This article seeks to contribute to the literature on circular business model innovation in fashion retail. Our research question is which ‘model’—or combination of models—would be ideal as a business case crafting multiple value creation in small fashion retail. We focus on a qualitative, single in-depth case study—pop-up store KLEER—that we operated for a duration of three months in the Autumn of 2020. The shop served as a ‘testlab’ for action research to experiment with different business models around buying, swapping, and borrowing second-hand clothing. Adopting the Business Model Template (BMT) as a conceptual lens, we undertook a sensory ethnography which led to disclose three key strategies for circular business model innovation in fashion retail: Fashion-as-a-Service (F-a-a-S) instead of Product-as-a-Service (P-a-a-S) (1), Place-based value proposition (2) and Community as co-creator (3). Drawing on these findings, we reflect on ethnography in the context of a real pop-up store as methodological approach for business model experimentation. As a practical implication, we propose a tailor-made BMT for sustainable SME fashion retailers. Poldner K, Overdiek A, Evangelista A. Fashion-as-a-Service: Circular Business Model Innovation in Retail. Sustainability. 2022; 14(20):13273. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013273
DOCUMENT
Small medium enterprises represent the largest share of revenues in the apparel and fashion business, compared to larger integrated companies. Small companies however often have to rely on larger suppliers in order to efficiently produce their products. These larger suppliers however will often prioritize companies that place larger orders. In the impossibility to deliver larger orders, how can these buyers make sure that a producer complies with their requests? In this paper we try to answer this question by applying concepts from the marketing channels literature to the specific context of fashion buying. We conclude that despite that the peculiarities of the fashion business do not foster the formation of long-term commitment, dependent companies can develop sources of power based on knowledge and reputation, but also based on applying non-mediated ways to manage the buyer-seller relationship. Examples of possible power sources for a buyer are: establishing a strong brand that a business partner will use in promoting its proposition, forcing suppliers to make transaction specific investments (which are not redeploy able), specializing in new products and technologies that a supplier will want to understand and use, developing knowledge that can be exchanged in the form of specialized personnel, investing in standardization of communication before the relationship starts in order to reduce administrative costs for both parties. Power sources are most effective when non-mediated, i.e. informal and based on reciprocity; ‘hard’ contracts with punishments (coercive power sources) in case of non-compliance will diminish the willingness to collaborate.
DOCUMENT
While consumers have become increasingly aware of the need for sustainability in fashion, many do not translate their intention to purchase sustainable fashion into actual behavior. Insights can be gained from those who have successfully transitioned from intention to behavior (i.e., experienced sustainable fashion consumers). Despite a substantial body of literature exploring predictors of sustainable fashion purchasing, a comprehensive view on how predictors of sustainable fashion purchasing vary between consumers with and without sustainable fashion experience is lacking. This paper reports a systematic literature review, analyzing 100 empirical articles on predictors of sustainable fashion purchasing among consumer samples with and without purchasing experience, identified from the Web of Science and Scopus databases.
MULTIFILE
