2011 Annual Meeting

May 1 - 3 | Loews Miami Beach Hotel | Miami Beach, Florida

A CHAIN REACTION TO RISING COSTS

Session 1: COSTING: Why this tsunami of cost increases?
Mary O'Rourke, President and Managing Director, O'Rourke Group Partners
Mary O’Rourke sets the tone of the meeting with a discussion of various pricing considerations in sourcing around the world. This will not be your stock pitch but rather will be very interactive. Mary has a specific case study of the market for synthetic women’s trousers that is not being taken advantage of currently.

Session 2: FIBER: Help me understand higher cost cotton and less availability of fabric
Wally Darneille, CEO, Plains Cotton Cooperative Association
The buzz is about cotton. Wally Darneille of PCCA will share a high level presentation that once and for all shows the entire ‘cotton’ environment globally. This will pull in cotton availability, retailers taking positions on fabric, and other issues the industry.

Session 3: FIBER: Help me understand higher costs for synthetics
Bill Jasper, President & CEO, Unifi
The increase in the cost of oil and many other chemicals directly impacts production of synthetics. Synthetics are also easy to recycle and exciting new markets demand this level of eco innovation. This presentation will spark interaction with everyone impacted, including trim producers.

Session 4:  An Overview of Full Value Costing
Barbara Zeins, President, Gerson & Gerson
How should companies perform total costing exercises? What are the primary places costs are generated? Where is the waste in the system - design, material, people - system - production management practices, time, shipping, etc? For the brands, how do they evolve toward increasing value, reducing long term costs, NOT just lowering short term costs? You will walk away with ideas for reducing cost, and just as importantly (actually more so) raising value, and to be able to re-think sourcing strategy.

Session 5: How are social and environmental issues playing in this era of thin margins?
Scott Vaughn, CEO, Rocedes Apparel
A follow up by Scott Vaughn and a special guest, Anil Hirdaramani from Sri Lanka. Additional comments by Juan Zighelboim and Fernando Capellan on how they implemented ideas they gather on our delegation to Sri Lanka. With interaction and update across all sustainability actions.

Session 6: How to leverage supply chains for value
General Discussion
AAPN has an end-to-end ‘Risk Response Network’ proven over decades. It operates exactly like a digital nervous system. At our annual face-to-face meeting, we have multiple supply chains in fiber/yarn/fabric/product. We will set aside time to directly address the concerns, limitations, strategies and insights of those on the brand and retail firing line. This discussion will engage those in technology, logistics, compliance and other production-supporting skills and services.