A Year in Rhetoric: The Subjects and Statements That Defined 2024
Kate Nishimura
6 min read
Trade, regulation, sustainability and sourcing remained top of mind for industry insiders throughout 2024. But over the course of the past 12 months, a number of key topics emerged as year-defining themes for fashion.
A historic election made “tariffs” the year’s undisputed, if unexpected, buzzword. And in the wake of astronomical growth from players like Shein and Temu, “de minimis”—the trade provision that allows small e-commerce shipments to make their way to shoppers’ doorsteps duty-free—also got substantial play.
With an incoming administration already shaking up the landscape for global trade relationships, trade agreements have become central to discussions in the fashion sourcing sector and beyond, while the concepts of nearshoring and onshoring have continued to gain traction. And a shifting regulatory atmosphere surrounding labor and the environment has brought about a focus on compliance.
Below is a compilation of the year’s most powerful and persuasive commentary on these subjects and more.
On Tariffs
“There’s going to be a new sheriff in town, and this sheriff loves tariffs. It’s what a lot of people in the industry have been modeling for, bracing for or planning around for some time now.”–Steve Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), following the presidential election.
“Can the president-elect be boxed in? You can’t box him in on anything. He’s un-boxable.” – Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) president and CEO Matt Priest on Donald Trump’s shifting tariff threats and whether he’ll follow through.
“We’ve been through this before, and so how do you prepare? You have to get your operations in order, you have to get your advocacy arguments in order. The disadvantage of the second Trump term is that they’ll come to you and say, ‘It’s been six years. What has taken you so long to get out of China?’” –Josh Teitelbaum, senior counsel for international trade policy at Washington, D.C. law firm Akin-Gump.
“To one tariff will come another and so on, until we put our common businesses at risk.” – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Trump’s tariff threats against Mexico.
On De Minimis
“This is not just a wildfire for the U.S. textile industry, while it’s estimated that half of de minimis packages coming in of the 1.4 billion projected this year are expected to be textile and apparel goods. This is a gut punch to an industry that is critical to the U.S. economy and critical to our supply chains.” – National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) president and CEO Kim Glas.
“We’re not going to have a fashion industry across the West if we keep these types of loopholes… And so we can either have a fashion industry or we can have de minimis, but we probably can’t have both.” – Jacob Helberg, Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
“Ask yourself a simple question: If I am an apparel or other consumer product company, why would I bother with investing in domestic retail stores, warehouses, and logistics operations, paying U.S. wages to a significant domestic workforce and seeking out regional supply chains that offer duty-free market access through [a free trade agreement], when I can simply centralize all of my production in the lowest-cost, lowest-standard regions of the world and convert my operations into a duty-free, direct-to-consumer model?” – Andy Warlick, chairman and CEO of North Carolina yarn-maker Parkdale Mills.
On Trade Agreements
“No matter how many people tell our company, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s going to be renewed,’ we have the example of GSP, so we do not have confidence.” – SanMar general counsel and corporate secretary Melissa Nelson on the lagging renewal of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
“If you do not renew this agreement right now, then probably it’s not in time for companies to continue to source from the region. – Dr. Sheng Lu, professor of fashion and apparel studies University of Delaware, on AGOA.
“This agreement is not just an economic opportunity, it is a political necessity.” – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the formation of the controversial EU-Mercosur trade agreement between Europe and four South American nations.
“They’ve had an opportunity to fix these concerns for years and they just don’t want to. So they’ve shown their cards, and we’ll do a bilateral trade deal with them, and a separate one with the U.S.” – Canadian Premier Doug Ford on dismantling the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) due to concerns about fentanyl smuggling and border crossings.
On Domestic Industry
“There is No Fashion District Without Garment Workers” – Garment workers in Los Angeles prior to the final vote on DTLA 2040.
There’s a “slow but growing movement with policymakers who realize that U.S. manufacturing has environmental and sustainable advantages over global competitors.” –American Circular Textiles (ACT) CEO Rachel Kibbe.
“We’ve been through some tough times during the pandemic, but the potential here with the footwear industry, and with the other creative businesses here, is tremendous. U.S. manufacturing is going to benefit all of us.” – U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici at the launch of the Portland, Ore. Made in Old Town project.
“Since Covid, there’s a deeper understanding of how important it is to protect the domestic supply chain; just even over the last four years, there has been a major shift on Capitol Hill, and we’re trying to make sure our voices are out there.” — U.S. Footwear Manufacturing Association (USFMA) trade policy director Karlee Popken.
“We need regulation to put pressure on the industry and force us to collectively move faster and operationalize the changes necessary to create a viable future for fashion.” – Reformation chief sustainability officer and vice president of operations, Kathleen Talbot.
“California is again at the forefront of innovation, proving we can lead the way in creating a circular and sustainable textile economy that benefits everyone.” – California State Senator Josh Newman, author of SB 707, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act.
“We face the potential of sustainability teams turning focus and resources to compliance over innovation and true progress. A unified federal approach would streamline the system, prevent disjointed efforts, and better enable businesses to comply across state lines.” – Rachel Kibbe on the downsides of legislating on a state level.
“How often have you bought a piece of clothing that rather than a plastic label has this cutesy cardboard label that says, ‘We’re a B Corp’ and makes you feel good? But is that just marketing? Or is that legit?” – Congressman Sean Casten (D-Ill.) on the need to regulate sustainable labeling.
“Working conditions in our sector must improve drastically and for that to work, businesses need coherent regulation and clarity as to what good really looks like.” – Alexander Kohnstamm, executive director of the Fair Wear Foundation, on the passage of the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, or CSDDD, this spring.
“All that we can say for sure is that the era of enhanced scrutiny is upon us, and we have made the definitive move away from…voluntary, soft-law drivers of compliance behavior to what is going to be hard law.” – Avedis Seferian, president and CEO, Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), on the passage of the CSDDD and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
