Fashion Cycles Research Articles

Dividend Taxation and Financial Business Cycles

We examine the interactions between different dividend tax systems and financial shocks in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model with an occasionally-binding investment credit limit. We show that dividend taxes largely determine the collateral value of assets, thereby occasionally distorting investment decisions and altering the propagation of financial shocks. Permanently lower dividend taxes dampen financially-driven business cycles in a state-contingent fashion. They also help explain substantial macroeconomic asymmetries following equally-sized expansionary and contractionary financial shocks.

Innovations and Opportunities in Sustainable Textile Recycling

Waste or wastage is the term for materials that remain unutilized after a product's initial use or process completion. It is a type of substance that is worthless, ineffective, or flawed. Thus, material that loses its value or becomes unusable after the creation of any textile product has concluded is referred to as textile waste. Produce waste occurs during all phases of the textile production process, including spinning, weaving, knitting, dying, finishing, and garment making. This study examines the effects textile waste on the environment and the difficulties in recycling procedures within the industry, which is crucial for the world economy and ecosystem. It is crucial to move towards a circular economy model since the textile industry produces a lot of trash because of its fast fashion cycles and high levels of production to meet demand. This study emphasizes the textile industry's significant environmental impact. The conclusions show that although textile recycling can help lessen the industry's environmental impact, there are still a number of obstacles to overcome, including the need for low-grade materials to have commercially viable recycling processes, the high cost of recovery procedures, and the logistical and technical challenges associated with separating fiber blends. In order to deal with these issues, the study emphasizes how crucial it is to develop environmentally friendly procedures and cutting-edge recycling technologies.

Research on Using the SICAS Model to Analyse the Zara Marketing Strategy

The rapid evolution of the fashion industry in recent decades has been characterised by the rise of fast fashion, which challenges the traditional bi-annual fashion cycle by producing and disseminating new styles in a much shorter timeframe. Fast fashion democratises the fashion world, making trendy clothing accessible and affordable to a broader audience. A principal player in this transformation is Zara, conceptualised by Amancio Ortega, which grew from a small shop in A Coruna to a worldwide retail empire, epitomising the ethos of "instant fashions". This transition in the industry parallels shifts in consumer behavior models. Historically, the AIDA model suggested a progression from Attention to Interest, Desire, and Action. However, with the advent of the Internet, this model has evolved. The AISAS model, proposed in 2005, adjusts for the digital age by including the Search, Action, and Share stages. This was further modified to the SICAS model in 2011, encompassing stages of Sense, Interest and Interactive, Connection and Communication, Action, and Sharing. This model delineates the steps of brand-consumer interaction in today's digital age, emphasising the significance of connectivity, communication, and sharing in the consumer's purchasing journey. The article introduces the Zara marketing strategy based on the SICAS model.

Retro Fashion Trend Study on Café Chair Design for Generation Z in Surabaya

This article delves into the integration of retro fashion trends in chair design within Surabaya's café scene. Employing a descriptive qualitative research approach, this study seeks a profound comprehension of the impact of retro fashion trends on chair design. Data collection methods encompass theory development, observations, interviews, and questionnaire surveys. The analysis is rooted in predefined outcome variables. The study's findings underscore the substantial influence of the retro fashion trend on café chair design in Surabaya. Notably, Generation Z's consumer demand, characterized by heightened consumerism and a penchant for contemporary trends, plays a pivotal role in shaping fashion cycles and lifestyle choices. The enduring appeal of the retro trend, spanning from the 1970s to the present, resonates strongly with Generation Z, especially those who harbor nostalgic inclinations. Furthermore, the adaptation of retro fashion trends remains pertinent as a significant segment of the population still gravitates toward styles from the 1970s to the 1990s. This research reveals that Surabaya's café chair designs adeptly incorporate retro elements, encompassing material selection, silhouettes, colors, and styles. By seamlessly amalgamating these retro elements with contemporary influences, these chair designs effectively captivate consumers, fostering an inviting and appealing ambiance within the café environment.

