Published 5 years ago on Jul 24, 2020
by Shilpa PolavarapuView: 2269
From The Readers Minds!
1st Edition
Editorial
We at Inside Apparel had an exciting three months, since our launch. This last series had a lot of feedback in the industry and has been a topic of many a discussions. We are sharing here some of the thoughts shared by our readers.
We had so much and such diverse discussions in our comments section that it would have taken a book to write it all down, so we would ask our readers to go through them sometime at leisure. It’s from industry leaders, business owners and many senior colleagues.
We have been very lucky and privileged to have such a consistent readership and would request everyone to partake in their wisdom. Some comments were extremely detailed and thought provoking, we have not covered them here. Instead, they will be featured as future articles. Enjoy.
The Future is in Execution
"You are absolutely right that while consumption patterns may not change, execution models will. Companies need to move rapidly to relook at the cost models. Several core processes may have to be executed through a combination of in-house and outsourcing.
- Krishna Kumar (KK) IT Entrepreneur and Supply Chain Enthusiast
Brand Positioning
I think that a herd mentality has taken over the Indian fashion brands where they try to outdo each other with massive discounts and offers, damaging the very foundations of the brand. We seem to have forgotten the basic lessons of marketing: segment, position, differentiate and build a relationship with your core customer to dominate the segment. Most brands have confused targeting and positioning with unclear value proposition.
We don’t need to look at International fashion brands for inspiration. Just look at the new wave of domestic brands like Man company, Bombay Shaving Co, etc in personal care category. They seem to be following each of your recommendations to a fault. The Indian fashion brands have to ask a serious question- how much are they investing in Brand building vs how much they are frittering away in terms of discounts/offers?
- Krishna Kumar (KK) IT Entrepreneur and Supply Chain Enthusiast
Category vs. Lifestyle
Category vs. Lifestyle is a classic struggle. We noticed that almost 80% of our sales were coming only in 2 categories. Yet we had a large inventory of other categories as we wanted to give the customer the full range. But as pressures of inventory came in we slowly defaulted to being a category focused brand. But what should large format retailers do? They need to carry everything.
- Gunish Jain (CEO BlueKaktus)
The importance of Innovation
Just a thought, Break through product innovation helps reinventing the brands, Like Boost from adidas, Airism from Uniqlo.
- Ramesh Ramalingam, VP Sourcing Operations, Arvind Fashions
Stick to your core
Sticking to one’s core is important, I recollect even Gap moving away from their khaki chino, denim shirt and gap logo sweatshirt look in late 90’s, getting their learning’s and sticking to what they stand for. When we started our career in fashion industry 3 decades ago it was “brand made a man" (or woman) and now the consumer defines and brands adapts.
- Kamal Gupta, Entrepreneur
The Virtual Designer
For designers- retail/clothing/fashion , it is now very important to be a virtual designer in every sense. Virtual being the keyword here. My little experience with entrepreneurship has totally reinforced this. Traditional methods of working definitely need to be thrown out of the window and new design practices have to be adapted. It's now or never as the customer in the coming future is online. Virtual designing/ representation/ roadshows/ marketing needs to be the strongest asset of any brand’s design team I can’t stress more on that or they will definitely die out.
- Rupa Giani - Entrepreneur, Designer, Cofounder Qfamily, Cute and Cool
Designers should have a free hand
I have a different outlook on this article and would like to use the platform to share it.
I think Designers should always have a free hand to try whatever they put them on, because the inception of an idea comes to life through their creativity. Designers are storytellers, the world is their playground. They should be allowed to explore and create magic out of it. They are the ones who identify and connect with the mood of the world, some one mentioned to me once “Camo print came into fashion when the mood of the world was war” I honestly don’t know if that was true, but it felt right, likewise even when the most glamorous looking women around the world, who wore bling at some point switched their moods to becoming lazy & comfortable, we saw a paradigmatic shift to sneakers and sweatpants.
Expecting designers to understand the economics of the business may not be the right thing to do. In my opinion It would limit their creativity.
- Neeraj Katoch, Sr. Mgr B&M, Arvind Fashions
Design will be driven by Sales
Gone are the days of Ramp designs or of formal suits.Lets study what’s actually happening around us . Design is going to be driven by sales as business scramble to survive.
- Poonam Sood Lal, Consultant, Co-Founder Sash Exports(Buying House)
Design is rudimentary in most companies
Designing digitally is the need of the hour. But somehow I am not convinced of using a designer’s creative time in doing clerical work as 3D rendering solves cataloging and physical roadshow problems especially in this COVID era, but it in no way it solves a creative problem except better visualisation.
In my experience, India and the Indian Brand & retail industry have a long way to go and learn how to use Designers’ effectively. Designs are still being done in a very rudimentary manner in most of the companies. I guess we are yet to learn to look at design as a process and a problem-solving tool.
- Rajesh Kumar, VP & Creative Director, US Polo Assn.
