Growth in global population and textile production by fiber type (1970-2015) [7]

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... Growth in global population and textile production by fiber type [7] .... 6 Figure 5: Prices index of input costs and output prices in the US textile and apparel industries [ (1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987) [12] .... 10 Figure 9:Share of lower-income countries in footwear exports, in value (1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987) [12] ... 10 Figure 10: Import penetration by East Asia and other economies in all industrial-country markets for textiles, clothing and footwear (1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986) [14] ) [12] .............. 13 Figure 14: Share of clothing expenditures in US disposable income [16] ........ 13 ...

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... 113: Ranking of Inditex's suppliers' social compliance based on their seniority [41] . 88 Figure 114: Expected impact of Inditex's sustainability programs on its apparel supply chain, Figure 115: Projection of annual patent filings in textile innovation in 2019 (based on latest available data -2017) [104] Figure 116: Level of achievement necessary for 3 individual actions, all else being equal, to achieve 4 different industry-wide GHG emission reduction targets by 2030 (in %), assuming BAU growth vs 2016 [78] (2019) [136] ............................................. 92 Figure 118: Projection of Inditex's GHG emissions in 2025 based on current sustainability targets, all else being equal, assuming BAU growth ............................................................ 93 Figure 119: Inditex's estimated supply chain carbon footprint (2019) [41] ........................... 94 Figure 120: Use of hard coal and natural gas to power dyeing and finishing processes, and associated GHG emissions [78] Figure 122: Consumers' opinions on the sustainability of the supply chain of main fashion brands in 7 higher-income countries (2018) [70] ................................................................. 96 Figure 123: Impact of Inditex's lean project in participating factories [41] ............................ 97 Figure 124: Fabric consolidation and reduction of materials complexity [50] ....................... 97 Figure 125: Mapping of available options to make fashion more sustainable, based on their sustainability impacts and fast fashion brands' expected impact on profits .......................... 99 Table of Tables Table 1: Output, productivity and employment in US textile and apparel manufacturing industries [9] Table 2: Market share of US nonrubber footwear imports, in volume [23] ....... 23 Table 3: Changing industrial structure in East Asian economies: percentage shares in manufacturing value-added [99] In a more modern language, what Conrad is saying in this Shakespeare play is: men change clothes so often to follow fashion trends, that they do not even have time to wear them out. This quote will sound quite contemporaneous to many, except that now a part of the reality is also that fashion items get worn out so quickly that we keep changing them. ...

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... then on, synthetic fibers have kept growing until today, with especially a dramatic growth of polyester since the 1990s, accounting since then for most of new fiber production (cf. Figure 4). From an economic point of view, cotton had indeed trouble competing with a type of fiber with so many advantages, as « in addition to price competitiveness, synthetic fiber producers have virtually unlimited production capacity and unlimited ability to manipulate fiber properties. ...

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... the US, especially, the import penetration in apparel was already around 35% in 1986: Figure 11: Import penetration and employment in the US apparel industry [15] And looking at where these imports came from, it appears quite clearly that the weight of lower-income countries increased even faster in the US than in the rest of the world: 12 [12] Figure 13:US apparel imports per country, as % of total imports (1965-1990 13 ) [12] As this dramatic growth in imports from developing countries was primarily driven by cheaper manufacturing costs, especially labor costs but also material costs -since synthetic fibers were being developed at the same time in these countries -the cost of clothing dramatically decreased for US consumers over that period. Figure 14 shows that clothing expenditures lost around 2 percentage points in US disposable income from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1980s: Figure 14: Share of clothing expenditures in US disposable income [16] While this may not sound like a tremendous decrease, Figure 15 shows that it happened while clothing and accessory expenditures were dramatically increasing in volume (in real prices). Indeed, this dramatic increase was still slower than the average increase of people's income, as a result of US consumers buying more and more but at an ever cheaper price. ...

