Offshore Outsourcing in Fast Fashion Companies: A Dual Strategy of Global and Local Sourcing?

Elisa Arrigo ()
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Elisa Arrigo: University of Milano-Bicocca

A chapter in Eurasian Business and Economics Perspectives, 2021, pp 73-86 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Previous academic research highlighted that cost and time represent key factors to consider in fast fashion manufacturing outsourcing decisions. In fact, fast fashion companies were proven to combine local and global sourcing to reduce their manufacturing cost and be able to rapidly meet customer needs. However, in the last years, fast fashion companies have often been criticized for adopting irresponsible behaviors in their offshore sourcing activities. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the sourcing strategies of fast fashion companies in order to understand whether a dual strategy of global and local sourcing is still followed and whether new additional factors may have recently influenced their outsourcing strategies. By adopting a qualitative research methodology, a multiple case study of fast fashion companies was carried out. The findings revealed that fast fashion companies do not perform constantly a dual sourcing strategy and, despite cost and time still represent key factors characterizing their manufacturing outsourcing, also social and environmental sustainability aspects appear to be currently assessed by companies to achieve a strategic sourcing orientation.

Keywords: Offshoring; Global sourcing; Fast fashion; Global markets; Fashion industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:eurchp:978-3-030-77438-7_5

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-77438-7_5

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