Cotton Farming Magazine Asked Me: “What Customers Want?”

It’s being a while since I last posted here, in part I’ve being busy with several projects; including discovering the magic and monster that is Amazon.com,  and part writer’s block. That is right “writer’s block” I found out it also happens to non writers and I point this out because I don’t consider myself a writer but someone who merely shares an opinion by this great medium that is the Internet.  It’s also hard to find good content to blog about, but luckily for me a business colleague introduced me to “Cotton Farming Magazine” who is constantly looking for answers to the question: “What Customers Want?“. You see Cotton Farming Magazine asks this questions to industry insiders and they like to get different perspectives on this questions, and so my colleague thought I would make a good candidate to answer this question and so I did.

Since they were kind enough to publish my somewhat critical point of view, I’d like to not take away from their publication and actually encourage you to read the entire article in the Cotton Farming Magazine, here is a preview and a link:

Cotton Farming Magazine: “What Customers Want?” article

Read Full Post »

Now that Syms is bankrupt, what does it mean to be an educated consumer?

Many in the U.S. have heard Syms’ tag-line “An Educated Consumer is our Best Customer.” Now that Syms is closing it’s doors, what makes a current educated consumer? Is it still the bargain hunter? Well, in many cases an educated consumer assesses value to price ratio on it’s purchases. But in this day and age of Occupy Wall Street, what does it mean to be an educated consumer of apparel? One the main points of this blog is to share a point of view and advocate for companies that are updating and improving their processes in order to offer innovative design while reducing their carbon footprint; now on a post #OccupyWallStreet era it also helps if the company is also working to improve local economies. With that said, I’m happy to have read certain developments since my last post from companies around the globe that have been working in similar model.

Globalization of Fashion is something that has been explored in this blog, inclusive of the pros and cons of such; even as those pros and cons continue to shift. Well, certainly working to reduce carbon footprint and improve local economies is to some extend against Fashion Globalization; at least from a sourcing perspective. Last post covered how My New Balance® for J.Crew 1400 sneakers are made in USA and available at a Liquor Store.  In this post, I’d like to share how across the pond, two major companies in the U.K have chosen to increase their local manufacturing and help improve their local economies.

Mulberry Factory

The iconic brand Mulberry has plans to open it’s second factory in the UK with some help from their government: “Mulberry has secured £2.5 million from the Regional Growth Fund by the coalition Government to help set up the second factory at total cost estimated at £7.5 million and add a reportedly 250 jobs.” Click here for more information about their new upcoming factory in Bridgwater, Somerset

In addition, John Lewis has started to:  Give the consumers the choice to buy cheap products coming from half a world away or pay more for locally made products that can help grow local economies.  The department store will mark all locally made products with a “Made in UK” stamp. As it appears in John Lewis’s Press Release:  “The ‘Made in UK’ identifier will appear on over 4,000 products which are manufactured in the UK, from early 2012. It consolidates John Lewis’s support of British manufacturing which sees it work with over 130 companies which make its own-brand products. John Lewis also operates a factory in Lancashire, Herbert Parkinson, which weaves and produces its own-brand fabrics, duvets and pillows, and where its seven-day curtain service is based.” For complete transcript click here: John Lewis backs British manufacturing with launch of Made in UK product identifier

Now imagine if only Walmart would do something similar? lol

Read Full Post »

My New Balance® for J.Crew 1400 sneakers are made in USA and available at a Liquor Store

My new pair of New Balance sneakers were color designed by the J. Crew design team, made in the USA and are available at a Liquor Store? Yes, indeed. This past week as I left  a meeting in Tribeca, I found myself in front of a Liquor Store, well not any liquor store but J. Crew Tribeca Men’s Shop. The store unique name “Liquor Store J Crew Mens Shop” comes from the fact that the store took over a location that used to be a liquor store bar, and now it has been reincarnated into a great & eclectic shopping experience for gentlemen.

Once inside the store, I found a great range of colors of the New Balance® for J.Crew 1400 sneakers; to my pleasant surprise, these colors are not only limited editions being offered by J. Crew but “each pair is crafted in the USA from premium American-made suede at New Balance’s Skowhegan, Maine, factory.” What a great example of innovation in both retail and sourcing while helping improve the US economy by keeping jobs in America.

New Balance® for J.Crew 1400 sneakers

The irony of this shopping experience for me, was that just this past July I attended a seminar on the “Innovation of Sourcing” for the textile and apparel industries, during a fairly known fabric & sourcing trade show in NY. What this seminar called innovation meant going after the cheapest labor in the globe; is that really innovation? The panel was composed by 2 industry veterans, a young technology savvy entrepreneur and a not so good moderator. The speakers except for the technology savvy one, concentrated the best part of the conversation talking about the importance of knowing your factories and visiting the factories to make sure you know and understand your suppliers; very good points but at the end they strictly spoke about doing business in factories in China and moving into Vietnam and Bangladesh looking for cheaper and cheaper labor. I truly walked away extremely disappointed with the panelists, except with the young technology savvy entrepreneur, and that’s because the technology on his site is actually innovative but at the end it revolved around imports.