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... the US, especially, the import penetration in apparel was already around 35% in 1986: Figure 11: Import penetration and employment in the US apparel industry [15] And looking at where these imports came from, it appears quite clearly that the weight of lower-income countries increased even faster in the US than in the rest of the world: 12 [12] Figure 13:US apparel imports per country, as % of total imports (1965-1990 13 ) [12] As this dramatic growth in imports from developing countries was primarily driven by cheaper manufacturing costs, especially labor costs but also material costs -since synthetic fibers were being developed at the same time in these countries -the cost of clothing dramatically decreased for US consumers over that period. Figure 14 shows that clothing expenditures lost around 2 percentage points in US disposable income from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1980s: Figure 14: Share of clothing expenditures in US disposable income [16] While this may not sound like a tremendous decrease, Figure 15 shows that it happened while clothing and accessory expenditures were dramatically increasing in volume (in real prices). Indeed, this dramatic increase was still slower than the average increase of people's income, as a result of US consumers buying more and more but at an ever cheaper price. ...

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... As a result of this continuous pressure on labor costs, the latter have been brought down to an all-time low, representing now a tiny part of fashion's costs (cf. Figure 34 and Figure 35). Additionally, as most of the growth in textile fiber input has been through manmade fibers -especially polyester (cf. Figure 4) -material costs have also been contained. ...

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... as most of the growth in textile fiber input has been through manmade fibers -especially polyester (cf. Figure 4) -material costs have also been contained. So much so that the price of apparel imports in the US was actually lower in 2016 than in 1990 (cf. Figure 36). ...

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... volumes have especially skyrocketed since the beginning of the century, taking advantage of the new opportunity offered by China's entry in the WTO, and reached more than twice the volume of 2000 in 2015 (cf. Figure 38), while their share in consumers' budget kept going down (cf. Figure 14). This growth in consumption was directly linked to a simultaneous decrease in clothing utilization, which spread out to all higher income countries, following the trend that started in the US in the 1980s -where people have been buying one item of clothing every 4 to 5 days since the end of the last century (cf. Figure 39). ...

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... dramatic fall in design to market lead times, from 6 months in 1970 to 6 weeks in 2000 (cf. Figure 40), remains an exception that made it a clear leader in the new fast fashion environment. But the disruption brought about by companies like Zara drove the whole industry into this new paradigm, which have since then kept focusing on shortening their lead times, to better adapt to customers getting used to fast-fashion cycles. ...

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... into more details at how fashion supply chains work today, the divide is quite clear between supply, featuring mostly lower-income countries, and demand, featuring mostly higher income countries. Below is the example of the garment manufacturing and retail supply chain: Figure 44: Simplified garment-manufacturing supply chain and associated environmental impacts 31 [7] Fiber production (cotton, synthetics made from oil, cellulosics mainly made from wood) is the most globally distributed part of the value chain, as it highly depends on the locations of the various natural resources that can be turned into yarns -even a part of synthetic fibers, as they are made from oil, is supplied by Middle Eastern countries. The rest of the value chain is much more concentrated in Asia, where most of the spinning of staple fibers 32 into yarns happens, followed by fabric manufacturing through weaving or knitting of yarns, fabric dyeing and finishing, and finally garment assembly. ...

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... fast cycle strategy, on the other hand, consists in diversifying the company's supply chains per product, based on 31 Remark: design, dyeing and finishing are not included on this representation of apparel supply chains. 32 As shown in Figure 45, two main types of textile fibers exist. Filament fibers, first, are mostly manmade fibers (silk is the only natural filament fiber) of an unlimited length, which can be directly used as a yarn to make fabrics, with only one (monofilament) or a few (multifilament) fibers in the fabrics. ...

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... global split in volumes of the two fiber types per end use has been represented in their fashion component and predictability. This is especially Zara's model, described in Figure 46: highly predictable, standard items are sourced from cheapest countries, while high fashion component items are manufactured nearshore. 54% of Zara's suppliers' factories are located either in Spain (for a very small part) or in nearshore countries (Turkey, Morocco, Portugal), which allows the company to never keep most of its assortments in stores more than a month, and renew them based on customers' appetite (cf. Figure 47). ...

