b'2American Journal of Transportation ajot.comApparel and Footwear 2021What will the apparel industry look like post-pandemic? GARMENTS, APPAREL Theapparelandfootwearindustryisundergoing some profound changes as the pandemics grip loos- & FOOTWEAR 2021ens, what will the industry look like?By George Lauriat, AJOT The apparel and footwear sectorandcreatelimitedliabilityprotec-werealreadyundersiegewhenthetions,bothofwhichareneededto COVID-19pandemicstruck.Tar- sustain our recovery.iffs introduced by the former TrumpExactly what that recovery will Administration had led to retaliatorylooklikefortheapparelandfoot-tariffs igniting trade skirmishes withwearsectorisstilluncertain.The many of the nations trading partnerseconomic recovery from other retail and all out trade war with China. Evensectorsisalreadywellunderway with the trade deal negotiated in latewithcertaincaveats. TheNational 2019, China and the United States stillRetailFederation(NRF)reported remainatoddsovertrade. Andthein March that February numbers in Bidenadministration,whileitisntayear-over-yearbasis(Commerce as wed to the issue of reducing tradeDept. figures) were up 6.3%, despite deficits as the former administration,a minor slowdown in February. nevertheless is unlikely to give up aNRF Chief Economist Jack Klein-negotiating advantage without Chinahenz said, Despite that, its hard to see conceding on some points. There wasthisasasetbackwhenyouconsider also another round of tariff hikes on(APPARELcontinued on page 4) The Sri Rejeki Isman, known as Sritex, factory in Solo, Indonesia. ( Photo: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg)Chinadesignatedtotakeeffecton March 31st.It is with this backdrop that Ste-phen Lamar, chief executive officer of the American Apparel and Footwear Association(AAFA)askedthatthe tariffs be removed quickly, explaining in an interview with Seana Smith of Yahoo Finance, Look, during a pan-demic is the worst time to be charg-ing tariffs. Its a cost. It means that werepayingthesetaxestotheUS government, that prices get inflated. It denies us the ability to hire more workers to pass along those savings to consumers. This is the wrong time to be adding tariffs. So, were hoping theyll be able to turn their attention to that as quickly as they possibly can.Lamar (and the AAFA) has many reasons to want the tariffs to drop but the bottom line is that theapparel and footwear industry has been taking a beating and have either closed shops or gone outright into bankruptcy like legacy department stores and outlets including Century 21, Lord & Taylor, NeimanMarcus,theGap,Brooks Brothers, JC Penney, Abercrombie & Fitch, Francescas and Macys. To be sure, tariffs werent the sole cause.Thepandemicslockdowns acceleratedamovetoe-commerce thatdevastatedbrickandmortar business.Butforanindustrybased largely on imported goods, the double whammy of tariffs and lockdowns has altered the business landscape. ThequestionLamarandothers have in the post-pandemic reality is will the apparel and footwear industry rebound, and in what fashion?S timulating aR ecoveRyFornow,Lamargothiswish. On March 11th, President Joe Biden signedthe$1.9trillionCOVID-19 relief bill into law a few days after temporarilyextendingtariffexclu-sions.AndasLamarinhisstate-mentsaid,Thisreliefcomesjust days after the decision to temporarily extendtariffexclusionsforimports of crucial Personal Protective Equip-ment(PPE)andtotemporarilylift otherpunitivetariffswhichhave been undue taxes on American busi-nesses and consumers.ButLamaralsopointedout, Beyondstimulus,itisimportant wequicklypasslegislationtobuild a backstop for trade credit insurance'