Audience:
Open industry. All apparel and footwear industry professionals, regardless of AAFA membership, are encouraged to participate.
Description:
The risks to importers of cotton apparel continues to increase as Customs and Border Protection widens its focus and is detaining products from more countries that are believed to have cotton inputs from Xinjiang. The importance of transparency and visibility into the origin of cotton is increasingly necessary for brands and retailers to be able to protect their cotton supply chain, especially at a time of record cotton prices.
Attendees of this webinar will learn:
- The challenges and risks to your brand and supply chain.
- The latest technology solutions available to ensure a secure cotton supply chain.
- How further government actions may impact risks going forward.
Speakers:
MeiLin Wan
Vice President, Textiles
Applied DNA Sciences
MeiLin is responsible for providing clients with innovative molecular business solutions to preserve the integrity of products, assure quality and enable responsible and sustainable sourcing practices globally. She leads the team to create commercial solutions under the CertainT platform for cotton, synthetics, recycled PET, wool, viscose, leather, down and feather, and specialty coatings. . For over 18 years, MeiLin has worked in the bioscientific field transforming the use forensic DNA and nanotechnologies into useful and novel consumer and industrial driven applications.
Keith Hackley
Senior Geochemist
Isotech/Stratum Reservoir
Keith C. Hackley is a Senior Geochemist at Isotech Labs (a Stratum Reservoir affiliate) based in Champaign, Illinois. He has over 29 years commercial and technical experience in isotope geochemistry with numerous publications in areas of groundwater, coal, and environmental geochemistry, especially using isotopic evidence to discern geochemical processes and determine the origin of gas and environmental contaminants. He is a Licensed Professional Geologist in Illinois and a member of American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Geological Society of America, and the National Ground Water Association. He received his B.S. degree in geology from Pennsylvania State University, followed by a M.S. degree in geology and a Ph.D. in geochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Andrew Samet
Principal
Sorini Samet & Associates LLC
Andrew Samet is a Principal with Sorini Samet & Associates LLC. He has worked on global trade matters for four decades, including in the U.S. Senate and in the Clinton Administration. Mr. Samet works on the intersection of trade and labor issues, and on supply chain due diligence. He is a former U.S. representative to the International Labor Organization, and negotiated the first Better Work program in Cambodia. He has represented parties on a number labor complaints under free trade agreements.
Moderator:
Nate Herman
Senior Vice President, Policy
AAFA
Nate Herman oversees AAFA’s government relations department, managing the association’s lobbying, policy, and regulatory affairs activities. Nate leads AAFA’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, formulating and implementing CSR policy and representing AAFA and the industry on CSR issues before governments, NGOs, and other key stakeholders. In addition, Nate develops all apparel and footwear industry data and statistics as AAFA's resident economist. Prior to joining AAFA, Nate worked for six years at the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration assisting U.S. firms in entering the global market. Nate spent the last two years as the Department's industry analyst for the footwear and travel goods industries. Nate received a Masters of Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh in 1994 and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Economics from the University of Delaware in 1992.