July 15, 2025 The AAFA team is back from a successful Traceability & Sustainability Conference in Atlanta and ready to bring you the latest updates on the turbulent trade war. Navigate it all with current news and updated tools from AAFA. |
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Want to Curb Your Emissions? Follow the Money July 10: ... For fashion companies, addressing financed emissions means getting to grips with the environmental impact of their financial providers. From assessing their involvement with fossil fuels to judging their performance on biodiversity to ensuring the bank or provider is delivering competitive returns, there is a lot to consider. Changing some — or all — of the company’s operations to a ‘green’ bank is a relatively easy first step. (Source: Vogue Sustainability) |
Is That Product Really Made in the USA? FTC Cracks Down on Deceptive Claims July 10: Surveys show Americans love American-made products. Problem is, that “Made in USA” tag might not always be accurate. The Federal Trade Commission has been cracking down on false or unsubstantiated marketing around such claims in recent years, forcing some companies to pay thousands, if not millions, of dollars for misleading consumers. That crackdown continues in July, which the FTC has dubbed "Made in the USA" month. On July 8, the agency sent warning letters to four companies reminding them to comply with labeling requirements. (Source: USA Today) |
ILO's AI-Driven Knowledge Hub to Enhance Supply Chain Labor Standards July 9: Powered by generative AI technology, this online platform is intended to facilitate evidence-based policymaking and contribute to the ILO’s overarching goal of fostering equitable and sustainable supply chains around the world. It stems from ILO’s five-year plan (2023-2027) aimed at fostering decent work within supply chains, in line with its overarching mission to advance social justice. This involves the creation of a solid evidence foundation regarding decent work in supply chains and plans to construct a systematic Knowledge Management framework for disseminating the information. (Source: Just Style) |
What Textile-to-Textile Recyclers Want From EU Legislation July 8: As far as the T2T Alliance—T2T being short for textile-to-textile, as in recycling—is concerned, the European Union’s ecodesign for sustainable products regulation has one massive flaw: it doesn’t provide sufficient latitude for different kinds of textile waste. It’s the legislation’s exclusion of post-industrial waste from recycled content targets that served as a “huge, huge, huge” reason for the industry association’s formation, said Dolly Vellanki-Seijger, sourcing and public affairs manager at Circ, a Virginia-based firm that aligned itself with the likes of Circulose, Syre, Samsara Eco and Sanko’s Re&Up Recycling Technologies after realizing they were dealing with the same issue. As the “defining textile policy of 2025,” the ESPR is poised to introduce market-entry ecodesign requirements that mandate a marked boost in recycled textile fibers by 2028. This cannot happen by artificially restricting waste to the post-consumer kind, she added. (Source: Sourcing Journal) |
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U.S. Fashion Sector Fears More Supply Chain Chaos on 30% Mexico Tariffs July 15: ...The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA)’s industry data for 2025 points out the average effective tariff rate on both footwear and apparel is already over five times higher than on all other US imports. While, the utilization of free trade agreements (FTAs) and trade preference programs for apparel continued to fall by 2.9% in 2024. AAFA president and CEO Steve Lamar explains: “This weekend’s announcement of a 30% tariff on US imports from Mexico — without official guidance or a timeline — is injecting even more chaos into supply chains, delaying decisions, threatening price increases, and putting both operations and household budgets at risk.” (Source: Just Style) |
The Latest Tariffs Could Make Your Shoes a Lot More Expensive July 10: ... "They've been putting tariffs on every product from just about every country for a couple of months now, so this is sort of a continuation of the news we've been dealing with and working with for a while now," Steve Lamar, CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, tells Axios. "It's really hard, for sure, to know what those final details are going to look like." Yes, but: The one thing that is certain, Lamar says, is the impact if these new levies aren't negotiated away. "If these high tariff rates are allowed to persist, these runway looks today are going to be replaced with runaway prices tomorrow." (Source: Axios) |
Fashion Faces More Uncertainty With New Tariff Announcements July 9: ... “Since ‘Liberation Day’, American businesses and consumers have been navigating a shifting and unpredictable trade landscape,” says Steve Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA). “While [Monday’s] delay offers some short-term relief, the letters announcing unsustainable tariff rates on some of our industry’s most important trade partners delivered another blow to American businesses.” (Source: Vogue Business) |
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TikTok Rejects Reuters Report About Groundwork for ‘Potential Sale,’ Calling the Claim ‘Factually Inaccurate’ July 10: Social media platform TikTok has rejected a Reuters' "exclusive" report that claimed the platform was laying "the groundwork for a potential sale," saying the report is factually inaccurate, according to a statement. "The recently posted Reuters story, which is based on anonymous uninformed sources, is factually inaccurate," read the statement posted on the platform's official website on Wednesday US local time. The statement did not name a specific Reuters report or provide further information. (Source: Global Times) |
