Textiles and apparel is one of the most globalised industries on Earth. While trends in fashion change over time and people in different locations need different types of clothing, every human needs to have clothing that protects them from the elements. In these days where fast fashion is king, global sourcing is the rule and local sourcing the rare exception.

Every player in the fashion industry needs to have a clear, concrete strategy when it comes to sourcing materials. Moreover, these strategies need to be flexible enough to stand up to market and political volatility. A single-pronged method of sourcing textiles and accessories will leave firms of all sizes stranded with every global change. Here are a few elements that companies should consider about developing a strategy for sourcing textiles and textile accessories on the global stage.

Diversified Strategies Are the Key to Success

Even the most well-known boutique firms need to have backup plans for sourcing their materials and accessories, especially as the 2020s continue. Just-in-time logistics may save a lot of time and costs, but the companies that utilise this form of sourcing have realised in recent years how susceptible they are to disruptions and problems in the supply chain. Change is the universe’s only true constant, and the firms that are best prepared for major changes are inevitably the ones that bounce back from hardships the fastest.

In 2023, textile firms should take the time to analyse the choke points of the processes they use. A creator of luxury clothing may rely on hand-crafted lace from a single overseas supplier, for instance. In this example, it would benefit the company to consider branching out its strategies. Even if the creator is locked into an exclusive contract with the lacemaker, the company may decide to create a stockpile of material or alter its purchasing habits.

Likewise, firms that rely primarily on sourcing from one geographic area may benefit from expanding their global footprint. For instance, sanctions on goods originating from China’s Xinjiang has made sourcing accessories and materials from other countries far more popular recently.

Diversification and redundancy should be key in the minds of larger players, in particular. For example, nearly half of the zippers in the world are manufactured by the YKK Corporation in Japan. The company’s home base in Tokyo was hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. If it had operated only in Japan, it may have suffered a total shutdown. However, the company had been globalising its operations for decades previously and was able to shift some of its operations overseas during the recovery period.

Maintaining A Balance Between Cost and Time

It is possible to do a job quickly. It is possible to do a job inexpensively. It is possible to do a job well. But it is exceedingly rare for any company to accomplish all three of these goals at once. Particularly, as a project’s timeline grows shorter, its financial costs only increase.

As an example, a fashion house in Italy may find that their cheapest potential supplier of elastics is in Vietnam. To maximise the cost savings, however, the elastics manufacturer ships materials using only inexpensive modes of transit such as barges. In turn, this means that it can take weeks or months for the fashion house to receive each order, unless they pay for rush shipping. In this case, the fashion house may still choose to order its elastics from the Vietnamese supplier, but could also have a secondary plan for urgent jobs. The fashion house could also keep a stockpile of material from the supplier, as previously described. Alternatively, the team in Italy may opt for slightly more expensive elastics from a different supplier.

In each of the above scenarios, the fashion house needs to assess its priorities and figure out whether cost or speed is the determining factor when sourcing their elastics. This process is unique for every entity, both large and small, and different firms will have vastly different sets of needs. The perfect solution for a huge cotton mill in the United States would likely spell disaster for a four-person weaving company in India.

Because many air cargo carriers have been forced to increase their shipping rates due to inflation and rising fuel prices, some companies find themselves priced out of even making the choice in the first place. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that 2023 will slow the increase of these shipping rates as cargo planes start to fly with more empty space again.1

Predicting Changes to International Relationships

The political climate of 2023 doesn’t appear to be stabilising in the near future. With every new variant there is a risk of fresh COVID outbreak, making sourcing accessories and raw materials as usual increasingly unreliable. Likewise, the world has been paying increasing attention to the labour of the Uyghurs in northwest China. Many firms have decided to source their accessories and materials elsewhere, and several countries have passed legislation to enforce these changes.

Meanwhile, last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused lasting changes to the way the world sources materials. The enormous sanctions which the world has placed on Russia after the invasion have altered the way the rest of the world does its business. Even firms who have never sourced from Russia are facing longer shipping times and more expensive materials as a result of the area’s political instability.

Many fashion houses, such as Benetton, are choosing to source their production closer to home as a result. The Italian fashion house spent 2022 boosting its manufacturing in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa and moving production out of Bangladesh and Vietnam. Likewise, one 2019 study of the sourcing patterns employed by textile and apparel buyers in Sweden indicated that these buyers nearly all planned to step up their sourcing in Europe while reducing or altering their sourcing in Asia2.

