Adaptable Supply Chains Win | Katrina Duck, Inspectorio | PI Apparel

Good afternoon. I'm Katrina Duck and I lead the EMEA team at Inspectorio. I spent over a decade living in Asia, USA, and Europe working for brands and manufacturers across sourcing, design, sustainability, and traceability. And I've truly firsthand seen how much the landscape has changed and how urgent the need is to evolve. Today I want to talk about resilience. Not just in theory, but in practice. And regulations are tightening, risk is rising, consumers are watching. But here's the opportunity. Supply chains are no longer cost centers, and when built in the right way, they become strategic growth engines driving sustainability, compliance, quality, and speed. So if you remember one thing from this session, I know there was some fantastic sessions in the same space, so thank you for coming to this one. I want you to remember that adaptability is your competitive advantage, and we'll explore in the session how to build it. I wanted to start with a story about the Choloteca Bridge. Does anyone know about this story? Okay. So, the Choloteca Bridge is a bridge in Honduras, a country vulnerable to hurricanes, and they decided to invest big in building an indestructible bridge. Engineers designed it to survive the most extreme weather events. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch, the most powerful hurricane to ever hit Honduras, directly impacted the bridge. Any guesses as to what happened? The bridge survived. It was the most expensive bridge, and that's what it was built for. It stood strong. But here's the twist. After 4 days of rain and over 6 feet of flooding, The hurricane moved the river. The river no longer flowed under the bridge. The structure was intact, but it no longer served its purpose. It was disconnected from reality. It was a scenario no one had anticipated. This is a story of a powerful metaphor of what happens when we build supply chains to withstand yesterday's risks instead of designing them to adapt to tomorrow's realities. Like the Choluteca Bridge, many supply chain systems are built to be strong but static, resilient to known threats but inflexible to change. We believe the future belongs to supply chains that are adaptable. That means systems that can shift with current, you know, connected, intelligent, and be responsive. Because in a world of shifting regulations, trade routes, sourcing strategies, and climate realities, It's not enough to build strong bridges. We must build the right ones in the right place at the right time and be ready to shift with the river. This is a story of how something very powerful but is simple. Resilience isn't just about strength, it's about adaptability. And when it comes to our supply chains, the river has already shifted. Stable isn't always sustainable. Supply chains built for the past conditions can quickly become outdated due to geopolitical shifts, climate change, and evolving regulations. Companies must adapt to stay competitive. Refocus on agility. Traditional supply chains focus on cost and speed, but flexibility is now key. Businesses must drive diversity, diversify suppliers, and use real-time data to embrace AI-driven insights. Moving beyond singular, singular problems. Many companies invest in solutions to solve past problems very siloed. True supply chain resilience comes from risk reduction, transparency, and proactive planning, not just regulatory compliance. Transform to survive. Old solutions don't always keep up with changing requirements. Emerging technologies and innovations require continuous digital transformation for companies to stay ahead. From design to delivery, regulations— regulatory expectations are rising. Brands now must prove the sustainability of the materials, the fairness of the labor practices, and the compliance of their packaging, often at a product level. Globe trade is in flux, as we've all experienced. Tariffs, bans, and shifting alliances mean the rules of engagement can change with little notice. Without end-to-end visibility from suppliers to materials, you're navigating blind. Retailers and brands are diversifying sourcing rapidly, but moving fast without data can mean trading one risk for another. To build resilience, we need to adapt to new geographies, new vendors, and evolving product lines. The regulatory landscape is rapidly evolving. These developments underscore the urgent need for supply chains that are not only robust, but also adaptable to comply with diverse and stringent regulations. Supply chains today face a wide range of risks, compliance gaps, labor violations, carbon hotspots, and financial instability, each varying by region, but most companies still manage these reactively with fragmented data. What we need is a centralized, real-time view of risk across geographies, suppliers, and regulations so we can anticipate issues and act before they escalate. So let's ground this conversation on data. I'm going to share actually some insights from our hot off the press 2025 State of Supply Chain report based on our responses of almost 300 global supply chain leaders across retail, apparel, and consumer goods, highlighting where the industry stands on risk, compliance, and sustainability. To start, 95% of executives now cite tariffs as one of the top disruptors. We've all been watching the news the last couple of weeks. This isn't just about cost, it's about unpredictability. Tariff swings are pushing more companies to rethink sourcing and increase agility. More than 75% of organizations have upped their compliance budgets. Why? Because regulations like UFLPA, EPR, and CSDDD are no longer optional. They're global, fast evolving, and hitting across, across categories. But there's tension. 