<p>This essay is investigating the increasing Swedish garment export during the period 1997-2003. Despite a long-lasting national production decrease and stronger global competition Swedish designed clothing are exported at higher rates than ever. The hypothesis that this increase is due to increased trade and changed production stage specialization is investigated.</p><p>The theory used to investigate this is basic trade theory including Hecksher-Olin and New Trade theory with a focus on comparative advantage and specialization. This is completed with production theory that is particularly relevant for the garment industry: product and price competition, fashion cycles and vertical specialization.</p><p>Trade, production and labor data is analyzed according to this and the main results are based on the unit price development: exports had a much higher growth in unit prices than imports. This is indicating that Sweden has a revealed comparative advantage in capital intensive production stages, a fact further supported by high education levels and high production value per worker. The industry has chosen to focus on product competition rather than price competition and has managed to shorten its product cycles in order to better exploit the fashion</p><p>cycles. In some garment groups the image is more complex and one of the main theories of a design heavy garment such as jeans being the core of the success is revised. The export success is to a large extent due to an increasing specialization in the industry’s strong areas.</p> / <p>Den här uppsatsen undersöker tillväxten av Sveriges export i klädindustrin från 1997-2003. Trots att Sveriges klädproduktion har minskat i flera år och globalisationen tränger sig på så går svenska design plagg på högexport. Vår hypothes är att ökningen härstammar från ökad handel och specialisering i produktionsleden.</p><p>Teorier vi har använt för att undersöka fenomenet är grundläggande</p><p>handelsteorier så som Hecksher-Ohlin och New trade theory med fokus på</p><p>komperativa fördelar och specalisation. Vi har valt att komplettera med produktions theorier som vi känner är relevanta för klädindustrin: produkt och pris konkurrens, mode cykler och vertikal specialisering.</p><p>Handels-, produktions- och arbetskrafts- statistik har analyserats och</p><p>huvudresultaten är baserade på utvecklingen av enhetspris: exporten har en högre tillväxt i enhetspris än importen. Detta indikerar att Sverige har en uppenbar komperativ fördel i de kapitalintensiva produktionsleden, detta bekräftas ytterligare genom höga utbildningsnivåer och en hög produktion per arbetare. Den svenska klädindustrin har valt att fokusera mer på produktkonkurrens än priskonkurrens, den har också lyckats med att minska sina produktions cykler för att unyttja marknaden bättre. I en del grupper är bilden mer komplex och en av våra huvudteorier var att jeans stod för stora delar av exportsuccen, denna teori fick vi dock avfärda. Vad vi kom fram till var att stora delar av exportsucceen kommer ifrån en ökning av specialiseringen.</p>

There has been an increase of the consumption rate and consumers are buying garments that they dispose in too early of a stage of the product lifecycle. This has caused an increase regarding landfill of waste. The aspect of implementing environmental oriented material science and garment technology has not been taken into consideration in the design process, something that quickly became an issue when the consumption rate increased. Therefore it is essential to rethink and restructure the business models applied today. The implementation of a circular economy, which focuses on giving textiles and garments a second life and basing production on used fibres whilst not harming the natural resources in the process, is a good start of the long journey to recovery which lies ahead. Both fast fashion companies and premium lifestyle brands are nowadays applying and integrating new business models into their daily operations, Tommy Hilfiger is an example of such a company. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between material science, garment technology and the concept of circular economies from a premium lifestyle brand perspective The researcher will explore how material science and garment technology can prevent faulty items and short product lifecycles. Furthermore, the researcher will investigate how a company develops underwear collections with regards to material science, garment technology, and the concept of circular economies. The company Tommy Hilfiger will be implemented as an exponent throughout this report. Research questions: • What is the relationship between material science, garment technology, and the concept of circular economies? • What does a premium lifestyle brand take into consideration regarding the concept of circular economies when developing a collection of underwear? Methodology: This thesis was conducted by applying a qualitative method and by implementing a deductive approach. The gathering of secondary data was done through assembling suitable concepts and theories. The researcher collected the primary data through a participating observation and four qualitative interviews. The participating observation corresponded of an internship at the European headquarters of Tommy Hilfiger in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The researcher executed the interviews via email with key people within the departments of Design, Production, Central Sourcing and Production, and Corporate Responsibility. Conclusion: Material science and garment technology are correlated given that the choice of material and manufacturing technique utilized in production determines the durability and sustainability level of the fabric output. Therefore the two concepts are further correlated to the product aspect, which can enable a closed textile value chain loop, of a circular economy based business model. A premium lifestyle brand takes the aspects of design out waste, build resilience through diversity, work towards using energy from renewable sources, and think in consecutive processes into consideration regarding the concept of circular economies when developing a collection of underwear.

