A piece of apparel has the power to express a great deal; the right outfit can invoke emotion, spark creativity, and boost self-esteem. What is even more expressive though is the way that outfit and it’s buttons and zippers moves through a supply chain.

A brand’s supply chain process says a lot about the company and the product in question. Nowadays, consumers are not only interested in how a garment, accessory, or piece of footwear looks. They’re just as concerned with how it is made and whether the brand is compliant in meeting sustainable practices.

Working with suppliers to achieve supply chain compliance for sustainable sourcing and ethical marketing is challenging as it is. What adds to that challenge is a company’s need to track their supplier’s compliance.

Without a proper tracking system, supply chain compliance is pretty much impossible. Keep reading to learn about the biggest challenges brands face when tracking compliance and to gain insight into how to overcome each one.

Lack of an Integrated System

There are many moving parts to a functioning and successful supply chain - raw materials, manufacturing, an ordering system, shipping and delivery, logistics, a system for returns/exchanges… the list goes on. When these parts aren’t working in conjunction with one another, it’s not easy to find information and errors are more likely. Not to mention, tracking the compliance of your current suppliers will be more difficult when all aspects of the chain haven’t been integrated.

You need the ability to track compliance efficiently and accurately to enjoy the many benefits that attend an integrated supply chain. Here are a few:

• Better ability to meet demand

• Greater visibility

• Increased collaboration with partners

• More flexibility to respond to external events

• Higher profit margins

Because there are so many aspects to supply chain management, brands are looking for a consolidated platform to integrate each factor into a single easy-to-use system. Using a platform or portal to integrate is by far the most effective way to overcome this challenge, and it’s a great way to achieve the benefits listed above.

Lack of Universal Compliance Regulations

Claudia Isler, Head of Auditing at natific AG, explains consumer attitudes towards compliance perfectly:

“Compliance is not just a word, it is an attitude and a procedure. And we should not forget that consumers are looking more and more for compliant brands and suppliers.”

Every brand should be adopting this attitude for compliance and striving to integrate sustainability into their supply chains. One difficulty is that there are no global regulations for compliance in the fashion industry. The other is that, until recently there has not been a single platform serving all industries.

Although it’s easy to find compliance regulations in the US and EU, this isn’t the case for developing countries like Vietnam, China, and Bangladesh. The lack of universal regulation and the absence of an across-industry platform pose challenges to every brand’s compliance tracking. This is especially true for companies working multi-nationally with suppliers in developing countries.

It seems the only real way to overcome this challenge is to educate yourself on regulations in all countries with which your products are affiliated. This post on the complexities of global compliance regulations can help.

Lack of Real-Time Visibility

Updates to the supply chain must be made in real-time or tracking can be challenging. Especially tracking compliance. Moreover the result of updates on orders, manufacturing, deliveries which aren’t made in real-time, is confusion and misleading or incorrect information that can be time consuming to fix.

According to a 2020 post by Entrepreneur, there are many challenges caused by lack of visibility:

“Common challenges arising as a result include lack of supply chain planning, integration, and execution; inefficiency in organizing, processing, and managing data; limited availability of useful insights due to technological constraints; lack of synergy between automated systems and manual operations; inability to predict and prepare for risks; inconsistencies in the flow of data between stakeholders; and lack of a single data model to connect vital information from disparate planning and execution systems.”

Increasing visibility and transparency of product supply chains benefits everyone in the industry: manufacturers, suppliers, logistics vendors, and consumers. Overcoming the visibility challenge can be done by bringing your supply chain to an integrated platform specialized in helping you show your customers they can be proud to buy your products.

How Bomler Can Help Overcome These Challenges

Every decision made in manufacturing comes down to the three Cs: capability, capacity, and compliance. While capability and capacity are fairly straightforward concepts, achieving the third C - compliance - poses unique challenges.

More and more, brands are looking for a platform conceived to help them track and maintain compliance. The importance of this in nurturing consumer loyalty can not be overstated. That’s where Bomler can help. Our goal is to help brands overcome those challenges, both in terms of meeting compliance as well as tracking it.

The Bomler Compliance Portal works to connect sustainable suppliers with eco-friendly brands, offering a completely transparent platform for supplier and product information. Register for a free trial and start tracking your brand’s supply chain compliance today.