Textiles, Apparel and Footwear

The textile, apparel and footwear marketplace: How fashion is evolving

The global economic landscape is evolving, and so are consumer preferences and technologies.

Key market drivers for stakeholders of the textile, apparel and footwear industries include:

• Global market access – Staying on top of constantly changing regulations and requirements is not easy when you’re trying to shorten your products’ time to market. Thinking of safety and quality early in the supply chain to anticipate risks is important.
• Sustainability – The textile, apparel and footwear industry takes a lot of blame for creating a great deal of pollution worldwide. In the last year, sustainability has become a key pillar of business strategies in the fashion and luxury industries. Improving sustainability is linked not only to environmental stewardship but also to social responsibility in the global value chain.
• Supply chain disruption – Recently, brands and retailers began to understand the importance of new emerging markets for sourcing, including Bangladesh, India, Turkey and many African countries. Supply chain management can prove difficult when you’re expanding to new geographies.
• Omnichannel – Consumers expect you to reach them at every moment and everywhere they are, both online and offline. This is transforming how companies do business, and poor supply chain visibility doesn’t help.

These market drivers can also serve as great opportunities if you, as a retailer, brand or manufacturer, can establish a comprehensive strategy and holistic approach to bundling compliance, quality and sustainability throughout your supply chain. UL Solutions can help.

Simplify global market access with UL Solutions testing

Reduce product defects while managing your global supply chain with UL Solutions

Third-party inspections are a key part of a global quality assurance (QA) program to help verify that your products meet specifications prior to release and shipment.

Thanks to UL Solutions’ global footprint, product expertise and data management dashboard, you can benefit from customized inspection programs to minimize the risk of shipping substandard products and optimize your global supply chain.

Benefits of building an inspection program with UL Solutions include:

• Improved time to market
• Demonstrable quality and accuracy of your softline products
• Preventing defective products from reaching your customers
• Avoiding loss of products and revenues, delayed shipments or wasted materials, and product recalls in your destination markets

To gain greater visibility and control over your testing, inspections and audits, we offer our PATH™ SmartSuite software. This suite of tools and resources will help you navigate supply chain complexities, providing access to project order management, business intelligence, corrective actions, information management and product regulations.