Fashion sourcing event with Sourcing at Magic... Bob Berg, Senior Sales Manager International for Sourcing at Magic (the largest fashion sourcing event in North America offering one-stop shopping for the entire apparel) joins Rob Sanchez, Marc Raco and guest host Steven Frumkin (Dean of the Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology at F.I.T.) at WEAR Conference in San Francisco. Powered by Sennheiser. Education and innovation, investing in workforce development, and the sizing up US manufacturing Berg discusses how Sourcing at Magic provide factories and mills the opportunity to meet buyers and suppliers. Brining education and innovation into the show to help designers and manufacturing to develop lines and brands according to what is new in the market, and meet players that can produce the kind of garments they need. Opportunities to exhibit and also education such as trade agreements, wearables, new technology, and sustainability, paths for the United States with new technology, but how the US must invest in workforce development and machinery, and in other countries are very entrepreneurial and willing to invest, and how it is a challenge. That China is willing to invest in new factories and could be a big player in this part of the industry. Why US manufacturing is of value -- goodwill, watching process closely, speed to market. The value of WEAR, sustainability issues, and bringing the industry together Different kind of factories, how some care about certification, some don’t, differences in attitudes towards fair wages, child labor, sustainability, etc. The value of a conference like WEAR Conference, bringing together parties and not simply traditional textile or fabric and garment making. How it takes tech and uses it in the marketplace and brings it through supply chain. The responsibility about sustainability, seminars, presentation of solutions, problem with sustainability is ruled by corporation and what the policies are. How Sourcing at Magic is starting to gear up and looking at pieces building into ethos of the conference going forward, how much more it can offer to buyers, and showing the future of how and where to get it done. The need for more things at a trade show to bring the industry together. The future of the fashion industry, a gorilla sanctuary, and being an ambassador Magic is doing to bring knowledge to companies, and the future of the fashion industry as consumer-driven, with consumers being more educated than ever before. Personal questions with “Off the Grid Questions” cover growing up in the Wooster area, International travel, gorilla sanctuary in the mountains of Rwanda, learning cultures, playing the role of US ambassador, observing and accepting international customs, poor cultures that are so entrepreneurial and want an opportunity, and amazing local artisans.