Apparel

AI Could Solve the Footwear Industry's Soaring Return Rate

December 6, 2021

Retailers need to implement proactive strategies that maximize inventory, or else face margin-crushing supply challenges. Artificial intelligence may offer a solution.

Supply Chains Need $100 Trillion to Hit Climate Goal

November 3, 2021

Bloomberg

Global supply chains will need an estimated $100 trillion in investment to achieve the planet’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions over the next three decades, according to new research that pins as much as half of that price tag on small- to medium-size businesses.

Fashion Brands Have Gone Quiet on Xinjiang Cotton in Fear of Retaliation

October 15, 2021

Bloomberg

When a fashion industry sustainability group called out China over its treatment of Uyghur Muslims, the idea was to nudge Beijing toward human-rights reforms while cleaning up a troubled corner of the $60 billion global cotton business. Western brands have learned the hard way that things don’t work that way in China.

Vietnam’s Factory Crisis Worsens as Migrant Workers Flee

October 12, 2021

Bloomberg

Tens of thousands of factory employees have gone back to their home villages from Vietnam’s southern industrial belt — and millions more are poised to follow — after months-long COVID-19 restrictions recently eased.

Investors Fret Supply Chain Woes Could Knock Earnings

October 11, 2021

Bloomberg

Reopening demand and marooned containers are prompting downgrades across analysts estimates for the upcoming earnings season.

China's Energy Crisis Is Hitting Everything From iPhones to Milk

October 8, 2021

Bloomberg

The hit from China’s energy crunch is starting to ripple throughout the globe, hurting everyone from Toyota Motor Corp. to Australian sheep farmers and makers of cardboard boxes.

Fashion Retailer Halves Fulfillment Time With Omichannel Automation

September 30, 2021

GreyOrange

Challenge: A multinational fast fashion retailer had separate warehouses for in-store and online fulfillment and was looking to implement an omnichannel model. The company needed to cater to inventory sub-classifications and associated business logic in picking; optimize its downstream operations; improve transportation efficiency; and reduce its dependency on a single warehouse management system (WMS).

The retailer relied solely on manual flow from inbound to outbound, and had no existing framework for opening new warehouses.

U.S. Apparel Brands Hit by Vietnam's Covid Surge

September 29, 2021

SupplyChainBrain

Vietnam has grown in recent years to become the second-biggest supplier of apparel and footwear to the United States after China.

How Timing and Luck Kept Product Flowing for Ricoma in the Pandemic

September 27, 2021

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

In the midst of the worst global supply chain crisis in recent memory, some businesses are finding creative ways to get around severe congestion at seaports and inland freight terminals.

Economies on the Brink Push Southeast Asia to Reopen

September 14, 2021

Bloomberg

Even as they struggle with one of the world’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, nations across Southeast Asia are slowly realizing that they can no longer afford the economy-crippling restrictions needed to squash it.

Apparel

The latest supply-chain news, analysis, trends and tools for executives in the apparel industry — which consists of companies that manufacture clothing, accessories and footwear. Learn how apparel companies and their suppliers around the world are managing the flow of products across all channels of the enterprise. Experts sound off on forecasting and demand planning, supply-chain visibility, logistics outsourcing, inventory optimization, transportation management, warehouse management, supply-chain security, corporate social responsibility and more.