California Apparel News

Digitizing the apparel supply chain affords ease and transparency from farm to retail floor, yet the fashion industry has been slow to adopt proven technologies and emerging innovations. Event producer PI Apparel hoped to inspire industry leaders toward adoption of digital tools during its recent Supply Chain Forum USA 2024 in Los Angeles.

PI Apparel connected fashion supply-chain leaders with the companies behind groundbreaking digital and artificial-intelligence technologies and experts in the field whose keen insights helped attendees identify supply-chain challenges coming down the pike and how to weather these issues. The event schedule included expert breakout sessions, panels, roundtables and one-on-one meeting opportunities in addition to an intimate collection of exhibitor booths that showcased innovative tools to support digital and AI-powered supply-chain management.

Caroline de Baëre, footwear-industry expert and adjunct professor at California College of the Arts, chaired the event after presiding over PI Apparel’s SCF USA 2023 in New York. The value of this particular PI Apparel event, according to de Baëre, was the opportunity for fashion professionals in different areas of the business to gain relevant information regarding how digital supply-chain tools create a more cohesive system.

“AI is driving tremendous opportunity but also driving risk. Leaders need to move beyond exploration of AI, tech and transparency to be fully integrated and cross functional. They need to create these cross-functional strategies for departments to communicate. A lot of times supply chain, production or design weren’t as cross functional as they need to be now,” said de Baëre.

While AI adoption by major brands can help existing practices evolve, de Baëre noted that emerging and boutique brands are able to align with these technologies more easily than larger companies, thereby changing the industry as they scale.

“If you’re a smaller company and smaller brand, you’re going to be more nimble and get there faster before you grow,” de Baëre noted.

Making the case for digitizing the fashion supply chain

PI Apparel, which is operated by British parent company MarketKey Ltd., kicked off the first day of the Nov. 18–19 event at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel with a keynote panel covering “The New Regulatory Landscape in the U.S. Fashion and Apparel Industry—Implications for the Supply Chain.” The panel was moderated by Ilse Metchek, apparel industry analyst and former president of the California Fashion Association. Metchek spoke with Robert Krieger, president of Krieger Worldwide; Heather C. Litman, partner with GDLSK; and Elise Shibles, partner on the advisory committee and textiles and apparel practice leader and forced labor practice leader with Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

Brands must identify digital and AI tools to facilitate traceability as global sustainability legislation and potential tariffs placed on goods entering the U.S. demand tracking from the early stages of the supply chain.

“Traceability is at the forefront of what you need to be focused on in managing the risk in your supply chain,” said Litman. “The single most important thing you can do is know where all of the elements of your goods are coming from.”

Monitoring the sources from which goods are produced is crucial to navigating new supply-chain-tracking demands, but Shibles also expanded on a concept that Litman described as “traceability before and traceability after.”

“Extended producer responsibility for both packaging and textile products [is key.] What are you going to do after you’ve sold the good to a consumer to deal with where that T-shirt winds up later?” asked Shibles.

Kim Thomas, founder of Kim Thomas Consulting, which guides footwear brands through design and development, found the commentary eye opening, particularly as she plans sourcing for her clients.

“I work a lot with American production but I also work with Chinese production, Portuguese production and Italian production,” Thomas explained. “As things are shifting, it’s interesting to get educated input especially from the [keynote panel of people] who were talking about the differences in manufacturing worldwide and what the implications are going to look like along the supply chain.”

Attendee Laura Sheehan, financial representative with Northwestern Mutual, attended a panel covering “Transforming Supply Chain Management With Emerging Technologies” with Nick Vyas, executive director at the USC Marshall Randall R. Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute.

“Over the course of the conference it was apparent the supply-chain industry faces many unique challenges both on the national and international front,” Sheehan said. “This presentation succinctly brought the macroeconomic factors into context and translated those factors into insightful impacts for the industry.”

The solutions for these challenges lie in technologies such as AI, machine learning, blockchain and IoT, according to Ana Friedlander, senior director of industry and solution strategy at the cloud-based enterprise software firm Infor. Friedlander referred to AI as “augmented intelligence” during her roundtable, “Think Tank: Tailoring Your Apparel With AI-Enhanced Demand Forecasting,” explaining that the technology incorporates “human expertise” to yield technological solutions.

“AI enhances traceability and operational efficiency by providing real-time insights, optimizing supply chains and ensuring every step, from raw-materials sourcing to product delivery and how it comes back, meets the highest standards of sustainability and compliance,” said Friedlander. “It’s streamlining not only forecasting or planning but streamlining the business and all the different aspects of it.”