Latest news with #Murtha
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
JARI chief, at her final Showcase for Commerce before retiring, says expo has 'created jobs and economic viability'
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Johnstown Area Regional Industries President and CEO Linda Thomson has long been synonymous with Showcase for Commerce. She has helped shape the business and defense contracting exposition's identity since joining JARI in July 2000. Billions of dollars of production and investment have been made in the local economy thanks in part to her efforts. Now Thomson's time with JARI and Showcase for Commerce is coming to an end. She plans to retire this summer. This year's 34th annual Showcase for Commerce is scheduled to conclude Friday with the John P. Murtha Breakfast, press conference, public exhibition inside 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial, and luncheon. 'It's just been something that I've really enjoyed, even though it's a lot of work and effort,' Thomson said. 'I think it's something that we can all be proud of and something that, as a region, we've really become known for excellence in this defense industrial base area.' Showcase was the vision of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the longest-serving congressman in Pennsylvania history. The event has brought businesses to the Johnstown region, developed the local defense contracting industry and provided networking opportunities. Thomson's first Showcase was in 2001. Murtha died in February 2010. 'Linda and I both realized that we needed to transform the Showcase to keep it relevant and to keep that value that had been created by Mr. Murtha,' Showcase for Commerce Chairman Ed Sheehan Jr. said. 'She and I were very devoted to that cause.' Sheehan is the president and CEO of Concurrent Technologies Corp., one of the defense contractors that have benefited from Showcase over its more than three decades. Sheehan said he and Thomson 'both recognized how important the Showcase was and what it meant to the region, but also what it meant to the defense industrial base and our national security.' A video tribute to Thomson was presented during the Government Acquisition Leaders Briefings and Panel Discussions Thursday. Comments were given by numerous people, including former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., former U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, current U.S. Reps. Glenn 'GT' Thompson and Dr. John Joyce, and Murtha's widow, Joyce Murtha. Thompson also spoke about Thomson during his keynote address inside the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center. 'Linda, let me summarize things up this way, we love you,' Thompson said. 'Thank you for all that you've done to make Showcase such a great success and a great model. It's pretty easy to brag about this three-day event in Washington with my colleagues from all across the country.' Showcase is put on by JARI and the Cambria Regional Chamber. Many local businesses, international companies, elected officials, colleges and representatives from the U.S. Department of Defense have also participated. 'It has just been such a pleasure and honor to work for all these years with people who are so committed to our region and to our economy,' Thomson said. When looking back at Showcase's impact, Thomson said, 'The bottom line is it's grown our economy, it's diversified our economy and it's helped bring dollars flowing into us, into our area. That has created jobs and economic viability. That's certainly the bottom line.' Cambria Regional Chamber President and CEO Amy Bradley credited Thomson for her role in that success. 'Linda is great at what she does,' Bradley said. 'She is a great convener of people and a great organizer. She's well-known and she's well-liked. I think for a lot of people she is synonymous with Showcase for Commerce.' Bradley praised Thomson: 'I've seen her really work to transform lives.'
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FTC considers petition for digital labels on apparel
This story was originally published on Fashion Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Fashion Dive newsletter. The Federal Trade Commission is considering a petition to digitize care labels on apparel. The request was brought by the American Apparel and Footwear Association. The petition says digital labels will more conveniently inform customers about product care and reduce waste, as well as save money on printing and labeling. The FTC opened public comment on the petition this month. Ralph Lauren and Patagonia are among the companies supporting the change. The request seeks to revise the Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel & Certain Piece Goods Rule, which requires manufacturers to provide regular instructions for product care and prohibits deceptive practices that fail to disclose such instructions. The rule went into effect in 1971, per the petition. The requested change calls for the FTC to allow for a URL or QR code that could be applied to apparel either on a small tag or as a direct stamp on the item. The AAFA said this would help avoid 'lengthy labels in small text in multiple languages and with confusing symbols that are hard to read, and understand, printed on large, uncomfortable tags.' In addition to providing care instructions, the links could provide product ingredients, supply chain descriptions and sustainability metrics, per the AAFA. Adding supply chain descriptions and sustainability facts to a garment could also help comply with a European Union legislation that requires a Digital Product Passport on products with databases on materials tracing and manufacturing information. '[A]pparel manufacturers should have the flexibility to choose to best serve the needs of their consumers by utilizing digital labeling,' the AAFA wrote in the petition. AAFA is asking the FTC to allow the industry to modernize, Chelsea Murtha, AAFA senior director of sustainability, said in an email. "Under current labeling laws, clothing companies are required to produce around 5.7 million miles of label tape each year," Murtha said. "Shifting to the use of digital labels, with care labeling as a starting point, would significantly reduce labeling waste, provide consumers with better, more detailed information about their garments, and facilitate the industry's circular transition." In its comment in support of the petition, fashion firm Ralph Lauren said it began including digital labels on some of its products in 2019 and since then has included QR codes on more than 400 million products. Meanwhile, Patagonia said in its comment that it implemented QR codes into its 2025 product line and has seen engagement increase. 