Under ledning av professor Karin M. Ekström genomför en forskargrupp vid högskolan studier i syfte att utveckla kunskap och lösningar för att minska det textila avfallet. I rapporten ”Mot en mer hållbar konsumtion” redovisas resultatet av tre studier av konsumenters inställning till köp, återanvändning och återvinning av kläder. En enkätstudie har genomförts om hur och varför konsumenter slänger kläder, en fördjupning har skett genom fokusgruppsintervjuer och ytterligare ett perspektiv har erhållits genom samtal och observationer i samband med en klädbytardag. Tillsammans ger de genomförda studierna en välgrundad beskrivning av konsumentuppfattningar. I analysen fokuseras olika konsumentgruppers motiv för att köpa nytt eller återanvända egna eller andras kläder. Beskrivning och analys av uppfattningar och beteenden är en grund för att utveckla modeller som främjar miljöengagemang och hållbar utveckling.

Veljekset Keskinen bildades 1969 och är idag Finlands näst största varuhus beläget i Tuuri, en ort med 500 invånare i Österbotten i Finland. Företaget var från början en ”bybutik” eller vad vi skulle kalla lanthandel, men har över tid utvecklats till ett varuhus, hotell, livsmedelsbutik, trädgårdsbutik, restauranger, bensinstation och camping som attraherar kunder från hela Finland, men även internationella besökare. I denna rapport presenteras resultatet av finska och svenska forskares tvådagars besök på Veljekset Keskinen. Rapporten består av sex kapitel med olika perspektiv, teorier, metoder och reflektioner från besöket. Kapitel ett handlar om att attrahera shoppingturister genom upplevelser. Veljekset Keskinen är inte enbart ett varuhus som säljer fysiska produkter utan en turistdestination som erbjuder en kombination av olika upplevelser. Kapitel två handlar om bybutiken som gåva för bygden och turistattraktion. Besökarna möter idag både den traditionella bybutiken och det moderna varuhuset. Kapitel tre handlar om hur detaljhandelsföretaget Veljekset Keskinen är fullt av kontrastmarknadsföring i tre dimensioner: tradition och nytt, skala och storlek samt House of brands kontra Branded house. Kapitel fyra handlar om olika aspekter av tid och rytm på Veljekset Keskinen: synkronisering av tid och rum, tidslinjer, varornas tidsindelning, säsonger och framtiden. Kapitel fem handlar om negativa kundbeteenden på Veljekset Keskinen och beskriver hur kunder bär sig illa åt, möjliga orsaker till varför kunder bär sig illa åt och hur personalen hanterar situationer där kunder bär sig illa åt. Kapitel sex handlar om att attrahera shoppingturister med hjälp av sociala medier och belyser hur Veljekset Keskinen använder webb och sociala medier för att bygga sitt varumärke.

Kläder som slängs i soporna utgör ett samhällsproblem och resursslöseri. Det handlar dels om att kläder istället för att eldas upp som sopor kan återanvändas och återvinnas då det anses mer fördelaktigt ur miljösynpunkt utifrån EUs ramdirektiv för avfallshierarki. Det handlar dels om att kläder som produceras tar stora naturresurser i anspråk. För att producera 1 kg bomull går det åt mellan 7.000 och 29.000 liter vatten och 0,3 till 1 kg olja (Fisher, Cooper, Woodward, Hiller & Goworek 2008). Att tillverka kläder som senare slängs i soporna utgör en onödig miljöbelastning.

Traditionally, complaining customers have been considered a problem by the retail industry, but this changed due to the shift towards service quality and customer satisfaction that took place in the late eighties (e.g. Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml, 1988, Cronin and Taylor, 1992). Complaints from customers are valuable since they can give companies a second chance to solve problems and recover from service failure in order to delight the customer (Bitner, Brown and Meuter, 2000). The salespersons influence on consumers complaint responses have been studied by several (e.g. Clopton, Stoddard and Clay, 2001) and few would argue against the frontline personnel’s’ key role in satisfying the customers. For retail companies, the frontline personnel are the gatekeeper and central in providing good service since they often are the primary point of contact before, during and, after a purchase (Chung-Herrera et al., 2004). Frontline personnel have the opportunity to informe the customer about the product, answer questions and give advice in specific situations. In many cases the customers are dependent upon the skills and knowledge provided by the employees as well as they are dependent on their own capacity to ask the right questions. In a perfect world, a customer that can articulate his or hers need and expectations of a product, gather relevant information by asking the store personnel and trust the knowledge provided, should be a satisfied customer. Still there are signs that consumers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their purchases as well as with the service they receive in relation to the purchase. Also, few complaining customers are happy with companies’ complaint handling efforts (e.g. Andreassen, 2001). This paper reports a study that examines consumer complaint behaviour and consumer pre-purchase behaviour. The data was collected by means of structured questionnaires administered with the help of a web panel. In total the data consists of 1990 respondents and the demographic of the respondents being representative for Swedish consumers above age 18. Analysis of the survey data shows three findings of particular interest for the retail industry. First, the amount of pre-purchase information obtained by the consumer does not correlate with the consumers’ post purchase satisfaction. Respondents that have searched information from several different sources before buying did not complaint less than those who had not searched at all. Second, consumers who received product information mainly from the store (either through staff or website) were more inclined to complain than those who had got information from additional, or other, sources such as family or friends. Third, complaining consumers are dissatisfied with how their complaints are dealt with by the store representative. In this paper, we will examine the results and further explore customer complaints behaviour in stores.