This thesis seeks to document the life and work of veteran Durban trade unionist Harriet Bolton, with a particular focus on the years from 1944 to 1974. Harriet Bolton lived and worked through many of the crucial developments in South Africa’s labour history, and her personal history is closely entwined with this broader history. Her recorded memories of her years as a trade unionist offer a unique ‘way in’ to revisiting South Africa’s labour history and particularly the critical period of Durban’s early 1970s. Harriet’s testimony, gathered through a series of interviews, forms a core narrative throughout the thesis. However, archive and newspaper material provide detailed contextualisation for the interviews and opportunity to gain some perspective on questions of memory and of Harriet’s own relationship with history. Her recorded memories of these years substantially concern her experience as a trade unionist, but also as a working woman who was a wife and mother, later a widow as well as an engaged citizen of Durban society through her involvement in community organisations and welfare groups. As such, deeper insight into what it meant to be a working woman of her generation is gained. An important component of the thesis is a consideration of the history and politics of the Garment Workers Industrial Union (Natal) and its workers. The union was founded by Harriet’s husband Jimmy Bolton, and was for forty years closely associated with the name and legacy of the Boltons. I examine Harriet’s leadership of this union in the context of the shifting demographics of the union, and a changed political and economic landscape in South Africa. This thesis is also concerned with the role that the Trade Union Council of South Africa played during the period under consideration. Harriet’s relationship with TUCSA and her experience as a white woman trade unionist organising black trade unions ‘within’ the structures of this organisation provide the historian with a unique perspective on TUCSA’s somewhat under-researched history. Harriet’s role as a trade unionist during the tumultuous and critical period of the early 1970s, and a consideration of her contribution to the emerging non-racial trade union movement, is an important component of the thesis. The years both pre and post the 1973 strike wave are revisited through Harriet’s lens. Insights in to the question of women’s roles and contribution to South Africa’s labour movement are generated through gaining an understanding of Harriet’s perspectives. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009

The implications of introducing shift work and flexible working hours into the UK clothing industry were examined, with special reference to the effects on personnel, plant utilisation and garment costs. A total of 37 garment manufacturing establishments, within 17 companies, were visited; 91 managers (for production and economic data)and 1018 supervisors and operatives, 87% female and 13% male, (for social data) were consulted. The main points arising from the survey are:- 1 . Social (i) The average age and length of service of respondents were respectively 30.4 and 7.1 for women and 40 and 13.9 for men. Nearly three fifths were married and over half of the women had children, most of them at school or pre-school stage. (ii) Over four fifths were committed to some kind of housework; 3 to 5 hours between 17.00 and 24.00 hours were usually spent on this task but about 9% spent more than 5 hours on it. (iii) Over half would be very much bothered by the inability to carry on their individual and/or group social activities. About two thirds would also be concerned by a change in the period of and time for sleep and meal times. Nearly two fifths used public transport for the journey to work. (iv) Only 15% had worked on multiple shifts previous to their present employment and 16% left their previous job because of being on shifts or unsuitable hours. About one fifth worked currently part-time and only 13% wanted to change their existing working system so that they might gain extra convenience and leisure in their working life. (v) The unsolicited personal choice of working systems were mainly shifts (13%), flexible working hours (14%) and part-time day work (30%); working only in school hours appeared to attract the choice of about 40% of the women. (vi) From the points above, it seemed that a high proportion of married female workers, mostly with dependent children and committed to housework, would probably react against shift work. The availability of part-time work together with the normal day work habit acquired would also affect the employees' attitudes towards the acceptance of even flexible working hours. 