Design Schools should be more industry oriented
Perhaps fashion /design institutes should also connect with industry experts and understand how different businesses function and role of design in different business models. It's time design internships and industrial training programmes with companies are structured in a meaningful and relevant manner by the fashion institutes. This will help students and future design professionals understand the role of design which is beyond mood board, good aesthetics, colours and tech-packs.
- Moutushi Dey , Design Consultant
Managing Demand Planning in Channels to optimise throughput
In my view, there are several points that is important while discussing buying.
- Channels
- Sourcing lead times
- MOQ
- Flexibility of management
Channels: today brands are present in various channels. Each channel expects different kinds of merchandise and sales price and margins. If all the stores are owned by the brand then many things can be controlled.
- Prashanth HV , Product Strategy, Royal Enfield Apparel
Centralise Inventory to reduce Inventory
Key to success would be to consolidate inventory at inventory hubs and make them visible to multiple stores. This would reduce multiple inventory holding points.
- Himanshu Singh, Co-founder, Meraki
An interesting anecdote
This brings me to an interesting success story of my customer. This is a large French retailer with shops / stores across the globe. The designer herself was the buyer and sourcing person. She managed her product line ( men’s tee shirts). In my so many years of sourcing for this customer, I never heard even once a word of high inventory hence less buying.
Her style of working was incredibly unique. She would send the complete techpacks with her confirmed buying price and a tentative qty. She never wanted the samples. All she required were the yarn dips for colour approval. Once the yarn dips were approved, she would give a go ahead to start the process of production, Then she would ask us to produce about 1500 pieces per colourway and ask us to ship them to few selected locations across the globe.
It is interesting to note that she would then come back to us within 10 days, whether to continue the production or drop the style. If continue, nothing wrong. She would get the delivery in her fixed delivery period. But the problem was if she asked us to stop the production. In such a case she would then send the fresh style (using the same colours). Her take from this way of functioning were many folds.
- She got to test the market.
- If style did not move, the discounting was only on few hundred pieces and no blocked inventory.
- She could always have freshness in the stores.
- The vendor always remained loyal and was willing to experiment.
- The product cost remained fixed.
- Even a men’s tee shirt category became a fast fashion instead of a boring product line.
To successfully merchandise a fashion retailer, whether it’s a small boutique or major departmental store, it requires a proactive fashion representative, who is always up-to-date on the latest fashion trends, to understand what consumers want to buy.
- Sanjay Lal - Co-Founder, Sash Exports (Buying House)
Creating Artificial Scarcity as a merchandise strategy
This would require a complete overhaul of the structure of the buying and sourcing teams. And how they are incentivised. For example can buying be incentivised on ROS? Also, how does a brand maintain it’s TRUE essence? For example is FRESHNESS a desired outcome? Like Zara. Should retailers create artificial scarcity? Is that a good strategy?
- Gunish Jain (CEO, BlueKaktus)
Digitisation will increase costs for the Vendor
While I fully subscribe to the Digitisation in the Supply Chain and companies investing heavily into the software, it is left to be seen how the vendor will adopt the same. How the vendor will sync with the retailer. It is also true that every retailer will be careful of not exposing or sharing the data with vendors. On the other hand, there will be a risk of data theft, hacking, virus attacks from third party system forcing the retailers to invest heavily in protection. This means the cost of the digitisation going up for the vendor.
Retailer will be foolish to think that after passing the digitisation he will have a monopoly on the vendor. Sourcing knows vendor cannot survive on one customer and manufacturers for number of other retailers. This translates that the vendor will need similar digitisation with other customers, resulting into the cost increase for the vendor. Is it financially viable for the vendor?
- Sanjay Lal - Co-Founder, Sash Exports (Buying House)
Shifting responsibilities and ownership between stakeholders
Your articles talk about the shifting of responsibilities and ownership between different roles and development of new skills while adopting technology at various levels.
Especially if we read the last two, between sourcing and vendors, a lot of responsibilities which are currently resting with the sourcing teams will move ‘actively’ to the vendor, with the sourcing team mainly playing a consulting role.
However, the vendor wanting to adopt the changes and digitisation and technological advances that’ll help him get there - he will need to invest more not only in setting the processes and technologies, but more importantly getting the right people do run them. Overall, this would mean cost increase for the vendor. However, with the vendor actively taking this role up, the sourcing offices would be able to cut back a lot of their costs. At an over all level, because it’s shifting of responsibilities and getting rid of some amount of duplication and improvement of efficiency, it should lead to overall cost reduction/better margins which can both be divided between the vendor and the brand.
It would however be interesting to see how the costs will shift, as the cost at the vendor’s end is bound to increase with this level of investment, but it should be more than nullified by the savings at the sourcing office’s end.
- Garima Joshi, Co-founder Meraki, comment shared on WhatsApp
When you have information you need not carry inventory
Highlighting the fast changes that the market is witnessing, Anindya has brought out the importance of change in mindset that is required across the supply chain.
- Transparency between the various parties involved- I will blame both the vendor and the brand for holding their cards too close to their chests. High time you laid them bare.