Some fashion companies have found themselves unable to source the materials that they are accustomed to using. American clothing manufacturers, for instance, have had trouble acquiring synthetic fabric, especially elastics. Many of them have embraced the revolution of upcycling and reusing old clothing to source these materials. Considering the amount of clothing that people around the world discard annually, it is likely that these reshoring and recycling trends will continue through at least the end of the 2020s.

Using Technology to Perform Due Diligence

In the global economy, it is never enough for a firm to know the origins of the raw materials it uses. Companies have to be able to verify that their materials are responsibly sourced and prove it to regulators and to the public. This means that a firm must conduct due diligence on every material and accessory it utilises.

Thankfully, modern technology is making great advancements toward allowing firms to verify the authentic origin of the materials they use. Regulatory compliance should not be a company’s final goal, but a single step towards their progress, and improvements in technology are allowing this progress to advance.

Many countries are legislating traceability for the source materials of textiles. Was the cotton ethically harvested? Was the fabric woven in a sweatshop? Will the materials that make up this suit even be available in twenty years? If a company cannot answer these questions for regulators and consumers who inquire, that company will have a hard time selling products in countries where new legislations are being put in place. With multi-site production, the need for this due diligence grows exponentially.

One proposed framework to solve these issues involves blockchain technology. This framework, introduced in 2021, traces every component that goes into the supply chain. For example, it can connect each stage of the supply chain to verify that cotton is both organic and ethically sourced, and assist the parent company in complying with regulations in each of the countries it passes through. The system assigns Traceability IDs to each batch during each stage of the process (such as spinning, dyeing and sewing), connecting these identification numbers to the blockchain to provide transparency.3

Verifying the origins of textiles and materials is not only a matter of sustainability and human rights. The more awareness that a company develops regarding its practises, the easier it is for that company to reduce waste and to untangle problems with the supply chain when they arise.

Take the example of Hugo Boss. As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of luxury clothing, the brand combined a suite of new technologies to create its Smart Factory in Turkey in 2015. This factory tracks the status of workers on production lines, as well as utilising robotics to manage warehouses and inventory. In addition, it allows the integration of artificial intelligence, reducing their total costs and their turnaround time on projects. If something goes wrong at the Smart Factory, the company will know exactly where in their production chain the error lies, reducing the time needed to troubleshoot. This also leads to a more uniform, higher quality finished product.4

Companies like Sorona, meanwhile, have even developed molecular bio-tracers that allow for inspectors to scan the materials themselves for authenticity.

Keep Sourcing Strategies Modernised

The concept of modernisation does not just apply to factories and production, but all elements of product and material sourcing. The fact that a process has worked for years does not necessarily make that process the best one for a company’s modern needs.

Firms need to assess their sourcing strategies regularly. What can be streamlined? Can any new technology be added to the process? Without frequent evaluation of new developments in sourcing, it is impossible to make a truly informed decision in the matter. Artificially intelligent software is poised to be a game-changer regarding logistical challenges in particular.

Having a sourcing strategy for textiles and accessories is one thing. Keeping that sourcing strategy up to date is quite another. Regardless of their needs, textile producers should stay abreast of the options that are available. Getting regular price quotes from a wide selection of suppliers around the world can save a lot of future costs. More than that, modern technology can enhance communication between producers and retailers, forecast industry changes and optimise business planning in any textile company.

Even textiles that use handmade luxury materials can see the benefit of modernisation in sourcing strategies. Technology and supply chain expert Suuchi Ramesh, for instance, has revolutionised textile sourcing with her Suuchi GRID technology. Since 2016, textile manufacturers both large and small have utilised the GRID to streamline their sourcing and their supply chains. By automating up to 40 per cent of clothing production tasks, manufacturers who are on the GRID can focus their energies on refining their products and minimising total costs.5

Sustainable, Recyclable Textile Sourcing

The theme of environmental sustainability has grown difficult to ignore in recent years, and the textile and fashion industries are key to mitigating humanity’s impact on the Earth. It is the responsibility of every textile manufacturer on the planet to source their materials and accessories responsibly.

In the 2020s, it is never enough for clothing producers to simply inquire about the monetary cost of the materials they use. Their project’s cost to the environment should take at least as much importance. With prices rising anyway, and with due diligence requirements growing stricter, an increasing number of companies are choosing to pay more for materials that they know are sustainably sourced.

Even fast fashion brands are beginning to shy away from single-use materials in favour of recycled and reused ones and renegotiating their purchase practises with sustainability in mind. In some countries, governments are even enforcing these practises: France, for instance, banned clothing companies from destroying their overstock material in 2016. That same year, China’s thirteenth Five Year Plan cracked down on textile waste. Likewise, Turkey developed its Zero Waste campaign in 2019 with an aim to enforce sustainable sourcing in the country’s fashion industry.

