Refine
Document Type
- Book chapter (42)
- Journal article (30)
- Book (19)
- Conference proceeding (15)
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
- Report (1)
- Working Paper (1)
Language
- English (109) (remove)
Has full text
- yes (109) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (109) (remove)
Institute
- Texoversum (109) (remove)
Publisher
- Springer (44)
- Hochschule Reutlingen (22)
- MDPI (9)
- Elsevier (3)
- Hometrica Consulting (3)
- Cambridge University Press (2)
- dfv Mediengruppe (2)
- American Chemical Society (1)
- Asian Society of Business and Commerce Research (1)
- Design Society (1)
YouTube fashion videos
(2020)
YouTube is the most widely adopted and successful video sharing platform. It works as a marketing instrument and money-making tool for companies while reaching the target group. After considering the significant literature based on YouTube, it is striking that there is lack of information about YouTube’s benefits as a video marketing instrument for fashion brands. To establish this subject further, the purpose of this study is to enrich the existing findings on social video marketing on YouTube in the apparel industry. The findings indicate the importance of YouTube as a social network for fashion marketers. The second part conducts an empirical study, which makes the YouTube channel performance of nine fashion brands the subject of discussion. Thereby, three brands per lifestyle, sports and luxury sector are analyzed through comparative aspects. Accordingly, the differences and similarities within and between the sectors are analyzed and evaluated.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore why men do not rent luxury fashion to explain why the demand for luxury fashion rental services for men is so low and to contribute to science by collecting high-quality data for the research fields gender differences in barriers to renting fashion, barriers to participating in renting luxury fashion in general and to increase the amount of data on men consumption behavior in the field of fashion and luxury fashion research. Furthermore, this study aims not only to make a theoretical contribution, but also to provide practical implications for the luxury fashion rental industry.
Design/methodology/approach
To answer the research question, qualitative semi-structured interviews with seven men were conducted, who are interested in fashion and spend at least 10% of their monthly net income on luxury fashion per month. Through a deductively-inductively category-based qualitative content analysis of the interviews supported by the software MAXQDA, not only were the reasons found why many men refuse to rent luxury fashion, but also characteristics were discovered that make luxury fashion rental services more attractive to men, as well as two fashion segments and a product category in which men can imagine renting fashion or luxury fashion under certain circumstances.
Findings
Men reject the concept of renting primarily because of the nonexistence of ownership, which has to do with loss of emotional value, loss of functional value, fear of social rejection, and identity concerns; other reasons include lack of individualism, lack of habit and their own subjective standards. Except for two outliers, the remaining men surveyed could imagine using a luxury rental service under certain conditions. The most frequently mentioned features were omnichannel approach, transparency of the entire rental process provided by reviews and feedback about both the borrower and the lender, information about the cleaning process, and proof of authenticity. Also mentioned was the maintenance of exclusivity and the fact that rental services should be offered directly by the company. In the convenience category, the purchase option and insurance were mentioned most often. In addition, some men could imagine renting event-related clothing, very trendy and expensive luxury clothing, and luxury watches. However, none of the respondents would give up owning clothes and primarily use the LFRS.
Value/Practical Implications
So that marketers do not have to go through trial and error to figure out which of these characteristics works best for which male target group, the work developed five types that can be targeted with selected characteristics and their marketing, and thus perhaps persuaded to participate in the LFRS. The social type needs the feature of maintenance of exclusivity, the emotional type needs the purchase option and an omnichannel experience, the flexibility type needs the same day delivery and free exchange possibilities, the cost-benefit type needs analytical tools to maximize his rental income or to calculate whether it is cheaper to buy or rent this particular item for this particular period of time, the rule-governed type needs an added value in addition to renting such as a top service.
The purpose of this paper is to determine the relevance of social media for luxury brand management. It employs both a multi-methodological approach: After analyzing the online performance of the three luxury brands Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, the empirical research includes a survey as well as an eye tracking test executed with Tobii Studio. The findings reveal that online and social media have given luxury fashion businesses the opportunity to establish a sustainable interaction with their customers and distinguish themselves from the competition. Still, the online business holds many challenges for luxury companies to overcome. This paper gives instructions as to how social media can be effectively incorporated into a luxury company.
The desire to combine advanced user friendly interfaces with a product personality communicating environmental friendliness to customers poses new challenges for car interior designers, as little research has been carried out in this field to date. In this paper, the creation of three personas aimed at defining key German car users with pro environmental behaviour is presented. After collecting ethnographic data of potential drivers through literature review, information about generation and Euro car segment led to the definition of three key user groups. The resulting personas were applied to determine the most important interaction points in car interior. Finally, present design cues of eco-friendly product personality developed in the field of automotive design were explored. Our work presents three strategic directions for the design development of future in-car user interfaces named as a) foster multimodal mobility; b) emphasize the interlinkage economy - sustainable driving; and c) highlight new technological developments. The presented results are meant as an impulse for developers to fit the needs of green customers and drivers when designing user-friendly HMI components.
Thin, flat textile roofing offers negligible heat insulation. In warm areas, such roofing membranes are therefore equipped with metallized surfaces to reflect solar heat radiation, thus reducing the warming inside a textile building. Heat reflection effects achieved by metallic coatings are always accompanied by shading effects as the metals are non-transparent for visible light (VIS). Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are transparent for VIS and are able to reflect heat radiation in the infrared. TCOs are, e.g., widely used in the display industry. To achieve the perfect coatings needed for electronic devices, these are commonly applied using costly vacuum processes at high temperatures. Vacuum processes, on account of the high costs involved and high processing temperatures, are obstructive for an application involving textiles. Accepting that heat-reflecting textile membranes demand less perfect coatings, a wet chemical approach has been followed here when producing transparent heat-reflecting coatings. Commercially available TCOs were employed as colloidal dispersions or nanopowders to prepare sol-gel-based coating systems. Such coatings were applied to textile membranes as used for architectural textiles using simple coating techniques and at moderate curing temperatures not exceeding 130 °C. The coatings achieved about 90% transmission in the VIS spectrum and reduced near-infrared transmission (at about 2.5 µm) to nearly zero while reflecting up to 25% of that radiation. Up to 35% reflection has been realized in the far infrared, and emissivity values down to ε = 0.5777 have been measured.
The purpose of this paper is to study the recycling form of reusing second hand clothing from a conventional fashion brand’s perspective. It should clarify which measures and activities a fashion company needs to integrate in its value chain in order to offer branded second hand merchandise in a self-operated store. The research paper relies on a desk-based research and aims to illustrate the topic by means of a descriptive approach, processing the existing literature. Key findings demonstrate that fashion brands need to integrate complete lifecycle strategies, sustainability communication, and reverse logistics structures, like take-back schemes, for offering second hand clothing. The main limitations evolve from the research design. Further, empirical evidences need to be conducted for a more fundamental understanding of the new business model.
This paper investigates if food ^ retailing mobile applications from Germany, Austria, USA and the United Kingdom are meant to stay a marginal topic in grocery shopping, or if they have the potential to significantly shape the future of grocery retailing by serving as competitive advantages that can fulfil customer requirements and satisfaction. It has filtered out success factors in form of functions of grocery apps and it has extracted key competencies that can be used to create customer value. The Kano model can help selecting the right app functions. But, there are other prerequisites, like customers’ general attitude towards technology and their acceptance towards any kind of apps, that play an important role looking at the big picture of apps in grocery retailing. However, this paper has contributed one vital part of giving more importance to apps in grocery retailing in form of app functions that clearly deliver customer value. In short, apps that fit customers’ needs and that provide usability and convenience clearly have the potential to shape the future of grocery retailing - if key barriers towards app use are eliminated and if incentives are given that overcome scepticism.
The second hand concept indicates a growing trend in clothing recently, leading to growing numbers of second hand shops and developments of new second hand retail forms. This paper concentrates on the current second hand market for fashion products and presents the different motives toward second hand consumption as well as alternative consumption channels for second hand products. The findings of the paper are founded on literature research of academic articles and case studies. Results show that there is a high potential for the second hand market due to the increasing interest of consumers in buying second hand products. The paper concentrates on the second hand market for fashion products in the western society. This means that there was no research on second hand products for disadvantaged people in poor countries. Furthermore, the paper focuses the formal second hand retail channels to see what is already on the market.
This study focuses on the different roles of social media for the promotion of a sustainable lifestyle, behaviour and consumption, especially with regard to the typically non-ethical fashion industry. Research findings include eight roles of social media influencing a sustainable consumption contrary to prior research naming one to five impacts. Results show that social media educates and engages the young and ethically interested target group besides increasing supply chain transparency and brand or theme awareness. Furthermore, social media provides a platform for organisations’ relationship management and social interaction since users get empowered to share experiences which leads to a higher level of trust.
Implementation of product-service systems (PSS) requires structural changes in the way that business in manufacturing industries is traditionally conducted. Literature frequently mentions the importance of human resource management (HRM), since people are involved in the entire process of PSS development and employees are the primary link to customers. However, to this day, no study has provided empirical evidence whether and in what way HRM of firms that implement PSS differs from HRM of firms that solely run a traditional manufacturing based business model. The aim of this study is to contribute to closing this gap by investigating the particular HR components of manufacturing firms that implement PSS and compare it with the HRM of firms that do not. The context of this study is the fashion industry, which is an ideal setting since it is a mature and highly competitive industry that is well-documented for causing significant environmental impact. PSS present a promising opportunity for fashion firms to differentiate and mitigate the industry’s ecological footprint. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to analyze data of 102 international fashion firms. Findings reveal a significant higher focus on nearly the entire spectrum of HRM components of firms that implement PSS compared with firms that do not. Empirical findings and their interpretation are utilized to propose a general framework of the role of HRM for PSS implementation. This serves as a departure point for both scholars and practitioners for further research, and fosters the understanding of the role of HRM for managing PSS implementation.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight potentials and limitations of the prosumer concept in fashion retail. The paper illustrates the evolution of prosumption and in which directions the concept is being developed. The primary research is based on a literature review containing different sources of academic and non-academic references. Findings suggest that the prosumer concept is no new phenomenon. Recently, it has moved into the focus of companies that have noted that it is efficient when engaging with customers in order to strengthen their brand loyalty. An increasing number of companies offer innovative business models that underlie the concept. However, lately smart prosuming machines are changing the objectives of the concept. Even if the prosumer concept exists since many years and scholars investigate its potentials continuously, it is the fashion industry that has been researched comparatively little up to now.
