Comment optimiser la gestion de la fin de vie des articles dans l'industrie de la mode? Analyse comparative des business models déployés dans la slow fashion et la fast fashion

Abstract

The fashion industry is a very harmful sector both environmentally and socially speaking. The management of the end of life of fashion articles has been singled out recently by the scientific literature and the press as being problematic. The objective of this dissertation is to identify the processes used by the fashion industry with regard to the management of excess stock and to discover which practices are the most eco-responsible. A comparative study between the fast fashion movement and the slow fashion movement is presented.

The scientific literature has identified destruction as a predominantly used process in fast fashion companies. The main reason for this disposal is the financial aspect because excess stock means an opportunity cost. The giants of fast fashion are also opting for intensive promotional sales during sales periods. They also use textile recyclers to whom they sell at low prices or give excess stock. These items are then sent to developing countries for recycling into rags, or resold as is in markets to an impoverished population. The slow fashion movement favors recycling and recovery in order to manage excess stock and thus extend the life of items. The benefits of fashion for hire, which is an alternative to item destruction, appear to depend on the type of item involved as well as how often it is used.

Based on interviews conducted with eight companies from slow fashion and seven companies from fast fashion, several discoveries were made. It turns out that the average of unsold items is stable from one movement to another because it depends mainly on a company and not on a movement. Low-cost selling is practiced as much by slow fashion companies as by fast fashion companies in the first place to eliminate excess stock. Then, the sample of fast fashion companies opt for destruction and sale to « destockers » and the slow fashion companies favor personal use as well as donation (to influencers). The rate of returns of items made after the purchase is higher in fast fashion companies because the purchase is induced by an impulse explained by the democratic price.

It is undeniable that the slow fashion movement (which bases its sustainable strategy mainly at the start of the supply chain) is positively beneficial to the environment as well as to the conditions of workers. As a result, fast fashion companies will no doubt have to follow the same pattern in the future, avoiding the use of greenwashing practices.