CHARMING INSIGHTS

It’s no secret that 2023’s Black Friday brought a welcome wave of excitement for apparel brands leaving them '100 Percent Ecstatic' with the results, as revealed by a DHL Supply Chain executive. However, beneath the surface of the retail rejoice lies a tale of challenges in the global shipping industry, particularly concerning the Panama Canal.

We had the distinct pleasure of hosting a Q&A with Kathleen Talbot, Chief Sustainability Officer and VP of Operations at Reformation to pick her brain about one of our favorite topics: sustainability in the apparel industry.

The state of the climate is scary. In fact, it’s overwhelming when you consider that the retail industry accounts for nearly 8% of the global GHG greenhouse gas emissions. 

When you hear the word disrupt, you tend to think of a positive, innovative change. But when it comes to today’s supply chain in a post-pandemic world, disruption is a double-edged sword.

If the global pandemic has taught businesses anything, it’s that supply chain resilience is critical to future-proofing brand and business operations. Global sourcing and manufacturing are increasingly critical to meeting evolving consumer demands and sustainability requirements. And at the epicenter of that evolution is nearshoring.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) US retailers lose an estimated $61.7 billion per year from shoplifting, employee or vendor theft, and administrative error. These losses average at 1.4% of retail sales but can be greater than 2% in some apparel and cosmetics categories—a huge potential loss when looking at billion dollar companies.