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... of Zara's suppliers' factories are located either in Spain (for a very small part) or in nearshore countries (Turkey, Morocco, Portugal), which allows the company to never keep most of its assortments in stores more than a month, and renew them based on customers' appetite (cf. Figure 47). As for Asian countries, they mostly manufacture the few fashion assortments (but with high volumes) that remain in stores for half or most of the year. ...

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... this model is a bit more costly for Zara, as nearshore wages -including Turkey's -are well above all Asian wages, the brand compensates with less markdowns, allowed by its cheaper retail prices and frequent renewals that better adapt to customers' wants (cf. Figure 48). In terms of renewal pace, most other fast fashion brands are a less extreme version of Zara, with much faster renewals than "traditional retailers" (the model until the 1980s), but still slower than Zara. Figure 49 shows that such players as H&M and Gap have much more irregular renewal cycles, due to the more globalized nature of their supply chains -which implies longer lead times. ...

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... terms of renewal pace, most other fast fashion brands are a less extreme version of Zara, with much faster renewals than "traditional retailers" (the model until the 1980s), but still slower than Zara. Figure 49 shows that such players as H&M and Gap have much more irregular renewal cycles, due to the more globalized nature of their supply chains -which implies longer lead times. However, taking a global perspective, models like Zara's account for a clear minority of all fashion item production. ...

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... the meantime, the global fast fashion system has been replacing the standardized model since the 1980s, mostly by asking more diversity, through shorter lead times, from lower income countries' factories, but also, for a small fraction of it, by leveraging more expensive labor in nearshore countries to change collections at an even faster pace (cf. Figure 54). ...

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... question, now, is what will come next. While Figure 54 features two possible futures, analyzed in part 3, of a fast-fashion-focused re-shoring or a sustainability-focused reshoring scenario, the short and medium terms seem to be rather heading for a continuous development of the same trends that we have described until now. ...

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... are thus quite obvious for a lot of consumers (cf. Figure 64) and especially decision makers. Yet invisible -for this very reason that they are so big, that people do not feel responsible for them, and even hardly notice their responsibility on a daily basis. ...

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... France, for instance, it is estimated that washing machines account for 12% of the water consumed each year by households. Washes also release detergents that can be very polluting, and are above all responsible for around 35% of global oceanic microplastic pollution, due to the dominant share of polymer-based synthetic fibers (mostly polyester, but also polyamide, acrylic, elastane and polyolefins) (cf. Figure 73 and Figure 74). ...

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... a result, according to McKinsey, the profits of mass market brands have been shrinking in recent years (cf. Figure 93), with a growing share of value destroyers in the industry as a whole (cf. Figure 94). [104] b. ...

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... to a survey conducted by First Mile in 2019 in the UK (cf. Figure 104), a £35 t-shirt, for instance, would have to be worn 125 timesi.e. 3.5 times the current average number of wears -to become cheaper than an average tshirt. ...

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... 2). Now that we have described Inditex's main sustainability efforts, let us try to predict what its supply chain will look like in 2025, and compare it to where the impacts lie todaywhich is what has been done in Figure 114. It reveals that the company's main points of focus are on the very beginning of the value chain, through a lot of commitments on the use of sustainable materials, and the end, with many objectives regarding energy use and waste in its own buildings, plastic use and recycled packaging in retail, and the collection of customers' clothes for recycling. ...

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... reveals that the company's main points of focus are on the very beginning of the value chain, through a lot of commitments on the use of sustainable materials, and the end, with many objectives regarding energy use and waste in its own buildings, plastic use and recycled packaging in retail, and the collection of customers' clothes for recycling. The only exception in the manufacturing part is wet processes (fabric dyeing, printing and finishing), which are specifically targeted by Inditex's 3 "Join Life" labels, whose requirements are detailed in the 3 purple boxes of Figure 114. Yarn, fabric and garment manufacturing are all out of the picture, as well as consumer use. ...

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... rest is based on Quantis's overall estimates for the industry. [78] While this may seem like a good progress, a closer look at Figure 114 reveals that there is still a long way to go to fully respond to today's challenges -as explained in the next part. Considering that Inditex is supposedly best-in-class in the industry, that would mean an even greater amount of extra effort necessary on the part of less advanced brands. ...