BUS606: Operations and Supply Chain Management

The fashion industry is particularly a dynamic sector in which to explore the retail buying decision-making process, due to its characteristics of increasingly shorter product life cycles, a high level of product variety and an inability to accurately predict consumer buying behavior. The complexity arises with the emergence of new consumer groups, new markets, new trends in sourcing etc. which was not common few decades ago. According to Masson et al. one of the major market developments has been that modern fashion has become democratized and egalitarian. In the course of the last two decades, the fashion apparel industry across the globe has undergone deep transformation due to various changes in the business environment. Consumers in modern times are more fashion conscious and looking for new options continuously. Consequently, the length of the use of a particular apparel product is shortened significantly. Barnes and Lea-Greenwood argue that there is a decline in the length of fashion product life cycles which has put pressure on retailers to replenish more frequently as they simply need more product ranges to keep up to date. The trend also provoked the emergence of the fast fashion concept which has got an extensive success till today. To get an extended view about the change occurred, this section provides an overview of fashion market's diversity, change from mass manufacturing to the quick response concept and operations of top brands under present circumstances.