Does Mass Customization Enable Sustainability in The Fashion Industry?
Does Mass Customization Enable Sustainability in The Fashion Industry?
Does Mass Customization Enable Sustainability in The Fashion Industry?
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Abstract
Fashion industry evolves today as one of the largest yet among the top of the
most polluted industries in the world. Fashion has become cheap and affordable;
hence, the consumption has risen to an unsustainable level. Water and energy
consumption, hazardous chemical usage, resource depletion, and waste generation
are among the key environmental impacts created by the fashion industry. To foster
the sustainability in the fashion industry, development of new business models that
minimize the environmental damage is urged. This chapter reviews the possibility
of a mass customization strategy to become a sustainable business model in the
fashion industry. Seven key elements that could possibly enhance sustainability are
discussed, and it is concluded that further advancement of technologies and grow-
ing consumer desires to purchase sustainable products will make mass customiza-
tion a viable sustainable business model.
In today’s fashion market, consumer’s desire has been changed from purchasing
a mass-produced apparel to a more personalized garment with the right fit and
preferred design. This growing desire of product personalization demands apparel
manufacturers to move away from mass manufacturing to mass customization
[1]. Mass customization in the apparel industry refers to producing a personalized
style by adopting individual consumer taste, at the right time and at the right cost.
In mass manufacturing, high volumes of identical items are produced, yet in mass
customization, unique items are produced for individual customer desires [2, 3] for
a relatively large market, yet with efficiency comparable to mass manufacturing
[4, 5]. Mass customization is also described as a technology-assisted production
process where customers are given the opportunity to modify the traditional mass
production process to produce their preferred design and fit [6]. Glimore and
Pine define this as a collaborative approach where the manufacturer customizes a
product based on customer desires identified through a proper dialog [7]. Davis
first brought up the concept of mass customization; emphasizing new technologies
will facilitate manufacturing customized products in mass basis [8]. As Nayak et al.,
argue, apparel purchasing is rapidly moving out of the physical domain into the
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Does Mass Customization Enable Sustainability in the Fashion Industry?
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The time period a garment is used by the consumer depends on various complex
factors; yet the degree of consumer attachment to the product is definitely a one key
factor, as discussed in Section 3.1. During the customization process, unlike in mass
manufacturing, customer attachment to the product is already built up with the
involvement of the customer as a co-designer. This sense of ownership and belong-
ingness, together with the uniqueness of the product, make the consumer keeps the
garment for a longer period than a mass-manufactured garment with a standard
design.
Moreover, mass-manufactured cheap clothing has increasingly become dispos-
able commodities over the last decade. Herein, fashion clothing is meant to be
bought, worn once or twice, and quickly disposed of. Availability of clothing in
mass scale at affordable prices pushed consumers for unsustainable purchasing
and consumption behaviors and invited them to become a part of a throw-away
culture. Fast cycle fashion products tend to be manufactured in such a way that
the consumers are pushed for short product life cycles, where the quality is
compromised for low cost. This led to create high volumes of waste generated in
monthly or even weekly basis, pausing environmental threats. Even though it has
been emphasized that improving the product quality and increasing selling prices
would slow down the damage, growing competition among retailers to increase
the sale volumes pushed them for a price competition, where clothing has become
cheaper and affordable across consumer segments than ever before. Consumption
has become a habit, and clothing is bought for fun, entertainment, and even for
single use; thus, long term attachment to the product appears to be impossible to
achieve [27].
In contrast, many researchers highlighted the customers’ growing desires to pay
a premium price for a long-lasting, personalized product [28, 29]. This is mostly
associated with the consumers’ willingness to express their individuality through
what they wear. When a customer pays a premium price for such a personal-
ized product, it is no longer fallen under the category of disposable commodity.
Moreover, the product is carefully thought through in the design stage and the
price reflects the design and quality, and thus customer satisfaction regarding the
product becomes high. This satisfaction motivates the consumer to pay additional
price, keep the garment for a longer time than usual, and avoids frequent purchas-
ing of cheap, mass-produced and low-quality clothing. Therefore, through the
mass customization strategy, there is a possibility of extending the use phase of the
garment life and reducing the environmental burden created by ever-increasing
resource extraction for fast phase production.
