The research explores how Swedish apparel companies are integrating Circular Economy (CE) principles into the product design phase and identifies Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for circular and profitable apparel products. It uses a multiple case study approach, interviewing employees from five companies involved in the Vinnova project. Key findings include the importance of design for durability, balancing recycled content with quality, and the need for measurable CE principles. The study highlights the need for KPIs to track circular design performance and suggests managers prepare for upcoming EU ESPR legislation. Limitations include its focus on Swedish companies and the short research timeframe. Future research should further explore the impact of ESPR and develop more KPIs for CE in the apparel industry.

The main objective of this thesis is an evaluation of activities in multinational companies which lead to sustainable development. Furthermore, an analysis which aims to find out if these activities contribute to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) drawn up and approved by all member states of the United Nations in 2015. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces history starting with the industrial revolution and present situation in a globalized world. It explains specifics of apparel industry and sport apparel industry. It also presents individual SDGs, their meaning and the importance of all subjects being involved in their achieving, including private companies. The thesis evaluates how the three biggest multinational companies from sports apparel industry perceive the topic of sustainable development. These are adidas AG, NIKE, Inc. and Puma SE. In the analytical part, it evaluates their current and planned practices contributing to sustainable development, it compares them with the topics of SDGs and proposes measures that would help to successfully achieve them. The analysis shows that these three companies have already been engaging in the topic of sustainability. They take the SDGs into account but do not fully implement them in their business models yet. The company which has the most activities connected to sustainable development is adidas. Most of the activities these companies have are connected to the following goals: Responsible consumption and production, Clean water and sanitation and Partnership for the goals. There are several specific areas in the sports apparel industry that could be greatly improved. They are presented at the end of the thesis.

Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Joy Kozar / Global apparel supply chains require collaboration from many sectors, including consumers, retail firms, manufacturing firms and factories. The role of sourcing agents as a facilitating sector of global apparel supply chains was explored as part of this study. A quantitative analysis of import data from the U.S. Department of Commerce for four apparel categories revealed changes in import volume over the last 10 years for all major trade regions of the world. Qualitative data was also collected to further analyze how industry professionals perceive the role of sourcing agents in facilitating apparel production movement. Participants revealed that sourcing agents breakdown cultural and geographic barriers between U.S. firms and off shore factories, providing a competitive advantage to U.S. apparel firms by reducing production cost and facilitating production of complex designs, but lack any form of formal regulation.

<p>This paper is the result of a minor field study conducted in Istanbul, Turkey, during the period of November and December 2007. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the current business environment for apparel manufacturing in Istanbul. Research was carried out through an industry analysis in terms of competition and potential future development for apparel manufacturers.</p><p>The research has been carried out through interviews with actors related to the apparel manufacturing segment. Interviewees include five manufacturers, two sourcing agents, one trade organization and one professor with research in the area.</p><p>Our findings concerning the business environment are based on Michael E. Porters theoretical framework on “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy”. In the case of Turkish apparel manufacturers this paper concludes how the barriers of entry for new actors are high, unless integrating forward. Additionally in general terms the suppliers have a weak bargaining position while customers are relatively strong in the bargaining process. The rivalry among apparel manufacturers is low, but it can be stated how less differentiated manufacturer experience significant higher level of rivalry. Further on this paper also concludes how these factors not are affected by any substitute products, much due to the broad scope of the study.</p><p>In respect to these factors a general strategy used by apparel manufactures has been identified as they try to affect the balance of these competitive forces through e.g. differentiation and vertical integration.</p>

