Quality management in outsourced global fashion supply chains: an exploratory case study

Abstract

Outsourcing production is common in the fashion industry but can lead to quality defects. This paper thus sheds light on how quality is managed in outsourced fashion supply chains. We propose a new trilogy for managing quality control in outsourced fashion supply chains: (1) manufacturer quality assessment, (2) quality management in production and (3) quality inspection and assurance. We implement an exploratory case study methodology. Through a qualitative case study of a leading global Japanese fashion retailer that outsources production mainly to China, we contribute to quality management studies by developing a new quality control trilogy for outsourced supply chains. Our findings can provide fashion retailers with guidance on controlling product quality in outsourced supply chains and developing strategies for improving supply chain performance. We also demonstrate the importance of contract and relationship management, supply chain integration and quality visibility in enhancing product and process quality in outsourced fashion supply chains.

Keywords:

• Quality control
• supply chain
• fashion
• outsourcing
• China

Notes

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Patsy Perry for her comments in earlier versions. Bin Shen thanks TUM School of Management, the Technical University of Munich for hosting him as the Humboldt Fellow.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 In the fashion industry, lead time is critical. Outsourcing increases lead time by reducing control and increasing distance (Shen et al. 2016).

2 We thank one of the reviewers for suggesting that we summarize the development of quality control in supply chains.

Additional information

Funding

Bin Shen is partially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [71871051, 71832001], and Alex von Humboldt Foundation. Caixia Chen is partially supported by The Initial Research Funds for Young Teachers of Donghua University, and The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2232019G-08].

Notes on contributors

Bin Shen

Bin Shen is an associate professor in Glorious Sun School of Business and Management in Donghua University, Shanghai. He is Humboldt Fellow in Germany. His research interests focus on data-driven supply chain management, operations-marketing interface, and fashion industry. His papers have appeared in leading journals, such as POM, EJOR, Omega, IEEE-TEM, IJPE, IJPR, JBR, JORS, TFSC and so on.

Caixia Chen

Caixia Chen is a lecturer in College of Fashion and Design, Donghua University in Shanghai, China. She holds a PhD degree in fashion design and engineering from Donghua University in 2018. Her research interests include supply chain management, global sourcing and sustainability in fashion industry.