Fashion Law 101

"Very interesting and informative. Especially her real life experience stories."

"She was great and I loved how she connected actively with all of us!"

"I liked best how well Deanna explained the terms and ideas of international trade law."

-- Feedback from various students

Last month I gave a lecture on International Trade Law with a focus on the apparel and textile industries at the Fashion Institute of Technology. In preparing for it I realized that an hour and a half was only going to be enough time to skim the surface of international trade topics as they related to apparel and textiles. In addition, since the course I was guest lecturing in is entitled “Global Marketing of Luxury Goods,” I wanted to tie in marketing issues as they related to the agencies for whose regulations US Customs enforces at the border.

Recognizing that these students would be working in areas involving sourcing, marketing, logistics, buying, and dozens of other areas, in my attempt to provide a broad overview, I started with what the main legal issues are for fashion and luxury imports and I did this by talking about those agencies which are heavily regulatory of apparel. Some examples include the Consumer Safety Product Safety Commission (CPSC) which requires, inter alia, certificates for certain imports of apparel for lead content, lead paint, and flammability issues. The Federal Trade Commission is another agency dealing with issues such as care label requirements (for washing/dry cleaning/ironing) and fiber content.

I further had a number of props that I passed around to students so that they could take a closer look at articles that dealt with the compliance issues I had raised. One frilly women's underwear that I passed around to demonstrate the FTC and CPSC issues, further provided an example regarding loose threads on a garment, as this panty had a lot of loose strings hanging from it. I wanted the students to know that some U.S. companies have inspectors in the foreign country from which the product is being exported. They inspect the merchandise to ensure that it is of a quality that the buyer approves of, and that some large buyers reject goods overseas leaving the importer to find a secondary buyer, such as a Marshall's or T.J. MAXX.

I also talked about US Customs issues (big surprise) such as proper country of origin determinations, the marking of products, and I led a discussion around how to classify articles and in particular a woman's bridesmaid dress.

Lastly, I wrapped up the lecture with a number of images that I took while in China in December. I wanted students to think about challenging assumptions, an example of this being an image I had of a sweatshop in Macau that took up a floor in a non-descript building. I figured it was important that the students recognize that other countries do not operate like the U.S., and when working with foreign companies, to recognize that our assumptions as to what something may look like, or how it might operate, is not necessarily that for which we have some familiarity with.

All in all, between my presentation and the contributions from the professor, Henry Welt, based on the student feedback I received after the presentation, the lecture was a success. Of course, I enjoyed giving the lecture immensely and look forward to an opportunity when I may do it again.

Questions/comments? Email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com or post below.