b'4American Journal of Transportation ajot.com(APPARELcontinuedapparel consuming nations inUS BL Import Housesfrom page 2) the worldone that is rapidly how large the year-over-yearexpanding into brand aware- HS CODE: 61 & 62 Garments (Knitted and Not Knitted)gainsareandthatsalesarenessand Chinas consum-wellabovepre-pandemicers have power that PresidentTEUs TEUs TEUslevels.FebruaryhadwinterXiJinpingsgovernmentisCo. of Origin 2,020 2,019 US Port 2,020 2,019 US Region 2,020 2,019storms that impacted consum- well aware of. China 415,171 507,964 LA, CA 275,334 323,563 West 537,997 636,305ers ability to get out and shop,AndChinasconsum-and the IRS delay in when iters retaliated against H&MsVietnam 179,219 187,267 Long Beach,CA 248,851 294,134 South Atlantic 217,906 256,663startedacceptingtaxreturnspositionbyboycottingtheBangladesh 75,298 81,529 NY/Newark, NJ 187,480 230,453 East 191,074 235,128pushedbackthereleaseofbrand(andsimilarlydoingIndonesia 47,049 58,540 Sannah, GA 112,105 116,008 PNW 56,812 60,508refunds.Butincreasedvac- the same to other well-knownCambodia 41,826 38,872 MIAMI,FL 39,353 45,880 Gulf 55,306 61,681cinationsandreductionsinname brands like Nike).India 39,749 49,537 Houston,TX 37,370 33,397 Mid Atlantic 38,131 44,739restrictionsallowedmore peopletoventureoutandt hem ove goth&m S Honduras 35,078 51,041 Norfolk,VA 34,857 41,745 Puerto Rico 1,329 1,332governmentstimulusgavea ttention . Hong Kong 33,493 43,329 Tacoma,WA 33,493 39,380 Great Lakes 24 21them more money to spend. H&M subsequently (MarchPakistan 32,851 34,994 Port Everglades, FL 29,078 38,771 Midwest 16 28Overall, the NRF is fore- 31st)issuedaletterwhichGuatemala 18,715 20,414 Charleston,SC 25,798 34,672 Unknown 1 14casting that 2021 retail salesbegan with the statement We willincreasebetween6.5%areworkingtogetherwithOthers 180,147 222,935 Others 74,876 98,417 Others -0 -0and 8.2% percent over 2020,our colleagues in China to doTotal 1,098,596 1,296,420 Total 1,098,596 1,296,420 Total 1,098,596 1,296,420for a total between $4.33 tril- everything we can to manage lion and $4.4 trillion. thecurrentchallengesandByworkingtogetherwithThe dilemma that H&Mworthnotingthatmany However,thekickerinfind a way forward. Furtherstakeholders and partners, weisexperiencingwithChinathoughtMyanmarwouldbe all the stimulating good newsthestatementsaid,Wearebelieve we can take steps inis really the same conundrumagoodalternativeupuntil isthatclothingandcloth- dedicatedtoregainingtheourjointeffortstodevelopalltextileandapparelcom- two weeks ago) and perhaps ingaccessorieshaventbeentrustandconfidenceofourthe fashion industry, as wellpaniesface.Cananapparelmorechallenging,cantheir keeping pace with other retailcustomers,colleagues,andasserveourcustomersandcompanymoveaheadwithbottom line afford to ignore sectors. According to the NRF,businesspartnersinChina.act in a respectful way. alternativesourcing(itisthe China market?Clothing and clothing acces-sory stores were down 2.8% month-over-monthseason-ally adjusted and down 14.9% unadjustedyear-over-year. Whileclothingretailersare hoping that as the pandemics impactslessen,moredollars move out of service-oriented goodsandbackintoapparel andfootwearpurchases. Still, the question remains on whetherthemallmaulwill continueorwillbrickand mortarmakeacomebackas people hit the streets?S ouRcingP uzzleThe apparel and footwear industry are highly dependent on sourcing its products from lowcostnationslikeBan-gladesh,Indonesia,Myan-mar, Vietnam and of course, China.Andwhilesourcing keeps production costs down and lowers the prices for the consumer,sourcingcomes with its own puzzling set of problems. Take the Swedish retailor H&M, as an example. Awhileback,H&Mmade astatementbroachingcon-cernoverthereportsChina was using the ethnic Muslim minorityUyghursasforced labor in the Xinjiangregion amajorsourceofcotton used in production of apparel. TheUnitedNationsHuman RightsCouncil(UNHRC) had even sent letters to major companies in the textile and apparel industry highlighting concernoverthepotential use of forced labor in China.Inmanyrespects,there wasnothingthatunusualin theH&Mpositionasmany other brands, celebrities and governments,includingthe U.S., have made similar pro-nouncements. Recently, Brit-ain, the EU, Canada and the U.S. placed sanctions on Chi-nese officials involved in the massinternmentofUyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.ButChinaisdifferent than most sourcing countries as it is also one of the largest'