Sourcing: More Strategy Than A Game Of Chess
"Well, that's new." Every season, something happens that has never happened before. And I never foresaw coming.
A selection of wooden chess pieces set against a blurred out background of an open door and dark walls. Image source: Unsplash.
There was the time the roof of the factory was blown off in a hurricane. Or the time we had a fabric order short shipped, so the factory made the trousers 2 inches too short to achieve the order quantity. The time 8,000 pairs of Debenhams trousers went up in smoke in a riot. The time a pallet of socks was stolen by a gun smuggling gang (I kid you not, that is a true story). The time that none of the 10,000 jackets were waterproof, despite the SGS test reports.....
The one thing that this has taught me is "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" (Robert Burns "To A Mouse"). And, to tug at any thread you even get a whiff of. Which came in handy with a client last week....
There is a well known supplier of sports and athleisure fabrics in Lithuania. Who claim they are able to make merino baselayer fabrics. Now, merino in and of itself, is a minefield. Only last week Peta made more claims to the New Zealand Merino Association about animal cruelty on farms. They just weren't able to specify a particular farm, or farms. The problem with wool, and sheep, is that these abuses are indeed, often, rife. But the lack of understanding of how wool is priced leads to all sorts of conflicting claims. The film 'Slay' made heavy claims about the wool industry. While showing sheep that are bred for meat. It's a bit like cars. If the wheels on it are cheap, you don't mind when your other half scrapes them along the curb, even if it has the most expensive engine inside. But if they're the most expensive wheels with a cheap engine, you'd struggle not to lose your cool when you hear the grating! Same with sheep. If the fleece is the thing of value, you care for it.
I digress. My concern with this supplier is that they do a bit of everything. And when it comes to wool; I like a specialist. But, I do my due diligence, and the wool certifications seem legit. They will even let me nominate a yarn supplier. But the supplier had said to my client that they could make finished product as well. And achieve both price and volume out of their facility in Uzbekistan. Now, if you've just raised your eyebrows at that last sentence, I can make a good guess on how long you've been in this industry! And that was exactly my response.
I started out asking for the audit. Nothing. I ask for them to confirm how many representatives of a union, and which unions. Nothing. I reiterate the EU Forced Labour Ban and my need to confirm that this is something I can verify. The response I eventually get back was that they were unable to provide me with wool products out of Uzbek due to "some restrictions". Sorry, what now? There are very few restrictions out of Uzbek using fabric made in Lithuania. And none containing wool.
So naturally, I went and found the export information. Do you know the countries where wool apparel from Uzbek are exported to?
Russia, Belarus and Georgia.
And do you know which industry complex imports more than 70% of wool apparel products since 2022?
The military.
I mention this to the client, who said, "ah, they mentioned about being a defence contractor".
I was regaling this story with some friends that work in the alcohol industry, over a glass of wine. When one, from a very well known producer, said; "there is no shortage of alcohol supplies into Russia. It all flows through Lithuania."
In the end, I recommended a supplier of my own. We did the pricing work, using a fabric mill I know I can trace fibre back to farms, and provide certifications. So alls well that ends well. But it got me thinking how hard it is to source products these days. Back in 1992 my dad went onto a 2m x 2m stand at Ispo with a wall full of sleeping bags. He thought they looked alright, so he placed an order. 30 years later and that person he met is the CEO of the largest sportswear manufacturer out of Bangladesh, who also manages H&M's chemical recycling facility for poly cotton. The chances of that happening now are unbelievably small. Eusebio's relationship with my father lasted until he retired. And some of my suppliers today are ones started by people who used to be production managers of suppliers used by my father. The very people who taught a teenager how to seam seal a jacket!
No one really taught me due diligence, so I'm not even sure if there is a prescriptive method that's used today. So, instead, I recommend reading the audits (all of them, not just the headlines). I use Google Maps to understand the local area, not just for other suppliers, but how much people need to love there. I use the Asia floor wage and living wage data. I use export paperwork and cross check against brands supplier lists. (I remember finding a supplier who sent a container a month of finished goods to Puma, but they weren't on any supplier list. Always a red flag.) I cross check certifications. And if I know other customers or their suppliers, I ring them up and ask about them. I make sure I know what, and how many machines they have, who the union reps are, and from which union.
But none of this is foolproof. The best checks are still to turn up when your products are being made. That has been where I have found most violations. This industry, at it's heart, is a human one. And clothes are a bi-product of that. For all the talk of technology, AI and robotics, I don't see that changing anytime soon.
