Business Innovation Research

According to Bloomberg Business Zara was the first company to introduce fast fashion. The goal for Zara and fast fashion is for store managers to order new clothing at a specific time every two weeks. The managers are less concerned about the cost of the clothes and more concerned about the timely manner and responsiveness in that the clothes are delivered. For fast fashion to work Zara most of the manufacturing is done in Spain. This small supply chain is important because it allows Zara to have more control of the rate that clothes are made. Zara will be expanding to China meaning that its supply chain will grow and that the goal of fast fashion may slow down a bit.

Forbes says the H&M has taken a similar approach as Zara did but they appeal to the needs of the customer too. To accomplish this goal H&M, unlike Zara, outsources their manufacturing to Europe and Asia. The 60% in Europe following the model of Zara where they can have some control, but they outsource 40% to Asia. To keep bringing in new trends the store will have and spring and fall edition or collection. Within each collection or edition the store will have smaller sub-collections. The longer collections feeds the needs of the consumers while the sub-collections bring in new style and allows the customer to see what is trending. To keep the trends flowing in the store at the right times there are 20 to 30 production offices near each store so that clothes are delivered on time.

"Made in America" means that the product can have parts made from somewhere else but is assembled in the US. An example of this is the Boeing manufacturing plant in Washington. The 787 and 747 in particular have parts made form Japan, China, and countries in Europe. All parts are sent to the plant in Washington so that they can be assembled there. Therefore technically speaking the plane in made in America but some parts are manufactured in other countries.