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Sourcing Journal
Industry Groups Express ‘Grave Alarm’ at Cambodian Government’s Audit of NGO Critic
Two prominent fashion industry trade groups have penned a letter expressing their “grave alarm” at an upcoming “national security” audit of a Phnom Penh-based labor rights organization that recently threw the spotlight on employer-imposed obstacles to freedom of association in the country’s garment industry.Cambodian Worker Rights Group Under Fire for Shining Light on Freedom of Association Violations The timing of the investigation makes it appear that the probe’s “sole purpose” is to retaliate against the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, better known by its acronym CENTRAL, the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) and the Fair Labor Association...
ILA Union Says East Coast Port Strike ‘Growing More Likely’
The clock is ticking on contract negotiations at the East and Gulf Coast ports.Trucking Firms Tussle with Labor Department on Independent Contractor Ruling In a Friday statement, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) said the threat of a strike after the current Sept. 30 expiration deadline is “growing more likely,” as the negotiations remain at an impasse. Harold Daggett, the president and chief negotiator of the ILA, said that the maritime employers represented by United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) “are running out of time” to negotiate a new master contract agreement and avoid a coastwide work stoppage across 36 ports from Maine to...
Calik Denim Talks Regenerative Cotton, Biodegradable Solutions at UN Meeting
Calik Denim shared the steps it is taking to transform the denim supply chain with a global audience.Regenagri's Report Reveals a Regenerative Agriculture Rush The Turkish denim mill recently participated in the 3rd Annual Meeting of the United Nations Fashion and Lifestyle Network. The meeting focused on fostering transparent, inclusive and transformative engagement among global fashion stakeholders to drive urgent sustainability action. At the meeting, Rukiye Kuzu, Calik Denim’s marketing executive, shared how the company is following a more responsible production model and pioneering eco-friendly solutions like the biodegradable B210 technology. Calik Denim launched B210 in 2022. The technology, which is a combination...
Denim Fashion at 2024 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards
Textured denim and loose-fitting jeans were the unofficial dress code for the 2024 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards held in Los Angeles on Saturday.WSG Brands Plans Global and Sustainable Future for Von Dutch Tennis great Serena Williams collected the Legend Award, dressed in a cropped white shirt and JW Anderson’s $650 twisted barrel jeans. Details that are normally on the back and side of jeans, like patch pockets, a carpenter loop and leather patch, were skewed toward the front. Country star Jelly Roll attended the event with his daughter, Bailee Ann, and son, Noah Buddy, in matching double-denim looks. The trio walked...
Exclusive: J. Crew Group’s Sustainability Report Highlights Commitment to Responsible Sourcing
J. Crew Group released its sustainability report Monday, marking the first report the company has released encompassing both of its brands—its namesake and Madewell. Previously, it had put out separate reports for the two brands each year. Hot Stuff: How Denim Brands Make Jeans Cool for the Summer The report, shared exclusively with Sourcing Journal, dives into the progress the company has made on its emissions targets, its strategies for sourcing sustainable fibers, its resale and take back programs and more. Katie O’Hare, vice president of sustainability for the company, said the progress it has made energizes the team to continue working on...
ESG Outlook: Ladianne Henderson of WoolTribe on Why Sustainability is Everyone’s Problem
ESG Outlook is Sourcing Journal’s discussion series with industry executives to get their take on their company’s latest environmental, social and governance initiatives and their own personal efforts toward sustainability. Here, Ladianne Henderson, co-founder and creative director of WoolTribe, discusses rethinking the word “need.”Woolmark Adds New Stamp of Approval for Recycled Wool Name: Ladianne HendersonTitle: Co-Founder & Creative DirectorCompany: WoolTribe What do you consider your company’s best ESG-related achievement over the last 5 years? WoolTribe makes hand-dyed fashion accessories using Shaniko wool, the same wool being used in Ralph Lauren’s USA Olympic uniforms. Additionally, we make fashion accessories using carefully curated, sustainable fabrics,...
Trucking Firms Tussle with Labor Department on Independent Contractor Ruling
A group of Louisiana trucking firms and a moving and storage company are challenging the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on a new rule that changed how independent contractors are classified. The trucking industry has shared concerns that the rule could necessitate reclassifying independent drivers as employees, thus escalating costs and reducing driver autonomy.ILA Union Says East Coast Port Strike 'Growing More Likely' In February, Frisard’s Transportation first filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against the DOL, arguing that the new rule “strips businesses like Frisard’s of certainty” and threatens its business operations...
