The tipping point - 'Fashion's New Frontiers'
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Fashion
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FashionUnited: What is your opinion on the future of multichannel retailing?
Dr. Julie King: This is a particularly interesting area to me. In terms of my work as a forecaster, I have been looking at multichannel source forecasting and how people have been using it within the industry. Even my eleven year old daughter is happy to use her phone, her tablet and her laptop to look for information and to purchase items. It is a tremendous growth area, which I don't think we are quite at the end of yet.
Ironically I think the worst part of multichannel retailing is the delivery and return side. It is very archaic, waiting for DHL, for the mail to arrive and not knowing when it will arrive. Then, if it is not quite right then you have to handle the return and wait for the refund. And I think that is the area that retailers need to work on. Whether it be setting up their own logistics and distribution to manage that if the business is big enough, or offering similar services like My Wardrobe currently does, where you do not have to pay for anything if you are a preferred customer, you can select a few items for delivery, try it on at home and then pay for the items you decide to keep. It is definitely the direction the industry should be moving in. Security is an issue, but it is that interface between customer, delivery and returns which needs work.
Do you think brick-and-mortar stores still have a role within the future of the fashion industry?
JK: Definitely, they still do. Because you cannot replicate, no matter how good you 3D imagery might be or the virtual try on, the act of actually trying on a garment. The fit, the tactile quality, texture, are all sorts of areas which cannot be replicated. And shopping has become some sort of social past time, friends go in groups for a day out of shopping and I do not think you can ever replace that with an online experience.
Now brick-and-mortar stores are faced with the task of creating the right environment to encourage people to continue to do that, whether it be by offering inner city car parking to get to the stores which is not too expensive, or secure infrastructures to get people to the cities, rather than the out of town shopping areas. Because then everyone benefits, the small businesses, the local coffee shops, restaurants, hair dressers. They all benefit from people going into the city and spend time there.
What i
JK: I think it needs to, the industry can't keep still. We had two fascinating conferences on the future of manufacturing and sourcing in the UK, one almost two years and one more recently, which were both really busy because sourcing overseas is inherently filled with problems because you are conducting business from a distance. So a speaker said this morning wage costs are rising, ethical conduct is a major factor as consumers are becoming more aware since the Rana Plaza disaster of the potential problems in the industry. So certainly sourcing closer to home could help solve some issues.
Of course manufacturing will never return to its original volumes in the UK, but we can source smarter. Inevitably you are always going to be looking for cheaper countries. Speakers today were talking about Myanmar in particular. But it was Adrian Elliott, President of Apparel and Footwear at Coats, who pointed out that it is such a tiny country. You cannot replicate the former success of China for example, because it is much smaller than the city of Shanghai. So it is very difficult to replicate the volume which you are getting out of places like China and India. But certainly we should be looking at hotspots, as well at looking at countries closer to home as well, not forgetting our domestic production.
What about reshoring sourcing, should the industry be looking to source and manufacture more items in the UK?
JK: I do, but I think we have to be realistic and see that we can never go back to the hay day. We can never produce everything we want for our domestic market within the UK. But if we can develop our skills base again and use the experience craftsmen before they retire then we can use their expertise. I think it is important to use our educational institutes to link with the industry, like companies such as Barbour and Mulberry have done and develop apprentice programs, then that becomes a definite way forward. I think we have such an amazing skills base within the country that it would be a shame to lose it. And we can create some incredible top end work.
Sure we will never become a mass production market hub again but certainly we can create for the top-middle, higher end part of the market. I would love to see more manufacturing back in the UK, but have to remain realistic as to what the workforce here would like to do and it is not very attractive to young people to sit inside a factory all day. Whereas you are working for a very high end brand, like Mulberry and Burberry it carries more cache.
Should the industry be investing more in ethical and sustainable sourcing and conduct?
JK: I think we have a role in educating consumers, but the question remains whether or not consumers what to be educated. There is a certain generation – I think the older generation are more interested and there is a smaller pocket of the younger generation who are interested in their clothes origin-but there is a huge number who are just interested in going somewhere like Primark and getting an outfit for the weekend. And they do not care about how it's going to wash, or if they are going to wear it again, or where it even came from or what landfill it's going to end up in, as they are just looking for disposable fashion.
Yes, we do have a role to play in educating consumers, but it is very difficult to educate consumers who are not interested in ethical sourcing or the whole lifecycle of a garment. Because really it is the end cycle of a garment which is just as important as the ethics behind its production and the sourcing of the fabric. We have so much textile which ends up in landfills which could be used in so many different ways, for example for the motor industry, or for wadding and padding, or be recycled to create new fabrics. But none of this is really seems to be happening to the extent that we like it to. I think we buy too much, I am as guilty as anyone. It is nice to have heritage pieces or vintage pieces that you could pass down within the family. When I was younger, we had more second hand stores or vintage stores where people would buy from because we did not always have money to buy something new, or were looking for something more original or that you could personalise and I think its something we have lost a little over the years it is quite different today.
What are some of the current weaknesses in fashion supply chains in your opinion and what can companies do to improve them?
JK: The potential weaknesses are the raising labour costs and the increasing aspirations of the workforce, especially in China, where they are increasingly unionised and have more options and do not have to work in a factory. The younger generation do not want to work in factories are becoming more middle class. So I think that's the main challenge, so the cost of sourcing is going to continue to rise and I think the days of very cheap clothing are going to be numbered. These are issues that I think companies can never really over come. Especially because they are very protective of their own sourcing strategies and are not willing to share some of their experiences with others companies, to come together to combat these issues. The majority are very protective, so I think they will never truly work together. And I think it's sad, but it's the reality of business and business is increasingly tough. That's just how things are, so its understandable.
Photos: ASBCI Conference Speakers, Dr. Julie King