Why Fashion Sourcing Just Became a Boardroom Priority

A veteran sourcing executive explains why partnerships, demand planning, and domain knowledge now decide which apparel brands survive the next decade.

For most of its history, fashion sourcing was treated as a commodity. Find a factory. Make a product. Ship it. Then COVID broke the supply chain, and the boardroom finally noticed that the part nobody wanted to own was the part that mattered most.

That shift sits at the center of a candid conversation with Anne-Laure Descours, former Chief Sourcing Officer at Puma and a 30-year veteran of the industry based in Hong Kong. She stepped down from Puma’s board at the end of 2024 and now advises brands, sits on boards, and backs recycling startups. Her view is direct. The old sourcing playbook is finished, and the brands still using it are already two years behind.