Sustainability in Luxury and Fashion Supply Chains

The supply chain revolution of the 1990s led to an increasing dependence on outsourced manufacturers and globally dispersed sub-contractors. The contextualization of fashion has also substantially changed over the years. To illustrate, luxury that used to be conceptualised by heritage, exclusivity, quality and individuality is now characterized by quick cycle of seasonal changes that provoke impulse consumption. However, global fashion operations generate a tremendous environmental footprint while the majority of sustainability risks being located at upstream levels in supply networks. Furthermore, there is a constant conflict between supply chain responsibility and overarching commercial pressures of the fashion industry. Small and medium sized enterprises are vital for global supply chain practices, as they represent more than 90% of all businesses. Yet, our research indicates that small and medium sized suppliers operating for luxury fashion in Italy encounter difficulties to meet social and environmental requests due to their limited human capital and financial resources. Besides, buying firms’ flexibility requirements negatively affect these suppliers’ supply chain sustainability performance. Subsequently, ethical and environmental supply chain practices become more difficult to implement at lower tier supply chain stages. Even though systemic changes are urgently needed to unlock responsibility, a robust guidance is needed to show how to truly integrate sustainability into luxury fashion supply chain operations. Therefore, this research creates its interdisciplinary agenda to develop illustrative yet novel strategies at the intersection of theory and practice in order to embed sustainable into luxury fashion supply chains through such fundamental pillars as circular design, clean production and transparency.