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contentsMAYvolume 52/number 9
EDITORIAL STATEMENT
The views expressed in contributed articles are those of their authors, and are not necessarily shared by Apparel. The purpose of our articles is to inform our readers; referencesto a specific product or service do not imply endorsement.
ApparelTM
PUBLISHER Susan S. [email protected]
EDITOR IN CHIEF Jordan K. Speer, ext. [email protected]
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jessica [email protected]
ART DIRECTOR Robin Ridgell, ext. [email protected]
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
Christian Chensvold; Stacey Kusterbeck; Deena M. Amato-McCoy; Amy Roach Partridge; Thomas J. Ryan; Masha Zager
SALES MANAGER Cindy DeBerry, ext. [email protected]
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Marla Wood, ext. [email protected]
CLASSIFIED SALES Fran Stallings, ext. [email protected]
ADVERTISING SALES AGENTS
Germany: Uwe Kohler/ Verlagsburo Kohler, Tel: 02103-23292,Fax: 02103-23392, E-mail: [email protected]; India: ShivajiBhattacharjee/Information and Education Services Pvt. Ltd.,Tel: 0091-11-2686-7005, E-mail: [email protected]; Japan: Ted Asoshina/Echo Japan, Tel: 81-3-3263-5065,Fax: 81-3-3234-2064, E-mail: [email protected]\; KenjiKanai/Kanai Inc., Tel: 81-6-443-5410, Fax: 81-6-443-5412;Korea: S.K. Hong/K Fairs Ltd., Tel: 82-2-555-7153, Fax: 82-2-556-9474; Mexico: Agustin Garcia Casas/Mere Publicidad,Tel: (55) 55-14-02-60, Fax: (55) 52-07-43-19, E-mail: [email protected]
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CIRCULATION Jeffrey [email protected]
FOUNDER DOUGLAS C. EDGELL 1951-1998
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APPAREL’S TOP INNOVATORSApparel Magazine salutes many of the key visionaryfirms shaping the industry in its 4th annual special issue.Profiles of our winners highlight their ingenuity inovercoming challenges, their willingness to adapt tochange and their flair for tapping into consumer desires in a highly competitive global marketplace.
REPORTING BY JORDAN K. SPEER, JESSICA BINNS AND DEENA M. AMATO-MCCOY
TOP INNOVATOR PARTNERS
INNOVATOR PAGE
Abercrombie & Fitch . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Aramark Uniform Services . . . . . . . .36
Barco Uniforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Bob's Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Burberry Group PLC . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Carhartt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Chasing Fireflies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Chico's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Columbia Sportswear . . . . . . . . . . . .41
De Soto Triathlon Co. . . . . . . . . . . . .37
FLY London (Kyaia Group) . . . . . . . . .46
Gabrielle Alexandra . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Gap Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Gilt Groupe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Grandoe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Horace Small . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Joseph Abboud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Lafayette 148 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Madura Fashion & Livestyle . . . . . . .41
Maidenform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
INNOVATOR PAGE
Marc Aurel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Massif Mountain Gear . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Perfection Uniforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Perry Ellis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Prep Sportswear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Red Wing Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Richard Leeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
SA VA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Saks Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Silver Jeans Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
SPANX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Superior Uniform Group . . . . . . . . . .21
Teamwork Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
The Men's Wearhouse . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Under Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
UnitedStyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Unitex Direct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Westcomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Work 'N Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
ON THE COVER: Photo courtesy of Chasing Fireflies. Photo by Denis Horan
What is an Apparel Innovator? It’s a company that’s producing a new product orservice, or one that’s creating value for consumers in new ways. An Apparel Innovator hasdeveloped faster, more efficient and cost-saving ways of doing things. It’s a company that’sturning ideas into commercially viable opportunities. It’s a company that’s creating jobs,improving the environment and making the world a better place to live.
What is an Apparel Innovator? It’s a company that’s leading the way instead of following. You can read about 39 such companies in the following pages.
To all of our Innovator Award Winners, Apparel salutes you for your vision and determination.
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com4
With a factory optimized for efficiency,Joseph Abboud is able to manufactureits tailored JA Collection entirely in theUnited States, turning product in asfew as seven days.
By Jordan K. Speer, Jessica Binns and Deena M. Amato-McCoy
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 5
For more than two decades, Joseph Abboud has been an iconicAmerican men’s wear brand, but recently, it’s been on a tear,
with the bold vision of creative director Bernardo Rojo leadingthe way to a full-scale “comeback.” (See cover story “Joltin’Joe” in the October 2010 issue of Apparel for more on the rebirthof the brand.)
Rojo is reenergizing the brand with a new contemporaryand relevant silhouette: starting with the Spring 2010 season,he began making bold changes in the JA Collection, the brand’stop line, with suits that sell at high-end department stores suchas Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdales and men’spremier specialty retailers such as Patrick James and Mark Shale,and subsequent seasons have unified the new look across prod-uct categories. (Meanwhile, Joseph Abboud continues to expandits licensed business, growing casual wear, expanding inter-nationally, and taking a “lifestyle” approach to its brand thateven includes a home collection.)
But look beyond the suits, and you’ll find manufacturingoperations that are every bit as innovative as Rojo’s vision —and may even contribute to it, because, amazingly, JosephAbboud’s JA Collection is entirely produced in the United Statesat the company’s New Bedford, Mass.-based factory. Withdesign and production so close, it’s easier to work together,identify problems immediately and respond quickly to changes.Controlling manufacturing also allows the company to caterto independent retailers and provide small orders and made-to-measure items — in short order. The company manufac-tures apparel in three weeks or less, with made-to-measuresuits making their way to today’s demanding customer injust seven days.
There are other advantages, too, to its home-based pro-duction. While its competitors pay duties of as high as 20percent to import wool suits, Joseph Abboud avoids this tariffcompletely by producing domestically and takes advantageof a duty rebate program for high-quality wool fabric. The com-pany also avoids the transportation problems and disrup-tions from political crises that frequently pose challenges toimporters.
Indeed, U.S.-based production is one of three factors thathave kept the company strong over the years, says Tony Sapienza,president and CEO of JA Apparel Corp. He also credits thecompany’s strong Italian heritage (the company was previouslyowned by Italy-based GFT, and its original factory layout wasan exact replica of the GFT floor in Italy), not to mention thedesign aesthetic of Joseph Abboud himself, with giving thecompany a strong foundation in both design and manufac-turing operations. Finally, the company boasts a workforce withvery high-needle skills, largely drawn from the local Portuguesepopulation, says Sapienza.
Still, with high labor and insurance costs, its no easy feat toproduce profitably in the United States, as evidenced by thesmall number of companies still manufacturing apparel on U.S.soil, but Joseph Abboud has offset some of those costs by design-ing its factory floor to reflect “wall-to-wall” best practices withhelp from Computer Generated Solutions’ (CGS) Leadtec solu-tion and Eton System’s unit production system.
The company has been a long-time user of CGS Leadtecreal-time shop-floor control software, and about four years agoJoseph Abboud enlisted the company’s help to integrate anEton unit production system into its final assembly operations(eliminating a progressive-bundle system), an implementationthat has optimized the flow of garments, while reducingnon-value-added operator tasks, resulting in significant timeand cost savings. Lead times in the factory have been reducedby almost seven full days, overall piecework rate productiontimes are down by 10 percent to 12 percent, and overall pro-ductivity is up 20 percent, says Sapienza.
The system, which moves each jacket individually to theappropriate (and ergonomically designed) workstation, min-imizes operator movement — and saves money. There’s lesswork tied up in work-in-process (WIP), and the companycan maintain lower inventories for basic styles because it canreplenish more quickly.
Joseph Abboud also worked with CGS to integrate an RFIDsystem into this process. RFID tags are placed into suit jackets,and RFID readers are positioned in its finish pressing line. Asthe operator moves the garment through the line, the readerrecords its passage, updating both the production controland payroll software simultaneously — another notch on thecompany’s efficiency belt that has contributed to reducedlead times.
RFID is also taking a leading role in the company’s distri-bution center (DC). While still employing manual slick rail andtrolley, each garment is RFID tagged so that operators can locatemerchandise quickly with a scanning gun and run inventorycounts in a matter of minutes. The system is fully integratedwith its APPCON order entry and fulfillment system.
“We are very proud to be Made-in-the-USA,” says Sapienza,“and I think we are well positioned to compete even as othercompanies continue to move manufacturing offshore.”
Up next? With its manufacturing floor and DC runningso smoothly, Sapienza says the company’s next big project willlikely focus on the web. With made-to-measure 12 percent to15 percent of the tailored business and growing, there’s a greatopportunity to go direct to consumer with its customized —and off-the-rack — offerings.3— Jordan K. Speer
Joseph AbboudNew Bedford, MA | www.josephabboud.com
NOMINATED BY: Computer Generated Solutions Inc. | www.cgsinc.com
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com6
While the recession forced many apparelretailers and designers to reign in their
endeavors in hopes of protecting their brandsand more importantly, long-term survival,it had the opposite effect on Sarah VanAken.
Van Aken always dreamed of design-ing a women’s line. By taking her family’steachings about social consciousness andher love of Philadelphia as inspiration, VanAken is fulfilling her dream with SA VA,a unique brand of locally created sustain-able clothing for women.
Growing up on a dairy farm, Van Akenlearned the true value of what it meant tolive a sustainable life; her family made theirown clothes and grew their own food. VanAken wanted to get back to her roots byrunning a business underpinned by sociallyconscious and sustainable practices.
Like most success stories however,her career path took some interesting turns.In 2005, Van Aken was eager to start awomen’s line, but due to a lack of funding,she set her dream aside and instead cre-ated a custom men’s shirt brand, called VanAken (whose startup costs were much lesscapital intensive than needed to launch awomen’s clothing brand. Van Aken alsofound a U.S. custom-shirt manufacturerthat stocked the basic fabrics, so her initialcosts were limited to marketing the brandand stocking specialty fabrics).
The shirts got so much recognition thatin 2006, New York City’s Gotham Barand Grill’s executive chef and co-ownerAlfred Portale approached her to createcustom uniforms for his team. The part-nership opened the door for Van Aken tocreate a successful business customizinguniforms for some of the most recognizednames in the restaurant industry.
By 2008 however, the tide began to turn.The Great Recession had hit in full force atthe same time as her orders were growing.“While I was using textiles from Italy, Turkeyand Egypt, which were beautiful and afford-able, the cost of gas was sky-rocketing,making air shipping of goods inefficient,”she said. Re-evaluating the economic cli-mate, Van Aken realized the time was ripeto launch an affordable sustainable brand
of apparel for women. She wanted to pro-duce the line domestically and in the processcreate benefit for others.
A Philadelphia resident for 10 years, VanAken says she couldn’t have asked for abetter place to make her dream come true.Unofficially called the “Biggest Small Townin America,” Philadelphia has a strong “buylocal” food movement, and the city alsohas made a strong commitment to “green”goals. Its smaller-town attitude also gaveVan Aken more access to local governmentofficials and programs that might not be aseasily accessible in bigger cities.
Add in the pressure from the economy,“and it was a perfect storm,” she recalled.“The city was hungry to create jobs, pro-mote green, and further build its positivereputation. I had the opportunity to helpdo that.”
With the help of a grant, the city ofPhiladelphia helped finance a 4,500-square-foot garment factory that Van Aken usedto train workers to manufacture garmentsunder socially responsible guidelines,and in fall 2009, Van Aken’s new SA VAbrand was born. Approximately 90 percentof merchandise is locally made in SA VA’s“Garment Center” from fair trade and eco-friendly textiles. Any products SA VA out-sources because it is unable to produce itselfmust be sustainable in some way, by includ-ing fair trade, organic or recycled materi-als or being made locally or in the UnitedStates.
SA VA features styles that can be wornfor work or play, “from casual denim todressy jersey dresses” that focus on lettingthe individual’s own style shine through,
Built on principles of environmental andsocial responsibility, the SA VA brand ispredominantly manufactured locally in thecompany’s Philadelphia based “GarmentCenter” from fair trade and eco-friendlytextiles.
Sarah Van Aken, taking her family’s teachingsabout social consciousness and her love ofPhiladelphia as inspiration, is fulfilling herdream of designing her own women’s line.
SA VAPhiladelphia, PA | www.savafashion.com
NOMINATED BY: Kelly Cobb, The University of Delaware | www.udel.edu/fash
says Van Aken. The mid-priced brand issold exclusively in the company’s approx-imately 1,000-square-foot retail store, locatedon the main floor of its manufacturing facil-ity — and online at shop.savafashion.com.With décor resembling a Moroccan court-yard, complete with a serene, neutral pal-let and latticework on the walls andmezzanine, the store remains true to itsenvironmentally conscious roots by usingfixtures made from refurbished materials.
All of her efforts combined pushed VanAken to seek B-Corporation certification.Before earning this accolade that certifiesthe business is working to solve social andenvironmental problems, SA VA had tomeet comprehensive and transparent social
and environmental performance standardsand legal accountability standards. VanAken calls the process “rigorous” but alsoinspiring in that it helped her company setbenchmarks for further growth.
Van Aken is also eager to give back tothe community that helped her fulfill herdreams. In addition to creating jobs for localPhilly residents, SA VA supports local liv-ing wage ordinances, and has also forgedcommunity partnerships with the CareerWardrobe, which distributes work appareland offers education programs and net-working tools to women in transition. Thecenter survives on donations of money aswell as gently used women’s professionalclothing.
SA VA also supports the People’s Emer-gency Center. Focused on families in need,the group provides emergency and transi-tional housing, employment and job train-ing, computer skills development, GED andworkplace literacy, as well as case man-agement and counseling services. “We arestriving to create a new kind of ethical fash-ion community,” says Van Aken.
The young company (which also stillsupports its custom uniform program) isplanning to expand. SA VA will launch awholesale line this fall, and plans to opena new store by the end of 2012.3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
TOP INNOVATORS
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 7
I f you can close your eyes and rememberwhat it felt like to be out on a midsum-
mer’s evening at dusk, running under thelow-slung branches and between the busheswhere it was a little darker, and the firefliesliked to gather, and chasing the evanescentyellow light until you’d caught up, andthe firefly was right there, hovering beforeyou until it was in your palm — well, if youcan imagine that, then you’ll understandwhat Chasing Fireflies is all about.
In 2005, three apparel industry veter-ans, Lori Liddle, Dina Alhadeff and AmyGrealish, decided to go off on their own tocreate a special shop for children’s appareland gifts. Chasing Fireflies® was launchedin August of 2006, not only to celebratechildhood, but also to celebrate parent-hood. “It’s even more special the secondtime around when you share your child’sfirsts,” they say.
The founders, whose experience includedstints at Nordstrom, Tommy Bahama,Spiegel, Lands’ End and a small children’swear company in Seattle, Wash., wherethey all worked together, wanted to create
an alternative to pricey boutique retailers;Chasing Fireflies, an online and catalogretailer, was designed to offer customersa magical product mix they couldn’t findanywhere else.
At the beginning, the business focusedon apparel and gift items for infants andtoddlers, but today Chasing Fireflies out-fits kids up to size 16. The business alsoexpanded through the launch, in August2008, of Wishcraft®, focused on creatingmeticulously crafted costumes and dress-up play clothes — an area of the businessthat has grown quickly. (In the three yearperiod from 2006 through 2009 the com-pany’s sales volume grew 2,249 percent!The company was named the No. 1 fastestgrowing company in the Pacific Northwestin 2009.)
Most of the design and development forWishcraft is done in-house, whereas themajority of the children’s wear is boughtas a package. After three years of manag-ing all of the specs and designs in Excel,and as the business continued to blossom,Chasing Fireflies realized it needed a tool
to better manage its data and better com-municate with both its domestic and inter-national suppliers.
David Liddle, COO/CIO, himself anindustry veteran of brands such as Lands’End, Tommy Bahama and Sur La Table,found what he says is a “tremendous part-ner” in Gerber, with the company’s YuniquePLM tool.
“Previously, we were landlocked byExcel,” says Liddle, who explains thatYunique has allowed Chasing Fireflies toeliminate the frustrations of multiple
Chasing Fireflies was created to offercustomers a magical product mix theycouldn’t find anywhere else.Photo by Denis Horan
Chasing FirefliesSeattle, WA | www.chasing-fireflies.com
NOMINATED BY: Gerber Technology | www.gerbertechnology.com
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com8
spreadsheets that not everyonecan see and which can only beupdated by one person at a time,and is providing a browser-based solution that offers a sin-gle repository for all images andproduct details, he says.