X CEO Linda Yaccarino Resigns After Two Years at the Helm of Elon Musk’s Social Media Platform July 9: X CEO Linda Yaccarino said she’s stepping down after two bumpy years running Elon Musk’s social media platform. Yaccarino posted a positive message Wednesday about her tenure at the company formerly known as Twitter and said “the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with” Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, maker of the chatbot Grok. She did not say why she is leaving. Musk responded to Yaccarino’s announcement with his own 5-word statement on X: “Thank you for your contributions.” (Source: Associated Press) |
An Endgame for the Epic E-Commerce Era is Within Sight July 7: ... E-commerce sales will hit $1.27 trillion in 2025, an 8.5% increase over last year. Despite the positive projection, the report found that online retail market share may be approaching a ceiling by the end of the decade, as consumers look for e-commerce to be increasingly integrated with all their retail experiences. (Source: Yahoo Finance) |
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American Apparel & Footwear Association President and CEO Stephen Lamar speaks live on Bloomberg Insight on July 9. Watch now. |
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Last week in Atlanta: Thank you to every attendee and speaker for the support of our Traceability & Sustainability Conference last week, we had a great turnout of over 300 attendees! We'd also like to give a very special thank you to all of our sponsors for helping us bring the industry together around smart sustainability and a healthy economy! |
A look at our Traceability and Sustainability Conference in Atlanta last week.
Access additional photos and key moments with #AAFATraceability. |
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Tariff talks: We understand the frustration with never-ending, shifting, tariff news and the administration creating more questions than answers. With Vietnam details still pending, Mexico back in the crosshairs, questions about Brazil and Russia as part of larger geopolitical horizons. There's much to unpack. We continue to count down to August 1 with you - now just 17 days away. AAFA will host its next two member-only tariff calls on July 21 and July 28 at noon ET. These will continue in August as twice-monthly rather than weekly. Register for each individually via the AAFA Calendar of Events. For questions on how to take part in these calls or the AAFA Trade & Customs Committee calls , please contact Beth Hughes. In addition to recent tariff-related comments, public statements, and key statistics, the Fashion Tariffs 101 hub offers a tracker of Trade Negotiations by Country, updated weekly. |
Spotlight on Made in USA: This summer, AAFA is excited to host a pop-up event on September 4, Practical Approaches to Made in USA. Supported by National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and SourceAmerica, it will be hosted at the NIB offices in Alexandria, VA, featuring valuable insights and strategies on how to leverage existing production and technology to increase the manufacturing of apparel, footwear, and textiles within the U.S. Questions? Contact Brielle Papalia. As we prepare for America's 250th Anniversary next year, AAFA will be hosting a Member-Only Call on America’s Semi-Quincentennial celebration. Please join us on July 31 with the U.S. Semi-Quincentennial Commission to discuss these year-long celebrations and how to get involved. |
Join us in D.C.: The AAFA team invites you to join us this fall in our hometown of Washington, D.C., where fashion meets policy. Five dates to save on your calendar: September 4, September 10, October 28, November 5, and November 6. Looking ahead, mark your calendar for the 2026 AAFA Executive Summit, taking place March 4-6 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
For questions about the 2025-2026 event calendar or budgeting, please contact our membership team. |
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Member Welcome: Hai Robotics |
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| Hai Robotics is an OEM for robotic automated order fulfillment technology, automated goods-to-person, and automated inventory management. |
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| Visit our events calendar for all AAFA webinars, scheduled events, and member/committee calls. |
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About the American Apparel & Footwear Association The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) is the national trade association representing apparel, footwear and other sewn products companies, and their suppliers, which compete in the global market. Representing more than 1,100 world famous name brands, AAFA is the trusted public policy and political voice of the apparel and footwear industry, its management and shareholders, its more than 3.6 million U.S. workers, and its contribution of more than $523 billion in annual U.S. retail sales. AAFA drives progress on three key priorities: Brand Protection; Supply Chain & Sourcing; and Trade, Logistics, & Manufacturing. AAFA approaches this work through the lens of purpose-driven leadership in a manner that supports each member’s ability to build and sustain inclusive and diverse cultures, meet and advance ESG goals, and draw upon the latest technology. |
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