Impact pathways: Just transition in fashion operations and supply chain management

Karaosman, Hakan and Marshall, Donna 2023. Impact pathways: Just transition in fashion operations and supply chain management. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 43 (13) , pp. 226-237. 10.1108/IJOPM-05-2022-0348

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Abstract

Purpose: This impact pathways paper proposes that operations and supply chain management (OSCM) can help to ensure that the transition from a high-carbon to low-carbon fashion industry takes place in a just, inclusive and fair way. By immersing ourselves in fashion brands, suppliers and workers’ realities across multiple supply chains, we identify challenges and issues related to just transitions, while proposing research pathways to inspire future OSCM research and collaboration using innovative and creative methods to answer complex questions related to just transition. Design/methodology/approach: The research we introduce used a multi-level field research approach to investigate multiple fashion supply chains in transition. Findings: We uncovered that in the pursuit of lowering carbon emissions, fast-fashion giants work with industrial associations to create top-down governance tools, leading to severe problems in supply chain data and paradoxical demands. These demands are cascaded onto the workers in these supply chains. The goals and tools dictated by the fashion giants exclude workers, while the physiological and psychological effects on the workers are routinely ignored. These issues impede a just transition to a low-carbon fashion industry. Originality: We introduce concepts largely missing from OSCM literatures and ensure representation of the most marginalised group, supply chain workers, in a novel setting in a call for research in this emerging area. Keywords: Fashion, Supply management, Just transition, Workers, Sustainability, Impact, Research pathways

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	Emerald
ISSN:	0144-3577
Funders:	European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 895711
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	22 May 2023
Date of Acceptance:	15 May 2023
Last Modified:	19 Jul 2023 08:59
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/159758

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