This chapter provides insights in the future of fashion film with respect to augmented reality and virtual reality technologies. The question: How does augmented reality and virtual reality influence the future of fashion film? is therefore considered. It is important to analyze the influence of those technologies on fashion films to assess the potential for fashion retailers and in best case gain first-mover advantages. To answer the stated research question, a literature research was conducted to gain insights about the topic and its influence towards fashion filming. Explanation of augmented reality and virtual reality is provided as well as implications in the retail sector regarding fashion films. Moreover, company examples already using this approach have been compiled. Furthermore, an empirical research part was conducted including a survey method based on an online survey design. The questionnaire is based on what has been revealed in literature to gain in depth insides and approval. The data gained indicated that augmented reality and virtual reality influence the future of fashion film in various ways. The findings highlight how important those technologies can be in order to enhance customer experience and engagement. Regarding the research question, the conclusion can be drawn that it is highly important for fashion managers to take future developments like augmented reality and virtual reality into account to stay competitive and satisfy the requirements of modern consumers.
Due to the increasing awareness of social and environmental issues of the consumer, sustainability has become significantly important in the fashion businesses. Therefore, developing a sustainable supply chain is crucial for fashion companies to meet consumer´s consciousness. According to Bin Shen (2014), the Fast Fashion Retailer H&M is more likely to select suppliers in countries with a low score on the human wellbeing factor of the Sustainable Society Index (SSI). This paper extends the findings of Bin Shen (2014) and investigates fashion firms of different segments on their scoring at the 8 underlying categories of the SSI. This approach let the researcher assume that fashion firms of different segments which are active in sustainability are selecting their suppliers in countries with a low degree on the 8 categories of the SSI. Consequently, by utilising the SSI as a tool, the findings of this paper will be helpful to profile and compare Fashion companies of different segments in their supplier selection in regards to sustainability.
Polyester fibers are widely employed in a multitude of sectors and applications from the technical textiles to everyday life thanks to their durability, strength, and flexibility. Despite these advantages, polyester lacks in dyeability, adhesion of coating, hydrophilicity, and it is characterized by a low wettability respect to natural fibers. On this regard, beyond the harmful hydrophobic textile finishings of polyester fabrics containing fluorine-compounds, and in order to avoid pre-treatments, such as laser irradiation to improve their surface properties, research is moving towards the development of fluorine-free and safer coatings. In this work, the (3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPTMS) and various long alkyl-chain alkoxysilanes were employed for the fabrication in the presence of a catalyst of a water-based superhydrophobic finishing for polyester fabrics with a simple sol-gel, non-fluorinated, sustainable approach and the dip-pad-dry-cure method. The finished polyester fabrics surface properties were investigated by static and dynamic water repellency tests. Additionally, the resistance to common water-based liquids, abrasion resistance, moisture adsorption, and air permeability measurements were performed. Scanning electron microscopy was employed to examine the micro- and nano-morphology of the functionalized polyester fabrics surfaces. The obtained superhydrophobic finishings displayed high water-based stain resistance as well as good hydrophobicity after different cycles of abrasion.
The current paper studies the influence of geometrical parameters of the fused deposition modeling (FDM) - fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing process on printed part strength for open source desktop 3D printers and the most popular material used for that purpose - i.e., polylactic acid (PLA). The study was conducted using a set of different nozzles (0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 mm) and a range of layer heights from the minimum to maximum physical limits of the machine. To assess print strength, a novel assessment method is proposed. A tubular sample is loaded in the weakest direction (across layers) in a three point bending fixture. Mesostructure evaluation through scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) scans of the samples was used to explain the obtained results. We detected a significant influence of geometric process parameters on sample mesostructure, and consequently, on sample strength.
Sole value – the sneaker resale market :
an explorative analysis of the sneaker resale market
(2018)
The purpose of this explorative research paper is to examine the sneaker resale market and its typical processes in order to give a comprehensive overview over the secondary market for limited edition sneakers. Hypotheses are presented that will be analysed with the empirical research methods of expert interviews and sales data analysis. Amongst other findings, this paper shows that there is a complementary relationship between sneaker brands and the resale market; that product limitation is essential for value increases; that collaborations are necessary for sneaker brands to be relevant on the resale market and that the market is very fragmented. All combined circumstances described in this paper explain the sneaker resale market and its processes. Additionally, some outlooks on the future will be given with the help of expert interviewees and current developments on the market will be discussed.
Social sustainable supply chain management in the textile and apparel industry : a literature review
(2017)
So far, a vast amount of studies on sustainability in supply chain management have been conducted by academics over the last decade. Nevertheless, socially related aspects are still neglected in the related discussion. The primary motivation of the present literature review has arisen from this shortcoming, thus the key purpose of this study is to enrich the discussion by providing a state of-the-art, focusing exclusively on social issues in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) by considering the textile/apparel sector as the field of application. The authors conduct a literature review, including content analysis which covers 45 articles published in English peer-reviewed journals, and proposes a comprehensive map which integrates the latest findings on socially related practices in the textile/apparel industry with the dominant conceptualization in order to reveal potential research areas in the field. The results show an ongoing lack of investigation regarding the social dimension of the triple bottom line in SSCM. Findings indicate that a company’s internal orientation is the main assisting factor in sustainable supply chain management practices. Further, supplier collaboration and assessment can be interpreted as an offer for suppliers deriving from stakeholders and a focal company’s management of social risk. Nevertheless, suppliers do also face or even create huge barriers in improving their social performance. This calls for more empirical research and qualitative or quantitative survey methods, especially at the supplier level located in developing countries.
This paper explores why and how dominant international social standards used in the fashion industry are prone to implementation failures. A qualitative multiple-case study method was conducted, using purposive sampling to select 13 apparel supply chain actors. Data were collected through on-site semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The findings of the study are interpreted by using core tenets of agency theory. The case study findings clearly highlight why and how multi-tier apparel supply chains fail to implement social standards effectively. As a consequence of substantial goal conflicts and information asymmetries, sourcing agents and suppliers are driven to perform opportunistic behaviors in form of hidden characteristics, hidden intentions, and hidden actions, which significantly harm social standards. Fashion retailers need to empower their corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments by awarding an integrative role to sourcing decisions. Moreover, accurate calculation of orders, risk sharing, cost sharing, price premiums, and especially guaranteed order continuity for social compliance are critical to reduce opportunistic behaviors upstream of the supply chain. The development of social standards is highly suggested, e.g., by including novel metrics such as the assessment of buying practices or the evaluation of capacity planning at factories and the strict inclusion of subcontractors’ social performances. This paper presents evidence from multiple Vietnamese and Indonesian cases involving sourcing agents as well as Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers on a highly sensitive topic. With the development of the conceptual framework and the formulation of seven related novel propositions, this paper unveils the ineffectiveness of social standards, offers guidance for practitioners, and contributes to the neglected social dimension in sustainable supply chain management research and accountability literature.
After considering significant literature on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), it is evident that research has neglected the social dimension and still lacks in highlighting the role of sourcing intermediaries in supply chains. The apparel supply chain has increased enormously in length and complexity, driving apparel retailers to employ sourcing intermediaries who manage their sourcing activities with suppliers from developing countries overseas. Thus, the purpose of this study is to enrich existing findings on SSCM by exploring the management of social sustainability when sourcing intermediaries are in between the focal company and the respective developing country factories. More specifically, this study aims to understand the role of apparel sourcing intermediaries for the implementation of social management strategies based on the perception of multiple supply chain actors. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews conducted in Vietnam and Europe. Ultimately ten propositions are presented, all explicitly concentrating on the apparel intermediary’s role as a significant enabler for social sustainability in apparel supply chains. The roles are social sustainability, supplier developer and coordinator, gatekeeper and safeguard, cultural broker, and social risk manager. The social sustainability roles assumed by the apparel sourcing intermediary offer great opportunities to both apparel retailers and developing country factories.
A distinctive highlight of the dissertation at hand is the investigation of multiple apparel supply chain actors incorporating the views of a global apparel retailer in Europe and multiple suppliers in Vietnam and Indonesia.
More specifically, the dissertation presents a coherent investigation starting with the depiction of a conceptual framework for social management strategies as a means for social risk management (SRM), exclusively aiming at the apparel industry. In accordance to the identified research gaps and suggested research directions from the conceptual framework, the role of the apparel sourcing agent for social management strategies was analysed by conducting a multiple case study approach with evidence from Vietnam and Europe, ultimately suggesting ten propositions. Whereas a further multiple case study data collection in Vietnam, Indonesia and Europe allowed for the investigation of buyer-supplier relationships with regards to social compliance strategies by using core tenets of agency theory to interpret the findings and outline ten propositions. Based on the development of a conceptual framework on social SSCM in the apparel industry, the formulation of related 20 propositions with evidence from crucial developing (apparel sourcing) countries, and the application of agency theory which has been declared as a shortfall in this context, this thesis contributes with further grounding to SSCM theory and substantially contributes to the debate by addressing numerous research gaps.
Social and environmental risk management in supply chains : a survey in the clothing industry
(2015)
Almost daily, news indicates that there are environmental and social problems in globally fragmented supply chains. Even though conceptualisations of sustainable supply chain management suggest supplier-related risk management for sustainable products and processes as substantial for companies, research on how risk management for environmental and social issues in supply chains is performed has so far been neglected. This study aims at analysing both why companies in the clothing industry are performing management of social and environmental risks in their supply chain and what kind of action they are taking. Based on the literature on sustainable supply chain management and supply chain risk management as well as 10 expert interviews, a conceptual model for risk management in sustainable supply chains was developed. This model was tested in an empirical study in the clothing industry. The data were analysed by structural equation modelling. Results of the research show high statistical significance for the respective conceptual model. The main driver to perform risk management in environmental and social affairs is pressures and incentives from stakeholders. While companies’ corporate orientation mainly drives social actions, top management drives environmental affairs for differentiating themselves from competitors.
