Value Co-creation in Slow Fashion : Exploring opportunities in new product development

Sammanfattning: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to advance the knowledge on value co-creation in new product development (NPD) in the context of slow fashion, with specific emphasis on investigating the interest of slow fashion consumers to engage in the NPD process and brands' perspective regarding this. Via exploring the value co-creation phenomena in the slow fashion industry context, this study also intends to apply and discuss the suitability of currently available value co-creation theories for the slow fashion context. Methodology: This research employed an explanatory design with an deductive approach. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied using a self-administered online questionnaire for slow fashion consumers and semi structured interviews with two slow fashion companies. The questionnaire and interview questions were designed according to the subjects that emerged from a theoretical background constructed for the study. Findings: The consumers of slow fashion indicated a large interest for participation in value co-creation (VCC) activities in new product development (NPD), however on a low level of customer empowerment, mainly just giving suggestions and voting on design ideas by the brand. This wasn’t much affected by the customer typology or perceived relationship to the brand, however, the internalised extrinsic motivation lifted the contribution interest slightly. The two interviewed companies indicated to be interested to empower the customers to the same extent as the customers were mainly willing to. The companies saw the possibility to cater better for the customer needs as the main benefit, however, simultaneously they were concerned of the customers’ awareness regarding the garment quality factors or the lead times of the industry. Practical implications: The paper presents the current interest of the slow fashion consumers to participate in in VCC in NPD revealing their customer typology and perceived relationship to a brand as well as their motivations and barriers, which can be utilised by slow fashion brands when considering implementation of VCC in NPD. Originality/Value: The study represents an unexplored area of VCC in NPD research expanding knowledge by investigating the interest of slow fashion consumers to engage in the NPD process and the brands' perspective regarding this.