Rudrajeet Pal

Success indicators in various fashion business models

The objective of this study was to analyze the business models of various fashion companies, based on their 2009 financial indicators, to understand how different operation models correlate with success and whether selected performance indicators monitor operational success. Based on their business models, the companies were classified as follows: brand retailers, brand marketers, luxury brands, and multi-brand retailers. Brand retailers with a high net profit margin and a rapid turnover of inventory were significantly more profitable than traditional multi-brand retailers. Luxury brand companies were another successful group. Though their stockturn was low, their net profit was high because of their unique design and high brand value. Brand marketers could adapt well to rapid changes, because their business was primarily based on intangible assets. Furthermore, multi-brand retailers showed the lowest financial ratios because of their slow stockturn and low net profit margin.

Resilience challenges for textile enterprises in a transitional economy and regional trade perspective – a study of Kyrgyz conditions

This paper aims to contribute to the resilience development of the textile sector in a transitional economy, based on a case study of the Kyrgyz Republic, where the transition to a free market system generated broken supply chains, low diversification, a high open economy level of the textile sector and dependence on international trade regulations. The approach used is based on theories of organisational resilience, literature studies and fieldwork. Scenarios are developed and analysed by event tree and SWOT analysis, to identify resilience properties of the textile sector. Findings focus on the implications of future membership or non-membership, respectively, in the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, where both supportive and adverse effects have been identified. The results contribute to the knowledge of the transitional economy conditions and serve as a guideline for stakeholders about enhancing resilience, both at the industrial and organisational levels, of the Kyrgyz textile sector.

Sustainable Business Development Through Designing Approaches For Fashion Value Chains

Global fashion value chains are expanding rapidly, driven by forces of globalization. Large-scale outsourcing has led to long lead times and forecast-driven apparel value chains, resulting in increased forecasting errors and overproduction-related difficulties. Typically, in the developed countries in Europe, United States, and Japan, we see the emergence of strong fashion brands as core manufacturing has faded from the scene, leading to several other challenges related to sharing responsibility in the value chain, unsustainable consumption, etc. This has a lasting impact on the key financial performance of the fashion brands along with the detrimental environmental and social impacts, thus challenging the right balance of the strategic vectors for sustainable business development (SBD) in fashion value chains. Various stakeholders have realized that the future of fashion value chains increasingly depend not only on economic sustainability but also on safeguarding the environment, safety, and welfare of those associated with it. In this context, the work addresses these strategic issues motivating the sustainable design of closed-loop fashion value chain to propose a holistic model towards developing a design for sustainable business development (DfSBD).

Systematic literature review to develop a conceptual framework for a reuse-based clothing value chain

Abstract A closed loop value chain is a concept that maximises a product’s utility both before and after end-of-life. This chain’s primary components are reuse, repair, up-cycling and down-cycling. This paper reviews the literature in the domain of ‘reuse’ to formulate and propose a conceptual framework for a ‘reuse-based clothing value chain’. We performed a systematic literature review in which a range of online databases were searched to select papers related to reuse between September 1994 and March 2015. Our review is presented broadly and in two parts: the first part provides a descriptive analysis of the articles, and the second part develops propositions based on the textual analysis. The review revealed that there are six primary drivers of the reuse-based clothing value chain: system, redesignability, price, information, legislation, and consumer attitude. Corresponding propositions highlight the key importance of system, product redesignability, product price, information, government legislation and consumer attitude to the economic success of the reuse-based clothing value chain. Finally, this work proposes a conceptual framework based on our propositions. This research may help scholars and practitioners to understand the current state of the literature. The list of references may be considered a source for future research in this area.

Exploring value creation and appropriation in the reverse clothing supply chain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the processes of value creation and appropriation among companies in a reverse clothing supply chain. Design/methodology/approach – This research i ...

Value creation through reverse logistics in used clothing networks

The purpose of this paper is to identify the major reverse logistics design aspects in used clothing value chains, and those enabling and challenging manifestation of value creation.,This research is based on an exploratory study of 12 established organizations in Swedish used clothing networks. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, secondary sources, and subsequent field visits.,Empirical insights on how various design aspects influence value creation in used clothing value chains are provided. Crucial among these are strategic and consistent collection, presence of multi-channel sales, and communication of post-retail concepts for manifesting value by bolstering consumer satisfaction, environmental motivation, and corporate image. Inter-organizational collaboration in reverse logistics processes and workplace training, further renders higher economic, environmental and information values.,The paper proposes a holistic framework of design aspects in reverse value chains, and extends existing knowledge on how these aspects manifest value creation. By doing so, a nuanced view of the design aspects is offered by highlighting how they can differentially, either enable, or challenge value creation. In this connection, seven supporting propositions are developed for in-depth future research.,The paper includes implications for the devising strategic solutions for higher value creation, by understanding of the key enablers and challenges, for many actors in the used clothing networks.,The role of various design aspects in reverse value chains for manifesting multifaceted stakeholder value creation is explicitly defined in the paper.

Sustainable Value Generation Through Post-retail Initiatives: An Exploratory Study of Slow and Fast Fashion Businesses

The dialogue between slow and fast fashion has gained great prominence in recent years particularly in terms of sustainability. In the forward value chain, fast fashion companies are most often con ...

Competitive manufacturing for reshoring textile and clothing supply chains to high-cost environment: A Delphi study

Existing knowledge of reshoring, enabled largely by competitive manufacturing (CM) strategies in high-cost locations, is limited particularly in context to labour-intensive industries, like textile and clothing (TC low degree of agreement is reached for the perceived challenges. Some out of literature debates emerged in terms of challenges related to CM in high-cost area, regarding increased fixed costs of production, rise in inventory level due to high product variety requirement, and low skill level against access to skills. Along with the decisive knowledge on the CM-related success factors for reshored supply chains, the Delphi study offers an interesting practitioners’ perspective from a labour-intensive sector like T&C.

Ambidexterity drivers of value-creation and appropriation in business models: an explorative study from DuPont

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate how different trajectories can be detected and classified in business models (BMs) at the level of their underlying product development value-structure (val ...

Sustainable value creation through new industrial supply chains in apparel and fashion

This paper explores the inter-organizational value creation, in apparel supply chain context, through circularity and digitalization for sustainability, by gathering evidences from vivid research experiences. It can be highlighted that inter-organizational value creation in both circular- and digital- apparel supply chains largely builds upon a variety of collaborative initiatives, and among a range of included members. Knowledge co-evolvement and business co-development, end-to-end integration and information transfer, and open networks are crucial to such collaborations – making development of new supply chain structures a meta-capability of apparel firms in the changing industrial landscape.