News

The 'Near Here' in the Fashion and Apparel Industry

Mike Todaro, Managing Director, American Apparel Producers' Network (AAPN)

05/04/09

(Atlanta: May 4, 2009) - The US apparel industry has come to know our non-profit apparel supply chain network as ‘the Virtual Garment District of the Western Hemisphere’. Relative to the Far East, this hemisphere is the ‘Near Here’ and that means speed. We offer to help you develop content, including our own ‘White Papers’, if you wish to dig deeper into the potential of this region’s apparel industry.

The supply chains for producing apparel anywhere from the US. Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and even Colombia, all places where our nearly 200 members are located, are hopelessly inter-twinned regionally. The timing for our supply chain expertise in the region is perfect because production of apparel is ‘coming back’ from Asia. Why?

Three words, two needs: shortened leadtimes and replenishment. Ask a retailer today what they need to get garments in the store yet make money and its all about inventory – as little as possible for as much full margin sales as possible. In other words, speed.

But fast isn’t easy. The faster you go, the more you need to track. There is no easy button in the world of apparel any more. This economy proved it. Cheap does not mean profit. Far does mean fast. And cost does not mean value.

Inventory is killing US retailers. Too much of it. Too much sameness. Too long to change. Too hard to replenish. Forget the special semantics of each silo industry in the supply chain. Here are the words that work in the apparel industry the way we see it - ‘short, fast, few, often, instant and tight’. These are little, short, universal cross industry words that allow retailers to communicate with other industries.

Why would a retailer want to do that? Because unless they’re Zara or H&M, they’re late. The prevailing truths they held so true aren’t so true anymore. The problems they have are complex and the answers aren’t tactical, they’re strategic. They’re disruptive. They’re high level. Most people aren’t going to know what to do. Executives will.

That’s why AAPN is harvesting best practices, case studies and ‘White Papers’ from within our membership. Each is documented with numbers and technical support, the best end-to-end, high speed, strategic supply chain success stories in the industry in this hemisphere. We can tell them by garment. Jeans. Knits. Activewear. Bottoms. Brand name, high margin, hot selling, quickly made and often updated garment success stories.

This is no time to be nice. This is business as unusual. Shorter leadtimes. Replenishment. Right here from the ‘Near Here’, the Western Hemisphere, uniquely and singularly organized industrially by the AAPN.

If you are interested in publishing our papers, I promise you those executives who read them will sit bolt upright in their chairs. That’s because there’s a ‘full value’ formula few know in this industry. It is the opposite of saving more. It is about selling more. It works. Hardened Western Owners and CEO’s of apparel factories know every possible kind of retailer and brand variation on product development and replenishment.

And they’re willing to put it in writing. Isn’t it time your readers got this insight through the filter of your professional journal? Call Mike Todaro in Atlanta at 404.843.3171 to discuss.

ABOUT AAPN:
A non-profit apparel supply chain network since 1981. AAPN’s service to its nearly 200 industry organizations across the entire supply chain include internal education, external promotion and industrial organization leveraging Web 2.0 technologies. Simplify sourcing, save time, get answers, find resources. Free, proven, instant results directly from the only apparel supply chain network of the Americas. ‘Nearsource’ factory-direct for a major competitive advantage. Unlike middlemen, AAPN connects users and members directly, without commission or delay. AAPN, the exclusive de facto industry standard for sourcing factory-direct. AAPN created the only on-line sourcing database in the industry – www.aapnetwork.net and the unprecedented apparel industry Web 2.0 apparelpedia - https://aapnetwork.pbworks.com/