In February, we headed to the West Coast for our annual USFIA Fashion Forward: San Francisco at Levi Strauss & Co., followed by SOURCING at MAGIC in Las Vegas—and both events drew record attendance as the industry is eager to hear the latest news from Washington, D.C.

In San Francisco, we were sorry to turn away attendees due to room capacity, we were pleased to have more than 90 brands, retailers, and service providers, coming from as close as San Francisco and as far as South Africa! Attendees had a packed day learning about a wide variety of critical topics, from Customs changes in the United States and global tax changes in the European Union and Sri Lanka, to how consumers are driving sustainability, to how the Supplier Compliance Audit Network (SCAN) can help streamline your audit process and save you money, too. One key takeaway: while the uncertainty in politics, policy, and global supply chains requires companies to remain vigilant, business nonetheless must go on—and companies would be ill-advised to make any rash changes to sourcing or business operations just yet.

Our next in-person event will take place April 5 at Ascena Retail Group in Columbus, Ohio, and we expect to reach capacity there, too, so we encourage you to register now if you want to hear Brenda Smith, Executive Assistant Commissioner at the CBP Office of Trade, representatives from the CEE for Apparel, Footwear, & Textiles, and of course, USFIA’s counsel and partners.

In Las Vegas, we hosted two seminars, focusing on Trump and trade, as well as sourcing opportunities in Africa. Our politics session, featuring USFIA Washington Counsel David Spooner of Barnes & Thornburg LLP and Jon Fee of Alston & Bird LLP also reached capacity, with more than 50 MAGIC attendees turned away at the door. Luckily, their presentation was streamed live on Facebook—and if you weren’t there, you can catch it now at https://www.facebook.com/SourcingatMAGIC/videos/10158131086165251/.

The Africa session was another hit, with representatives from across the industry discussing opportunities for sourcing there, especially utilizing the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) and duty-free sourcing. “Africa is here to stay, and Africa is open for business,” said Jas Bedi, Chairman of the Export Promotion Council of Kenya.

We hope to see all of you at another event soon! For our full calendar, visit https://www.usfashionindustry.com/events/upcoming-events.