Case study: ASOS and Topshop

These items were rarely repeated once featured in a specific collection. Fashion items for which inventory was depleted were permanently stocked out. Fashion items needed to be designed, prototyped, sampled, and presented to buyers associated with the more than 200 Hugo Boss bodywear and hosiery retail accounts (Exhibit 9 delineates the key steps involved in bringing a collection of fashion items to market). The division’s procurement and production management team negotiated production capacity and established production schedules with contract manufacturers and assisted them with raw material procurement and workforce scheduling (Exhibit 10). The design, prototyping, and preproduction steps were skipped for NOS items, for which the division needed only to plan production, perform quality checks, and arrange for shipment from the factory, warehouse storage, and delivery to retail accounts7.

The continually increasing globalization in the world has linked many countries together and the borders have become inconspicuous. Many firms cooperate in a global market, which leads to an increased amount of transnational corporations acting in a global surrounding (Douglas & Wind, 1987). In the fashion industry, the business environment is especially competitive and firms have to adjust their business practices rapidly such as products and launching time of each collection on the basis of the demand of current market (Lowson, King & Hunter, 1999). Companies in the fashion industry like ZARA, Topshop and H&M have emerged a new trend — “fast fashion” that combines two main characteristics: short lead times and trendy design products (Passariello,2008 ; Rohwedder & Johnson, 2008). However, fast fashion leaves behind some issues, which are not beneficial to environmental protection and human costs. In fast fashion industries, it requires companies to complete missions in a short time, some fast fashion companies use unethical acts in order to complete producing on time which may result in environmental issue and appears unfair labour practices. In addition, Luz (2007) pointed out that globalization provided fast fashion industries a chance to produce clothes at lower prices so that they can sell clothes with a cheaper price. This result in many customers considers fast fashion clothes to be disposable. Therefore, this essay will first explain what is fast

This report aims to underling the key areas the Australian Fashion Industry need address, in order to show that it has a future in an ever competitive global economy.

Even though it may seem like the problems in the industry are above us, we, the consumers, actually created them. Lucy Siegle, a journalist and author based in the UK, was interviewed in a film, dedicated to the flaws in the fashion industry, called The True

The retail sector incorporates businesses that sell goods and services to consumers. Over the past couple of years, there have been changes to the industry which has provided favorable returns to some companies but adversely affected the bottom line of others. The retail industry was originally a made-to-order market which would require excessive need of brick and mortar operations. Due to technological advances, the industry has shifted towards a made to stock strategy in order to keep up with consumer demand. In addition, the consumers today prefer to browse through a catalog or through the internet in order to make spending decisions and then wait for the item to be shipped.

The global supply chain in the retail industry has witnessed changes and shifts which have led to opportunities and challenges for the involved players. This has occasioned shifts in trade and consumer behavior patterns. Among these are global growth patterns brought about by explosion of more cities and thus growth in infrastructure. There have been flexible supply chain trends which have enabled retail operators to adapt effectively to unexpected circumstances and changes. Moreover, globalization has changed the way retail supply chain is managed as more mature markets emerge to provide logistic and standard solution needs of the businesses. Conversely, near-shoring has

The major trends that are restructuring and characterising the textile and clothing sector are as follows: • The European textile and clothing industry is characterised by fragmented production with a large number of small and medium-sized companies mainly located in Italy, Great Britain, France, Germany and Spain (Nordas, 2004), while distribution channels are highly concentrated (Stengg, 2001). • Increasing internationalisation in the textile and apparel sector and the emergence of international competitors (Cerviño, 1998). Consolidation of the sector through mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances (Dunford, 2004). • Sub-contracting or delocalisation of textile and clothing production to countries with lower labour and transportation costs and reduced lead-time (Berkeley and Steuer, 2000). • Re-evaluation of the business models to adapt to the customers´ changing taste (KPMG, 2005). Fashion companies are becoming more flexible and vertically organised, limited vertical integration being more frequent than complete integration (Samiee, 1995). Adoption of new technology to expand productivity and increase competitiveness (Berkeley and Steuer, 2000). • Democratisation of the fashion sector over the last decades (Mazaira, et al., 2003). Zara has contributed greatly to this shift by offering the latest design at attractive prices.

