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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From Field to Shelf
Opinion about the global market for cotton, textiles and apparel.
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Robert Antoshak
Apr 14, 20216 min
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
Mar 15, 20217 min
The Good and Bad of Globalization
So, what do you do when business decisions made more than 30 years ago come back to haunt you? Well, you either acknowledge there's a...
333 views0 comments
Robert Antoshak
Dec 28, 20203 min
A New Year, A New Blog
The year 2020 may go down in history as an inflection point, a time of significant change when so much went so wrong. But from out of...
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Robert Antoshak
Dec 16, 20206 min
Will A Troubled Presidential Transition Add To Apparel Industry Woes?
(Co-Authored with Fashion+Sustainability advisor, Thomasine Dolan Dow.) As Americans, we're concerned that the presidential transition...
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Robert Antoshak
Nov 20, 20205 min
U.S. Political Divisions Complicate Fashion's Future
Oddly enough, when writing this month's column, I originally intended to discuss likely economic recovery scenarios and how those could...
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Robert Antoshak
Oct 15, 20205 min
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
Aug 11, 20208 min
How The Apparel Industry Can Become Exceptional
(Co-Authored with April Kappler, consultant to the cotton and textile supply chain.) Thomas Hobbes, the 17th Century English philosopher,...
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Robert Antoshak
Jul 10, 20207 min
Selling Garments Should Never Be The Same
We live in such difficult times. It's like the world has been turned upside down. What worked before is now failing. Darkness has...
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Robert Antoshak
Jun 12, 20206 min
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
May 15, 20208 min
The Apparel Industry Is About To Change
Two recent articles left me wondering about where our world, let alone our industry, will end up once the Covid-19 pandemic eases. The...
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Robert Antoshak
May 1, 20206 min
Does Covid-19 Mark the End of Globalization?
Are we witnessing the end of globalization? The simple answer is no. But, there is a more nuanced answer that I'd like to suggest:...
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Robert Antoshak
Apr 20, 20207 min
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
Mar 14, 20205 min
Why Is Cotton Always The Apparel Industry's Punching Bag?
Having worked in the cotton business for many years, one of the things I’ve noticed about various clothing brands when pressed about...
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Robert Antoshak
Feb 23, 20204 min
The Environmental Cost of Online Shopping
Years may change, but some things stay the same. For sure, many of the problems we faced as an industry last year still plague us at the...
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Robert Antoshak
Nov 21, 20196 min
So, Is Near-Shoring A Thing?
In case you hadn't noticed, our industry is changing. For many companies, extended supply chains are out; sustainability is in. Cheap is...
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Robert Antoshak
Oct 17, 20196 min
What Price Fast-Fashion and the Future of Clothes?
"Since the invention of the mechanical loom nearly two and a half centuries ago, fashion has been a dirty, unscrupulous business that has...
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Robert Antoshak
Aug 18, 20195 min
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
Jun 2, 20197 min
Economic Inequality and its Impact on Apparel Demand
There seems to be growing concern over the future of capitalism – at least the American variety – so says The Washington Post in a...
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Robert Antoshak
Apr 20, 20197 min
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...
2 views0 comments
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