The Future of Fashion Supply Chains

I feel extremely privileged to be a part of this survey as a fashion consultant and would love to share my answers hoping it will be useful to some of my readers.

This survey looks into the disruptions caused in the supply chain by the Covid-19 virus and the future changes expected in the fashion supply chain. Allow me to share the final draft without further ado.

1. Please tell us about your supply chain and/or fashion industry experience, as well as your current job (e.g. daily tasks, projects).

I offer marketing consultancy and business coaching services to fashion designers and also start-ups (again product-oriented companies). Before moving into consultancy, I worked within the fashion industry in various roles from being a visual merchandiser to buying and working in the main offices and operations of international fashion and luxury brands.

Though right now, I am giving marketing and retail consultancy to companies in different industries as well, I am also always closely monitoring the fashion and luxury industries.

2. Can you give examples for specific industries or clients you worked with?

For fashion designers, especially for those with sustainable clothing lines, finding suppliers who have truly sustainable or ecological materials and fabrics is a huge challenge.

From my recent experience, I know that the periods have also elongated, largely due to covid. That means it is taking longer to provide the materials or to produce them. It is taking longer than usual to deliver products in a timely manner and in desired quantities.

One of the fashion designer friends I know is already in slow fashion but the period of delivering the products has increased from 3 to 6 weeks (they work with local suppliers in the US). This obviously reflects in their sales and client shopping behaviour. Because even if the clients know that they are buying from a slow fashion brand, they do not want to wait 6 weeks to receive a t-shirt.

3. What are current Supply Chain and Operations Management (SCOM) challenges or SCOM subjects you face in the fashion industry? 

The uncertainty and the challenges that the Covid-19 virus created are immense. Production times are longer. Some facilities cannot operate with the same capacity, if at all. These are the main challenges that I know of from my connections in the industry.

Also, for those who want to be circular fashion brands or produce sustainable lines, the number of suppliers is relatively limited.

4. What will define the fashion industry in the coming years most?

The huge trend of sustainable/ecological fashion is driving brands into seeking change, innovation, and novelty. Though this is coming from a certain percentage of consumers, it is expected to increase.

However, with the decreasing income levels, the number of people looking to buy cheaper clothes is also increasing.

I believe there will be a polarisation of these two (trends) in the near future.

And for luxury brands, it is a different story because some of these brands are becoming irrelevant because the concept of luxury fashion is not as popular as it was during the ’90s and early 2000. In some markets, there is already high saturation. They have huge inventory problems, especially with the pandemic. New markets such as China are surely providing them exciting opportunities. China especially is still untapped by most fashion and luxury companies.

But the diminishing demand is driving luxury brands to look for profits in different areas such as homeware or NFTs.

5. What do you suggest to mitigate or to encounter these industry and company challenges?

Honestly, I am not sure if these challenges could be remedied easily, especially those that are due to the pandemic.

For the capacity to go back to normal, I think we need to see some normalcy and economic activity which will have to suspend for another while. Since some of the production takes place in some parts of the world (Turkey, India, etc.) that are heavily affected by the pandemic, supply chains will still be stalling.

The ethical concerns are not going to be easily solved without joint and consistent efforts.

For sustainable and green solutions, it will again take some time to adapt because we have ongoing systems, habits, and a whole industry that relies on the old system that cannot change over time.

6. Where do you see the most significant impact of new technology in the future to create competitive advantage and mitigate the before-stated challenges? 

Technologies to create sustainable fabrics or to make fashion more circular will certainly help suppliers and companies. Some of these advances will also reduce costs which is always a competitive advantage.

Instead of burning clothes, we are able to recycle them and reuse fabrics and threads. I am really looking forward to seeing more new technologies and some quick advances in these areas.

7. Corona has shown us that some risks cannot be forecasted. How to manage and assess supply chains to recover in coronavirus times? 

I have always supported the idea that brands should grow sustainably. Companies need to learn to be flexible, resourceful, and balanced.

Balanced in a way that their supply chains will not rely solely on one country, like our overreliance on China. If you look at the tags, most companies are producing in China. This is not news to anyone. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not against China or production there. I have lived there for four years and I love the country and adore its people. But a vast majority of an industry relying on one country is exactly what we call putting all eggs in one basket.

Just like a more balanced diet, finding local suppliers and mixing them with several international suppliers will mean a healthier supply chain for them. Though it may not prevent all risks, it would certainly minimise them.

In addition, companies should think about trying to reduce their offers. Variety is surely good but not when it is excessive. Especially giant retailers like H&M and Zara used to burn unsold merchandise. This is still unbelievable to me as an industry professional and very very frustrating to know as a consumer.

I can understand business concerns but nevertheless, companies always have a choice to do the right thing because in today’s super speedy information age, everything reveals so quickly and issues such as these (burning unsold merchandise, inhumane conditions of sweatshops, unethical business conduct) can hurt a brand’s reputation and as fast as a forest fire. I personally have second thoughts about these said brands and many others as a consumer. I do buy from them but definitely not as frequently as I used to.

In branding, we do not only talk about a name, a logo, and a story. Branding means how your company acts, what you preach, and what you do after that. All of that goes under the branding. If you fail to embrace your promise, you should be ready to embrace the storm.

Covid19 has made everything unpredictable but I am not an expert in supply chain management. It would be very unfair for me to make any assessments pre or post covid.

And sorry for the long answer.

8. In which areas in the future do you see the need for consultants? 

For start-ups, consultants like us are extremely important because they are outsourcing the experience. The guidance of a (right) consultant can be invaluable for a start-up.

For bigger brands, their needs in terms of consultancy are different and can be less or minimal since they have access to information such as trend reports, quality control mechanisms, in-house marketing departments, etc. They surely do need an outsider’s view from time to time but not as much as micro, small, and medium-sized businesses.

And for fashion, a product-oriented industry, farmers, producers, suppliers play a vital role. Consultants can be the intermediaries for all fashion companies, no matter how big or small, to guide them towards the right direction so that fashion brands or houses can make more concise decisions.

In the end, fashion is a world in and of itself. Though we do not come across them every day, farmers, workers, suppliers, designers, retail and visual merchandisers, and many other key players are a part of the equation. In such an ecosystem, consultants are as important as people who sew our clothes or dye our garments.

9. What do you think are the mandatory skills of the next generation of SCOM Consultants?

When I was lecturing marketing and other business-related courses, I always advised my students to get as many skills as they can. Surely knowledge is infinite and we cannot know everything. But in order to become more resourceful, we need to keep our eyes open to other issues and topics, not just live in one sphere (whether you are in marketing or supply chain). In fact, the world has countless collaboration examples between different disciplines that have taken us much further. Could a banker help a supply chain manager? Maybe not, but we never know. There are countless other disciplines other than banking that SCOM professionals and consultants can cooperate and improve our systems, products, lives, and eventually our future on the planet.