“It is helping us to commu-nicate specific details about ourproduct development process, globally,in real time. We will literally eliminatemonths out of our development cycle bybeing able to have all our technical speci-fications in one tool, instantaneously acces-sible by all company users and globalsuppliers,” he says.
The solution was a particularly good fitfor Chasing Fireflies because it runs on aMicrosoft SQL database and the com-pany was already working in a SQL envi-ronment, so IT employees were familiarwith it and it was easier to support inter-nally. “It makes data integration and report-
ing via SRSS extremely easy,” says Liddle.Next up for the company will be imple-
menting Yunique’s line planning mod-ule, which will allow for better top-downplanning.
Perhaps what is most innovative aboutthe company’s implementation of the solu-tion is that it was installed in just four hours,followed by two hours of training, withusers working with the solution by thesame afternoon. Liddle says he worked withGerber Technology to develop the Yunique-PLM FS-Edition, specifically designed forleaner companies looking to implement a
PLM system without incurring an expen-sive and time-consuming startup.
While YuniquePLM scales to meet theneeds of companies such as Burberry andCutter and Buck, it is also perfectly suitedto smaller and leaner operations.
“With this economy, you have to nim-ble and responsive,” says Liddle.
And going from implementation to pro-duction use in one day? That proves mag-ical experiences aren’t just for children.3
— Jordan K. Speer
The uniform industry has historically been extremely traditional,but Perfection Uniforms has made a point of bucking the trend
by introducing new innovations each year. Its most recent is aneco-responsible polyester-cotton blend fabric that is comprisedof recycled fibers.
Perfection Uniforms is a relatively young manufacturing com-pany, having established its roots in 2002. In a very short time thecompany has made a name for itself with the introduction of itsinnovative MTX-EcoSeries uniforms, created from recycledpolyester. This twill polyester/cotton blend is made with the useof REPREVE recycled polyester, a unique combination of post-consumer and post-industrial waste that is third-party certifiedfor recycled content claims by Scientific Certification Systems(SCS). (REPREVE is a trademark of Unifi Inc.)
Each MTX-EcoSeries garment conserves the equivalent of onequart of gasoline and diverts four to five 16-ounce plastic bottlesfrom oceans and landfills. Even with its eco-friendly attributes,the MTX-EcoSeries retains great construction features and fabricfunctionality. For example, its 3DT (3 Dimensional Technology)enables the surface of the fabric to repel liquids while the insideof the fabric wicks moisture away from the body.
“Also, superior color depth and retention makes our uniformsslower to fade,” says Miranda Brock, the company’s marketing
manager, adding that uniforms are designed to retain their shapewhen stretched, and also possess a UPF 40+ rating for UV Sun Pro-tection, which is the “highest standard for apparel,” she says.
The polyester/cotton MTX-EcoSeries (previously known asMatrixSeries) hit the marketplace in spring 2009 at the NAUMD(North American Association of Uniform Manufacturers and Dis-
Perfection UniformsBrentwood, TN | www.perfectionuniforms.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
Knife at the ready: PerfectionUniforms’ most recent innovation(for which it won its 5thconsecutive UNIVATOR Award) is anewly designed clip knife pocketthat can be accessed in one quickmotion.
Lori Liddle, Dina Alhadeff andAmy Grealish launched ChasingFireflies to bring the magic ofchildhood alive for kids andtheir parents — at a price“accessible to all.” The threewomen also were awarded Inc.5000’s Top 10 WomenEntrepreneurs award last year.
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com10
tributors) industry trade show, “and we’vebeen pioneering eco-responsibility in thisniche of the uniform industry ever since,”says Miranda Brock, the company’s mar-keting manager.
Other brands, including Hanes andPatagonia, and even uniform companiessuch as Cintas, have already adopted thefabric into their offerings, says Brock, but“Perfection Uniforms is the only companyusing it in uniforms for law enforcement,fire and departments of natural resources,”says Brock. “We also outfit a few transitcompanies in the MTX-EcoSeries pants.”
The company’s use of the fabric earnedit a 2010 UNIVATOR Award (an industryaward given by UniformMarket, a North-brook, Ill.-based e-commerce network-ing agency for innovation). “Pioneering aneco-responsible uniform has enabled the
product we make to become much morethan just a garment purchase. … It’s aninvestment in a greater good,” says Brock.“Environmental consciousness is compat-ible with any governmental agency’s mis-sion, and taxpayers recognize and appreciatesuch an initiative.”
Keeping a keen eye on environmentalstewardship across its business, PerfectionUniforms is mindful to “recycle everythingwe possibly can,” says Brock. For example,the company prints its marketing materi-als locally on FSC-approved paper usinglow-VOC, vegetable-based inks on recy-cled paper, and also works to use less paperoverall. “We’re also mindful of being energyefficient in our operations. Thanks to theseefforts, Nashville Post recognized us last fallas one of the ‘50 Greenest Companies inMiddle Tennessee.’”
These accolades and customer satisfac-tion have pushed Perfection Uniforms todig deeper for other ways to innovate. Thesuccess of the MTX-EcoSeries promptedthe company to reintroduce its poly-ester/cotton poplin shirts as a similar PIN-EcoSeries. Meanwhile, it is also makingstrides from a functionality standpoint. Thenewest project: a new patented clip knifepocket located on the pleat of its MTX-EcoSeries pants’ cargo pocket.
“A lot of our customers were carryingtheir knives in their front pockets or insideof their cargo pockets. Not only was it awk-ward for them, but in emergency situations,precious seconds were lost fumbling for theknife,” Block reported. “This special pocketallows them to now access their clip knifein one quick motion.”3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
When Under Armour athletes are asked to “protect this house,”they respond, “I will.” So it’s no surprise that when the man-
ufacturer and retailer of high-performance athletic apparel, acces-sories and footwear found itself with a need to reach mobileconsumers, its response also was “I will.”
Under Armour, based in the waterfront Locust Point neigh-borhood of Baltimore, turned to retail mobile commerce providerDigby to roll out a mobile website across several smartphone plat-forms, including iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android. “Weselected Digby because they could get us to market quickly withlimited investment by internal resources,” says John Rogers, vicepresident/general manager of global e-commerce for Under Armour.“We needed a partner that would be able to deliver a solution thatmatched well with our brand and provided the depth of key fea-tures that would give our mobile consumers what they were look-ing for.”
Partnering with Digby is Under Armour’s first foray in mobilecommerce, as it previously did not have a dedicated mobile site.When users pull up www.underarmour.com in their smartphones’browsers, they will find large product images, search functional-ity, FAQs, ratings and reviews, the option to share to Facebook,store locator, order tracking and other features. Provided that acustomer has already established an account with Under Armour,he or she can browse and buy in 60 seconds or less.
“One of the greatest features of the mobile site is the integra-tion into our order management system,” explains Rogers. “Our
customers can shop the mobile site andfind the same products that they wouldon our commerce site, purchase anyproduct that we sell and pull preferencesand information from their accounts tomake checking out easy.”
The mobile site, which Under Armour and Digby launched infour months, has already boosted sales and customer engagement.“A meaningful amount of traffic is coming in through our m-siteand more and more e-mails are being reviewed by smartphonesas well,” reports Rogers. “Our mobile site has allowed us toconvert that traffic into customers at a very good clip.”
Indeed, the retailer points to a measurable impact since unveil-ing the site. “Launching our mobile site provided immediate resultsfor us in mobile revenue and we have seen steady increases …as we have refined our strategy to market to the mobile consumer,”says Rogers.
Going forward, “we plan to spend time strengthening oursearch capabilities on the mobile site to drive more relevant results,”he adds.3
— Jessica Binns
Under ArmourBaltimore, MD | www.underarmour.com
NOMINATED BY: Digby | www.digby.com
Busy athletes can use their smartphonesto pull up Under Armour’s Digby-poweredmobile commerce site and shop on thego for apparel and other gear to helpthem “protect this house.”
A t some point you’ve surely had the expe-rience of receiving a “flat tire” from some
nearby pedestrian who came a little tooclose. And if by chance you’d been wear-ing a pair of Gabrielle Alexandra sandalsat that moment, you might have felt likethe cosmos was in on the joke.
That’s because Gabrielle AlexandraYacoob, founder of the eponymously namedshoe business, fashions the soles of herhigh-fashion sandals out of recycled tires.
Gabrielle Alexandra is a progressivebusiness that grew out of the founder’sexperience volunteering summers abroadat the Mother Teresa Hospice for termi-nally ill orphans in Peru, and getting a close-up look at the dire state of the environmentin the poor areas of the country. After grad-uating into a slouching economy fromthe Annenberg program at USC, Yacoobdecided to combine her fashion creativity
with her desire to do something both envi-ronmentally and socially responsible.
By manufacturing her shoe soles in Peruout of 100 percent recycled tires, which arethen lined with high-quality leather, thecompany is able to give back to the com-munity in multiple ways — by providingjobs to some of the poorest citizens of Lima,by giving 10 percent of all company prof-its to the Mother Teresa Hospice and byturning environmental “eyesores” — pilesof discarded tires — into items of “beautyand utility,” and providing jobs to local arti-sans, who comprise some of the poorestcitizens of Lima.
“We are proud to present our uniqueline of shoes that use discarded tires as com-ponents in their fabrication,” says Yacoob.“Look at them, wear them and you are goodto go for 20,000 miles without a blowout!”3
— Jordan K. Speer
Gabrielle AlexandraLos Angeles, CA | www.gabriellealexandra.com
NOMINATED BY: nuOrder Technologies, T&L Associates & Self | www.nuordertech.com, www.tlassoc.com
Gabrielle Alexandra high-fashion sandals aremade from recycled tires and lined withleather. Fans say they aren’t surprised by thenumber of heads they turn when wearing thestriking footwear.
Abercrombie & Fitch has built its reputa-tion and fame by using sex appeal and
shock to market its preppy and casual apparel,not only to the 20-something crowd, butto the tween and kid sets as well. (In fact,at press time, the company was fieldingcontroversy around its decision to sell paddedswimsuit tops under its Abercrombie Kidsbanner.)
It is this formula that continues to fuelthe company’s popularity among consumers,and thus, its latest expansion plans. Thistime the company is focused on interna-tional growth, a factor that is pushing Aber-crombie & Fitch to take a stringent lookat how to utilize its supply chain networkon a global basis.
The 118-year-old retailer has beenacknowledged for operating a top-notch
internal system that expertly managed trans-actions, communicated with vendors andstreamlined its supply chain operationsto fulfill assortments across more than 1,000stores. However, as the chain continued togrow and consumer demand increased, sodid purchase orders. More importantly,Abercrombie & Fitch knew it couldn’t affordto lose its pulse shipments between thesuppliers, stores and even those generatedthrough its e-commerce channel.
And once the company set its sights ongoing global, it also had to create a newstrategy that would manage costs andimprove visibility into transactions thatwere about to increase exponentially. Thefirst steps toward its goal began during theinstallation of the chain’s enterprise resourceplanning (ERP) system, a project that sup-
ported more consistent processes aroundpurchase order creation.
“This step proved to be key to improv-ing efficiency and accuracy across our entiresupply chain,” explained Abercrombie’ssenior vice president of supply chain, JohnSingleton. “Using this new, more effi-cient purchase order process, Abercrom-bie was able to confidently roll out carton-and order-level Advance Ship Notice require-ments to all vendors — previously, only 75percent were able to comply.”
The company was already inundatedwith ASNs, and these documents surgedeven more when it began its internationalexpansion. When the chain opened its firstU.K.-based store in 2007, it doubled its pur-chase orders and related ASNs. The chainfulfilled these assortments through its exist-
Abercrombie & FitchNew Albany, OH | www.abercrombie.com
NOMINATED BY: TradeCard | www.tradecard.com
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ing Ohio-based distribution center untilit opened a new facility in the Netherlandsin May 2009.
After that DC opened, ASNs increasedby another third — putting even more pres-sure on supply chain processes. And thingswere about to get even tougher as the com-pany prepared for further internationalexpansion throughout Asia. In fact, thecompany currently is planning to enter atleast three new countries in Asia by the endof this year.
Singleton knew the easiest way to tacklethis challenge was to insist on a purchaseorder discipline that defined prices, datesand other key data to help build a man-agement by exception process and facili-tate three-way matching. He chose to migrate
the retailer’s supply network onto cloud-based platforms, including a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution from New YorkCity-based TradeCard that could facili-tate transactions, automate workflows andimprove vendor communication and col-laboration. Abercrombie began using theTradeCard solution in April of last year.
Users log into a secure web portal toaccess the application and manage infor-mation, such as when ASNs are tenderedand cleared, and how many units are ordered.“Simultaneously, our vendors can accessand make revisions to the same data. Sinceit is integrated with our accounts payableand financials systems, supplier partnersknow when ASNs are fulfilled and paid,”he said. “The solution’s three-way match
process has allowed Abercrombie to man-age the huge purchase order spike with noheadcount increases.”
The platform also supports an early paydiscount program for suppliers. Currently20 percent of suppliers take advantage ofthe program, he said.
“We look forward to using the solutioneven more going forward, especially as ourbusiness gets increasingly complex,” Sin-gleton said. “SaaS solutions are reliant oninnovation, and we look forward to takingadvantage of what the platform will con-tinue to offer.”3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Over the past decade, Massif Mountain Gear Company has trans-formed the look and feel of flame-resistant clothing with inno-
vative fabrics and forward-thinking designs, offering a new generationof high-end gear that provides protection without sacrificingcomfort or performance. Massif works closely with the Army, AirForce, Marines and Coast Guard to develop new fabrics and gar-ments and has supplied scores of aviators, ground troops, specialoperations forces and other military personnel with advancedhot- and cold-weather flame-resistant clothing. Its gear can bethe difference between life and death for professionals on thefront lines of danger.
So how does the world’s largest supplier of flame-resistant, high-performance apparel to the military, law enforcement, search andrescue professionals and wildland firefighters ensure it’s deliveringthe very best product to some of the world’s most hazardousoccupations? Massif employs a strong management team, focuseson sourcing the very best materials, manages a robust network ofsupply chain partners, pays close attention to compliance issues,and delivers on its commitment to produce the best gear possible.
But behind all of the leading-edge products, Massif focuses ontwo important aspects — technology and innovation. And to for-tify this focus, Massif implemented TEXbase as its materials test-ing tool in summer 2010 to streamline its quality assurance andcompliance processes, ensuring that only the best possibleproducts make the cut.
Jeff Bowman, Massif COO, says the solution simplifies work-flow and allows for supply chain collaboration that encouragesinnovation while at the same time maintaining the highest lev-els of product quality.
With TEXbase’s Compliance module, Massif can ensure thatits testing procedures and standards are consistent throughoutthe company. The module offers other key benefits, such as quicklycreating comparison reports to analyze test data, which helps toidentify trends in development and products. And TEXbase’s dash-board visibility enables quick access and insight into test status,test volume and other key performance indicators.
“Our stringent documentation and reporting processes com-bined with the volume of testing we do to ensure fabric safetyrequired a more streamlined and efficient method for inputtingdata and ensuring 100 percent accuracy in reporting,” says LorieList, director of communications for Massif.
“TEXBase has easily doubled efficiencies for testing — ittakes half the time now for these processes compared to how wewere doing things prior to implementation,” she adds. “This timesavings has increased the amount of work we are able to completeeach week without having to add employees to do so.” 3
—Jessica Binns
Massif Mountain GearAshland, OR | www.massif.com
NOMINATED BY: TEXbase | www.texbase.com
Massif’s flame-resistant apparel protects professionals working insome of the world’s most hazardous environments. TEXbase’sCompliance module helps Massif ensure that each garment meetsrigorous standards — and cuts the testing time in half.
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MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com14
Ever been surprised to look back at thepoliceman you just passed on the street
and find a policewoman standing thereinstead? It’s an easy mistake to make. Polic-ing is still very much a male-dominatedprofession, but another factor contributingto the mix-ups is the fact that police uni-forms traditionally have not been designedto accommodate the female shape.
Enter the new Horace Small ComfortCool-Flex® Revised Function Fit™ FemalePant, designed — by women — specificallywith the female officer in mind. “The femaleofficer has long been overlooked for defin-ing fit,” says Shannon North, VF ImagewearMerchandising. “In the past, this sector ofthe market has been purchasing men’s pants.”
North says that past attempts by somecompanies to address this issue have beenless than successful because of the use ofmale slopers (base patterns) that do notaccommodate the female shape.
