Must we keep on making the same old mistakes? Last year during the pandemic, I wrote extensively about the issue of purchasing practices and their impact on garment supply chains and their workers. The pandemic, as we found out, proved a fertile ground for some retailers (some but by no means all) to ride roughshod over the issue of purchasing practices. This included refusing to pay for complete and in-progress orders, extending their payment terms (often to 90 days or more) and demanding huge discounts on orders.
As suppliers, we were and continue to be very much dependent on the goodwill of brands when it comes to payment. Some brands stepped up to the plate and looked out for their suppliers, but far too many others took advantage of a weak regulatory environment in which the penalties for reneging on contracts are essentially non-existent.