USA-ITA West Coast Seminar: The 2012 Outlook (and Beyond!) for Apparel Importers

  Registration is closed for this event
Join USA-ITA at our annual West Coast Seminar on Thursday, February 16th, in San Francisco, California. We will continue to update this page as we confirm details.

Our agenda for the day includes:

  • Trade Policy in 2012: An Overview, featuring Jon Fee, Partner at Alston & Bird LLP, Julia K. Hughes, President of USA-ITA, and David Spooner, USA-ITA Washington Counsel with Squire Sanders & Dempsey

  • Customs Keynote, featuring Richard DiNucci, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, U.S. Customs & Border Protection

  • A Conversation on Customs, featuring John Pellegrini, USA-ITA Customs Counsel with McGuireWoods LLP and Julie Engelbertson, Supervisory Import Specialist, Port of San Francisco

  • A Conversation with the Obama Administration, featuring Gail Strickler, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Textiles 

  • The Korea FTA: What Now? featuring Jon Fee, Partner at Alston & Bird LLP, and Won Sok Yun, Director General & Chief Trade Commissioner at the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) Los Angeles

  • A Conversation with Cotton, featuring Elizabeth King, Vice President of Importer Relations at The Cotton Board, and Mark Messura, Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain Marketing at Cotton Incorporated

  • Business Case for Sustainability: Differentiate by Implementing Sustainable Design, featuring Brian Whitters, DVP Sustainability at SGS

  • A Conversation on TPP: The Importer's Perspective, featuring Helga Ying, Senior Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Levi Strauss & Co.

  • Wrap Up: How Retailers & Brands Can Affect Policy, featuring Julia K. Hughes, President of USA-ITA; John Pellegrini, USA-ITA Customs Counsel; and David Spooner, USA-ITA Washington Counsel

This event is approved for 6 CCS credits via NCBFAA. To be eligible for the credits, please give us your NCBFAA number when you register for the event.

When
February 16th, 2012 from  9:00 AM to  4:30 PM
Location
Levi Strauss & Company
1155 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
Contact
Phone: 202-419-0444
Email:
Event Fee(s)
EARLY BIRD USA-ITA Member Fee $200.00
EARLY BIRD Non-Member Fee $275.00
EARLY BIRD 2 or More USA-ITA Members Fee (Per Person) $175.00
EARLY BIRD 2 or More Non-Member Fee (Per Person) $250.00

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2025 Sourcing Trends Mid-Year Update

USFIA's 2025 Sourcing Trends Mid-Year Update is out with data from the first six months of 2025. Members can log-in to the website to download it here. 

The top 4 sourcing trends in the mid-year report are:

  1. China remains the top supplier of textiles and apparel.
  2. Asian apparel suppliers continue to dominate sourcing.
  3. Average unit values rise for yarns and apparel.
  4. Despite high duty rates, FTAs and preference programs remain underutilized.

 

2025 Mid-Year Sourcing Report: WTO's top Apparel Exporters in 2024

The European Union and China are basically tied as the largest suppliers of the world’s clothing. While China’s share of world exports has fallen since the 2010s, it manufactures 29% of apparel. The European Union – including Italy and France – ranks slightly larger as a supplier of the world’s clothing. The EU remains a strong apparel manufacturer, from the high-end fashion houses in Milan to lower cost producers. And the tariff framework agreement that limits the U.S. reciprocal tariffs means that the EU now could gain a cost advantage.

2025 USFIA Fashion Industry Benchmarking Study

This is the 12th USFIA Benchmarking Survey and unsurprisingly, fashion industry executives are more concerned with tariffs than ever. The top business challenges facing U.S. fashion companies center on the Trump Administration’s escalating tariff policy and its wide-ranging impacts on companies’ sourcing and business operations.

100% of respondents rated “Protectionist U.S. trade policies and related policy uncertainty, including the impact of the Trump tariffs” as one of their top business challenges in 2025. In taking the #1 spot, this challenge rose from #5 in 2024 and #11 in 2023, showing the increasing concern over the last few years.

Over 70% of surveyed companies reported that the higher tariffs increased sourcing costs, squeezed profit margins, and led to higher consumer prices.
Tariffs have been the most significant factor driving sourcing cost increases for U.S. fashion companies in 2025. And amid higher tariffs and policy uncertainty, about 65 percent of respondents feel optimistic about the next five years in 2025, a decline from 75 percent one year ago.

Download the complete study here, and see the highlights below:

 2025 USFIA Benchmarking Study - Respondents expressed the most concern about protectionist U.S. trade policies and their ripple effects in 2025

Higher tariffs have triggered ripple effects across supply chains.

2025 USFIA Benchmarking Study - Figure 1-3 US fashion companies reported broad economic impacts of the escalating tariffs on their sourcing and business operations

2025 USFIA Benchmarking Study - Figure 1-4 U.S. fashion companies explored various methods to mitigate the tariff impacts

 

U.S. fashion companies are actively exploring new sourcing opportunities, with a particular focus on emerging suppliers in Asia

2025 USFIA Benchmarking Study - Figure 2-20 U.S. fashion companies plan to exand apparel sourcing from emerging sourcing destinations in Asia and the rest of the world through 2027

 

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