How to address specific target groups: a comparison between fashion and orthopaedic footware supply chains

This research is a part of the European 7th Framework Program RTD project named CoReNet (Customer-ORiented and Eco-friendly NETworks for healthy fashionable goods), that aims at implementing innovative tools and methods for supply chain management to meet consumer needs and expectations for specific target groups – such as elderly, obese, disabled, or diabetic persons – by producing small series of functional and fashionable footwear and clothing with the following characteristics: high quality, affordable price and eco-compatibility. This paper focuses on footwear companies and compares the fashion and the orthopaedic footwear supply chains, through multiple case studies conducted to understand how the production for the target groups mentioned before could be industrialized through an integration of these two supply chains. Through business processes and requirements analysis, the paper proposes a supply chain topology that maps the most relevant characteristics, procedures and techniques, related to production, customization and supply chain management.