Cheap, industrialized mass production converted fashion into a fast and dis-
posable commodity. The concept of fast fashion is described as a quick response
system that caters ever changing, yet uncertain market demands, by offering highly
fashionable yet cheap, low-quality clothing with short life cycles [22, 23]. While this
drives the profitability of the fashion business, ever-increasing consumption and
disposal of clothing poses environmental challenges. In fast fashion phenomena,
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Does Mass Customization Enable Sustainability in the Fashion Industry?
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88281
clothing is made for single use and then thrown away; thus, the use of low-quality
materials avoids the possibility of reuse or recycling. Moreover, due to the increas-
ing use of synthetic materials with fiber blends, clothing wastes become neither
biodegradable nor recyclable.
Even though frequent purchasing of new clothing keeps the customer emotion-
ally satisfied for some time, the attachment to the product fades away soon due to
fit, quality issues, and also the fact that new fashion items are available to purchase
almost every week. Moreover, wide availability of similar styles in mass-manufac-
tured system does not bring the consumer the emotional satisfaction of having a
unique product. Therefore, the garment is thrown away as new or after single use,
generating significant volumes of clothing waste. Global production of clothing has
doubled over last 15 years, yet half of the purchased items were thrown away within
less than a year [15].
There is a growing desire for customized apparel due to customer dissatisfaction
of purchasing mass-produced garments due to fit, quality, or design issues. Mostly
the customer has to compromise between fit and style, which results in the gar-
ment hanging in the wardrobe without any use or throwing away within a shorter
time period than that was interned to keep. Mass customization could dramatically
reduce purchasing of apparel that customer is not fully satisfied with. As discussed
above in Sections 3.1 and 3.2, personalized styles with right fit and quality would
extend the use phase of the product. Customer desire to follow fast fashion trend
and throw away culture will be reduced due to customization option. Slowing down
the rate of purchase of mass-produced apparel will reduce the demand for fast
fashion.
Nevertheless, by actively engaging in the customization process, the customer
could engage in a different level of thinking process and also gain a design experi-
ence, which may provide better satisfaction than a time-consuming, wasteful, and
sometimes an unhappy shopping experience. Once the customers start enjoying
the engagement in the customization process, their random purchase of mass-
manufactured apparel will be reduced. Reduction in the purchase of unwanted
apparel or less fitted apparel means the reduction in disposal and waste generation.
In mass production, quantities are based on predicted market demand, and there-
fore forecasted sales figures are not 100% accurate. This causes overproduction and
unsold stocks in the sales store, resulting in waste generation. In mass customiza-
tion, production is based on actual demand, and therefore, unnecessary production
and unsold stocks can be eliminated. This strategy facilitates minimizing wasteful
resource consumption and excess production, which in turn reduces the environ-
mental burden.
In mass manufacturing, stock holding cost is high as goods are produced few
months in advance and also distribution inventories are added up to the total stock-
holding cost. Yet, mass customization offers on-demand production where goods
are produced after the order has been placed [26]. Therefore, raw material inven-
tories, post-production, and distribution inventories could be kept to a minimum.
Moreover, unsold stock can be eliminated as production is based on actual orders
from the end consumer. This helps to reduce high inventory cost and store space.
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Digital printing facilitates printing individual and unique designs, only according
to the order. Digital printing technologies such as inkjet or sublimation printing are
less time-consuming, flexible, and offer a cost-effective solution for customized
printing. Gupta highlighted the benefits of inkjet printing as personalization and
quick response, ability to copy the original design fast, ability to print already made
products, environmentally friendly production process, and cost saving due to short
fabric lengths and reduced stocks [30].
Digital printing offers the customization in the printing stage where completely
new prints can be incorporated for each individual garment. Thus, the customer
gets two stages to personalize the product, first in design stage and then in printing.