By contrast, the new pants by HoraceSmall are designed to fit the contours of afemale frame with a lower front rise and amodest back rise that allow for a full range
of motion, provide comfort and eliminategapping, while still supporting the femaleofficer’s duty belt weight.
The pants utilize the Horace Small Com-fort Cool-Flex® Waistband, which was devel-oped in partnership with QST IndustriesInc. The waistband is made from a supplestretch material that incorporates siliconefor shirttail stability, as well as for retainingthe integrity of the waistband construction,which can extend from two inches to fourinches as needed, enabling a custom fit along
the torso for the fourmajor women’s body
types: hourglass, apple, rectangle and pear.“We are proud to clothe the men and
women of the police force. Our goal is tokeep them cool and comfortable under pres-sure, so that they can focus on the job athand,” says North, adding, “We want themto look good and feel good, and the newFunction Fit™ pant for women gives femaleofficers the fit and comfort they need onthe job.”3
— Jordan K. Speer
Horace SmallNashville, TN | www.horacesmall.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
The new Horace Small Comfort Cool-Flex®Function Fit™ Female Pant was designedspecifically to accommodate the shape of afemale police officer while also keeping hercool and comfortable under pressure.
In the 20 years since its inception, Silver Jeans, asubsidiary of Western Glove Works, has grown
into a $100-million denim empire with its apparelsold on five continents. The company planned toexpand its product lines in 2010 to include launch-ing a collection of men’s tops in the fall and increas-ing the assortment of men’s and women’s denimapparel for new international markets.
With a slew of new products in the pipeline,Silver Jeans knew it needed a technology solutionto help manage its forthcoming initiatives, as its
product data management system at the time waslargely ineffective. “The old PDM system was onlyable to accommodate criteria creations and did notlink any information throughout the developmentprocess,” explains Mark Lamont, vice president ofapparel services for Western Glove Works. “The newsolution had to provide visibility across the entireorganization — including trading partners — andprovide central document storage.”
Silver Jeans found its solution in Centric Soft-ware, deploying the company’s product specifi-cation, product sourcing, calendar managementand life planning modules across all product lines.Lamont got his users involved in the selection
Silver JeansWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | www.silverjeans.com
NOMINATED BY: Centric Software | www.centricsoftware.com
Centric’s PLM system enables Silver Jeans’ designteam to spend less time tracking data and more timeidentifying styles and trends.
process and they found Centric’s PLMto be “the most user-friendly, straight-forward system.”
Another selling point: ease of imple-mentation. Silver Jeans completed the firststage of implementation in 14 weeks — arecord for Centric at the time. The SilverJeans team also was able to make a cleantransition from the old product manage-ment system to Centric’s PLM. “We hadconfidence in our team, and in Centric,”Lamont says. “We felt we did not need torun the two systems in parallel.”
The denim company has realized sub-stantial savings of both time and money asa result of the new implementation “TheCentric solution has accomplished our twogoals — visibility across the organizationand central document storage — which hasallowed us to move much of the data entryto our trading partners while giving us com-plete visibility,” Lamont explains. “Wehave added ladies’ and men’s tops to our
assortment, increased the number of SKUsin ladies’ and extended and at the sametime reduced staff by 10 percent.”
Centric’s translation capabilities alsohave helped significantly with Silver Jeans’Chinese vendors. “The Centric PLM sys-tem localizes pre-set information on thedocument packages, so information printsout in Mandarin at Chinese suppliers,”Lamont explains, and this enables moretime to be spent on actual product devel-opment activity.
With Centric PLM, the design team nowcan create a bill of materials to estimate costand determine a target price before receiv-ing a sample. “The added work might befive percent up front,” explains Lamont,“but it results in a time savings of up to15 percent in the long run.” Designersare also completing more developmentwork during the sample process, whichenables Silver Jeans and its staff to spendmore time considering trends and style
identification, instead of tracking data. “Weare accomplishing more work within thesame time period and believe that we willslowly reduce the total numbers of daysover next year as well,” adds Lamont.
Silver Jeans’ inventory management hasalso improved. Centric enables greater vis-ibility into every aspect of the process, andwith the use of digital signatures, allowsfor greater control and better inventory esti-mating and usage, by as much as 20 per-cent, according to Lamont.
And in the newly paperless environ-ment, the “single source of truth” thatCentric’s software enables helps SilverJeans to eliminate extra documentationand files. “Because everyone — includingsuppliers — is able to look at the sameinformation, the volume of back-and-forthemail traffic has declined significantly,”Lamont says.3
— Jessica Binns
TOP INNOVATORS
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When a company promotes “no mini-mums, same day shipping and ‘light-
ning-fast’ delivery,” it better have theoperations to back up these statements. ForTeamwork Athletic Apparel, this isn’t lipservice — it’s business as usual. And withthe help of an automated cutting solutionthat streamlines customized and standardorders, Teamwork Athletic Apparel’s cus-tomers have truly become fans of the com-pany’s “Beyond Exceptional” customerservice.
Teamwork Athletic has been a successfulplayer in the athletic apparel industry formore than 20 years. Starting from scratch,this family-owned business has grown intoa leading manufacturer of quality in-stockand custom athletic uniforms, outerwearand fan wear for men, women and chil-dren. Its inventory consists of 30,000 SKUsand 700 different styles, and it only dis-tributes uniforms through its network ofauthorized dealers. Because it keeps thehighest-demand items on hand, the com-pany is able to fill any size order with min-imal production requirements.
Upping the ante even further, the com-pany revolutionizes the idea of “customuniforms” through its ADV division. Theeasy-to-use online partner allows ath-letes to design their own uniforms, fromsport, cut and color, to design, fabric andgraphics. Shoppers can also upload cus-tom colors and logos with a simple clickof the mouse. Whether they place an orderfor one player or an entire team, Team-work Athletic promises to produce gar-ments within 14 business days, with aseven-business-day option available.
Providing the “lightning fast, beyondexceptional” service that its web site boastsrequires that the company stays on task withmeeting customers’ customized orders andexpectations. At the heart of this process isan innovative cutting machine from Lectra.
Lectra’s automated cutting technologyis an intelligent solution that integrates withother CAD software to automate pro-gramming and production of quality mer-chandise. The company leverages its Optiplancut order planning and optimization solu-tion to create precise instructions and accu-
rate information for improved decision mak-ing. Each instruction is compared to estab-lished guidelines and project priorities, frommarker selection through spreading andcutting, offering an optimized plan that pro-duces the lowest cost and the most efficientcut plan possible.
By organizing products in such a wayas to make filling orders as efficient as pos-sible, Teamwork Athletic is able to mini-mize the amount of time it takes to collectitems to fill orders. The technology helpsthe company keep records of what itemsare ordered most often, and it keeps thoseitems on hand, so that they only have toproduce items that are truly custom or forwhich there is lower demand.
Most importantly, the technology enablesthe company to deliver a uniform in anysize or style, and meet the satisfaction anddemand of every customer, and as its website states, “get players in the game.”3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Teamwork Athletic ApparelSan Marcos, CA | www.teamworkathletic.com
NOMINATED BY: Lectra | www.lectra.com
G randoe, a manufacturer of apparel, footwearand accessories for outdoor lifestyles, is based in
Gloversville, N.Y., a town three-and-a-half hours northof New York City that was once the glove capital ofthe world and supplied 90 percent of the gloves soldin the United States. It’s fitting, then, that a com-pany in the original glove hotbed has come up withan innovative idea for a ski glove designed to keepthe wearer’s hands warm.
Long interested in the potential of inflatable tech-nology as insulation for gloves, Grandoe tapped itsexperience in glove design and manufacturing to guidethe development of a bladder system to deliver enhancedthermal protection, range of motion, freedom of move-
ment, wrist enforcement, adjustable thermal prop-erties and an optimized weight-to-warmth ratio.
The bladder in Grandoe’s cutting-edge Kineticglove allows wearers to “control the elements”and inflate the product with argon gas to increasewarmth during colder weather or release some
argon as temperatures rise. Grandoe’s Kinetic glove is powered by NobleTek, a
technology created by Klymit that harnesses the proper-
Pump it up: The bladder in Grandoe’s cutting-edgeKinetic glove allows wearers to “control the elements”
and inflate the product with argon gas to increase warmthduring colder weather or release some argon astemperatures rise.
GrandoeGloversville, NY | www.grandoe.com
NOMINATED BY: Klymit | www.klymit.com
TOP INNOVATORS
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 17
ties of argon gas — contained in an inflatable bladder — toserve as insulation. The gas is 20 percent warmer than fiber fill andthree times warmer than air, according to Cory Tholl, director ofproduct development for Klymit. It’s also safe, non-flammableand eco-friendly.
Klymit originally developed the NobleTek concept to be incor-porated into a vest, and translating the technology into the smaller,more complex form factor of a glove was challenging. “The mainissue was: how do we keep the dexterity so that you can bend yourfingers and pick things up?” says Tholl. Richard Zuckerwar, Gran-doe’s vice president of sales and a fifth-generation principal of thecompany, says perfecting the fit was a top concern, along withensuring the argon gas bladder didn’t leak.
Adding insulation to the palm of the glove would restrict move-ment too much, so the Klymit design team chose to run thebladder filled with argon gas over the back of the hand and all theway up through the backs of the fingers. Klymit co-developed thebladder with Grandoe, exploring materials such as ripstop nylonswhich are lightweight and durable before opting for a 50d poly-ester with a 0.05-inch-thick thermoplastic polyurethane liner that
contains the gas. “50d has a nice stretch to it so it would movewith your hand, yet it’s durable so you don’t have to worryabout punctures,” explains Tholl. The seams of the bladder arewelded to ensure a gas-tight seal.
The Kinetic glove leverages a proprietary Grandoe softshellcalled Velocity that’s water resistant, form-fitting and providesfour-way stretch.
Klymit CEO and founder Nate Adler discovered the glove pro-vides some protection against injuries when he took a pair up on amountain last year. “It has padding on the back of the hand so if youget wacked by a ski pole, you’ve got some protection,” Tholl explains.“It’s stiff around the wrist so there’s more support there, too.”
Available later in 2011, the Kinetic glove — currently only inmen’s sizes — will retail for $225, making it a pricey invest-ment. “This glove is for a techie, someone who likes good ideasand who loves to have the newest, latest gear,” says Zuckerwar.“There are a lot of electric gloves in the market, but with thoseyou might have warranty problems and battery problems. Thegas is foolproof.”3
— Jessica Binns
Ask any woman about her least favorite pastime, and chancesshe will say, “bra shopping!” Thankfully, Maidenform has made
an art out of raising the bar with innovations that ease the painof buying a bra.
The soon-to-be 90-year-old company started as a dress shopin 1922. The company began its journey into undergarments whenthe store’s two owners, Enid Bissett and Ida Rosenthal, decidedto add an inner lift structure to their designs. Their reason: it wouldlook better over the natural contours of a woman’s bust comparedto the era’s traditional flowing flapper look.
The designs became so popular that customers started askingto purchase the inner elements separately to wear under theirother clothes. The team responded to the requests, and when theylaunched their first brassiere in 1924, Maidenform was born.
Over the years, the company achieved many “firsts,” includ-ing creating the modern seamed uplift bra in 1925; adjustablestraps and strap fasteners in 1942; two-way stretch foam cups,and, while it may be a little unconventional, it even designedcarrier pigeon slings and army parachutes for the government dur-ing the War.
In 2011, Maidenform is at it again, this time helping shopperstake the guesswork out of finding their ideal bra size. Called theAdjusts-To-Me™ collection, “the innovation will virtually changethe way women shop and experience intimates,” said LucilleDeHart, the company’s chief marketing officer. “Most women findbras and shapewear to be difficult categories to understand and,
as such, often make the wrong purchase decisions in selectingsize, shape or silhouette, and control levels.”
Maidenform’s Adjusts-To-Me collection promises to eliminatethese challenges with revolutionary technology that allows thegarments to stretch and recover seven times more than traditionalintimates pieces. “This is the innovation that guarantees thatour products will fit,” she said.
This collection of bras will be offered in three simple sizes;shapewear in two, and pants in one. The concept behind the idea:to create a better fitting garment that compensates for a woman’schanging body — from weight gain to normal fluctuations.
New yarn technology and elastics are engineered in the fab-rics so they stretch while maintaining their recovery and sup-port. Cup releases allow for multiple sizes in one cup, and thefabric is shiny and soft to the touch. 4
MaidenformIselin, NJ | www.maidenform.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
Maidenform’s new Adjusts To Me collection features technology thatallows the garments to stretch and recover seven times more thantraditional intimates pieces.
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com18
The hipster and g-string panty collection uses similar new fab-ric technologies and garment construction so one size will adjustto every woman’s body for a custom-made fit. High-stretchadjustable fabric has a forgiving waist and leg treatment and con-struction.
Flexees® by Maidenform shapewear also uses the new yarntechnology for high performance stretch and recovery. The entireAdjusts to Me collection features style-forward designs that shapeand control without restricting movement and are comfortable towear every day for control.
High Lycra® content supports the stretch-to-fit styling, an inno-vation it gained by partnering with the brand’s parent company,Invista. This fabric engineering allows the garments to be moreforgiving across all size ranges.
“We debuted the concept to the industry in February, and deliv-eries will ship the second half of the year, timed for October instore presentation,” said DeHart.
The portfolio will be featured on the company’s website andin outlet stores, as well as in department stores, chain stores,and mass retailers in more than 60 countries. Maidenform alsooperates carts and kiosks located in regional malls. This newformat is a great way to educate consumers about shapewear bypresenting product in a focused way. The kiosks are staffed byMaidenform fit experts, allowing consumers access to personaland professional fit advice.
In addition to the latest milestone, Maidenform has severalnew innovations on the horizon.
“We will be debuting a new line of smart fabric intimatesduring our May market,” said DeHart. “Among those new itemsare garments that think for you, mitigate heat with our coolform technology, slim you and reduce cellulite.”
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Can you name an apparel retailer with a million online stores?Prep Sportswear, a Seattle-based online retailer of customized
apparel, oversees at least that many web outlets. Its bread andbutter traditionally has been with high school sports teams andtheir fans but recently the company has expanded into collegesand military markets, offering t-shirts, sweatpants, hats and more.
“We’ve often said we’re a tech company disguised by t-shirts,”says Dena Becker, director of marketing for Prep Sportswear. “Ithink the really innovative thing about us is that we are rethink-ing how retail is done.”
Prep Sportswear has more than 130,000 high school and ele-mentary school stores; more than 3,000 college stores; several hun-dred military, fraternity and sorority stores; and 900,000 teamstores. It partners with team hosting sites — such as League-Lineup.com and TeamSnap.com — and provides instant onlinestores for each team that signs up on these sites. New teams areformed every day and so the number of stores grows continuously.Prep Sportwear says it also offers the widest range of customiz-able brands, including Holloway, Ogio, Patagonia and Quiksil-ver, and allows customers to import their own designs if none ofthe company’s options fits the bill.
The company is built on internal, propriety technology devel-oped by its CTO and his team of developers. From the outset, PrepSportswear wanted to integrate marketing, the website, report-ing, purchasing, production and manufacturing into a single robustplatform. “To my knowledge, we are the only apparel retailer thatbuilds its own technology and then maintains everything in-house,”Becker says. “It’s somewhat backwards and upside-down frommost apparel companies, but it works for us.”
For example, Prep Sportswear has its own in-house photo stu-dio and uses product photo management software — developedinternally, of course — to quickly transfer images from its camerasto the e-commerce site in a few simple steps. But the company doesrely on outside vendors for a few “non-core functions.” What Countshandles email marketing; Google Adwords and Microsoft AdCen-ter manage search marketing; and Google Merchant Center andGoogle webmaster enable web and commerce activities.
Prep Sportswear’s technology is built to be scalable. Its basicstore template features tools that enable the company to edit themerchandising mix, designs and online store presentation accord-ing to channel and partner, all the way down to the store level.
And what about inventory? Well, Prep Sportswear owns …none. It operates on a just-in-time inventory basis. The com-pany has nurtured relationships with its vendors such that it canoffer long-tail product selection for each of its more than 1 mil-lion stores. “Most retailers have to inventory every product forevery school, college, etc. on their website,” explains Becker. “Withmore than a million stores, this would be nearly impossible.”
Prep SportswearSeattle, WA | www.prepsportswear.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
Customers come to Prep Sportwear through one of its million-plusonline stores and can choose from myriad designs for customizedhats, shirts, sweatpants and more.