Bakgrunden till denna uppsats är en diskussion mellan oss författare vid ett litteraturseminarium vid Högskolan i Borås (HB). Diskussionen handlade om vår pedagogiska verksamhet och att ta hänsyn till motstridiga krav. Utbildning ska vara flexibel men samtidigt standardiserad, utbildning ska förbereda studenterna för specifika yrken men samtidigt ”lära studenterna för livet”. Vi har observerat att liknande resonemang kommer till uttryck också i andra sammanhang. Ett exempel är propositionerna ”Fokus på kunskap i den högre utbildningen”1 och ”En akademi i tiden - ökad frihet för universitet och högskolor”2. Ett annat är den seminarieserie – Från HB till Humboldt: Perspektiv på universitetsidén under 200 år – som genomförs nu i vår vid HB. Vi kan konstatera att de motsägelsefulla krav vi upplever i vår roll som pedagoger hänger samman med en mer övergripande utveckling inom den högre utbildningen. De ideal som typiskt förknippats med högre utbildning har på senare tid kommit att ställas mot mer politiskt orienterade modeller. Vad betyder denna utveckling för vår praktik? Vi tar utgångspunkt i centrala utvecklingstendenser inom den högre utbildningen i Europa. Detta för att visa på förekomsten av alternativa tolkningar och anpassningar till ”Bologna” som utgör den rådande styrmodellen för högre utbildning i Europa. Vi förflyttar oss därefter till HB och dess utbildning av civilekonomer. Genom exempel visar vi hur den svenska tolkningen av den högre utbildningens styrmodell påverkar vårt pedagogiska utvecklingsarbete. Syftet är att problematisera och ifrågasätta den ”svenska tolkningen” genom att lyfta fram dess för praktiken motsägelsefulla konsekvenser.

This study is inspired by the "follow the things" movement that trace and document the history and travels of ordinary consumer goods such as jeans, shopping bags, food, blouses or hair extensions (see http://followthethings.com/ for a collection of travel reports). Narratives about products' origins and transformations have become part of the discourse on sustainable consumption, and it has been suggested that the post consumption phases of goods should be included in these narratives (Gregson et al (2010). This study can be seen as a response to their call, and we start our inquiry at the containers for textile recycling at the ReTuna mall - the world's first mall for reused goods - (see www.retuna.se). The narratives of garments will be documented through interviews with the donors, and we will shadow the garments through the re-cycle process at the ReTuna mall. ReTuna Mall aims for reuse, i.e., to re-introduce disposed garments to the fashion consumers visiting the mall. Accordingly, some garments will re-enter the consumption phase, but most garments are likely to be sorted out and re-defined into other purposes than being wearable.

Reuse is one of the most common strategies used by fashion companies in their attempt to make the supply chain sustainable (Kant Hvass, 2016). Obviously, reuse of fashion reduces the demand for new garments, which in turns reduce the negative environmental impact of the textile production processes (Woolridge, Ward, Phillips, Collins, & Gandy, 2006; Farrant, Olsen, & Wangel, 2010; Castellani, Sala, & Mirabella, 2015). Reuse of fashion goods has the same basic structure as that of waste management, i.e., organized in three separate phases: collection, sorting and reprocessing. The literature on reuse in general is extensive, and studies on fashion reuse have become popular too. To give some examples, studies of consumers fashion disposal behaviour concentrate in most cases on disposal channels, behavioural motivations, disposal reasons and demographics of consumers that behave in specified ways (Laitala, 2014). Studies that focus on donation of fashion as disposal method on the other hand (i.e. Ha-Brookshire and Hodges (2009), Ekström, Hjelmgren, and Salomonson (2015) describes general motives for the disposal, but do not uncover the actual process or the activities that are involved in the donation - i.e. why is the individual garment donated and how is the sorting performed. These type of questions are touched upon in studies of the practices of sorting (Jana M. Hawley, 2006; Botticello, 2012), but these do not follow the garments through the whole process. Of interest for us is also studies on waste management in general, e.g., Åkesson's (2012) study on how a disposed goods are transformed and given new meanings as they travel through the phases of reuse; that what is waste at one phase will transform into a resource in another. Disposed goods can also, with or without disassembling, re-appear in different shapes with different meanings at another stage in the process (Gregson, Crang, Ahamed, Akhter, & Ferdous, 2010).

