties an open-answer questionnaire might entail in comparison to in-depth interviews. While an open-answer questionnaire indeed gives a deeper insight into the respondents’ answers, it can definitely not be compared to the level of detail you would achieve in an in-depth interview. What has been revealed as particularly difficult is the risk of the respondent misunderstanding a question and as a consequence, providing empirical data that is not sufficient for content analysis. Therefore, even in times of social distancing, I would definitely recommend conducting interviews either online or over the phone rather than utilising an open-answer questionnaire, or alternatively, excessively explain the meaning of every question in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Approaches of visual communication in digital marketing from a fashion retail perspective.

Blog 3/3

In continuation of my research, through the literature review I found the fashion blogging, the influence of instagram influencer, digital competency and improvement of fashion apps, fashion films, selfie marketing and social media marketing are some of the effective approaches of visual communication in the field of digital marketing. The findings of this study will be beneficial for not only the fashion brands but also the fashion startup companies to select the suitable approach which fits with their communication and marketing strategy.

Fashion blogging and the Instagram influencers create an emotional twoway bonding with blogger/influencer-consumer and consumer-brands. The lifestyle, creative visual content and the personality of fashion bloggers create a positive impression among the viewers that drives themselves to become loyal to a brand. The digital competence of a fashion companies own website and fashion apps, boost engagement and create the trust of purchasing luxury products online. Another approach which is a comparatively new approach, fashion films act as a communication tool for the purpose of both education and entertainment. Despite having the effective traditional communication channel, fashion films make its place to fulfill consumers interest. To deal with the challenge with the negative review in social media, selfie marketing plays a very important role. Not only the paid advertisement of celebrities but also the “real persons” like us, the visual perspective of selfie engages us with brands and creates the brand positioning. Plus, social media marketing is regarded as the most suitable and the cheapest visual communication channel where brands-consumer and consumer-consumer can share their feelings and that increases the brand engagement.

Anyway, the selection of the most suitable visual communication approach is the limitation of my research due to the unavailability of empirical data. Apart from that, it may not be possible for fashion retailers or startup companies to integrate all findings into their marketing strategy. The nature, dimension of a company and the geographical location may have an effect on the selection of visual communication approach which will be a research guideline for future researchers. Plus, the recent pandemic situation of Covid-19, changed the lifestyle of peoples and we must adopt the changes as “the new normal”. Though it will be a long discussion how to adopt this, of course this will introduce a new lifestyle to all over the world. The enormous challenges and opportunities of fashion marketing strategy will move more into the online than offline. And the true and effective visual communication strategy will help fashion retailers to become successful in the digital platform.

Thank you.

The Challenging Increase of Online Customer Returns in Fashion - A literature Review (2)

Since my last blog post, I have started to write on my report. I have decided to do a conference paper format to not make it harder for myself, and focus on making quality content. The Introduction and Methodology are done so far, and I am currently summarizing and discussing the themes for the Results. Six themes has emerged from the literature review in total, and the first one will soon be finished. I actually do not think the report will be ready in time for the seminars in June because I realized that the deadline is already the 29th. I thereby aim for August instead. The thing is that I have some troubles with understanding the second part of the report, between the Introduction and Methodology, where concepts are to be brought up and clarified. Thus, some research needs to be done here to further clarify this part. But I will complete the themes first, and then focus on that. When the report is almost done I plan on showing it to my aunt and together sit down and read it through,

Corporate Field Study Post II: Examples of Material Reuse by Small- to Mid-Size Businesses

Last week, we talked about some of the challenges faced by small- to mid-size businesses working with textile secondary raw materials. This week, we will look at two examples. These examples are of interest in the field study as they relate to the new EU Circular Economy Action Plan for the textile sector adopted in March 2020, which has a focus on increasing the uptake of textile secondary raw materials.

One example of a small- to mid-size business working with textile secondary raw materials is Jouten. This studio in Finland produces experimental, unisex garments and accessories by repurposing high-quality, made-to-last fabrics, which in a prior life were used as hotel towels and bedlinen. The Finnish word “jouten” means “unoccupied” in English, but Jouten’s founders are certainly not idle. Jouten dyes and makes each product in Finland, taking great care with the design process, fit, and fabrication methods, not to mention the reclaimed material sourcing and selection. Through the studio’s creative work, decommissioned fabrics from the hotel industry find a new use, which reduces environmental impact and adds a unique quality to each piece created.

Another example is Sort Slips Hvidt Slips. This Danish studio produces garments for men, women, and children by using reclaimed fabrics sourced from discarded linens, waiter aprons, and hospital gowns. All pieces are made in Denmark. The focus of the brand is on the craft and tailoring. This attention to detail results in an attractive, long-lasting, durable garment.

There are several other inspiring small- to mid-size businesses out there working with textile secondary raw materials in brilliant ways. Unfortunately, their numbers are tiny in comparison to those businesses working with virgin or primary raw materials. That is a huge problem if we want to reduce the environmental impact of the textile and apparel sector through a reduction of the reliance on virgin textile fibres. So far, this corporate field study has supported the idea that it will take the EU’s strong regulatory interest in the recovery and reuse of secondary raw materials, such as discarded or decommissioned fabrics, so that they can easily move directly from a prior user to a garment and/or accessories producer. If this can be accomplished by the EU Commission, there is much potential to increase the number of small to mid-size businesses that work with secondary raw materials.