Cross-Industry Learnings: What Fashion Retail Can Learn from the Used-Car Industry
The purpose of this research is to explore current boundaries of the fashion industry’s second hand market and which solutions and approaches can be adopted from the used-car industry. The paper is based on the study of existing literature which deals wit
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Cross-Industry Learnings: What Fashion Retail Can Learn from the Used-Car Industry Jochen Strähle and Maria Höhn
Abstract The purpose of this research is to explore current boundaries of the fashion industry’s second hand market and which solutions and approaches can be adopted from the used-car industry. The paper is based on the study of existing literature which deals with sustainability in combination with second hand markets in general and adaptable feature of the used-car industry. Adaptable features are found using the business model canvas. The key finding of this study indicates that the fashion industry faces immense social and environmental challenges which can be partly solved by the development of the second hand market. Used-car industry can be seen as role model for fashion retail. In this study only aspects of used-car distribution are highlighted; therefore, characteristics of the recycling of used cars are not examined.
Keywords Sustainability Fashion Used-car industry Cross-industry learnings Reverse logistics Extended loop
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Second hand
Introduction
The companies of the fashion industry are facing more and more social and environmental challenges. Therefore, an increasing number is experimenting with new products, processes, and business models. Enterprises are exploring alternatives to conventional methods and new technologies, for instance, the reduction of water consumption in the finishing process, cradle-to-cradle principles, various take-back systems or the transformation of used materials into new products. By initiatives like this, fashion industry is breaking with its current strait system and stops fashion products end up on the landfill. These innovations are not only a benefit for society J. Strähle (&) M. Höhn School of Textiles and Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen, Germany e-mail: [email protected] M. Höhn e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017 J. Strähle (ed.), Green Fashion Retail, Springer Series in Fashion Business, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2440-5_9
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and environment, but can also be an advantage for the economic situation of a fashion company, its profit, growth and competitiveness (Pedersen and Andersen 2013). However, up to now there is no perfect solution to meet the expectations of consumers, non-profit organizations (NGOs) and companies. Fashion industry’s second hand market contains a lot of potential though. In the past the second hand market was limited to some small second hand shops, consolidated containers and clothing stores. Nowadays, it is becoming more and more a profitable business model. Nevertheless, there are no statistics, numbers or sales figures of this branch since the business sector of the second hand market is underdeveloped. But how is it possible to take even more advantage of these opportunities? Also other industries are facing the challenge of being sustainable and are trying to close the loop of their supply chain. Therefore,
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