The fashion industry is under the microscope. With sustainability mandates landing on executive desks and shoppers demanding to know where their clothes come from, brands are scrambling for lower-impact materials and supply chain tracking tools. At the same time, artificial intelligence is reshaping everything from factory floor planning to how you shop online. The push for smarter, cleaner operations has never been more urgent.
That's the backdrop for Sourcing Journal's "Visions of Tomorrow," set for July 27 in New York. The event will honor five leaders who are rethinking how clothes are made, sold and recycled. The lineup includes True Fit CEO Jessica Murphy, Unspun cofounder Beth Esponnette, Centric Brands' Meg Ball, Eileen Fisher's Carmen Gama and Target's Sandra Gagnon. Sourcing Journal deputy editor Kate Nishimura called them "the tip of the spear" in transforming the apparel supply chain from design to end-of-life.
Circular design remains a stubborn puzzle. Gama noted that the industry already has plenty of materials - the real work is building the infrastructure to reclaim them. "It's not so much about how we design new garments," she said, "but how we build the technology that supports the post-consumer supply chain to close the loop." Esponnette compared navigating AI to rafting down a river: you see a boulder ahead, and you have to make a move now for what's coming next. "Even the people building AI don't know what it will become," she added. The evening will feature panel talks and cocktail networking, all aimed at turning ideas into action.
Originally reported by WWD