The Future - Invented Here

As business owners and managers we are constantly being challenged by traditional or daily internal factors including profits, sales growth, human resources and external factors of economic influences and political or governmental constraints. But where can you turn to increase your awareness of current global and local issues and which resources may be available to assist and enable your successful dealing with these issues?

You can read the paper, take courses and hire consultants but none of these outlets can be wholly dedicated to the issues in our sewn products industry. Well, I am here with some great news! But before I continue this article, I need to disclose that I am a long-time member of an industry association, the American Apparel Producers Network (AAPN) and currently serve on its board of directors. This non-profit organization has membership open to all parties in the sewn products industry and we have a global membership. If this association did not already exist, we’d have to invent it. Our executive directors Sue Strickland and Mike Todaro work hard to keep us growing and connected.

The point of view I use in this monthly column is to enhance value by espousing learning opportunities. The AAPN just completed a two day conference in Newport Beach, California. If, in your role in your organization, you are not involved in design, manufacturing, sourcing (from fiber to fabric to garments), retailing, technology, quality, strategic partnerships, supply chain management, government regulations or green and sustainability initiatives at either a local or international level, then read no further - because the AAPN has members in all those categories and more. Our membership and interconnected network is to whom you can turn so you can keep up to speed and go back to the future for all these points mentioned. Participants at the meeting included people from Patagonia, Columbia Sportswear, Levi Strauss, Nordstrom’s, Philips Van Heusen, Avery Dennison, Checkpoint Systems, RadiciSpandex, Trade Card, Bureau Veritas and A & E, YKK, QST, and CIT, to name a few.

We enjoyed those two days together networking with familiar friends and new ones. Presentation and discussion topics included Full Value Costing, understanding not just speed to market but speed to margin. We discussed how we may collaborate within the supply chain to be cheaper, better and faster at all the tasks we do every day from design through collecting accounts receivable. Roxy Star of Shapley Shadow wowed us with state-of-the-art technical design software. Roxy developed a viable platform that uses a camera and her software so we could see models in 360 degree views used to communicate design and product development. And all can be seen and accomplished without shipping samples or leaving your office. The amount of the time and money saved is incredible.

We had presentations about the current Green movement and how to design and accomplish Sustainability. What do these words mean and who regulates the definitions in today’s global marketplace? How to get on track with these vital mega-trends and who are the leaders and pace-setters? How do you avoid the pitfalls associated with any fledgling endeavor? I heard that more than twice as much organic cotton is sold than is produced in a year! Think about that. Some feat but are you sure you are getting what you pay for? How do you know and what do you warrant to your customers? Many of you may know this already but the European Community is ahead of the USA when in comes to demanding and regulating the contents of the products being shipped there. If you don’t comply already, your customer will want to know where your raw materials are sourced and what chemicals were used in their manufacture. It’s only a matter of time before those standards are adopted universally.

There is so much happening and so fast. If you’re not up to speed, you’re falling behind. For our younger generation, things may be a bit easier as they are ‘digital natives’ while us older folks are ‘digital immigrants.’ It’s taken a while for us to learn the language and old thumbs aren’t as nimble for text messaging. You may not be able to do everything but you should be aware of what is being done. The AAPN gives us the network to get the sources and support to understand and organize to meet the challenges at hand.

Tomorrow is here already. Check out our Apparelpedia website at www.aapnetwork.pbwiki.com. Our next meeting will be at the Material World Show in Miami Beach on April 8th, when we host our Sourcing Managers Reception. See where you can go to connect to the state of the art with leading companies and some really nice people to hang out with too!

Joseph Greco is president of Greco Apparel. Visit them on the web at www.grecoapparel.com