Baigiamajame magistro darbe nagrinėjamas žmogiškųjų išteklių formavimo ir panaudojimo tobulinimas pramonės įmonėse. Pateikiama metodinės, mokslinės literatūros analizė siekiant išsiaiškinti žmogiškųjų išteklių formavimo ir tobulinimo principus ir problemų sprendimo būdus. Atlikta Lietuvos aprangos ir tekstilės pramonės sektoriaus analizė, pasitelkiant anoniminę anketinę apklausą. Analizės tikslas – išsiaiškinti ir išnagrinėti Lietuvos aprangos ir tekstilės pramonės įmonėse vykdomą žmogiškųjų išteklių formavimo ir panaudojimo tobulinimo politiką, nustatyti silpnąsias vietas žmogiškųjų išteklių formavimo ir tobulinimo srityse. Suformuotas žmogiškųjų išteklių formavimo ir tobulinimo modelis, pritaikytas Lietuvos tekstilės ir aprangos pramonės sektoriaus įmonėms. Išnagrinėjus teorinius ir praktinius žmogiškųjų išteklių formavimo ir panaudojimo tobulinimo vertinimo aspektus, pateikiamos baigiamojo darbo išvados ir pasiūlymai. Darbą sudaro šios dalys: įvadas, teorinė dalis, analitinė dalis, projektinė dalis, išvados ir pasiūlymai, literatūros sąrašas. Darbo apimtis – 89 p. teksto be priedų, 43 iliustr., 8 lent., 61 bibliografinis šaltinis. Atskirai pridedami darbo priedai. / The thesis dealt with the formation of human resources development and utilization of industrial plants. Available methodical, scientific literature to determine human resource development and improvement of the principles and problem-solving techniques. Work comprise theoretical and methodical issues analysis, using an anonymous questionnaire. Clothing and textile industry, aiming to clarify and examine the Lithuanian apparel and textile companies' human resources development and utilization to improve policies which address vulnerabilities in human resource development and improvement in areas dominated by this sector. Formed by human resource development and improvement of the model is adapted to Lithuanian textile and clothing industry clothing industry. An examination of theoretical and practical human resource development and use of assessment to improve aspects of the final conclusions and recommendations. Structure: introduction, theoretical part, analytical part of the project, conclusions and suggestions, references. Thesis consists of: 89 pages of the plain text, 43 pictures, 8 tables, 61 bibliographical entries. Annexes included.

Bakgrund: CRM säljs ofta in som ett verktyg för att uppnå kundlojalitet. Forskningen är tvetydig på om sambandet mellan CRM och lojalitet gäller, och en rad problem som sägs hämma CRM-satsningar tas upp. Trots svårigheterna med CRM är ordet fortfarande lite av ett buzzword, och aktuellt än idag. CRM har utvecklats mycket sedan 1995, då begreppet först myntades, men innebörden är det samma: det är viktigt att fokusera på kunderna och bibehålla den kundbas som finns idag. Klädbranschen har upplevt en nedåtgående trend, och har endast vuxit online de senaste åren. E-handel är ett område där företag är extra utsatta för konkurrens, och ett sätt att hantera detta är att försöka bibehålla befintliga kunder. I studien undersöks svenska små och medelstora e-handelsföretag i klädbranschen ur ett fenomenologisktperspektiv; deras upplevelser och erfarenheter av CRM-lösningar och dessa lösningars påverkan på lojalitet. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur e-handelsföretags CRM-ansvariga ser på sina system och hur de upplever att deras CRM-lösningar bidrar till lojala kunder. Metod och genomförande: Studien har en fenomenologisk och hermeneutisk utgångspunkt, med kvalitativ och induktiv forskningsstrategi. Metod för datainsamling är semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta fallföretag i Sverige som bedriver handel med kläder online. Resultat: Studien visar att fallföretagen upplever allt mer konkurrens, samt att kundernas beteende blir allt mer utmanande. Intervjupersonernas uppfattning är lojalitet är viktigt, då kunder som återkommer är lätta att påverka, vilket är bra ur ettkostnadsperspektiv. Studien kartlägger också vilka former av CRM-lösningar som används idag, och konstaterat att småföretag använder relativt enkla lösningar. Slutligen upplever intervjupersonerna att deras CRM-lösningar har någon form av påverkan på kunderna, men att system som erbjuder till exempel personlig anpassning av kommunikation skulle bidra ännu mer då kommunikationen anses bli mer relevant. / Background: CRM is often proposed as tool for achieving customer loyalty. However, research conducted in this field is ambiguous on the correlation between CRM and customer loyalty, and many obstacles that hinder CRM projects are found. Despite the difficulties associated with CRM, CRM is still a buzzword today and the concept is present. The acronym was introduced in 1995 and has since developed a lot, however, the concept still has the same implication: it is important to be customeroriented and maintaining the extant group of customers. The apparel retail sector has experienced a decline, with growth exclusively in the ecommercechannel. E-commerce is a sector where companies are exposed tocompetition, and one possible strategy for dealing with the competitiveness is focusing more on maintaining the base of extant customers. In this project Swedish SMEs running e-businesses in the apparel retail sector are studied by using phenomenology, in order to assess their experiences of CRM systems and the systems’ perceived impact on customer loyalty. Aim: The purpose of this project is assessing how the CRM managers of e-commerce companies experience their CRM systems and the systems’ perceived impact on customer loyalty. Research method and execution: The project is based on phenomenology and hermeneutics, and uses a qualitative and inductive approach. The method used to gather information is semi-structured interviews with eight e-commerce companies in the apparel retail sector. Results: This study shows that the companies experience a high level of competition and the customer behavior to be more challenging. The people interviewed consider loyalty as important, due to the fact that recurring customers are more easily influenced, which is cost effective approach. The study also maps the current use of CRM systems and finds that small companies use relatively simple solutions. In the end the people interviewed express that they perceive that their CRM-systems influence the customers to some extent, but point out that solutions that provide customized communication would have a greater influence due to increasingly relevant content.

