How fashion supply chain management drives resilience
The fashion and retail industry is navigating a time of intense uncertainty—whether you are selling denim garments from Bangladesh or activewear from Vietnam. A convergence of global pressures is reshaping the landscape: Unpredictable trade conditions, surging material costs impacting consumer demand, and increasingly complex compliance mandates are all fueling unprecedented volatility.
But disruption doesn’t have to mean defeat. With complete, industry-specific technology designed for fashion and retail, businesses can respond with agility, precision, and accuracy. Tailored insights and end-to-end visibility enable smarter, faster decisions and greater cost efficiencies, moving the starting line forward and helping brands stay one step ahead in a fast-changing market.
To stay resilient, companies need full end-to-end visibility across their supply chains. When material availability becomes uncertain, the ability to quickly identify alternative sources and reroute production is critical. With the right tools, brands can adapt quickly, minimize disruption, ensure suppliers have the capital they need, and maintain the pace needed to meet consumer expectations.
To remain in business, companies must ensure they are compliant with everything from copyright licensing and labor safety standards to product impact on the environment and raw material composition. To keep pace with the speed of change, while avoiding any violations, brands need an integrated system that captures multi-tier supplier information, offers easy visibility of the supplier network, and allows for quick access to environmental, social and governance (ESG) data.
In this environment, real-time visibility into trade and pricing data is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Companies must be able to react instantly: Forecasting demand, recalibrating cost structures, and adjusting financial models on the fly. It’s not just about knowing what customers will pay—it’s about ensuring the business can sustain its operations and margins amid constant economic shifts.
Infor CloudSuite™ Fashion is purpose-built for an industry where unpredictability is the only constant, offering end-to-end visibility from design to delivery. Whether it’s supporting raw material choices early in design and development through product lifecycle management (PLM), or forecasting seasonal demand using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) in enterprise resource planning (ERP), the solution is built to adapt. It also maps, tracks, and traces products across multi-tier suppliers and simplifies supplier onboarding in different regions via Infor Nexus—all within a highly composable suite that helps drive resilience and protects each season’s bottom line.
When fashion trends shift unexpectedly or supply chain disruptions impact material costs, our solutions instantly update pricing structures and help retailers identify issues, locate alternative suppliers, and maintain inventory flow without costly stockouts or markdowns—protecting profit margins even when fabric availability and seasonal demand fluctuate.
Uncertainty doesn’t have to derail your business. Learn more about how Infor makes possible happen for our fashion and retail customers here.
But disruption doesn’t have to mean defeat. With complete, industry-specific technology designed for fashion and retail, businesses can respond with agility, precision, and accuracy. Tailored insights and end-to-end visibility enable smarter, faster decisions and greater cost efficiencies, moving the starting line forward and helping brands stay one step ahead in a fast-changing market.
Fashion supply chain disruption starts at the source
Brands, manufacturers, and retailers rely on a continuous flow of raw materials to keep operations running smoothly. However, in a world where a single coat might require wool from Mongolia, polyester from China, and zippers from Japan, even minor disruptions can have huge impacts. Rapidly-changing trade policies are upending these global supply chains, leaving manufacturers unsure of what materials they will receive, from where, and when—placing entire product lines at risk.To stay resilient, companies need full end-to-end visibility across their supply chains. When material availability becomes uncertain, the ability to quickly identify alternative sources and reroute production is critical. With the right tools, brands can adapt quickly, minimize disruption, ensure suppliers have the capital they need, and maintain the pace needed to meet consumer expectations.
New sourcing strategies in the face of trade challenges
Brands, retailers, and manufacturers that rely on imports from regions that have changing trade policies are being challenged to reevaluate their supplier relationships and explore alternatives such as more near-shoring opportunities, which can strain operations and impact profitability. However, this climate of unpredictability also presents an opportunity for businesses to innovate and diversify their supplier networks. By leveraging advanced supply chain network solutions, businesses can quickly identify cost-effective and compliant suppliers, reducing dependency on high-risk markets, and even explore sustainable sourcing options that align with evolving consumer preferences. While having to navigate these challenges, the right technology can act as a catalyst for building more resilient, agile, and efficient supply chains.Managing compliance in a sustainable fashion supply chain
On top of predicting the “unpredictable” in consumer demand and shifting trade environments, the fashion and retail industries are constantly navigating new sustainability standards. If you make a garment with one type of textile, you may need to label and market it in 20 different ways around the world in order to comply with local regulations. That task becomes even more difficult if those regulations change frequently. It requires constant vigilance and adaptability, and businesses simply don’t have the time or bandwidth to manually process these changes. Failing to do so, however, can result in costly fines.To remain in business, companies must ensure they are compliant with everything from copyright licensing and labor safety standards to product impact on the environment and raw material composition. To keep pace with the speed of change, while avoiding any violations, brands need an integrated system that captures multi-tier supplier information, offers easy visibility of the supplier network, and allows for quick access to environmental, social and governance (ESG) data.
Supply chain volatility impacts fashion demand forecasting
Beyond the supply chain, global trade uncertainty is creating ripple effects in material costs and pricing strategies. When the price of a key material rises, it directly impacts retail pricing—and ultimately, consumer demand. A shift in trade policy with a single country can make cotton significantly more expensive, raising the cost of a t-shirt and derailing financial forecasts and profit margins for an entire season. In an industry already challenged by unpredictable consumer behavior and inventory accuracy, this kind of macroeconomic volatility dramatically raises both complexity and risk.In this environment, real-time visibility into trade and pricing data is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Companies must be able to react instantly: Forecasting demand, recalibrating cost structures, and adjusting financial models on the fly. It’s not just about knowing what customers will pay—it’s about ensuring the business can sustain its operations and margins amid constant economic shifts.
Fashion supply chain management powered by industry-specific technology
The Infor™ Industry Cloud Complete approach is here to help fashion, brands, retailers, and manufacturers transform challenges into competitive advantages, helping our customers start ahead of today’s challenges, get ahead of tomorrow’s, and stay ahead of trends and competitors to come. Our complete and industry-specific solutions deliver the speed, visibility, and confidence that fashion and retail businesses need to thrive in today's volatile market environment.Infor CloudSuite™ Fashion is purpose-built for an industry where unpredictability is the only constant, offering end-to-end visibility from design to delivery. Whether it’s supporting raw material choices early in design and development through product lifecycle management (PLM), or forecasting seasonal demand using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) in enterprise resource planning (ERP), the solution is built to adapt. It also maps, tracks, and traces products across multi-tier suppliers and simplifies supplier onboarding in different regions via Infor Nexus—all within a highly composable suite that helps drive resilience and protects each season’s bottom line.
When fashion trends shift unexpectedly or supply chain disruptions impact material costs, our solutions instantly update pricing structures and help retailers identify issues, locate alternative suppliers, and maintain inventory flow without costly stockouts or markdowns—protecting profit margins even when fabric availability and seasonal demand fluctuate.
Infor’s Industry Cloud Complete is here to help.
When the only constant is change, Infor’s Industry Cloud Complete approach to digital transformation helps fashion and retail businesses adapt to evolving conditions—today, tomorrow, and for years to come.Uncertainty doesn’t have to derail your business. Learn more about how Infor makes possible happen for our fashion and retail customers here.
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