A sustainable fashion company's transition from home to mass production: An exploratory study
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The first national meeting of textile and clothing professors took place in Madison, Wisconsin in June 1959. With a mission to advance excellence in education, scholarship and innovation, and their global applications, the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) is a professional and educational association of scholars, educators, and students in the textile, apparel, and merchandising disciplines in higher education.
This site provides free, public access to the ITAA annual conference proceedings beginning in 2015. Previous proceedings can be found by following the "Additional ITAA Proceedings" link on the left sidebar of this page.
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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to document the transition of a small fashion company from home to mass-produced sustainable apparel. The case company is a two-person apparel company whose mission is to create sustainable, natural goddess wear. In 2017, with increasing orders, Unalome's proprietors decided to cease home sewing and contract for mass. To delve deeply into this topic and to incorporate multiple sources of data (e.g., interviews, company website, social media, and internal documents), the case study research approach was chosen. Several themes emerged from data analysis, the most prominent being the company's strong and clear mission that sustainability is a necessity for both people and planet. However, the more specific vision for the company was driven entirely by the designer/founder and was not easily communicated, which caused confusion. These results will provide a lens through which to view the company's successes and challenges as it moves forward.