The apparel and textile industry is one of the largest in the world and is characterised by complex, global supply chains, water and chemical intensive processes as well as environmentally harmful raw material extraction and production. Because of this, environmental sustainability has become a key issue for the businesses in recent years. With this in mind, and considering an increasing demand for textile and apparel goods, the industry is in urgent need of improving the environmental footprint of its products. However, lack of transparency and available data throughout apparel supply chains decrease chances of producing accurate sustainability assessments, which in turn obstruct improvement measures. Moreover, companies often lack the in-house competence required to manage and create strategies for sustainability assessments. In this study an overview of an apparel supply chain is provided, highlighting phases, sub phases, input and environmental indicators. Appropriate tools for assessing the environmental sustainability of such a supply chain are inventoried and examined. Based on a case study, a literature review and a stakeholder opinion assessment, misalignments between actual practices within an apparel company and recommended practices of the researcher and stakeholder communities are uncovered. These identified misalignments enabled the development of a conceptual model, aiming at facilitating the process of developing an environmental sustainability assessment strategy within an apparel company.

Background: The modern world struggles with an environmental crisis and many industry sectors could be considered as non-sustainable. The fashion industry is poorly performing both in ecological and social sustainability due to mass production and apparel waste caused by fast changing fashion. To reduce the negative impact on the ecological and social environment the United Nations developed the Sustainable Development Goals focussing on the economic, social, and ecological sustainability. The apparel industry influenced by the international organisations and the customers sustainability demands is forced to adjust its business strategy towards ecological and socially sustainable business and production. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how the brand Patagonia, a company in the fashion industry, communicates its core values and meanings in its marketing campaign focussed on sustainable production and consumption. By analysing Patagonia`s video series of the Worn Wear marketing campaign, the underlying core values and meaning building the companies brand image on topic of sustainability could be interpreted. Method: This thesis is conducted by applying interpretive thematic analysis and visual analysis by applying the study of semiotics and documentary video analysis. The employed theories allow the researcher to discover meaning and values through conducting a visual analysis. Conclusion: The results show that Patagonia Inc., communicates a total of four major and ten secondary themes on topics of both ecological and social sustainability in the Worn Wear campaign. The themes are representing the importance of slow fashion by repairing the gear and sustainable consumption. The reciprocity between adventures and sustainable environment is being mentioned, and the social and ecological factors are expounded.

To capture diverse aspects of smart shopping for apparel, a comprehensive measurement based upon (a) shopping benefits and costs, (b) consumption economics, and (c) and consumer decision making stages was developed. Employing an extensive literature review, focus group interviews, personal interviews, and surveys, we developed the three-stage, seven-dimensional, and gender-neutral smart shopping measure for apparel. The smart shopping dimensions identified were: information search and planning in the prepurchase stage; effort/time savings, right purchase, and money savings in the purchase stage; and satisfaction and word of mouth in the postpurchase stage. The measure was validated with multiple tests and a structural model validated the significance of the proposed relationships among constructs. This study expanded the conceptualization of smart shopping for apparel by investigating cost and benefit components, by uncovering specific outcome constructs, and by identifying activities that generate smart shopper feelings. Suggestions for retailers as well as future research directions are provided.

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Background: The sportswear industry has grown rapidly in the past years, with sportswear becoming a popular choice for everyday wear and sports activities. However, concerns about sustainability have emerged, prompting consumers to think about their purchasing habits. As a result, sustainable branding has become an integral part of the business of sportswear brands. Purpose: This study examines how women’s attitudes toward sustainable branding influence their purchase decisions in the sportswear industry. By focusing on women aged 20-50, the research seeks to understand the attitudes of female consumers and help sportswear brands adapt their sustainability strategies to meet consumer demand. Method: This study follows a qualitative research method with an interpretive research paradigm and an inductive research approach. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews to better understand the underlying motivations and factors that influence female attitudes. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that female consumers had negative or neutral attitudes toward the sportswear industry. However, they indicated a positive attitude towards sustainability, suggesting that the brand’s social and environmental practices can influence female consumer attitudes. The study showed a clear gap between female consumer attitudes and actual behavior, with financial constraints and other purchase criteria as barriers to purchasing sustainable sportswear.

In current supply chains, the context of subcontracting is majorly connected to unauthorised subcontracting with negative conjunction which has created the fear of discussing subcontracting. However, previous research presents subcontracting as a common practice within fashion and apparel supply chains, however, nearly no study has focused on elaborating the authorisation process. Therefore, this thesis explores the potential of authorising subcontracting to bring benefits for fashion and apparel brands, and aims to identify conditions from a brand’s perspective which need to apply for the authorisation process. Underpinned by the social exchange theory, circumstances within buyer-supplier relationships are discussed in which the ideal balance of power-dependence may lead to an open and effective communication environment for the treatment of subcontracting. Empirical data is collected through seven interviews with a qualitative research outlook. This revealed the significance of buyer-supplier relationships within which honesty, trust and transparency are building the basis for the discussion of subcontractors. Moreover, the findings further indicate that brands may have the benefit of having better capacity availability, more effective lead times, and the potential to have a broader production specialisation when embedding and authorising subcontractors. However, the conditions of keeping full control of the subcontracted production needs to be ensured by the brand directly or through the supervision of the tier 1 supplier to ensure high production quality standards. This study provides a starting point to understand the process of communicating and authorising subcontracting within brands and tier 1 suppliers which provides worthful insights for scholars and practitioners. From a theoretical perspective, this research aims to highlight the positive aspects of subcontracting for brands while leading the research stream towards the context of authorising subcontracting which has been lacking so far. In addition, from a practical perspective, this study aims to support brands and additional stakeholder groups in understanding and supporting the authorisation process. This may be the solution to tackle the issue of unauthorised and hidden subcontracting within the fashion and apparel industry.

