23 research outputs found
Shifting global supply networks and fast fashion: made in Turkey for Marks & Spencer
No full textIn the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was noted that retailers in Britain had started providing increased variety and fashionability to their customers, had added mid-season purchasing to their previous two-season calendars, and that a high fashion and low price ‘throwaway market’ had appeared on the retail scene. Since then mid-season purchasing has evolved into purchasing throughout the year; and the ‘throwaway market’ (now called fast fashion) has become almost the norm. Here we
revisit one of those British retailers (Marks & Spencer) together with its Turkish suppliers and observe a trend towards the diffusion of design capabilities to suppliers that is more widespread than is suggested in the literature. We also consider the question of how most appropriately to conceptualize the nature of these retailer–supplier relations in today’s circumstances. We especially look into the manner in
which these relations are reflected in price negotiations, the eventual distribution of the value-added, and the nature of everyday interactions such as accreditation and reclamation practices. We conclude that even though Turkish suppliers seem to be successfully upgrading into design – a high value-added activity – the question of whether or not this development has entailed a renegotiation of power between retailer and supplier remains a complicated one
Networks as Facilitators of Innovation in Technology-Based Industries: The Case of Flat Glass
No full textOld firms, new tricks and the quest for profits: Burberry's journey from success to failure and back to success again
No full textGlobal sourcing: insights from the global clothing industry—the case of Zara, a fast fashion retailer
No full text
Fashion, functionality, and the contemporary consumer
No full textUniqlo has recently been challenging the paradigm behind the phenomenal success of Zara: while Zara has been all about fashion, Uniqlo claims to be all about functionality. Here I examine this corporate narrative within the context of a new paradigm in cultural sociology that brings to the fore the material and functional aspects of clothing consumption (as opposed to its fashion and identity-related aspects). This case study shows that we might be able to understand the contemporary consumer better, if we study the corporate narratives of our most popular retailers of fashion. After all, their survival depends upon a correct understanding of how exactly today’s consumers behave.</jats:p
Asymmetrical power relations and upgrading among suppliers of global clothing brands: Hugo Boss in Turkey
No full textWhen a relatively powerless clothing supplier encroaches on the core competence of its dominant network partner and emerges as a competitor in its own right, this calls for detailed documentation and explanation. In this paper, we provide such an explanation through inquiry into the Turkish firm Sarar. A 13-year manufacturing contractor of Hugo Boss, it withdrew from its partnership with the German lead firm in 1998 and has since created its own brands of men's suits that are now sold at home and abroad. After the withdrawal, Hugo Boss established its own manufacturing facilities in Turkey. Here we investigate the relevancy of the national origin of the lead firm Hugo Boss and of the broader institutional and market setting of the post-1980 Turkey in which the relationship between the two firms was embedded. The findings are in some tension with the organizational frameworks that are frequently used to describe the clothing industry. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.
Globalization and the changing clothing industry in Turkey
No full textIn this paper, I explore the manner in which, since the 1980s, some Turkish domestic firms in the clothing industry have found ways of connecting themselves to the global webs of manufacturing, distribution, and retailing of garments. I call attention to two related developments that have occurred during the process. First, a number of manufacturing firms have acquired enough autonomy to develop and exercise their own strategies, have upgraded their operations, and, as original brand-name manufacturers, have evolved into global competitors. Second, some large domestic manufacturers have experienced a cautious and gradual transformation from industrial capital to commercial and financial capital. The findings show the necessity of seeing firms as intentional agents of change with some autonomy of their own as well as the importance of maintaining a structural understanding of power relations in the networked relationships of the global economy.
