Posted March 25, 2020

 

This past weekend, the Americas Apparel Producers' Network (AAPN) opened an online Sourcing Center connecting its supplier and producer members to make masks, gowns and other urgently required medical garments and sewn products.

 

AAPN started this center with a captive audience of 1,609 executives. The center was announced at 8:30 a.m. Sunday and within 12 hours, nearly 1,000 people had accessed the page, the association said. By Wednesday, that number had surpassed 2,000 users, AAPN said.

 

One U.S. mill that had closed on Friday because of lack of work reopened Monday to respond to requests for production – in part from the Sourcing Center announced Sunday, AAPN said.

 

AAPN announced that it had contacted every other industry organization to offer the center to their members and received “instant and very generous responses” from the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), SEAMS, the Industrial Fabric Association International (IFAI) and the California Fashion Association (CFA), according to an AAPN executive.

 

Through the Industrial Fabric Association International’s (IFAI’s) ongoing partnership with AAPN, IFAI said it is able to offer this service to its members and network at no cost. The entire industry is continuing to come together with cross-developed resources as everyone works together to fight this crisis.

 

Here are instructions on taking advantage of this resource. IFAI's Member Directory is also fully available for sourcing support online, by phone and email.

 

Go to www.aapnetwork.net, then:
 

 

• Click on MEMBER LOGIN in top right corner (red block).  

• You do not have to be an AAPN member to login. If you are not already in the database you will be asked for your email address. This will become your username. Then you will be asked to create a password.

• Click on the MEMBERS tile in the toolbar 

• Go to MEMBER LANDING page 

• Click on DISCUSSIONS link 

• Access the SOURCING EXCHANGE discussion 

• Then log into the MAKING CONNECTIONS topic and you'll see all previous exchanges 

 

Note – do not log out; this will make it faster and easier to use this feature next time. Problems logging in? Contact Sue Strickland via email.

 

Stay informed by visiting the IFAI COVID-19 Resource Center.

 

Source: AAPN and IFAI