This past year was a great one for USA-ITA—and for our newsletter, OFF THE CUFF, which we revamped to include more magazine-style articles twice per month! In case you missed any of our excellent feature articles by our member companies and partner organizations, here are some of the highlights from this year’s issues.
As you know, OFF THE CUFF is an excellent way to stay on top of our activities and, particularly, the events you might have missed. This year, the newsletter included recaps of events like the West Coast Seminar, which included a hot-button discussion with CBP’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard DiNucci, as well as SOURCING at MAGIC, the inaugural SAFSA Member Conference, and Prime Source Forum, to name just a few.
OFF THE CUFF is also a place to learn more about sourcing opportunities and challenges—and importantly, how to overcome those challenges. This year, we had an intimate discussion with Egypt’s textile and apparel industry, as well as a breakfast with Guatemala’s textile and apparel industry. As most of our members are sourcing in China, we also met with Associate Member SGS in Hong Kong to learn more about how to navigate China’s complex textile, apparel, and footwear regulations. And, especially relevant, we hosted a webinar with Associate Member Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), our most widely attended webinar to date, about sourcing and compliance in Bangladesh and the need for fire safety training.
All work and no play makes USA-ITA a dull association—and we certainly had a lot of fun this year, too.
We worked with impressive students from the Fashion Institute of Technology and helped them set up meetings in Washington to conduct research on working with U.S. cotton in FTAs. We visited Hong Kong Fashion Week, the gateway of global apparel trade, as well as London Fashion Week, where our member company Pringle of Scotland showed a fresh spring collection. Ralph Lauren Corporation hosted USA-ITA and the U.S. Department of Commerce for a fascinating tour of their offices and enlightening discussion on how U.S. brands and retailers make sourcing decisions, and Levi Strauss & Co. invited us to join them when they were honored for their commitment to workers’ rights and human rights.
It was a wonderful year for USA-ITA and we thank all our members for your support and involvement. We hope you all have a happy holiday season and we look forward to continuing to work with you in the New Year!
This is the last OFF THE CUFF newsletter for the year. The next newsletter will arrive on January 18th and will feature the annual conference recap.