The Influence of Supply Chain Management in Fashion Industry

In recent years, supply chain management becomes a buzzword under the context of inevitable and ever-increasing interaction and participation among all different types of companies, especially in Fashion industry. “Supply chain management comprises the collection of actions required to coordinate and manage all activities necessary to bring a product to market, including procuring raw materials, producing goods, transporting and distributing those goods, and managing the selling process ” (Burns, Mullet, and Bryant 31). The basic purpose of supply chain management is to enhance efficiency via reducing inventory and shortening production processing (Burns, Mullet, and Bryant 32). This paper will present the advantages of application of supply chain management and strategy in fashion industry.
Sourcing serves as one of component of supply chain management. Globalization is defined as “the process whereby nations’ economies become intertwined and interdependent” (Burns, Mullet, and Bryant 33). The world is becoming much smaller than we expect, thus sourcing experts search for the most suited suppliers and track where products are distributed from all over the globe. As globalization is an inevitable trend, countries that have comparative advantage specialize in their strengths. For example, countries such as China implements mass-produce premium cotton and silk. While textile research and development is concentrated in the high-tech counties such as United States, Japan.
Quick response, a method of supply chain management, plays a crucial role in the success of fast fashion companies. Take Zara as an example. On the one hand, Zara well uses quick response in regard to customer’s demand and fashion trend (McAfee, Dessain,and Sjoman, 2007), which indicates that Zara produces new design quickly and keeps its status as leading fast

fashion brand. As a leading fast fashion brand, Zara’s success is closely associated with its fast lead-time and minimum inventory. Normally, Zara’s products are present in two weeks from drawing board to store shelf (Rachel Tiplady, 2006), since all department keep their processing fast. Keeping a small number of inventories in its entire supply chain could reduce inventory risk. Other than that, it could stimulate consumption. For instance, the scare buying may happen, and some items may be gone within a week.
Using contractor is another strategy in supply