TAL was proud to participate in full force at Cascale’s two-day Annual Meeting in Hong Kong.
Day 1
Our CEO, Mr Roger Lee, joined a high-profile panel discussion, “Power, Partnership, and Purchasing: Rewiring the Brand-Supplier Relationship.” The session explored how leading manufacturers like TAL are driving performance across innovation, quality, and sustainability. Roger emphasized the importance of reframing conversations with brands:
“If you go to the C-suite and just say, ‘do this for sustainability,’ they won’t act. But if you frame it as working with the best suppliers on quality, many of those same suppliers will also be strong on sustainability.”
Day 2
TAL hosted an interactive workshop, “Aligning Sourcing and Sustainability: Collaborative Decarbonization in the Apparel Supply Chain.” Together with Weave Services Limited, we used a card-based simulation to illustrate the trade-offs in sourcing decisions—and how supply chain optimization can also accelerate decarbonization.
The session featured:
- A framework presentation by Mr Paul Lennen, Managing Director at Weave, on breaking the operations–sustainability silo by embedding sustainability into commercial priorities, building joint roadmaps, and leveraging new technologies.
- A panel discussion moderated by Mr Matthew Guenther, TAL’s Vice President of Corporate Sustainability, with Mr Bart De Meirsman, Mr Jimmy Summers, Ms Kim Drenner, and Mr Liam Salter, who explored how decarbonization costs can be integrated into holistic business strategies.
Closing Reflections
To wrap up the meeting, Dr Delman Lee, Vice Chair of TAL and Cascale board member, joined the final panel, “Closing the Loop: From Problem Statement to Solutions for All.” He urged the industry to confront the “elephant in the room”—how sustainability creates business value—and called for more sourcing and business executives to actively join these conversations in future meetings.