The International Apparel Federation Appeals: The Global Apparel Supply Chain Should Be United Under The New Crown Crisis.

    IAF urges apparel supply chain to stay united

In the face of the Covid-19 new crown crisis, the international garment Federation (IAF) appeals to the apparel supply chain and its stakeholders to remain united. With the continuous closure and cancellation of orders all over the world, the entire supply chain has lost revenue, which is inevitable. We cannot expect buyers to save suppliers by risking bankruptcy or letting employees lose their jobs. However, it is not only urgent but also feasible to work together to find solutions to reduce the damage to suppliers. In the face of this crisis, solidarity means cooperation with industry members to bridge workers' income gap and the demand gap between enterprises. IAF said that if our action is only to shift the losses to the upper reaches of the supply chain as far as possible, it will trigger a breach of trust. And when we get rid of the crisis, this trust gap will be hard to repair. IAF Secretary Matisse Matthijs Crietee said today: "the choices we make now will be examined in the future."

Covid-19's new crown crisis has made an unprecedented impact on the textile and garment supply chain, triggering the chain effect of revenue loss. In Germany, offline retail sales fell by 42% in the first three weeks of March compared with the same period last year. In Bangladesh, the value of orders cancelled over the past few days has exceeded 2 billion euros. IAF mainly represents small and medium garment brands, garment manufacturers and their associations, as well as industry suppliers in nearly 50 countries. This indicates that IAF directly or indirectly represents tens of thousands of companies. The supply chain of clothing and textile industry is the longest and most widely distributed in the world, employing tens of millions of workers.

"Every company has to decide that if they can avoid it in any way, they do not want to jump over the bottom line buying behavior," Crietee said. IAF believes that the existing global normative framework can help companies make these choices. The framework is based on the guiding principles of the United Nations business and human rights, and guided by the OECD's due diligence guide, to guide the development of footwear industry in practice. "Over the past few years, we have seen the firm and open commitment of major brands and retailers to practice responsible purchasing practices in the supply chain and comply with the recommendations of OECD's due diligence guide. The current situation is the most important and open test of these commitments. "

In the current crisis, the unity of supply chain is very important, but we are not united enough. We need the whole world to unite and need tens of millions of garment manufacturers to help the government and citizens financially. Therefore, in addition to calling for industry to strengthen the unity of supply chain, IAF urgently wants financial support from relevant multilateral organizations and governments. Please quickly formulate a full range of support programs to help the most vulnerable part of the global garment and textile industry.