TOP INNOVATORS
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 19
The Prep Sportswear site dynamically changes a product’s color,design and text based on the particular store a customer hap-pens to visit. When an order is placed, the Prep Sportswear ven-dor receives a blank product order (a blank t-shirt or hoodie, forexample) while the system generates the product design. Next,the product arrives in Prep Sportswear’s Seattle plant and is matchedup with the appropriate design, which is printed or embroideredonto the garment. Finally, the finished product is shipped to thecustomer and — perhaps most impressive — the whole processtakes just five business days.
As such, Prep Sportswear by necessity embraces lean manu-facturing, starting the manufacturing process only when a cus-tomer places an order. The company’s technology enables product
designs to be batched in such a way that Prep Sportswear maxi-mizes raw materials, minimizes inks and optimizes the workflow.“The on-demand production has enabled us to offer more prod-ucts because we have less exposure to inventory or manufactur-ing risks,” adds Becker. Each item includes a barcode so PrepSportwear can monitor where any given order is at any point dur-ing the production process.
“In the past, retailers used technology as a tool that enabledthem to sell more or move products from one place to another,”says Becker. “At Prep Sportswear, the technology is what makesour product possible.”3
— Jessica Binns
Founded in 1856, Burberry has come along way from its roots as a maker of
durable outdoor gear. The brand, famousfor its iconic trench coat, is one of the best-known luxury fashion companies in theworld, and, indeed, is currently the most-liked of any upscale apparel brands onFacebook with more than 5.5 million likesand followers. Burberry continues to pushthe envelope not only with its fashiondesigns but also with digital innovation.Since 2006, the company has worked withGerber Technology to closely manage prod-uct lifecycle management, enabling thebrand to take a design from concept to exe-cution to market quickly enough to keeppace with ever-demanding consumers.
This capability is crucial asBurberry seeks to bring a moreinteractive and immersive brandexperience to its customers — andit is very much succeeding. In Feb-ruary 2010, Burberry simulcast itsAutumn/Winter 2010/2011 women’sfashion show in 3D from Lon-
don to events in Dubai, Los Angeles, NewYork, Paris and Tokyo, which Burberryreports is the first such accomplishment forany brand. The Burberry women’sAutumn/Winter 2011/2012 show also wasstreamed onto the giant Coca-Cola screenin London’s Piccadilly Circus, which is seenby roughly 1.2 million viewers each week—another first for any brand. Followingthe runway show, viewers could downloadmusic from the show via iTunes-poweredtechnology on Burberry.com.
All of Burberry’s shows are streamedlive and allow viewers to comment on therunway action in real time via Facebookand Twitter. The brand invited Joe Zee, cre-ative director of Elle magazine, and fash-
ion blogger Bryanboy to appropriate theBurberry global Twitter account and tweetthe Prorsum collection. Also, customerscould order apparel — via the iPad — fromBurberry’s September and February cat-walk events immediately following the closeof the show, enabling a greater sense ofinstant gratification.
In February 2011 Burberrylaunched Burberry.com in China.That same month, the brandlaunched on two Facebook-equiv-alent Chinese sites (Kaixin001 andDouban) with more than 2,000fans; a YouTube-equivalent Chi-nese site (Youku) with more than1,300 views; and a Twitter-equiv-alent Chinese site (Sina Weibo)with more than 500 fans.3
— Jessica Binns
See Gerber’s ad on page 9.
Viewers in London’s Picadilly Circuswere treated to a live streaming ofBurberry’s Autumn/Winter2010/2011 runway show on thegiant Coca-Cola screen.
Burberry’s Runway to Reality initiative allowediPad-equipped consumers to purchase looksfrom the Spring/Summer 2011 Prorsumcollection immediately following the catwalkshow.
BurberryLondon, UK | us.burberry.com
NOMINATED BY: Gerber Technology | www.gerbertechnology.com
TOP INNOVATORS
P icture this. It’s the week before the Super Bowl and you’re atthe grocery store. As you stroll past the clerk stocking inven-
tory, you’re suddenly reminded — by the large advertisement cov-ering the entire back of his uniform — that you’d better stock upon chips. A quick snap with your smartphone and you’ve just saveda dollar. Two weeks later you pass the same clerk, same uniform— different promotion. Now you’re headed toward the chocolatehearts and have just registered to win a dozen roses.
In its 91-year history Superior Uniform Group has repeatedlyshown a willingness to bring new innovations to the uniformindustry, and even to go outside of it, as it did several years ago.Upon identifying a good opportunity to supplement office oper-ations, the company launched Office Gurus, a call center based inEl Salvador.
Most recently, Superior is shaking things up with its newlyformed everyBODY media® division, which, through a licensingagreement with Eyelevel InteractiveTM LLC, is combining digitaland smartphone technology (Mobile Action Codes) and imageapparel at the point of purchase.
Beyond comfort and utility for your employees, beyondbrand management, this new uniform is designed to be aninteractive, revenue-boosting component of a business, says MichaelBenstock, CEO.
This is how it works. The uniforms allow fabric panels (a Switch-it TM) to be placed on the garment using a patented attaching sys-tem that makes them easily interchangeable, creating a newadvertising medium. The panels themselves contain brand mes-saging and smartphone EI TagsTM (patented Mobile Action Codes)that, when scanned by a consumer with a smartphone, will imme-diately take the shopper to a related website that may containcoupons, additional product information, loyalty points, games orother items.
Dubbed iPOPSTM, the system (uniform and Switch-it panel withthe EI Tag) puts increased opportunity for promotion, interac-tion and ultimately happier customers and more sales right in thehands — or on the backs — of big box retail, food service, enter-tainment venues or any other businesses whose employees reg-ularly come into contact with the customer base.
iPOPS lets businesses easily rotate promotions right at the pointof purchase, says Benstock, and interaction isn’t just limited to theEI Tag and smartphone, he says. “Wearing promotions encour-ages interactivity with the store team members as well, provid-ing additional opportunities for customer service and brand building.”
Says Benstock: “With the everyBODY media division, cus-tomers now can take an often overlooked but widely acceptedexpense item, the uniform, and turn it into a significant revenuegenerator.”
It might also save your Super Bowl party.3
— Jordan K. Speer
Superior Uniform GroupSeminole, FL | www.superioruniformgroup.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
Superior is shaking things up — combining digital and smartphonetechnology and image apparel at the point of purchase.
Perry Ellis International credits much of its success to develop-ing and maintaining a strong global brand and a loyal customer
base. An important element of this success is its effective use oftechnology to automate key areas of its business.
Whether at the manufacturing level or as part of the cus-tomer shopping experience, Perry Ellis recognizes the importanceof how innovative technology plays a significant role in a com-pany’s competitive strategy. At the heart of Perry Ellis’ strategy
is a new transportation management system that scales to thegrowing company’s needs and creates more cost-effective ship-ment plans.
Perry Ellis is a powerhouse manufacturer that features aportfolio of more than 30 brands, including licenses of brandssuch as Pierre Cardin, PGA Tour, JAG, Nike Swim, and Callaway.Four years ago when the company embarked on its growth planto reach this point, it relied on aging software to move freight and
Perry Ellis International Inc.Miami, FL | www.pery.com
NOMINATED BY: Management Dynamics Inc. | www.managementdynamics.com
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 21
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com22
TOP INNOVATORS
handle exceptions worldwide. After evaluating its current needsand anticipated growth, it was time to look to a new, more inno-vative process.
The company wanted a solution that could precisely calculatebottom-line shipment costs and compare multiple routing andservice options for its service contracts, provide sophisticated auditcontrols over carrier billing, deliver a quick and user friendly sys-tem implementation, and offer the ability to seamlessly add newfunctionality as the company’s needs grew. Another major require-ment was end-to-end freight audit capabilities for all of its carriertransactions. The solution also had to be plug-and-play so thecompany could build redundancies and if there was an issue, itwould be simple to make revisions.
“Previously, we were using a third-party vendor to audit allof our freight bills,” said Marvin Leto, the company’s vice presi-dent of corporate logistics. “It took a long time for us to get refundsand we found the process to be very inconsistent. We were losingliterally thousands of dollars per month in carrier overcharges andthis was just not acceptable.”
The manufacturer selected International Transportation Solu-tion from East Rutherford, N.J.-based Management Dynamics, aglobal trade management software system. The solution simpli-fies the complexity of carrier service contracts with business rules,then it links contracts with the carriers based on rules tariffs. Thesolution automatically calculates the total bottom-line cost of a
transaction, including all surcharges, and for any timeframe. Thesolution’s freight audit feature is also key in helping Perry Ellisquickly identify and eliminate freight overcharges.
“Using the system’s powerful search engine, the logistics teamis able to search across multiple service contracts in real time, iden-tify all routes and service options based on specific criteria, andselect the best price and service combination — all within sec-onds,” he explained. “It provides detailed side-by-side ratecomparisons across multiple carriers — exactly what we need tomake more informed carrier selections. Since it is an on-demand,web-based solution, it’s fast, accurate and enables us to operatemore effectively in an environment of higher freight costs andtightening budgets.”
Simultaneously, the company’s integrated supply chain finan-cial system from TradeCard kicks in and processes all completedpurchase orders for vendor payment. (See “Getting Financingon Your Customer’s Good Name” in the April issue of Apparelto read more about how Perry Ellis’ uses the TradeCard platformto facilitate financial transactions.)
The transportation software produced a $220,000 savings inovercharges in the first year, “as well as other immediate bene-fits, such as lower transportation costs,” he said. “We look for-ward to further taking advantage of the other many features andfunctionality that we have yet to explore.”3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Marc Aurel designs a contemporary women’scollection tailored “to the lively elegance
and radiant self-confidence” of its customers,of whom it says, “We don’t change them, weonly boost their unique beauty day after day.”
Behind that rather tall task is a team thatvalues subtle glamour and individual creativityon and off the catwalk. To keep its merchandiseflowing at a clip, Marc Aurel decided to take inno-vative measures to improve the speed of itssupply chain, with specific attention towardautomating its packing-list creation to avoid allmanual input.
To accomplish this task, Marc Aurel imple-mented an item-level RFID tagging program toenable it to track merchandise quickly and accu-rately. Uniquely, the company chose to applythe RFID tags not in its DC, which is the morecommon practice, but to apply the tags towardthe start of the supply chain, at the factory, witha goal of reaping the greatest financial benefit
as well as the greatest acceleration of lead times.The company’s first step was to analyze its
supply chain processes and workflows, whichit completed in tandem with partners Setlogand Koobra. Setlog provides the company’ssupply chain management (SCM) software,OSCA, which Marc Aurel implemented fouryears ago to increase transparency and to accel-erate internal and external sourcing processes,and which has resulted in lower costs and qual-ity improvements across its supply chain. Koo-bra provides the scan, read and conversiontechnology, ESCA, for the RFID solution.
From there, the technology partners workedto customize the interfaces to the RFID solu-tion from Marc Aurel’s ERP system on one endand its OSCA and ESCA systems on the other.With the integration of the RFID process into
Marc AurelGuetersloh, Germany | www.marc-aurel.com
NOMINATED BY: Setlog | www.setlog.com
Marc Aurel designs a contemporary women’scollection tailored “to the lively elegance andradiant self-confidence” of its customers.
TOP INNOVATORS
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 23
the supply chain management application,the data in OSCA are immediately avail-able in the system, and 100 percent accu-rate, says Wolfgang Sondowsky, managingdirector.
After conducting several trials withvarious types of RFID tags, the com-pany found its best results from textiletags sewn into the care label.
Phase 1 of the implementation wasrolled out to Marc Aurel’s factory part-ners in Turkey, China and Poland. WithRFID tags applied at the point of man-ufacture, the factory was able to gen-erate packing lists in seconds, withan accuracy rate of 99.8 percent anda “faultless pre-packing of customerboxes in the country of origin,” saysSondowsky. With a near-perfect read-ing of incoming inventory, Marc Aurelis able to instantly plan distribution beforethe inventory even arrives at its distribu-tion center (DC), and upon arrival to its
DC, the receipt of goods and subsequentprocesses including cross-docking havebeen accelerated by a factor of nine, saysSondowsky, adding, “We are encouraged
by these strong results and Marc Aurelplans to roll out this technology throughits entire sourcing operations in Phase2 of the project.”
With the implementation provingto be a “win-win situation” for bothMarc Aurel and its suppliers, the com-pany is now looking forward to reap-ing additional benefits of the technologyby extending it to retail operations totake advantage of automatic inventorytaking, anti-theft protection and salespromotion opportunities.3
— Jordan K. Speer
Marc Aurel is applying item-level RFID tags atthe factory level to increase the speed andaccuracy with which it can move apparelthrough the supply chain, improving itsbusiness processes while getting its fashionsin the hands of its customers faster.
A lan Yiu says he “always had a creativebug” in him, and when the opportunity
arose, he decided to start his own brand.Yiu, who has a strong background in pro-duction and design, had been noticing whathe calls the “Wal-Mart-ization” of corehigh-end brands in the outdoor apparelmarket and saw an opening for a premiumbrand to step in and fill the void. Thus, in2004, he founded Westcomb Outerwear.
The small brand is developing a loyalfollowing. “People who love it, really reallylove it,” says Yiu, who says that word-of-mouth from these fans is helping to spreadthe news of a brand that is not exactly ahousehold name, but whose focus on pro-ducing garments of top-notch quality anddesign with a “passionate and relentlesspursuit of perfection” is winning converts.
The collection also boasts the Made-in-Canada cachet, manufactured domesticallyat the very same family-owned factory whereYiu worked prior to launching Westcomb.
As a small player with just five employ-ees, Westcomb works hard to differentiateitself from the pack. “We won’t stay rele-vant if we offer the same products youmay find from the ‘Industry Giants.’ There’sno room in the marketplace for another ‘metoo’ brand and that’s why we strive to offerproducts that are truly differentiated,”says Yiu.
Westcomb is also committed to offer-ing the utmost in warmth, moisture man-agement and breatheability to its customers,enabled via partnerships with a number oftechnology providers — including PolartecLLC, GE Energy, Pertex, Primaloft andSchoeller. Yiu says he’s also interested intechnology that not only does what it claimsto do, but that can also be demonstrated atthe consumer level. “Numbers are great,but the technology needs to be seen andfelt by the laymen,” he says.
In keeping with its mission to set itselfapart, recently Westcomb introduced
Polartec® NeoShell® into several jacketsin its line. The innovative Neoshell tech-nology is a proprietary, patented constructionprocess that creates a hydrophobic, micro-porous, polyurethane membrane with atightly controlled range of pore sizes. Itsconstruction allows moisture to be releasedwhile remaining completely waterproof,
Westcomb OuterwearVancouver, British Columbia, Canada | www.westcomb.com
NOMINATED BY: Polartec | www.polartec.com
Polartec’s new NeoShell technology,incorporated into several Westcomb jackets,works as a hardshell or a softshell, andoffers moisture management, breatheabilityand even stretch.
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com24
and the membrane is also very lightweight,supple and quiet, says Yiu. “This is morethan just hardshell technology,” he says.
“What’s attractive about NeoShell isthat not only does it breathe, it offers stretchperformance, a softer hand and it isn’t loud.Also, the option to customize the overallpackage and not be limited to any partic-ular face fabric or lining makes NeoShellextremely versatile,” says Yiu. The tech-nology works as a hardshell or an insula-tor, he says, “so you can really tailor aprogram out of this one waterproof-breath-able technology based on your waterproofand warmth performance criteria.”
Beyond the technology, the Polartecbrand name is a huge plus. Westcomb doesn’thave a lab team and relies heavily on itsingredient brands’ expertise and reputationto gain consumer confidence. “While thereare non-branded alternative technologiesavailable, it makes a difference to the cus-tomer to see that such high-profile tech-nology suppliers are putting their brands
on the line. For us, it is reassuring to knowthat we are backed by such quality and per-formance. … Polartec has more than 100years of innovation and R&D behind it —and the beauty of it is that the stuff reallyworks outside of the lab.”
Next up? Yiu is working to tighten theline and focus on the details that makeeach product a bit better. Figuring out waysto stay one step ahead of the competition,let alone stay in the race, is a daily chal-lenge when the competition’s design anddevelopment team is at least double thesize of Westcomb’s entire company. Cur-rently he is working on designs that uti-lize synergistic technologies combinedwith innovative construction processes.“We have to be careful not to add SKUsjust for the sake of wanting to offer some-thing new for the upcoming season. Likeour overall approach to the brand, ourdesigns need to be tight, different and rel-evant. I’m not interested in, nor do wehave resources for, managing a huge line
that offers five alternative designs forthe same activity,” he says.
