Wednesday, October 21, 2020 | 9:00am - 10:30am | ZOOM

Abstract

We investigate whether mass customization enhances sustainability and firm outcomes in a fast fashion context. Fast fashion delivers fashion trends to consumers quickly and cheaply but has detrimental effects on the environment (e.g., waste accumulation, water pollution). To mitigate these harmful effects, we examine how different points of customer involvement in mass customization affect time to product disposal and willingness-to-pay for mass customized products. Across four studies, we show that the number of months to disposal and willingness-to-pay increase as the point of customer involvement shifts upstream from Use to Assembly to Fabrication to Design (with increasing degrees of customization). We also find that the implementation of customer involvement in mass customization matters. Overall, these results provide evidence that mass customization may not only help slow fast fashion down (which has major sustainability implications) but present a win-win for both the environment and firms (in terms of the bottom line).