Social Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Textile and Apparel Industry—A Literature Review

Abstract

So far, a vast amount of studies on sustainability in supply chain management have been conducted by academics over the last decade. Nevertheless, socially related aspects are still neglected in the related discussion. The primary motivation of the present literature review has arisen from this shortcoming, thus the key purpose of this study is to enrich the discussion by providing a state-of-the-art, focusing exclusively on social issues in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) by considering the textile/apparel sector as the field of application. The authors conduct a literature review, including content analysis which covers 45 articles published in English peer-reviewed journals, and proposes a comprehensive map which integrates the latest findings on socially related practices in the textile/apparel industry with the dominant conceptualization in order to reveal potential research areas in the field. The results show an ongoing lack of investigation regarding the social dimension of the triple bottom line in SSCM. Findings indicate that a company's internal orientation is the main assisting factor in sustainable supply chain management practices. Further, supplier collaboration and assessment can be interpreted as an offer for suppliers deriving from stakeholders and a focal company's management of social risk. Nevertheless, suppliers do also face or even create huge barriers in improving their social performance. This calls for more empirical research and qualitative or quantitative survey methods, especially at the supplier level located in developing countries.

Sustainability Issues in Textile and Apparel Supply Chains

“…In the literature review of social issues in textile and apparel supply chain by Köksal et al [20], the authors proposed a comprehensive map of the social dimension of sustainability. They argued that textile and apparel companies need to collaborate with suppliers to reduce social risks.…”

“…In this special issue, Köksal et al [20] and Yang et al [21] conducted comprehensive literature reviews to better understand the problems of sustainability issues, in addition to summarizing the relevant literature on sustainable textile and apparel supply chains. In the literature review of social issues in textile and apparel supply chain by Köksal et al [20], the authors proposed a comprehensive map of the social dimension of sustainability.…”

Environmental Sustainability and Energy-Efficient Supply Chain Management: A Review of Research Trends and Proposed Guidelines

“…According to the these requirements, starting from the last decade supply systems are affected by sustainability issues [27][28][29][30][31][32][33], the impact of environmental management strategies [34][35][36][37], and the new opportunities offered to green supply systems by circular economy [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50].…”

Decent Work in the Chinese Apparel Industry: Comparative Analysis of Blue-Collar and White-Collar Garment Workers

“…Social aspects of sustainability, including working conditions and labor rights, are of increasing interest in academic research on global production networks, global value chains and supply chain management in the apparel industry [1][2][3][4]. Although the sector provides valuable employment opportunities to large numbers of low-income workers worldwide [5], it is also frequently associated with poor working conditions and labor crises, especially in labor-intensive garment manufacturing operations in lower labor cost countries [6][7][8][9][10].…”