Poor quality has the potential to ruin every delivery, every season and every relationship but too often quality is relegated to the sidelines thanks to:

• margin pressure
• speed to market demands
• inefficiencies along the supply chain

The result is a domino effect disrupting processes throughout the supply chain, siphoning both money and time from apparel firms each season.

Through an industry-wide survey, Sourcing Journal learned the high cost the industry is paying for not addressing quality issues. While only 23 percent of those polled admitted that their companies will sacrifice quality to get the right price, the group as a whole was quite vocal on the variety of ways they do just that every day.

If there is one universal takeaway from the survey results, it is that the industry needs to re-examine how it views quality. And those surveyed had plenty of thoughts as to how to get started, namely:

• starting the process earlier
• making everyone responsible for quality
• having better inspections along the way
• investing in quality suppliers and factories
• remaining consistent in these efforts