SAFSA Global Forum 2010
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Eight leading fashion brands from Europe and the United States signed 23 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with Southeast Asian textile and apparel suppliers at the SAFSA Global Forum 2010 in Singapore, June 3-4, 2010.
High-level sourcing personnel from AVON Products, Debenhams, Guess Inc., MANGO, M&S (Marks &Spencer), Max Mara, Polo Ralph Lauren, and VF Corporation participated in the round table discussions and one-to-one meetings format. These brands collectively account for more than US$32 billion in annual global retail sales.
They met with the owners and senior executives of 14 “virtual vertical factories” (VVFs), which are partnerships between ASEAN-based textile mills and garment factories. As members of the Source ASEAN Full Service Alliance (SAFSA), the VVF partnerships aim to set new international standards for production quality, speed-to-market, and value-added services.
The global brands agreed to work with VVFs at the inaugural SAFSA Global Forum. The MOUs are expected to develop into lucrative commercial partnerships.
SAFSA is a three-year pilot program whose objective is to maximize efficiencies along ASEAN’s textile and apparel industry supply chain and offer a value-added full-service product to global customers. SAFSA was initiated and developed by USAID’s ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) Project in support of the ASEAN Federation of Textile Industries (AFTEX).
More than 80 people attended the inaugural SAFSA Global Forum, which was organized by the Textile and Fashion Federation of Singapore (TaFf), USAID’s ACE Project and AFTEX members with the financial support of Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and the Economic Development Board. The SAFSA Global Forum is designed to be an annual event
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