New technology's impact will be huge: IAF's Han Bekke

Bekke listed five general developments that are going to occur in future: geopolitical tensions and populism which could lead to protectionism; climate change which could lead to huge ecological and social crises after 2020; strong growth of world population till 2050; new technologies like digitalisation, robots, and 3D that would influence the way of doing business; and safety and security aspects.

He stressed on the need to create faster, more flexible and more efficient supply chains by digitisation of the supply chain, collecting and using data, and improving intelligent manufacturing (Industry 4.0). He urged the stakeholders to improve the industry’s social and environmental performance and its reputation by creating industry wide result-oriented improvement programmes, setting and communicating clear industry wide goals, avoiding price races to the bottom, and improving supply chain wide transparency.

Bekke predicted that in the near future markets will grow on a global scale, and there will be shift in spending towards Asia, but Europe and the US will continue to remain important markets.

Speaking earlier at the Forum, Avedis H Seferian, esq., president & CEO of Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) examined the increasingly critical role of social compliance. Stressing on the importance of responsible sourcing in fashion supply chain Seferian urged the industry to “think about social compliance not as an afterthought but as a business investment”.

In his keynote remarks on ‘Ethiopia – The new horizon of hope’, Abebe Abebayehu Chekol, commissioner, Ethiopian Investment Commission, spoke on investment opportunities in emerging countries like Ethiopia.

Delegates from Stoll Asia, Matrix Clothing, Lion International, OVS, PVH, New Balance, etc were among those who participated in PSF 2019. An annual event, PSF is a unique platform for the global fashion industry and is perceived to be one of the most beneficial and effective promotional channels for the industry.

Fibre2Fashion, the global portal for the textiles-apparel-fashion industry, is one of the sponsors of PSF. (RKS)

ALCHEMPro News Desk – India