CBP Seizes Over $500,000 Worth of Merchandise at Port of Rochester
A crackdown? No, call it a Croc-down. Toms Sues 'Unauthorized' Marketplace Resellers for Trademark Infringement U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized over half a million dollars’ worth of counterfeit goods at the Rochester, New York port last month, the agency announced Thursday. According to a release, the seized shipments “contained multiple ‘designer handbags, wallets, clothing, watches and sneakers.’ Among the counterfeits items grabbed by CBP were knockoff Crocs in a variety of color ways and sizes, per a photo shared by CBP. Officers also found counterfeit supplements and cosmetic and beauty items in the shipments, all of which it said...
New Collaboration Highlights the Advantages of Denim Production In the Americas
A new denim collection called Oneness aims to showcase the benefits of nearshoring in the Americas and open brands and suppliers to the possibilities of expanding their supply chain map.Guess Promotes Stone Washing Alternative in Milan and Paris The collection, which will be presented next week at Kingpins New York, is a collaborative effort between fiber producer The Lycra Company, Mexican mill Global Denim and Spanish finishing technology firm Jeanologia. Individually, the companies often hear U.S. designers and sourcing managers express interest in bringing some of their production closer to the States. Still, they don’t have a roadmap to help guide them...
Milano Unica: Intimates Textile Maker Maglificio Ripa Stretches Into Sustainability with Tencel, Roica
Roica—a stretch fiber combining contemporary concepts with high-tech performance produced by Japanese fabric firm Asahi Kasei—took its partnership with Tencel by Lenzing to new heights at Milano Unica this week.At Milano Unica, Chargeurs Showcases Alpine Excellence “Combining Tencel and Roica, we are moving together toward a more sustainable textile industry which definitely has to tend to circular approach solutions,” Lenzing’s Carlo Covini, development manager of textiles business for Italy and Switzerland, said. “We are proud of this partnership and keep on finding new collaborations and partners to give our fibers the opportunity to express themselves in innovative and planet conscious collections...
How Brandix is Weaving ESG Organization Wide to Build a ‘Legacy of Responsibility’
Amid their own escalating sustainability demands from stakeholders and consumers, brands are in turn expecting more from their manufacturers. On the ever-growing checklist are low-impact materials, circular solutions and traceability.Meeting Escalating Disclosure Requirements Demands Physical Proof Although green goals are increasingly a given among apparel manufacturers to meet these demands, the speed and scope of change separates the leaders from the laggards. Sri Lanka-based Brandix Apparel, which supplies brands like VS&Co. and PVH Corp., has been an early adopter of sustainable practices, and it is extending responsible practices throughout its operations with a recently implemented ESG management framework, as well as...
Shein’s Supply Chain Tech Could ‘Subvert US Interests,’ Senator Warns
Republican Senator Tom Cotton urged President Joe Biden this week to block Shein’s plans to sell its proprietary supply chain technology and services to U.S. companies, which he described as “potentially fraudulent” and likely to siphon data to the Chinese government.Shein Invests 250 Million Euros Into Circular Innovation in U.K., Europe In a July 10 letter that repeatedly misspells the name of the Chinese-founded but Singapore-headquartered e-tail giant, the Arkansas lawmaker called upon the Biden administration to “ensure that data from U.S. companies is not harvested by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through the purchase of Shein software and technology.” “As a...
Mexico’s Yucatan Suppliers Forecast 20% Export Jump in Hurricane Beryl Bounce Back
Hurricane Beryl brought roughly $4 million in losses for Mexican apparel makers as the storm swept though the country’s Yucatan Peninsula over the Fourth of July weekend, forcing factories to shut or scale down operations for three days, executives said. Rwanda-Based Producer Pink Mango Is Working to Unravel the Industry's Ills “The worst days were Friday and Saturday when there was very heavy wind and rain but we started to feel the impact on Thursday,” said Fernando Munoz, who owns uniform maker Unifer and is a board member of top trade lobby Canaive’s Yucatan state branch. “Production was stalled for around three...
Crime-Plagued CA Target’s ‘Outrageous’ Public Nuisance Warning a Hoax?
