Challenges in apparel production planning and control

In modern apparel supply chains, customers are demanding better quality, higher availability of products, broader assortments and shorter delivery times. Production planning and control become crucial tasks and collaborations with channel members become crucial in order to cope with these challenges. This special issue of Production Planning & Control is devoted to publishing significant results on both analytical and empirical research on challenges in apparel production planning and control. In this issue, we present 10 papers, selected from articles submitted from Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States, that address the following issues:

•	Challenges for UK apparel supply chain management.
•	The value of numerical models in quick response assortment planning.
•	Adapting lean manufacturing principles to the textile industry.
•	Elucidating a layout problem in the fashion industry by using an ant optimisation approach.
•	Coordination of a fashion apparel supply chain under lead-time-dependent demand uncertainty.
•	A stochastic model for production loading in a global apparel manufacturing company under uncertainty.
•	Evolutionary strategy to apply information and communication technology: a case study in the apparel industry.
•	Mass customisation in the Hong Kong apparel industry.
•	Selection process in logistics outsourcing – a view from third party logistics provider.
•	Optimal inventory system with two backlog costs in response to a discount offer.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the editors Professor Stephen J. Childe and Professor Bjørn Andersen for their support of this special issue. We also thank all contributors and anonymous reviewers for their valuable time and effort in the review process.