Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of an article from Retail Paradox, Retail Systems Research's weekly analysis on emerging issues facing retailers.
The HBO documentary, Schmatta: From Rags to Riches to Rags, traces the garment industry's history back to the turn of the 20th century, and the great fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911. Many say the United States industrial labor movement started with those Manhattan sweatshops and that terrible fire. The seamstresses were literally locked in the burning building, and many jumped to their death, rather than burn. Obviously, that part was before my time, but eventually the script started sounding very familiar. Somewhere in the early 1960's the story became really relevant to me.
I grew up in New York. My father was a single-store clothing retailer, and when I was kid he'd take me buying with him to "The City," in that same Garment District. I was struck by an exquisite irony. A half century later, I, who watched racks wheeled through the streets and saw my father buy clothes from grizzled garment veterans much like those in the movie, am writing a benchmark report on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and global sourcing. The veterans I met back then "didn't know from" PDM, PLM or computers. They knew the touch and feel of the merchandise, and they always knew to the penny what their mark-up was, and how much they could afford to discount their goods for my father.
As late as 1975, 95 percent of the garments sold in the U.S. were made in the U.S.; by 2009 just five percent were made here. Times have changed. The emergence of channel masters and the explosion of private label coupled with the globalization of supply have made global sourcing and PLM indispensible tools for retailing success.
The movie is meant to be a paean to organized labor, I think, and as such, it misses some steps on the road to globalization. In reality, the industry didn't move directly from New York to foreign shores. Garment manufacturers followed cheap labor south, to the Carolinas and beyond. Halston may have got his start in Manhattan, but by the early 70's, my father (who sold to the middle class) was making yearly buying trips to South Florida, where he'd buy knits and other products in Hialeah. The shoe industry found its way to Asia long before garments. It was a step-wise process, always following the lowest cost providers.
Today, we live in a global economy. The garment industry is also global and powered by technology, from three-dimensional virtual patterns to electronic tape measures to computerized cutting machines. Even the smallest retailer has computerized inventory and point of sale technologies. And we know, perhaps better than anyone, how important technology is to retailing success.
Having said all of that, it's good to remember the feel of the fabrics, and the smells of the factories. Those schmattas put my sister and me through college. I imagine they're doing the same for families around the Americas and around the world.
Discussion Questions: What has been the ultimate impact of the apparel industry's move to offshore sourcing? What are the implications of designing and sourcing so far from the point of demand? Has the industry been able to adequately stay in touch with consumer tastes?