In the last six decades rapid technology advances have driven radical changes in the retail environment. Adoption of technology has created consumers that much more sophisticated than in previous generations, and raised consumer expectations when it comes to their retail experience. Technology has also increased the level of competition between retailers. No longer is a retailer only facing competition from retailers in the same geographical area. Instead, due to the growth of the internet and e-tailing retailers are competing both locally and globally. As consumers continue to adopt technology and change their shopping habits it is important that retailers adapt and how they conduct business to meet the changing needs of consumers. In the face of the increased environmental and consumer pressures on retailers it is critical that retail managers pay attention to their retail stores and ensure that they are up to standards. The retail storefront is the focus point of interaction between consumers and a business. The storefront, brick and mortar, or virtual, is the point of interface between the business and the consumer and as such, it must be configured in such a way to facilitate sales.

Year 2010 is this time of the century when people trying to save every dime and this is all relevant to the people who involved into fashion industry either as consumers or as distributors. A new market opened up in the recent years for all people that are interested in saving money on the way they dress but at the same time do not want to budget their style. Replica industry opened up a lot of opportunities for people that previously could not afford luxury products and more opportunities to save money for people who shot luxury goods.

Hugo Boss has become known as an industry trend setter for its high quality men’s and women’s fashion apparel, shoes, and accessories. Product leadership, intimate knowledge of their market and customers, and operational excellence are what distinguish the company from others in the luxury fashion goods industry. From an operational perspective, the variability that exists as a result of designing and manufacturing short run fashion products is high. This perpetual shifting of demands and preferences makes it difficult to maintain accurate industry forecasts that result in high risk actions as manufacturing products with no guarantee of sale leading to large scale inventory systems.

With close to 400 shops, 11 million customers a week and 66,000 workers, Marks and Spencer is a respected organization and one of the High Street’s most recognized brands. Nevertheless the days when M&S was uncontested have long gone as clothing sales have come under stress from other high street brands like Topman and River Island and food revenue has been hit by Tesco. Over the last 15 years, Marks and Spencer have experienced a succession of changes in management and organizational culture following a massive decline in sales. What used to be a leading store in excellence food and clothing retailer has now become an out-of-date, passive company fighting to survive in a very aggressive market. Below the organizational culture of M&S will

Technology has both hurt and helped in the fashion industry. Looking back a mere ten years ago can show you how far this business has come. The single most drastic change in the industry has come from technology. As a result of advanced electronics, the design, production, and selling process takes

The last decade has witnessed a significant transformation that fast fashion has become a key feature in current fashion industry. Although it was regarded as a niche concept offered by a few winners such as Zara and H&M, fast fashion has now been adopted as a key operation mode by many brands in the fashion market (Baker, 2008), using advanced and more efficient supply chains to be more responsive to changing trends towards customer demand. Hence, Fast fashion brands perform relatively better than other fashion brands in various aspects. (Mattila et al. 2002: 340 – 351)

The increasing demand for fashion accessories composes the Indian fashion market together motivating and profitable. For the universal fashion industry, India is a very large exporter of fabrics and accessories. India's strengths not simply depend on its convention, but moreover in its raw materials. World over, India is the third biggest manufacturer of cotton, the second biggest manufacturer of silk and the fifth biggest manufacturer of artificial fibres, apart from having cheaper skilful work force. The fashion business is a multi-billion dollar worldwide undertaking gave to the matter of making and offering garments. This review paper is about how it has developed and what are challenges that have to be focused by the stakeholders in the fashion and apparel industry. This paper focuses on the trends in Indian Fashion and Apparel sector, Preparedness of Indian business people in these fast emerging changes in fashion and apparel sector, strengths and weaknesses of the fashion and apparel industry in India.

Retail is the sale of goods and services from individual or business to the end user. Retailers are part of an integrated system called the supply chain. A retailer purchases goods and products in large quantities from manufacturers directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells smaller quantities to the consumer for a profit. Retailing can be done either in fixed locations or online. Retailing includes subordinated services, such as delivery. The term “Retail” is also applied when a service provider services the needs of a large number of individuals, such as a public utility, like electric power.