Global sourcing remains the norm in the apparel industry and many other industries, with manufacturers outsourcing to markets where labour is plentiful and offered at a reduced cost.
However, with complex, multi-tier networks spanning continents, this inevitably results in more supply chain risks.
Businesses have experienced great turbulence in the last few years due to the Russia-Ukraine war, increased energy prices, extreme weather events, war and unrest in the Middle East, and trade wars and tariffs (particularly from the U.S. towards China, Mexico, Canada and Europe). A whole swathe of challenges, geopolitical tensions, shifting trade policies, climate impacts and rising cybercrime are placing unprecedented strain on global supply networks often in unpredictable and compounding ways.
In 2026, organisations that fail to proactively manage supply chain risk face not only disruption and financial loss, but also growing regulatory demands and reputational costs should unethical supplier practices be exposed to public scrutiny.
Supply Chain Risk Management in 2026 — What’s Changed?
Recent data shows the global supply chain risk management market continues to grow, with spending on risk technologies and services projected to expand significantly through 2026 and beyond. The market, valued at more than USD 172 billion in 2024, is expected to reach USD 193+ billion in 2026 as organisations invest in tools to manage volatility, compliance, and supplier risk.
Meanwhile, businesses still struggle with visibility: surveys show a significant minority, roughly 13% of companies have full end-to-end supply chain visibility, including raw materials and upstream tiers.
These persistent visibility gaps leave organisations blind to emerging vulnerabilities whether related to sustainability, compliance, delivery delays, cybersecurity or political disruption.
The TRENDS driving supply chain risk management in 2026
1. Geopolitics & Economic Disruption Are Top Global Risks
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2026 risks survey, economic conflicts, including trade wars, sanctions and resource competition now outrank armed conflict as the most serious short-term threat to global stability.
For global supply chain leaders, this means planning for tariffs, sanctions, and trade policy shifts is now a core risk management priority.
2. Climate and Environmental Risks Persist
Climate-related disruptions such as drought and flood are occurring with increasing frequency and severity due to climate change, impacting the availability of raw materials, such as cotton. Some of fashion’s biggest manufacturing hubs, including Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, are among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries and subject to flooding and extreme heat. Scarcity of raw materials risks drive up prices and limit production.
3. Cybersecurity Threats Are Now a Core Supply Chain Hazard
Traditional physical disruptions are now joined by digital ones. Cyber breaches involving suppliers and partners have risen sharply, with supply chain-linked cybersecurity incidents comprising a growing share of total data breaches. In 2021, Gartner boldly forecasted that 45% of organisations will report a supply chain breach by the end of 2025. We’re now seeing that this was a gross underestimate and in fact the figure is much higher at 75%.
Notable industrial impacts, such as the Marks & Spencer (M&S) ransomware cyberattack in 2025 highlight how a single system breach can cripple online sales, disrupt in-store operations for months and lead to massive lost profits through impacted fashion/beauty sales.
Supply chain transparency plays a key role in mitigating cyber risk by providing visibility into third-party access points, security standards and data flows, enabling earlier detection, faster response and stronger collaborative defence.
4. Tariffs, Trade Barriers, and Protectionism
Trade policy and tariff uncertainty is another major driver of risk. Many companies report increased material costs and demand fluctuations due to policy changes.
McKinsey research shows that:
- 82% of global supply chain leaders say their operations are affected by new tariffs
- 20–40% of supply chain activity has been impacted in some way
These trade shifts are reshaping sourcing strategies and prompting organisations to diversify suppliers, rethink footprints, and reassess total cost of ownership.
5. Labour Transparency
Labour risk is often underestimated, yet it remains one of the most damaging sources of supply chain exposure.
Poor working conditions can trigger reputational crises, legal penalties, investor withdrawal and operational disruption. Research into Bangladesh’s ready-made garment sector highlights how deeply entrenched these risks remain, with ongoing issues including unsafe facilities, inadequate access to healthcare and clean water, excessive working hours and unsafe factory layouts.
Female workers in particular report widespread verbal and sexual harassment, along with heightened anxiety around mandatory night shifts, risks that often sit far beyond tier-1 suppliers.
For global brands, labour risk rarely stops at direct suppliers. Without visibility across subcontractors, informal facilities and raw-material processing, organisations remain exposed to hidden human rights violations further upstream.
6. Heightened regulatory compliance
Regulatory compliance is another defining driver of supply chain risk
New and expanding legislation covering modern slavery, human rights, environmental impact and corporate accountability is raising the bar for transparency and evidence-based reporting. Regulations such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) require organisations to demonstrate how risks are identified, assessed and mitigated across their entire supply chain, not just tier-1.
Failure to comply can result in fines, litigation, loss of market access and significant reputational damage, making traceability, real-time data and auditable records essential in 2026.
Why Supply Chain Visibility is Key for Risk Management
The BCI Supply Chain Resilience Report 2023 reports that at least a third of supply chain incidents were upstream of tier-1 suppliers, and probably more given that 13.4% of respondents didn't know the incident source at all. When an organisation lacks transparency over its primary, secondary and tertiary suppliers, it becomes very difficult to trace back through the supply chain and locate the root of a problem.
Many companies have expanded investments in digital tools since COVID-19, but true resilience requires more than basic dashboards or planning spreadsheets:
- Only ~42% of companies have visibility beyond first-tier suppliers.
- Over 40% still lack insight into sub-tier networks, leaving blind spots in risk detection and ESG accountability.