2. Production (i) The main problems involved with introducing shift work were considered to be sharing of equipment, bonus and piece rate payment and responsibility for quality failures. Dislike of sharing machines by operatives was considered to be a severe problem in sewing section and the extent of this dislike seemed higher in traditional rather than non traditional clothing areas; the operatives' age and length of service appeared to affect their attitudes. The smaller the period of time for each job then the less the problem of sharing payment and responsibility could become. (ii) Introduction of flexible working hours could create the difficulties of shortage and/or excess of supply of work within the production flow with interdependent operations; the extent of the problem could vary with the amount of work in progress and the period of time spent by each operative on the garment and/or its parts. Economic (i) Garment cost elements are material, labour, variable and fixed overheads (survey averages 50.6%, 24.9%, 8% and 16.5%), of which labour and variable overheads would be affected by introducing multiple shifts and only fixed overheads by flexible working hours. There should be a decrease in variable overheads per garment because of sharing a fixed amount of cost between shifts, an increase in labour cost due to shift premium and an increase in fixed overheads because of longer opening hours of the plant on flexible working hours. (ii) The capital employed on plant and machinery, C, could often be divided by the number of shifts so that this could help to increase profitability by a factor of 2 or 3. (iii) General formulae were established, using the most relevant variables, for calculating the profitability and profitability ratios of different working schemes. Generally, if the number of shifts are increased then the profitability of the plant could be very greatly increased. This was well illustrated from the calculated profitability ratios of about 2 and 3 respectively, when industrial survey values were used, for 2 and 3 shift systems replacing a single shift system. Profitability of flexible working hours would, theoretically, be less than that of single shift, but there might be some economic gains, such as reduced rates of labour turnover and absenteeism (which are currently high in the garment industry), arising from the introduction of flexible working hours.

Denna rapport vill belysa kunders problem med att hitta passande storlek när de handlar kläder i en webbutik. Fokusområdet är att undersöka om det är möjligt för kunder att ta tillförlitliga kroppsmått eller plaggmått med måttband, för att välja passande klädstorlek vid e-handel.   Först genomfördes en marknadsundersökning för att ta reda på hur klädföretag utformar sina storleksguider. Därefter utfördes en undersökning där 20 militärer deltog. De fick i uppgift att följa instruktioner för att ta kroppsmått på sig själva, ta samma mått på varandra och måtta av två utvalda plagg. Avslutningsvis fick de låta sig bli mätta av en designtekniker. Resultatet visade mycket stor spridning och flera av måtten hade ett spann från -6 cm till +6 cm i jämfört med att en professionell genomförde mätningen. En upptäckt var att vissa mätresultat blev bättre när någon annan än personen själv utförde kroppsmätningen. Deltagarna fick som avslut svara på några frågor. Hela 60 % av deltagarna i testgruppen trodde att en filminstruktion skulle ha underlättat mätningen. Slutsatsen är att det är viktigt att informera kunder hur de bör ta hjälp med att ta sina mått i användandet av storleksguiden, och att en instruktionsfilm kan underlätta mätningen. Ett komplement till kroppsmått kan vara plaggmått i storleksguiden. / The purpose of this report is to highlight customers' problems in finding the right size when shopping for clothes in an online store. The focus area is to investigate whether it is possible for customers to take accurate body measurements or garment measurements with a measuring tape in order to select appropriate clothing size in e-commerce.   A market investigation on the internet was conducted to find out how clothing companies design their size guides. Then a study took place with 20 participant soldiers. They were asked to follow the instructions for taking body measurements of themselves, to take measurements of each other and to measure two selected garments. Finally, they where measured by a garment technologist. The result showed a very large difference, and several of the measures had a span from -6 cm to +6 cm. One finding was that some measurement results were improved when someone else than themselves performed the body measuring. Afterwards the participants were asked to answer a few questions. Around 60 % of the them believed that a film instruction could facilitate the body measuring. The conclusion is that it is important to inform the customers in the size guide that it is important to get help to get as accurate measurements as possible and that an instructional film can facilitate the measuring. A complement to body measurements can be garments measurements in the size guide.