One only needs to read into the labor shortages and increase labor cost in the far east to realize that future real innovation is closer to home. In addition, the US is one of the main cotton producers in the world but most of the cotton goes overseas and travels from country to country, where the yarns, fabrics and apparel are being manufactured before the garments end up back in our retail shops. How many miles does a pound of cotton has to travel around the globe before it gets back to a local retail shop? During a separate research, I found that today there are so many great innovation in machinery for manufacturing that requires a lot less manual labor and instead few smart trained operators; with adequate smart investment a company could increase productivity tremendously and compound it with lower logistics cost associated with domestic operations to help manufacturers balance out higher operations costs. That would be real “innovation in Sourcing”.

In the mean time, our politicians are all wasting time fighting about how to either cut expenses or increase taxes, but how about increasing domestic manufacturing and job opportunities? At the end, such idealistic proposal could only succeed when proper information is forwarded to the consumer. Give the consumers the choice to buy cheap products coming from half a world away or pay more for locally made products that can help grow local economies. I certainly know what to choose. Kudos to New Balance for their commitment to manufacture domestically. Click here to learn about New Balance Made in USA and Made in UK stance.

Read Full Post »

What are Herbal Dyes?

Herbal Dyes or as in Wikipedia: “Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates,a or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources – roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood — and other organic sources such as fungi and lichens.” Which have considerate advantage over conventional dyes, where various 8000 chemicals are known to be used in textiles industry for getting today’s vibrant colors.

Turmeric is a great example of a Natural Dye, used in Asia for many years and it is a fantastic herb to treat small cuts and wounds.  It is actually an antiseptic and anti inflammatory herb, which means that you can stick it right into your first aid kit. Which makes Turmeric an ideal dye for fabrics that touch the skin of people, especially those allergic to fabrics dyed conventionally and infuse with chemicals.

Turmeric

–

So what if they use lots of chemicals in conventional dyes and my skin is not allergic? Well, a good example of what’s wrong with these chemicals appeared in New York Times article, which shows a satellite image of blue dye and other chemicals, as they flow into the river in such amounts it changes the color of the river temporarily.

Qian Hai Nan Lu China Guangdong Guangzhou Zeng Cheng Shi

One of the globe leading organic and herbal dyes fabric mill is Aura Herbal. Which does a great job a providing truly eco-friendly textiles. They use organic cotton fiber and natural dyes; instead of other fabric mills which offer organic fibers that are then dye conventionally. Below is a brief of Aura’s processes along with a chart displaying the different Herbs they used and the array of colors which such Herbs produce.

“The process of herbal dyeing was developed through extensive research during the age-old dyeing methods practiced since the days of the Indus civilization. The process of herbal dyeing starts with the gray cloth passing through several stages of treatment before it becomes colorful and ready to wear. During this entire treatment only natural processes are used.

Herbs & Medicinal Properties

Fabric & Yarns used are certified organic cotton, natural cotton, silk, wool, linen, jute, hemp etc. and their natural blends.

Desizing
The washing of processed greige cloth starts with removing sizing, gums and oils used in the course of weaving by washing with natural mineral-rich water and sea salts.

Bleaching
Fabrics are exposed to direct sunlight, use of a natural grass base and animal manure starts the bleaching process.

Mordanting
To make the colors bright and fast natural mordents such as Myrballams, rubhabs leaves, oils, minerals, alum, iron Vat etc are used. We do not use heavy metal mordents like copper, chrome, zinc, tin etc.

Dyeing
Aura uses only medicinally rich herbs, plant material, minerals & oils like, turmeric, Myraballm, castor oil, sea salt etc for dyeing fabric or yarn. We have aspired to achieve and retained the medicinal qualities of the herbs by immersing the plant material directly in the dye bath for the same reason.

Finishing
In Herbal Dyeing, finishing is done by sprinkling pure water on the cloth and then stretching under pressure, using hand rolls, aloe Vera, and castor oil.

Recycling Plant
Solid and liquid waste is separated through the process of filtration and used for farming purposes as a manure & watering the fields.”

In following post we’ll further explore some of the above mentioned herbs and it’s properties.

Read Full Post »

What are the benefits of Organic Textiles? Many, considering cotton is a water-hungry crop

Hennes & Mauritz or H&M as best known, used 15,000 tonnes of organic cotton in 2010, an increase of 77% compared to 2009. And with the introduction of their new line Conscious Collection that number is projected to grow. In our last entry we covered: What’s Organic Cotton? On this one, we’ll cover what are some of the benefits of Organic Textiles or Textiles made of Organic Cotton.

Conscious Collection

The below is a list compiled by Aura Herbal:

Organic clothing can help reduce exposure to allergens and other irritants and give a comfortable feeling.

• Manual farming and organic practices have a lower carbon footprint as the entire process consumes less fuel and energy and emits fewer greenhouse gases compared to chemical textiles.
• Not grown from genetically modified cottonseed.
• Grown with natural and not synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, no chemical defoliant used.
• Eco-friendly processing that does not compromise workers’ health and helps reduce water and electric use and toxic runoff.
• Strict testing ensures the absence of contaminants like nickel, lead, formaldehyde, amines, pesticides and heavy metals.
• People with allergies and chemical sensitivity especially benefit from organic cotton clothing, as conventional cotton may retain harmful toxic residues. Even if you don’t have sensitive skin, organic cotton will just feel better against your skin.
• Children are at greater risk for pesticide-related health problems than adults. Millions of children in the US receive up to 35% of their estimated lifetime dose of some carcinogenic pesticides by age five through food, contaminated drinking water, household use, and pesticide drift.
• Farm workers working in conventionally grown cotton fields around the world suffer from an abundance of toxic exposures and related health problems. Pesticides used on cotton cause acute poisonings and chronic illness to farm workers worldwide. Acute respiratory symptoms and other health effects in communities surrounding cotton farms are correlated with high use of defoliation chemicals.

Environmental Benefits
• Improved soil fertility
• Increasing cotton yields
• Massive saving of precious water. This is important as cotton is a water-hungry crop, which can cause problems in areas without high natural water availability. It has a positive effect on the content of organic matter and helps to avoid soil acidification
• It improves soil structure by increasing soil activity, thus reducing the risk of erosion
• It promotes the development of earthworms and above ground arthropods, thus improving the growth conditions of the crop.

Furthermore, organic crops profit from root symbioses and are better able to exploit the soil, and organic fields accommodate a greater variety of plants, animals and microorganisms.

Read Full Post »

What is Organic Cotton?

Organic cotton is grown without using pesticides from plants which are not genetically modified. High levels of agrichemicals are used in the production of non-organic, conventional cotton. Cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts to a total of around 25% of the world’s pesticides. The chemicals used in the processing of cotton also pollute the air and surface waters. Residual chemicals may also irritate skin. Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have low impact on the environment. Organic production system replenishes and maintains soil fertility, reduces the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and builds biologically diverse agriculture. Third-party certification organizations verify that organic producers use only methods and materials allowed in organic production. Organic agriculture uses crop rotation instead of agrochemicals along with artificial fertilizers and biological pest control instead of pesticides. Though organic cotton has less environmental impact than conventional cotton, it costs more to produce. Cotton sold as organic must be grown according to the international guidelines for organic crop production. Soil fertility practices that meet organic certification standards typically include crop rotation, cover cropping, animal manure additions, and use of naturally occurring rock powders. Weed management is accomplished by a combination of cultivation, flame weeding, and other cultural practices.

The above information is brought to us by Aura Herbal Wear.

For more about Organic Cotton click picture below:

Read Full Post »

Check-in Fashion with foursquare @ NY’s Garment District

Most have heard of the Geolocation-based social network foursquare, many have used it to check-in places.  In addition many corporations have used the location-based social networking website to promote business deals; while many consumers have cashed in those deals. But how about using foursquare to do research? That’s exactly what Check in Fashion is working on and it’s researching: NYC’s Garment District.

Below is an insert from Check-in Fashion website:

“As many of you know, the Garment District has been under enormous pressure to rezone over the past several years. This proposal could possibly erode the way in which designers are able to work and innovate. We are interested in quantifying the importance of manufacturing firms in the Garment District. In this project we will use smart phone technology to perform a survey of the spatial patterns of New York City design firms who use manufacturing firms in the Garment District. We believe that their spatial patterns will show that the density of manufacturing in the garment district matters to the industry.

In order to survey the spatial patterns of the fashion industry workforce we will ask participants in the study to use anonymously generated FourSquare accounts to “CHECK-IN” to fashion related locations. These “CHECK-INS” will allow us to see how and where fashion industry workers use the Garment District. We believe the findings will show that proximity matters to New York City’s fashion industry.”

Click pic to zoom

As an industry insider, I’m interested on this project’s progress and looking to check-in to a few places. For all of others interested, sign-up by clicking below pic:

Sign-up

For a one stop shop apparel production facility: Check-in with Apparel Production Inc.

