On-shoring, near-shoring, next-shoring. Surely not!

On-shoring, near-shoring, next-shoring. Surely not!

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Volume 19, Issue 2

A woman walks into a bank. She say’s to the business development manager:

I’ve got an idea. I’m going to buy loads of fabric in different colours that I think will be popular with people. Then, I’m going to cut it out and sew together garments that I think look brilliant in around six sizes that won’t quite fit most people properly. After that I’m going to sell them (well almost give them away at the prices they are willing to pay) to a retailer who will sell a few at inflated margins and then discount the majority of the items later in the season when the weather turns out not to have done what they thought it would or my designs aren’t quite what they wanted. If there are any garments left, they will sell them on to another retailer who will cram them in a basement store and try and flog a few more for even less. If all that fails, the rest will be passed on to a 3rd world country to squabble over and bury in their back yard if nobody wants them. Can I have two hundred grand to get started please?

“Surely not: you’re having a laugh aren’t you – Is that supposed to be a joke?” replied the manager.

My friend and colleague Kathryn Brownbridge told me this joke just the other day and it got me thinking, is now the time to do things very differently?

I have recently attended several conferences, been part of a couple of get-togethers and endured the odd talking-shop that bring together a few themes that could, if pulled together, hint at an alternative approach. Two that stand out for me are on-shoring and fit. If the growing momentum around on-shoring (and our founding Editor Richard Jones will be writing a detailed Guest Editorial on the economic realities of this in the near future) and a drive to address how we size and fit garments for people can be coupled together perhaps a truly localised (circular) system could be realized. Imagine an alternative proposal to that given above based on a radically different approached to sustainability, fit and manufacturing.

If you are looking to this editorial for the answer, I’m afraid I don’t have it. Perhaps you do, just take a step back and think how you might approach the problem if you were starting from scratch and didn’t have to adhere to the established fashion system. Take a look at the table of contents for this issue. You’ll notice we spend much of our time examining the existing system in order to better understand it hoping to discover potential areas for change. Now could be the time to start again and design an approach that wouldn’t get laughed out of the bank.

Steven Hayes