Tcbl task 4.3 position

1. THE ROLE OF THE SMALL
LABORATORY IN FASHION
First thoughts for TCBL Task 4.3
Maria Adele Cipolla, eZavod
V1 21.07.2015

2. ORGANISATION OF WORK

3. A brief history
• During the fifties,
factories were only for
less important garments
such as underwear.
• In important European
cities there were tailors:
they invented fashion, in
quite small laboratoires.
Scattered throughout Europe, less
important local tailors interpreted the big
fashion trends. Famous tailors sold them
models and patterns from the previous
year’s collections. Much of the work was
done by homeworkers.
Hubert de
Givenchy in
his laboratory.
A small workshop in Southern Italy.

4. A brief history
• In the sixties prêt a porter was
introduced: fashionable
garments were manufactured
in standard sizes, ready to
wear. New designer names
appear. Development of large
department stores and
advertising for standardised
clothing
• Some tailors of the «old
generation» adopt prêt a porter
approach, moving their
production from workshops to
factories.

5. A brief history
• The seventies are dominated by
the big prêt a porter brands, who
enlarge their production
capacity.
• The «catwalk world» brings new
actors into the star system: top
models, fashion photographers,
agents, fashion magazines, etc.
• An economy-of-scale effects
drive brand development: mass
production in big factories is
cheaper than in small
workshops. The cost benefit for
the client is getting more
important
• The multitude of small
laboratories in Europe slowly
goes into decline.

6. A brief history
• During the eighties, the cost
of marketing and fashion
shows increases
drammatically.
• The larger fashion houses
begin to look to the small
laboratories for help.
• In this tightly controlled
«fasonist» organisation of
work, each garment is cut in
the central factory and the
pieces sent to small
laboratories for assembly.

7. A brief history
• During the nineties, the spiraling demand
for novelty and brand competition puts
increasing pressure on production costs.
• The immediate solution is to cut the cost of the main
component of physical labour: sewing.
• Assembly is subcontracted to Southern Europe, especially
in Italy, as well as to Asia.

8. A brief history
• In the new millenium, the
subcontractors are mainly in far
east Asia.
• There the price for work is quite
low, mainly dued to the cost of
living and also because there is
far more labour supply than
demand.
• Even so, there average salaries
do not allow for decent living.
• Scholars and commentators
complain about the lack of rules
in Southeast Asia factories, in
human rights, accident
prevention, environment and
health care.
Image from
http://www.macleans.ca/econ
omy/business/what-does-
that-14-shirt-really-cost/
Image from
http://www.slowfashioned.co
m/resources
Image from
www.aonpeoplerisk.com/Resource/Images/Insights/20130705/Figure1

9. The current organisation of production
Strange to say,
now the
scenario is
fragmented in
small
laboratories and
homeworkers,
just as it was at
the beginning of
our story in the
sixties.
Image from “Ethical clothing Australia”
http://www.ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au/eca-accreditation/supply-chains/

10. The current organisation of production
Strange to say,
now the scenario
is fragmented in
small laboratories
and
homeworkers, as
it was at the
beginning of our
story, during the
sixties.
What Task 4.3 is interested in

11. Issues for TCBL
• Can the current organisation of small laboratories and home
workers be re-organized to allow for both improved working
conditions and increased flexibility of production? Are fair trade
principles relevant here?
• Will customer driven scenarios – organisation of production at
the click of «buy now» – accelerate uptake of this scenario?
• Is there a new role for independent designers, similar to that of
the leading tailors of the fifties?
• What CAD systems are best suited to such a scenario,
replacing industrial-scale grading with more frugal, networked
and made-to-measure design platforms?
• Can the ICT systems and services supporting sophisticated
supply chains be adapted to open networks of small
laboratories and home workers?

12. COST STRUCTURES

13. What we pay
• The price tag of each
garment is composed
mainly of costs of
wholesalers and
retailers, then
trasportation,
intermediaries and
brand profits
(including
management and
marketing).
Image from https://thefableists.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/tailored-wages-
new-report-investigates-clothing-brands-work-on-living-wages/
Image from http://hypebeast.com/2015/3/the-costs-of-starting-a-fashion-
brand-production

14. Externalities
• The clothing
supply chain has
a significant
environmental
impact.
• Not to mention
the impact of
transportation...
Image from http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/campaigns/toxics/science/eleven-
flagship-hazardous-chemicals/

15. Waste
• The short-lived cycles of
cheap fashion lead to
consumerism that generates
1 million tons of clothing
thrown away each year.
• Only a minimum part of
wasted clothing is recycled.
• In addition, unsold clothing
(which only in part feeds the
outlet system) also
contributes (and plays its
part in retail mark-ups).
Image from http://www.ocregister.com/articles/clothing-359521-
cheap-clothes.html

16. Issues for TCBL
• To what degree can consumer-driven on-demand
production reduce wholesale, retail, and transportation
costs and hence allow for fairer labour costs?
• What can influence customer behaviours towards buying
more «long-lasting» clothing, and what role can fashion
itself play?
• How can tracing in open supply chains be organised to
increase consumer awareness of environmental impacts
and fair trade practice?
• How can the work of independent designers be
appropriately recognized and paid for in an open,
customer-driven value chain?
• What is the potential contribution of small laboratories and
home workers in answering the above questions?

17. Issues for TCBL
• What is the added value of clothing, and which mental
mechanisms laid behind the choice of a dress?
• How to address the individual consumer’s needs towards
better quality clothes, produced in fair-trade and
environmental respect?
• How to break the competition by price in favor of a
competition by consumer satisfaction?
• If it is needed, it is possible to re-organizing the chain
from scratch?

18. How to valorize the role of diversity in the
consumer’s needs, so to offer diversified
added values for it?
Image from http://www.xojane.com/fashion/beyond-androgyny-fashions-most-
innovative-designers-are-designing-for-a-gender-neutral-future
“We call for racial, age,
size and body diversity in
our imagery…Fashion
can be a powerful carrier
of messages towards
shaping personal identity
and self esteem.
Respecting customer
difference and individual
need is evermore
important in this global
economy.”
From
http://www.allwalks.org/w
ho-are-all-walks/

19. Next steps
• Contribute to defining WP4 scenarios from the standpoint
of small laboratories and homeworkers.
• Deepen the analysis of current supply chains to identify
weak points and innovation opportunities.
• Transfer of Task 4.3 analyses to the Knowledge Spaces
platform.
• Identify approaches for making a census of small
laboratories and homeworkers in partner regions, together
with contact strategies (ie interviews, workshops,
events…).
• Identification of cultural and structural barriers to
innovation in small laboratories in relation to possible
transition paths.