In the minds of consumers and across the industry, the fashion industry has traded on the power of brands and brand image to define their success. Brand and image were the engines for the industry to move ahead, stay competitive, and make inroads into the future. The lines, the colors, the styles, and the tags were the differentiators to staying competitive and thriving in a vibrant but often cutthroat industry. But these days, fashion logistics and automated warehouse solutions play an integral part in making distribution a deciding factor in thriving in the market.
How companies bring products to market and how fast they can do that to meet rapidly shifting demand has become an integral factor in staying competitive. Where style trends and brand recognition are still important, essential forces driving today’s fashion industry have less to do with runways and red carpets and more with warehouses and logistics.
How much have things changed? What are the forces that drive that change? Here are some ideas to consider.
From decentralized to centralized logistics
In past eras, logistics was the unsexy background player to the brand’s vibrancy and consumer-facing image. Warehousing and logistics were considered a cost of doing business and just a necessary stage in getting products to market. Technology was such that logistics was a level playing field with a homogenized means to move a product through a standard set of processes to get that product into the hands of consumers. But today, the channels affecting demand have become increasingly diverse and fragmented. Trends are driven by multiple platforms and shift in increasingly rapid intervals. Advanced fashion logistics is an integral part of how companies build competitive momentum in the middle of all that.
This isn’t just about the development of technology, although that is a crucial element to why efficient logistics processes have become so important – and more on that in a minute. The main shift was strategy and changing perspectives on how distribution is organized. At one time, multiple distribution locations operated as separate entities. If one location had a surplus in the availability of an item, another might not have that item at all. It was a siloed and decentralized model. Transferring items was manual and difficult. Keeping track of inventory across locations was piecemeal and fussy. Customer service across B2B and B2C was sometimes uneven due to mounting unpredictability in order fulfillment.
Thanks to emerging eCommerce logistics solutions, this is no longer the standard. Fashion companies are turning to centralized models, where inventory across all locations is held in the same data environments. This makes it much easier to share products between locations. Thanks to advanced software, companies can view distribution channels from higher vantage points to see the whole landscape at any given time. This enables more efficient distribution and order fulfillment. It means improved customer service. It means stronger partnerships – and stronger brands as a result.
The unique nature of the fashion industry
Logistics and distribution are not a one-size-fits-all exercise. As an integral part of the supply chain, the nature of warehouse automation, logistics, and distribution channels depends heavily on the industry demands those efforts are in place to serve. This is a vital consideration, particularly in the fashion industry, a space renowned or infamous for how quickly it changes. Fashion is hot and then not in a shorter and shorter time. Trends shift and change fast. Yesterday’s high-demand items are today’s fashion don’ts.
A big part of this has to do with what drives trends to begin with. Once again, the channels to market have become more diverse, and the ways consumers discover new products and brands have become more varied. Social media and influencers with large audiences often model fashion items and accessories, which spike in popularity. Likewise, those same items are replaced by new items, as seen on social media streams. The products modeled by the influencer a month ago are then forgotten as new ones take the spotlight.
This constant cycle impacts those same audiences and their purchasing habits. This has been a primary engine for ramping up what consumers consider to be in fashion and what’s considered to be yesterday’s look. Behind the scenes, this has an enormous impact on production and distribution. As influencers from social media, film, and television take on and discard fashion items, companies must keep up in various ways. They need the right solutions to help them manage the pace and be agile as demand shifts and changes.
The need to scale quickly
The efficiency of centralized logistics and warehouse automation solutions to serve the needs of specific industries is only as effective as a company’s ability to react quickly and get the right products to market as soon as possible. This is another aspect of change that the fashion industry has ushered in. This has created the need for faster systems to get products to market at increasingly rapid rates. How do companies keep up?
They invest in logistical systems across their distribution networks designed to scale and respond to market demand as quickly as it shifts. More importantly, they invest in partnerships with technology experts who understand the ins and outs of their industry. In some ways, this is another aspect of centralization. Where expertise in one area or another was considered living in entirely different worlds simultaneously, combining core competencies in long-term partnerships has become the norm.
This goes beyond the specific nature and needs of the fashion industry, of course. The gap between the demand for skilled labor and the supply is an enduring challenge. Technology has significantly impacted how people work, the work they choose to do and not do, and those areas people are leaving to pursue other places away from warehouse work. The goals of efficient systems to address the industry help companies adjust with greater agility than ever before with the ever-changing nature of the fashion industry in view.
The future of fashion and the role of logistics technology
Technology shifts and changes along with industries. Sometimes, technology is the reason that industries change the way they do. In the 21st Century, there are multiple examples of this. Some of these forces enabled by technology are social, as demonstrated by social media influencers and other high-profile individuals. But another aspect is the practical concern of getting hot products to market to meet the fast-paced change in demand.
That’s where the logistics side of the equation comes into play. Increasingly centralized models for distribution incorporate solutions that help to bridge the labor gap to keep processes manageable and resilient. The fashion industry’s future lies in how fast businesses can close the gaps between trends, production, and distribution while always being prepared to switch gears as soon as new channels and new fashion eras emerge.
Automation technology and advanced warehousing systems allow fashion industry organizations to anticipate changes. They empower companies to maximize their resources to keep production aligned with demand. They help to ensure the future of the industry itself.