The fashion industry is unique in the way that it attracts a potpourri of talent both from art as well as science disciplines. Even though I am an engineer by academic qualification, the scientific aspect of the industry had not been very evident to me, until I came to MIT. Fashion & MIT; sounded like a terrible mismatch at the time, until I had the fateful meeting with Dr. Chris Caplice, Executive Director of the Masters of Engineering in Logistics (MLOG) program.

I entered the fashion industry in the year 1998 on being given the Herculean task of reviving my father’s eroding apparel manufacturing business in India. Since then, I have had the privilege of starting two apparel fashion brands, “Turbulence” and “Adonis”, in New York City and failing in both. So what went wrong? In search of truth, I landed at MIT. I am more than convinced that the MLOG has the answers that I have been looking for so long.

What makes the fashion industry so challenging from a supply chain standpoint is the nature of its seasonal and short life cycle; the key concept being speed to market. Most fashion brands compete through their ability to execute multiple new product introductions followed by continuous replenishments. The sourcing shift to cheap labor countries adds tremendous complexity to the supply chain by increasing uncertainty in quality, manufacturing and transportation lead times, and cross-border customs delays.

The multi-disciplinary culture of the Engineering Systems Division (ESD), of which the MLOG program is the supply chain management arm, helps create a cross-functional culture enabling research like “The Supply Chain 2020 (SC2020) Project” to flourish.. SC2020 is a multiyear research effort that helps identify and analyze the factors that are critical to the success of future supply chains. This pioneering project aims to map out innovations that underpin successful supply chains as far into the future as the year 2020.

Lasting approximately one year, the first phase of research focuses on understanding current excellent supply chains. It involves identifying and researching the organizations that drive today’s successful supply chains in a broad range of industries, with the aim of understanding the evolving business strategies, operating models, practices and principles that are responsible for driving improved performance.

SC2020, my current MLOG thesis at MIT, is a tremendous opportunity for researchers like me, with backgrounds in the fashion industry, to leverage our past work experience in gaining useful insights of supply chain knowledge from other industries. Under the supervision of my thesis advisors, Dr. Larry Lapide of the MLOG and Dr. Sharon Novak, visiting Prof. at MIT-Sloan, my current research is leading me to understand critical macro forces relevant to the apparel industry.

These macro factors range from economics, trade regulations, technologies, labor laws, demand trends, to competitive landscapes. Secondly it helps me get a deeper understanding of supply capabilities such as production & distribution technologies, information technologies, human capital resources, and infrastructure that enterprises need to leverage to develop and evolve their supply chains.

While I use my stay at MIT as a great testing ground to evaluate and re-evaluate the various supply chain “don’ts” in my two failed business brands in the apparel industry, I am also exposed to a myriad of future supply chain career opportunities in other industries like consumer goods, retail and even consulting. In short, my MIT experience has been a delightful one and I view this opportunity as a solid start in my quest to learn from my past failures. The knowledge gained here has tremendous leverage value and I am already beginning to cherish the fruits.

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