Challenging perceptions of fast and slow in contemporary fashion: A review of the paper dresses trend in the United Kingdom and the United States during the 1960s

Writing in 2022 we are at a global crisis point, as our use of the planet’s finite resources outstrips supply. Our current lifestyles continue to perpetuate this problem by encouraging excessive and wasteful models of consumption. One of the most detrimental industries for this is the clothing industry. Our fashion cycle is now programmed to be ‘ultra-fast’, encouraging excessive consumption of garments causing myriad environmental issues. This article argues that there are developing models of both manufacture and consumption, which can satiate this need for ‘fast’ fashion whilst being part of the wider sustainable fashion conversation. Rather than understanding the short-term life cycle of clothing as inherently unsustainable, this can be reframed as matching a garment’s use phase to the longevity of the material it is made from. This article uses a material culture approach to explore original 1960s paper garments, alongside a critical analysis of the sustainability of their manufacture and disposal from a green chemical perspective. Using the combined knowledge and experience of its authors, from historians and sustainable fashion designers to green chemists and biochemical engineers, this article demonstrates how such garments could inspire new models of sustainable fashion production and consumption. We argue that the current paradigm of slow fashion as the only antidote to fast fashion must be challenged. Instead, the fashion and textile sector must consider a range of solutions to the environmental burden of fast fashion that are human-centred and sympathetic to all consumer demographics and needs.

Breaking the cycle: A sustainable fashion paradigm

The fashion system fundamentally changed during the Industrial Revolution when the industry pivoted away from traditional craft-based production and towards mechanization and mass production. The design process, manufacturing operations, retail practices and marketing tactics of mass production contributed over time to the current climate crisis. Globally, the fashion system is acknowledged as an environmental and social emergency. Thus, the fashion system needs to get with the times. Fashion as a reflection of modernity needs to align with globally recognized social and environmental goals. Societal attachment to materialism and fashion consumption should be reconsidered. In this article we consider these challenges to propose a paradigm that breaks the fashion cycle and provides a framework for the role fashion producers and consumers should play in the twenty-first century.

SUSTAINABLE FASHION FROM PRODUCT SERVICE SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Fast fashion perpetuates the perception that clothing products are cheap and are easily disposed of. Consequently, the fashion industry contributes great concern for environmental impact. Product-service system (PSS) may serve as an integrated product-service solution to support sustainable fashion. While there is an increasing trend in PSS studies, the literature studies in fashion PSS remains limited. This paper aims to explore the research topics in fashion PSS studies by examining topics addressed in fashion PSS literature, how PSS may contribute to sustainability in the context of the fashion industry, as well as positive and negative value perceived consumers in adopting PSS fashion. The research is conducted through literature review retrieved from Scopus and analyzed according to the aim of this paper. The results show that topics addressed in fashion PSS are related to potential drivers and barriers to adopt PSS fashion, business model, environmental impact, and life cycle analysis. The role of PSS in the fashion context is product and use-oriented. The consumer perception on adopting PSS fashion is classified as emotional, functional, social, financial, environmental, and psychological aspects.

SUSTAINABLE FASHION FROM PRODUCT SERVICE SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Fast fashion perpetuates the perception that clothing products are cheap and are easily disposed of. Consequently, the fashion industry contributes great concern for environmental impact. Product-service system (PSS) may serve as an integrated product-service solution to support sustainable fashion. While there is an increasing trend in PSS studies, the literature studies in fashion PSS remains limited. This paper aims to explore the research topics in fashion PSS studies by examining topics addressed in fashion PSS literature, how PSS may contribute to sustainability in the context of the fashion industry, as well as positive and negative value perceived consumers in adopting PSS fashion. The research is conducted through literature review retrieved from Scopus and analyzed according to the aim of this paper. The results show that topics addressed in fashion PSS are related to potential drivers and barriers to adopt PSS fashion, business model, environmental impact, and life cycle analysis. The role of PSS in the fashion context is product and use-oriented. The consumer perception on adopting PSS fashion is classified as emotional, functional, social, financial, environmental, and psychological aspects.

Analytical Study of Sources of Textile Waste for Its Upcycling

In recent years, there have been increasing concerns in the disposal of textile waste around the globe. The growth of textile markets not only depends on population growth but also depends on economic and fashion cycles. The fast fashion cycle in the textile industry has led to a high level of consumption and waste generation. Textile waste is a material that's supposedly unworkable for its original purpose by the proprietor. Textile waste is produced in every phase of the cloth manufacturing process like spinning, weaving, dyeing, finishing, garment manufacturing and indeed at the consumer end.The textile industry has two sections, the study has been conducted one is the textile industry and second is the apparel industry. This paper consists of information about the textile industry, textile waste, garments waste. Also, the reason behind this problem has been discussed in this paper and how it can be resolved for the least harm to the environment. Various methods to reduce textile waste are also discussed such as Prolonging the life of your clothes, preventing textile waste starts with buying less, Repair, Upcycle, Swap, Donate, Recycle and Buy less and make it last. Data was collected from the study that has been conducted through the secondary sources by studying the research paper related to textile waste titles. 5 Garments Export Houses were interviewed for this research paper. A brief understanding of upcycling of textile waste and discarded garments is discussed in this paper.

