Preparing for the ascent: IAF focuses on RMG supply chains

Infographic: TBS

When Western brands collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the first things they did was to cancel already completed orders. 

At least 1,931 brands delayed and cancelled $3.7bn worth of orders from garment factories during Covid-19, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.

As buyers cancelled orders, suppliers were left in a lurch. 

"When we had been facing ruin as orders from Western brands collapsed during the Covid pandemic, nobody was willing to take any responsibility – leaving us sink or swim," Miran Ali, vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said. 

This bitter experience proved to be a learning experience. 

Now, a fairer distribution of risk and reward between buyers and producers will be one of the core focuses of the International Apparel Federation (IAF) as part of the body's 2021 agenda. 

In a list of six priorities issued by the IAF, a global network, uniting (SME) brands, manufacturers and their associations, it has identified the need to urgently rebuild trust. 

The IAF has begun emphasising on supply chain issues guided by the urgency of the need for industry transition in a changed world. 

"We believe the supply chain, to function well, literally and figuratively speaking, needs a new contract. It needs to operate with a greater sense of equity. That is why the IAF has teamed up with the STAR Network of industry associations, GIZ, Better Buying and the OECD in a project in which around ten associations will build their recommendations for payment and delivery terms," it said in one of its priorities. 

"Even though the intentions are often good, purchasing practices are more an offer by buyers…The financial flows fuelling the supply chain including a fairer distribution of risk and reward are a major part of this new contract and IAF is developing both guidance and concrete services to its members in this area," it said. 

Another way the IAF is preparing for the new world, is by adapting to the policies and core values which will gain significance, but will come at a steep cost.

The IAF said as the essence to the greening of the industry is a supply chain wide, collaborative approach, pledges to reduce CO2 emissions are important but not sufficient. 

"The costs and the rewards of transformation need to be shared in the supply chain. The financial sector can bridge gaps. Education across the supply chain will help. Consumers can drive change but they need to be able to base their buying decisions on clear and trustworthy green claims," it noted. 

The organisation noted circularity – the practice of encouraging reuse, recycling, or sustainability in consumption, manufacturing – as the most effective method to reduce the pressure on climate exerted by the apparel industry.

At the same time, the IAF, will "focus on bringing the manufacturers' voice more clearly into the global industry infrastructure that is being built to reduce apparel's global environmental footprint." 

In this regard, Faruque Hassan, president, BGMEA, said, "The apparel industry is a time tested industry, which has made commendable progress in the area of sustainability, especially workers wellbeing and industrial relations in the last decade.  

"Buyers appreciate our progress in sustainability but there is a cost involved in it which they are not willing to pay. They say that the end consumers are not yet ready to pay the additional price for the sustainable product."

The IAF's other priorities are working on institutional infrastructure, education and training, digitisation and transparency.

The IAF believes the apparel industry needs a better global, institutional industry infrastructure, promoting more inclusivity.

One of the aims of this is to reduce "audit and standard fatigue".

The IAF's and the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) have taken up a project to do this. 

Oftentimes, industry players have brought up the issue of repeatedly having to go through the audit process, which is a time-consuming and expensive process. A standardised audit has been demanded in this regard, with the IAF giving the issue precedence.
Education and training have also been recognised as "the engine for positive change of the industry." 

"The IAF's membership has always included schools and universities specialized in fashion management and technology. Through these individual connections and through IAF's collaboration with IFFTI (the International Federation of Fashion Technology Institutes) and with the FT Alliance project, the IAF is fostering interaction between schools and industry. 

"In line with our aim to build a stronger global institutional infrastructure for our industry, IAF will also work to enhance global coordination of industry education. Global coordination means alignment of priorities, quality and efforts to reduce the chances of overlap. We don't want to be setting ourselves up for 'training fatigue'," it said.

The IAF is working with several multilateral organisations to organise a more structured transfer of knowledge aimed particularly at industry associations. 

Pointing out that climate-related issues would mean the decline of fast fashion, Cem Atlan, president of the IAF, said Bangladesh will need international teachers to show how designs are made for the US and Europe. 

"You can use your own culture for high fashion but for the international market you need international design so you need international experts. Every factory should design their own collections. When customers come to the factory, you can show the collection – different embroidery, print techniques, washing technology."

The IAF will also stress on all-out, all-forces-joined drive for digitisation.

"When suppliers are more integrated into a complex but more profitable collaborative supply chain, the relationships with suppliers also become more difficult to untangle, strengthening the position of suppliers. Because of this complexity digitising the industry relies on education and training," it said in its priority list.

Finally, the IAF emphasised on the need to accelerate efforts to increase transparency of its supply chains. 

"There must be an extensive and trustworthy back and forth flow of information alongside the flows of physical goods and money. Transparency is important to create more responsive supply chains, it is important to improve sustainability and it is needed to comply with demands of civil society and government," it noted.

The IAF's mission is to unite all stakeholders of the fashion and apparel industry, including brands, retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and country associations from around the world to enable and promote smarter, stronger, more sustainable supply chains. 

"Buyers' conduct at the start of the pandemic often was the exact opposite of collaboration and the breach of trust created caused damage to supply chains that needs to be repaired… the IAF has formulated a strategy for strengthening supply chains that will help repair this damage, prevent new damage and will go much further to contribute to the creation of a stronger, smarter and more sustainable industry," it said. 

In short, the IAF will play a strong rule in ensuring that foul play does not become the new normal.