Without deep insights into the full supplier network across tiers and geographies organisations cannot proactively identify disruptions, model scenarios, or plan mitigations before impacts hit costs and reputation.
Strategies for Robust Supply Chain Risk Management in 2026
Unlock Transparency beyond Tier 1
Supply chain resilience is improving as a result of dealing with the difficulties encountered since 2020 and COVID-19 onwards. With new technologies, improved contingency planning and digitised systems, businesses are now in a better position to achieve end-to-end supply chain visibility, prove their due diligence, and implement ongoing risk management practices.
Robust supply chain transparency is necessary in order to satisfy investors, employees and customers, not to mention regulators, who are increasingly demanding transparent public reporting on environmental and human rights practices at all levels of the company’s supply networks.
In order to prepare for any eventuality, companies need to prioritise supply chain risk management with a view to their whole supplier network. If, as the trends show, sustainable sourcing, transport disruption and healthy, compliant supplier relations, are all key to supply chain resilience, then it's vital to have visibility in real-time of those factors.
As KPMG notes in Supply Trends to Watch in 2025:
"Extended visibility deep into the supply chain will remain fundamental, with the need to map supply chains to Tier 4 and beyond."
This is exactly how Segura operates: onboarding suppliers each time a purchase order is issued, all the way up-stream to tier 2, 3, 4, n.
By collaborating with suppliers it becomes possible to tie in your organisation's performance management. Your suppliers are incentivised to provide reports, meet compliance requirements and all documentation is captured in a centralized system, such as factory audits, corrective action plans, and ESG performance metrics.
Segura’s supply chain software creates a real-time audit trail which enables our customers to achieve this transparency. By creating a pre-approved network of suppliers, companies can manage their supply chain, with all of their transactions passing through the Segura platform. As a result, companies can immediately see if any unauthorised or unreliable parties enter the supply chain, and can take action to protect themselves.
Assess How AI Can Help
And looking ahead in 2026, KPMG highlights the business demand for:
"Technology enablement, with teams leveraging automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven insights, and making the most of real-time visibility to exceed customer expectations – without negatively impacting operational performance or risk."
In 2026, AI in supply chain management still looks likely to support the high priority of predicting supply demand in a fast-changing sector.
Using artificial intelligence to analyse big data, find patterns and make better predictions around demand and fulfilment is an emerging trend
However, industry experts suggest that the scale and speed of AI impact are not currently matching early expectations. As a result, supply chain leaders are beginning to recalibrate both timelines and success expectations. Rather than experimental use cases, focus is shifting toward practical, value-driven applications that deliver measurable improvements in visibility, risk detection and decision-making.
Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of the Association for Supply Chain Management stresses in an interview with supply chain management magazine that AI must be paired with human judgment. He notes:
“Technology with knowledgeable, capable employees is a winning formula.”
Consider Strategic Sourcing Shifts, Regionalisation and Nearshoring
In 2026, organisations are increasingly reassessing where and how they source to reduce exposure to geopolitical instability, trade disputes and reliance on single regions.
This shift includes diversifying supplier bases, reducing dependency on high-risk geographies and building flexibility into sourcing models so production can adapt quickly when disruption occurs. As a result, strategic sourcing has become an ongoing risk management exercise that depends on full transparency into supplier location, performance and exposure.
Many organisations are also restructuring supply networks to operate closer to key consumer markets through regionalisation and nearshoring, helping to shorten lead times, improve responsiveness to market and regulatory change, and reduce the impact of tariffs and trade wars.
Collaborate with Suppliers
Collaborating with suppliers to improve their own risk management processes, digital maturity and sustainability practices helps create a more resilient end-to-end supply chain.
By supporting suppliers with clearer expectations, shared data and structured performance management, organisations can improve compliance, reduce disruption and increase accountability across multiple tiers.
Enable ESG and Regulatory Compliance Through Supply Chain Technology
Meeting stringent ESG requirements and new regulation requirements depends on robust, end-to-end traceability, with carbon transparency, ethical sourcing and deforestation-free supply chains relying on auditable, granular data that links products back to their origin.
Technologies like Segura’s are key for effective ESG reporting. With Segura, clients can estimate carbon emissions, water usage, and capture material composition (to calculate sustainably sourced materials).
Risk Is Everywhere — But So Are Solutions
Supply chain risk management in 2026 is no longer just about surviving disruption, it’s about thriving amid uncertainty. By investing in deep visibility, advanced analytics, collaborative supplier relationships and proactive scenario planning, companies not only protect value but also unlock strategic growth.
If your organisation is still operating with partial visibility and reactive risk controls, now is the time to modernise your approach. Segura’s platforms can help.
How SEgura Can Help
Segura’s platform provides high-quality supplier data that can cover several areas of vulnerability, whether legislative, environmental or logistical, to manage supply chain risk management. This data can help provide full supply chain visibility which can save businesses from financial penalties for non-compliance and costs associated with disrupted supply. And it can help companies plan for long-term risks related to changes in climate, geopolitics and the labour market.
About Segura
Segura Systems is a UK-based SaaS company enabling ethical, sustainable and efficient multi-tier supply chains.
Segura provides n-tier mapping, transparency, traceability, visualisation, compliance and reporting. Segura sits in the centre of your supply chain management structure creating a central repository for all your supply chain, ESG-related data and evidence, including third-party data sources.
If you'd like to learn how Segura can help you, please get in touch today.
