We’d like to take a moment to thank our members, affiliates, and friends for your support and engagement in 2019. During times of uncertainty and disruption in trade policy, USFIA continues our mission to eliminate trade barriers and provide information and intelligence to the industry. We’re grateful for your support and your commitment to Fashion Made Possible by Global Trade.

And now, we present the USFIA 2019 Year in Review, with all the stats on our activities and your involvement over the past 12 months. 

Governmental Agencies Met: Commerce, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Executive Office of the President, Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, International Trade Commission, Labor, State, Treasury, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs, U.S. Trade Representative…plus a lot of U.S. and international embassies and congressional offices.

Number of Times We Filed Comments: 8

Number of Fashion Intel & Analysis Sent: 125 – Averaging over 2 newsletters a week, USFIA is committed to provide the latest news and intelligence to the industry.

Number of Press Hits: 82 (that we know of!) including three op-eds and two National Public Radio Marketplace interviews

Number of USFIA Seminars, Conferences and In-Person Events: 5. We love the opportunity to see our members in person!

Total Seminar Registrations: 342

Number of USFIA Webinars: 28. With an average of at least two webinars per month, we continued to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence as well as in-depth education to our members and the broader community.

Total Webinar Registrations: 1,369

Top 5 Companies – Seminar Attendance:

1. PVH Corp. – 14 attendees

2. Levi Strauss & Co. – 11 attendees

3. JCPenney – 7 attendees

4. Ralph Lauren Corporation – 7 attendees

5. L Brands, Inc. – 6 attendees

Honorable Mention: Our partners topped the seminar attendance, with 19 in-person attendees from GEODIS USA and 15 in-person attendees from PwC! 

Top 5 Companies – Webinar Attendance:

1. Ralph Lauren Corporation – 70 attendees

2. L Brands, Inc. – 63 attendees

3. Macy’s – 59 attendees

4. JCPenney – 54 attendees

5. Kohl’s – 39 attendees

Honorable Mention: Our Customs Broker Partner GEODIS USA topped the webinar registration list, with 112 registrations this year!

Top 5 Webinars by Attendance:

1. First Sale for Export Program: Post-Implementation Testing and Monitoring Strategies, co-hosted by PwC

2. Update on the U.S. China Negotiations, co-hosted by USFIA Washington Counsel David Spooner of Barnes & Thornburg

3. What You Need to Know to File a 301 Product Exclusion, co-hosted by Arent Fox

4. Navigating Section 321 for "E-Commerce" Imports, co-hosted by KPMG

5. USMCA Update, co-hosted by Akin Gump

During its 100 years of existence, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has brought together governments, employers, and workers to work collaboratively to set labor standards, develop policies, and devise programs promoting decent work for people everywhere.  Commemorating the First International Labour Conference held in 1919, this month the ILO hosted an event, Creating a Brighter Future of Work, Together.  The event commemorated the ILO’s historic achievements and key leadership shared their vision for a human-centered approach to the future of work. 

“Work is a right and social duty that gives dignity to the person that performs it,” Kim Osborne, Executive Secretary for Integral Development, Organization of American States (OAS), said in the event’s opening remarks. It is important that governments and businesses continue to work together towards achieving fair labor practices that create opportunities and prosperity for all people, she continued. As technology continues to develop and rapidly becomes integrated in the workplace, Osborne noted the importance to address technology changes and put people and their work at the center of social and economic policy and business practices.

Following Osborne, the Honorable Patrick Pizzella, Deputy Secretary of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor, gave remarks on a future-ready workforce for sustained economic growth. “ILO is the first organization to deal with problems of labor in a comprehensive manner,” Pizzella said. ILO has helped nations develop sound labor laws and standards that have served as the base for Free Trade Agreements, he continued. Pizzella spoke on the correlation between economic opportunity and safe working conditions, saying that the U.S. has been able to achieve labor accomplishments by enacting the current Administration’s economic agenda. The goal is to achieve a level playing field across countries for free, fair, balanced, and reciprocal trade and the U.S. is working towards that goal by modernizing USMCA labor obligations and enforcement and implementing ILO’s core components and objectives into trade negotiations and agreements, Pizzella said.

The Honorable Robert Destro, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State, joined the event to discuss the impact of rights in the world of work. Focusing on the future and the challenges ahead, Destro emphasized the importance to look at labor collectively and keep workers at the center of policies and business practices. While production systems are spread across regions, Destro said, it’s important to remember the work is done by people and it’s important human freedom is recognized to allow workers to flourish, as well as create efficient supply chains. Destro said the greatest achievements of the ILO include supporting people and changing the course of lives and the future of nations, and looking ahead the U.S., ILO, and all nations must continue to work together to protect human rights.

Continuing the event theme of working together to create a brighter future, Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Organization, joined the event to reflect how far the ILO has come and share the vision for the future. Over the past 100 years, ILO has played a key role in building an ethical and productive framework for a fair globalization. Looking ahead, Ryder offered three key points learned from the past and to look at in the future to sustain progress and continue improvements: 1) The need to restore decent work as the key subject of policy making; 2) U.S. leadership is indispensable to success and it’s important the U.S. has a presence in labor issues; and 3) There is enduring alignment between the values embraced by the U.S. and the values in place by the ILO, and there must continue to be shared values and efforts to create a brighter future of work.

The event concluded with a panel discussing cooperation for decent work. Martha Newton, Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor, recognized ILO for the data and reports conducted that help governments and stakeholders realize the scope of labor issues and how employers, workers, and governments can work together to set standards in the global economy. Colin Jordan, Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations of Barbados and Chair of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor (IACML), emphasized the fundamental role of governments to create policy that promotes equality and fairness. In addition to governments, Peter Robinson, President, Unites States Council for International Business, said large companies have an important role to play in labor rights and understanding the workers and risks throughout their supply chains.  Cathy Feingold, Director of the International Department, AFL-CIO, added to the conversation by encouraging changes in workforce structure to establish a direct relationship with workers and employers to create safe work environments across supply chains.

USFIA is pleased to introduce our newest member, Foursource – a Berlin-based digital apparel sourcing platform. With more than 40,000 companies from over 100 countries represented, Foursource is the largest market network for the apparel industry. Foursource is dedicated to resolve the missing transparency of the highly-fragmented, global sourcing markets and to make apparel sourcing faster, safer, and less costly. 

What Foursource does 

Foursource created an online approach to sourcing that helps buyers and manufacturers find matching business partners faster and more efficiently. It simplifies the daily work of apparel sourcing professionals with several tools. One of these tools is a search function to identify suppliers that best fit buyers´ needs, by using filters such as product categories, sourcing countries, order sizes, certification standards and many more. Through Foursource, buyers can save time, cost and travel expenses by matching with new business partners online, and manufactures can find customers that best fit their business. In addition to the search tool, buyers can also post Requests for Quotation suiting their unique needs and create their personal supplier network by bookmarking manufacturers. To ensure data security on the platform, all data is stored and processed by the highest global standards. 

Click here to learn more about tools on Foursource.

How Foursource fosters compliance management 

As sustainability and transparency have become key drivers for the apparel industry, our partnerships with leading compliance standards such as OEKO-TEX, offer completely new ways for brands and buyers to find certified factories and to manage their social and environmental compliance in a safe and efficient way. Manufacturers on Foursource can now add certificates to their profile which will be automatically verified. Buyers can easily search for certified manufacturers and review their certificates. Foursource automatically verifies OEKO-TEX, GOTS, WRAP and Textile Exchange certificates, among others. 

Click here to learn more about the partnership between Foursource and OEKO-TEX.

Meet Foursource at Texworld USA 

Texworld USA, taking place on January 19 – 21, 2020 in New York City, is your chance to meet Foursouce! Stop by the Foursource booth for a free coffee in the Innovation Hall and learn more about the platform and how it could benefit your company. Additionally, Foursource will also exhibit at ISPO Munich and Texworld Paris in January and February. Contact Philipp Gruentker, VP of Sales at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information. 

Highlights from the 31st Apparel Importers Trade & Transportation Conference

More than 150 attendees from across the industry attended USFIA’s 31st Apparel Importers Trade & Transportation Conference in New York on November 7th. We were joined by industry experts and seasoned analysts who provided the latest updates on trade policy, customs compliance, sourcing, sustainability, and innovation. We concluded the day with a fun networking reception at FIT Baker School of Business and Technology. It was great to see so many long-time friends and colleagues as well as new faces. Thanks to our speakers, sponsors, and attendees for making the day possible! 

In The News

In case you missed the conference, the press has you covered! Click below to read the media coverage of the conference.

At a Glance

Thanks to our 2019 Conference Sponsors