A Stressed Supply Chain
Despite the talk of fast fashion and 52 week seasons, does the apparel industry really want to get faster? Today, the fashion and apparel industry is down right slow. I mean pre-internet slow and it’s no surprise that customers are stressing the hell out of it. It’s cost based supply chain looks like a color photo of the same workers from 1900. That unrushed business model affects more than just the time it takes a t-shirt to make it to market (12 to 15 weeks). Take the end of 2018 as an example. On October 22nd, 2018 the AAFA & FLA (The American Apparel & Footwear Association and the Fair Labor Association) announced the The AAFA/FLA Apparel & Footwear Industry Commitment to Responsible Recruitment.
On Monday (October 22, 2018), 123 apparel and footwear companies signed the new “AAFA/FLA Apparel & Footwear Industry Commitment to Responsible Recruitment,” emphasizing a commitment to the fair treatment of workers in the global apparel, footwear and travel goods supply chain. Developed together by both associations, the commitment represents a proactive industry effort to address potential forced labor risks for migrant workers at all levels of apparel and footwear manufacturing.
By signing the pact, signatories commit to working with their partners to create conditions where no worker pays for their job, where workers retain control of their travel documents and have full freedom of movement, and where workers are informed of the basic terms of their employment before joining the workforce. The companies signing the pledge also agree to work “seriously and effectively” to implement these practices and incorporate the commitment into their social compliance standards by Dec. 31, 2019, as well as to periodically report their actions through sustainability and/or modern slavery legal disclosures. (source: Sourcing Journal)
It begs the question, how much progress should we be making and what are we achieving? It’s hard to imagine that 123 companies are publicly signing a forced labor document in 2018 and calling it a “proactive industry effort.” Maybe it should be documented as a “new initiative for making breakthroughs to a 20th century problem using 21st century leadership and technology.” Anything cross-border, cross-entity is complicated, but the industry supply chain has an overabundance of fingers.
2018 did see some speed gains. Sustainability amongst global brands is finally starting to take hold in the supply chain, which is where the rubber meets the road. Some growth is due to Gen Z, however, most is not directly related to product flying off the shelf. Instead they saw story-based startup brands slice away at their customer base. A supply chain weighed down by big, slow and cheap is having its load lightened with small, fast, valuable and sustainable.
Automation has been a catalyst in this movement too, but the consumer is the real driver. eCommerce has created a new expectation of product availability. All mass market product should be available instantly or customers will go somewhere else. Startups have provided answers with varying degrees of success, but the supply chain is so complex they can only take small bites. While a threat, many brands and manufacturers still think they can move slowly in making change.
Amazon’s entry may have changed many timelines. Very loud threats like launching new apparel services, and quiet, more deeply felt threats in filing for IP in apparel manufacturing and logistics.
While apparel brands understand the IP of their designs and trademarks, they lack the culture to understand tech IP and what it means for the future of the supply chain. It’s a major blind spot when manufacturing begins consolidating.