(Watch Cary Sherburne’s full video interview with Michael McDonald here.)

Sewn Products Equipment and Suppliers of the Americas (SPESA) is the trade association representing the sewn products industry—everything from companies that make sewing and cutting machines, to product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, and costing software. In other words, anything that takes a piece of fabric and turns it into a finished product like a T-shirt, a piece of furniture, or an automobile. While the association is focused on the Americas, it is a global association since many of these suppliers come from other parts of the world.

The textiles and apparel industry as a whole is undergoing an analog-to-digital transformation, which puts stress on participants in any industry. As part of that, even pre-pandemic, the industry was beginning to recognize that it had serious problems with the way the global supply chain was structured. And the pandemic clearly exacerbated that. While many participants may have thought they had a few years to get things sorted out, the abrupt lockdowns associated with the pandemic put paid to that idea. It left brands and retailers scrambling as ports closed, containers became harder and more expensive to acquire, and the stream of products and materials headed to market literally dried up.