A premise guaranteeing the successful interdisciplinary teamwork in product design is a mutual understanding of both professional and academic communities of the different design expertise and the role they play in the process. It appears that the open compound word industrial design is open to interpretation in European education. This ambiguity had a negative impact on the labour policies of some European countries, which have labelled some professions with incorrect names. Therefore, this terminological inconsistency urges for clarification within the design community. This work analyses the term industrial design, it presents historical developments in European industrial design education, in particular in Germany and in the Netherlands, and discusses how the education to the industrial design profession was positioned towards product development. This paper suggests that the causes for the observed lack of clarity about the meaning of the term industrial design are of an etymological and disciplinary kind. In order to act as a bridge between the professional and academic communities, universities should create the premises for interdisciplinary collaboration between designers and engineers through standardized communication, ultimately contributing for a sustainable future in both design and engineering education.
This chapter looks at the usage of image films produced by brands and their dealing with themselves. It focuses on analyzing important film parameters, the content and the way it can influence brand image. A list of 70 fashion brands from different categories was gathered through a survey and confirmed by comparing the results with relevant literature. All 70 brands were looked at to find relevant self-referencing films. The films had to be produced by the brand themselves. Videos for advertisement or promoting collections are not regarded either. In total 22 films from 17 brands were analyzed. Results show that most brands seem to have recognized videos as a powerful marketing tool in the social media age. Many brands seem to struggle with the compliance of certain parameters such as length and the use of the brand logo. In general, the content of the videos is focused around the four topics recruitment, value, history and behind the brand. As for the intent, the videos can be classified into the three categories learning, emotion and doing something. This paper not only analyzes this special film category, but also gives recommendations to improve the videos.
Customer needs and requirements are getting increasingly diverse and consumers more and more want to express their individuality with the products they buy. Due to the emergence of the internet and possibilities given, customers no longer only play a passive role, but are actually enabled to determine what they are purchasing. Therefore customisation or personlisation approaches like the miadidas concept from adidas, providing customised performance shoes or sneakers are more popular than ever. The prosumer concept already plays an important role trying to satisfy the demands of customers in future. As apparel for outdoor activities represents the largest and most important part of the sports good market in Germany and is yet still expected to grow, the purpose of this study is, on the one hand to identify diverse prosumer concepts existing and on the other hand to examine to what extent companies of the outdoor industry already have implemented prosumer concepts. A content analysis of homepages and online shops of 30 different European and North American outdoor brands was conducted. Results show, that companies of the outdoor industry have already implemented several prosumer concepts, but most of them are mainly concentrating on one prosumer approach and the involvement of professional users of their products.
In times of e-commerce and digitalization, new markets are opening, young companies have the possibility to grow and new perspectives arise in terms of customer relationship. Customers require more possibilities of personalization. In the same time, companies have access to new and especially more information about the customer. Seems like it was a correlation that could evolve greatly if there weren't privacy issues. Vast amount of data about consumers are collected in Big Data warehouses. These shall be analyzed via predictive analytics and customers shall be classified by algorithms like clustering models, propensity models or collaborative filtering. All these subjects are growing in importance, as they are shaping the global marketing landscape. Marketers develop together with IT scientists new ways of analyzing customer databases and benefit from more accurate segmentation methods as that have been used until now. The following paper shall provide a literature review on new methods of consumer segmentation regarding the high inflow of new information via e-commerce. It will introduce readers in the subject of predictive analytics and will discuss several predictive models. The writing of the paper is not based on own empirical researches, but shall serve as a reference text for further researches. A conclusion will complete the paper.
The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential of a fashion fTRACE (ffTRACE) application that gives transparent insight on the supply chain of a fashion item. The research methodology applied to this purpose is a literature review examining academic references. The key findings of this paper are that information plays a major role in the consumer decision process and is therefore beneficial to the demand for sustainable products. Given the right information content in a transparent, credible and understandable way is important. It is found that the functions of such an application would be able to satisfy this consumer demand and therefore has the potential to raise the sales of a sustainable company as well as increase the brand’s awareness and improve its image. While mainly indicating the potentials of the ffTRACE application, their relevance is not examined in this paper.
The wet chemical deposition of solution processed transparent conducting oxides (TCO) provides an alternative low cost and economical deposition technique to realize large-areas of conducting films. Since the price for the most common TCO Indium Tin Oxide rises enormously, Aluminum Zinc Oxide (AZO) as alternative TCO reaches more and more interest. The optoelectronical properties of nanoparticle coatings strongly depend beneath the porosity of the coating on the shape and size of the used particles. By using bigger or rod-shaped particles it is possible to minimize the amount of grain boundaries resulting in an improvement of the electrical properties, whereas particles bigger than 100 nm should not be used if highly transparent coatings are necessary as these big particles scatter the visible light and lower the transmittance of the coatings. In this work we present a simple method to synthesize AZO particles with different shape and size, but comparable electronical properties. We use a simple, well reproducible polyol method for synthesis and influence the shape and size of the particles by adding different amounts of water to the precursor solution. We can show that the addition of aluminum as dopant strongly hinders the crystal growth but the addition of water counteracts this, so that both, spherical and rod-shaped particles can be obtained.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how motion pictures are currently used for the product presentation of fashion articles. An explorative approach was chosen for the literature section. This study shows that the use of moving images for the presentation of fashion articles in online shops is possible in numerous different ways. In order to be able to use product presentation videos meaningfully, one should consider exactly what is the purpose of these videos. Different goals require different means. However, retailers should obtain enough information in advance to assess whether they can afford the production and post-processing of these videos.
In the luxury Fashion industry, consumers could be categorized into two groups: fashion leader and Fashion follower. Both groups of consumers purchase luxury fashion products aim at satisfying both their functional needs and social needs (i.e., social influence). Thus the demands of both consumer groups are related. In this paper, we construct a model to examine the effects of pricing and online retail service in luxury fashion firms with social influence. To maximize profit, we identify the optimal prices and online retail service when the luxury fashion firms provide the non-differentiated and differentiated online retail services, respectively. More insights are discussed.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate online German fashion shopping websites from a customer perspective, based on a two-dimensional conceptual framework covering
shopping experience and shopping quality. As the research methodology, an exploratory mystery shopping approach was used in order to compare online shops. The results were as follows. First, four categories of online shops were identified: heroes, marketing winners, process winners, and underperformers. Second, three main levers for improvement were elaborated: emotionality of websites, reducing complexity, and the introduction of an industry standard of payments. From These results, it is possible to analyze and benchmark websites and to adapt online Marketing decisions as well as general management strategies for online fashion Shopping companies. The study has originality and value as it is the first time that an Evaluation of websites has combined the consumer´s perspective before the purchase and its fulfillment (e.g. delivery) after the online purchase.
There is no doubt that the amplification of channel integration towards an omni-channel structure is a powerful idea whose time has finally come. The digitally cross-linked world postulates all-encompassing, ubiquitous, and unobtrusive future services. In the concomitant, increasingly competitive market, retailers are starting to lay the foundation for omnichannel, meeting the expectations of a digitally cunning audience wanting their shopping experience to be as seamless and uncomplicated as possible. Nevertheless, recent researches show that there are still enough avenues for further research on omnichannel. Until now, the performance of companies was solely considered by experts from a suppliers’ point of view. It would be rather interesting to find out whether the desire to meet the increased cus-tomer expectations is also recognized by the customers themselves. This paper seeks to answering how the purchasing behavior has changed and what customers demand. In addition, it elaborates the opportunities that are promoted by omni-channel. Searching out all the effects, the paper will get to a final step, where it can be attested how the omnichannel performance of fashion and lifestyle retailers can be measured from a consumers’ perspective by developing an exclusive index. The study is confined to four fashion and lifestyle retailers: Hugo Boss AG, Levi Strauss & Co, Pull and Bear as well as COS. Using the scientific method of mystery shopping and a multi-item checklist including 54 key performance indicators, the paper aims to examine to which extend the four selected retailers provide a seamless customer journey, according to the five decision-making phases.
Hip-hop culture defines itself through four central pillars: DJing, MCing, breakdancing and graffiti, but a fifth one, fashion, may be in the coming. Hip-hop has become the most popular music genre, and the influence it has on society is undebatable. But as hip-hop artists increasingly underpin their music with visual components, like music videos, the question arises if that has an influence on the fashion industry. This chapter clarifies which factors may determine a fashion business impact and discusses differences between mainstream hip-hop artists and the ones that are active in the fashion industry as well. The focus lays on the way and amount fashion is presented in the music videos. 24 music videos were analyzed, thereof 15 popular records from the past three years and nine of artists that are already considered as fashion influential. Additionally, a fashion influence index was created to compare the degree of fashion between the music videos. Numbers of styles, recognized brands, fashion related song verses, fashion related description box mentions and articles about the fashion in the music video were noted. Findings reveal that the number of outfits shown in the video did not have a direct link to the amount of traffic it produces in fashion media. The artists that are considered influential in the fashion industry, name brands in their song lyrics more often and show brand logos more frequent in their music videos than others. Though over the observed years, for the mainstream hip-hop artists, a rise in fashion awareness can be seen through a higher number of styles, recognizable brands and fashion related verses in the lyrics.
Music is omnipresent and an important factor for cultural and social development. Thus, the connection between music and fashion has rarely been contemplated yet. In particular, this research paper is concerned with the connection between music and fashion communication, with special interest to its emotional background in the context of neuromarketing. The research question of how music affects the perception of a fashion brand, when regarded as emotional stimulus in the context of neuromarketing, has been investigated by researching existing literature. Without attempting to explain neurological processes to their core, this paper tries to give an overview of how music generates emotion and how this can be used for branding activities. This led to the result that music causes positive emotional response of the consumer, when used in marketing actions. Through emotional response, the perception, identity, and recall of a brand are strongly influenced.
Collaborative apparel consumption is proposed as more sustainable alternative to conventional consumption. The purpose of this study is the exploration of consumers’ motives to participate in collaborative apparel consumption. Findings suggest that consumers’ intention to participate in collaborative apparel consumption is mainly influenced by financial benefits, convenience and sustainability awareness.
The purpose of this research paper is to find out to which extent rap music merchandise is influencing the fashion world of today. The research design is mainly created through analysing Internet sources. The key findings of this paper describe the way rap merchandise is created and distributed nowadays. Furthermore, is explained how an idea becomes trend and how rap artists influence trend creation, especially through social media channels. The topic around rap merchandising products and strategies is a very new one, thus there is barely any literature to find. Nevertheless, trend leading online music platforms and blogs offer a lot of grey literature about the research topic. In this paper, the analysis of rap merchandise and fashion is focused on clothing items to create a better understanding in which dimension the influence of rap merchandise on the fashion world is given.