As stated above, we trace and document the travel of donated fashion garments through the collection, sorting and reprocessing activities at the mall. For each step we pose two major questions: what happens and who/what are involved in this. In doing so, we take on the ANT approach to our objects of study and consider non-humans as equally possible instigators of actions and inscribers of meaning as humans. From our literature review, we believe that our study provides a somewhat novel approach to fashion reuse, and that it has the potential to contribute to the growing body of knowledge of sustainable fashion.

Presentationen gav exempel på hur hållbar utveckling integrerats i utbildning vid Högskolan i Borås, och särskilt utbildning inom företagsekonomi.

In this chapter, we explore the classification of donated fashion and textiles in a waste management process with methods and concepts inspired byactor-network theory (ANT). 

Reuse is a strategy to render fashion retail sustainable and an example is the take-back schemes established by international retailers. Managerial aspects are important in a reuse system, but management issues have seldom been studied. Accordingly, empirical investigations of the management of reuse systems are needed. Hence, the purpose of this study is to show the complexity in the management of fashion-retail based on reuse by identifying and explaining obstacles in the process. This is achieved by an analyze of ReTuna, a shopping mall based on reuse, from the perspective of institutional logics. ReTuna opened in 2015 and consists of approximately fourteen stores. The shops at ReTuna sell reused products, but this unconventional sourcing of goods aside, ReTuna aims to be a traditional mall. Most shops are staffed by the owner(s) and in some cases an employee. Garments and textiles that are sold origins from donations that are collected by the mall. The case illustrates the complexity, as it failed in establishing reuse-based fashion retail, despite its success in achieving enough donations and creating publicity. The analysis shows that the goal of re-circulating fashion is hindered by actors not being able to equally integrate the divergent sustainability dimensions in the mall owner’s goals. The obstacles are a result of the actors prioritizing the logics differently at the same time as not being able to fulfill the demands of the logics due to a lack of knowledge, experience and skills, and coordination.

In scholarly conversations, reuse is one of the common suggested strategies to render fashion retail sustainable. Previous research has stressed the complexity of fashion reuse and the importance of a well-organized system. The complexity stems from processes that involve many actors as well as products hard to evaluate. Consequently, it is challenging to organize reuse-based fashion retail, and studies are needed to further develop knowledge regarding how to manage such systems. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the complexity in the management of such an initiative, by identifying and explaining obstacles as well as implications. With institutional logics as a framework, three local logics (shopping mall, reuse, and work integration) are used to analyze the management of a reuse-based mall. Despite the mall’s success in getting sufficient donations and creating publicity, it has struggled to establish itself as viable reuse-based fashion retail. The findings illustrate the complexity created by the interplay of different logics and how the complexity influences both the daily and strategic management of the mall. Further, the outcome of this interplay depends largely on which rationality is enacted by involved actors. The study also extends literature on institutional logics, showing that differences in individual actors’ attention, knowledge, skills, coordination, and material conditions influence how logics are enacted and managed. We suggest that there are inherent managerial contradictions in the sustainable practices in fashion retail. Thus, in scholarly conversations, it is important to discuss what different divergent sustainability dimensions imply when seeking solutions for sustainable retail. In practice, there is a need to acknowledge and balance the presence of multiple logics, making it crucial to have competence in all logics. Also, managers of reuse-based fashion retail must consciously and continuously scrutinize their own strategies and actions to avoid an imbalance between the logics.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the management of a novel commercial fashion retail concept – a shopping mall based on reuse and a local circular fashion supply chain – with the aim of identifying potential strategic issues with the concept.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an explorative case study, based on observations and interviews with shop managers, employees and the mall management.

Findings

The reuse concept strongly influences the mall's strategy, and the sourcing process is a key factor. The local reuse-based fashion supply chain follows the typical reuse process, but this study shows that the business logic that underpins the commercial strategy is not in line with the reuse and social enterprise ethoses that the mall ostensibly follows.