Apparel 4.0: A Review of the Apparel Industry’s Adoption of Frontier Technologies

The Textile & Apparel (T&A) industry has been recognized for its modest shifts. This review paper, however, has examined the state of the apparel industry’s technology adoption, with special reference to 4IR technologies and fast-evolving market preferences in the post-pandemic era. Based on an extensive literature survey, the study concludes that the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies have started gaining ground and disrupting the global apparel value chain. Likewise, Covid-19 too has brought considerable disruptions, driving organizational changes faster than ever. On one hand, Covid-19 has caused a significant adverse impact on the apparel industry, impacting brands, producers, and workers across the world. On the other hand, it has accelerated the adoption of frontier technologies by the industry. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is transforming the apparel sector in design, development, production, supply chain, and marketing value segments. Besides process automation, frontier 4IR technologies such as 3D knitting and printing, robotics and intelligent manufacturing, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, business analytics, IoT, etc., have started shaping the future of the T&A industry. The paper should be of interest to both market actors (e.g., producers and marketers) and market facilitators (e.g., policymakers and academia). Keywords: Textile & Apparel (T&A) industry, Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), COVID-19, frontier technologies, fashion cycle, automation, biotechnology, apparel 4.0 DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-22-04 Publication date: November 30 th 2022

Advertising Cycling to Manage Exclusivity Loss in Fashion Styles

How Should Fashion Brands Use Advertising to Increase Sales while Remaining Exclusive? Fashion consumption signals a consumer’s status to the broader population, so fashion brands and their consumers value exclusivity. Consequently, fashion advertising must balance sales generation with exclusivity loss. In this paper, we develop a model with these features of fashion and estimate it using advertising, price, and sales data for two styles of handbags and sunglasses. Our analysis provides insights for advertising budgeting and scheduling and finds that advertising optimally should decrease as the product increases in popularity and vice versa. This exerts a braking force on sales oscillations so that the fashion cycle decays as does the optimal advertising path. In addition to demonstrating how advertising cycling can impact a fashion firm’s profitability, we show how different styles of a fashion brand can cycle at different rates. By connecting advertising cycles to fashion cycles, we provide prescriptions for how fashion firms should manage different styles of the same brand.

OPTIMIZATION OF FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEGREE OF SAGGING IN PILISOLEY TECHNIQUE

The use of clothing, starting from prehistoric times with the instinct of covering and protecting from natural events and attacks, is a lively fashion item that reflects the characteristics of individuals and society. Designers keep the fashion cycle alive by ensuring the continuity of innovations. Techniques such as drape, pleat and crease are the techniques that emerged as a result of the search for innovation and have been used in clothing for centuries. Pleat is the process of folding, patterning and shaping natural and synthetic-based fabrics passed between molds or rollers under high heat.
 In this study, pleating methods used in clothing were researched and examples of the Pilisoley technique, which is predominantly used within Vakko, were discussed. Pilisoley is formed by ironing pleats in accordion-like appearance on fabric cut from a slant. Pilisoley clothing often have a "sagging problem". Through this study, it is aimed to reach the correct cut values at once, to prevent sagging and unnecessary fabric consumption, and to save time accordingly.

Referencing Historical Practices and Emergent Technologies in the Future Development of Sustainable Textiles: A Case Study Exploring “Ardil”, a UK-Based Regenerated Protein Fibre