As the market penetration of alternative fuel vehicles is still uncertain, defining green design cues for their design is of specific relevance to target environmentally conscious customers. This paper is a review of the existing literature aiming at summarizing the market penetration scenarios of alternative fuel vehicles over the next years, consumer demand for sustainable materials, and present methodologies to represent characteristics of eco-friendly mobility in the interior of alternative fuel vehicles. In particular, present attempts to correlate materials with green design cues are explored. Finally, projections for the future of the field are suggested, posing enchanting research questions to further unify the field of environmentally conscious design with the domain of product personality.
This case study describes the emerging customized omnichannel loyalty solution of Marc O’Polo from a customer’s perspective. After the introduction of Marc O’Polo and their general omnichannel strategy, the loyalty program is described in detail, like Marc O’Polo for members and the mobile app, social media, direct mail and in-store capabilities. A discussion chapter closes the case study with research implications and open questions for Marc O’Polo.
The purpose of this paper is to review, compare and contrast the body of published literature regarding consumer related emotions in fashion shopping behavior. This paper analyses 39 academic articles which focus on emotions in fashion shopping behavior between 2000 and 2013. Therefore articles which examine the influence of environmental stimuli in a retail setting as well as articles which focus on the impact of factors affecting individuals especially in shopping for fashion were analysed. Most of the articles are based on the SOR paradigm. A larger focus is recently placed on the research of emotions and consumers’ behavior in online fashion environments. The influence of stimuli, occurring in endogenous and exogenous ways, on consumers’ emotion and resulting behavior could be confirmed in most studies. However the determination of addressed emotions is already widely researched, the impact on consumers’ shopping behavior has to be analysed more detailed.
The purpose of this paper is to explain the key aspects and growing relevance of sustainability in fashion retail and to evaluate the possibilities of fashion retailers to act sustainable in supply chain management as well as carving out the challenges they have to deal with. The research methodology applied for this purpose is a critical literature review examining books and articles. The findings demonstrate the rising importance of sustainability in fashion retail. In this regard, fashion retailers play a key role and responsibility for sustainability in the fashion supply chain, from the beginning up to the end. This paper mainly analyzes sustainability in the fashion supply chain. It does not analyze topics like second-hand shopping or social media sustainability.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of the web representation of certain fashion hot spots and how these results can be shown on fashion maps in an illustrated way.
Design/methodology/approach: A new ranking was created, which was evaluated with a self-instructed index, to gain solid results. Numbers were collected from Google, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and web.alert.io. Additionally, fashion maps were created for an illustrative visualization of the results.
Findings: Compared with the ranking of a trend forecasting agency, called Global Language Monitor, which concepted a ranking of non-virtual fashion cities, the web representation and therefore the ranking of the research project, differs mainly in the situation of the cities among the first 10, viz. the rank on which a city occurs, but fewer in the actual cities mentioned.
Research limitations: The research was limited to subjective analysis of data, leading to partly subjective results, as well as the selected number of social media platforms, that had been used.
Originality/value: This is the first study to explore the web representation value of fashion metropolises in comparison to their non-virtual ranking. The results are partly based on results that already existed, concerning transformations of fashion cities or in general which cities own the status of a fashion city.
The focus of this work lies on teaching methods for product design to stimulate novelty within a multiple disciplinary educational context. To address this issue, the different types of multiple disciplinary approach are presented by reviewing existing literature. As the initial study involved looking at the correlation between disciplines and product features, the definition of product design and its relationship with industrial design and other adjacent domains are introduced. The structure of a newly developed interdisciplinary master in product design is presented and, within this program, an educational activity fostering creativity in heterogeneous multiple disciplinary environments is described. Inspired by the approach of industrial designers to generate creative solutions, it is conceived to help product design students to flexibly adapt the problem and the solution space together through an iterative process.
Instagram fashion videos
(2020)
Instagram is one of the most used social media platforms to share photos and videos. Due to this, it can be seen as a helpful opportunity for companies to use the platform as a marketing tool in order to spread information to a wide range of potential customers. Ever since its launch, Instagram is strongly connected to fashion, which makes the platform in particular interesting for fashion brands. According to the screened literature, most brands use Instagram for marketing purposes. It is furthermore a matter of fact, that the utilization of videos plays a decisive role. Following up on this, the question about how brands use videos on Instagram for marketing purposes comes up. Due to this, this chapter aims to investigate the extent to which brands make use of videos on Instagram, what the goals of the videos are and what the most effective videos in terms of user engagement are. More specifically, this chapter includes an empirical study which examines the Instagram profiles of nine selected brands of the categories lifestyle, luxury and fashion and sportswear on the underlying research question. A subsequent evaluation and discussion of the results depicts differences and similarities within the categories and between the categories. All in all, the results of the study show that fashion brands use the possibility of films as a marketing tool on Instagram. The content and types of films thereby heavily depend on the brand category.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find out the influences of sustainability labels on fashion buying behaviour. Despite key information about Fair Trade is provided in all stores of the sample company, customers seem not to be aware of the Fair Trade concept. Therefore this paper aims to give recommendations for a fashion retailer in terms of elucidation about Fair Trade by answering the following research questions: Which influences do sustainability labels wield on customer´s buying behaviour? Are consumers of textile products aware of the function and backgrounds of the Fair Trade label?
Design/methodology/approach: A paper-based questionnaire was administered to 128 customers of a German fashion retailer "Adler Modemärkte AG" in four city stores from which 127 were correctly completed. Additionally an adjusted self-completion questionnaire administered to 50.000 customers online from which a total of 1.712 were correctly completed. Descriptive analysis and cross tabulations were applied to abstract the main research findings and evaluate the hypotheses.
Findings: Key findings suggest that Adler should either enhance their communication strategy regarding Fair Trade or remove Fair Trade products from the assortment, as the majority of respondents are not aware of Adlers´ Fair Trade products. The Fair Trade label could neither be identified as consumer-barrier nor sales support. Further findings revealed participants have more knowledge about Fair Trade than initially assumed.
Research limitations/implications: Majorly women aged between 56 and 75 participated in the survey. Findings are limited to geography, the target group of the fashion retailer Adler, gender, age group and the research method questionnaire.
This research is about Omnichannel Retailing and addresses the question how the omnichanneling of retailers in the fashion market can be measured. Our sources will include books, interviews, newspapers and scientific databases.
Omnichanneling is a current topic in the fashion market, retailers all over the world face the question on how to adapt to the challenges Omnichannel Retailing sets. We are going to define what Omnichanneling is by explaining the differences between Multiple-, Multi-, Cross- and Omnichannel Retailing. After we defined omnichanneling itself, we took a set of 26 retailers to evaluate regarding their Omnichannel capabilities. Then we create an index with criteria that can measure the Omnichannel capability of each retailer.
The Omnichannel Score is based on 31 criteria, which analyze the retailers in offline, online, mobile and social aspects enables to see differences between retailers. Our findings were that retailers in the US fashion market are more advanced in Omnichannel Retailing than retailers in the German fashion market. Our top three Omnichannel retailers were Sears with an Omnichannel Score of 91, followed by KOHL’S and Marks&Spencer, both with a Omnichannel Score of 88. The best Omnichannel Retailer from Germany was Adidas with the fourth place and an Omnichannel Score of 81.
The purpose of this paper is to identify the role of in-store music in the fashion retail environment and to describe music as an atmospheric building tool in order to influence customer behaviour with emotions created by musical compositions. As offline retailer try to differentiate their stores through shopping experiences, atmospherics like visuals, scent and sound are appropriate tools to reinforce brand image and therefore customers’ willingness to enter, explore and purchase. Music can be a powerful primary element in creating or enhancing sensory experiences of shoppers and serves as a powerful connection to emotions. Focus of the literature review lies on the emotions which are triggered though different musical characteristics and then affect the customer behaviour. The paper offers a concisely presented review and highlights crucial aspects on what role in-store music has on customers’ perception of atmosphere, emotions and behaviour.
Protective welding clothing must meet various requirements. Among other things, it must be flame-resistant, protect against splashes of metal or sparks and also ensure protection against radiant heat and UV light caused by exposure to the welding arc. The protection against molten metal splashes is directly related to the fabric weight per unit area of the protective welding clothing and the level of protection is normally determined by the number of molten metal droplets that fall on the fabric. The higher the weight per unit area, the greater the protection against welding spatter. However, increasing the fabric weight per unit area also leads to psychologically uncomfortable wearing and thus increasing the physical strain on the wearer. The required basis weight per unit area of protective welding clothing can be reduced by applying nanoparticles as a protective layer while preserving other indispensable properties.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact on sustainability of fashion production and consumption in order to discuss what the main lever is to reduce the negative impact. The research methodology applied is a literature review examining academic references. Key findings suggest that fashion production and consumption have a single comparable impact on sustainability. Moreover, as the fashion production follows the demand, the consumer steers the production in a certain direction. Therefore, consumers take over responsibility and need to be informed. To reach a long-term change in the fashion industry, the consumer has to be the focus of the sustainable efforts. Most results in literature were conducted by qualitative research methods, so that further quantitative testing of the results is recommended. Furthermore, most surveys were conducted with young fashion consumers in the EU or UK which does not represent the fashion consumer in general.
The purpose of this paper is to define what impacts sustainable manufacturing standards have for retail brands concerning the communication policy and to find possible solutions of how the companies can deal with them. Therefore, sustainable standards and the impacts on the internal and external communication are described. The enclosed discussion finds possible solutions for the negative impacts. A literature discussion has been conducted to investigate the purpose. Generally, there are many impacts fashion retails have to consider, if they want to transform their company to become more sustainable, because only the impacts on a defined part of the communication policy were huge. A limitation of this paper is that the proposals how retailers could deal with the impacts of the transformation of the company toward more sustainability need further research and tests until they are practicable.
