IAF recently participated in the Quality Garment Network Days organized by Veit, world market leader in ironing and pressing machines, in Southern Germany. IAF Secretary General, Matthijs Crietee gave the keynote address titled, ‘The global garment system, a travelling circus still, or becoming a more ‘normal’ industry’.
He explained its vision on improvement for the global fashion industry. “Improvement is necessary,” said Crietee, adding, “because parts of the industry have gotten caught in a low price spiral whereby continuous pricing down has distorted the consumer’s sense of value of clothing. This is also affecting more upmarket brands, even though they themselves mark down less. The common response to continuous price pressure in consumer markets is making things worse. The industry’s custom of moving production to locations of cheaper labour costs in reaction to rising production costs is also hitting brick walls. Industrial accidents in Bangladesh are further tarnishing the image of the industry.”
Crietee told the audience that, the IAF believes strongly in the power of education. “To work with a longer term horizon when making arrangements with suppliers requires knowledge; a different kind of knowledge than is often available at both buyers and suppliers. More coordination and focus is certainly possible here. And secondly, the industry needs to stop its pre occupation with sourcing statistics and wage statistics. We must look at more at indicators showing investments in the supply chain, such as for instance figures on returns on investments of PLM. IAF is working on both the education and the statistics,” he said.
