Deploying Resilience Enablers to Mitigate Risks in Sustainable Fashion Supply Chains

Chih-Hung Hsu,Wan-Ling Liu,Ting-Yi Zhang,Wei-Da Lin,An-Yuan Chang

doi:10.3390/su13052943

Abstract

The complex structure of supply chains makes them vulnerable to risk, so enhancing their resilience is an important goal. In particular, fashion supply chain research has identified two important issues that need to be addressed: sustainability and risk. However, investigation of these issues is relatively sparse and has primarily been independent with little combinatory research. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a risk mitigation method that can maximize the resilience of sustainable supply chains for fashion companies. The objective of this study is to develop an integrated quality function deployment approach and to mitigate supply chain risk by deploying resilience capabilities and resilience-enhancing features, thus ultimately providing the fashion industry with a useful approach for the development of resilient, sustainable supply chains. Using a fashion company as an example, the practicability of the proposed approach is verified. To strengthen resilience and thus mitigate key risks, it is found that the most urgent tasks are to reallocate the company’s resources, to carry out the real-time monitoring of risk on the spot, to share the risk responsibility, and to establish an incentive system. When these features are strengthened, agility and adaptability can be improved, and finally, the risks of supplier delays, natural disasters, political instability, and problematic supplier materials with the greatest impact can be alleviated. This study provides a new strategy for the fashion industry for the implementation of resilient, sustainable supply chains to mitigate risks.

Highlights

Global supply chains are complex, consisting of different organisations at multiple levels and in different geographical locations [1]
Fashion supply chains are faced with unprecedented risk due to internationalization, accelerated trend cycles, greater consumer demand for sustainability, and the need to reduce losses and increase profits in an increasingly competitive market
Economic and geopolitical uncertainty and the unpredictability of natural and human-made disasters are the current realities of the global fashion industry

Summary

Introduction

Global supply chains are complex, consisting of different organisations at multiple levels and in different geographical locations [1]. Fashion supply chains employ more than 60 million people globally and are worth more than US$2.5 trillion These supply chains are characterized by mass production and the sale of products in markets with uncertain demand [2]. In this complex environment, fashion supply chain uncertainty and risk have increased due to intense competition, the impact of globalization, the diversity of technical solutions, and the high expectations of customers [3]. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (2019), the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world It uses approximately 93 billion m3 of water every year, which is enough to meet the needs of 5 million people.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion