Comments on: DEs: an internationally endangered species?

By: Gurumurthy.B.R

Gurumurthy.B.R — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:36:29 +0000

what is the use of indian fashion designers when there is no market creating potential as the core users are driven by textile and apparel people and not every one in india is a star and not born to a star. A star is paid handsomely to project the brand. He is no way using the brand 24 hours in his bed-room,toilet..etc..What needs to be done to Indian mentally is to pump some common-sense and not petroleum products to people who write rubbish articles on fashion trends and fashion forecasting inspite of themselves being not a part of world fashion trend-setters. Can any-one name world class fashion trendsetters from india. What’s not in vogue abroad is vogue in india???

By: Jo

Jo — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 03:41:54 +0000

I concure whole heartedly with Kate, a very important summary Barbette.
Kate has raised a critical issue for the Australian industry – the under valuing of pre-production management. All industry reviews in the last 10 years recommend a ‘design and merchandise’ model for Aus clothing businesses. Not surprisingly the word pre-production fails to appear in reports and hence the important role it plays in converting design into product is completely over looked. Of course we all know that from a sketch, product just magically appears from O/S manufacture don’t we!!
While the easier, faster, cheaper mentality seems to be the driver in current apparel activity I would like to pose another model – complex, thorough, investment (CTI). In other words complex skills / systems underpinning thorough checking of accuracy / detail and long term investment in technology / people to ensure continuity will actually produce the easier, faster, cheaper desired model. But hey who gets its it?? And who has the courage to stand up to a tirade of abuse when a production sample should have gone out 3 days ago!!! Mind you if the cost of stuff ups, excess inventory, poor fitting garments and bad quality was added to the pre-production wages bill business owners might see the cost benefits to the CTI model. But sadly all too often management gets stuck transferring costs from one department to another without any real gains in cost and operating efficiencies.
Having just returned from a world trip via Germany to do an advanced pattern making class in Grafis software I can testify that they get it.
Very impressive. Alas there is hope!

By: kate

kate — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 07:19:10 +0000

Thank you Barbette, that is the best history/analysis of the Australian TCF industry that I have ever read, and given the number of DE in this country a very important summary.
Having survived (just) in Aus TCF since the early 80’s I can relate to every step of this so called industry restructure. Unfortunately during the transition from the manufacturing to the merchandise model, also known as the Quicker, Faster, Cheaper (QFC) model where the preproduction/technical design process now operates in a virtual domain, information management, QA procedures, career, skills development and systems have not kept pace with this new mode. The role of technical management is greatly under valued in this industry. Many skilled patternmakers are simply expeditors. Skills in Illustrator and Excel are more important than patternmaking for fashion graduates to-day. Who needs skills in garment fit when QC checks are two-dimensional only? Let’s not let bodies get in the way.

By: anne

anne — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:34:58 +0000

Great article Babette!

There was an article in the Age recently suggesting that Australian DEs, once the free trade agreement is signed, may have new export opportunities – to China. Apparently, the growing Chinese middle class have a problem – they can’t afford high-end clothing (Chanel, etc), and the don’t want to buy stuff ‘made in China’ – but there’s nothing available in between! Quality Australian DEs who manufacture in Australia may be able to fill that gap.

By: Esther

Esther — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:00:22 +0000

Thank you for the Australian perspective. I have noticed a recent change with Chinese companies too. They are less willing to work with small, US based companies. They only want large volume, immediate orders or not at all.

By: Sandra B

Sandra B — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:38:41 +0000

Thank you so much for an Australian perspective. I remember when the reduction in quotas hit, a local trouser making company closed its doors. They had been going for so long that the office looked like it came from a novel by Dickens. 50 sewers were immediately out of work. The follow-on effect was that a major haberdashery supplier had to substantially reduce their business now their major client was gone. It caused shock waves all around our tiny fashion industry. Long term though, it’s as Babette said, our industry has gone very high end. I was shocked at the prices I had to pay for CMT when I re-entered the game after 10 or so years, but there’s not really much choice, and the boutiques didn’t keel over at the wholesale prices, so I just kept a straight face and continued selling: ).

An interesting knock on effect of cheap clothes is the charity situation. Charity stores are full to the brim with hardly worn clothes, and are getting picky about what they take because of the cost of disposing of the stuff that doesn’t come up to the new high standard. Gone are the days of fossicking through dingy corners, nowadays they look like chain stores.

By: Sandra B

Sandra B — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:36:58 +0000

By: Big Irv

Big Irv — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:27:41 +0000

Very thoughtful report. Very astute observation on how decent sized orders can get “bumped” in favour of the larger ones coming in from other parts of the world. And the unrest continues to this day. Currently, a reputed labour shortage is occuring in Shanghai, and factories are using this as a reason for raising prices, not only to Aussies companies, but many others as well.

Regarding Jan 2005, did you mean 700 million to 1.2 billion ?
I know when the FTC reinstated quotas on some categories in June 2005, certain garment types were up well over 800% and they decided to put the brakes on. I thought Canada would also reinstate the quotas, but like Australia, we are awash in closeout stuff and no end is in sight. With no quota to protect anyone, it is not just Chinese factories going wild trying to offload goods, much of it manufactured at low prices, brought into the country, flipped quickly and profits made locally.

Just about every CDN town or city have a new type of retailer, the discount/clearance center. Often only around for a few months, it just helps spread the low cost merchandise a bit faster.