Navigating The Fashion Supply Chain Risk: Mission Impossible?

Outsourcing production to more cost-effective locations has been the mainstay of fashion brands for decades, ensuring speed to market and financial growth. But with increasing pressure on brands to deliver responsibly and ethically, and in a very challenging economic climate, supply chains can expose fashion businesses to significant reputation risks and harm performance if they are not closely monitored.

As brands increasingly reassess strategies to optimise financial performance and profit margins, the focus on sustainability, social impact and workforce wellbeing may be sacrificed. However, short term gains may lead to increased risk and financial exposure.

Fashion's business media has reported on a number of high profile brands such as Boohoo for failings in their production houses and supply chain, and H&M/Inditex on their 'sustainable' clothing lines. With savvy consumers making more informed choices about where they spend, greenwashing scandals and failure