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Industry Opinion
Fashion is presented as one of the top 5 most polluting industries globally. This includes chronic over-production and excess inventory that ends up being put in landfills and sapping the profitability of brands and manufacturers. We know the green transition must include a massive transformation in this truly global industry.Robert Skidmore is proud of ITC's role with the IAF (International Apparel Federation) and lead author John Thorbeck in putting forward the transformative approach presented in Under the Banyan Tree. The paper presents an approach to transform the #apparel value chain by fundamentally changing the relationship between brands and manufacturers. Right now, the relationship is adversarial, focusing on price per unit and building in long lead times. This paper presents a true shared-risk model that shortens lead times, reduces over-production and waste, and increases profitability for all actors.
It can also unlock the capital currently sunk in excess inventory to be used in making the investments manufacturers need to further green their production and improve the lives of workers. For me, this fits all the aspects of an ITC-style solution: • Makes commercial sense: Under the Banyan Tree focuses on the business realities of brands and manufacturers and builds a win/win solution that will last because all parties benefit. • Unites partners for scale: Under the Banyan Tree is the result of inputs from ITC, IATF, pioneering companies, and the committed managers in them, innovative service providers in areas like digital and gifted academics. • Delivers sustainable development: ITC solutions are commercial and they are oriented toward addressing, in a systemic way, the most pressing issues facing our clients including the green transition.
Our goal this year is to see, with enlightened partners like Brad Ballentine of MAS ACME USA, how we can translate this document into live projects and create practical tools manufacturers can use to change their discussions with brands from a focus on price to a focus on shared value. I look forward to hearing your feedback and to working with you to make this a reality.
Robert SkidmoreThe ITC’s knowledge network offers a significant platform going forward: "Our focus is the business model itself, not operational improvement. Our intent is to document the magnitude of financial and human opportunity to be achieved by process innovation, new data applications and a new generation of fashion leaders.“The best argument for Under the Banyan Tree is that results are so achievable.“The alternative route to profitability is productivity, not proliferation; it is reduction of total risk, not inbound cost; and it is mutual value creation, not extraction.”