Following in the tradition of the auto-motive, footwear or fashion industries whereproducts are endlessly redesigned to offersomething new and current, Yiu edits hiscollection carefully, redesigning an itemevery few seasons, even if it’s a best seller.“I know the saying goes that ‘if it ain’t bro-ken, don’t fix it,’ but I enjoy the challengeof forcing myself to reevaluate designs peri-odically, regardless of sales or emotionalattachment. Not everybody agrees with mebut I think this is an important exercise thatforces any designer to stay mindful of trendsand technologies, and allows the brandto stay fresh and current. Additionally, thishelps keep our line tight and not let theSKU count grow out of control.
“There’s no secret sauce,” says Yiu. “Youjust have to try your best within your resourcesand hope you hit a home run.”3
— Jordan K. Speer
Carhartt is known for creating rugged work-wear apparel, “built for long-lasting
performance,” a factor that drives customerloyalty. When Carhartt wanted to createmore intimate relationships with its cus-tomer base, it found the key was to createbetter collaboration with retail partners. Atthe core of this process was an inventoryplanning and forecasting platform that isfueled by analysis of consumer demand.
In 1889, Hamilton Carhartt created arugged apparel and workwear brand thatbore his name. Almost 125 years later,the company has gone global and has 3,500employees worldwide. The manufacturerremains privately held, and today, it isrun by Carhartt’s family.
As vast as the company is, so is its cus-tomer base. It is so large that it is impos-sible to keep tabs on each individual shopper,let alone establish stronger, more personalrelationships. The only way to get a han-
dle on such a huge customer base is todelve into their shopping patterns acrossall retail partners.
And the only way to do that is to col-laborate with retailers to determine cus-tomer reaction to merchandise that indicatestrends and can help in forecasting. As such,Carhartt embarked on a project with thehelp of planning and forecasting applica-tions from Atlanta, Ga.-based Predictix, amove that gives the company insight intodemand throughout its client base at boththe store and SKU level.
The chain plans to go live with the solu-tion this month, and the initial rolloutwill include use of the vendor’s FinancialPlanning, Merchandise Planning, DemandPlanning and Assortment Planning mod-ules. Still in the planning stages, the work-wear company is currently pullingpoint-of-sale information from retail part-ners to understand what items consumers
are purchasing. Overall, the company isanalyzing data from more than 30 per-cent of its sales base.4
CarharttDearborn, MI | www.carhartt.com
NOMINATED BY: Predictix LLC | www.predictix.com
Rugged workwear apparel company Carharttis working to fine-tune its merchandise mixwith the help of a planning and forecastingapplication from Predictix that will providegreater consumer insights and help it workmore closely with its retail partners.
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com26
“By analyzing this information, we areable to analyze trends and do a better jobof diving into style and SKU levels, andthen, based on movement information, tar-get assortments to specific locations,” saidJeff Gragg, the company’s senior vice pres-ident and CIO. “The end goal is to becomea category management partner with theretailer, to help drive revenue and prof-itability.”
With better consumer insights, the com-pany expects to fine-tune the merchandisemix across its diverse client base of retail-ers, ranging from well-known specialty
retailers to farm and ranch stores, Army-Navy stores, western wear retailers andothers.
The effort dovetails with the anticipatedopening of Carhartt’s third standalone retailstore in Chicago, in April. (Its two otherstores are located in Portland, Ore., andSalt Lake City.)
The launch of these retail partner col-laborations and its network of company-owned retail stores will coincide withCarhartt’s efforts to increase product linesacross the men’s and women’s categoriesin fall 2011.
Looking ahead, the company plans tointegrate the solution within its SAP plat-form, which it is in the process of installing.The platform should be completely live inthe fourth quarter of 2012, and at that time,Carhartt will begin integrating the func-tionality of Predictix.
“It will deliver the company more inven-tory visibility, and will let us more accu-rately address consumer needs anddemands,” Gragg said.3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Lafayette 148New York, NY | www.lafayette148.com
NOMINATED BY: Sky I.T. Group | www.skyitgroup.com
Founded in 1996 and named for its downtown Manhattan streetaddress, the Lafayette 148 collection takes as its muse the sophis-
tication and confidence of New York City. Chic and modern designsin the most luxurious fabrics define the Lafayette 148 New Yorkcollection. With its outstanding attention to detail and crafts-manship, the line is best known for feminine separates, noveltyembellished pieces, exquisite leathers and luxe knitwear. Upscaledepartment stores, including Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Mar-cus, and specialty stores carry the Lafayette 148 collection.
Lafayette 148 is unusual in the fashion world; as a privatelyowned vertical company, all of its products are produced in itsown manufacturing facility. An integrated, streamlined approach—— from cutting and tailoring, to handcrafted and artisanal detail— gives the company a level of quality control and speed tomarket that is unique in the industry.
While many design labels struggled during the 2008 economicdownturn, Lafayette 148 experienced a 400 percent increase ine-commerce sales, stretching operations to capacity. The com-pany found itself challenged to properly align production with theunexpected rise in sales in order to avoid lost revenue opportu-nities or a surplus in inventory.
“The most challenging concern was keeping up with the influxof data while keeping a one world view of our supply chain,” saysHassan Ahmed, IT senior manager for Lafayette 148. “AdoptingQlikView as a business intelligence platform offered a quickly imple-mented viable solution for immediate needs while simultaneouslylaying a solid foundation for future mission critical analysis.”
Sky IT Group, a technology solutions provider specializing inconsumer goods and retail, helped Lafayette 148 deploy Qlik-Tech’s QlikView business intelligence solution, which offers theanalysis capabilities to gain merchandising and supply chain
efficiencies the manufacturer needed to bridgethe gap between production supply and con-sumer demand.
Within weeks, Lafayette 148 had an initialapplication in place which would immediatelyidentify opportunities by syncing demand withproduction planning, enabling the companyto react to the business with speed and effi-ciency. QlikView provides a wealth of action-able information and is being used throughout the Lafayette 148organization by the production, sales, and financial teams. “QlikView’sflexible formatting capabilities enable us to analyze existing dataand create projection models custom to our needs,” says JerryHaught, merchandise director, e-commerce/direct. “Future con-sumer demand is accurately anticipated, allowing us to capital-ize on current sales trends and resulting in higher sell-throughs.”
Sky IT Group’s enterprise-wide business intelligence solu-tion has exceeded Lafayette 148’s goal of reducing inventory lia-bilities, aligning sales orders with production, and controllingfreight costs through improved planning.3
— Jessica Binns
What happens when your e-commerce operationsgrow by 400 percent? For Lafayette 148 NewYork, deploying a business intelligence solutionhelped sync production supply with consumerdemand, ensuring the company didn’t missout on revenue opportunities or have excessinventory on its hands.
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com34
Work ‘N Gear is the largest U.S. retailchain that specializes in providing cus-
tomers with a wide variety of apparel andfootwear for the service, industrial andhealthcare environments. It operates 43retail stores throughout the Northeast andMidwest, with new facilities planned forthe year ahead.
Recently, Work ‘N Gear launched a newstore-in-store (SIS) business model calledScrubology inside selected Sears and Kmartcenters. Scrubology offers healthcare appareland accessories for medical professionalsincluding nurses, doctors and home healthaides. The SIS model is a strategic, cost-effective move aimed at bringing the rightkind of merchandise — including brand-name scrubs — to convenient, nationwidelocations where the target customer mayalready shop. Moreover, customers can takeadvantage of both Scrubology promotionsand offers available through Kmart andSears, such as family-and-friends discountsand exclusive reward programs.
The company implemented new enter-prise systems to support the SIS initiativeand new websites for Scrubologyshop.com— launching shortly — on the RaymarkXpert Series SuiteTM integrated with e-com-merce powered by AspDotNetStorefront.“We are in early conversion/build to a new
fully integrated system poweredby Raymark Software EnterpriseSolutions,” says Anthony DiPaolo,president and CEO for Work‘N Gear.
Work ‘N Gear engaged CSCto support the implementationand cutover of the software suiteto support the store-in-store ini-tiative, with key activities including busi-ness process design, data integration withSears Holding Corporation (e.g., sales,items/products, promotions, prices,labels/tickets, etc.), testing, training, cutoverand post-go-live support.
The Raymark Xpert Series Suite andits components include home office func-tions such as merchandising, accounting,business intelligence analytics, distribution,replenishment assortment planning, opento buy, promotion management, CRM, andwarehousing. DiPaolo expects the enter-prise system to be up and running by year’send; a microsite for marketing informationand promotions and offers was sched-uled to be operational last month, with fulle-commerce functionality — also supportedby CSC — planned for later in 2011.
“Work ‘N Gear is a relatively small retailerwith a very competent, financially backedorganization and is able to make decisions
and move quickly to take advantage ofopportunities,” DiPaolo adds. “We havehad great cooperation from our counter-parts at Sears Holding Corporation, whichis fundamental in making this type of oper-ation a success.”
To date the retailer has opened 10 pilotScrubology SIS shops, which occupy between800 and 1,000 square feet apiece. “Work‘N Gear has an incredibly capable team andwe were able to open the initial set with nonew staffing. As we open additional loca-tions we will be looking to continue to lever-age our current team and add staffing asneeded,” says DiPaolo. The Scrubologyshops currently are manned part time byWork ‘N Gear staff.3
— Jessica Binns
Work’N GearQuincy, MA | www.workngear.com
NOMINATED BY: CSC | www.csc.com
Work ‘N Gear’s Scrubology store-in-storeinitiative allows healthcare professionals to shop for scrubs, work shoes and otheraccessories at select Sears and Kmartlocations.
Technology has taken a leading role inmoving forward the strategic vision of
specialty women’s retailer Chico’s FAS, Inc..A major technology overhaul that began in2007 has included the implementation ofthe ATG e-commerce suite and the SAPERP system. More recently, the companyimplemented merchandising and workforcemanagement solutions from JDA, an on-demand marketing analytics solution from
SAS and a PLM system from PTC, all ofwhich have helped set Chico’s on the come-back trail, as detailed in Apparel’s Febru-ary 2011 cover story, “Chico’s Comeback.”
Now up: RFID. But hold on to your seats.This isn’t your typical store pilot. Chico’shas taken an innovative approach to thetechnology, finding a way to tackle a sig-nificant process problem while at the sametime learning a tremendous amount about
RFID, says Kevin McIntosh, director ofapplication development and delivery.
To wit: for some time, Chico’s had beenexploring options to better track its sam-ples, which, as part of routine product designand development processes, are typicallyhandled by as many as 250 associates whouse them for meetings, photo shoots and avariety of merchandising needs. The com-pany realized that it could leverage RFID
Chico’sFort Myers, FL | www.chicos.com
NOMINATED BY: Avery Dennison RBIS | www.rbis.averydennison.com
technology to improve the efficiency of thisprocess. The result is a completely uniqueproject whereby Chico’s developed an inno-vative new application for RFID, using thetechnology to manage the 1,500 samplesproduced weekly for its three retail brands,Chico’s, and its two sister brands, WhiteHouse | Black Market and Soma Intimates.
The newly developed system allowsChico’s to keep track of who has any givensample and where that sample is located atany time, and the result of this tracking sys-tem is that Chico’s has been able to improveits sample management process significantlyby reducing the time it takes to find sam-ples throughout its organization.
The project, which began in the fall of2010 in partnership with Avery Dennison(tags), Motorola (hardware including read-ers and guns) and ComponentSoft (soft-ware), has thus far logged 80,000 samplerecords in the database and more than150,000 RFID-generated movementsthroughout the Chico’s organization.
This is how it works: Samples enter intothe system when they are delivered tothe Chico’s mailroom. Once received, anRFID tag is attached to each sample, a recordis associated with that tag in the data-base, and a photo of the sample is taken.From there, the samples (whose exit fromthe mailroom is logged at the back door)
are delivered to designated locations equippedwith flat-surface fixed reader bins that recordtheir arrival.
Merchandisers, designers and othersthen pull samples from these locations asneeded, using their security badges (eachnow equipped with an RFID sticker) to“check out” the sample and record on atouchscreen where it is headed.
The new system has made movementof samples through the campus run muchmore smoothly, although it’s not yet com-pletely foolproof, says McIntosh. It is pos-sible to forget to check out a sampleand accidentally walk off with it, and thisdoes happen. To ensure better compli-ance, the company is also installing somenon-interactive readers that will recordthe movement of samples as they pass bythe readers (although these readers willnot allow for input regarding the desti-nation of the samples).
To date — and it’s still very early in theprocess — the results of the new samplemanagement system have been phenom-enal, with time spent searching for sam-ples already reduced by about 40 percenton average. “Instead of spending an hourtrying to find a sample, people are track-ing them down in 15 minutes, and some-times five,” says McIntosh. “The systemis saving people time during the day sothat they can focus on their ‘real’ jobs,”he says. Two RFID guns are also makinglife easier for Chico’s employees, who canprogram guns with the EPC code of a spe-cific sample and pull the trigger. Thegun will locate the sample in question and,like a Geiger counter, will beep with increas-ing rapidity as the employee moves closerto the desired garment.
In addition to cutting down on timewasted searching for samples, the com-pany expects that its ability to keep bettertrack of samples will cut down on the num-ber of samples ordered, which will reducethe burden on the vendor, the cost of moresamples (Chico’s doesn’t pay for samples,per se, but they eventually are folded intothe final cost) and even more importantly,will improve speed to market.
Currently, six read stations and onenon-interactive hallway read station arein place, but eventually the system will
encompass 20 read stations and 10 hand-held guns across the 44-acre, 11-buildingcampus.
The RFID project has accomplished twobig goals — creating an efficient system forthe company’s sample management processand providing a controlled laboratory envi-ronment for the technology team to learn,invest and leverage the use of RFID tech-nology into other areas of the business.
“The next step is to take what we’velearned and to plan the process of bringingRFID tags into the supply chain and intothe front-line stores,” says McIntosh, withgoals to include gaining a much more accu-rate view of inventory in its supply chainand in its stores; using the technology inthe stores to improve and expedite the POSprocess; and expanding the technology intocustomer service and clienteling.
“Our approach is unique in the industrybecause we’re learning about the technol-ogy instead of doing a store pilot and encoun-tering problems. At the same time, we’remaking ourselves much more efficient in theproduct development process. We didn’tjust create a faux store where we’re doingsimulations. We’re actually benefiting fromthe technology,” says McIntosh.3
— Jordan K. SpeerHere, as samples are rolled past a non-interactive hallway read station, they areautomatically recorded and a record of each,(including the photo originally taken in themailroom), is displayed on screen.
An employee searching through samplearchives uses an RFID gun to find the specificgarment she’s looking for.
TOP INNOVATORS
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 35
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com36
I t began in 1936 as a business selling peanutsout of the back seat of a Dodge, and today
ARAMARK is a multi-national corporationwith approximately 255,000 employees serv-ing clients in 22 countries, and 2010 rev-enues totaling $12.6 billion. (Uniform &Career Apparel represented $1.5 billionof that total.)
The company offers a variety of profes-sional services, including food services, facil-ities management and uniform career apparelto health care institutions, universities andschool districts, stadiums and arenas andbusinesses around the world. This year,ARAMARK was ranked No. 1 in its indus-try in Fortune magazine’s list of “World’sMost Admired Companies,” and it has con-sistently ranked since 1998 as one of thetop three most admired companies in itsindustry.
You may never have worked for ARA-MARK or been clothed by its Uniform Ser-vices division, but if you’ve ever eaten in aschool cafeteria, visited a national or statepark, attended an Olympic sporting eventor a convention, there’s a good chance you’vehad an ARAMARK encounter — more than3.5 million customers wear ARAMARK’s
rental uniforms or buy productsthrough its uniform direct sale pro-grams. Among its offerings arerugged workwear, uniforms, out-erwear and safety apparel, flameresistant (FR) apparel and arc flashprotective equipment. It also pro-vides tactical equipment and apparelfor police, firefighters, correctional, andemergency medical services personnel.
The company strives to develop uniformapparel that meets the safety, utility, andcomfort needs of its customers. This yearit launched the new “Dirt Dog” jacket,which contrary to what you might think, isnot for taking Fido for a romp throughthe mud (although you could). DOG, inARAMARK parlance, is Dirt, Oil & Grease,and the Dirt Dog was designed for pro-tection from all three.
The unique jacket is made from an imper-vious polyurethane shell that offers pro-tection in DOG work environments, butalso features a soft moisture-wicking fleeceliner that provides comfort and warmthto the wearer in the most extreme envi-ronments. A venting system, engineeredspecifically for this jacket, zips open along
both sides and across the back of the jacketallowing the wearer to control tempera-ture. The Dirt Dog is machine washableand dryable. It is also equipped with sev-eral zippered pockets that are designed foreasy entry and secure closure on the frontof the jacket and on the left sleeve.