Sacramento, Calif. is ablaze with rumors that the City Attorney’s Office threatened a local Target store with a public nuisance citation due to a high volume of calls to law enforcement about shoplifting and retail theft.California Responsible Textile Recovery Act Moves Forward in State Assembly The Sacramento Bee reported this week that a person who had knowledge of the warning—but was not authorized to speak on the issue—named a Target location on Riverside Blvd. in the Land Park neighborhood as the store in question. Following the report, law enforcement groups like the California Police Chiefs Association spoke out against the potential charge....
Byte-Sized AI: Amazon Makes Rufus Publicly Available; Mango Uses AI Images for New Campaign
Byte-Sized AI is a bi-weekly column that covers all things artificial intelligence—from startup funding, to newly inked partnerships, to just-launched, AI-powered capabilities from major retailers, software providers and supply chain players.Digital Doubles: How WHP Global Uses AI to Create Image Assets for Anne Klein Amazon makes Rufus publicly available Amazon has officially made its shopping assistant, Rufus, available to all U.S. shoppers. The e-commerce behemoth first introduced the generative AI-powered tool in February, stating it had released it in beta to a small set of customers and would later roll it out to larger groups. The chatbot, which is available in Amazon’s mobile...
Slync Founder Slapped with 20-Year Prison Term After Fraud Conviction
Slync co-founder Christopher Kirchner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Thursday, months after being convicted of defrauding investors of $25 million.JD.com, Alibaba In Reported Bidding War for UK Parcel Delivery Firm The sentencing closes the book on two years of drama that saw the disgraced executive suspended and later ousted as CEO of the supply chain software company. The 37-year-old Kirchner founded Slync in 2017, serving as the freight tech firm’s CEO and chair until his termination by the board of directors in 2022 after being sued by a former employee on allegations of misuse of corporate funds and missing...
Dollar General To Pay $12 Million to Settle OSHA Violations
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Dollar General Corp. have reached a wide-ranging settlement agreement over the retailer’s federal workplace safety violations that includes the payment of a $12 million penalty.Meeting Escalating Disclosure Requirements Demands Physical Proof The terms of the agreement are aimed at ensuring worker safety—and those of customers—at Dollar General stores. Corporate-wide changes include a new expanded safety structure and robust safety and health management system that includes hiring additional safety managers and encourages employee participation. Dollar General has been plagued by federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations, many going back to 2017. OSHA is...
Shuffle Board: Macy’s and REI Name Tech Execs, Saks COO Exits Amid Neiman Deal
Retail Macy’s Keith Credendino, currently senior vice president of technology product development, customer experience at Macy’s Inc., has been appointed the company’s next chief information officer (CIO). Credendino, who has been with the company since 2022, will succeed Laura Miller in the role following her retirement on Aug. 3.Macy's Bets on People-First Relationships for AI-Centered Personalization Strategy Since Miller joined Macy’s in 2021, she has worked to modernize the company’s technology systems and operations as well as improving the retail group’s omnichannel experience. When Credendino assumes his new role as CIO on Aug. 4, he will report to Adrian Mitchell, chief operating officer...
Here’s How Switching to Natural Fibers Can Combat Microplastic Pollution
The hazy, hot and humid month of July is here, and that means Plastic Free July is upon us. Begun in 2011, the movement is a key initiative of the Plastic Free Foundation. This year’s campaign slogan is, “Small steps, big difference.” In fashion, the question for the apparel industry is how it can combat the microplastics problem. One answer: switching to natural fibers.Hot Stuff: How Denim Brands Make Jeans Cool for the Summer Pas Une Marque’s Sean Coutts, founder, says the brand uses cotton primarily because it is a natural fiber, which aligns closely with the company’s sustainability ethos. “Our commitment...
Digital Doubles: How WHP Global Uses AI to Create Image Assets for Anne Klein
A new cadre of supes has been spawned via technology: image generation.Byte-Sized AI: Amazon Makes Rufus Publicly Available; Mango Uses AI Images for New Campaign Women’s clothing and accessory brand Anne Klein has started using AI-generated images of real models for product images on its site and social media. AI.Fashion, a Los Angeles-based startup founded by ex-Googler Daniel Citron, who now serves as its CEO, made that possible for the brand. One of its AI-powered products, called Persona, allows brands to connect with real-life models, then pay them for the use of their digital likenesses in campaigns. Tisha Jacobson is one of...
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