Spring 2019 - Inside Outdoor Magazine

Inside Outdoor | SPRING 2019 31 in nearshoring for speed is highly/ somewhat likely by 2025.” Also by the end of that forecast period, 60 percent of sourcing professionals expect 20 percent or more of their production vol- ume will move to nearshoring by 2025, up from 33 percent who could say the same in 2018. As of 2018, a third of respondents said 0 to 5 percent of pro- duction came from nearshoring. That drops down to 3 percent projecting 0 to 5 percent by 2025. As with most surveys and market predictions, these expectations by the end of the forecast period are likely a bit aggressive. But it’s hard not to heed McKinsey’s warnings regarding shifts in Made in Americas Ask anyone involved in domestic manufacturing and they’ll tell you one of the biggest challenges to on- or nearsourcing is the sourcing of raw materials, fabrics and ingredients. “Only a co-located value chain can offer the full speed and flexibility in the supply chain – without it, the longer lead times are just shifted further up in the value chain,” said supply chain analysts at McKinsey & Co. Of course, building new yarn-spinning, fabric mills and the like takes time and requires high capital expenditure, and it will take unique partners and investment strategies to make it happen, said McKinsey analysts. “To attract manufacturers to invest in building the capacity requires apparel brands and retailers to act as true partners and commit to order volumes,” they said. As much as anything, the desire to produce sustainably and transparently will be a major driver to finding ways. Overall, 63 percent of sourcing managers surveyed by McKinsey believe it is likely that fabric production will move toward nearshores to support regional supply chains by 2025. Regarding the possibility of owned investment by apparel brands and retailers in fabric or garment factories, respondents are split: 49 percent have a positive leaning and 48 percent are skeptical. “In the meantime, apparel companies will have to make do by increasing speed and flexibility in the garment production and finishing stage by expanding fabric libraries and integrating them into their virtual design software for at least part of their assortment, and by importing greige fabric and generic yarns from Asia,” said McKinsey researchers. In the longer term, just as the production of raw materials and fabrics followed apparel manufacturing to Asia in recent decades, much the same could happen as manufacturing moves once again. Finished Before It Can Really Begin Apparel and accessory start-up Deso builds products in small batches in the heart of San Francisco, Calf. “We opted for domestic manufacturing in order to oversee the product development life cycle and development a genuine relationship with the humans producing our garments,” says the company.