SAFSA Global Forum Confirms Demand for Southeast Asia Apparel Production
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You’ve heard about the Source ASEAN Full-Service Alliance (SAFSA) from Tanjila Islam, CEO of TigerTrade, in past issues of OFF THE CUFF. As you may recall, SAFSA is a private-sector alliance of textile mills and garment factories in Southeast Asia and the companies that source from the region. (If you want to know more, Jeff Streader, an advisor to SAFSA, will be speaking at our annual conference.) From September 29-30, 2011, some of the world’s largest brands and retailers of apparel visited Bangkok, Thailand, for the SAFSA Global Forum.
According to SAFSA’s press release on the forum:
Under the SAFSA, textile mills and garment factories are linked to create “virtual vertical factories” that can provide apparel buyers with the same services of a single integrated factory. Apparel buyers that join SAFSA work directly with these linked factories. During the Global Forum, brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren and Benetton and retailers such as Target and Spain’s El Corte Ingles held over 60 meetings with factory members and signed almost 20 Memorandums of Understanding to do business together.
If you’re interested in more information on SAFSA or sourcing in the region, you can visit www.sourceasean.com/safsa or contact Mike Blakely at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .