Page 106 - Inbound Logistics | April 2017 | Digital Issue

the e-commerce site. “We managed to
have the sneakers online and available
on our website only one week after spot-
ting them,” he says.
To stay in synch with quickly shifting
customer desires, Lesara manufactures
its products in small volumes at the
outset, and then replenishes based on
real-time demand. “Our model works
well in an online world, where it’s the
selection that matters,” Kirsch says.
“Low initial inventory levels allow us to
test different styles and offer a selection
that is unparalleled among other offline
and online fast fashion retailers.”

Sustainable

Fashion

hile sparking new supply The Renewal Workshop takes damaged, returned, and unsold clothes from other apparel
chain strategies, fast fashion companies and refurbishes or “upcycles them”– for example, turning a damaged skirt into
W has also created waves of anx- a handbag.
iety about what happens to clothes that products with its brand partners, which of unique items. The company uses a
consumers cast aside to embrace new currently include prAna, Ibex, Toad&Co, warehouse management system that has
offerings. Fast Fashion is Creating an Mountain Khakis, and Indigenous. been modified to locate items that are
Environmental Crisis reads the headline “They get a revenue share back when we not grouped by product type. “Pants are
of a September 2016 Newsweek article. sell the product,” she adds. next to shirts, for example,” Bassett says.
Some of the big fast-fashion brands The Renewal Workshop currently “We organized it that way so there’s a
have launched sustainability initia- receives about 2,500 items per month lot of flexibility in stocking and find-
tives. H&M, for example, operates a in its 7,500-square foot facility and pro- ing products.”
large used-clothing recycling facility in cesses about 1,000 each month. Each item has a unique identifier,
Germany. Some other companies make If an item is too damaged to resell, contained in a barcode label. Those
clothes from recycled textiles. the company might “upcycle” it into a labels used to pose a problem when it
The Renewal Workshop, a small new product. “For instance, we could came time to fill an order. Some were
startup in Hood River, Ore., takes a turn a pair of pants into a pencil case or attached in ways that made items hard to
different approach, partnering with a tote bag,” Bassett says. locate quickly—affixed to the waistband
several apparel brands to bring new life In the long run, the company plans of a pair of pants, for instance. “We can’t
to clothing that is otherwise unsellable. to aggregate some of the clothing it just open every product, unfold it, and
Those partners bundle up hoodies can’t repair and send it to textile recy- find the barcode,” Bassett says.
with broken zippers, shorts with ripped clers. Brand owners have a tough time Eventually, employees devised a
seams, and sweaters that got left behind doing that themselves because each solution: a paper wrapper that holds
in the clearance sale, and send them to company uses multiple materials— the barcode and doubles as a packing
Hood River instead of to the landfill. polyester, nylon, cotton and so on. “You slip. “Now the barcode is on the out-
These items include product that never need to have multiple relationships with side, where it’s easy to scan,” Bassett
went out the door and product that cus- recyclers,” Bassett says. “Brand owners says. “And the wrapper contains all the
tomers have returned. can’t do that because they don’t have information we need for marketing and
The Renewal Workshop repairs and enough product.” customer service.”
freshens many of those items and offers Plans also call for brand partners One unchanging principle in fashion
them for sale on its e-commerce site. eventually to take back some of their is ongoing change. That’s true in com-
“We had to create a unique website repaired items and sell them as refur- merce as well, especially commerce
and architecture to be able to do that, bished product. backed by new technology. Brand own-
because we don’t sell 1,000 of one item,” Like an e-commerce consignment ers and retailers can’t keep pace simply
says company co-founder Nicole Bassett. shop, The Renewal Workshop faces by refreshing their designs; they also
The Renewal Workshop co-labels its the challenge of managing an inventory need to restitch their supply chains. n

104 Inbound Logistics • April 2017