Mass customisation in the Hong Kong apparel industry

Mass customisation (MC) is a prominent topic in apparel production planning and control and we have seen cases of its successful implementation in places such as the US, Japan and many European countries. Despite being called an international fashion city, Hong Kong (HK) is a place where most well-known MC programmes in fashion retailing are absent. Motivated by this observation, we conducted an empirical study by distributing questionnaires to industrialists. Our statistical analysis reveals that high expenses, insufficient technology, high level of customer involvement and inefficient operations are the significant barriers that hinder the development of MC in HK. Six managerial implications and recommendations are proposed. We believe that the findings can supplement the literature by providing evidence to explain the underdevelopment of MC in HK and some other markets.