Western buyers increasingly get touchy with the way their suppliers produce their apparel. They make sure that suppliers do not deviate from the conditions agreed with them. The supplier cannot subcontract part of its order without the permission of the buyer.
The request is generally made to ensure timely delivery of the order. But the buyer cannot give a go-ahead until it is sure of the ethical practices of the subcontractor. One option is to fly one of its directors to fly and inspect the third-party provider and ensure their facilities are in full compliance. The action would have to be taken instantly so as not to miss the original delivery deadline.
Such requests in the case of bulk orders were common in the past and resulted in lapses that haunted the buyers afterward. The big brands now place bulk orders to their main suppliers three to five years in advance. They have ample time to divert their orders elsewhere if one of the suppliers faces problems.
The infamous Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, was the game changer that awakened the consciousness of the world and forced the brands to ensure that their supply chains the extent to which their products were being unknowingly subcontracted to unauthorized suppliers are stopped.
Many brands that were implicated in that disaster have stepped up and taken a more hands-on approach to tracing their supply chains. Now in some cases, a buyer can click on a product and it will tell you all about its provenance, not just the exact factory where it was made, but in some cases the farm where the cotton was grown, the mills where the textiles were spun, even the drivers who delivered the items on their long global journey.
With this new data now being gathered, brands can probe the main drivers of unauthorized subcontracting. Artificial intelligence now provides insights for apparel retailers to predict when such subcontracting will likely occur—and thereby prevent future disasters in their supply chains.
Western buyers ensure full compliance from all supply chains
