Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production

U.S. Imports Decline as Made in America Promoted, says WWD

Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) has been covering the U.S. government’s push of domestically produced apparel—and the corresponding drop in American imports—for the past few months.

At the beginning of this year, the Obama Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce launched the Made in America initiative to promote domestic production and spur manufacturing growth. Following its launch, U.S. labor officials have worked to promote the initiative throughout the apparel industry and across the nation.

In January, Francisco Sánchez, undersecretary for international trade at the Commerce Department, made a three-day visit to North Carolina to promote local exports and textile manufacturing.

In March, Commerce Department officials met with the fashion industry in New York.

In the beginning of April, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis met with individuals from the Los Angeles apparel industry and spoke on how to expand the “Made in the USA” label worldwide.

“The new focus on the fashion industry is part of the Obama administration’s initiative to boost U.S. manufacturing and meet its goal in the National Export Initiative to double exports by the end of 2014,” wrote WWD.

A story by WWD on April 13, 2012, cited that textile and apparel imports to the United States dropped 6.4 in February when compared to the previous year.

The U.S. Department of Commerce will continue its efforts with a “Made in the Americas” Pavilion at WWD’s MAGIC semi-annual apparel trade show in Las Vegas Nevada, this August.

 

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Posted on May 14th, 2012 by wrapadmin
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News Analysis: Obama’s Recent Trade Policies

2012 has been a busy year for trade policy in the Obama administration.

President Obama and his economic team made numerous changes to the United States’ trade policy—including the merging of trade offices, the creation of trade enforcement units and more—as well as had multiple meetings with foreign officials on the subject.

In his State of the Union address, the President announced the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit, which will investigate unfair trade practices such as piracy, currency manipulation and consumer product safety.

In another move, President Obama proposed a merging of the U.S. Trade Representative’s office with the Commerce Department, a move that concerned some apparel importers, wrote Women’s Wear Daily. Others applaud the move as consolidation of government bureaucracy.

Photo credit: AP

In February, President Obama met with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to discuss economics. Afterward, Xi took part in a roundtable with U.S. and Chinese business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

While in Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas Conference in April, President Obama spoke with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos about the impending free trade agreement (FTA) between the two nations—which was later cleared and goes into effect May 15. The FTA was signed by Obama following the conclusion by the U.S. government that Colombia had fully complied with labor conditions. The trade pact is projected to increase U.S. exports by $1.1 billion.

 

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Posted on May 10th, 2012 by wrapadmin
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WRAP President & CEO Completes South Asia Tour

WRAP’s President and CEO Avedis Seferian headed to South Asia to check in on our organization’s compliance activities in the region. Seferian worked in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, with a busy schedule that saw him traveling to seven cities in two weeks.

Seferian ran several WRAP awareness programs in all three nations. In Bangladesh, the sessions were run jointly with GIZ, a German donor organization that works to support the promotion of sustainable development. In India and Sri Lanka, the sessions were conducted with SGS, one of WRAP’s accredited monitoring partners.

He also met with the Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB). Seferian and President Syed Nasim Manzur and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation and information-sharing between the two organizations. You can read more about the signing of this MoU later in this report and more information can be found on our website.

Photo credit: SGS

While in India, Seferian and K.T. Ramakrishnan, the most recent addition to the WRAP staff as the organization’s representative in India, had several successful meetings with external parties on growing WRAP in India.

“All in all, it was a very successful trip. The South Asia region continues to be a very important and growing player in the apparel sector. Bangladesh is already the second most popular sourcing destination on the planet and India’s great economic strides over the past few years are well known to all,” said Seferian.

“We expect the subcontinent to be a critical location for us, which is why we continue to increase the resources we’re devoting to the area— through a local office in Bangladesh plus a full-time representative in India.”

 

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Posted on May 9th, 2012 by wrapadmin
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Importers Survey Shows Production Leaving China for Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh

Editor’s Note: This article was originally written by Patrick Lamson-Hall for the Sourcing Journal. It is republished here with permission from the publication.

The exodus continues, as importers who sell to major US retailers report plans to move out of China. They blame heightened raw materials costs, financing difficulties within China, and the increasingly difficult logistics of managing a long supply chain. A recently released report, Capital Business Credit’s (CBC) Global Retail Manufacturers and Importers Survey, showed that  1/3 of US based importers are considering abandoning Asia entirely, and 50% have already moved some production out of China.

“While China will continue to be the dominant player when it comes to the manufacturing of goods sold in the U.S. there is an interesting shift that is occurring,” said CBC executive chairman Andrew Tananbaum. “The lending environment combined with a number of other factors including cost of labor, raw materials and logistics have made manufacturing in other countries – most importantly the U.S. – more attractive.  As the American economy continues to recover, and retail sales continue to improve, the manufacturer/importer relationship will be critical in ensuring that enough goods are made and shipped to keep store shelves stocked.”

Survey results indicate that manufacturing is being moved to Vietnam (33.3%), the US (27.8%), Pakistan (22.2%) and Bangladesh (16.7%).

These trends are unsurprising, considering the flurry of media reports in the last year regarding increased labor costs and difficulties in China. However, few have predicted that importers will abandon Asia entirely. China will remain the major supplier to US retail stores for years, but the abandonment of Asia after leaving China indicates that, for some companies, the difficulty of diversifying sourcing outweighs the benefits of lower costs.

A separate survey by CBC indicated that importers are expecting spring and summer 2012 to show significant increases in consumer spending. 40% believe that 2012 summer season will have greater sales than last year. 47% responded that their retail partners ordered 3-5% more merchandize, and 23.5% indicated that orders increased by 10% or more. However, respondents also indicated that retailers are continuing discounting trends from last year, with 62% replying that margin pressures remain.

The Sourcing Journal is a proud partner of WRAP. Sourcing Journal is a global resource for news and information tailored for textile and soft goods executives working on the supply chain side of the business. The online resource provides daily updates on news changing the industry, commentary and opinion from industry experts. For more information, head to the Sourcing Journal’s website.

Posted on April 26th, 2012 by wrapadmin
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