1 in 5 execs worry that the compliance burden is taking away from the core factory improvements, slowing down progress on quality, and sustainability. That's why integrated traceable systems are so critical. Despite this urgency, less than 10% of companies have reached anywhere close to full automation in these areas. The gap between complexity and capability is widening. On the tech front, 38% are starting to use tools like digital passports to prove product provenance. And not just for compliance, but to meet the rising consumer expectations and their brand's promise. Speaking of which, 75% of respondents now say sustainability is a key purchase driver. It is not just the right thing to do, but it is a business imperative. Looking ahead, 70% expect emerging technologies to significantly impact their supply chains. Especially AI, which is already helping teams process documents, flag anomalies, validate data across different languages, geographies, and formats. And over 35% of companies are either using or testing AI-driven compliance tools today. In short, supply chains are being redefined by risk, regulation, and responsibility. And the companies that invest in the right digital infrastructure will be the ones that move the fastest and adapt the best. When we talk about resilience, it's easy to focus on reacting to disruption, but true resilience is about being ready before disruption hits. So I want to walk you through the four building blocks of an adaptable supply chain. One that doesn't just bounce back, but adapts, evolves, and thrives in today's fast-changing environment. Firstly, we're gonna start with traceability. Traceability, really adaptability starts with visibility. You can't manage what you can't see. You need to know where your products come from, who made them, and under what conditions. Tools like the Digital Product Passport, or DPP, will soon make this mandatory in the EU, and companies that start now will be both ahead of regulations and disruptions. Sustainability. Today, sustainability is both a market expectation and a compliance requirement. To stay resilient, companies must reduce waste, source responsibly, and measure impact across the full lifestyle cycle of a product. DPPs will also play a critical role here, tying environmental data directly to each item. Supplier network. It is no longer enough to just have a list of suppliers. You need real-time visibility into their performance, capacity, and risks. That's what enables quick action when market conditions shift or compliance demands change. And lastly, technology and innovation. All of this requires scalable technology. It's extremely easy, I would say, or able to do manually if you can do it one or two items. We are all big supply chains here that have very complex networks. So when we look at technology, we have to look at it at a very scalable approach. Digitize workflows, centralize platforms, and AI to surface insights. Innovation is how we move from reactive to proactive and from fragmented to integrated decision-making. In today's environment, manual trucking is no longer enough. Global regulations like the UFLPA, EUDR, and CSDDD are raising the bar, requiring full traceability down to the raw material level. Now, let's talk about how we actually operationalize adaptability. The answer is AI. But not the AI of buzzwords and hype. I'm talking about real applied intelligence embedded across the supply chain to solve real-world problems today. At Inspectorio, we've built an AI-powered platform that doesn't just show your data, it works with your data, validating it, learning from it, and turning it into action. This unlocks new levels of speed, visibility, and confidence. AI touches every part of the ecosystem, whether it is flagging anomalies in quality reports, chasing missing supplier documentation, identifying unauthorized subcontracting, mapping your supply to upstream supply chain network, or ensuring compliance with evolving regulations. The business speaks for themselves. These outcomes include AI-driven traceability that can help you enhance product and brand integrity, minimize production and supplier risk, protect and grow revenue, and reduce operational costs. So it's not just about checking compliance boxes anymore. It's about building supply chains that are smarter, faster, and fundamentally more resilient. If this presentation has sparked any ideas or pressure points, you're really not alone. We've captured insights from almost 300 global leaders across our sourcing, sustainability, quality, and compliance in our latest supply— Status Supply Chain Report. This isn't just another trends report. This truly is your strategic cheat sheet for what's coming next, on really focusing on what's disrupting teams right now, how the best companies out there are responding, and where the biggest opportunities lie. So I do recommend for you to— oh, let me go back— to scan the QR code, and then you can actually get direct access to this report. I do have a little video that's gonna be a minute or so long that just gives you a bit more insight into this. We are here with a booth and would love to take questions that you have. We do also have a Slido Q&A for any questions right now. Happy to take them as they come in. Oh, yeah. I think just— we don't need—

[SPEAKING CHINESE] [Speaker] Can you give an example of a company you have worked for and how your solution has helped them optimize their DPP as an example?