Impact of brand and country image on the perception of sustainability in the fashion business
(2015)
The fashion and textile industry is presently confronted to participate in the sustainability movement and society demands corporate social responsibility. Today, it is crucial for fashion companies to be able to measure, monitor and improve environmental and social performance, due to the fact that there is a heightened awareness of sustainable practices by stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to investigate fashion consumers on their sustainable perception of a fashion company. More specifically, the objective of this study is to highlight the fashion consumer`s awareness in regards to the sustainable practices of a fashion company by considering the brand and country image factors. An experimental research design was utilized for the study and the researcher surveyed 120 fashion students. The basis of the surveys within the experiment is the present sustainable practice of the fashion brand H&M. This research aims to understand, if and how fashion consumers are influenced by a fashion brand image or its souring practices, when it comes to evaluate the sustainable performance of a fashion company. Results show that participants have significantly different perceptions when considering the fashion brand image of H&M on the one hand and the sourcing countries of H&M on the other. The result of this research provides useful information about the actual state of affairs in sustainable knowledge of the consumer and the related power of a brand's image and its sourcing strategies.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the consumers’ perception of sustainability and the application of a QR-code in stores with the focus on the information searching behavior regarding sustainable aspects. An online questionnaire was conducted with fashion students at Reutlingen University: in total, 65 students participated in the survey. Paired samples t-test and other statistical analyses were applied to test research questions. Apart from this, the research paper is based on a literature review. Furthermore, the decision was taken to use a projective method in the form of a dummy fashion fTRACE website. Key findings of the survey are that participants give sustainable aspects a higher importance with a QR-code than without one. Participants who prefer a product with detailed information experience a “positive shopping feeling” when provided with transparency via a QR-code. “Origin”, “production” and “quality” were rated of higher importance by those participants. These findings suggest that, transparency provided through the application of a QR-Code in stores influences the consumers’ perception of sustainability. Due to the small sample size of participants (65) in the study, findings of this research not generalizable to a larger population. This paper focused on the consumers’ information searching behavior regarding sustainable aspects, limiting its findings to impacts on perception of sustainability. Further research is therefore recommended.
This article aims to point out main changes of the music industry since the advent of the Internet and how the fashion industry can learn from it. Different factors are researched with a birds-eye perspective by conducting a literature review. The results are limited by the availability of sources and the implications are based on a theoretical foundation. For further research the conclusions drawn for the fashion industry have to be proven empirically. After reading the paper, the reader has rather an overview of the changed circumstances and how the music industry reacted than deep knowledge in each field. More specifically, this paper gives an overview of the changed circumstances due to digitalisation and how the music industry reacted within. As both the fashion and music industry have their similarities, they are limited in their comparability, since fashion products cannot be fully digitalized like a music record. The fact that the music industry had to reinvent itself rapidly to adopt new possibilities and chances results from the article. To make use of the sustainability trend and to build communities in order to include them in the creation process are the major suggestions for the fashion industry.
The replacement of conventional material with recyclates affects product personality, particularly regarding sustainability aspects influencing consumer behaviour. A definition of personality for products made of recyclates is missing in literature. As these products require appropriate aesthetics based on material origin to communicate the advantage concerning sustainability, there is a need for research in this regard. This paper aims to develop an adequate personality of a reusable water bottle made of ocean plastic by collecting personality traits that evoke associations related to the material's origin and sustainability. We conducted two quantitative field studies. Study 1 collected associated visual perceived attributes and context-related personality traits in order to develop and visualize a preliminary design. Study 2 evaluated the design regarding associated personality traits. The overall outcome was a product personality scale consisting of 23 items plus a concrete design recommendation for a water bottle made of recycled ocean plastic. The assessment of degree of sustainability was strongly influenced by participants’ associations with personal use, familiarity with usage and the factor of stability and resilience.
The textile-finishing industry, is one of the main sources of persistent organic pollutants in water; in this regard, it is necessary to develop and employ new sustainable approaches for fabric finishing and treatment. This research study shows the development of an efficient and eco-friendly procedure to form highly hydrophobic surfaces on cotton fabrics using different modified silica sols. In particular, the formation of highly hydrophobic surfaces on cotton fabrics was studied by using a two-step treatment procedure, i.e., first applying a hybrid silica sol obtained by hydrolysis and subsequent condensation of (3-Glycidyloxypropyl) trimethoxy silane with different alkyl(trialkoxy) silane under acid conditions, and then applying hydrolyzed hexadecyltrimethoxysilane on the treated fabrics to further improve the fabrics’ hydrophobicity. The treated cotton fabrics showed excellent water repellency with a water contact angle above 150◦ under optimum treatment conditions. The cooperative action of rough surface structure due to the silica sol nanoparticles and the low surface energy caused by long-chain alkyl(trialkoxy)silane in the nanocomposite coating, combined with the expected roughness on microscale due to the fabrics and fiber structure, provided the treated cotton fabrics with excellent, almost super, hydrophobicity and water-based stain resistance in an eco-sustainable way.
Flame-retardant finishing of cotton fabrics using DOPO functionalized alkoxy- and amido alkoxysilane
(2023)
In the present study, DOPO-based alkoxysilane (DOPO-ETES) and amido alkoxysilane (DOPO-AmdPTES) were synthesized by one-step and without by-products as halogen-free flame retardants. The flame retardants were applied on cotton fabric utilizing sol–gel method and pad-dry-cure finishing process. The flame retardancy, the thermal stability and the combustion ehaviour of treated cotton were evaluated by surface and bottom edge ignition flame test (according to EN ISO 15025), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and micro-scale combustion calorimeter (MCC). Unlike CO/DOPO-ETES sample, cotton treated with DOPO-AmdPTES nanosols exhibits self-extinguishing ehaviour with high char residue, an improvement of the LOI value and a significant reduction of the PHRR, HRC and THR compared to pristine cotton. Cotton finished with DOPO-AmdPTES reveals a semi-durability after ten laundering cycles keeping the flame-retardant properties unchanged. According to the results obtained from TGA-FTIR, Py-GC/MS and XPS, the major activity of flame retardant occurs in the condensed phase via catalytic induced char formation as physical barrier along with the activity in the gas phase derived mainly from the dilution effect. The early degradation of CO/DOPO-AmdPTES compared to CO/DOPO-ETES, triggered by the cleavage of the weak bond between P and C=O, as the DFT study indicated, provides the beneficial effect of this flame retardant on the fire resistance of cellulose.
The sol-gel approach offers a new class of flame retardants with a high potential for textile applications. Pure inorganic sol-gel systems do, however, typically not provide an effect sufficient for a sel-fextinguishing behavior on its own. We therefore employed compounds with nitrogen and phosphorous containing groups. Especially the combination of compounds with both elements, using the synergism, is promising for the aim to find well-applicable, environmental friendly, halogen-free flame retardants. In our approach, the sol-gel network ensured on the one hand the link to the textile as nonflammable binder. On the other hand, the sol-gel-based networks modified with functional groups containing nitrogen groups provided flame retardancy. In this way, a flame retardant finishing for textiles could be obtained by simple finishing techniques as, e.g., padding. Besides a characterization with various flame tests (e.g., according to EN ISO 15025 e protective clothing), we used a combination of cone calorimetry, thermogravimetry coupled with infrared spectroscopy analysis and scanning electron microscopy to analyze the mechanism of flame retardancy. Thus, we could show that the main mechanism is based on the formation of a protection layer. This work provides a model system for sol-gel-based flame retardants and has the potential to show the principle feasibility of the sol-gel approach in flame retardancy of textiles. It therefore lays the groundwork for tailoring sol-gel layers from newly synthesized sol-gel precursors containing nitrogen and phosphorous groups.
Soft, mechanically compliant robots are developed to safely interact with a “human environment”. The use of textiles and fibrous (composite-) materials for the fabrication of robots opens up new possibilities for “softness/compliance” and safety in human-robot interaction. Besides external motion monitoring systems, textiles allow on-board monitoring and early prediction, or detection, of robot-human contact. The use of soft fibers and textiles for robot skins can increase the acceptance of robots in human surroundings. Novel topology optimization tools, materials, processing technologies and biomimetic engineering allow developing ultra-light-weight, multifunctional, and adaptive structures.
Fashion show films
(2020)
Due to technological developments, fashion show films provide fashion brands the opportunity to communicate their brand concepts, to attract attention and to gain more brand awareness by publishing them in the Internet. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate how fashion brands communicate their brand concept and personality through fashion show films. For this purpose, ten fashion show films of brands from the categories luxury, premium, high-street and active wear are investigated. The results indicate that the investigated brands use different ways to attract attention and to communicate their brand concept and personality. The design of the setting, the presentation of the collection as well as the visualization of the brand concept through the brand name, logo, colors or symbols and camera work play an important role to create an effective and exciting fashion show film in order to communicate the brand concept and to promote their brand image. Mostly luxury and premium brands use fashion show films for branding. For high-street and active wear brands the analysis indicates less importance of fashion show films. The limitations of this research are related to the fact that the restricted number of ten fashion show films is analyzed. This gives an overview but cannot provide a comprehensive breakdown of this topic.
Based on new ways of watching series via streaming platforms and a change of buying behavior, advertising needs to focus on new strategies. Branded entertainment gives brands the opportunity to deeper integrate their product placements into television show plots. Through a managerial perspective this increases the advertising effectiveness. The serial ‘Sex and the City’ exemplifies successful branded entertainment and shows how series influence fashion nowadays. The placements are outstanding when it comes to storytelling around the brand or product, setting trends and creating a character connection plus a desire through identification. This chapter shows success factors and chances of placements for the fashion industry.
Knowing your customer, i.e. your target market, is critical for the success of a company and its’ products. The current socio-demographic changes in the United States issue new challenges to marketers and practitioners. Actual fashion consumer seg-mentation approaches within the United States have received little attention in media and scholarly literature. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present the existing academic literature addressing fashion consumer style preferences, particularly highlighting the most promising consumer groups within the United States: Hispanics and African-Americans. For this, a literature review was chosen with a subsequent critical discussion and comparison of both segments including findings of academic researches as well as market research agencies and actual lifestyle clustering approaches regarding these consumer groups. The findings show, whilst the published literature on consumer segmentation in the apparel industry provides only a surficial understanding of the fashion buying behaviors of Hispanics and Black Americans, it could be found that both ethnic groups are highly interested in fashion, price sensitive, and they are over indexed in apparel spending habits. Especially within the Hispanic population factors such as age and level of acculturation play a vital role in the purchasing choice of apparel, footwear and accessories and require further research.
A case study with four German fashion retail brands was conducted in order to measure the performance of their Omnichannel services. In detail, their Click & Collect service was analyzed. Click & Collect is one of the first introduced Omnichannel services in fashion retailing. Omnichannel services integrate different sales and communication channels providing a seamless customer journey experience. Offline, online, and mobile app customer experiences should provide a seamless customer experience. Omnichannel performance of the four retailers Decathlon, Hunkemöller, Massimo Dutti and Galeria Kaufhof was measured via mystery shopping. A seamless customer journey experience is not yet a standard in German fashion retailing. The four companies differ in many process details. The biggest market potential and the recommendation for further research emerges in deficits of the offline store Omnichannel customer experience. Here, all four case companies have room to improve. Best overall results regarding the integration of offline, online and mobile shops were found with Hunkemöller, followed by Decathlon, Massimo Dutti, and Galeria Kaufhof.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the current state of fashion business academic education worldwide. This is motivated by the wish to develop recommendations for the fashion business bachelor program of Reutlingen Uni versity.
Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a systematic review of relevant fashion business academic programs. A qualitative comparison is conducted through a categorization of the programs’ content and a score system evaluating the programs’ concepts.
Findings: Key findings were that several factors ensure successful fashion business education: Industry connections, international networks, project-based work, personalized career services and innovative approaches in teaching that include all steps along the fashion value chain.
Research limitations/implications: The research was primarily limited due to the limited number of schools assessed. As a result of the restricted time frame, those schools that were presented could only be analyzed regarding a few aspects. Future research should focus on a more in-depth analysis and further-reaching comparisons, e.g. comparisons with teaching concepts outside the fashion business area or with requirements by fashion companies.
Purpose of the present research paper is to examine the current state of research, define dimensions of research and reveal gaps in research on the topic of ‘Fashion and music’. To do so, the methodology of a scientific literature review was applied. The literature review revealed that music and its business mainly serve the fashion industry as influencer on trends, image building marketing tool, support of fashion processes and contributor to the development of innovative fashion products. Both industries provide identify-forming features, unify their mutual target groups in a certain lifestyle and thus enlarge their own target market. This results in increased brand awareness, image and credibility, emotionalized brand experience, differentiation and sophisticated brand identity. The present paper can serve as the basis for further research. It is limited by the time, depth and availability of data collection, the predominance of grey literature and its focus on the modern relationship of fashion and music.
This chapter discusses German television as a platform for fashion content and, in that context, streaming services as possible alternatives. Three German television channels were surveilled over the period of one month, as well as the two most popular streaming services in Germany and the online media library of one German television channel over six months, regarding length, fashion connection, transmission time and success. Additionally, for three channels fashion advertisement was analyzed. Broadcasting the most contributions with fashion connection in one month, VOX was the channel being the most fashionable. Aiming to entertain, informative contributions about fashion in television build a minority. Streaming services offer more flexibility, which the user is asking for. All three television stations show fashion brand spots during prime-time. Especially ProSieben and sixx are in close cooperation with several fashion brands. Therefore, fashion advertising seems to be preferably inserted in fashion related series.
After definition and the history of podcasts, in this book the role of podcasts in the communication strategy is mapped out. Podcast production, podcast types, podcast structures, and podcast advertising are explained. Podcast audiences and podcast in the fashion industry are introduced.
In a thorough explorative analysis, a general exploration of the podcast offering of the fashion sector was conducted. Then a selected podcast analysis with evaluation and conclusion, including a discussion of the future use of podcasts closes this book.
An event film is a successful marketing and communication instrument, which can be used from companies along social media. By reaching the target group and potential customers, companies could benefit from increasing brand awareness. It is striking that there is a lack of information about how event films are used in regard to showing fashion. To establish the subject further, the purpose of this paper is to enrich the existing findings and analyze the influence event films have. In an empirical study, the performance of two events and the two related fast fashion retailers H&M and Zara on Instagram and YouTube regarding event and fashion connected films is analyzed. Identified stylistic elements of event fashion are searched and found in their online shops. Since emotions are especially well transferred through event films, there is an indication that they contribute to the shaping of fashion trends.
When wearing compressive garments, the tissue of the human body is altered in relation to its natural shape by the properties of the applied material and by the pattern construction used.
To check the fit of garments, both construction and selected materials can be virtually simulated in 3D on avatars in corresponding CAD programs before fabrication.
The software Blender allows the modelling of an avatar and to generate in respective to the different tissue zones with their specific properties to adjust them with soft body physics according to the testing of real soft tissue but the models in Blender are mainly using linear springs.
In recent years, the demand for accurate and efficient 3D body scanning technologies has increased, driven by the growing interest in personalised textile development and health care. This position paper presents the implementation of a novel 3D body scanner that integrates multiple RGB cameras and image stitching techniques to generate detailed point clouds and 3D mesh models. Our system significantly enhances the scanning process, achieving higher resolution and fidelity while reducing the cost, time and effort required for data acquisition and processing. Furthermore, we evaluate the potential use cases and applications of our 3D body scanner, focusing on the textile technology and health sectors. In textile development, the 3D scanner contributes to bespoke clothing production, allowing designers to construct made-to-measure garments, thus minimising waste and enhancing customer satisfaction through fitting clothing. In mental health care, the 3D body scanner can be employed as a tool for body image analysis, providing valuable insights into the psychological and emotional aspects of self-perception. By exploring the synergy between the 3D body scanner and these fields, we aim to foster interdisciplinary collaborations that drive advancements in personalisation, sustainability, and well-being.
Creativity, problem-solving skills and the ability for collaborative work are considered key competences for facing the challenges of the 21st century. Children are born with an inherent creativity that decreases throughout their school careers. A research team of designers and educators investigates whether the implementation of Design Thinking (DT) in textile education in German elementary schools is a suitable method to preserve children’s creativity. Initial surveys with teachers and pilot studies in elementary schools showed high motivation and openmindedness towards DT in classroom. The challenge will be to develop suitable teaching modules for elementary schools of the federal state Baden Württemberg.
Several ionic liquids are excellent solvents for cellulose. Starting from that finishing of PET fabrics with cellulose dissolved in ionic liquids like 1-ethyl 3-methyl imidazolium acetate, diethylphosphate and chloride, or the chloride of butyl-methyl imidazolium has been investigated. Finishing has been carried out from solutions of different concentrations, using microcrystalline cellulose or cotton and by employing different cross-linkers. Viscosity of solutions has been investigated for different ionic liquids,concentrations, cellulose sources, linkers and temperatures. Since ionic liquids exhibit no vapor pressure,simple pad-dry-cure processes are excluded. Before drying the ionic liquid has to be removed by a rinsing step. Accordingly rinsing with fresh ionic liquid followed by water or the direct rinsing with waterhave been tested. The amount of cellulose deposited has been investigated by gravimetry, zinc chlorideiodine test as well as reactive dyeing. Results concerning wettability, water up-take, surface resistance,wear-resistance or washing stability are presented.
It is widely recognized that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) plays a critical role in creating a more sustainable world by fostering the development of the knowledge, skills, understanding, values, and actions necessary for such change (UNESCO, 2020). In this context, ESD represents a holistic approach that focuses on lifelong learning to create informed people who can make decisions today and in the future. Related to the textile and fashion industry, ESD is an appropriate approach to continuously implement sustainability aspects in education and training. To achieve this goal, the European project "Sustainable Fashion Curriculum at Textile Universities in Europe - Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Teaching Module for Educators" (Fashion DIET) has developed a digital teaching module in a partnership between a University of Education and universities with textile departments. The main objective of the project is to elaborate an ESD module for university lecturers in order to introduce a sustainable fashion curriculum in textile universities in Europe and implement it in educational systems. The project therefore aims to train educators along the textile supply chain, to inform the young generation about the latest aspects of sustainability and raise awareness by implementing ESD in textile education. This paper presents the learning outcomes of the modules on sustainable fashion design and related production technologies developed by the technical university partners, as part of the total of 42 courses covering didactic-methodological approaches and the sustainable orientation of the fashion market, offered at the consortium level. The project content is made available as Open Educational Resources through Glocal Campus, an open-access e-learning platform that enables virtual collaboration between universities.
This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process.
This report provides an bird’s-eye view on the concept and implications of digital identities. After an introduction situating the concept of identity, the report clarifies its contemporary meaning and proposes a definition of reference. Subsequently, the authors examine the consequences of the translation of the concept of identity into the digital, internet connected world. They then analyse the particularities and consequences of this translation, which allows them to situate and define the concept of digital identities.
Finally, they conclude with the challenges that digital identity poses to the digital citizen in the attempt to manage and protect its attributes with the advent of Internet of Things and blockchain technology.
In recent years the share economy has gained widespread success across different industries. Since small firms and new ventures obtain fewer resources, an increased focus on service allows them to differentiate and compete with cost pressure in traditionally manufacturing based industries. There still is a lack of understanding how these firms manage to successfully shift towards service-oriented business models. This paper adopts a dynamic capabilities approach to examine the particular microfoundations that underlie sensing, seizing and reconfiguring dynamic capabilities of early-stage service firms within a traditional retail market. The context of this study is the fashion industry. It is an ideal setting since it is characterized by severe competition, short life cycles, strong cost pressure and high volatility. There are few but increasing examples of entrepreneurial initiatives that try to compete by providing offers to resell, rent or swap clothes. Qualitative data of five early stage fashion ventures is analyzed. Findings reveal that the ability to develop and maintain long-term relationships is essential. It has also been found crucial to acquire knowledge from external network partners, delegate tasks and share information. Furthermore, skills for interacting with customers and adopting consumer feedback are critical. This study provides empirical evidence of dynamic capabilities of early-stage firms and contributes to knowledge on the factors that facilitate servitization in traditionally manufacturing based industries. For practitioners, the presented microfoundations provide a framework of critical tasks that allow them to develop and maintain a service oriented business model.
The process for the production of customized bras is really challenging. Although the need is very clear, the lingerie industry is currently facing a lack of data, knowledge and expertise for the realization of an automated process chain. Different studies and surveys have shown, that the majority of women wear the incorrect bra size. In addition to aesthetic problems, health risks such as headaches, back problems or digestive problems of the wearers can result from this. An important prerequisite for improvements is the basic knowledge about the female breast, both in terms of body measurements and different breast shapes. The current size systematic for bras only defines a bra size by the relation between bust girth and underbust girth and standardized cup forms do not justice to the high variability of the human body. As the bra type shapes the female breast, basic knowledge about the relation of measurements and shapes from the clothed and the unclothed breast is missing.
