Lucas Ramos Camargo

Some of the literature that will be used for the chosen topic:

1) For one of the sections for my paper (operations standpoint), it would be extremely important to
highly focus on comparing both the supply chains from the fast and ultra-fast fashion industries.
This article provides some background about the supply chain management in the fast fashion
industry only.

- Textile supply chain has a convoluted structure, mainly due to its sequence of complicated
processes and its separate and categorized division.
- With the emergence of the fast fashion industry, the supply chain complexity increased further,
causing a disruption in the traditional supply chain.
- Major fast fashion and ultra fast fashion industries have extended their supply to outsource to
other countries.
- Product complexity is positively correlated with supply chain performance (higher complexity,
lower supply chain performance)
- Without an efficient supply chain system for both industries, it could lead to uncontrollable
disruptions in terms of inventory obsolescence, unreliable delivers, economic crisis, higher
stocks, and competitive disadvantage.
- This literature contains great definitions of what fast fashion supply chains are: quick response in
terms of inventory management and enhanced fashion design without having a direct inspiration
or comparison parameter.
- When fashion becomes fast fashion, it increases further complexity, and when fast fashion
becomes ultra-fast fashion the complexity escalates.
- Findings:
- increased globalization, business will always accelerate the outsourcing and offshoring
strategies.
- Unplanned outsourcing results in excessive cost of supply chain disruption.
- Increased distance between suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers will increase the risk
and cost of supply chain disruption.

Sardar, S., & Lee, Y. (2015). Analysis of product complexity considering disruption cost in fast fashion
supply chain. Mathematical Problems In Engineering.

2) The following literature provides an examination of the fast fashion business model and analyzes the
most prominent firms in the market.

- Tremendous growth in the global apparel industry and in number of pieces of clothing purchased
per capita worldwide due to the emergence of new industry players (e.g., fast fashion and
ultra-fast fashion industries)
- Which retailers are fast fashion and how do they operate?
- The term fast-fashion is ubiquitous, but ultra-fast fashion is not, which still needs further
exploration of how it differentiates in terms of operation from the fast-fashion industry.
- Fast fashion firms - apparel retailers with brick & mortar stores and some online presence (for
ultra fast fashion industries, their higher profits come from their e-commerce. For example, ASOS
has its presence only through their website. No physical stores).
- Comments about H&M and how they fit into the fashion triangle when it comes to product lead
time (basic products Fashion-basic products Fashion
 - For the term Fashion on the top of the pyramid, H&M relies on quick-response production.
Accelerate the production phase, which results in a total design-to-market time for an item to be
launched is reduced to to 6 Creating figure comparing the planning process of fashion retailers
vs. fast-fashion ones, which would be interested to use the same approach but comparing the
chosen two industries for my thesis.

Caro, F., & Martnez-de-Albniz, V. (2014). Fast fashion: Business model overview and research
opportunities. In Narendra Agrawal & Stephen A. Smith (Ed.), To appear in retail supply chain
management: Quantitative models and empirical studies (2nd ed.). New York: Springer.

3)

- Fast fashion firms use a more efficient and improved supply chain to be more responsive to
changing trends and consumer demand.
- How fast fashion would be translated in the retail environment?
- Defines briefly what fast fashion is
- Brings an important aspect of the fast fashion supply chain concepts such as, just-in-time, agility,
quick response, and demand chains (For my thesis this could be an important aspect to be
covered, where I could speak about how both fast fashion and ultra fast follows postponement of
production, etc)

Barnes, L., & Lea-Greenwood, G. (2010). Fast fashion in the retail store environment. I nternational
Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 38, 760-772.

Categories - Thesis:

Abstract

Research problem: What are the main differences between the ultra fashion and the fast fashion
industries? How do these companies differentiate in terms of their business and operational plans?

Data collection: Data will be mainly collected through peer-reviewed literature (mostly for the fast
fashion) while for the ultra-fast fashion it will be based on the financial report of the chosen company
(Asos) plus a few periodicals published in 2017.

The concept of fast fashion - fashion trends and consumer demand, supply chain concepts (just-in-time,
agile supply chains, quick response, demand chains)

The concept of ultra fast fashion - fashion trends and consumer demand

What company represents the fast-fashion segment - brief background history

Which firm represents the ultra-fast fashion industry - brief back history

Comparison will be made with tables and graphs, but when writing about them, I believe it would be better
to:
Have a big category such as: OPERATIONAL ASPECTS

Design - and then a subcategory for each industry

Product production and Purchasing (sourcing)
Distribution
Inventory management
Sales Channels
Social responsibility

The other side is the value proposition - delivering affordable fashion designs

- Fast - combine supply chain agility to quick response, and constant product introductions to
attract variety-seeking customers.
- Ultra fast - Initial designs are made in small batches to test demand, and, if successful, more
items are quickly produced. Strong e-commerce presence (this industrys revenue comes from
their marketplace, but this distribution channel itself does not imply that a company is a ultra fast
fashion company.

More ideas:

3 The Apparel Industry

3.1 Industry Overview

3.2 Consumer Segments

3.3 Sales Channels

3.4 Supply Chain Structure

3.5 Trends and Drivers of Supply Chain

3.5.1 Sourcing Trends

3.5.2 Distribution Channels

3.5.3 Market Concentration

3.6 Supply Chain Challenges and Opportunities

Supply chain models of "Push type" and "Pull type" are opposite in terms of a demand and supply
relationship. "Push type" is represented by "Make to Stock" (MTS) in which the production is not based on
actual demand and "Pull type" is represented by "Make To Order" (MTO) in which the production is based
on actual demand.

One of the major reasons why supply chain management currently receives so much attention is that
information technology enables the shifting of a production and sales business model from "Push type" to
"Pull type". Pull-type supply chain management is based on the demand side such as Just-in-Time (JIT)
and CRP (Continuous Replenishment Program) or actual demand assigned to later processes.

Mainly, looking at how both industries (fast fashion and ultra fast fashion) differentiate in regards to their
business model (mainly in their operational aspects).

I still need to prepare an outline focusing on which sections and subsections will be important to cover for
my thesis, without being too narrow or too focused.