Paper short abstract:

Using Social Network Analysis techniques, we explore the interconnectedness and relationships between the varied stakeholders in the complex system of global clothing supply network to facilitate improvement of decision makings and practices in sustainable and responsible clothing industry.

Paper long abstract:

The international clothing supply network is a complex system of supply chains. As stakeholders trying to incorporate sustainability and ethical initiatives, such network has become even more complex. Much of this complexity arises from the interconnectedness and interactions amongst the stakeholders. However, traditional depictions of this network of stakeholders do not reveal their influences, importance and accountabilities. This creates challenges when trying to identify where to pinpoint research to improve sustainable and ethical practices in sustainable and responsible clothing industry.

Based on the review of existing literatures and models, this paper explores the usefulness of Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques to identify who the stakeholders are and how they relate and interact with each other, to provide a picture of the stakeholder network for targeted improvement in clothing sustainability.

Different stakeholders are mapped as individual nodes within the clothing supply network and linked by their reliance on each other. Using SNA, both qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the network have been explored: the overall qualitative network characteristics are investigated through visual representations of the structural features in graphs; while quantitative characteristics through formal network measurements and statistics. Although with data limitations, such investigations revealed interesting findings that are not obvious without applying SNA and provide indications of "pinch points" to facilitate improvement of decision makings and practices in sustainable and responsible clothing industry.