Research limitations/implications

This study illustrates the difficulties inherent in organising a reuse-based mall due to the need to combine a commercial strategy, a local and circular fashion supply chain, and a social enterprise ethic.

Practical implications

The findings highlight the mall management's responsibility for the sourcing of goods, the need for a closer cooperation between mall management and tenants in a reuse-based mall, and the need for competence in terms of reuse, fashion, and retail in order for the concept to be developed further.

Originality/value

ReTuna represents a new fashion retail phenomenon – the reuse-based shopping mall – that has not been studied yet.

Keywords

Fashion retail, textile reuse, clothing reuse, mall management, fashion supply chain, recycling, sustainability, circular supply chain.

Article classification

Research paper

Konsumtionen av kläder har ökat dramatiskt under senare år och klädberget bara växer. Denna utveckling har bland annat aktualiserat frågan om hur vi kan finna nya system för insamling av de kläder som människor inte längre vill ha. Föreliggande rapport beskriver framväxten av en försöksverksamhet om insamling av kläder - belägen i nära anslutning till en stor shoppingdestination. På insamlingsplatsen - döpt till Textilreturen – kan både hela och trasiga kläder tas emot i stor skala. Genom att beskriva de olika överväganden och beslut som lett fram till Textilreturens slutliga utformning ges kunskap och insikt i projektets komplexitet. Denna kunskap är värdefull för andra företag och organisationer som planerar liknande anläggningar. Rapporten belyser svårigheterna att utveckla lösningar som kan bidra till att förändra människors beteende avseende klädinsamling.

The consumption of clothes is high and steadily increasing. The garment industry’s resource-intensive manufacturing and consumers’ use and disposal of clothes therefore constitute an increasing environmental problem. The negative impact that consumption of clothes has on the environment makes it important to further investigate consumers’ acquisition, use and disposal of clothes. The aim of this paper is through a cost-benefit analysis of consumers’ consumption of clothes study what affect their propensity to consume more environmentally friendly – focusing on consumers representing generation Y and Swing. The study is based on three empirical studies: a survey at the largest retail store in Scandinavia, focus group interviews with members of the generation Y and Swing cohorts, and interviews and observations at a clothes swapping event. Our results show that the propensity to behave environmental friendly when consuming clothes is negatively affected by price sensitivity and various search cost, cost of disposal, information cost, and cost of use. The study also shows that the two cohorts experience different benefits in the consumption of clothes which also may affect their behavior.

The main purpose of this state-of-the-art paper is to make a synthesis analysis oncollaboration in supply chain by literature review of all relevant articles, conceptualizingcollaboration in supply chain and providing implications for future research. Based ondesigned material collection standard, up to year 2014, a total of 1250 papers are usedfor descriptive analysis and a total of 509 papers are carefully reviewed for furtherclassification, conceptualization and comparison analysis. Research in this field is in anincreasing trend in general but most of collaboration in supply chain is still in a low levelin research. Another interesting finding is that logistics seems to be the most promisingsupply chain stage for research about collaboration in supply chain.

Resource sharing (RS) is an important method in inter-organizational supply chain collaboration (SCC). However, it is still an under-explored area in research of SCC compared to other subjects (e.g. coordinating contract and information sharing). The aim of this paper is to examine the feasibility of applying RS model in the manufacturing stage of garment supply chain and to determine the suitable type of garment for RS in production. Eight scenarios of RS were designed. Discrete-event simulation was used for running experiment of each scenario. The comparison of different scenarios shows that garment manufacturers could get great benefits by applying RS model.

Although research regarding supply chain collaboration has been increasing, studies reviewing supply chain collaboration remains limited. This review paper categorises supply chain collaboration and identifies different themes in this research field. Articles were collected based on a designed keywords list and specific subject restrictions in citation databases. Text-mining technology and conceptual criteria were used to categorise and screen articles into different categories. Finally, cluster analysis was used to group articles and identify emerging themes. From the year 1999 to 2017, a total of 678 articles regarding supply chain collaboration were found. These were sorted into six categories: levels of collaboration, industries, supply chain stages, company scales, forms/methods of collaboration and typology of article, and into corresponding sub-categories. 380 articles employing modelling approach where collaboration forms the core of analysis were screened for hierarchical cluster analysis, resulting in four clusters: information sharing paradigm, joint decision-making paradigm, resource sharing paradigm and coordinating contract paradigm. Eleven themes were finally identified based on the four clusters. The number of articles in the field of supply chain collaboration shows an increasing trend by year. However, most of the collaborations discussed were still at a low level. It is expected to explore a higher level of collaborations and related themes in future research.