[Speaker] Yeah, thank you. So that's a great question. In regards to DPP, the way that we work with DPP and brands and retailers today is that when you look at the requirements for DP, DPP, it comes from across multiple different systems specifically in multiple different areas. So to collect that data is usually, that is something very fragmented. So we, what we've been able to do is, uh, the way that we are able to collect information can be from third parties if that data exists already. It can be from your existing PLM or ERP solutions. And also you can collect any type of firsthand data from your entire supply chain all the way upstream with supporting documentation as well. So any types of documents for what DPP requires now or what they will, you know, in the end configure with, we are able to collect that data. Then being very interoperable, one of our main keywords in our company is truly collaboration. We are able to provide that and support them on any DPP partner. So to make the QR code, collecting the information for that is usually one of the hardest pain points that our customers tell us about. And so that's what we really help them with is that portion. Thanks for the question. Any other question? I think— okay. Oh, cool. Okay. So what are some of the brands and retailers you work with? What categories do you cover? Is it just fashion? So we work with some fantastic— I will— we always call them more than brands and retailers. We call them our partners. So in US, we work with everyone from a Target, Carter's, Kohl's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Lululemons. In Europe, it's really the Salomons, Arc'teryx, Burberrys, Tesco's, et cetera. So across multiple different categories is very important to us. We are very strong in the apparel kind of retail space, but it can be any single product across quality, compliance, sustainability. So not just fashion in that space. And if you think about the different materials we cover, it's everything from aluminum poles and boots to foods to cotton, et cetera. So the material types as well across quality, responsible sourcing, and traceability is completely covered. This aspect is extremely important because again, when we talk about centralized systems and interoperability, you don't want different systems for different parts that you work with. As well as that, you know, if you are— again, think about where you are today and where you want to grow into. If you do think, you know, hopefully in the next 3, 5, 10 years go into other product categories, you then don't need another solution, but it's actually very interoperable that you can just grow and continue to build on the strong foundation with Inspectorio. Any other questions? Oh, can you give us insight into why a brand or retailer partners with Inspectorio over other options on the market? Good question. So firstly, I think that if anyone is choosing a platform or technology over email and Excel, Amazing. That's the first thing. So I always think of our competitors in this space as fantastic, you know, potential partners here. I think when I've seen— and a lot of us have come from industry or in industry now— I used to do a lot of these activities very, very manually. So I lived in PowerPoint, I lived in Excel, and I lived in, in email gathering data. So again, leveraging any technology is a great step one. What I would say our differentiator against the different other solutions in the market, which they are also fantastic, is that we really take collaboration as key. What we continuously do is bring 3 things to our customers. Firstly, we understand what is happening in the market. We are always a step ahead. It is our job to bring our brands and retailers new news and also build for the future, not just for now. Secondly, I think it's really important that we are always ever evolving. So, You are always continuously updated with all the new news. We really work closely with the supply chain partners, so we have supporting teams a bit more in that premium space where we educate, learn, bring your entire supply chain on the journey with you. In my experience here, it's very easy for a brand or retailer to roll out something but not bring their supply chain along in that journey with them. If you share the why and how, of the project and goal that you have with your supply chain, it is fundamentally different to gathering that data back. And I think the third thing is that collaboration and interoperability. If your existing data lives on the platform today, we can bring that in. And this is where we want to bring you this one tool where you have insight into all of your operations. A lot of the companies in this room and at the show, you know, are geographically spread out. Across different time zones, different languages, and even emailing differently, you know, is difficult to collaborate. So if someone's off, if people are in different regions or they're not answering, you know, the supply chain doesn't wait. You need data actively in real time now. Okay. So come see us at the booth. Anna, Michelle are both with us and would love to chat with you. Thank you.