ARAMARK Uniform Services reportsthat it worked extensively with its own sup-ply chain group to develop the propri-etary fabric features that were fashionedinto a garment engineered for comfort andutility.3
— Jordan K. Speer
ARAMARK Uniform ServicesNorwell, MA | www.aramark-uniform.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
ARAMARK’s new “Dirt Dog” jacket offers“unparalleled” protection from dirt, oil, andgrease while providing comfort in extremeenvironments.
Running a company with spreadsheets and email will get youonly so far in business. That’s what SPANX, the manufac-
turer of the cheekily named shapewear and undergarments forwomen and men, realized in 2009 and 2010 as the number of itsfactories tripled and it hired scores of additional employees to keepup with demand.
SPANX’s technology project manager Robert Hunnicutt turnedto NGC Software and chose a solution that would not onlyameliorate the current unwieldiness of controlling product designbut also efficiently manage purchase orders, production and ship-ping. The answer? NGC’s PLM and global sourcing software.
“As with a lot of small, relatively new product developmentgroups, we had always done things ‘our own way,’ believing our
design process needed to be different due to the nature of ourproducts,” explains Hunnicutt. “While we had the framework ofa process, we also had a number of exceptions.”
The solution from NGC has enabled greater uniformity in howSPANX develops everything from points of measure to color nam-ing. Moreover, the manufacturer’s product specifications now arekept in a central, searchable database instead of scattered piece-meal all over the network — the importance of which cannot beoverstated, says Hunnicutt. With the configuration of the system,SPANX can assign specific individuals to specific sections — suchas user fields, grade rules and images — thereby making employ-ees accountable for the validity of the data, which results in bet-ter product specifications.
SPANXAtlanta, GA | www.spanx.com
NOMINATED BY: NGC Software | www.ngcsoftware.com
TOP INNOVATORS
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 37
Hunnicutt reports that communication with SPANX factorieshas improved, with all but a few individuals using the collabora-tion component of the NGC application. “While we have yet toexploit this to its fullest, having everyone receive the same infor-mation at the same time has definitely reduced confusion and thenumber of emails going back and forth for clarification,” he says.Going forward, SPANX plans to create an incident reportingsystem to monitor what kinds of incidents are happening, howoften and at which factories, with the ultimate goal of reducingthese episodes. “This can be used to determine if our communi-cations are not clear and/or particular factories are having the sameissues over and over,” adds Hunnicutt.
Perhaps most significantly, the NGC implementation enablesSPANX to get its products to market much more quickly. All ofthis “extra time” enables the manufacturer to develop additionalproducts and allows key decision-makers greater opportunity to
change their minds. “This year will be the first year we will attendfour major markets; previously, we attended two, with the twoadditional ones being earlier than the ones we’ve attended inthe past,” Hunnicutt says. “In short, we will be preparing our prod-ucts for market much earlier this year.”
SPANX is beginning to explore NGC’s functionality beyondthe realm of product design. The operations group is evaluatingareas such as costing and materials, and now that the com-pany’s user base understands what the system offers, report requestsare increasing, especially for product development, operations andsales. “Finally, we have integrated the PLM system with ourERP system to reduce errors and data entry (days!) and we haveplans to integrate our sales and inventory planning system as well,”adds Hunnicutt.3
— Jessica Binns
In a race that can last as long as 17 hours, comfort and perfor-mance are not optional.
Triathlete Emilio De Soto knows this from many years ofpersonal experience, which he’s leveraged with his experience inapparel design and technical fabrics and fibers to create innova-tive garments that today constitute the most visible brand of apparelat triathlons around the world.
Founded in 1990, De Soto Triathlon Company was the firstto make a full line of men’s and women’s garments for triath-letes that can be used for all three segments of the race — swim-ming, biking and running — eliminating the need to change clothesand thus shaving precious moments off a triathlete’s finish time.(De Soto also offers a complete line of workout apparel, acces-sories and gear that cross over to many other sports and formsof exercise.)
From the outset, De Soto took an innovative approach to itsbusiness by identifying the very specific needs of triathletes andthen developing products to meet them. Many of the productsdesigned by the company in the ‘90s have in fact become the basisfor products developed by competitors today. The transition pack,the trisuit, tri shorts with thin cycling pads, tri jerseys with zip-pers, run shorts with pockets and the mesh running cap were allfirst developed by the company, says De Soto, adding that it wasthe first to make a compression garment, the result of a mid-90scollaboration with DuPont on the development of Lycra® Power.De Soto also has developed a number of performance fabricsdesigned to keep athletes cooler in hot weather.
In 2001, De Soto revolutionized triathlon apparel with the intro-duction of the T1 Wetsuit, a two-piece wetsuit designed notonly to keep the wearer warm in cold water, but also to correct
body position, making the swimmer faster and more efficient. Thetwo-piece concept also allows a customer to buy a separate topand bottom to optimize proper fit.
The T1 has become so popular since its introduction that,says De Soto, “it’s often called the ‘MAC’ in a ‘PC’ world of one-piece wetsuits.” De Soto says it remains the only company to man-ufacture a two-piece wetsuit.
In 2006, the company launched its De Soto Custom Team ApparelProgram, offering a collection of its most popular garments cus-tomized with designs and graphics for teams as well as events.4
De Soto Triathlon CompanySan Diego, CA | www.desotosport.com
NOMINATED BY: Windansea Law | www.windansealaw.com
De Soto’s most recent venture isin the development of form-fitting and “slimming” triathlongarments that allow triathletesto wear the tight clothingneeded for the sport whilecovering up what they do notwant others to see.
De Soto says that while he’s carefullywatched and identified the unique char-acteristics of triathletes for about 30 years,the company’s focus has shifted recentlyto include studying the characteristics of itsown specific clientele.
“You see, in addition to trying to appealto a larger audience of the endurance sportsmarket, we want to be more appealing toour current audience and offer more spe-cific products to these already brand-loyalcustomers. While it may not be the casefor all triathletes, our customers make pur-chase decisions based on their own researchand buy based on quality, value, performanceand prestige, instead of price point, popu-larity trends and availability,” says De Soto.
“We use meticulous design and pro-duction processes and we limit the pro-duction of our garments, so when a customerbuys a De Soto product, they know theyhave something special.”
The knowledge De Soto has of its cus-tomers not only contributes to the prod-
ucts it designs, but also to how and whereit sells them, he says. Limited productionnarrows the number of retailers selling itsproducts, a factor in preserving the com-pany’s authenticity, while funneling moresales to fewer doors, which has earned“tremendous loyalty from our retailers aswell,” says De Soto. It also eliminates close-outs at the end of the season, he adds.
De Soto’s most recent venture is inthe development of form-fitting and “slim-ming” triathlon garments. “Triathlon is alifestyle and not just a competitive sport.Many people are triathletes, yet they do notrace much, if at all,” says De Soto, who saysthat swimming, biking and running are partof a lifestyle that for many is a means tobecoming healthier, reducing stress, los-ing body fat, dropping weight and exer-cising the heart. “In the process they wantto wear something that helps them coverup what they do not want others to see.Not all triathletes are thin, ripped and builtwith six-pack abs,” he quips.
That’s where the new products comein. “Rather than just offering shorts andtops that meet at the waist, we have cre-ated garments for men where the shortscome higher and are held up by straps (calledbibs) and the tops drop lower and over-lap in the midsection.”
For women, De Soto offers styles thatgive support to the hips and stomach with-out squeezing the thighs, using curvingseam lines that create a slimmer appear-ance. This is accomplished through a com-bination of technical fabrics, stitchingtechniques and pattern manipulation, hesays, which allows for more “girdle-like”support in these areas without restrictingbreathing or freedom of movement.
“These products will help open doorsto newcomers to the sport,” says De Soto,“so they will not feel intimidated to wearthe tight clothing needed to swim, bike andrun with more comfort.”3
— Jordan K. Speer
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com38
There is no question that companies thatsuccessfully embrace charitable activi-
ties can make a significant impact on theiroverall business. And when predominantlyevery employee company-wide supportsthat philanthropic cause, “their spirit, pas-sion and energy grow, and positively impacteverything they do,” says Michael Donner,president and CEO of Barco Uniforms.
Eager to parlay this corporate culture oflove, compassion and giving into a com-munity-centric philanthropy, Donner andhis wife Frida founded Barco’s NightingalesFoundation.
Barco Uniforms is known for outfit-ting employees across the medical indus-try for some 80 years. Barco is dedicated toits customer base — a community of peo-ple who love what they do, and whose dailygoal is improving people’s lives.
At the heart of Barco’s DNA is inno-vation. Whether discussing advances across
its products’ fit, fabric, function or design,Donner has built a company that strives tomake a difference across its customer baseand their industry.
“We are here to make a difference, andbelieve there is always a better way,” saysthe company’s web site. And Donner takesthis claim to heart, especially when tryingto make a difference in the daily lives ofindividuals.
“With nearly 10 percent of the popula-tion unemployed, everyone knows some-one who has lost a home or job, or has hadto change their lifestyle. Still, in this econ-omy, it takes a heartfelt commitment to giveproactively, and to do more simply becauseit’s what people need,” he said. “Today it’seven more important for businesses to dowhat they can to make a difference. It alsomakes good business sense to do so.”
Through the Nightingales Foundation,Barco honors generations of nurses for their
professional contributions. The foundationpromotes nursing and the spirit of the pro-fession by funding programs that help chil-dren with medical needs, as well as theirfamilies.
Barco UniformsGardena, CA | www.barcouniforms.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
President and CEO Michael Donner withAileen (center) and her mother Alma. Donnermet Aileen, a cancer patient, at CampRonald McDonald near Palm Springs, andsaw first-hand the impact Barco’sNightingales Foundation has had not only onthe lives of thousands of children, but on thelives of his employees — Alma works atBarco Uniforms.
TOP INNOVATORS
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 39
The foundation partners with organi-zations not only committed to helping thosein need, but whose work exponentially canincrease the impact the foundation canmake in the world. Among the foundation’spartners are:4ReSurge International (formerly Inter-
plast), a company that provides free recon-structive plastic surgery for the poor indeveloping countries;
4Smile Train, a leading cleft charity withprograms in 77 of the world’s poorestcountries; and
4Ronald McDonald House Charities ofSouthern California and its Camp RonaldMcDonald for Good Times. Both divi-sions provide an environment outside ofthe hospital setting for children with can-
cer, and their siblings, to process theirdiagnosis and regain their self-esteem.As the word spreads about the vision
and goal of Barco’s Nightingales Founda-tion, the company continues to field callsfrom licensing and retail partners, vendors,banks, employees and other interested par-ties eager to help. For example, in lieu ofcelebrating Donner’s birthday with a tra-ditional office party, employees raisedenough money to fund 11 surgeries throughthe foundation’s partners.
One of Barco’s largest clients donatedmoney to fund 16 surgeries upon hearingabout the foundation. Meanwhile, a repre-sentative selling software solutions for theapparel industry volunteered to serve onthe foundation’s advisory board, and per-
sonally donated funding for 10 surgeries.“If a company is known for helping the
community in an authentic way, other busi-nesses and people may seek them out,”Donner said.
Both Barco and the foundation are bothperfect examples of not just talking the talk,but also walking the walk. “Philanthropyhas to be at the core of a company’s valuesystem; it cannot be an after-thought, ora gimmick to gain rewards,” Donner said.“It must be a core value that drives thecompany, its culture, and its relationshipswith partners, suppliers, employees andcustomers.”3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Sometimes, innovation comes from look-ing to the past. You might say that’s where Unitex Direct
got the inspiration for the implementationof a new business strategy.
Throughout its 18-year history, UnitexDirect has offered public safety apparel andaccessories online via the company’s web-site, and occasionally via phone. A year ago,however, president Dan Mendelson shookthings up when he decided to open the firstUnitex brick-and-mortar showroom, pro-viding a hands-on shopping opportunitycombined with a “1950s barber shop” storeexperience.
“The customers love the store becausethey can try on apparel and examine prod-uct features before placing the order, andoftentimes in-house alterations can be donewhile the customer waits,” says MichelleEllis, retail store manager. “Unitex Directemployees love it because we have had theopportunity to get to know our customerson a personal level, and are building a strongrapport with our clientele.”
And best of all? “Our boss loves it becausethis past year — despite Michigan’s badeconomy — has been his best yet!” Janu-
ary 2011 sales were up 2,834.1 percent overJanuary 2010, and showroom sales for Jan-uary 2011 tripled the forecast, she says.
The company credits its enthusiastic andfriendly staff for the significant growth, andEllis says the company’s well-known cus-tomer service has been able to shine brighterbecause of the opportunity for face-to-facecontact. “The vast majority of our customerswalk in and ask for a particular associateby name.”
Lori Klisman, a Unitex customer andteacher at Royal Oak Schools, corrobo-rates: “Previously known for having someof the best service in the industry, the staffat Unitex Direct is continuing to reach outby now taking the time to personally getto know each individual customer throughtheir outstanding customer service in theirshowroom.”
The result? “We’re no longer servicingcustomers, we’re servicing friends,” saysEllis.
And in addition to its good old-fash-ioned customer service, Unitex is makingwaves in other areas of its business. Thecompany has “gone green” by recentlylaunching a brand of uniforms made from
organic fibers and recycled products, andhas started a program to care for trees ona nearby property. This year the com-pany also won a Univator Award for StoreRedesign. It has brought in new staff toenhance its creativity and marketing,launched on Facebook and Twitter, andbegun holding parties for its loyal cus-tomers. In short, says Klisman, “UnitexDirect has entirely transformed its retailshopping experience.”3
— Jordan K. Speer
Unitex DirectWalled Lake, MI | www.unitexdirect.com
NOMINATED BY: Royal Oak Schools & Self | www.royaloakschools.com
Seen here are Kevin Thibodeau, warehouseshipping and receiving, far left, DanMendelson, president, second from left andMichelle Ellis, retail store manager, far right,Unitex, accepting an award for platinumsponsorship at the Michigan Chiefs of PoliceConference.
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com40
You would be hard pressed to find a Men’sWearhouse television ad that didn’t fea-
ture CEO George Zimmer assuring view-ers, “You’ll like the way you look. I guaranteeit.” To deliver on this pledge, the chain strivesto have the right product at the time theshopper is ready to make a purchase — notan easy task for a multi-channel operation.In effort to “save the sale,” according to KenMuggeridge, the chain’s vice president ofoperations, the chain uses an integratedplatform that delivers optimal product tothe proper retail channel.
The Men’s Wearhouse has been deliv-ering quality clothing and personalized ser-vice for more than 35 years. The companystarted with a single store in Houston, andtoday, the chain has grown into a multi-channel business with almost 1,240 storesand an e-commerce division.
As the company evolved, the chain dis-covered some growing pains as multiplebusiness units were operating off of differ-ent systems. “The biggest trigger was thegrowth of our e-commerce channel andneeding to be prepared to take on othermulti-channel initiatives that we were plan-ning for the future,” he said.
Specifically, Men’s Wearhouse was eagerto consolidate into best-of-breed solutionsacross many different operations, with afocus on the supply chain.
“We have an initiative to grow our e-commerce business and we’re looking forsystems to support this anticipated growthover the next several years,” he explained.“We had a legacy system in place, but wefelt that implementing an ERP system wasgoing to be too involved and painful.”
The chain also wanted to take pres-sure off of its distribution center (DC), whichwas providing merchandise to all storesas well as fulfilling e-commerce orders, andtransition to distributed order management— a move that would enable the chain tosource e-commerce from the store level. Tomake this happen, warehouse managementhad to play a pivotal role.
To support these goals, the chain addedthe Supply Chain Process Platform fromManhattan Associates, Atlanta, Ga. A best-of-breed application, the solution is designedto leverage all implemented backend solu-tions to work together.
The chain is implementing various com-ponents of the platform’s SCOPE portfo-lio. The first step was to add the warehousemanagement module within its e-commerceand retail DCs, and it followed up with theimplementation of various modules to sup-port fulfillment for its K&G Men’s Com-pany banner.
Next the company added the DemandOrder Management module and ExtendedEnterprise Management component, whichconnects Men’s Wearhouse with tradingpartners. The overarching visibility andevent management capabilities allow thechain to manage inventory through globalsupply chains. Because all componentsreside on one platform, they work togetherand deliver the chain a fully integrated sup-ply chain network.
