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When Low Costs and Low Prices Can No Longer Drive the Sales Or Are Just Not Enough

It Is a New Global Economy

In the old economy the economic model was based on supply and demand. Many of the big corporate winners in the old industrial economy were companies that had big investments in productive capabilities and able to create new market opportunities by keeping low costs or forcing costs down. Low costs and big capital investments were the primary ingredients for success in the old global economy. In the old economy, sales were determined by the company’s productive capabilities, which were driven by the equipment they owned. For decades in the old industrial economy the biggest winners were production focused. As the global economy grew and competition increased, especially from low labor countries, productive capabilities and capacity were not enough and for many manufacturing companies marketing and branding became the focus.

“In the New Economy many of the most successful companies will out-source their manufacturing replacing capital equipment with creativity, speed to market, strong branding and “partnering” with the customer”

Having the right fashion items at the right time is a good concept for making retailers money. There are 12,000 apparel companies trying to do this every week of the year and more than 10,000 of those companies have sales between $300,000 and $3,000,000 a year with little to no brand identity and little to no brand following. 3,000 of those companies go out of business every year and 3,000 new companies come into business hoping they can do it each year. This would indicate that it takes something more than “strong fashion” to build a business and make the retailer profits on a consistent basis.

Making retailers money on a consistent basis is about TURNING INVENTORY with some significant speed and continuity.

This means the retailer can get it in quickly, sell it out quickly, get more in quickly, sell more out quickly and through this process, make a lot of money using very few $$$$ dollars out of their pocket.

One of the most popular pages on Dobizo is the Industry Page, but in all honestly it could be much much better with a little tweaking and a better layout.

With the help of our readers we can make it the best apparel industry link page possible by submitting your business or any other apparel industry related company for the industry link directory.

Why Should You?

Because Dobizo will be giving away a week of free advertising and a company profile on the Dobizo blog to the user that submits the most apparel industry related company’s by March 10 that will be exactly two weeks from today. Plus the actual search of these companies will help many of you looking for suppliers.

If you submit a company make sure and use the same email address for every submission or it will count as two separate entries for two different contestants!

Dobizo went down for a couple of days do to Godaddy and there no good servers, but we’re back with a new company and everything is coming along.

Expect more from Dobizo in the future new authors, new ceo audios, new articles, and more information on how to start a clothing line from SCRATCH!

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Understanding the business you are in is central to achieving your objectives. My experience with many many apparel, accessory and shoe companies is that more often than not, the owners and management do not have a clear understanding of the business they are in.

By this I mean, they do not understand the target, the main objective, the ultimate goal that would deliver to them everything they want. They don?t understand what they have to do to build a meaningful business that will sustain itself over time and generate profits with consistency.

Let us first agree on the definition of a business. A business is an enterprise created to generate profits or income with predictability and continuity.

This isn?t always clear amongst the business owners we have worked with. Many lose site of MAKING MONEY or EARNING PROFITS and get caught up in the contest of fashion, the excitement of PR, fun of promotion and the pursuit of sales and the thrill of product development. And while all those things are necessary, a business needs profits to sustain itself like a plant needs water and air. So it is critical that owners keep an eye on the ultimate objective.

The SME Expo is an apparel event with a focus on the technical side of the textile industry in India.

The Second Edition SME Expo Apparel 2008 will showcase the complete range of apparel and technical textiles providing the perfect platform for the industry to gain access to the rapidly growing Indian markets. The SME apparel event consists of a two day seminar and a three day expo.

The two day apparel technical textiles focused conference will be held on February 21-22, which is of four sessions focused on latest issues and innovations taking place in the apparel segment.

The show will be held in Gurgaon, India on February 21-23 at the Epicentre.

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The Dobizo entire network will be down for a small time while the new design is uploaded to the servers so be patient. Once uploaded please report any bugs or anything that doesn’t look right to fred@dobizo.com

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The House of Muses Handbags is a luxury bag manufacturer ran by model Lea Muses. They’re looking for an intern to assist with design and development of their hand bags.