We are currently experiencing a global environmental crisis. Our waste culture is leading to huge irreversible damage to our planet and ecosystems. This is particularly evident in both the textile and food sectors, with a system-wide restructuring as to how we consume and source materials becoming ever more urgent. By considering our waste as resource, we can access a vast source of raw materials that is now being recognised as such. Viable materials in the form of waste have the potential for conversion into textiles. However, this proposed solution to our contemporary crisis is not new technology. Throughout the 20th century, science and industry have researched and developed materials from food waste to meet global demand for textiles in times of need, with a major development during the world wars being the invention of regenerated protein fibres (RPFs). For various reasons, this research was abandoned, but much of the development work remains valid. This research critically analyses work that has previously been done in the sector to better our understanding of the historical hindrances to the progression of this technology. By applying modern thinking and scientific advances to historical challenges, there is the potential to overcome previous barriers to utilising food waste as a resource. One of the key influences in the discontinuation of RPFs was the rise of petrochemical textiles. Our current understanding of the detriment caused by petrochemicals warrants a further review of historical emergent technologies. This paper uses Ardil fibre as a case study, and shows that there is a clear disparity between the location of historic research and where the research would now be helpful. Ardil was a British-made product, using peanuts sourced from the British Empire as the source of protein. Techniques used in the processing of Ardil could be better utilised by countries and climates currently producing large amounts of peanut byproducts and waste. Through this research, another historical concern that thwarted Ardil’s acceptance as a mainstream fibre was discovered to be its poor tensile strength. However, contemporary garment life cycles are far shorter than historical ones, with built-in obsolescence now being considered as a solution to fast fashion cycles by matching the longevity of the fibre to the expected use phase of the garment, but ensuring suitable disposal methods, such as composting. This research highlights the need for cross-disciplinary collaboration between sectors, with a specific focus on the wealth of valuable information available within historical archives for modern sustainability goals.

Possible Signature of Sausage Waves in Photospheric Bright Points

Sausage waves have been frequently reported in solar magnetic structures such as sunspots, pores, and coronal loops. However, they have not been unambiguously identified in photospheric bright points (BPs). Using high-resolution TiO image sequences obtained with the Goode Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory, we analyzed four isolated BPs. It was found that their area and average intensity oscillate for several cycles in an in-phase fashion. The oscillation periods range from 100 to 200 seconds. We interpreted the phase relation as a signature of sausage waves, particularly slow waves, after discussing sausage-wave theory and the opacity effect.

An investigative study to style reading: The style of Cristobal Balenciaga interpreted by contemporary fashion designers

Aim: Historical fashions are re-created repeatedly and put into the new fashion cycle. It is a constant activity. Haute couture or high-end designers’ masterpieces are subjected to study by many contemporary fashion designers as a granary of design concepts. Cristobal Balenciaga (1895- 1972), also known as the king of haute couture, has made many revolutionary fashions in his design career. The combination of his technical brilliance and aesthetic taste gifted many extraordinary innovations to the fashion world. His works remain undying and more influential to every designer in the fashion industry. The study aims to identify characteristics of Balenciaga’s designs and investigate the contemporary interpretations of them, analyzing Greth Pugh (1981) and Demna Gvasalia (1981); the contemporary fashion designers .Methodology: The research is a qualitative approach. This research is carried out by investigating masterpieces of the designers, the scholar’s works, photographs, fashion, museum websites and web articles, books, video documentaries as well as informative videos from the YouTube channels such as Met and V&A and a few runway shows have watched (Balenciaga Fall winter 16, Gareth Pugh A/W 17) to get more understanding about the contemporary designers’ work. Relevant information is gathered and analyzed systematically and observed to filter the relevant data for the research.Findings: When comparing the works of these 1950’s Master and contemporary designers, it is visible that the foundation of the contemporaries has developed and established with Cristobal Balenciaga’s ideology. It was found that the selected designers have taken direct inspiration from master Balenciaga. The ideation of Cristobal Balenciaga’s masterpieces has become the roots of these two contemporary designers’ works, and they have rejuvenated these ideologies according to modern times by combining the new technologies and concepts. However, the superiority of Balenciaga remains the same.Implications/Novel Contribution: This research links and changes between Cristobal Balenciaga and contemporary designers have analyzed to conclude different perceptions of how the same style can be reinterpreted over time.

Unique Fashion Not: Uniqlo’s Commercial Success in Taiwan

Uniqlo, Japan’s largest fashion brand, operates over 2200 stores internationally; however, it is largely pan-Asian as 92% of the stores are in Asia. Taiwan is no exception where the notion of fashion, rather than clothing, originally arrived under Japanese rule in the early twentieth century. After being independent of Japan in the mid-twentieth century, many Taiwanese still preferred Japanese rather than Western designs and trends due to the cultural similarities between Taiwan and Japan. This became further evident when Uniqlo opened its first Taiwanese store in 2010. However, Uniqlo’s business model of providing simple design products of high quality can be explained by neither Laver’s Law of fashion cycle nor the strategy of European fast fashion brands that offer fast cycle fashion items without guaranteeing quality. To discover motives and reasons behind the Taiwanese mindset, we have conducted 15 interviews, including two with former Uniqlo workers, at various locations in Taiwan. We then conclude that Taiwanese consumers seek quality clothes from Uniqlo, tangible features of clothing rather than symbolic elements of fashion.