In the present project, studies are conducted to explore the female breast and to derive new breast-specific body measurements, different breast shapes and deformation knowledge using existing bras.
Furthermore, an innovative process is being developed that leads from 3D scanning to individual and interactive pattern construction, which allows an automatic pattern creation based on individual body measurements and the influence of different material parameters.
In the course of the presentation, the current project status will be shown and the future developments and project steps will be introduced.
Today's pattern making methods for industrial purposes are including construction principles, which are based on mathematical formula and sizing charts. As a result, there are two-dimensional flats, which can be converted into a three-dimensional garment. Because of their high linearity, those patterns are incapable of recreating the complexity of the human body, which results in insufficient fit. Subsequent changes of the pattern require a high degree of experience and lead to an inefficient product development process. It is known that draping allows the development of more complex and demanding patterns, which corresponds more to the actual body shape. Therefore, this method is used in custom tailoring and haute couture to achieve perfect garment fit but is also associated with time.
So, there is the act of defiance to improve the fit of garments, to speed up production but maintain a good value for money. Reutlingen University is therefore working on the development of 3D-modelled body shapes for 3D draping, considering different layers of clothing, such as jackets or coats. For this purpose, 3D modelling is used to develop 3D-bodies that correspond to the finished dimensions of the garment. By flattening of the modelled body, it is then possible to obtain an optimal 2D Pattern of the body. The comparison of the conventional method and the developed method is done by 3D simulation.
Finally, the optical fit test is demonstrated by the simulated basic cuts, that a significantly better body wrapping through the newly developed methodology could be achieved. Unlike in the basic cuts, which were achieved by classical design principles have been created, only a few adjustments are necessary to obtain an optimized basic cut. Also, when considering the body distance, it is shown that the newly developed basic patterns provide a more even enclosure of the body.
Defining the antecedents of experience co-creation as applied to alternative consumption models
(2019)
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework of experience co-creation that captures the multi-dimensionality of this construct, as well as a research process for defining of the antecedents of experience co-creation.
Design/methodology/approach – The framework of experience co-creation was conceptualized by means of a literature review. Subsequently, this framework was used as the conceptual basis for a qualitative content analysis of 66 empirical papers investigating alternative consumption models (ACMs), such as renting, remanufacturing, and second-hand models.
Findings – The qualitative content analysis resulted in 12 categories related to the consumer and 9 related to the ACM offerings that represent the antecedents of experience co-creation. These categories provide evidence that, to a large extent, the developed conceptual framework allows one to capture the multi-dimensionality of the experience co-creation construct.
Research limitations/implications – This study underscores the understanding of experience co-creation as a function of the characteristics of the offering – which are, in turn, a function of the consumers’ motives as determined by their lifeworlds – as well as to service design as an iterative approach to finding, creating and refining service offerings.
Practical implications – The investigation of the antecedents of experience co-creation can enable service providers to determine significant consumer market conditions for forecasting the suitability and viability of their offerings and to adjust their service designs accordingly.
Originality/value – This paper provides a step toward the operationalization of the dimension-related experience co creation construct and presents an approach to defining the antecedents of experience co-creation by considering different research perspectives that can enhance service design research.
Loyalty programs become more important in an omnichannel environment of fashion retail business. After the definition of customer loyalty and loyalty programs the main characteristics of omnichannel loyalty programs are described. As touchpoints of omnichannel loyalty programs mobile, social media, direct mail and in-store capabilities are detailed. A discussion chapter closes with recommendations for fashion retailers.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how motion pictures are currently used for the product presentation of fashion articles in online shops in the German, American and British markets. This study shows that the use of moving images for the presentation of fashion articles in online shops is underutilized. With the amount of data that was manageable within the scope of this chapter, no valid generalizations can be made. All described results must be understood as an indication. In order to be able to use product presentation videos meaningfully, one should consider before exactly what is the purpose of these videos. Different goals require different means. However, retailer should obtain enough information in advance to assess whether they can afford the production and post processing of these videos.
The purpose of this paper is to identify key success factors of Crowdfunding in the Music Business in order to discuss their applicability to the Fashion Industry. The research methodology applied is a literature review examining academic and non-academic references. Key research findings include four main success factors. First explains the innovative and adaptive nature of the music industry caused by historical evolution. Second strong commitment and connection to the fan base is identified as success factor. Third manageable effort for the realisation on a large scale reduces the risk of a failure. And, last success factor describes the successful implementation of campaign specific aspects. The discussion finally shows that three of four success factors can be adapted to the Fashion Business. Due to little scientific research in the field of Crowdfunding in the Music Business, the success factors are worked out independently, based on general literature. Accordingly, quantitative testing and further analysis is recommended.
The purpose of this research is to explore current boundaries of the fashion industry’s second hand market and which solutions and approaches can be adopted from the used-car industry. The paper is based on the study of existing literature which deals with sustainability in combination with second hand markets in general and adaptable features of the used-car industry. Adaptable features are found using the business model canvas. The key finding of this study indicates that the fashion industry faces immense social and environmental challenges which can be partly solved by the development of the second hand market. Used-car industry can be seen as role model for fashion retail. In this study only aspects of used-car distribution are highlighted; therefore, characteristics of the recycling of used cars are not examined.
The purpose of this paper is to find out how musicians are able to differentiate themselves from their competitors by using their style. Casting shows and the evolution of the contestants’ style during and after the show serve as a paradigm for creating differentiation by style. The method of research was diverse but largely drawn from research papers as well as online magazines and newspapers. Within the scope of the research, it was feasible to draw on a varied range of sources to answer the research question. In the course of this research paper, it was possible to define key factors for a musician to create differentiation by style in modern times. By examining the style of casting show contestants, it was explored to which extent they transform from rather normal people to pop stars. In reducing the detailed analysis of casting shows to three shows and contestants, only a broad overview was provided. The paper is of interest to those working for casting shows in order to develop those.
Purpose of this research paper is to assess the state of the art concerning the relevance of consumer segmentation models in the fashion industry with regards to current changes in technology, market structure and consumer behavior.
The paper is composed of a qualitative literature review and an empirical study in form of a survey. They are contrasted in order to identify both similarities and differences.
Findings reveal that consumer segmentation is still relevant. Notwithstanding, an adaptation of classification models is necessary according to occurring changes. External models, segmenting consumers by means of lifestyle or fashion typologies, are used. However, it is striking that most companies of the empirical study already apply internal segmentation models with tendency to rise. Moreover, research has shown that consumer classification models in the USA make use of different criteria than in Europe.
Language barriers within the literature review and a low sample size in the empirical study give research limitations. Future management implications can be directed to the identification of procedures for the efficient application of internal segmentation models.
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the communication of sustainability of fashion retailers via their websites with a focus on the involvement of the consumer and the varying communication processes, based on the sender-receiver model. For the empirical study, 10 fashion retailers were analyzed in terms of their communication of sustainability via their websites, with a focus on the consumer involvement. The results of empirical study were applied to the theoretical communication process model and illustrate the varying communication processes among the ten fashion retailers. The communication of sustainability via the Fashion retailer´s websites varied strongly. Only one fashion retailer communicated environmental- and social as well as all consumer-related aspects. As a result, the loop of the communication process has only been closed for one fashion retailer. Accordingly, these findings confirm that there is a need for fashion retailers to inform consumers in a holistic way about sustainability, especially in terms of sustainable fashion consumption when communicating sustainability via websites.
The requirements for textiles differ greatly depending on the area of application, whereby it often does not remain with only one required functionality. For example, in the field of functional clothing or protective clothing/PPE, it is necessary to protect the textile’s wearers from UV radiation. At the same time, self-cleaning effects offer certain advantages in that field. In addition, an antimicrobial effect in functional clothing can reduce the formation of unpleasant odors, and in PPE – especially in the healthcare sector – can contribute to the interruption of the chain of infection. One way to achieve these 3 desired functions in just one finishing step is to immobilize titanium dioxide (TiO2). However, TiO2 is viewed critically for application in the textile sector due to a REACH listing. Another disadvantage is that it only takes effect under UV radiation and is therefore not suitable for indoor use. Alternatively, photocatalysts such as doped zinc oxides (ZnO) can be used, which also exhibit catalytic activity through activation by visible light, which can lead to the killing of microorganisms and the degradation of organic soiling.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate consisting consumption patterns caused by fast fashion with a new appearing form of consumption and retaining potentials as an alternative as well as sustainable form of fast fashion consumption. This research is set up on a theoretical background of scientific literature including governmental as well as press releases in order to evaluate the status quo of consumption and answering the research question. A new consumption pattern as well as an appearing economy of sharing can be stated including potential aspects of raising businesses and sustainable alternative forms of fast fashion. The framework of the research is limited to the textile and fashion industry in industrialized countries focusing on consumption in the twenty first century.
Co-design and endorsement
(2018)
The purpose of this paper is to determine the success factors regarding celebrities of the music business involved in fashion advertising. That famous people have the power to help brands and products to stand out among others is proven and popular. This paper is concentrating on successful musicians and their endorsements of fashion brands and examines the benefits for both, the brand and the artist. It investigates how consumer perceives brand and artist collaboration and what factors enhance the purchase intention and increase sales. This paper is structured in the following manner: The introduction presents the research question and sets the aim for the paper, followed by the analysis of the existing literature. The paper ends with conclusions, limitations and suggestions for further research.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the practice of closed-loop production systems (CLPS) is implemented in the fashion industry. This paper offers a critical literature review to present a thorough understanding of the actual status of literature. Subsequently, the paper reveals that CLPS are of great importance. Generally, such systems include different activities that have to be integrated. Critical points are the product acquisition, the recovering process itself and the remarketing to the customer. A lack of reliable data concerning CLPS in the specific case of fashion industry can be identified. Important research fields could be marketing strategies, controlling the acquisition process, evolvement of return technologies and strategies, adaption of recovered products to the mass market, and the development of new technologies concerning recovering processes.
