Responsible Cotton Sourcing: The Cotton LEADS™ Program

  Registration is closed for this event
Join the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) and Cotton Incorporated to learn about cotton sustainability initiatives.

The Cotton LEADS™ program, introduced in late 2013, offers retailers, brands, and manufacturers a way to increase their awareness of responsible production practices and encourage continual improvement in their supply chains. A joint program of the U.S. and Australian cotton industries, the Cotton LEADS™ program is built on five principles of responsible production, continual improvement, national-level efforts, international collaboration and transparency in the supply chain. More than 220 companies, including Target Corporation, Fruit of the Loom, Brooks Brothers, Esquel, Texhong, Fountainset, and other leading retailers, brands and manufacturers worldwide have signed on as partners to encourage the efforts of these two countries and the use of responsibly-produced cotton in their supply chains. 

To learn more about Cotton LEADS™ and other Cotton Incorporated sustainability initiatives, join the United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) for a free webinar featuring Mark Messura, Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain Marketing for Cotton Incorporated. Mark will walk you through the program and Cotton Incorporated’s work to deliver responsible cotton production and increased awareness of the positive, responsible efforts occurring in their cotton supply chains. 

This webinar will be recorded and distributed to all registered participants.

 

When
November 20th, 2014 from  2:00 PM to  3:00 PM
Location
Online via Go2Webinar
Contact
Phone: 202-419-0444

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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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