Table of contents
Preface ix
Contributing authors xi
About the editor xiii
PART I
Introduction, review and exploratory discussions
1 Fast fashion systems –An introduction 3
Tsan-Ming Choi
2 The slow fashion process: Rethinking strategy for fast fashion retailers 9
Arlesa Shephard & Sanjukta Pookulangara
2.1 Fast fashion changes the supply chain 9
2.2 Concerns about the sustainability of fast fashion 10
2.3 The evolution of slow fashion 11
2.4 The slow fashion process 13
2.5 Slow fashion concepts for fast fashion retailers 15
2.5.1 H&M sustainability initiatives 16
2.5.2 Challenges of merging slow and fast fashion 18
2.6 Recommendations for future study 19
3 Examining global retailing’s innovators: An overview of
fast fashion supply chain research 23
Lorynn R. Divita & Jeong-Ju Yoo
3.1 Introduction and background 23
3.2 Impact on the industry and consumers 24
3.3 Fast fashion supply chain literature 25
3.3.1 Qualitative analysis and case studies 28
3.3.2 Supply chain strategies and analytical models 29
3.4 Conclusion 32
4 Fast fashion retailing: RFID deployment for enhancing customer value proposition 35
Pankaj M. Madhani
4.1 Introduction 35
4.2 RFID technology: Key concepts 36
4.3 Literature review 37
4.4 Fast fashion: A retail marketing perspective 38
4.5 Fast fashion retailing: RFID deployment 39
4.6 Research methodology 40
4.6.1 A-1) Development of a business value added framework 40
4.6.2 A-2) Development of a financial matrix for measuring ROI and EVA 42
4.6.3 B) Development of various propositions 44
4.7 Discussions and implications 49
4.7.1 RFID deployment at American Apparel: A rewarding experience 49
4.8 Limitations 50
4.9 Conclusions 51
PART II
Analytical modelling research on fast fashion systems
5 Flexible procurement models for fast fashion retailers 59
Do˘gan A. Serel
5.1 Introduction 59
5.2 The basic model 60
5.2.1 Methods to compute the expected profit EP1(Q1) 63
5.3 Extensions of the basic model 67
5.3.1 Random purchase cost at time 2 67
5.3.2 Order cancellation option 68
5.3.3 Budget constraint 69
5.3.4 Multiple products 70
5.3.5 Price-dependent demand 72
5.3.6 Postponement of orders for components of a product 72
5.3.7 Ordering policy in the presence of carbon footprint tax 73
5.4 Conclusion 73
6 Coordination of a fast fashion supply chain with profit-loss sharing contract 77
Ke Wang, Qinglong Gou, Ling Yang & Siqing Shan
6.1 Introduction 77
6.2 Literature review 79
6.3 Assumptions and notation 80
6.4 The model 81
6.4.1 Baseline case: Coordination via RSC without FB 81
6.4.2 The coordination with FB 82
6.5 Comparing the PLSC with the RSC 86
6.6 Numerical analysis 88
6.7 Conclusions 90
PART III
Empirical research on fast fashion systems
7 Investigating on-shelf availability in the UK retail clothing sector 95
John Fernie & David B. Grant
7.1 Introduction 95
7.2 Research into on-shelf availability and out-of-stocks 96
7.3 Strategies for improving availability and reducing out-of-stocks 97
7.4 Availability and out-of-stocks in clothing and fashion retailing 99
7.5 Methodology 99
7.6 Findings 102
7.6.1 The ‘back to school campaign’ research study 102
7.6.2 The jeans research study 103
7.6.3 Interviews as the final phase of the two studies 106
7.7 Discussion and conclusions 106
8 A cross regional analysis on fashion quick response programs 111
Tsan-Ming Choi, Pui-Sze Chow, Shuk-Ching Liu & Yeuk-Ting To
8.1 Introduction 111
8.2 Literature review and research contribution 113
8.2.1 Origin of QR 113
8.2.2 Benefits of QR adoption 113
8.2.3 Implementation of QR 114
8.2.4 Channel relationship in QR 114
8.2.5 Research contribution 115
8.3 Methodology 115
8.4 Findings and discussions 116
8.4.1 Within-region analysis 116
8.4.2 Cross regional analysis 122
8.4.3 Verifications of theories 124
8.5 Conclusion, recommendations and future research 126
9 Service quality strategy for fast fashion: An empirical study in Hong Kong 129
Tsan-Ming Choi, Shuk-Ching Liu, Tracy Kwai-Chi Tsang &
Jinhui Zheng
9.1 Introduction 129
9.2 Literature review 130
9.2.1 Fast fashion retailers 130
9.2.2 Customer service quality 130
9.2.3 Customer expectation 131
9.2.4 Customer perceptions and customer satisfaction 132
9.2.5 Measure of service quality: SERVQUAL 132
9.3 Method 134
9.3.1 Interview 134
9.3.2 Focus group discussion 134
9.3.3 Survey 134
9.4 Findings 135
9.4.1 Findings of interview 135
9.4.2 Findings of focus group discussion 135
9.4.3 Findings of survey 136
9.5 Conclusion and research limitations 137
Subject index 141
Preface
Fast fashion is an industrial trend that is pertinent in practice. It refers to the concept of shortening lead time (production, distribution, etc.) and offering new products to the market as fast as possible. Nowadays, this phenomenon is commonly adopted in fashion apparel (by brands such as Zara, Topshop and H&M). In order to establish efficient fast fashion systems, a few research areas have emerged over the past few years, including: Optimizing fast fashion systems by conventional analytical approach, use of information in fast fashion models, fast fashion multi-echelon supply chain optimization models, fast fashion systems under competition and game-theoretical analysis, intelligent forecasting techniques in fast fashion systems, statistics-based empirical analysis of fast fashion strategies, etc. Despite the abundance of both classic and new research results, there is a lack of a comprehensive reference source that provides the state-of-the-art findings on theoretical, empirical and applied research on fast fashion systems.
In light of the above, I have edited this handbook which features several peer-refereed papers organized in three parts as follows:
Part I: Introduction, review and exploratory discussions.
– Fast fashion systems: An introduction
– The slow fashion process: Rethinking strategy for fast fashion retailers
– Examining global retailing’s innovators: An overview of fast fashion supply chain research
– Fast fashion retailing: RFID deployment for enhancing customer value proposition
Part II: Analytical modelling research on fast fashion systems.
– Flexible procurement models for fast fashion retailers
– Coordination of a fast fashion supply chain with profit-loss sharing contract
Part III: Empirical research on fast fashion systems.
– Investigating on-shelf availability in the UK retail clothing sector
– A cross regional analysis on fashion quick response programs
– Service quality strategy for fast fashion: An empirical study in Hong Kong
I am very delighted to observe that this book contains many interesting theoretical and empirical results which significantly contribute to the literature and advancement of practice. To the best of my knowledge, this book is also the first book which specifically explores fast fashion from a very comprehensive perspective.
In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jeffrey Yi Lin Forrest and Alistair Bright for their kind help in the preparation and completion of this book. I am also very grateful to all the authors and reviewers who have contributed to this handbook. I also acknowledge the helpful assistance of my research students Hau-Ling Chan and Wing-Yan Li in completing this important project.