Audience:
Open industry. All apparel and footwear industry professionals, regardless of AAFA membership, are encouraged to participate.
Description:
For decades, the apparel, footwear, and fashion industry has been optimized for one thing: speed. Faster design cycles. Faster sourcing decisions. Faster product launches. Faster response to demand. Today, however, a new reality is emerging. Digital Product Passports, ESG reporting, forced labor regulations, traceability mandates, and growing consumer scrutiny are forcing brands to prove—not just promise—responsibility across every stage of the product lifecycle. The challenge is clear: every new compliance requirement adds complexity, data dependencies, and decision points that can slow the business down. Or does it?
This session explores whether the industry's perceived trade-off between speed and responsibility is real—or whether intelligent automation, connected data, and digital supply chain visibility can eliminate the need to choose. Can brands accelerate product development while strengthening compliance? Can AI, traceability technologies, and automation transform responsibility from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage? Join AAFA and Infor to find out!
Attendees of this webinar will learn:
- To recognize why fragmented data—not regulation—is the primary barrier to achieving speed, responsibility, and compliance.
- How to evaluate where intelligent automation and AI can eliminate manual processes while improving compliance, traceability, and supply chain performance.
- To develop a roadmap for transforming responsibility from a compliance obligation into a strategic competitive advantage.
Speaker:
Ana Friedlander
Sr. Director, Industry & Solution Strategy
Infor
Ana has over 25 years of experience in the Apparel and Retail industry, both from the fashion and retail companies as well as software companies. Prior to joining Infor, she was the Chief Information Officer at the largest privately held outerwear company, leading all the IT, Supply Chain, and technology initiatives to drive growth. She also played an active role in the RFID and Blockchain projects sponsored by GS1 and Auburn University together with the larger retailers to test the feasibility of the technology before this became a mandatory requirement to the industry.
AAFA Host:
Beth Hughes
Vice President, Trade and Customs Policy
AAFA
Beth Hughes is responsible for AAFA’s advocacy strategy on international trade and customs issues impacting the apparel and footwear industry. Beth oversees AAFA’s Trade and Customs Committee and leads the Coalition of Economic Partnerships in the Americas (CEPA). Beth also serves as a Cleared Advisor on the Industry Trade Advisory Committee 13: Customs Matters and Trade Facilitation advising the U.S Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative. Before joining AAFA, Beth worked at the International Dairy Foods Association and the USA Rice Federation covering agricultural trade policy issues. Beth earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at George Washington University and received a Master of Arts in international affairs from Florida State University.
Unable to join on August 19?
Register for the webinar to receive an email containing the direct link to access the recording of the webinar and the PDF version of the presentation. The email will be sent 1-3 business days after the webinar.
CONTACT | QUESTIONS
Stephanie Paendong