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Sustainable Business Development Through Designing Approaches for Fashion Value Chains

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Roadmap to Sustainable Textiles and Clothing

Part of the book series: Textile Science and Clothing Technology ((TSCT))

Abstract

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).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Stock Keeping Unit.

  2. 2.

    Water consumption during production depends on the need for irrigation: 576–4,377 L/kg with an average of 1,818 L/kg and for finishing 105–145 L/kg (cf. Chapagrain et al. 2005; Blackburn and Burkinshaw 2002) quoted in DEFRA 2010. For chemicals cf. ‘Mapping Chemicals in Textiles’, Danish Environment Protection Agency, Publication no. 113, 2011. Water and energy consumption during production, manufacturing and for care cf. Levi’s LCA for Levi’s 501 Jeans Levi’s 2010:(http://www.levistrauss.com/sites/default/files/librarydocument/2010/4/Product_Lifecyle_Assessment.pdf) Land use based on Global Cotton Yield 2011/2012 of 752 kg/hectare, cf. Agricultural Outlook Forum 2012, February 2012.

  3. 3.

    http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/ (February 2014).

  4. 4.

    http://www.apparelcoalition.org/

  5. 5.

    KELANO (2010–2012) was a joint research project between Tampere University of Technology, Finland and The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Sweden aimed at finding an ecologically efficient, quick-response sourcing-production-distribution chain for fashion products.

  6. 6.

    http://www.mistrafuturefashion.com/en/Sidor/default.aspx

  7. 7.

    http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/fashion-rental-startup-rentez-vous (March 2014).

  8. 8.

    http://www.domain-b.com/environment/20090403_carbon_footprint.html (March 2014).

  9. 9.

    http://www.ethical.org.au/get-informed/issues/fashion-footprint/ (March 2014).

  10. 10.

    http://www.designtex.com/

  11. 11.

    http://antithesis.co/about/our-brand/

  12. 12.

    http://www.tailorstore.se/

  13. 13.

    http://www.leftshoecompany.com/home

  14. 14.

    Representing the combined effect of ozone depletion, acidification (acid rain), nutrient enrichment (algae growth that can cause fish death), and photochemical ozone formation (smog). The aggregated environmental index is measured in ‘person equivalent targeted’ (PET) units, i.e., the impacts are normalized to one person’s share and weighted according to political reduction targets.

  15. 15.

    http://www.bluesign.com/

  16. 16.

    Greenpeace, ‘Moda sin tóxicos, for a future free of harmful Chemicals’, June 2006. Information about the chemicals used in the textile and clothing industry, their effects on human health and claims they can be replaced by other kinds of chemicals; www.greenpeace.org/espana/reports/moda-sin-t-xicos.

  17. 17.

    ONS, May 2006. Environmental Accounts—spring 2006, Office for National Statistics, pages 23, 35 and 39, www.statistics.gov.uk.

  18. 18.

    http://www.cleanclothes.org/

  19. 19.

    http://www.wfto.com

  20. 20.

    www.ethicaltrade.org

  21. 21.

    http://competitivite.gouv.fr/

  22. 22.

    http://www.industriesoftheblind.com/royal-park-usa/

  23. 23.

    http://www.cleanshippingindex.com/

  24. 24.

    http://carrefour-site.ti.smile.fr/sites/default/files/REDD_49_61_EN.pdf

  25. 25.

    http://www.clothingtraceability.com

  26. 26.

    http://www.johnsmedley.com/

  27. 27.

    http://www.coolhunting.com/style/john-smedley-x.php (February 2014).

  28. 28.

    http://www.patagonia.com/eu/enSE/home

  29. 29.

    Crowdsourcing—Definition and More Merriam-Webster.com (February 2014).

  30. 30.

    http://www.modcloth.com/

  31. 31.

    https://www.threadless.com/

  32. 32.

    http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/?dm_t=0,0,0,0,0 (February 2014).

  33. 33.

    http://www.ge.com/about-us/ecomagination

  34. 34.

    http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Design%20for%20Longevity%20Report_0.pdf

  35. 35.

    http://www.textile-recycling.org.uk/

  36. 36.

    http://www.bir.org/

  37. 37.

    http://stenarecycling.pl/en/Innovative-recycling/Research-and-Development/

  38. 38.

    http://about.hm.com/en/About/Sustainability/Commitments/Reduce-Reuse-Recycle/Garment-Collecting.html

  39. 39.

    http://www.klattermusen.se/companysoul.php?id=5&lang=EN

  40. 40.

    http://textiles4textiles.eu/

  41. 41.

    http://www.marksandspencer.com/s/plan-a-shwopping

  42. 42.

    http://www.queenieandted.co.uk/Queenie_and_Ted/Home.html

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  1. The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

    Rudrajeet Pal

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    Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu

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Pal, R. (2014). Sustainable Business Development Through Designing Approaches for Fashion Value Chains. In: Muthu, S. (eds) Roadmap to Sustainable Textiles and Clothing. Textile Science and Clothing Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-110-7_9

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