Talking strategy: Peter Needle of Segura Systems discusses the increasing demand for transparent apparel supply chains

Apparel brands and retailers are under growing pressure to become socially more responsible and to make their supply chains more transparent. In response, they have reduced risk within their supply chains by auditing the factories they source from and cancelling contracts with suppliers who do not adhere to their strict guidelines. However, there is a limit to what can be achieved when carrying out factory audits, and abuses of human rights continue to be rife in several major sourcing countries. Also, subcontracting is common in the industry, and in many cases brands and retailers have little control over - or even awareness of - abuses and breaches of guidelines which occur at the subcontracting stage. Increasing numbers of brands and retailers are using management software programs in order to overcome these challenges. In this edition of "Talking strategy", Peter Needle, a founder of Segura Systems - a UK-based company which supplies cloud-based production tracking software - discusses the complexity of today's supply chains and how software such as Segura can enable a brand or retailer to take control of his entire supply chain. Also, he provides an overview of challenges in apparel supply chains and an outlook into future trends in sourcing and technology for the apparel industry.

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