Le gouvernement du Québec a adopté en novembre 1999 le projet de loi 47, relatif à la Loi concernant les conditions de travail dans certains secteurs de l’industrie du vêtement et modifiant la Loi sur les normes du travail (1999, c. 57). Son entrée en vigueur eut pour effet d’abroger au 30 juin 2000 les quatre (4) décrets sectoriels de convention collective qui régissaient les conditions d’emploi d’approximativement 23 000 travailleurs affectés à la production de vêtements (gant de cuir, chemise pour hommes et garçons, confection pour hommes et pour dames). Cette recherche démontre que bien qu’inscrit dans une logique étatique de dérégulation du travail visant à favoriser la compétitivité, le maintien de normes de substitution aux décrets dans le cas du vêtement québécois ne dérive pas pour autant d’une déréglementation strictement néolibérale. Au plan plus théorique, l’émergence et le sort du régime de conditions d’emploi étudié dévoilent la nature politique du processus d’élaboration des règles salariales, qu’il soit d’origine législative ou contractuelle. Cette dynamique repose sur le caractère mouvant des relations de pouvoir et d’influence des agents engagés dans la régulation institutionnelle, où l’État est appelé à jouer un rôle de catalyseur ─ et non de tiers arbitre indépendant ─ à l’endroit des tensions qui procèdent du rapport salarial et du mode de production au sein duquel il s’inscrit. / In November 1999, the Government of Quebec has adopted the bill 47 related to the Act respecting conditions of employment in certain sectors of the clothing industry which amended the Act respecting labour standards (1999, c. 57). On June 30 2000, after the bill came into force, the four (4) sectoral decrees regulating the terms of employment of approximately 23,000 workers in apparel production were repealed (leather glove, men’s and boy’s shirt, men’s wear and ladies’s garment). This research demonstrates that even if in line with the deregulation logical of the government aiming to foster competitiveness, the continuation of replacement standards for the decrees in the Quebec’s clothing industry does not stem for all that from a fully neo-liberal deregulation. In a more academic view, the surveyed labour standards plan’s emergence and fate reveal the political nature of the wage rule determination process, legislative or contractual. This dynamics is based on the changeable characteristic of the power relationship and influence of the institutionnal actors involved in the legislative regulation where the State is destined to play an enabler role – and not as an independent referee – in regard of the pressures resulting of the wage labour relationship and the production mode in which this one is embedded.

Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles & Interior Design / Sherry J. Haar and Kim Y. Hiller Connell / Many sustainable garments do not engage wide consumer interest, nor encourage eco-conscious purchasing. Meanwhile, mass consumption of unsustainable apparel contributes to environmental degradation (Black, 2008). However, Niinimäki (2010) suggests that engaging consumers in the design and development of environmentally sustainable products could improve the balance between environmental design decisions and functional, aesthetic, and emotional qualities (Lamb & Kallal, 1992). The purpose of this practice-based research was to (a) identify apparel and environmental attitudes and consumption behaviors of potential sustainable apparel consumers, (b) generate sustainable apparel design concept and product through use of participatory design methods, and (c) evaluate the sustainable concept, product, and participatory method. The sample was 10 female university students. Consumer data was collected through an online (i.e., Facebook) ethnographic journal and a focus group. Qualitative analysis generated the target market’s ideal apparel characteristics and ideal environmental apparel characteristics as apparel offering versatility and variety within their existing wardrobes; elements expressive of their personalities; simple and inexpensive maintenance; organic or recycled materials; and less textile waste at disposal. Additionally, it was determined that participants had low knowledge of the apparel and textile industry and its environmental impacts. Generation of sustainable apparel design ideas occurred through a second focus group session. Analysis of the focus group data, combined with the researcher’s tacit sustainable design knowledge, formed a design concept. The sustainable apparel design concept was comprised of three characteristics reflective of the target market’s ideals and design suggestions: be versatile through various temperatures; social settings, and environments; be convertible through temporary adjustment of functional and aesthetic elements; and be transitional allowing the garment to be layered for greater thermal insulation without detracting from the appearance. The sustainable apparel concept was an application of the pre-existing Design for User Interaction sustainable design strategy. The sustainable apparel design concept was then applied to the development of an outerwear garment and presented to the participants and mentors as a digital sketch. The design addressed the sustainable design concept through interchangeable envelope-style shell layers, an insertable thermal core layer, a buttoned closure at the hemline and interconnecting button points for added alignment between layers. In this garment, the researcher applied participants’ suggestions of style, materials, and inclusion of a core layer. Following sketch refinement, two prototypes were constructed. The first prototype consisted of a thermal core layer and outer coat layer. Due to challenges with the core layer fabric, the second prototype modified the core layer material and style. Additionally, in the second prototype, the shell was made sleeveless and both a bolero style jacket and lining were added. Dual button fasteners connected the layers. During the third focus group session, participants evaluated the design concept, second garment prototype, and the participatory design methods. Participants noted that the design concept provided increased ease of garment care (which could potentially increase the frequency of laundering); ease of garment storage; and increased versatility through varying temperatures. Participants’ suggestions for prototype refinement included the addition of a kick-pleat and reduction of button alignment points. Prototype development did not reach completion during this study. Further refinement of the garment’s pattern and fit, implementation of additional aesthetic/functional elements, and development of an intuitive transformation are necessary. Participant evaluation of participatory methods and study participation were the use of Facebook as an online ethnographic journal made daily participation easy and allowed the researcher to become familiar with their personalities, increasing their comfort at later stages of the research. Participants felt their suggestions were evident in the garment prototype and were as involved as their experience and knowledge allowed. The only participant suggestion regarding the participatory design experience was the addition of updates informing participants of the design progress between focus group sessions. Though the concept and resulting garment were not exceedingly original, participants were pleased with the fruition of their ideas. This finding indicates a willingness to participate in the design process, supportive of participatory design.