In a globalized world the importance of a proper segmentation method for identifying target consumers has been increasing. Vast majority of the research in this area focuses on the usage or development of different techniques. Lifestyle is a good criterion for dividing people into groups which then can be better targeted. This article addresses the research question, which classical methods exist to segment markets with the aid of lifestyle. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate several instruments, such as A.I.O., Roper Consumer Styles, VALS-Method, the Sinus-Milieus, Sigma-Milieus, RISC-Method and Semiometrie but also Discriminant and Conjoint Analysis which proved of value in the past. Furthermore it deals with the benefits of this methods but weaknesses are also considered. Therefore several existing literature is examined, and information is collected by institutes providing the typologies. Obvious is, that new methods e.g. predictive analytics already play a major role in marketing, because it can be found much literature about it. In the literature research also appear research implications, because besides the provided information from institutes and journals, there is hardly no data to find if and how companies use the instruments. Furthermore, some important databases cannot be scanned because they are not accessible without paying.
The connection of fashion and film seems symbiotic at first sight and they influence each other. There exist differences, including a different understanding of clothing by costume designers and fashion businesses. This article focuses on two successful movies „The Hunger Games“ and „The Great Gatsby“ in order to explore the role of film in fashion and vice versa. The findings suggest, that there are various collections in the fashion world, based on both movies. Therefore, movies indeed have an influence on the development of seasonal fashion. However, this connection is not natural, but rather artificially created by both industries. Through nowadays organized co-operation, the lines between costume designers and fashion designers get blurred. Furthermore, today fashion doesn’t trickle down to an audience naturally, but promoted using the film and its broad reach.
Energy consumption by air-conditioning is expansive and leads to the emission of millions of tons of CO2 every year. A promising approach to circumvent this problem is the reflection of solar radiation: Rooms that would not heat up by irradiation will not need to be cooled down. Especially, transparent conductive metal oxides exhibit high infrared (IR) reflectivity and are commonly applied as low-emissivity coatings (low-e coatings). Indium tin oxide (ITO) coatings are the state-of-the-art application, though indium is a rare and expensive resource. This work demonstrates that aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) can be a suitable alternative to ITO for IR-reflection applications. AZO synthesized here exhibits better emissivity to be used as roofing membrane coatings for buildings in comparison to commercially available ITO coatings. AZO particles forming the reflective coating are generated via solvothermal synthesis routes and obtain high conductivity and IR reflectivity without the need of any further post-thermal treatment. Different synthesis parameters were studied, and their effects on both conductive and optical properties of the AZO nanoparticles were evaluated. To this end, a series of characterization methods, especially 27Al-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (27Al-NMR) analysis, have been conducted for a deeper insight into the particles’ structure to understand the differences in conductivity and optical properties. The optimized AZO nanoparticles were coated on flexible transparent textile-based roofing membranes and tested as low-e coatings. The membranes demonstrated higher thermal reflectance compared with commercial ITO materials with an emissivity value lowered by 16%.
Case study: Marillion
(2018)
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the use of crowdfunding,
demonstrated by a case study about the rock band Marillion. The research
methodology applied is a literature review examining academic references. On this basis, a case study by exemplary illustrating the rock band Marillion and how they invented crowdfunding has been drafted. Findings suggest that the crowdfunding concept is no new phenomenon, since the rock band Marillion has investigated the business model. Recently, the funding method is applied to the fashion industry; hence it is efficient and engaging to finance projects by that specific business model. A limitation of this paper is that the topic of crowdfunding is new to the fashion business and needs further research and tests until they are practicable to interpret. Results show that there is a high potential for using crowdfunding in fashion by reaching a long-term change in this industry.
This paper is purposed to examine the impact of grunge music on fashion and to explain how grunge music is reflected in grunge style. The research methodology applied is a case study on grunge music and grunge style. Key findings suggest that different elements of grunge music had a great impact on the evolution of grunge style: Mentality and philosophy of the movement, musical style and sound as well as lyrical concerns are incorporated by grunge style. Commercial exploitation of grunge partly led to its downfall. Moreover, the original spirit of the movement is not commonly shared by all sub-genres’ respective contemporary styles. Musicians had great impact on the evolution of grunge style and unintentional rose to style icons. The research is limited by the amount of academic literature concerning the connection between grunge music and grunge style. Therefore, journal entries and blogs are used as reference as well.
Case study: EMP
(2018)
The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the business model of the retailer EMP. The in-depth literature review develops the relevance of merchandising for the rock and heavy metal scene and the relevance of EMP within that market. Literature about existing approaches of multi-channelling has been reviewed. Based on this theoretical framework, a case study of EMP has been drafted. Findings are discussed, focusing on the performance of EMP as a multi-channel and lifestyle retailer and additionally provide valuable managerial implications for fashion retailers. Implications for further research address lifestyle retailers to contribute to the findings or validate them with different examples. The research is clearly limited by the amount of scholar literature concerning EMP in particular. Hence, magazines, journals and information provided by the company serve as reference. Even though EMP provided some information, gathering any information about how EMP manages multi channelling operationally was not possible.
Since there is no denying that transparency is increasingly central to corporate sustainability, the purpose of this paper is a case study on a company’s attempt to be fully transparent, hence, picking up the existent scholarly conversation about uncompromising supply chain transparency. Literature so far was found to be fairly limited, but, following a trend, has been rising in numbers over recent years. Addressing these shortcomings in the methodology, an in-depth literature review about the multiple dimensions of supply chain transparency has been performed and links within supply networks stressed. On this basis, a case study by exemplary illustrating the fashion label Honestby has been drafted and the effort to become the world’s first 100 % transparent company further examined. Findings are discussed whether more supply chain transparency is desirable in any case, obstacles listed and an outlook for this kind of business model has been drawn. The research is clearly limited by the amount of scholarly literature concerning Honestby in particular. Out of this reason, magazines and journal entries are used as reference as well. Only with the extension of the topic itself to supply chain transparency and the literature review beforehand, the paper gained its necessary academic standard. Concerning implications, it needs to be mentioned that even though Honest by demonstrates to be fully transparent, it was not possible to find any public information about the degree of supplier relationship. In particular, concerning the applied control mechanisms used to exert influence and to balance out the power gradient between company and suppliers.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of sustainable closed-loop supply chain of the fashion brand Filippa K. Information on green fashion has been gathered and a case study approach on the fashion retailer
Filippa K conducted. Results show a switch in knowledge content between a fast fashion supply chain and a sustainable supply chain. Also there is an evolution in sustainability as companies, retailers, and manufactures suffer under pressure from the customers, governments, and the media. Sustainable fashion brands like Filippa K are interested in sharing precise knowledge on variety of aspects linked to the sustainable closed-loop supply chain. This research paper has been limited by less information and unexplored topics in the theme green fashion. This led to the personal critical disputation with the brand Filippa K.
This case study of Breuninger aims to analyze how Breuninger adapts to the emerging omnichannel environment in fashion business. From a consumer’s perspective Breuninger and the general omnichannel strategy of Breuninger is explained, before the loyalty program of Breuninger is analyzed in detail. Key factors as the mobile app and the mobile Breuninger card, social media, direct mail and in-store capabilities are described. A discussion chapter finalizes the case.
Purpose of the research paper is to illuminate the subject of assortment policy in the German fashion e‐commerce market. A short literature review is conducted in order to set up a system of characteristics to contemplate assortments on a strategic level. In a second step, structured observations are conducted to quantitatively analyze and compare the assortments of the leading online fashion retailers within Germany. Based on literature, the following characteristics for a classification of assortments can be identified: assortment structure, assortment size, assortment width, assortment depth, assortment consistency and rotation, price level, quality mix, fashion degree as well as the mix of private labels and manufacturer brands. Furthermore, the results of the empirical analysis show that there are currently five leaders within the nalyzed market: Amazon, Otto, Zalando, Baur and About You. Among these five market leaders, Amazon positions itself as a retailer that not only offers an enormous assortment size, but also the lowest entry prices as well as the broadest price dispersion. Through the development of the system of characteristics for assortment analysis and the examination of the current market environment, the findings of this paper contribute to the current state of the art in both theoretical and practical aspects.
Today many vertical retailers are operating different sales channels at the same time and are respon-sible for the range of products in all sales channels. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether for vertical fashion retailers a format-specific assortment policy can be observed on the German mar-ket. To investigate this topic in addition to secondary data of a literature research, quantitative prima-ry data was collected through a structured observation by conducting store checks. The combination provides insights into the research topic, allows to build hypotheses and to get a current and specific answer on the research topic. The study revealed all vertical retailers exploit the advantage of unlim-ited capacity of the online shop by offering in this channel mainly the broadest and deepest assort-ment. Within the retail store the vertical retailers focus on offering full-price goods for the current season in full size sets. Compared to the online shop here are less styles sophisticated presented and adjusted on the sales floor. For the outlet channel all brands showed a higher density of products and at least a price reduction of 30 per cent. The present paper is limited by time, depth and language of secondary data collection. As the study only conducted quantitative data within limited observations additional visual data over a longer period is necessary.
Patterns are virtually simulated in 3D CAD programs before production to check the fit. However, achieving lifelike representations of human avatars, especially regarding soft tissue dynamics, remains challenging. This is mainly since conventional avatars in garment CAD programs are simulated with a continuous hard surface and not corresponding to the human physical and mechanical body properties of soft tissue. In the real world, the human body’s natural shape is affected by the contact pressure of tight-fitting textiles. To verify the fit of a simulated garment, the interactions between the individual body shape and the garment must be considered. This paper introduces an innovative approach to digitising the softness of human tissue using 4D scanning technology. The primary objective of this research is to explore the interactions between tissue softness and different compression levels of apparel, exerting pressure on the tissue to capture the changes in the natural shape. Therefore, to generate data and model an avatar with soft body physics, it is essential to capture the deform ability and elasticity of the soft tissue and map it into the modification options for a simulation. To aim this, various methods from different fields were researched and compared to evaluate 4D scanning as the most suitable method for capturing tissue deformability in vivo. In particular, it should be considered that the human body has different deformation capabilities depending on age, the amount of muscle and body fat. In addition, different tissue zones have different mechanical properties, so it is essential to identify and classify them to back up these properties for the simulation. It has been shown that by digitising the obtained data of the different defined applied pressure levels, a prediction of the deformation of the tissue of the exact person becomes possible. As technology advances and data sets grow, this approach has the potential to reshape how we verify fit digitally with soft avatars and leverage their realistic soft tissue properties for various practical purposes.