Want to make sure your fashion goods don’t get detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)? You need visibility into what is sure to be a highly complex supply chain.
Not knowing exactly what’s in your textiles or apparel—from where the raw materials were sourced to what type of labor was or wasn’t used along the supply chain—is a costly gamble amid CBP crackdowns on forced labor noncompliance. Additionally, willful ignorance won’t get seized shipments out of CBP detention, nor will it prevent future Withhold Release Orders (WROs).
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The cotton-rich fashion industry is particularly susceptible to shipment scrutiny and seizure, as global supply chains are notoriously opaque. In fact, the category of apparel, footwear and textiles is second only to electronics when it comes to CBP examinations. This turns up the heat on importers, and underscores why companies must be extremely proactive with traceability technology to mitigate any detentions. In fact, the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) stated that about one third of its members have experienced merchandise detainment at one point.
The two-year-old Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) pertains to a specific region in China, but there’s more for brands and retailers to worry about. Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 has been targeting shipments using forced labor for almost 100 years, with a broader global focus, and more regulations are coming down the pipeline. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) will come into operation in upcoming years, holding both large EU companies (and non-EU companies that operate in the EU) accountable for environmental and social infractions along their supply chain.
Detention of shipment has many costs, some measured in dollars, others in less tangible damages. CBP turnaround on detained shipments usually ranges between 1 week to 4 months after submitting an admissibility document package, say insiders, and legal fees can reach up to $60,000 for a single shipment. Costs will vary depending on how many different styles are in the shipment, how many different cotton sources there are for any given fabric in a garment, and how prepared and organized the entities are in the supply chain. Time is money, and document organization and thoroughness will speed up reviews.