Background - Consumer individualisation is a growing challenge in the fashion industry, yet it is also an area of great potential as well as a way to dampen over-consumption. The potential lays in how fashion brands can find ways to steer consumption towards a circular economy and utilise their platform to create meaningful connections with its consumers. Today the fashion industry is looking at options to the traditional take-make-dispose model where non-renewable resources are used at an ever-increasing rate. The Swedish fashion retailer Monki together with Re:textile decided to investigate if servitization could turn the above mentioned linear model into a more sustainable, circular model. They set out to develop an in-store concept where customers could customise their garments instantaneously and this formed the basis of a project brief and a Business Model Canvas which both served as the foundation and starting point of the presented research.   Purpose - The purpose of the research is to develop and test a product extension service business model that utilises a direct to garment printer to mass customise jeans in-store. The said purpose is divided into three perspectives: the design-, service provider - and customer perspective , covering four cornerstones of the Business Model Canvas. The different perspectives with their separate, but related, research questions will be unified again in the conclusion.   Methodology - To fulfill the purpose, the thesis research is relying on abductive reasoning through systematic combining, while implementing a mixed methods approach. Systematic combining works well in extensive and diversified research where the researchers shift from one type of research activity to another in a quest to match empirical observations with theory, thus, the ultimate objective of systematic combining is matching theory with reality until both come close enough to form a functional outcome. Throughout the study, both qualitative and quantitative studies are conducted through action research, a customer case study as well as experimental research in order to fulfill the purpose of the thesis.   Findings and Discussion - The conclusions and recommendations that are presented in the form of an updated Business Model Canvas all derive from the research conducted incorporating the three perspectives that have guided the thesis through all of its stages namely the design, service provider and customer perspective. A product service extension business model is proposed as a solution to the project brief that serves as a foundation for the research. The results of the research all point to the conclusion that it is indeed possible to implement the product service extension successfully. Tests relating to the customer as well as the service provider perspective have proven themselves implementable due to low overall printing costs and fast print time enhancing the customer shopping experience. Together with an indication of product satisfaction as well as creating a strong customer-product connection through the co-design experience it contributes to a circular economy. Furthermore, the overall consistent printing costs, as well as the insignificant time differences in the experiments total time, support the implementation of a PSS in a retail setting.   Research Limitations - This research is confined to, and based on, the Monki and Re:textilebrief as well as a Business Model Canvas so therefore, no other ideas than the ones stated in the brief have been explored. The research´s inferences are limited to the given conditions as well as a laboratory setting. Further, the experimental research study will only test pocket shaped artwork on 100 percent cotton denim jeans using a Brother GTX 4 printer as a chosen direct to garment printer. The scope of the customer case study can be described as surveying as well as observing 40 of the visitors of the 2018 Fashion days and Exit at the Swedish School of Textiles while they test the proposed PSS in a mock-up retail store setting without an actual sales transaction.   Further Research - The next logical step would be to run the tests in a real-life retail store as opposed to the laboratory setting. After the proposed product service extension is implemented at scale POS data could be gathered in order to establish the customers’ true willingness to participate in the customisation experience in-store. Additionally, a longitudinal continuation of the study would give answers to some of the indications arising from the case study, such as whether the mass customisation could truly serve as a brand strengthening activity or lead to an extended garment lifecycle in reality.