Additive manufacturing in the apparel supply chain — impact on supply chain governance and social sustainability

PurposeFocusing on the apparel industry, this study extends current knowledge on how additive manufacturing (AM) may impact global supply chains regarding structures of interorganizational governance and the industry's social-sustainability issues.Design/methodology/approachFollowing an exploratory research design, two consecutive Delphi studies, with three survey rounds each, were conducted to carve out future industry scenarios and assess AM's impact on supply chain governance and social sustainability.FindingsThe implementation of AM is posited to reinforce existing supply chain governance structures that are dominated by powerful apparel retailers. Retailers are expected to use the increased production speed and heightened market competition to enforce faster fashion cycles and lower purchasing prices, providing a grim outlook for future working conditions at the production stage.Social implicationsAgainst the common narrative that technological progress increases societal well-being, this study finds that new digital technologies may, in fact, amplify rather than improve existing social-sustainability issues in contemporary production systems.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the nascent research field of AM's supply chain impact as one of the first empirical studies to analyze how AM introduction may impact on interorganizational governance while specifically addressing potential social-sustainability implications. The developed propositions relate to and extend the resource dependence and stakeholder perspectives on governance and social sustainability in supply chains. For managers, our results enrich the discussion about the potential use of AM beyond operational viability to include considerations on the wider implications for supply chains and the prevailing working conditions within them.

The cultural role of diplomats in an age of war: French fashion in Vienna under Leopold I

ABSTRACT The annual fashion cycle of Louis XIV’s court was the starting point of the French domination and economic supremacy in Europe’s textile and fashion sector. This paper examines the specific circumstances under which French fashion captured the Viennese elite market despite the dynastical and political antagonism between the houses Habsburg and Bourbon. It examines the networks of Habsburg diplomats that organized decisive transfers of fashion items. In contrast to dynastically linked courts or political allies such as Munich, London and Stockholm, the Viennese example highlights the planned activities of French diplomats in Vienna as cultural brokers, several diplomatic and practical barriers notwithstanding. It likewise reveals the informal strategies of the French envoy’s wives, household staff and valets in distributing textiles and fashion within the imperial family and the court nobility. It offers an intriguing example of how cultural diplomacy created ways to communicate with the enemy, when the official diplomatic channels were closed off.

An Exact Method for the Minimum Feedback Arc Set Problem

A feedback arc set of a directed graph G is a subset of its arcs containing at least one arc of every cycle in G . Finding a feedback arc set of minimum cardinality is an NP-hard problem called the minimum feedback arc set problem . Numerically, the minimum set cover formulation of the minimum feedback arc set problem is appropriate as long as all simple cycles in G can be enumerated. Unfortunately, even those sparse graphs that are important for practical applications often have Ω (2 n ) simple cycles. Here we address precisely such situations: An exact method is proposed for sparse graphs that enumerates simple cycles in a lazy fashion and iteratively extends an incomplete cycle matrix. In all cases encountered so far, only a tractable number of cycles has to be enumerated until a minimum feedback arc set is found. The practical limits of the new method are evaluated on a test set containing computationally challenging sparse graphs, relevant for industrial applications. The 4,468 test graphs are of varying size and density and suitable for testing the scalability of exact algorithms over a wide range.

Demand cycles and heterogeneous conformity preferences

We explore the dynamics of demand for n designs of a good when agents have preferences for (anti-)conformity. Agents differ in their social status and each agent seeks to imitate those of higher status and to distinguish herself from those of lower status, relative to her own status. In each period, every agent chooses a design given each agent's demand in the previous period. We show that demand dynamics resemble fashion cycles: The demand for designs is repetitively bell-shaped over time, and, when positively demanded, a design trickles from high- to low-status individuals. At least for n=3, the demand dynamics converge to a unique limit cycle. We obtain a similar (though weaker) convergence result for n=4, and simulations suggest that the result holds for n=4 and 5.