“We Need Better And More Sustainable Sourcing When Covid 19 Settles,” says GlobalData
Clothing suppliers have been receiving a massive decline in the number of orders, but they still need to look out to ensure that they won’t risk high amounts of labour abuse and according to statistics it could also lead to poor factory safety and it’s the pandemic has even lead to the risk of closure of online stores as well, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, consumers have gone from investing in clothing to essentials. This is because of the government demanding lockdowns all around the world, this, therefore, been a catalyst reason to a decrease in the sales have causing hundreds of brands to have decreased or even go as far as to cancel their orders. In turn, this is forcing many factories to weigh up the option of shutting down their operations until work starts to come in.
One positive takeaway is that the subcontracting of orders by tier-one factories to smaller, unregistered operators or home workers will have significantly reduced – if not disappeared altogether – as orders are lost. It is usually here that labour abuses thrive and safety rules are flouted but go undetected. The worry is what happens when normal life resumes.
Hannah Abdulla, Apparel Correspondent at GlobalData, says: “The likelihood is that when the lockdowns are lifted, consumers across the US and Europe will want to make up for lost time and engage in a bit of ‘retail therapy’. Factories will struggle to keep up with orders and be forced to outsource some work in a bid to get back on track.
“Brands are going to have to be very careful to make sure they use audit teams, locally-based bodies that can ensure compliance at factories, or tools such as predictive modelling to allow them to see what is actually happening on the factory floor and help source safely and ethically.
“Rushing the supply chain recovery process after a crisis such as this, or cutting corners, will only end up costing a brand more in the long run. Now more than ever it is crucial for brands to ensure their responsible sourcing procedures are airtight.”