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo tratar do problema de encaixe de moldes da indústria do vestuário. O problema consiste no encaixe bidimensional de itens pequenos (moldes), que possuem formas irregulares, dentro de um material que será cortado, que possui forma retangular com largura fixa e comprimento variável. O principal objetivo do encaixe é minimizar o desperdício do material que será cortado, neste caso, o tecido. Para tratar o problema do encaixe bidimensional de moldes propõe-se, a partir do desenvolvimento de uma técnica de encaixe, um protótipo funcional.A concepção da técnica foi realizada com as informações obtidas nas etapas de coleta de dados: dados indiretos (Fundamentação Teórica) e dados diretos (Observações Diretas e Entrevistas com especialistas no encaixe manual). Os dados obtidos nessas etapas e, principalmente, a triangulação dos mesmos, permitiram o desenvolvimento da técnica de encaixe de moldes, que consiste em três partes: representação gráfica do tecido e dos moldes, critérios de ordenamento e construção do layout. A técnica proposta está implementada no protótipo funcional Riscare através da linguagem Delphi. Para construir a interface do Riscare, realiza-se uma avaliação da usabilidade de um software comercial com a mesma função. Os conceitos avaliados auxiliaram no desenvolvimento da interface do Riscare. A criação do protótipo funcional possibilitou a comparação da técnica proposta para o encaixe de moldes com encaixes realizados manualmente, com um software comercial e com problemas considerados benchmarks da literatura. Na maioria dos testes comparativos realizados, o Riscare obteve resultados com rendimentos superiores. Os resultados alcançados mostram a qualidade da técnica proposta e, consequentemente, do protótipo funcional desenvolvido. / The objective of this work is to deal with pattern fitting problem in garment industry. The problem is two-dimensional fitting of small items (patterns) that have irregular shapes, within a material to be cut, which has a rectangular shape with fixed width and variable length. The main purpose of fitting is to minimize the material waste, in this case the fabric to be cut. To address the problem of two-dimensional pattern fitting, a functional prototype is proposed based on the fitting technique developed. The design technique is done with the information obtained in data collection: indirect data (theoretical basis) and direct data (observations and interviews with experts in manual fitting). Data obtained in data collection and its triangulation enabled the development of the pattern fitting technique, which consists of three parts: the graphical representation of the fabric and the pattern, the ranking criteria and layout construction. The proposed technique is implemented in Riscare functional prototype, developed using Delphi programming. An usability evaluation of a similar commercial software is performed to build the Riscare interface. The criteria evaluated helped the development of Riscare interface. The development of a functional prototype allows the comparison of the proposed technique for pattern fitting with fitting performed manually, with a commercial software and literature benchmark problems. In most comparative tests, the Riscare obtains results with higher yields. The results show the quality of the proposed technique and the functional prototype developed.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo tratar do problema de encaixe de moldes da indústria do vestuário. O problema consiste no encaixe bidimensional de itens pequenos (moldes), que possuem formas irregulares, dentro de um material que será cortado, que possui forma retangular com largura fixa e comprimento variável. O principal objetivo do encaixe é minimizar o desperdício do material que será cortado, neste caso, o tecido. Para tratar o problema do encaixe bidimensional de moldes propõe-se, a partir do desenvolvimento de uma técnica de encaixe, um protótipo funcional.A concepção da técnica foi realizada com as informações obtidas nas etapas de coleta de dados: dados indiretos (Fundamentação Teórica) e dados diretos (Observações Diretas e Entrevistas com especialistas no encaixe manual). Os dados obtidos nessas etapas e, principalmente, a triangulação dos mesmos, permitiram o desenvolvimento da técnica de encaixe de moldes, que consiste em três partes: representação gráfica do tecido e dos moldes, critérios de ordenamento e construção do layout. A técnica proposta está implementada no protótipo funcional Riscare através da linguagem Delphi. Para construir a interface do Riscare, realiza-se uma avaliação da usabilidade de um software comercial com a mesma função. Os conceitos avaliados auxiliaram no desenvolvimento da interface do Riscare. A criação do protótipo funcional possibilitou a comparação da técnica proposta para o encaixe de moldes com encaixes realizados manualmente, com um software comercial e com problemas considerados benchmarks da literatura. Na maioria dos testes comparativos realizados, o Riscare obteve resultados com rendimentos superiores. Os resultados alcançados mostram a qualidade da técnica proposta e, consequentemente, do protótipo funcional desenvolvido. / The objective of this work is to deal with pattern fitting problem in garment industry. The problem is two-dimensional fitting of small items (patterns) that have irregular shapes, within a material to be cut, which has a rectangular shape with fixed width and variable length. The main purpose of fitting is to minimize the material waste, in this case the fabric to be cut. To address the problem of two-dimensional pattern fitting, a functional prototype is proposed based on the fitting technique developed. The design technique is done with the information obtained in data collection: indirect data (theoretical basis) and direct data (observations and interviews with experts in manual fitting). Data obtained in data collection and its triangulation enabled the development of the pattern fitting technique, which consists of three parts: the graphical representation