In December of last year, Forbes’ Walter Loeb published an article entitled Why Supply Chain Management Strategies Must Change. It highlighted many of the issues, including closed factories, overloaded ports, lack of containers, and more, along with skyrocketing costs of shipping and transportation—from Asia to the U.S. and Europe—as well as trucking transportation to get goods to their final destination. Delays were rampant; in fact, the article reports that in December, Halloween costumes were just arriving at Western ports!

The article states: “There is a need to reduce excess production because that can lead to more efficient use of resources throughout the supply chain with benefit to everyone involved. It means that raw material use can be reduced if demand is more realistic; that avoids heavy markdowns and reflects more responsible environmental behavior at the same time. Orders should be written to reflect realistic need—anticipating the customer’s needs and wants.”

It also notes that at least 75% of apparel production takes place in these countries: China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Morocco, India, Egypt, and Korea.