California Apparel News

Speed, design, technology and collaboration will be some of the ways apparel and textile brands can overcome challenges in the current marketplace, said industry experts speaking at the annual meeting of the American Apparel Producers’ Network (AAPN), held Feb. 24–26 at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, Calif.

The Atlanta-based AAPN, made up of textile and apparel industry leaders from North and South America, is like many in the industry, facing challenges caused by the slowing economy, weakened dollar, and gas and credit crunches, as well as other factors.

About 100 of the AAPN’s 600 members were on hand for the event, which featured discussions on production, sustainability and technology. Representatives from leading companies—including Levi Strauss & Co., Patagonia, Nordstrom and Phillips–Van Heusen Corp.—were on hand.

The AAPN’s managing director, Mike Todaro, launched the conference with a discussion on the concept of full-value costing, which goes beyond the traditional fabric, trim and labor formula and incorporates the factory as a strategic partner. Todaro said it’s vital to form strategic relationships with factories right now and get them involved early in the game.

“The factory is going to be your greatest problem solver,” he said. He pointed to companies such as Guatemala-based fullpackage provider Koramsa as a model.

“They set timelines and task charts, and 100 percent of them get done,” he said.

Using case studies from AAPN cohort and author David Birnbaum, Todaro explained that most brands and factories are making most of their key costing decisions toward the latter stages of production that involve mainly the factory and retailer. As a result, about 85 percent of the manufacturing process is almost forgotten, he said.

Full-value costing does away with the traditional costing formula of fabric, trim and labor. Instead, the entire supply chain is considered—including design, merchandising, pattern-making and sample-making— as well as the factory producing the goods. Retailers such as Zara and JCPenney have been successfully employing such practices, Todaro said. The result is not just speed to market but speed to margin, he said.

Bringing in technology

Roxy Starr and Ilona Foyer of Malibu, Calif.–based Shapely Shadow illustrated part of this formula with a demo of its Fast Fit software, which uses digital technology to produce 3-D images of sample garments on a model or dress form that can be rotated and viewed up close during virtual fit sessions. The process usually results in the elimination of two to three samples in a process that, for most companies, involves about six to seven samples. At a cost of about $150 per sample, that can mean big savings, especially for companies that do a lot of volume.

“You can’t always communicate that well with factories using words. So we use visuals,” Starr explained. “Part of the fit is seeing, seeing where garments are gaping, or how they react when you close your arms. The people in these factories tell us they can’t believe our butts are that big—but seeing is believing. This is the fit room of the future.”

Green versus sustainability

The panelists also addressed the industry’s move to go green, getting an education on the blurred lines between sustainability and green products.

“Sustainability is a business model,” explained Rick Horwitch, vice president of solutions and business development for Calabasas, Calif.–based Bureau Veritas.

Patagonia is a prime example of a company that incorporates sustainable business practices as well as produces green products made from organic cotton.

Patagonia’s Randy Harward outlined how the company is reducing its footprint on natural resources by using organic cotton and employing wind and solar power within its operations.

Patagonia is in the third year of its “Common Threads” recycling program and has expanded it from its Capilene products to fleece items, as well. The company is even accepting used fleece from other companies. The used products are recycled into new material and made into new Patagonia products.

Harward said it’s important to be open and sharing about such strategies. “You have to be transparent,” he said. “You don’t want people nailing you for lying.”

On the product side, John Simon of Green Textile, La Rhea Pepper of the Organic Exchange, Harding Stowe of Stowe Mills and Anne Gillespie of Continuum Textiles explained the situation organic-cotton producers are facing with supply, competition and accountability.

Pepper said companies need to be committed about going green. “They would best be served by aligning business strategies with sustainability goals,” she said. “You have to make a commitment.” Recent surveys showed that 43 percent of apparel makers plan to go green over the next five years. Turkey and India are now the largest suppliers of organic cotton. In the United States, it’s a different story. Organic-cotton farmers are competing with bio-diesel crops and other agricultural crops. It’s food versus fiber, said Pepper, an organic-cotton farmer herself. She said California’s cotton production is down 40 percent over the past five years as a result of such issues.

Apparel companies are realizing strong gains from organic cotton–based products. Pepper said Eileen Fisher and H&M are among those that have experienced stronger- than-expected sales.

But accountability is becoming more scrutinized with the growing amount of eco fabrics entering the marketplace. Gillespie said vendors at the recent MAGIC Marketplace show were making claims of having organic bamboo, even though bamboo fabrics are made from regenerated fibers, which are made using a chemical process similar to the manufacture of rayon.

“Organic is a legal claim” she said. Producers can get their organic products certified by the Organic Exchange and GOTS (the Global Organic Textile Standards). There is software available that can track cotton through the supply chain using bar-code technology.

The producers are also facing supply problems. That has retailers such as Wal-Mart staking out supplies in emerging markets such as Swaziland and China for organic cotton, Pepper said.

Getting a fix on Web 2.0

Finally, Kurt Cavano, chief executive officer of TradeCard Inc., which helps companies eliminate paper transactions with its Web-based software, stressed that companies take advantage of Web 2.0 services— that is, the second generation of Web-based communities and hosted services such as wikis and blogs.

Cavano illustrated how he now uses podcasts of the TradeCard story to enable sales associates to use the information in the field. He also used free services such as Yahoo Pipes (pipes.yahoo.com), which “pipes” in information from various Web applications into one application so users can import photos and news stories on one subject from different resources.

In addition, he uses freebies such as Jott (www.jott.com) as a virtual notepad of sorts. Jott converts voice messages via 800 numbers into e-mails, text messages and other formats. He uses Google Earth (earth.google.com) to plot meeting schedules. The site provides aerial maps and 3-D images of places. Cavano imports addresses of companies, which the site can interpret into aerial maps showing each place of business.

Other Web 2.0 applications, such as Alibaba.com, are becoming the “eBay of sourcing,” Cavano added.

MySpace and the virtual community SecondLife (www.secondlife.com) have also made huge impacts. Roni Miller of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising explained how the college is using SecondLife to create a virtual garment world so students can make clothes in a virtual factory and sell them to the SecondLife community.

“If we don’t embrace these, we’re destined to become the next buggy whip,” Cavano said.