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From Field to Shelf
Opinion about the global market for cotton, textiles and apparel.

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Robert Antoshak
Apr 23, 20236 min read
AI: Artificial Innovation for The Apparel Industry?
An article authored by Laura Husband on just-style recently about artificial intelligence (AI) got me thinking about how the technology...
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Robert Antoshak
Mar 14, 20226 min read
When Apparel Supply Chains Fail to Supply
Note: This article was published on February 8, 2022 in just-style.com, a couple of weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. Report from the...
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Robert Antoshak
Feb 19, 20226 min read
Do Rising Cotton Prices Really Harm Apparel Companies?
Note: This article was published last year in sourcingjournal.com, and cotton prices have moderated since then. Even so, inflation...
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Robert Antoshak
Feb 11, 20226 min read
The Ten Key Trends to Watch for the Apparel Industry in 2022
As I nurse my New Year's Eve hangover, I am preoccupied with two issues. One, when will my head stop hurting? And, two, what's in store...
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Robert Antoshak
Dec 6, 20215 min read
What Happens to Fast Fashion if Global Growth Falters?
The success of fast fashion is predicated on growth, and lots of it, a constant churn of products in the stores. It's also a business...
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Robert Antoshak
Sep 13, 20217 min read
Why Can't We Turn Off Consumerism and Fashion?
The fashion industry is multifaceted: manufacturing, sourcing, design, merchandising, and consumerism, to name just a few examples....
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Robert Antoshak
Jun 22, 20215 min read
How Textiles Made the World
With the pandemic weighing so heavily on our industry, I got to thinking if there were lessons from the past that could help illuminate...
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Robert Antoshak
May 24, 20216 min read
A Boat Got Stuck and Other Calamities
A boat blocked the Suez Canal. Global trade ground to a halt. Huh? After all, accidents will happen; that's nothing new. But the Suez...
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Robert Antoshak
Apr 14, 20216 min read
Do Current Consumer Attitudes Foretell Apparel's Future?
Although we're not out of the woods yet regarding the pandemic and an anemic economy, brands are stirring back to life. But with this...
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Robert Antoshak
Jan 11, 20215 min read
The Outlook for the Future is Hazy and Gray
It seems that a vaccine for the Covid-19 virus may be available soon. Well, it couldn't come too soon. A year's worth of devastation...
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Robert Antoshak
Oct 15, 20205 min read
Should The Denim Industry Worry About Knitwear?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that consumer demand for mass-market jeans has plummeted during the Covid pandemic. In contrast, demand for...
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Robert Antoshak
Sep 10, 20207 min read
The Great Masking of America
For most of July, I worked closely with one of my clients, Vidalia Mills, to install five automated mask-making machines. During that...
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Robert Antoshak
Jun 11, 20206 min read
Now's The Time For NGOs To Up Their Game
In the famous 1976 movie "Network," a distraught fictional American television news presenter, Howard Beale, had a breakdown on live TV....
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Robert Antoshak
Apr 19, 20207 min read
The Growth Conundrum: How Does Slowing Global Economic Growth Affect Apparel?
Allow me to begin this column with an apology: I’m now going to sound like an economics wonk. Yikes. Economics. Growth rates, GDP, trade...
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Robert Antoshak
Aug 17, 20195 min read
Can Global Supply chains Ever be sustainable?
It's an old story. I've heard it from proponents of Made-in-USA production. How can our industry be truly sustainable if it maintains...
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Robert Antoshak
Dec 17, 20174 min read
Maybe It’s Time For A Single Cotton Sustainability Standard
Environmental groups need to be careful about what they wish for: push too hard, and they’ll get what they want, only with unintended...
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Robert Antoshak
May 15, 20165 min read
How to Sustain Cotton's Competitive Advantage
Cotton isn't in the fabric of our lives anymore. Polyester holds that distinction today. Why is that? Price is a major factor; globally,...
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