UMKC experts: Self-disruption challenges a modern fashion industry in flux

Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Regnier Institute. The opinions expressed in this commentary are the authors’ alone.

When thinking of the fashion industry, the first thing that (rightfully) comes to most people’s minds is the final garment on the shelf. However, there are a tremendous number of challenges and complexities involved in bringing that final garment to market. In recent years, those complexities in the fashion production industry have only grown.

Amazon has designed processes to get orders to us the same day. Everyone is in a rush for instant gratification in consumer interaction. With this demand for quick turnaround, there are bound to be disruptions that prove to be chaotic for today’s consumers and fashionistas.

The fashion industry today is in a state of flux. Technology, social media, and younger consumers’ preference for novelty brands have accelerated the “race against time” challenges, which leads to self-disruption.

Self-disruption is when couture fashion brands, such as Prada, are forced to change their business models and compete against “challenger” brands, such as Reformation.

On the other end of the spectrum are the personal, individual, and consumer choices to be had among Fast Fashion versus Slow Fashion versus Sustainable Fashion. Studies show the textiles industry is the world’s second-biggest industrial polluter, behind oil. So how do we allow brands like TopShop to introduce 400 styles a week on its website? That’s a large environmental footprint.

Lucy Siegle, author and journalist, summed it up in the documentary, “The True Cost: Fast fashion isn’t free. Someone, somewhere is paying.”

If you are a retailer or producer wanting to learn more about the business of fashion, sign up for our interactive two-hour workshop May 22 and May 23 focusing on the changing fashion industry and how supply chain and technology has driven to just-in-time delivery of fads and trends in the soft goods segment.

We will look at the disruptions that have caused designers and suppliers to rethink strategic timelines in imaging, creating and delivering fashion in a way that will reduce excessive production costs and distribution aggregator’s challenges. We will identify retail trends and forecast where the future of fashion might be heading.

Participants will emerge from the workshop with a greater understanding of the historical perspective of supply chain management in the soft goods fashion industry, where we are today with just-in-time product delivery, and the shift from company-provided goods and services to consumer-driven fulfillment of needs and wants.

Phillip Gonsher is a teaching professor with the Henry W. Bloch School of Management and assistant director with the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, both at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Gonsher was an entrepreneur in the fashion industry, owning and managing his own business in the industry for many years.

Jennifer Niehouse-Fox is the founder and CEO of It’s So U, a professional image consulting firm that works with corporate clients, educational institutions, and individual clients to help clients project a professional and confident appearance.