Apparel Production Inc

For Fabric and textile trends check-in: Studio Bert Forma

Studio Bert Forma

For more info visit: Check-in Fashion

Read Full Post »

Sustainable Apparel Coalition is ready to clean up supply chains

It’s now official, with the newly formed Sustainable Apparel Coalition, The Apparel and footwear industries are gradually and collectively becoming more socially responsible.

A fabric dyeing factory in Mumbai, India; as it appears in nytimes.com

A coalition has finally been formed. This news is greatly received considering one of the main objectives behind this blog is to educate the general consumers about topics of corporate social responsibility and sustainable design. In order to assist consumers make informed decisions at time of purchase, while supporting companies that are doing good not only for their shareholders but also taking under consideration the impact behind their actions.

Here is an insert from the Sustainable Apparel Coalition Press Release: “The largest and most influential corporations in apparel and footwear together with leading environmental and social organizations have voluntarily engaged in this collective effort because they recognize the opportunity to get in front of the growing need to measure and manage the environmental and social impacts of their products,” said Rick Ridgeway, Coalition Chair and Vice President of Environmental Programs, Patagonia. “More importantly, they recognize the threat to the planet and its inhabitants by continuing the model of ‘business as usual.’”

Many companies in the past and still to this date are caught in the greenwashing machine; basically using Green PR and green marketing to promote their business without actually having the correct policies in place. Hopefully now with the new coalition, which first main project is to develop an eco-index or as described in their site as a common, “industry-wide tool for measuring the environment and social performance of apparel products and the supply chain that produces them”; corporations that talk the talk will have to walk the walk or take the chance of being exposed for greenwashing.

The coalition’s vision as posted in their website is to have: “An apparel industry that produces no unnecessary environmental harm and has a positive impact on the people and communities associated with its activities.” Furthermore the coalition identifies the following as their challenges:

Water Use & Quality
Energy / Greenhouse Gas
Waste
Chemicals / Toxicity
Social / Labor

———-

Current Founding Circle Membership includes the following organizations:
Adidas, Arvind Mills, C&A, Duke University, Environmental Defense Fund, Esprit, Esquel, Gap Inc., H&M, HanesBrands, Intradeco, JC Penney, Kohl’s Department Stores, Lenzing, Levi Strauss & Co., LF USA, a division of Li & Fung Limited, Marks & Spencer, Mountain Equipment Co-op, New Balance, Nike, Nordstrom, Otto Group, Outdoor Industry Association, Patagonia, Pentland Brands, REI, TAL Apparel, Target, Timberland, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Verité, VF Corp, and Walmart.

Answers to frequently asked questions about the coalition can be found at the FAQ section of their site: http://www.apparelcoalition.org/faqs

Below are two other great articles on this topic:

Eco-index gains momentum as it appeared in just-style.com

Clothes Makers Join to Set ‘Green Score’ as it appeared in nytimes.com

Read Full Post »

Cotton – From Blue to Green®

What to do with old jeans? I generally donate them but here is another great option: Cotton. From Blue to Green.^®

UltraTouch™ Denim Insulation has been donated to Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the Gulf Coast Region

Read Full Post »

Cotton The Fabric of Our (expensive) Lives.

Many might be familiar with the great Cotton Inc. campaign: “Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives”. Well, just like our lives are getting expensive, so are our fabrics.

High fiber prices are expected to create some havoc in the apparel supply chain in the coming months. Rising costs of raw materials in the past year have been astronomical and will most likely force apparel manufacturers and retailers to pass some of the increases to the consumers.

What exactly is going on? Why are raw material prices going up when we are just coming out of a recession? Does anyone remember the 80’s hit by Milli Vanilli “Blame it on the Rain”? Well, let’s blame on the rain, literally. The current astronomical prices of cotton and other fibers are in part derived directly from 2010 floods in Pakistan, India and China.  Torrential rains and floods in these three countries, which are in the list of top cotton producers worldwide, decimated cotton crops and forced countries to dig deep into their inventories.

These natural disasters along with increasing demand in emerging markets, specially in China, has lead cotton prices to surged 91% in 2010. Leaving apparel manufacturers scrambling to find lower-cost alternatives; the problem ripples through other fibers when scarcity and high prices in cotton lead buyers to start looking at other alternative fibers. Then supply and demand comes into play, and other fibers also go up in price. For the most part manufacturers have been able to absorb the cost because the big manufacturers had these fibers under contract long ago and small manufacturers were able to absorb cost not to lose orders.

Now going into 2011 some of these contracts have expired and new negotiations are taking place with cotton prices doubled what they were last year. In addition there have been recent floods in Australia and Brazil, two countries also in the list of top cotton producers. Therefore leaving manufactures facing the dilemma cut margins & risk profitability, or raise prices & risk sales?

For more info click here

Read Full Post »