Since adding the platform in 2009, Men’sWearhouse has seen substantial growth inits e-commerce business. While the chainattributes that growth to a number of fac-tors, “the key reason that we added DOMand WM was that we were expecting to seeexplosive growth in the e-commerce chan-nel,” he reported. “We’re finding that thesystem is enabling us to handle that, andnow we have the support needed to adjustto other things that our marketing teamsare looking to do to further encourage busi-ness in those channels.”
One of the next projects the technologywill support is the ability to cross-sell inven-tory at store-level point-of-sale; however,merchandise may not be available at thetime of checkout. The chain hopes to tacklethis project, with the support of WMSand DOM, by the second half of 2011.3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
The Men’s WearhouseHouston, TX | www.menswearhouse.com
NOMINATED BY: Manhattan Associates | www.manh.com
TOP INNOVATORS
Owned by the $29-billion Aditya Birla Group, Madura Lifestyle& Fashion is one of India’s fastest-growing apparel compa-
nies. It operates its own retail chain — Planet Fashion — and sup-plies well-known international brands such as Tommy Hilfiger,Marks & Spencer and Polo Ralph Lauren.
But the company is most innovative when it comes to its ownedand licensed brands. Madura continuously seeks ways to creategarments that meet and exceed consumers’ demands, experi-menting with custom-engineered fabrics and finishes to give itsapparel a distinct and desirable fit.
Madura’s Van Heusen non-iron shirt is made from 100 per-cent two-ply cotton with a 3.8 DP (durable press) rating for increased
luster. The company worked with a leading Chinese mill and aJapanese vendor to develop the right combination of fabric, usinga special liquid ammonia with a moist cure finish to achieve a wrin-kle-free garment. The shirt sold out in the market just two monthsafter its debut, says Naresh Tyagi, assistant vice president, MaduraGarments.
Madura claims its Van Heusen “best white” shirt has the high-est whiteness rating of the CIE (International Commission on Illu-mination) index at 156+ and the highest whiteness retention of150+ after 25 washes. “Formal white shirts are bestsellers, withevery businessman keeping a stack of them in his wardrobe,” saysTyagi. The garment, a “fully taped shirt” with pucker-free
Madura Fashion & LifestyleMumbai, India | www.madurafnl.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
Acouple of years ago, Columbia Sportswear cameto the realization that its business wasn’t as healthy
as it wanted it to be and that innovation in the out-door industry had stagnated — and it saw itsown performance reflected in what it identifiedas a lackluster outerwear market in general.
Columbia Sportswear faced challenges onmultiple levels. The athletic wear industry wasmonopolizing the high-performance category,insofar as consumer perception was concerned,and the consumer electronics industry was domi-nating the excitement category, hands down. Colum-bia Sportswear wanted to stand out in its own field,and also raise the profile of the outerwear industry at large.
To accomplish this mission, the company initiated a massivecompany-wide multi-year plan to supercharge product innova-tion and lead its own business and the overall outerwear indus-try out of the doldrums, while simultaneously appealing to boththe casual and extreme-sports consumer of outerwear. Based oncustomer research, the plan focused on four key customer needs:to keep the customer warm, dry, cool and protected. What fol-lowed was a heavy investment in R&D (resulting in more than 70new patents in two years — more than the total issued previouslyin the company’s entire seven-decade history) and an innovationpipeline aimed at bringing new products and technologies thataddress these needs to market. (See the cover article, “Colum-bia Sportswear: Putting the Heat on the Skeptics,” in the Novem-ber 2010 issue of Apparel for the full story.)
The fruit of all of its research is some ofthe most innovative apparel in Columbia’shistory, with a wide range of offerings thatinclude the Omni-Heat Reflective, InsectBlocker and Omni-Dry Lines. In fall 2010, thecompany previewed its most advanced apparelever: Omni-Heat Electric, which provides bat-tery powered on-demand heat for jackets and
gloves, and will be available at retail for the firsttime in fall of this year.
The Omni-Heat Electric technology incorporates state-of-the-art electrical heating elements powered by small, rechargeablelithium batteries self-contained within the garments. While notnew in concept, Columbia Sportswear’s innovation has made hugestrides over earlier, primitive attempts — with batteries too heavyand cumbersome to integrate easily and comfortably into apparel— to turn the fantasy of battery-powered garments into a real-ity, keeping wearers warm wherever they may be.
Next up? Columbia will release its most recent innovation tothe market next month, which the company promises will keepits customers cooler and drier in hot, humid conditions thanever before.3
— Jordan K. Speer
Columbia SportswearPortland, OR | www.columbia.com
NOMINATED BY: Self
Columbia Sportswear’s new line of Omni-Heat Electricjackets and gloves will be available at retail in the fall,offering consumers on-demand warmth wherever they
may be.
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 41
TOP INNOVATORS
Whether creating work boots for use in the field of combat, inthe world of manufacturing, or just to make a fashion state-
ment, Red Wing Shoes’ innovations have made the company aglobal footwear success. As the company established a growthplan to expand its reach, it added an enterprise resource planningsystem that could integrate enterprise applicationsand keep the company abreast of all operations frommanufacturing to shipping product to customers.
Red Wing Shoes is a $500-million privately heldcompany, with more than a century’s-worth of expe-rience. The company was founded in 1905, andwithin 10 years, Red Wing Shoes was produc-ing more than 200,000 pairs of boots annu-ally. It was also the primary companymanufacturing footwear for American soldiersfighting in World War I and World War II.4
Red Wing ShoesRed Wing, MN | www.redwingshoes.com
NOMINATED BY: Lawson | www.lawson.com
As Red Wing established a growth plan toexpand its reach, it added an enterprise
resource planning system that could integrateenterprise applications and keep the companyabreast of all operations from manufacturing
to shipping product to customers.
seams, features the same wrinkle-free finish via liquid ammo-nia. Madura is heading into its third season of producing the shirt,with plans to offer the garment at different price points and designand structure variations.
A wool garment that you don’t need to dry clean or iron?Madura’s Louis Philippe wrinkle-free wool apparel is as easy tomaintain as synthetics, says Tyagi. “The development has beendone at our in-house manufacturing unit in collaboration withglobal business partners — chemical companies — involved in
the entire process,” he says. The composition and process to achievethe easy-to-maintain fabric has already been patented in the UnitedStates by Madura’s parent company. Tyagi notes that the DPrating and crease retention (CR) rating for regular wool apparelare 2.5 to 3 each; for Madura’s patented treated Kroy wool fab-ric, the DP and CR ratings each are 4 — even after 10 washes.Madura will launch a pair of trousers — the first garment to fea-ture this new fabric — in spring/summer 2012.
Also in the Louis Philippe collection is a “liquid cotton” dressshirt developed to have the easy maintenance that comes with100-percent dyed-cotton yarn but the luxurious softness of silk.Madura worked with the Chinese vendor that patented the liquidcotton technology to further refine and develop the special spin-ning and finishing technique. “Product appeal, touch and feel arethe prime factors that help a consumer to arrive at a decision,”says Tyagi, “which makes it essential to deliver products with con-stant uniqueness.” Liquid cotton shirts hit the market in autumn/win-ter 2010 and Madura doubled production for spring/summer 2011,introducing liquid cotton trousers as well.
Launched two years ago, Madura’s Go trousers under the AllenSolly label feature custom-engineered fabric co-developed withDow Fibers. The olefin XLA elastane is a high-density fabric fin-ished with liquid ammonia to add sheen and treated to providea wrinkle-free finish. “Go trousers are a first-of-its-kind stretchwrinkle-free chino that are easy to maintain and comfortable towear,” adds Tyagi. Madura followed up the trousers’ success inthe market with a Go shirt in autumn/winter 2010 in different col-ors and yarn dyes.3
— Jessica Binns
Madura Fashion & Lifestyle experiments with custom-engineeredfabrics and finishes to achieve unique, wearable, easy-to-maintainapparel. Pictured here is the Allen Solly Go shirt launched last year.
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com42
TOP INNOVATORS
MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com44
I f you have a daughter, you’ve probably, at some time or another,or perhaps every morning, heard this statement: “I don’t want
to wear that!”Well, parents, help is finally here. Online fashion store, Unit-
edStyles, launched earlier this year, has come to the rescue witha fun and interactive new experience that lets parents and kidsdesign their own clothes online in 3D.
The innovative concept is as much game as real fashion designtool, allowing kids to have fun while creating apparel that doesn’thave to remain digital. Using “virtualization” technology fromOptiTex, UnitedStyles allows users to build their own outfitsonscreen in 3D, choosing from a variety of hoodies, dresses andtops and then customizing each in a range of fabric colors andprints. Each article of apparel can also be further personalized witha name badge added where a care label typically resides.
UnitedStyles is the brainchild of Xander Slager, co-founderof the business, who came up with the idea as a solution to anindustry problem he’d been pondering for several years, namely,
how can you successfully predict the trends that will be populara year in the future?
The answer, he knew — from years of experience with his otherbusiness, women’s outer wear brand Spoom (www.spoom.nl)— is that you can’t. At least, not always, and never with certainty.
For several years, in fact, Slager had been preoccupied with theinefficiencies of the traditional apparel design and development
UnitedStylesShanghai, China | www.unitedstyles.com
NOMINATED BY: OptiTex | www.optitex.com
UnitedStyles is as much game as real fashion design tool, allowingkids and their parents to have fun while building their own outfitsonscreen in 3D.
The company continued that tradition; it still features Red Wing-brand work and steel-toe shoes and also designs a casual line inthree domestic factories as well as one overseas. The companyrecently augmented its portfolio with a garment division that cre-ates flame-retardant clothing for oil and gas workers.
“We had an expansion plan on our docket for quite some timeto jump into garments, and we also eventually want to add 125 morestores over five years,” said Joe Topinka, the company’s CIO. “Simul-taneously, we’re supporting a growing wholesale e-commerce oper-ation. We went from no customers to 2,500 in a short period of time.This made us push the envelope on customer service.”
What makes the company unique, however, is that Red WingShoes’ business model starts with raw hides. The company tansthe leather, manufactures the footwear, and then sells it in oneof its 400 stores (half company-owned, half dealer partnerships),throughout retail partners’ stores and online through its whole-sale division.
It is imperative for the company to track the flow of rawmaterials from rawhide to finished goods, a process that can betedious. By adding an ERP system five years ago, the companygained insight into the entire supply chain, from raw materialsto finished goods, as well as within its own manufacturing andretail operations.
The company chose an ERP system from Lawson Software, St.Paul, Minn., to handle, and streamline, its operations. The plat-form is linked to the retailer’s AS400 computing platform, and itpulls all item movement data from store-level point-of-sale ande-commerce transactions into a common database.
The solution is also linked to an EDI system, which monitorsplaced orders and vendor payments. As the company receives rawand finished materials inventory from suppliers, they are scannedinto the system upon arrival at one of the warehouses, using amobile scanning system.
Information from all business functions is integrated, includ-ing sales forecasting, which contributes to inventory optimization;order tracking, from acceptance through fulfillment; revenue track-ing, from invoice through cash receipt and the matching purchaseorders; inventory receipts for arrivals and costing based on ven-dor invoicing.
Looking ahead, the solution will support the company’s expand-ing “stores on wheels” initiative, which includes launching “mobilestores,” or pop-up locations that are “where the workers are,”Topinka explained.
The company is also launching the newest version of the solu-tion this summer, and expects that “to fuel tremendous produc-tivity benefits as well,” he says, adding that the company will beginthe implementation this fall.
In addition, the chain is in the early stages of a new POS upgrade,as well as exploring an e-commerce initiative that enables cus-tomers to pick up merchandise at a store. “The success of theseprograms and upholding customer service includes integrating allapplications within our ERP system so all item movement remainsvisible,” Topinka said. 3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
TOP INNOVATORS
www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 45
process, which involved much elapsed time, and multiple inter-vening parties, between his brand and the final consumer. Like-wise, he’d been fascinated for many years with the 3D technologiesthat allowed 2D patterns to be rendered in extremely lifelike 3Davatars.
These two interests came together in the creation of United-Styles, launched with partners Marc van der Chijs, a tech expertwho created Tudou (www.tudou.com), a Chinese sharing site sim-ilar to YouTube that now has 180 million unique visitors monthly;and Dirk Lorre, an experienced marketer. The new venture reversesthe traditional business model whereby companies producefirst, then display in a shop and, finally, wait for customers to buy.The beauty of UnitedStyles is that the apparel isn’t created untilafter it’s designed — and sold, says Slager.
The founders decided to launch their business first with kids— because, well, “shopping with kids is not really fun,” becausekids would really enjoy designing their own clothes online, andfinally, because the fit wasn’t as demanding as it would be for,say, women’s wear — but the ultimate goal is to add boys’ wear(currently only girls’ wear is available), to move into men’s andwomen’s wear, to expand sales beyond Europe and also to digdeeper into the OptiTex solution, which it has only just begunto plumb.
For now, the company has just gotten started (orders are in thedozens per week, which it is producing in Shanghai), and its mostimmediate goal is to tweak its financial model, determining viatesting how much it costs to get a new customer and what the bestvehicles are for doing so — whether that’s Facebook or other socialnetwork marketing, via a gaming partner, through a Groupon-type site or some combination of all three, says Slager. The com-pany is also signing up existing brands to sell their “design yourown” versions of their clothes in its shop and to run the company’sapplication on their websites.
But ultimately, says Slager, “the idea behind the company isbigger than a kids’ brand.” The idea is to get customers involvedin the design from the beginning, he says, and to take advantageof all of the possibilities that virtual fashion has to offer. Heenvisions the company as sort of a Lulu.com for the apparel indus-try, where would-be apparel designers will head to UnitedStylesnot only to design clothes for themselves, but to sell their ownfashions. “We’re nowhere near there yet, but we hope to unleasha lot of creativity on the part of consumers,” he says. “It’s a bigvision, but I’m confident there’s a lot of demand for this and thatpeople are looking for these kinds of experiences.”3
— Jordan K. Speer
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MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com46
Called the brand of universal youth fash-ion culture, FLY London thrives on orig-
inality. Whether it is the design of eachproduct or the color combinations, all ofthe retailer’s new collections of shoes, acces-sories and apparel are driven by the brand’sslogan, “ever-changing, ever-developing,”and FLY London has successfully built itsreputation on being at the forefront of inter-national fashion.
What many may not know is that thecompany started as a shoe brand in 1994,a category that continues to be a strong
draw for the retailer. By implementing aninnovative RFID solution, ShoeID, to enhanceefficiencies throughout the supply chain,the retailer has gained visibility into whatis available in its supply chain, at store-leveland what needs to be reordered based oninventory movement — all in real-time.
Developed by Portuguese technologyprovider Kyaia Group, ShoeID is an item-level RFID solution that allows the com-pany to track merchandise frommanufacturing through purchase at thestore. The process begins at the retailer’s
manufacturing site where a unique iden-tification EPC Gen 2 passive UHF RFIDlabel is added to each shoe. The identifi-cation number is linked to the softwareplatform integrated within the enterpriseresource planning system. The softwarestores all information about the product,including SKU number, style and size.
A scanner at the store locates the mer-chandise and reports it as available andin stock. As it is scanned at point-of-saleduring checkout, another scanner detectsand deactivates the tag and a WiFi network
FLY London (Kyaia Group)Ponte Gmr, Portugal | www.kyaia.com
NOMINATED BY: Avery Dennison Corp. Retail Information Services Group | www.averydennison.com
When it comes to retail, growth is good,and multichannel growth is even bet-
ter. In 2010, Saks Incorporated experiencedstrong increases in its multichannel, multi-brand operations and found itself evaluat-ing its order fulfillment and warehousingoperations, searching for ways to keep upwith such demand.
The luxury retailer faced myriad chal-lenges: keeping apace with the growth inits web channel; bringing its direct-to-con-sumer and store-replenishment fulfillmentoperations under one roof; keeping inven-tory levels lean while maintaining the in-store merchandise levels expected bydiscerning consumers; providing speedyturnaround times for online shoppers —and achieving all of these goals as quicklyas possible.
As it turns out, there was one solutionfor all of Saks’ initiatives. The retailer decidedto automate various aspects of its ware-house fulfillment system. Saks focusedon moving thousands of SKUs through twodistribution centers as quickly as possibleas a primary means of controlling inven-tory levels while keeping up its legendarycustomer service.
