What is servitisation and how is it being applied in the textile and fashion sector?

Servitising textile and fashion products, implementing a servitisation strategy in the product environment, creating service-oriented products, rethinking the model of access to products and rethinking how we use the products that clothe us, are some of the challenges that the most innovative textile sector is currently working on.Specifically, servitisation is a strategy of the circular economy that seeks to extend the useful life of products through their use, understanding the product as a service, and also accompanied by the offer of products with linked services, with this vision of extending the useful life of products. Servitisation participates directly in the innovation of new business models of organisations, amplifying their capacities and processes to create mutual value through a change of paradigm, moving from the sale of products to the use of products. In the case of the textile-fashion sector, this implies, for example, the possibility of renting clothes instead of buying them.Through servitisation, companies can optimise the use of resources and reduce the environmental impact of productions. Instead of selling garments that, after a certain period of time, become waste, the useful life of these pieces is extended through various strategies to reduce the number of garments produced and increase their use. This is a booming and growing phenomenon that improves efficiency in the use of resources, in this case textiles, participating in the reduction of pressure on raw material extraction and providing a positive effect for the environment and also for society. Therefore, the management of textile products enters strongly into this new ideation and innovation related to new business models.Servitisation introduces a substantial paradigm shift within the textile and fashion sector: paying only for the use of products instead of purchasing new products. There are several approaches to this way of understanding how we access fashion products. At a theoretical level, there are two main typologies: servitisation by substitution and servitisation by addition. In addition, we also find, linked to these two typologies, several orientations depending on whether the focus is oriented towards the service associated with the product, whether the focus is oriented towards the use of the product or whether the focus is oriented towards solving the needs of the users.To continuation explain these approximations through several current examples. Servitisation by addition: that is, adding additional services to an existing product to create a more complete and attractive value proposition for customers, and to extend the life of the product through the service. Here, the focus is on providing services linked to the product. For example, a fashion shop could add services such as repair, maintenance, customisation, we could also include take-back schemes for clothes that users no longer want, etc... In this type of strategy we could give several examples of fashion brands that are working under these parameters. For example, the LEVIS brand offers a repair and customisation service through its Levi's Tailor Shop and Levi's Customization programmes. The Nudie Jeans brand also offers a repair service in some reference shops in the main cities where it is present. Another example is the Taylor Stitch brand, which is a men's fashion brand that offers a free lifetime repair service for all its pieces. Servitisation by substitution refers to transforming a product into a service, or would also include strategies to meet users' needs through services. Therefore, here we would find rental strategies, or strategies for sharing products, whether between users managed by a brand or a platform. Examples of these strategies in the fashion sector are increasingly present, with the particularity that the combination of several variables, such as subscription, resale, return of used parts, AI, etc., are more and more common. Linked to servitisation are shaping new business models within the sector. Some examples of clothing rental can be found in the brands themselves, such as the offer of the SKFK brand through its Rentvolution platform, where the brand itself rents some of the pieces of the collection. Another example is the company Mud Jeans, which bases its business model on the long-term rental of Texans, the difference with SKFK is that Mud Jeans has its entire range of Texans available for rental. Also linked to usage-based business models, platforms are also emerging that offer, through subscription services in combination with rental, products from various brands. Examples such as Ecodicta, Rent the Runway or Me lo prestas offer virtual spaces that put stocks, brands or even users in contact with each other so that they can rent products for a certain period of time, use them and then return them. A more concrete example, which offers a dual service, is La más mona, which offers the rental of fashion pieces, but also offers its customers the possibility of renting their own pieces from their own wardrobe. It can be seen, therefore, that this type of service is evolving, but also bringing to the fore the concept of collaboration, community and sharing.As a final reflection, we could mention the environmental benefits associated with these business models that will drive or are driving circular economy strategies to extend the life of clothing, whether offered by the brands themselves or by consumers/users' wardrobes. The management of products and their logistics are the key points to be addressed and worked on in environmental terms in the coming years. The durability of products and how they are designed so that they can fulfil these multiple life functions, as well as being easily recyclable, is also one of the challenges facing the sector, which will have to respond with better qualities and physical properties of the products because they are durable, but it will also have to take into account the strategies of emotional durability linked to trends and the more aesthetic and visual aspects of fashion products. Servitisation is, therefore, one of the strategies of the circular economy that affects multiple variables, whether they are linked to products or to new business models.The Catalan Fashion Cluster (Modacc) has carried out a study with the support of the Catalan Waste Agency, which identifies the main strategies and formulas that are emerging within the sector, both at regional and international level. Work has also been done to devise a methodology for the creation of new lines of business linked to servitisation for fashion companies that want to explore how they could create these new opportunities. Work is currently underway on a Guide of recommendations and good practices for introducing servitisation strategies in fashion companies, the result of the project led by the Cluster.

What is servitisation and how is it being applied in the textile and fashion sector?

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Clara Mallart

Area of Sustainability and Economia Circulate in Modacc