2020 was a year like no other in recent history of the world. For many industries, textiles included, the pandemic brought things to a screeching halt early in the year. But as things began to ease up a bit—at least in some parts of the world—and we were able to take a step back and a deep breath, stakeholders across the industry began taking stock of the textiles supply chain, whose weaknesses and fragility were laid bare by the pandemic.

Among other things, people were wondering why we have ships full of textile products constantly traversing the seas, and why we are still using the old “design, manufacture, and hope-to-sell” model.

While there were many exciting developments in textiles during the year, including significant improvements in digital textile printing technologies, this focus on restructuring the supply chain is likely to have the most long-lasting effect on the industry. The pros and cons of the industry’s ability to make this move were recently discussed by WhatTheyThink contributor and textiles expert Debbie McKeegan, who made these suggestions: