USFIA President Julia Hughes and USFIA Washington Counsel David Spooner were among those testifying at the U.S. International Trade Commission hearing on Apparel: Export Competitiveness of Certain Foreign Suppliers to the United States. As a reminder, this investigation covers the competitiveness of the apparel industries in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan. The hearing lasted for more than nine hours and included witnesses from the countries as well as industry groups. USFIA appeared on the second panel along with Kim Glas from NCTO (witness statement), Eric Gottwald from the AFL-CIO (witness statement), Sophal Ear from the ASU Thunderbird School of Global Management (witness statement), Jason Judd with the Global Labor Institute (witness statement), and Beth Hughes from AAFA (witness statement).
USFIA’s testimony highlighted the key factors that sourcing executives from apparel brands and retailers analyze when choosing suppliers: global risk assessments, sustainability, vertical integration, scale, logistics and the traditional elements of quality, speed and cost.