Challenges & Opportunities in Fashion Industry

Challenges & Opportunities in Fashion Industry

Introduction

The fashion industry in UK is known to set the trends and strategy for the future. The industry is also acknowledged and recognized of providing high value products at the era of globalization and quickly changing markets. In this environment, the new managers who enter this industry have to face many challenges and they also have chance to avail many opportunities keeping in view the innovations continuously taking place (Barnes and LeaGreenwood 2006, pp. 264).

The UK fashion industry from the beginning is known for dominance by a number of market leaders. It also has an inflexible supply chain structure and thus the bargaining power of suppliers is very high (Hines 2001, pp. 124). The industry also faces price pressures by the retailers and manufacturers. Thus achieving the lowest costs is gained by shifting the sourcing of merchandise to the Eastern regions of the world. These changes have made the supply chain more complex as the geographical distance is now extensive.

Discussion

The customers in today's world demand for variety and fashionability. However the managers have to keep in consideration factors of costs of merchandising when serving the customers. Along with the cost factors, the seasonality is another aspect of the fashion industry and is a decisive factor in determining the success of the organization. The importance of above mentioned factors increases many folds in throw away markets or fast fashion industry (Tokatli, Wrigley, and Kizilgu 2008, pp. 275).

For new managers, the following are the key challenges and opportunities in the UK fashion industry as found after the comparison of industry in older times and at present:

Shorter Fashion Seasons

Until late 1980, the fashion retailers were able to forecast the consumer demands and future trends in fashion particularly in ready to wear sector. These forecasting were possible way before the actual consumption of the products started (Guercini 2001, pp. 72). Thus competing with others was much easier and predictable. However in the present era, to compete with others the retailers have to ensure speeding by responding as quickly as possible with the latest fashion trends which are revealed at the fashion shows, runways and magazines. For this purpose, the need is to reduce the gap in the designing and the consumption stages. This activity is always unplanned and can be on season basis which increases the challenges for the manager. The industry is also characterized by the ...