Manufacturing and Retail
In today’s rapidly evolving commercial landscape, brands have an opportunity to embrace innovation like never before. This section explores key topics shaping the future of manufacturing and retail such as circular business models, digital acceleration, and the impact of microfibres. Exploring how looking at business differently through circular business strategies can extend product life cycles, reduce waste, and create new revenue streams. and how digital tools like 3D design are revolutionising product development, enhancing efficiency, and reducing environmental impact. Additionally, packaging is a major contributor to the fashion industry’s environmental impact, with single-use plastics currently dominating the supply chain and consumer experience.
Landscapes
Discover in-depth information on the current landscape of specific topic areas within Manufacturing and Retail
Cut, Make & Trim Landscape
This document provides an in-depth exploration of the Cut-Make-Trim (CMT) stage within the fashion supply chain, its market potential, and emerging innovations. It highlights advancements in automation, digital solutions, additive manufacturing, and zero-waste design, while also addressing challenges in balancing supply and demand. The document serves as a confidential resource for industry stakeholders involved in sustainable and technology-driven transformations of garment production.
Microfactories Landscape
The “Microfactories Landscape” explores the evolving role of localised, automated production facilities—microfactories—in reshaping global supply chains. Accelerated by COVID-19 disruptions, these models emphasise nearshoring, onshoring, and reshoring strategies to enhance flexibility, sustainability, and agility. Microfactories support rapid, demand-driven production, reducing transportation costs, emissions, and excess inventory, while promoting sustainability through circular practices and advanced digital innovations. The report outlines key supply chain challenges, emerging technologies, production models, and case studies that highlight the potential of microfactories in meeting contemporary manufacturing demands.
Circular Business Models Landscape
This document explores the current landscape of circular business models (CBMs) in the fashion industry. It examines key areas such as recommerce, rental, rework, repair, alterations & care, and product takeback, analysing their financial viability, market potential, and the legislative frameworks supporting their growth. The report also highlights key innovators in the space, consumer insights, and strategies for scaling circular initiatives.
Digital Acceleration Landscape
The Digital Acceleration Landscape explores the rapid adoption of digital technologies in the fashion industry. It covers innovations such as 3D image capturing, virtual showrooms, metaverse integration, blockchain, and new commerce models. The report highlights how brands can leverage these technologies to enhance design, production, consumer engagement, and sustainability while addressing challenges like data storage, energy consumption, and skill gaps.
Plastics and Packaging Landscape
The document provides an in-depth analysis of plastic packaging in the fashion industry, highlighting its environmental impact, challenges, and innovations. It explores solutions such as circular polybags, reusable packaging, and bio-based alternatives. Additionally, it discusses policy drivers and regulations influencing sustainable packaging initiatives.
Reports
Explore our in-depth reports related to Manufacturing and Retail
The Future of Circular Fashion
We need to create a circular fashion system. A system that combines new business models with innovative design, technologies and materials that eliminate waste and pollution and drive positive impact across the fashion value chain. Accenture Strategy and Fashion for Good have collaborated to produce this report, combining our unique expertise of the circular economy and fashion industry, to explore the financial viability of circular business models.
Home-Compostable Polybag Project
The aim of the project was to explore and validate bio-based, home-compostable polybags. To assess their suitability as a sustainable alternative to conventional fossil-fuel-based plastic packaging, addressing the fashion industry’s plastic waste problem.
The Circular Polybag Pilot
The aim of the pilot was to tackle the environmental issues caused by virgin polybags in the fashion industry. This industry-first pilot aimed to create a closed-loop recycling solution for polybags, using post-consumer polybag waste and achieving a high level of recycled content suitable for industry needs.
The London Polybag Collection Scheme Pilot
The London Polybag Collection Scheme Pilot aimed to address the low recycling rates of polybags used in the fashion industry by trialling a scalable recycling infrastructure for collecting and processing polybag waste into new materials.
Reusable Packaging Pilot
This project focused on reusable packaging in the fashion e-commerce industry. It examined the environmental impact of transitioning from single-use to reusable packaging solutions, aiming to reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions. The study highlighted the variables that influence the viability of reusable packaging and offers insights on implementation and scaling strategies.
Workshops
Digital Acceleration Landscape
The Digital Acceleration Landscape explores the rapid adoption of digital technologies in the fashion industry. It covers innovations such as 3D image capturing, virtual showrooms, metaverse integration, blockchain, and new commerce models. The report highlights how brands can leverage these technologies to enhance design, production, consumer engagement, and sustainability while addressing challenges like data storage, energy consumption, and skill gaps.
