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Dr. Sheng Lu,
Assistant Professor of the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies at the
University of Delaware received the “Paper of Distinction” award in the 2017 International
Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) annual conference which took place in
St. Petersburg, Florida (November 15-18, 2017). ITAA is one of the largest
platforms for scholars, educators, and students in the textile, apparel, and
merchandising disciplines in higher education. Each year the “Paper of
Distinction” award is announced for outstanding and highest quality manuscripts
in several categories, and in the last
year Dr. Sheng Lu received the award for his outstanding research work in the “International
track.” Previously he also received the ITAA
Faculty Development Award in 2013, ITAA Rising Star Award in 2014, and ITAA
Paper of Distinction Awards both in 2014 and 2015.
“Since many developing countries for decades have been struggling in the
low-end of the global textile and apparel (T&A) value chain, I am
particularly interested in exploring how to promote the upgrading of T&A
industry in these countries through the design of appropriate trade and
industrial policies. I
would also like to explore how we can use trade policy tools, such as the labor provisions in trade agreements, to
improve social responsibility and sustainability practices in the T&A sector.
The use of big data at the firm-level to investigate the impact of trade policy
on fashion brands and apparel retailers’ sourcing and supply chain strategies
is another promising area I would like to pursue” said Dr. Lu.
Dr. Lu
mainly focuses on the economic and business aspects of the global textile and
apparel (T&A) industry, including international trade, trade policy and the
governance of global apparel value chain. His researches go deep into the dynamics
of the T&A trade patterns and supply chains, T&A-specific sectoral
impacts of free trade agreements, as well
as T&A companies’ restructuring strategies and shifting sourcing behaviors.
Several of his studies have been cited by
government reports such as the Congressional Research Service (CRS) studies
prepared for members of U.S. Congress, U.S. International Trade Commission
(USITC) official assessment on the economic impacts of free trade agreements as
well as the World Bank and the United Nations research publications. Dr.
Lu’s published works also have been translated
into Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish and Thai and regularly
featured by leading T&A trade journals, including Just-Style, Women’s Wear
Daily, Sourcing Journal Online, California Apparel News and Textile World. For
more of Dr. Lu’s recent research projects, please visit his personal site http://shenglufashion.wordpress.com/blog
Article by Ahmed Sabab
