An investigation into fashion systems to develop sustainable growth in second-hand clothing supply chains

Abstract

This study aims to define a regenerative system for UK charities’ retail operations to utilise as a tool to aid transparency in the second-hand clothing supply chains. Previous research on the modern charity shop has been explored from a social adoption perspective, analysing how consumer behaviour has adapted and changed over time. This thesis examines current fashion systems and contributes new industry practices and to the sortation methods for textiles so clothing donations’ lifespan can be expanded. This research, however, adopts a systems-design approach, through a three-phase methodology including a series of semi-structured, informal interviews with industry experts, charity retail managers, policy experts and a Ghanaian non-governmental organisation; engagement with fashion consumers to understand purchasing behaviour and care practice; and three charity retail case studies ( international charity, national charity and local charity) to observe how organisations sort, sell and dispose of consumer donations. The data collected questions how a distribution and regenerative system can work with contemporary consumer culture, whilst being adaptable to the current second-hand economy. The
second-hand clothing supply chain contributes to the demise of clothing longevity; by using systems thinking and service design methods, clothing for reuse markets could adopt and promote longer lifespans for garments.

Date of Award	24 Oct 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Northumbria University
Supervisor	Alana James (Supervisor) & Ellen Sampson (Supervisor)