of the fabric and the pattern, the ranking criteria and layout construction. The proposed technique is implemented in Riscare functional prototype, developed using Delphi programming. An usability evaluation of a similar commercial software is performed to build the Riscare interface. The criteria evaluated helped the development of Riscare interface. The development of a functional prototype allows the comparison of the proposed technique for pattern fitting with fitting performed manually, with a commercial software and literature benchmark problems. In most comparative tests, the Riscare obtains results with higher yields. The results show the quality of the proposed technique and the functional prototype developed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-01T19:11:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 114451.pdf: 3136568 bytes, checksum: 208ddf09b1f25a9800103a0e47fe7d1c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a configuração dos conteúdos de administração dos cursos superiores de moda com as demandas da indústria do vestuário. Foram mapeados os conteúdos de administração que fazem parte das matrizes curriculares dos cursos de moda de grau bacharelado de Santa Catarina e foi realizada uma pesquisa com os Coordenadores destes Cursos. Na etapa seguinte, foi realizado um estudo de caso numa Indústria do Vestuário com gestores e designers de moda que trabalham na empresa. Os dados primários foram coletados através de questionários com questões abertas e fechadas que foram aplicados com coordenadores, gestores e designers. Foi utilizado o software Sphinx para tratamento dos dados e a análise de dados é descritiva. A partir da análise e interpretação dos dados, pode-se perceber que para os gestores da indústria há a necessidade do designer de moda adquirir conhecimentos em administração, há uma preocupação em alinhar a criatividade com a gestão na proposta e desenvolvimento de produtos e os mesmos afirmam que melhores resultados provêm do trabalho do designer de moda que possui uma visão administrativa. Para os coordenadores dos cursos, é necessário que o designer de moda adquira conhecimentos em administração, os designers são preparados pelos cursos para exercerem o empreendedorismo e atuar também como gestores. Para os designers de moda, é preciso ter uma noção global da sua marca e do seu produto, entender da produção, ter visão de processos, saber elaborar preço, conhecer a logística, unir conhecimentos técnicos e criativos. Mesmo sendo considerado relevante o ensino de administração na formação do designer de moda, os conteúdos de administração representam em média 10% da carga horária total dos cursos superiores de moda em Santa Catarina. Na indústria, os gestores apontaram carências no desempenho dos designers quanto aos conteúdos de administração, assim como, os próprios designers de moda informaram não possuir domínio e precisar de apoio técnico para desenvolver algumas atividades que envolvem os conteúdos de administração. Os gestores enfatizam a necessidade de diminuir as distâncias entre indústria e instituição de ensino, como forma de melhorar a formação acadêmica do designer de moda. Na visão do gestor, o acadêmico precisa ter um período de estágio nas empresas com uma maior carga horária, para adquirir vivência e aplicabilidade do seu conhecimento à realidade, sendo fundamental aliar pesquisa e aderência ao mercado. Diante dos resultados obtidos, faz-se necessário repensar a dimensão da oferta e qualidade dos conteúdos de administração nas matrizes curriculares atuais. Este repensar precisa envolver as Universidades e as Empresas, para que haja um esforço conjunto em alinhar a demanda identificada na indústria, ratificada pelos mecanismos governamentais e estudos internacionais, a uma abordagem mais estratégica e intraempreendedora do designer de moda para que o mesmo atue no mercado nacional como peça-chave na competitividade da Cadeia Têxtil e de Confecção Brasileira.

The fashion industry is beginning to understand the need to move strategically towards sustainability. Yet there appears at present little coordination between global fashion brands and their supply chains to pursue strategic sustainable development and ensure the long term resilience of their business. We asked: What does a fashion brand need to know about its first tier suppliers in China in order to form a strategy towards sustainability? We utilised a scientific, principle-based definition of sustainability and framework to identify the underlying challenges faced by two Chinese garment factories in moving strategically towards sustainability. The challenges enabled us to inform three strategic guidelines that a fashion brand should consider when working with its supply chain towards sustainability. Research draws on literature, interviews among industry experts, interviews with a major fashion brand, and on-site workshops with two of its first-tier garment factories in China. The results of our research indicate: 1) the specific challenges factories face are commonly associated with internal corporate culture, the fashion brand’s directives, and the regulatory environment in China; 2) the fashion brand should aim to broaden its purchasing priorities, generate increased collaboration with suppliers and build awareness towards empowerment and ownership of sustainability and associated strategies and actions.