This is a better way to customize the product while minimizing the environmental
impact of printing. This option saves significant amounts of energy, water, and
chemicals, compared to mass-scale industrial printing such as rotary or screen
printing.
As the mass customization process builds up a close relationship with the con-
sumer, implementation of product service systems and product take back systems
would be a possibility. There is a growing emphasis on extending the use phase of
clothing by offering after sales services such as repairing, where a consumer can
bring the product to a service center for repairing or upgrading. When the con-
sumer is no longer interested about the product and wants to dispose, this can be
done though a product take back system with some incentive given to the consumer
for returning the product, such as discounts over the next purchase. Benefits of
product take back systems can be gained by convincing the consumer during the
product design stage to use the materials that can be recycled. Returned products
can be reused or recycled to minimize the product’s end of life environmental bur-
den. With the mass customization strategy, all those sustainable end-of-life product
options that are being extensively discussed in general mass production system, and
viewed as challenges so far, can come into a reality.
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Does Mass Customization Enable Sustainability in the Fashion Industry?
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4. Discussion
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now expanded to a broader range of styles, colors, and fabrics. Nike ID program
allows the consumer to customize a pair of shoes using thousands of color combina-
tions and own embroidery designs [2]. Proper Cloth, a US-based apparel company,
offers customized men’s shirts with the choice of fabric, color, and component
design. Famous fashion brands such as JC Penney, Ralph Lauren, and Land’s End
already offer a variety of customized products with a choice of fabric, color, and
design while maintaining order to delivery time of 4–5 weeks [35].
Various consumer studies have reported a positive trend towards purchasing
customized apparels. According to the group consumer survey conducted by Taieb
and Cheikhrouhou [36], 82% of the teenagers and 92% of the youth and adults
have voted for customized products over mass manufactured products. Deloitte
consumer review [37] conducted in the UK shows that 41% of the consumers have
expressed their interest in purchasing customized clothing, and 19% of the respon-
dents have already bought customized clothing. According to YouGov consumer
survey conducted in the US for internet users, 29% of the respondents indicated
that they have already purchased customized apparel or footwear [38]. Those
studies discovered the growing awareness among consumers regarding customized
products and the related benefits. They are also willing to pay a premium price for
a customized product. According to the consumer research conducted by Deloitte,
88% of the survey participants are willing to pay an extra price for customized
clothing [37]. A total of 67% of the YouGov survey respondents indicated their
willingness to pay a premium price for a customized fashion [38]. Most importantly,
consumers will benefit through price customization as the price of the product is
dependent upon the degree of customization [26]. These consumer researches indi-
cate that price is not a barrier to adopt mass customization into the fashion business.
Mass customization is so far viewed by researchers and practitioners through
economic and consumer perspectives, and the literature provides little evidence
on environmental or social benefits of the strategy. It is expected that this founda-
tion study would provide a platform for the academia and industry to view mass
customization from a sustainability viewpoint. A full life cycle analysis would be
useful in quantifying the environmental impact of a customized product against
a mass manufactured product, by considering the seven key sustainability factors
discovered in this chapter.
5. Conclusion
This chapter offers an insight into the sustainability aspects of the mass custom-
ization strategy. Mass customization is becoming a growing trend in the fashion
industry due to the changing consumer desires; yet the strategy is already proven
to bring profit and sustainability into the business. Digital technologies associ-
ated with mass customization facilitated an effective dialog between the producer
and the customer while completely cutting down the human travelling or sample
transportation during the product development process. Major sustainability
benefits of the strategy are identified as improved relationship between the product
and the consumer, extended user phase of clothing, waste minimization, enabling
eco-friendly printing technologies, enabling repair, reuse, or recycling models,
enhancing consumer awareness regarding sustainable fashion, and moving from
global to local production. Even though mass customization still offers challenges
to the producer in the operational phase, further advancement of technologies and
growing consumer desires on personalized products would make this a viable busi-
ness model that brings positive impacts to the business in economic, environmental,
and social perspectives.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88281
Author details
D.G.K. Dissanayake
Department of Textile and Clothing Technology, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
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