When it comes to regulatory compliance, ignorance is hardly bliss.

Not knowing exactly what’s in your textiles or apparel—from where the raw materials were sourced to what type of labor was or wasn’t used along the supply chain—is a costly gamble amid U.S. Customs and Border Protection crackdowns. Willful ignorance won’t get seized shipments out of CBP detention, nor will it prevent future Withhold Release Orders (WROs).

Rising regulations might be drowning apparel and textile supply chains in documentation, but the burden is worth the trouble. CBP detentions not only hurt importers’ bottom lines and damage relationships with suppliers and retailers, but they also increase future government scrutiny. With approximately $468 billion of garment imports in the G20 at risk of modern slavery according to Fashion Revolution’s 2023 Fashion Transparency Index, it pays to be vigilant.

The cotton-heavy fashion industry encompassing apparel, footwear and textiles is second only to electronics when it comes to CBP examinations. This turns up the heat on importers, and underscores why companies must be extremely proactive with traceability technology to know exactly what’s in their supply chain.