Apparel supply chains, value

Nowadays there are two of the hottest trends now among CSR executives are supply chains and collaboration among companies on sustainability. The latest example for these two comes from the apparel industry, where the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), a trade association representing more than a third of the global apparel and footwear market, unveiled the Higg Index, a new tool for sustainabihty measurement across the industry value chain. 

Zara is one of world s most successful clothing manufacturers and retailers. They have achieved this leadership position through creating a value proposition around the idea of Fast Fashion . Almost uniquely they have developed supply chain processes that enable them to capture ideas and trends in the apparel market and to translate them into products in amazingly short lead times. Zara s target time to take an idea from design to store is between three and four weeks. 

The origin of ECR can he traced hack to work carried out hy Kurt Salmon Associates (in the United States) for the apparel sector (Salmon, 1993), and subsequently in the grocery sector (Femie, 1998). Since then, ECR has increased industrial awareness of the growing problem of non-value-added supply chain costs. 

Distribution refers to the steps taken to move and store a product from the supplier stage to a customer stage in the supply chain. Distribution occurs between every pair of stages in the supply chain. Raw materials and components are moved from suppliers to manufacturers, whereas finished products are moved from the manufacturer to the end consumer. Distribution is a key driver of the overall profitability of a firm because it affects both the supply chain cost and the customer value directly. In the apparel retail industry, for example, distribution affects about 35 percent of the revenue (including its influence on markdowns and lost sales). In India, the outbound distribution cost of cement is about 30 percent of the cost of producing and selling it. 

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