Global apparel supply chain

How do apparel supply chains compete One approach is to compete on cost, an approach used by Walmart and other department stores. This strategy focuses on developing a cost-efficient supply chain that may require global sourcing with low costs but long lead times. Such supply chains then require large buffer stocks to compensate for demand uncertainty or a focus on predictable demand for basic products with low demand uncertainty But there are many other dimensions of competition in the apparel industry. 

But what is the impact of all of this used clothing It is very difficult for the local Afiican textile industry to compete with the economics of this supply chain. As a result, the local apparel industries in many African countries have been devastated. What started off as a noble gesture of charity is transformed by the global supply chain to have the opposite impact in another part of the world. 

Modelling of uncertainties in supply chains has become important with the proliferation of product varieties and the increased volatility of the global market places of the contemporary business environment. For instance, product range and product style in a fashion industry are renewed constandy while in the basic apparel industry, long production and distribution lead times still prevail. Managing business environment dynamics in an uncertain and competitive market is a challenging task and forced many organizations to reform their operational processes. 

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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. 

H M is the fourth global apparel brand to pledge to eliminate all hazardous-chemical discharge from its supply chain by 2020, according to environmental non-profit Greenpeace, which successfully put the squeeze on Puma, Adidas, and Nike with its Detox campaign over the summer. The Swedish retailer has also agreed to annotate its publicly available list of restricted substances with technical information (such as limits and test methods) in October, as well as disclose the chemicals released by its suppliers factories across Asia and Europe by 2012. 

Time v. Cost in global supply chains lessons from the apparel industry... 

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