Apparel product development

Curwen, L., Park, J., Sarkar, A.K., 2013. Challenges and solutions of sustainable apparel product development a case study of Eileen Fisher. Cloth. Text. Res. J. 31, 32-47. 

Variations in apparel product development demand-led product development... 

Jang, N., Dickerson, K.G., Hawley, J.M., 2005. Apparel product development measures of apparel product success and failure. J. Fash. Mark. Manage. 9 (2), 195—206. 

Johnson, M., Moore, E., 2001. Apparel Product Development. Prentice HaU, Upper Saddle River, NJ. 

Keiser, S., Gamer, M., 2012. Beyond Design The Synergy of Apparel Product Development. 

Keiser, S., Gamer, M., 2003. Beyond design. In Kontais, O. (Ed.), The Synergy of Apparel Product Development. Sizing and Fit. Fairchild Publication, New York, pp. 301-324. 

Currently, the purpose of the Higg Index is to guide the decision making of brands and manufacturers on an internal basis. In other words, it is a tool used by companies to self-assess their environmental and social performance, identify areas of strength and weakness, and opportunities for improvement. Future plans of the SAC for the Higg Index include development of a methodology to use the Index to communicate to consumers and other public stakeholders the social and environmental impacts of apparel product manufacturing, distribution, consumption, and disposal. 

Guess how many different models of an automotive brand are introduced per year Will that be a couple of two- and four-door sedan models, a few cross-over models, a few SUV models, a few convertible models, and a couple of sports models with a few colors Now compare this with an apparel brand, which produces many product lines each with many styles in multiple colors/prints, in multiple sizes, for a number of seasons per year. In most situations the brand may also have different product lines for different markets with different price points. The number of stock-keeping units (SKUs) produced by an apparel brand per year cannot be meaningfiiUy compared to the SKUs developed by an automotive brand. Now if you think of the product-development (PD) efforts for these two industries, it is quite clear that the PD for an apparel brand is quite complex. The PD gets further complicated with the time pressure to meet market demand for fashion items. Therefore, it is important and beneficial to understand the apparel PD process for anyone interested in careers in the apparel industry. 

With the increase in competition, the apparel industry s focus on measures to monitor the PD process has increased. These measures can be used to benchmark with competitors or to adopt best practices. The Measures for Excellence report by the Quick Response Leadership Committee of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, formerly called the American Apparel and Manufacturer s Association (AAMA, 1991), discussed some of these measures. The number of measures used by companies over the time period has increased (Little and Heinje, 1998 Jang et al., 2005). The next sections outline a few first-level measures related to apparel PD that can be used to measure PD performance. The reader is encouraged to refer to the manuscript entitled Measures for New Product Development (Senanayake and Little, 2001), by the author, which discusses a wide range of measures in relation to apparel PD. 

NICPPD model May-Plumlee, T., Little, T.J. 1998. No-interval coherently phased product-development model for apparel. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology... 

Measures for new product development Senanayake, M., Little, T. 2001. Measures for new product development. Journal of Textile and Apparel Technology and Management 1(3), 1-14. 

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