School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing (SATM)

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Browsing School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing (SATM) by Author "Abdelmeguid, Aya"

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    Insights into sustainability and circular economy trends in luxury fashion: a LinkedIn topic modelling study
    (Elsevier, 2024-12) Abdelmeguid, Aya; Tsironis, Georgios; Afy-Shararah, Mohamed; Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P; Salonitis, Konstantinos
    The fashion industry plays a pivotal role in societal evolution and economic growth, yet it also stands as a significant contributor to environmental degradation. In response, the concept of slow fashion has been gaining increased attention in recent years, offering sustainable and circular alternatives to fast fashion. Luxury fashion, traditionally known for its heritage, exclusivity, and craftsmanship, exhibits elements similar to slow fashion, thereby exerting considerable influence on industry trends and consumer behaviour. This study explores the drivers shaping the luxury fashion landscape and the evolving circular economy and sustainability trends within the UK, a key global influencer in the luxury fashion domain. Luxury fashion's impact extends beyond its niche market, often setting benchmarks for innovation and sustainable practices that influence the broader fashion industry. Leveraging readily available qualitative and quantitative data from LinkedIn profiles, this research employs Latent Dirichlet Allocation analysis to uncover relevant topics within a dataset comprising 1115 companies registered in the “Apparel and Fashion” and “Textiles” industries. Five key drivers emerge, including Artful Creations in Fashion, Time-Honoured Craftsmanship, The Art of Style and Design, The Pinnacle of Retail Excellence, and A Personalised Style Experience. Additionally, utilising the Google Collab Platform and Python language, this study identifies circular economy and sustainability trends within luxury fashion. While approximately 20% of the companies studied actively emphasise sustainability, circular economy requires comparable attention. This research provides industry stakeholders and scholars with valuable insights into sustainable and circular practices, thus guiding innovation and informed decision-making in the fashion industry.
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    Investigating the challenges of applying the principles of the circular economy in the fashion industry: a systematic review
    (Elsevier, 2022-05-17) Abdelmeguid, Aya; Afy-Shararah, Mohamed; Salonitis, Konstantinos
    This is a systematic literature review paper that aims to synthetically report on the challenges of implementing circular economy (CE) in the fashion industry, to help key stakeholders in the industry shape their strategies and turn these challenges into opportunities. The method adopted to achieve the purpose of the paper is the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Following the PRISMA 2020 flow diagram, 55 studies and 7 other sources were included and used to analyze the findings. Using a deductive research approach, the paper categorises the aspects related to the circular economy and their challenges identified through the systematic review of hard aspects and soft aspects of business management. The hard aspects identified include business model innovation, regulatory pressures, stakeholders' pressures, and financial pressures. Whilst the soft aspects identified include green intellectual capital and consumer-related issues. A conceptual framework is proposed to represent the hard and soft aspects identified in the literature, which could provide a guideline to management to facilitate the implementation of circular economy. The main implication of the paper is that management needs to focus on managing and overcoming the challenges of soft aspects first, by emphasizing the different practices identified in the paper, to be able to manage the challenges of hard aspects effectively and achieve better outcomes. However, it is recommended that the implications of this paper are empirically tested to uncover their values.
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    Mapping of the circular economy implementation challenges in the fashion industry: a fuzzy‑TISM analysis
    (Springer, 2023-08-26) Abdelmeguid, Aya; Afy-Shararah, Mohamed; Salonitis, Konstantinos
    The fashion industry creates a large amount of pollution, making it one of the least environmentally friendly industries in the world with an ever-growing adoption of the linear fashion system “take-make-dispose” that continues to exploit scarce natural resources and energy. This advocate shifting to a circular economy to achieve sustainable production and consumption. However, numerous challenges are faced when introducing the principles of circular economy, obstructing the system transition. The ten challenges identified from the literature include poor material and energy efficiency, poor circular design, technological challenges, regulatory pressures, internal stakeholders’ pressures, financial pressures, insufficient human capital, poor management and leadership, lack of external collaborations, and consumer-related challenges. This research aims to identify the level of significance of the challenges identified from the literature to assist top management with formulating a strategy. Decisions will be made and prioritised based on the key challenges to ensure a successful and effective implementation of the circular economy in the fashion industry. To achieve the aim of this research, seven experts within both the circular economy and fashion context are interviewed. Fuzzy Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (Fuzzy-TISM) is used to arrange the challenges into a hierarchy-based model and to illustrate the interrelationship between these challenges. Also, Fuzzy MICMAC analysis is used to map and rank these challenges depending on their driving and dependence power. Based on the findings, regulatory pressures and poor management and leadership are the key challenges with the highest significance level. Therefore, successful and effective implementation of a circular economy requires a change in managerial strategies.
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    Towards circular fashion: management strategies promoting circular behaviour along the value chain
    (Elsevier, 2024-05-22) Abdelmeguid, Aya; Afy-Shararah, Mohamed; Salonitis, Konstantinos
    The fashion industry is a significant driver of cultural, societal, and economic growth worldwide, but its traditional linear approach has led to negative environmental and social impacts. This study addresses the need to transition towards sustainable and circular practices by exploring the relationship between management strategies and behaviours across the fashion value chain. Through 10 semi-structured interviews with top industry decision-makers, thematic analysis revealed eight core themes, including collaborations, marketing strategies, product-related characteristics, education and awareness, business models, integration of technology, regulations and legislation, and strategic planning. The study provides targeted recommendations for stakeholders to promote a more sustainable and circular behaviour in the fashion industry. For instance, it emphasises strategic partnerships with suppliers, waste management companies, and consumers to minimise waste and promote circularity across the value chain. It urges the adoption of sustainable materials and eco-friendly designs for environmentally conscious consumers and encourages visual storytelling for transparency. Additionally, the study highlights the need for circular business models, recommending on-demand and made-to-measure manufacturing to align production with demand and reduce overproduction. Offering end-of-life strategies such as take-back programs, recycling initiatives, and repair services extends product lifecycles and creates sustainable value. Integrating advanced technologies such as digital IDs improves supply chain transparency and accountability. These actionable recommendations guided the development of a comprehensive framework for the practical application of sustainable and circular practices across the value chain, offering industry practitioners, researchers and policymakers effective strategies for driving impactful change within the fashion industry.