'Patagonia has found that consumers typically cut out the care/content labels which makes returns, repairs, and recycling of garments more difficult,' Patagonia wrote. 'Patagonia believes allowing digital labeling is the modernization required to help businesses meet the ever-changing regulatory landscape and benefits consumers to provide product details in a more accessible way.' However, in a comment submitted to the FTC, regulatory attorney Michael Ravnitzky said removing physical labels entirely is inadvisable, citing the difficulty smaller apparel manufacturers may have with implementation. Ravnitzky also noted that there would be issues for customers who don't have smartphones or internet access. 'The petition does not sufficiently address critical concerns about accessibility, reliability, and cybersecurity, nor does it consider the unintended impacts on consumers, smaller manufacturers, and the secondhand clothing market,' Ravnitzky wrote. '...I urge the FTC to pursue a regulatory framework that embraces technological advancements without sacrificing inclusivity or reliability, ensuring that manufacturers, consumers, and the environment all benefit.' Editor's note: This story has been updated with a comment from AAFA's senior director of sustainability. Recommended Reading How fashion leaders are thinking about tariffs, consumer changes and tackling waste Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Steering Circularity Amid Not-So-Sustainable Policy Shifts
While industry-wide efforts to drive environmental legislation—positioning circularity as a solution to climate change—have accelerated in recent years, the new administration in the White House has the federal government shifting priorities with different dynamics emerging. One of those dynamic differences considers the regulatory role that the states and private sector may be forced to play if sustainability is to stick. Suppose the less eco-focused executive and legislative branches do, in fact, place more onus on the states to drive regulation forward. In that case, they will need more capital to successfully execute at a local level. More from Sourcing Journal Supporting Supplier Relationships to Achieve Traceability Meet Puma's Latest Recycled Polyester Partner Coach and Gen Phoenix Talk Circularity and Partnership During SJ's Sustainability Summit, Chelsea Murtha of the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) and Rachel Kibbe of the Circular Services Group (CSG) and American Circular Textiles (ACT) discussed how local and national legislation can tackle the hurdles hindering sustainability strategies in the face of a less sympathetic federal government. 'I don't think it's a surprise to anyone in this room that you're not going to get very far on Capitol Hill or with the White House right now by saying, 'This is a great sustainability initiative,'' Murtha, the AAFA's senior director of sustainability, said. 'But that doesn't mean there aren't [other] things you can talk about; things they've indicated are very important to them: U.S. manufacturing.' Giving 'a lot of credit' to her co-panelist—the founder and CEO of CSG and ACT—Murtha discussed the power of flipping the script to position sustainability initiatives as U.S. manufacturing and conservation efforts to gain traction. 'I've watched [Kibbe] in rooms with Republican legislators who are all very excited about her circularity initiative because that's not how she's talking about it,' she continued. 'There are ways to talk about this and get through to folks who would dismiss a sustainability initiative. You can just have a manufacturing initiative that happens to have sustainability impacts [by] starting to lean on things that connect conservation to affordability.' It's true: Kibbe has talked about the Americas Act, for instance, taking a bipartisan lens to emphasize U.S. manufacturing—such as investing in its systems and infrastructures as well as supporting its trade partners—to ultimately underscore the environment's business case instead of its morality clause. 'Narrative is always critical; I mean, that's how you communicate things to each other,' Kibbe said before referencing a few 'horrifying' discoveries when working on the aforementioned bill. 'That made me really start to reframe the way I look at and listen to narratives—not to say that narratives can't be dangerous; we're seeing that play out as well, but I think that's critical.' While Kibbe is focused on securing the industry's seat at the federally-funded table, Murtha is working to 'galvanize' the private sector to advocate for itself—so it can be both 'heard and represented as a squeaky wheel to the federal government' and to ensure the textile sector isn't 'left out of those types of opportunities,' Kibbe said. 'There's a lot of areas where this can go wrong,' she added. 'The devil is going to be in the rule writing process.' Both panelists, however, stressed the importance of revamping existing trade policies that hinder sustainable practices as well as the value in advocating for strategic, incremental changes to achieve longer-term goals. 'There are these sort of wonky, Draconian trade policies that were established eons ago to support domestic manufacturing that haven't been fixed or updated and are now working against us,' Kibbe said, referencing recycled cotton and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). 'These sort of little things, like death by 1,000 cuts, are big issues that, I think, can brush us aside as an industry if we don't coalesce and come together.' Murtha, too, paused to remind attendees of reality. 'I don't want to overstate, though, the ability to achieve things; it's not as if these are magic words that will fix all the problems,' Murtha said. 'But they are a good place to start when having conversations.'
