Under Which Conditions Can Nearshoring Become a Viable Complement to Offshore Sourcing in the European Fashion Industry?

Details

Supervisors

Agrell, Per Joakim

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

European fashion companies have relocated most of their production to distant Asian manufacturing hubs. Recent disruptions have revived interest in nearshoring, yet the literature shows that offshore sourcing remains structurally dominant, given the cost advantages and industrial ecosystems accumulated by established suppliers. This thesis asks under which conditions nearshoring can become a viable complement. Adopting the perspective of a German apparel retailer, it develops a multi-criteria decision support framework evaluating 57 sourcing countries across ten criteria spanning cost, responsiveness, resilience and sustainability. Nearshore countries dominate under every coherent sourcing philosophy tested, and substantial offshore participation requires manufacturing cost to carry close to half of the total weight. More revealingly, offshore entry depends less on the priority given to cost than on the simultaneous weakening of the criteria rewarding proximity. The viability of nearshoring therefore rests on the structure of managerial preferences rather than on countries' relative performance.