More apparel companies and countries are signing on with initiatives like this, and as consumers increasingly focus on their individual environmental footprints, it has grown imperative for players in all stages of the textile and fashion industries to follow suit. Every firm needs to ask: what practises can be made more sustainable? Will the materials we use still be available in ten years? What strategic partnerships can we make to ensure that our products will last as long as possible?

Employing tools like, for example, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index can be one of the first steps companies take towards sustainability, but it should not be the only step. Textile and clothing producers alike must take drastic steps to minimise their environmental footprints. As a bonus, shifting focus to sustainable and recycled materials can even improve the producers’ regulatory compliance.

Maintaining Strict Quality Control

Another element of textile sourcing that can greatly benefit from technological advancement is quality control. Sourcing raw materials and completed accessories is challenging at the best times; doing so at scale grows exponentially more difficult. Standardising and managing sourcing with modern technologies are two of the primary strategies that players in the fashion industry have used to improve the quality of the garments they create.

Implementing regular quality control checks at every stage of material sourcing is the first key to success in this regard, and modern technology greatly simplifies the process. Ideally, firms should inspect their fabric and accessories at least three times: before, during and after each item is manufactured. A manufacturing flowchart should play into these strategies: what happens if an item or batch fails quality control checks? The answer to this question may change depending on each specific item. Buying in bulk requires different quality control practises than buying bespoke items.

Clothing manufacturers should dynamically adjust their practises based on their needs. Reducing seam allowances may lower a firm’s costs in the short term, but if it results in needless discards, then it won’t save the firm money. Likewise, a company that specialises in unique, handmade items will easily be able to integrate quality control into its production, while a company that manufactures millions of pairs of jeans a year will be forced to inspect its products in representative batches.

One constant across industries from textiles to social media is that what is tracked will grow. Companies should find the metrics that best reflect their priorities and goals. What standards will the firm follow? What points of measurement are the top priorities? The answers to these questions will vary, but the process itself is the same for companies of all sizes and scales.

Many areas require external quality control measures as well, often from accredited certification laboratories. Maintaining an on-site testing centre will usually be unfeasible, except for the largest manufacturers. It is a textile company’s responsibility to keep up with these requirements, including composition testing and labelling. Highly responsible firms will integrate this testing into their quality control process so they and the ultimate owner of the garment can both benefit from it.

Remember that quality control applies to all stages of the textile and garment industries. From the growing conditions of the cotton or flax and the living conditions of the sheep to the packaging of the final products, the more involved a company is in a product’s life span, the more data points it will have to track.

Remember That Change Is the Only Constant in The Industry

If any fabric, textile or fashion company could predict future trends with 100 per cent accuracy, they would be industry leaders for eternity. However, nobody knows exactly what the future holds, and nobody could have foreseen some of history’s defining events. The textile companies that accept this volatility, and even embrace it, are the ones who are most likely to come out on top the next time the world turns upside down.

While backup plans for sourcing bespoke or handmade items will not always be feasible, it is always a good idea to have these plans in place. The fashion industry may have no control over pandemics, wars and weather disasters, but individual firms can still use the best times to plan for the worst.

Cross-sourcing across multiple suppliers adds complexity to the sourcing process, but also bolsters this process against global calamities. In late 2019 and early 2020, one of the largest knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the gridlock that international shipping faced. The companies that bounced back the fastest from this gridlock were the ones that had either stockpiles or multiple suppliers to choose from.

Innovations in technology, including 3D printing and digitisation of supply chains, also make it easier to adapt to these global changes as they occur. These tools can greatly enhance a firm’s flexibility and resilience in the face of a changing world.

While it is impossible for them to account for everything that can happen in life, manufacturers need to accept that change is inevitable. Sourcing strategies that worked well last year may become completely unfeasible next year, and materials that were commonplace decades ago may become harder to find. Simple awareness of the changing global environment can make the difference between a firm that survives catastrophic change and one that does not.

Other Things to Consider About Textile and Accessory Sourcing Strategies

Every textile, clothing or footwear producer in the 2020s needs to constantly adapt to life in an ever-changing world. The balance between sourcing materials, assuring quality and minimising costs is delicate at the best of times, and 2023 is certainly not the best of times. However, it is possible for textile companies to strike that balance and even to come out on top as the dust settles. Situational awareness is key, both here and elsewhere.

Companies that know their own strengths and play to them when sourcing materials and accessories are the ones most likely to succeed in the future. In the end, having a sourcing strategy without adapting it is meaningless.