Nearshoring to Mexico: the second wave is more careful, and slower
The first nearshoring rush was about announcements. The second wave, now underway, is about getting the contracts, the labor, and the ports to actually line up.
Section
Supply Chain
Sourcing, fulfillment, and the logistics of getting stuff to shelves.
Inside Inditex's real-time machine: what the 2025 numbers actually show
Zara's parent keeps pulling away from the pack on inventory turns and margin. The operational system behind it is now so far ahead that the gap may be structural.
Red Sea reroute, 18 months in: what stuck and what reverted
After more than a year of routing around the Horn of Africa, most carriers have settled into a new normal. Retailers are paying for it in inventory carrying cost, not freight.
Supply ChainApparel sourcing: vendor consolidation accelerates after the Bangladesh year
A turbulent 2024 in Bangladesh, plus tightening compliance regimes in the EU and US, has pushed apparel buyers to fewer, larger vendor relationships. The trade-offs are showing.
Inventory turns: who's actually getting better in 2026
We compared inventory turn velocity across major US and EU retailers' most recent disclosures. The improvements are concentrated in fewer places than the headlines suggest.
Nearshoring mid-2025: the first wave's report card
Eighteen months after the first big nearshoring announcements, the public progress reports are starting to land. We look at who hit timelines, who slipped, and what changed about the financial case.
After the 2024 ILA port strike: what retailers built into Q4 plans, and what broke anyway
The October port strike was short. The contingency plans were not. We look at the routing changes, inventory cushions, and supplier conversations that stuck after the immediate disruption ended.
Freight rates mid-2024: the Red Sea premium becomes the new floor
Spot rates from Asia to North Europe spent the first half of 2024 north of $4,000 per FEU. Shippers are now planning as if those levels are structural, not temporary.