You have to be willing to work in a fast paced environment and to assist with all aspects of the brand. From sample making on location in Manhattan to attending various apparel industry related events. School credit is provided for those attending a university.

Requirements:

• Very articulate candidate
• Background in design (Adobe Programs)
• Hands on sample making
• Experience in retail sales
• Communication

Please send resume and cover letters as well as schedule conflicts to jobs@thehouseofmuses.com. For more information on The House of Muses Luxury Handbags visit them online.

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WSA is a global marketplace for footwear and accessories buyers. One of the largest shows with a focus on the footwear and accessories industry in the world. With over 36,000 participants and 1,600 exhibitors representing over 6,000 brands.

World Shoes Accessories trade show is held twice a year in the Las Vegas Convention Center and was held under one roof for the first time last year in August 2007 at The Venetian.

The next edition will be on February 21-23 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information or to exhibit please visit the WSA website.

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Twinkle by Wenlan is a ready to wear women’s collection that is looking for a design team assistant intern that can start immediately.

Some of your responsibilities include:

• Design Development
• Creating Line Sheets and Sketches
• Working Adobe Photoshop
• Sourcing
• As well as some administrative duties

This is a great opportunity for someone seeking hands on experience in a design studio and there are minimum requirements to entry. Please email your availability and resume to Joanna@twinklebywenlan.com

You can see more about Twinkle by Wenlan by visiting their online destination.

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Open end denim is faster and less expensive to produce than the original ring spun denims. Open end denims create denim with a courser look and feel. (Not nearly as comfortable or appealing as the original ring spun denim.)

Open End Spinning- is a process for making a more coarse yarns used in denim. It is faster and cheaper than ring spinning. Fibers are fed into a high-speed rotor shaped like a cup. The end of a yarn is placed inside and drawn out as the fibers accumulate on the ?open end.? Open-end yarns are not as strong as ring-spun yarns of the same size, because some of the fibers do not lie parallel to the axis of the yarn.

The open end method will most likely be used? with the cheaper denim brands because it is not as comfortable, strong or appealing as the ring-spun yarns.

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A popular Manhattan, New York clothing store Yellow Rat Bastard controlled by Henry Ishay has been ordered to pay $1.4 Million in unpaid wages, employee overtime and is responsible for restitution fees for over 1,000 mistreated employees current and former workers.

This closed case is the result of two court lawsuits filed against Yellow Rat Bastard’s violation of New York state and federal labor law at all of Henry Ishay’s stores, which of several include retail clothing operations ; Boys and Chicks, Dirty Jane/Sloppy Joe, Rubber Sole Shoes, Antique Orange, Tempo, and F.A.T. Jeans & Shoes. After further investigation the Attorney General found that sometimes employees were paid as little as $5.25 per hour which is a direct violation of a labor law and often received no overtime pay.

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A treatment of cotton yarn, hemp or fabric to increase its luster, natural appearance and its likeness/affinity for dyes. The material is immersed under tension in a cold sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) solution in warp or skein form or in the piece, and is later neutralized in acid. The process causes a permanent swelling of the fiber and thus increases its luster.

If you ever noticed on some clothing tags it will say mercerized cotton on the labels.

Source (You Guys Didn’t Think We Knew Everything Did You ): Jeans Glossary

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We spoke on this earlier last year in September about the possible merger of Kellwood into Sun Capital Securities Group for an unsolicited offer of $762 million that has been agreed upon as of Monday after looking at things from their shareholders point of view decided it would be in their best interest.

Kellwood is a $1.6 billion dollar behemoth in the apparel industry as a leading marketer of apparel and consumer soft goods. Tender the closing of the offer Sun Capital will be a major share holder in Kellwood and they’re pushing to make this effective immediately. Board of Directors at the company are recommending that shareholders tender their shares into the offer.

From Kellwood:

“The merger agreement provides that Kellwood will remove all impediments to the tender offer that are in its control, so that Sun Capital?s $21.00 per share cash tender of