Uppsatsen beskriver vidareutveckling av en längdskidåkningsjacka till en värmande, mer multi- funktionell jacka med avslappnad passform, i samarbete med ett svenskt konfektionsföretag specialiserat på längdskidåkning. I uppdraget ingick att undersöka hur användningsområdet kan breddas utan att jackans funktion vid längdskidåkning försämras. En kravspecifikation utformades med hänsyn till synpunkter från utövare och återförsäljare samt produktionsmässiga förutsättningar. Arbetsprocessen dokumenterades och förankrades i vetenskaplig litteratur och resultatet validerades genom framtagning av en herrjacka som möter de framtagna kriterierna. Ett funktionellt plagg måste framför allt ha riktigt bra passform och komfort; specialiserade finesser kan bli störningsmoment för den som inte behöver dem. Funktionskläder för sport, träning och friluftsliv måste ofta uppfylla höga och motsägelsefulla krav; det kan krävas extrem rörelsefrihet, hög slitstyrka men låg vikt, väderskydd men effektiv ventilation under intensiv ansträngning. Högpulsaktivitet i vinterklimat ställer särskilda krav på klädsystemets temperaturreglerings- förmåga och rörelsefrihet; båda är avgörande för såväl komfort som prestation. Litteratur- översikten behandlar därför termisk och ergonomisk komfort, mönsterkonstruktion för rörlighet, passformsutvärdering, och beräkning av viddtillägg. Jag diskuterar även behoven av konstruktionsunderlag applicerbara på funktionsplagg, systematisering av passforms- utvärdering, och preciserad terminologi. Idag krävs ofta många prototyper för att uppnå god passform, komfort och funktionalitet; denna tidskrävande och kostsamma process bör kunna effektiviseras genom dokumentation och metodstandardisering. / This bachelor’s thesis describes the development of a cross-country skiing jacket for a Swedish niche brand. The assignment required investigation of possibilities to diversify the garment’s usage range while maintaining functionality for the original target group. The concept is a warm, multifunctional men’s jacket in a relaxed fit, complementing the present collection. Market research and literature studies were used to clarify user needs, retailer requests and production constraints. Functional requirements for sportswear are tough and often contradictory: high durability at low weight, weatherproof yet breathable. It is essential, both for comfort and performance, that clothing systems for high intensity activities in cold climate have outstanding thermoregulatory properties and mobility; literature on thermal and ergonomic comfort, patternmaking for mobility, fit evaluation and garment ease is reviewed. The results were validated through the production of a sample garment, while striving to document the process methodically. Numerous samples are usually required to achieve good fit, comfort and functionality; this process tends to be especially time-consuming and costly for quality functional clothing. Benefits of consistent documentation and standardized methods are discussed, as well as the lack of precise terminology and of patternmaking texts applicable to functional garments, systematization of fitting, and fit evaluation.

Background: Internet and smartphones enable people to purchase online independent of time and place, and this have resulted in that impulsive purchases on the internet have increased. Different generations have been described to be more or less susceptible to impulse buying. Generation Y, the first generation that grew up with technology, have generally been described as impulsive, while Generation X, who were introduced to technology later in life, have been described as more rational. Further, consumers’ impulsive buying behavior has shown to be crucial and common, especially within the fashion industry. Purpose: The purpose was to investigate how Gen Y purchase apparel impulsively online compared to the older Gen X. Also, which one of them that make most apparel purchases online, and which one of them who do most web browsing of apparel. Further, the authors wanted to investigate how four different factors affect the generations’ impulsive buying behavior in the case of apparel online. These were based on an adjustment of the Revised CIFE-model. Method:  This research was conducted through a quantitative method, and seven hypotheses were formulated based on the theory. An online survey was constructed and shared through social media, and the final sample consisted of 709 respondents from both Gen X and Gen Y. These responses were analyzed through SPSS, and the hypotheses were tested by combining questions. Conclusion: The results showed that Gen Y are browsing more apparel online than Gen X, and also that they more often purchase apparel impulsively online. However, Gen X buy more apparel online in general. The findings further showed that Gen Y are more affected than Gen X by external trigger cues, normative evaluation, and internal factors when it comes to impulsive e-purchases of apparel. There was no difference between the generations’ impulse buying tendency. Findings from the open-ended questions showed that Gen X often are affected by advertising, while Gen Y are more affected by influencers. Sales and special offers influenced both generations.