Literally minutes before McDonald officially opened the World Fashion Convention to a live audience in Philadelphia, US, he casually sat down with Just Style for a chat on the balcony of the Bellevue Hotel’s exquisite ballroom overlooking grand chandeliers and a sea of empty chairs facing the main stage.

It’s the second time this year Just Style has interviewed McDonald face-to-face – the first was at SPESA’s TexProcess Americas trade show in Atlanta where he shared his optimism for a regional fashion supply chain becoming a long-term solution for the Americas despite the ongoing economic slump.

In the world of fashion a lot can happen in five short months and McDonald is adamant the US apparel manufacturing sector in particular cannot afford to standstill.

He shares some interesting progress has been made in the US Government contracts sector as the US military understands how vital the apparel manufacturing industrial base is, but he says we cannot wait for the answers to come to us.

McDonald is adamant there are three realistic options for US manufacturing right now:

1) An immediate and significant investment or a partner aiding with the advancement of automation and modernising the industrial base.

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2) Paying for it later if we let the status quo stand.

3) Letting the industry die.

He’s quick to add the third point is a hard one to say out loud, but he’s keen to reiterate that current problems need to be addressed and it’s going to take significant investment to do it.

The US apparel manufacturing sector is in transition

The theme for this year’s World Fashion Convention is an industry in transition: building stronger, smarter and more sustainable supply chains and McDonald says it’s happening whether we like it or not from a workforce, technology and sustainability perspective.

From a global standpoint he states fashion sourcing professionals are slowly moving out of China but the industry has decided there is “no next China”.

So the question we need to focus on is how do we build smaller and more on-demand supply chains and thankfully he shares there are already exciting and creative solutions available.

For McDonald the International Apparel Federation (IAF) agreeing to host the annual World Fashion Convention in the US for the first time in 23 years is a pivotal moment.

“When I joined the IAF I was adamant the Western Hemisphere is a re-emerging opportunity for manufacturing and IAF members should be interested in it.”

He had three key goals in mind for SPESA hosting the IAF’s World Fashion Convention in Philadelphia, US. Firstly he was keen for the US to gain the global knowledge of IAF’s members.

One key benefit of this, he says, is the fact that over the last 15 to 20 years new fashion industry regulations tend to start in Europe, go to California and then make their way to the wider US. He suggests that by learning what’s happening in the EU now, the US sector can also prepare for the future.

“Instead of lobbying to ensure those legislations don’t come to our shores. It means we can lobby to ensure those rules make sense for us,” he states.

US manufacturing needs the right investments

McDonald was also keen to showcase what the Western Hemisphere has to offer in terms of true partnerships and opportunities as well as encourage investment in US manufacturing.

He admits US apparel manufacturers are a gritty and hard working group but are on shoestring budgets and have been for 30 years. This makes it hard for the domestic base to invest in the machinery and technology needed to take it from the 1940s to 2040s.

Of course, he adds there are investment opportunities in the US but he’s keen to make the right connections to encourage investments specifically within the US fashion manufacturing sector.

To sum up: “We wanted to show what the US and the rest of the world has to offer all in one conference.”

McDonald and the SPESA team never sit on their laurels and once the conference is finished his team will be preparing for SPESA’s next executive conference in Montreal, Canada, which he says has a vibrant, exciting and vast industry.

Plus, he reveals SPESA plans to use this year and next year to start creating content – whether it’s a whitepaper, research paper or survey on the industry.

He subtly namedrops Just Style’s regular contributor Dr Sheng Lu as one of his favourite academics who can analyse data like no one else and says SPESA hopes to learn from his analysis and see how it can be applied to the US manufacturing industry to help address the issues it faces.

He remains optimistic for 2024 despite citing this year as being one of the hardest for SPESA members: “I believe we’ve bottomed out and it won’t get any worse so there’s no doom and gloom for the future – if you’re still around now, you’ll still be around next year as you’re a fighter.”

Fast forward to the end of the event and McDonald describes it as being a huge success with one key takeaway: “People still matter. No one is losing their job to a robot in the US but we are in a world trying to make use of AI. For this reason it’s crucial to remember that AI won’t work if it’s put in front of a dumb person so manufacturing still matters and our members still matter.”

By Just Style