Design Product-Service Systems by Using a Hybrid Approach: The Fashion Renting Business Model

Abstract

As is known, sustainability issues represent one of the main challenges companies have to face. Among all, the fashion industry is considered one of the most impactful, both in terms of resource utilization and pollution. Fashion renting is a recent business model for companies to reduce their environmental footprint, following a circular economy approach. The study aims to develop and discuss the proposed hybrid approach to effectively support fashion companies in designing new business models, taking into account both the customer and the company perspective. On the one hand, agent-based modeling (ABM) allow us to represent customers’ behaviour and interaction. On the other hand, discrete event simulation (DES) paradigm is used to model fashion renting processes. Because customers’ attitude to that service reflects its successful implementation, motivators and barriers have been investigated to be included in the model. The practical implication is defining a model to support fashion companies in designing rental business models before implementing them. From a theoretical point of view, it overcomes the literature gap about the definition of a unique model for fashion renting, including processes, customers and interactions between agents. Follow-up research will include the presentation of simulation results.

Sustainable Fashion From Product Service System Perspective: A Literature Review

“…7. Fani et al (2022) To discuss hybrid strategy to support fashion companies in building new business models that consider both customer and company perspectives.…”

“…There are important values perceived by consumers for the adoption of PSS namely financial, functional, emotional, and social value (Borg et al, 2020). Financial is considered positive because fashion PSS allows cheaper prices from renting compared to buying new clothes (Fani et al, 2022) but becomes negative because of additional costs to accommodate the operations of PSS (Armstrong et al, 2016) or other uncertainty consequences (Borg et al, 2020). Functional value is perceived positively when the service can perform its intended function but becomes negative as it has performance risk and item damage (Fani et al, 2022).…”

“…Financial is considered positive because fashion PSS allows cheaper prices from renting compared to buying new clothes (Fani et al, 2022) but becomes negative because of additional costs to accommodate the operations of PSS (Armstrong et al, 2016) or other uncertainty consequences (Borg et al, 2020). Functional value is perceived positively when the service can perform its intended function but becomes negative as it has performance risk and item damage (Fani et al, 2022). Emotional value is mainly discussed as positive perception in most literatures which cover product satisfaction, experience, and fashion interest (Armstrong et al, 2015(Armstrong et al, , 2016Borg et al, 2020;Fani et al, 2022).…”

“…Functional value is perceived positively when the service can perform its intended function but becomes negative as it has performance risk and item damage (Fani et al, 2022). Emotional value is mainly discussed as positive perception in most literatures which cover product satisfaction, experience, and fashion interest (Armstrong et al, 2015(Armstrong et al, , 2016Borg et al, 2020;Fani et al, 2022). Social value is perceived positively as fashion PSS, for instance fashion consultancy, provides social interaction which can boost self-confidence (Armstrong et al, 2016).…”

Consumer Motivations for Luxury Fashion Rental: A Second-Order Factor Analysis Approach

“…As a part of collaborative consumption, renting enables consumers to enjoy the convenience brought by temporary usufruct and reduce their economic burden, which leads to a reduction in negative environmental impacts [6,38,39]. In the fashion industry, renting services using digital platforms, such as short-term renting and subscription-based renting, meet consumers' growing demands for high-end fashion products for special occasions [6,40]. Luxury fashion rental is a form of fashion rental service that allows consumers to access and experience luxury brand fashion products (e.g., clothing and accessories) for a limited time at an affordable price [13].…”