Is nearshoring a suitable strategy for your fashion brand?

Countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, and even parts of Eastern Europe are emerging as key nearshoring destinations for fashion brands. These regions offer significant geographical advantages and better access to raw material compared to traditional manufacturing hubs in Asia. The closer proximity to Europe, for example, enables brands to benefit from shorter lead times, allowing them to quickly respond to shifting consumer demands while minimizing the risk of holding obsolete stock and outdated collections. Additionally, sourcing raw materials like cotton and leather becomes more reliable, as brands face fewer dependencies on long, complex transportation networks, reducing intermediaries and simplifying inventory management. 

Shorter transit times further enhance inventory management by reducing the need for large stockpiles. The increased use of road freight, as opposed to large container shipments, allows for more flexible optimization, whether partial or full loads. This agility enables companies to maintain leaner, more responsive supply chains—critical in the fast-paced fashion industry, where trends shift rapidly and adaptability is key. 

Today’s consumers are more environmentally conscious than ever, with nearly every second person considering environmental responsibility to be of significant importance when making purchasing decisions. This shift in consumer preferences is pushing fashion brands to adopt more sustainable practices. 

By relocating production to regions closer to their primary markets, companies can reduce their carbon footprint. Shorter shipping distances mean lower emissions, and sourcing materials locally further minimizes environmental impact. For instance, brands nearshoring to Turkey or Morocco can leverage regional resources, thereby reducing their reliance on long, environmentally taxing supply chains. 

The fashion industry is not immune to the broader geopolitical and economic trends affecting global markets. Increasing geopolitical tensions, high market volatility, and changing customer requirements are prompting brands to rethink their sourcing strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerabilities of relying on distant suppliers, especially in Asia, where lockdowns and shipping disruptions severely impacted the supply chain. 

More recently, geopolitical instability in the Red Sea region has caused significant increases in lead times, with shipments from China to Europe facing delays of an additional 10 to 20 days. As a result, some carriers are now bypassing the Suez Canal in favor of the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa. 

In response, many brands are adopting a “de-risking” strategy, diversifying their production across multiple regions to reduce dependency on any single source. Nearshoring to North Africa, Turkey, and Eastern Europe is a key component of this strategy, offering a balance of cost-efficiency, supply chain resilience, and speed to market.