Kiva Systems, a providerof automated material han-dling order fulfillment systems,stepped in to transition Saksfrom a completely manual ful-fillment approach to a fullyautomated system that relieson mobile robots to dramatically speed upthe picking process. Saks and Kiva col-laborated on a multi-phase approach thatallowed the retailer to retrofit its facilityto accommodate Kiva while continuingto operate on a full production schedule.
The project demanded strict coordina-tion of both the physical and software com-ponents of the Kiva solution in order toincorporate the automation on a tight sched-ule. Saks and Kiva laid out the physical planof the warehouse floor and integrated Kivatechnology into the retailer’s order man-agement software.
In the first phase of the project, Kivadeployed 60 mobile robots and about 1,500mobile storage pods in Saks’ Aberdeen,Md., distribution center. The six-monthproject has significantly boosted warehouseproductivity, according to Saks’ executivevice president – CIO Michael Rodgers. “Our
investment in Kiva is consistent with ourcompany direction of moving from defenseto offense,” he adds.
As a result of the Kiva installation, orderprocessing time has dropped significantlyallowing Saks to significantly improve deliv-ery times to its customers. “We furtherexpect the outsized growth in our onlinechannel to continue and our automatedfulfillment strategies are critical to supportthis growth,” says Rodgers. At press time,Saks’ fulfillment operations were approx-imately 80 percent automated, with Kiva’ssystem expected to handle all order pro-cessing by the end of May.3
— Jessica Binns
Saks IncorporatedNew York, NY | www.saks.com
NOMINATED BY: Kiva Systems | www.kivasystems.com
Saks turned to Kiva Systems to transition itspicking process from a manual operation to amethod driven by mobile robots, substantiallyimproving order processing time. Seen hereis Saks 5th Avenue’s flagship location.
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transmits data back to the ERP system thatit has been purchased and takes it out ofstock availability.
At this point, management knows whatis stocked at the shop floor and what needsto be reordered. It is also a key componentin loss prevention because active tags aredetected and an alarm sounds if taggedmerchandise leaves the store.
The solution is also supported by a RFIDUHF EAS platform that supports more cus-tomer interactivity. For FLY London, thisincludes a creative Smart Floor that enablescustomers to try on a pair of shoes, and lookat an image of themselves in front of a busystreet scene in London, New York or Tokyo,depending on the style of shoe she is try-ing on. Since adding the solution, the retailerhas achieved many benefits. At the ware-house, for example, the inbound and out-bound processes are automated, whichreduces labor and increases distributionefficiency. At the store-level, inventories
are more accurately managed, and FLYLondon is saving labor because staff doesnot have to manually manage inventory.The company is also experiencing overallcost reductions because it is increasing effi-ciency across all logistics processes.
Kyaia cannot take all of the credit, how-ever. Rather, the project is the brainchildof a consortium of six companies, includ-ing Kyaia. Avery Dennison is supplying theRFID item-level UHF EPC Gen 2 passiveinlays and tagging; Creativesystems devel-oped and installed the complete solution.Surfaceslab developed the Smart Floor RFIDUHF interactive floor, and CTCP, a not-for-profit organization, provided busi-ness consultancy and technological support.The Institute for Systems and ComputerEngineering (INESC) of Porto, Portugal,another not-for-profit organization, assistedwith software designing optimization andforecasting algorithms.3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
A Smart Floor at FLY London enablescustomers to try on a pair of shoes, andlook at an image of themselves in front ofa busy street scene in London, New York orTokyo, depending on the style of shoe sheis trying on.
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To survive in the economic downturn, retailers are taking drasticmeasures to operate more efficiently — not an easy task when
there is a lack of chain-wide communications. Bob’s Stores may bea small retailer, but the apparel chain can teach its larger counter-parts a lesson or two about communication based on the work it hasdone with a successful task management program as its foundation.
Bob’s Stores has streamlined communication and maximizedthe efficiency of store operations with the help of a task man-agement solution.
“To stay competitive, we research technologies that willbenefit us from a customer service and business execution stand-point,” says Mary Johns, the chain’s manager of store operations.“In retail, it is imperative to innovate solutions which improvethe customer experience.”
It is these solutions that make Bob’s more efficient. One of thoseimprovements was transitioning to a next-generation task man-agement system, called Store Ops-Center, from Opterus, locatedin Ontario, Canada. Based on a software-as-a-solution platform,tasks and messages are delivered via a secure web portal.
Store-level associates access this centralized location to viewresponsibilities, and managers use it to check completion andensure everyone stays on point. On average, each store receivesbetween two and four messages or tasks a day related to every-thing from creating displays to installing graphics and promotionalmaterials at the store level.
There is also a mobile component that allows field manage-ment to stay abreast of tasks, messages and issues happening atthe stores. Now the “gatekeeper,” who manages all outgoing mes-sages and tasks, as well corporate management, can view all mes-sages, tasks and store issues on their smartphone.
Further, Store Ops-Center has built-in email integration. Headoffice or field employees respond to store issues via email on theirPC, laptop or mobile device, and all responses are sent back to thesolution’s centralized portal. This allows for quick resolutionand better, more efficient support for any store issues.
Bob’s is also taking advantage of an integrated survey fea-ture. Surveys can be linked to tasks and the head office can setdeadlines by when responses must be completed. “Field surveyshelp us to get feedback from our managers faster and more con-cisely which facilitates better problem resolution, better executionand a better customer experience,” says Johns.
This allows Bob’s Stores to run its company more effectivelyand efficiently.
In the short time Bob’s has been using the solution, Johnsreports that it is supporting stronger, timely execution at the storelevel, and management has a better understanding of how to pri-oritize tasks.3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Bob’s StoresMeriden, CT | www.bobstores.com
NOMINATED BY: Opterus | www.opterus.com
With the help of a task management solution, Bob’s Stores hasstreamlined communication and maximized the efficiency of storeoperations.
W ith roughly $500 million in revenue in 2010, Gilt Groupe proves that all that glit-ters is, indeed, gold.
Launched in November 2007, Gilt has rapidly built a reputation as a leadingonline luxury fashion and travel retailer. The company provides exclusive access to abroad range of daily sales for its upscale membership. Each day Gilt offers its membersa flash sale — a curated selection of merchandise, including apparel, accessories andlifestyle items for women, men and children. Flash sales last just 36 hours and offers
Gilt GroupeNew York, NY | www.gilt.com
NOMINATED BY: Kiva Systems | www.kivasystems.com
In order to deliver a world-class customer experience to match the luxury goods it offers,Gilt Groupe moved its central fulfillment operations to a Kentucky facility near the UPSworldwide hub and deployed Kiva Systems’ mobile robotic fulfillment solution to processorders in a blazing-fast 15 minutes.
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www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 49
items — many exclusive to Gilt — discountedby as much as 70 percent. With these kindsof deals, the company has experiencedtremendous growth, even throughout arecession that has been particularly pun-ishing for retailers.
As part of Gilt’s commitment to providea first-rate customer experience, its ful-fillment operations must not only turn ordersaround in 24 hours for next-day delivery,but also must offer special packaging andadditional value-added services that imbueparcels with a personal, boutique-like qual-ity. But with more than 100,000 SKUs, andthousands of new members joining eachweek, demand could potentially outweighsupply and bring the entire supply chainto its knees.
To accommodate member expectationsand reach a goal of 99.9 percent or aboveon all performance indexes, Gilt set outon an aggressive course of action to estab-lish a near-perfect 2010 holiday season,focusing on three key initiatives.
First, it opened a 303,000-square-footstate-of-the-art facility in Shepherdsville, Ky.,and moved order fulfillment operations to acentral location, which gave the companyreduced shipping time across the U.S., a stronglabor pool and room for expansion through2013. Integrating and merging back officesystems with distribution and IT were equallyimportant. Finally, Gilt optimized its KivaSystems mobile fulfillment solution so thatthe mobile robots most efficiently contributedto its three-pronged picking strategy (thecompany also does some picking by handand some via three-level modules).
Gilt Groupe purchased a Kiva Sys-tems mobile robotic order fulfillment solu-tion — which it had previously evaluatedwith 3PL partner Quiet Logistics at a Mass-achusetts facility — for its Kentucky pick-ing operation. The retailer worked directlywith Kiva to address all of its challenges,including delivering fast, accurate and ele-gant order processing while merchandisecontinually changed. In essence, relying
heavily on the robots for picking enablestwo thirds of Gilt’s order volume to be han-dled in just 35 percent of the fulfillmentcenter, says Christopher Halkyard, Gilt’svice president of operations.
Elimination of operator walking andwaiting enables worker productivity that istwo- to four-times higher than with otherautomated systems, according to Halkyard.The end result: Gilt is able to process ordersin 15 minutes. On Cyber Monday, GiltGroupe saw record order volumes fulfilledand shipped for next-day delivery acrossthe United States.
For more on Gilt Groupe’s tale of suc-cess, please see the cover story, “ExclusiveFrom Gilt Groupe: Flash Sales, Flash Deliv-ery,” Apparel, April 2011.3
— Jessica Binns
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MAY 2011 • www.apparelmag.com50
R ichard Leeds is a premiere apparel manufacturer that “outfitsAmerica,” yet few consumers know the company by name.
That’s because Richard Leeds creates innovative private-labelclothing for many of the industry’s retailers. By integrating anew product lifecycle management (PLM) system to help accom-modate accelerating demands from retailers during the GreatRecession, the company has been able to uphold its reputation.
Richard Leeds’ unique culture revolves around creativity. It isthis quality that makes the company the private-label designerof choice for some of the industry’s top retailers, including Wal-Mart, K-Mart and J.C. Penney.
Interest in the company’s offerings only expanded during thesluggish economy, a landscape that prompted many consumersto trade premium brands for private-label merchandise acrossmany categories, including apparel. As consumers made the shiftfrom name brands to private-label merchandise, retailers, espe-cially discounters such as Wal-Mart and K-mart, put more pres-sure on the designer to turn around merchandise more quickly.
Retailers regularly tapped the designer to fill their last-minute needs, but due to a lack of automated processes, the com-pany often had to turn down requests. It was not uncommon forexample, for retailers to demand specific designs, forcing thedesigner to manually search through hundreds of ring bindersto find the particular styles — not ideal when companies wereexpecting merchandise and shorter turnaround times.
It became clear that the company needed to reinvent workprocesses to eliminate redundancy, and streamline operations thatcould stabilize business and capitalize on unanticipated opportu-nities. Rather than take on the project alone, Richard Leeds tappedNew York City-based Computer Generated Solutions to help itcapitalize on current and future opportunities through its BlueCherryPLM system.
The solution coordinates all aspects of a product’s creation andcentralizes Richard Leeds’ extensive art libraries, giving design-ers the ability to quickly find, modify and price designs to meetlast-minute requests. This opens up new business opportunitiesthat the company simply could not handle before. Meanwhile, thecompany now can find styles in seconds vs. hours.
By installing the platform, Richard Leeds was overall able todo more with less, streamline operations, standardize internalprocesses, improve collaboration with its Hong Kong office andbring clarity and accountability to its design process.3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Richard Leeds InternationalNew York, NY | www.richardleeds.com
NOMINATED BY: Computer Generated Solutions Inc. | www.cgsinc.com
Pictured here are owners Marcia and Richard Leeds at center,surrounded by the team that helped CIO and vice president ofoperations Roberto Mangual implement BlueCherry ERP and PLM.
Front row left to right are: Beth Shindelman, CFO; Marie Aguas,customer service manager; Marcia and Richard Leeds; Anna Wu,merchandiser; Amy He, production manager. Back row left to right:Sudesh Chonkar, controller; Roberto Mangual; and Cuneyt Sumer, ITmanager.
Gap Inc. has built its reputation on a highly respected stable ofbrands, including Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic. When
it recently introduced the newer Piperlime and Athleta brandsto its stable, the 42-year-old San Francisco-based company provedthat it still has its finger on the pulse of the 21st century shopper.
Realizing this consumer is a multi-channel shopper, the iconicspecialty retailer made strides not only to integrate its channels,but also to ensure that it could leverage the value of its online cus-
tomer acquisition efforts across comparison-shopping engines.By implementing an advanced optimization tool, Gap is suc-cessfully analyzing margin generated from these shopping engines.
The web is a second home for the Gap. Besides integratingall five banners under one umbrella website that enables shop-pers to enjoy one checkout experience, in 2010 the company elec-tronically launched and marketed its brand across 65 countriesworldwide — a move that positioned the company as a true global
GapSan Francisco, CA | www.gap.com
NOMINATED BY: Range Online Media | www.iprospect.com
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www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2011 51
retailing powerhouse. To round out its efforts, Gap launched mobilespecific e-commerce sites that are promoted via search enginemarketing, further raising the bar for retail innovation.
Leaving nothing to chance, “Gap conducted over a thousandindividual marketing copy tests that revealed significant learningsand optimizations that were leveraged across all digital channels,and driving increased efficiencies and higher returns across thebrands,” said Mark Fiske, director of business development forGap Inc. Direct.
Another way to gain higher returns was to leverage thepower of shopping engines such as Amazon, Nextag, etc., by deliv-ering customized assortments to each engine. (At any given time,Gap products are featured on as few as one and as many as 30 dif-ferent shopping engines, most of which are pay-per-click sites.)To ensure it would get the strongest return on investment, thecompany integrated an advanced optimization tool to scalethese innovative merchandising and customer acquisition efforts.
The company partnered with Range Online Media, a FortWorth, Texas-based interactive search marketing agency, to ana-lyze its product catalog and develop dynamic optimizationlogic. “We had skimmed the surface of this practice in the pastby following post-click product performance,” he said. “But bydiving deeper into our backend analytics, we have been able todevelop robust predictive rules to maximize our ROI with thismarketing vehicle, ensuring that every individual product is mar-keted at a positive ROI.”
Previously, the company had to wait until it had data tomake decisions about which products to promote on which shop-ping engines, but now, by “getting very granular about what isand isn’t working we can make smarter decisions before weeven engage in marketing efforts,” says Fiske. From the vast num-ber of data points it draws upon, Range picks what’s relevant forany given shopping engine, and based on what it knows, opti-mizes the products its sends to each.
The project required a three-pronged approach: the first pri-ority was to optimize size availability. Analysis revealed that prod-ucts that were available in a high number of sizes converted tosales faster than items with fewer options. “A daily product-level report validated the case, and we learned there was a clearthreshold in conversion drop-off,” he said. “This allowed us towithhold the distribution of products to shopping engineswhere a click event wasn’t likely to be profitable, based on thepricing model of the engine.”
In other words, if Gap only had one size left in a particularproduct, it was probably not worth paying a shopping engine to
feature it on the site. The click conversion would be extremelylow, because most people who chose to click on the garmentwould find it not available in the correct size — yet Gap wouldbe paying for each of those clicks.
The next step was to import a separate data source to RangeOnline Media for product reviews. The chain analyzed reviewcount and average, after which data was related to product per-formance data for trend review.
Initially, Gap believed a “low” overall rating would adverselyaffect conversion and result in a low likelihood of purchase. Asexpected, this was true; similarly, products rated in the “high” cat-egory provided the majority of conversions.
“However, mid-level ratings also had a strong conversion rate,”he recalled. “This provided an opportunity for the platform toincrease shopping engine bids and increase positioning on thesesites, driving incremental profitable volume. We found thatthese products evoked a strong customer response but were notalways prominently displayed on comparison shopping sites.”
The final stage of the project, in which the company is nowentrenched, is calculating margin data. A long-term believer instructured testing programs, Gap is participating in Google’s Prod-uct Listing Ads service, which allows for granular segmentationof campaigns and ad groups. The implementation of a new “mar-gin” data feed allows the retailer to analyze performance ofthese enhanced ads.
“Through leveraging richer data such as vendor brand, prod-uct margin, unique size availability, sell rate and stock availabil-ity, we are able to test independent bids and spend limits for eachgroup of these variables, highlighting the most profitable com-bination,” Fiske said.
Being Gap’s primary data feed provider, Range was a naturalpartner for the project. Gap initially provided Range with two sup-plemental data feeds, based on reviews and availability/margin,and information was leveraged within Gap’s existing product datafeeds.
Range formulated clearly defined testing strategies to provethe project’s true value, and these tests were measured againstprevious performance baseline figures to establish clear before andafter comparisons. “Hindsight analysis of the accumulated datadetermined where changes to comparison shopping campaignsshould be made so we could successfully drive the greatest returngains,” says Fiske.3
— Deena M. Amato-McCoy
Jordan K. Speer is editor in chief of Apparel. Jessica Binns is associate editor of Apparel.Deena M. Amato-McCoy is an Apparel contributing writer.