The purpose of this study was to generalize the findings about market orientation, learning orientation, innovation and performance to the textile and apparel context in South Korea, specifically to SMEs, and, in addition, to investigate the role of informal relationships in SMEs within the presence of these other variables. This study postulates that market orientation, learning orientation, and innovation are related to performance. This study conducted a survey in South Korea, using a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, to determine the relationship of various management related variables with the SMEs' performance. Of the 200 questionnaires that were distributed, 183 were returned and178 were completed and usable for the research. Results of this study showed that components of market orientation and learning orientation were both significantly related to innovation and some components along with innovation were significantly related to South Korean apparel SMEs' performance. The proposed relationship of these factors to performance could be generalized to SMEs in the apparel industry, within the context of South Korea. / Master of Science

Although distribution and warehousing theory have been extensively studied in terms of optimisation and functional excellence the extension of these concepts into supply chain management has not been fully explored. In addition information at which decision level warehousing strategies are formed is limited. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate which supply chain drivers and subordinate variables that affect warehousing decisions and how these can be used for warehousing strategies. The findings will serve as a decision support in strategic warehouse network design. To fulfil the purpose of the thesis a case study was performed at a sportswear company contributing to the textile and apparel focus of the research. The case company is facing a potential restructure of its warehousing network as the current distribution strategy has created different constraints and complexities which have lead to problems. Through a literature review important supply chain drivers as well as warehousing variables have been identified and serve as the basis for the case company investigation conducted using interviews and a survey. The empirical findings contribute to the results by determining whether decisions regarding the variables are on a strategic, tactical or operational level. The result is a Decision Support System integrating supply chain drivers, warehousing variables and decision levels. The framework fills gaps found in the literature by defining different decision levels of warehousing and by integrating warehousing in the supply chain strategy. The Decision Support System is subsequently applied to the case company revealing areas which need to be considered and improved prior to a restructuring of its warehousing network. By using the Decision Support System a textile and apparel company can map its supply chain and warehousing strategy revealing strengths and weaknesses in the network. The Decision Support System facilitates decisions regarding warehousing and simplifies the process of moving from the strategy employed to the best practice strategy thereby increasing customer satisfaction and achieving a competitive advantage. / Program: Textilt management med inriktning styrning av textila värdekedjor

The thesis investigates the reasons behind the proliferation of non-governmental systems of labour regulation in the textile and apparel industry in the USA, European Union and Turkey. The aim of the study is to identify the main structural factors, strategies and agencies which drive the process for the emergence of these systems within the confines of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) discourse and assess their effectiveness and sustainability as a form of regulation. The thesis concludes that the incapability of the traditional institutions to regulate and equalize labour standards throughout the buyer-driven apparel value chains played a key role in the search for new regulatory mechanisms. Among many alternatives, the contests and compromises between different strategies constrained by the current structural factors resulted in the dominance of non-governmental systems of regulation resting on the extension of regulatory authority from the public to the private institutions. However, whilst filling some gaps between the organization of production and existing regulatory institutions through transforming into more collective forms, these systems tend to supplement the traditional institutions of regulation in a period of crisis rather than replacing them, since their scope fall short for solving the problems of standardization, equalization and generalization of the labour standards and their associated costs.

Title: Conscious purchasing - Securing the purchasing process in the apparel industry Authors: Jakob Bank, Emma Sjödoff and Helena Zebergs Tutor: Roger Stokkedal Examiner: Helena Forslund Background: There has been several scandals within the apparel industry and due to this brand owners of apparel companies has started to offer their customers’ alternative products, which has been manufactured in a more conscious and sustainable way. The purchasing process has thereby become more complex including multiple criteria such as social and environmental considerations which have to be fulfilled by their suppliers. Purpose: To describe how Swedish brand owners of apparel companies select their supplier for their conscious collections, which sustainability policies they include in contracts with their selected suppliers and how they evaluate these suppliers in regard to the brand owners’ policy on sustainability. Method: This thesis was conducted using qualitative semi-structured interviews and a deductive approach. Several sampling methods was used which led to the involved companies who were interviewed through both structured as well as semi-structured interviews. Conclusion: Swedish brand owners of apparel companies select their suppliers based on how well they fulfil their demands, and if there is a possibility to establish a long term relationship. They include different sustainability policies in their contracts, but all suppliers need to approve the brand owners CoC as well as use organic cotton. The evaluation visits are conducted, but the evaluation responsible, how often it takes place and the duration of the visit depends on the brand owner.