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Green Fashion pp 127–158Cite as

Sustainable Value Generation Through Post-retail Initiatives: An Exploratory Study of Slow and Fast Fashion Businesses

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Abstract

The dialogue between slow and fast fashion has gained great prominence in recent years particularly in terms of sustainability. In the forward value chain, fast fashion companies are most often considered to be unsustainable whereas the slow fashion brands are comparatively more planet-friendly. However, the discussion on the trade-off between sustainability and “speed of fashion” (classified into slow and fast fashions) in the post-retail segment is still limited. A deeper understanding, however, would not only contribute towards conceptualizing the post-retail initiatives, but would also shed light on how these are differentially undertaken by various types of fashion businesses in terms of generating sustainable value. This study proposes sustainable value generation in terms of closing the material and responsibility loops. It further reveals that the trade-off in post-retail is not as rigid as it is in the forward value chain. However, fast fashion offers the lowest potential to displace the purchase of new clothes to close the material loop whereas the redesign brands offer the highest; moreover fast fashion is less liable to take extended responsibilities compared to the slow fashion brands. It can be concluded that fast fashion is somewhat “stuck in the middle” in comparison to the slow and redesign brands in terms of generating value through closing the loop activities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Norden Publication Database: http://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/search.jsf?dswid=-1454 (02.09.2015); an extended list of these reports can be available from the author on request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration and Textile Management, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

    Rudrajeet Pal

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  1. Rudrajeet Pal
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Correspondence to Rudrajeet Pal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Services Manager-Asia, SGS Hong Kong Limited, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu

  2. Center for Studies on Sustainable Luxury, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Miguel Angel Gardetti

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Pal, R. (2016). Sustainable Value Generation Through Post-retail Initiatives: An Exploratory Study of Slow and Fast Fashion Businesses. In: Muthu, S., Gardetti, M. (eds) Green Fashion. Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0111-6_6

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