Sourcing Journal Radio

It can be a touchy subject, but this is no time for hurt feelings. The apparel industry simply isn’t doing enough when it comes to climate change. In a provocative, no-holds-barred episode of the Sustaining Voices podcast, produced in partnership with Cotton Incorporated, Sourcing Journal publisher Caletha Crawford explores whether our incremental changes are having the impact that’s needed. Joini...

Where to source and how to source smarter is top of mind for the entire apparel industry right now. With the speed of change and so many competing demands, it can be challenging to weigh the options. In this episode, we’re joined by Saskia Hedrich and Karl-Hendrik Magnus, apparel experts from McKinsey & Company. In their roles, they have been examining the business, economic and political trends t...

More than 150 million trees are logged each year and turned into cellulosic fabric, many from ancient and endangered forests. As a result, irreparable damage is being inflicted upon the roots connecting our world’s facilities. In this podcast, Amanda Carr, director of strategic initiatives at Canopy, talks about the problem and her organization's efforts to raise awareness and slow the erosion of...

Transparency has been a hot topic in apparel recently but the industry is still struggling to gain visibility into much of the supply chain—and as a result, it is missing opportunities for improvement. A recent report from the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable outlines the benefits brands and retailers could realize if they truly made transparency a priority. Alison Kiehl Friedman,...

As we enter the midpoint of the USTR hearings on the proposed Section 301 tariff list, some of the now-familiar questions surrounding tariffs have once again cropped up: What will the tariffs include? When will they go into effect? What kind of fallout should we expect? Is there anything we can do? In this special podcast, Sourcing Journal founder and president Edward Hertzman talks with AAFA exec...

This podcast series is a companion to our Sustaining Voices platform, which celebrates the efforts the apparel industry is making toward securing a more environmentally responsible future. This episode features Rogier van Mazijk, investment manager for Fashion for Good, and Luke Henning, CFO of Tyton BioSciences, which is taking part in Fashion for Good's Scaling Programme. Together Rogier and Luk...

Gary Barraco, Director, Product Marketing and Business Development for Amber Road, a software company dedicated to helping companies improve margins, achieve greater agility and lower risk, discusses the benefits of supply chain visibility when managing costs, elevating quality and navigating trade issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since debuting Kingpins 2004 as a small gallery-like show, Olah Inc. founder Andrew Olah has played host to the global denim supply chain at Kingpins events in New York, Amsterdam and across China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Denim Dudes founder Amy Leverton on the denim brands and trends to watch in 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apparel brands are looking for ways to shorten development and production timelines, and nearshoring, aided by automation, could be the answer, according to McKinsey & Company. Karl-Hendrik Magnus, partner at McKinsey and Company discusses the opportunities with Reebok VP of product operations; Erika Swan, Under Armour chief supply chain officer; Colin Browne and Ramesh Fernando, CEO of MAS USA. L...

Alberto Candiani, the global manager of Candiani Denim, the famed 80-year-old Italian denim mill, shares how he's pushing his family's business into a new era of sustainability, innovation and transparency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining us are Don Howard, executive director of Alvanon, which uses technology and body shape data to advise apparel firms on fit and sizing, and William Adler, CEO of True Fit, a data-driven company that aims to help retailers personalize the shopping experience by enabling shoppers find the right products for them. These companies represent the variety of ways apparel is working to solve the fi...

This podcast episode focuses on apparel retail, which has had many challenges lately but is also experiencing a nice tailwind currently thanks to the healthy economy. John Kernan, managing director for retail and consumer brands for Cowen and Company, provides insights into the direction the sector is headed as both brands and retailers are attempting to shake off old processes and technologies in...

For this episode, we're joined by Avani Patel of the Ember Company, formerly Trendseeder, the platform she founded in 2012 to pair fashion expertise with business acumen. The program provides startup business with the educational, advisory and networking opportunities they need in order to create sustainable brands. Avani shares what it takes to launch a new brand in the current consumer climate,...

Creating a fully visible supply chain for agricultural products, like cotton, has created problems for textile producers. Businesses continue to invest in sustainable and ethical sources of cotton of a high quality, only to see markets flooded with products that have been "greenwashed" with false labels or  mixed with lower quality fibers. Ultimately, cotton producers have been left wondering if s...

Garment manufacturing in the United States has seen better days. But, as automation technology matures, some American businesses have begun investing in local apparel manufacturing once again. In this week’s episode, we highlight a clothing producer who has always been proudly made in the U.S.A. Dov Charney, who is best known for his first venture, American Apparel, is now building a new brand und...

This episode highlights what makes a disruptor a disruptor in a sea of new upstart brands from the perspective of Pano Anthos, founder and managing director of XRC Labs, an innovation accelerator for the next generation of disruptors in the retail and consumer goods sectors. Pano addresses how retailers can better match services to customer expectations, what's considered white space today how dir...

This episode focuses on the futility of setting sustainability goals without including traceability, how doing good can also be good for the bottom line and the technology that promises to get us there. Our guests include: David Greenstein, CEO of Himatsingka America, one of the largest wholesalers of home textiles in the United States. David oversees the Calvin Klein, Kate Spade and Barbara Barry...

Raw materials are at the heart of so much of what happens in the apparel industry. And as a result the relative health, output and price of cotton is of particular concern for many. To supplement Sourcing Journal’s ongoing market data, this episode focuses on the dominant factors impacting cotton supply and demand, how the U.S. stacks up against other cotton growing nations and the advances taking...

This podcast episode will focus on how digitizing operations drives better collaboration and relationship building between brands/retailers and their suppliers. Using Crocs as a case study, Cody Bumgardner, director of product operations at Crocs and Eva Law, deputy manager at Pou Chen will share how employing a PLM system has improved the footwear brand’s ability to easily and efficiently manage...

This episode of Sourcing Journal Radio focuses the importance of transparency in the supply chain, how brands and retailers are going about it today and how it relates to other key industry initiatives like sustainability. In this episode, you'll hear from: MeiLin Wan, vice president of textile sales at Applied DNA Sciences, a firm that provides tag, test and track molecular-based supply chain aut...

This episode of Sourcing Journal radio focuses on on-demand manufacturing, how it works, the current capabilities and limitations, and why it’s a necessity today. In this episode, you'll hear from: Marleen Vogelaar, founder and CEO of Ziel, an on-demand apparel manufacturing platform and retail service that creates custom, quick-turn private-label apparel collections that alleviates inventory inve...

This episode of Sourcing Journal Radio focuses on data and how apparel and footwear companies can use it from both the product development and allotment side as well as from a marketing and personalization standpoint. In this episode, you'll hear from: Jose Chan, vice president of business development at Celect, a data analytics firm that draws insightful information from big data to improve same-...

This Sourcing Journal Radio episode focuses on speed to market and how the industry’s pre-occupation with emulating fast fashion could be doing more damage than good. In this episode, you'll hear from: Robert D'Loren, chairman and CEO of Xcel Brands, maker of Isaac Mizrahi, C Wonder and H Halston labels Mark Burstein, president of sales and development and chief strategy officer of NGC Software, a...