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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a leagile transformation model for product development that guides manufacturers in the construction of a road map and the management of its deployment in line with both lean and agile improvement objectives. Design/methodology/approach – An intervention qualitative and transformative research approach was adopted in order to develop required knowledge to theorise professional practice made from rigorous observations of facts. The research project took place over a period of two and a half years, in partnership with an international firm that develops and produces a wide range of luxury products. Findings – The application of the methodology proved that a lean transformation does not have to be generated only by the field needs but it can follow a mixed approach where a top-down transformation management linked with strategic objectives is deployed without compromising implication and needs from people on the field. The right balance can be found between the strategic aspect of transformation and the incremental aspect on the field of lean paradigms. Research limitations/implications – For complete validation and widespread scientific application, the model should be tested in other sectors and industries. Practical implications – The application case of the leagile model in several divisions of a luxury organisation proved that the proposed approach can be used as a guide for manufacturer in the construction of an improvement road map and in the management of its deployment. The application cases enabled a number of positive results to be generated and measured on quantitative indicators such as service ratio for new products for which, one of the divisions saw an increase of 30 per cent. The approach created a positive revolution among development team members by its potential in terms of communication, steering, benchmarking and knowledge system. Originality/value – The model supports the identification and prioritisation of improvement initiatives by focusing on the levers for improvement that meet the needs and objectives of transformation, as well as the organisation’s maturity level.

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The efficiency of sustainability assessments of textile products is generally prevented because of a lack of available and reliable data across complex and globalized supply chains. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how blockchain traceability data can improve the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of textile products and to measure the actual value of exploiting this specific traceability data. To do so, a case study consisting of two LCAs modeling the production of wool top lots in China was conducted. A first LCA was conducted with generic data and the second with the added value of specific blockchain traceability data. Based on the second LCA, different wool top lot composition scenarios were then modeled to account for the environmental impact of different farming practices. Two main results were obtained: the environmental impact of wool top lots can vary up to +118% between two batches depending on their composition, and the specific data changes drastically from the impact calculated with generic data, with +36% calculated impact for the same wool composition of batches. Therefore, it was concluded that blockchain traceability data could be a strong asset for conducting LCA at the batch level by providing differentiated data on batch composition and origin and providing readily available specific data for a more representative assessment.

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For legislative and managerial purposes, brands are increasingly transparent in disclosing more information on the countries of origin (COOs) involved in their products’ production. This study aims to further research what information regarding the COOs involved in the production of a garment must be communicated to consumers, and how such information should be communicated. To this end, a questionnaire survey was performed with a panel of 103 consumers, followed by the sharing of experimental products’ webpages with an additional panel of nine consumers in France. The webpage was accessed via a QR code. The study shows that several preconceived notions drive consumers’ perceptions, and, in fact, additional information regarding COOs does not overcome stereotypes.