- Trust – both parties need to work on this over long periods and interactions
- Need for investment in new technologies and software
- Need for adapting newer approaches to solving problems.
3 and 4 will be futile without 1 and 2.
In the book World is Flat, the author says ‘when you have information you need not carry inventory’. Something I have cherished reading.
- Ram Subramanium, MBA,PMP, Scrum Master, Principal Consultant at Global Channel Solutions Inc
Brands must support vendors in developing them to handle design
We do understand the market was already changing from past 2-3 year but now the responsibility is double for the vendor after covid 19. its fact that most of the vendor do not have sufficient people to handle the Brands/design development or capacity to invest on new innovation .. in this case Brand also need to come forward and share the investment on vendors as we can see Buyer are investing in Bangladesh/Vietnam and also guiding them for technology/designing.
Brand must visualise the strength of vendor/capacity and try to work with limited number of vendor so you can give maximum number of months load to them and get priority from vendor too.
- RP Singh, President, Eveline International
Why are we not changing?
The fashion has to have speed to market, A lean production system, designers and 3D design technology with MIS systems built in. It is this fashion that will actually bring the customer to the factory and the core will be a support system
Why are we not looking at lean manufacturing ?
Why are we not investing in 3d Design technology
Why don’t we have an inbuilt MIS system which can have a live production status on the cloud every morning for the customer to simply log in ??
In todays world unless we evolve both at customer and factory level we are going to find ourselves redundant and out of business.
- Poonam Sood Lal, Consultant, Co-Founder, Sash Exports (Buying House)
Labour laws need to change
Among all the aspects discussed, I feel one of the important aspect is the existing labour situation from farm to frontend. Which is preventing people to think this industry as an option and do any sort of investments be it expansion, upgradation etc… If it becomes conducive, may attract more home grown business houses and global players.
Labour engagement is one of the key factor. We need some holistic approach like, Can union govt. scheme MGNREGA gets integrated with labour intense industries like us? hence it incentives the workforce and entrepreneurs. It will also pave the way for global players to explore greenfield investments.
And without a stable apparel supply chain ecosystem with no choice domestic apparel brands and retailers will be forced to look at overseas sources, But govt.policies may not encourage.
It is catch 22 situation.
- Ramesh Ramalingam, VP Sourcing Operations, Arvind Fashions
The need for a new generation of entrepreneurs
Unfortunately garment manufacturing is one of the lowest tech industries. And the margins are low. So when the 1st generation built this and educated their children, the children preferred to venture into newer and advanced industries (tech, services etc.).
I feel for this industry to thrive in India, manufacturing has to shift to the hinterlands, new 1st generation entrepreneurs should come up, who have the hunger and desire to make garments.
Also, vertical integration with the fabric supply chain is also the need of the hour. that is the only way economies of scale will be built and RMG vendors will have the size and scale to invest in technology.
- Gunish Jain (CEO, BlueKaktus)
CONCLUSION
One thing is clear. Change is inevitable. While most readers agreed with the future of the fashion industry discussed in these blogs . . there is a general feeling that we are unprepared to move into the future.
Well, if we don’t change, a new industry with new players will rise up like the phoenix and then we will be trying to play catch up.
I would urge you to read the complete comments, we had space for only excerpts. Our readers have shared a lot more and do read their original comments to fully understand what they said, it is available in the comments sections in the previous articles of this series.
We hope you have enjoyed our serialisation of the topic. Please do share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.
RELATED TOPICS:#Sourcing,Textiles,Apparel,Fashion,Supply Chain,design,buying&merchandising,brands,Fashion Design,fashion industry,Brand Strategy,Future of Fashion,textile industry,supply chain strategy,apparel industry,Sourcing Strategy,Editorial,Shilpa Polavarapu,Editor's Articles
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57 Comments
TeseniRipDec 21, 2023 at 15:16 pm
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Prashanth HVJul 30, 2020 at 21:46 pm
Dear KK, You are absolutely right in saying on the competition in offering discounts by the brand's. This is pulling down the margins of brands and every brand is struggling to survive.
Ramesh.gJul 29, 2020 at 16:55 pm
congrats Shilpa, great job. Happy to see nice inputs & meaningful conversation exchanges among the industry experts. it's great forum to capitalize. wonderful contributions from various experts.
Shilpa PolavarapuAug 02, 2020 at 11:26 am
Thank you Ramesh! Keep reading & contributing to Inside Apparel :)
Yoganarasimha KYJul 26, 2020 at 14:11 pm
Hi Gunish It is really useful and knowledge information really appreciate your thoughts and it is really amazing, would like to see more analytics in single platform and more digital modules.
Kumar HKJul 26, 2020 at 08:02 am
Hi Gunish, The change is inevitable and transforming the working style to digital is essential between stakeholders. Single platform is very useful where data integration happens with multiple sources. We would like to see more of AI based analytics. Time for some data interpretation. Thanks for getting Quality on Digital Mode.
Binay HotaJul 26, 2020 at 07:52 am
Hi Anindya, Thanks for making us all together on this Platform. Amazing collections of articles that depicts industry challenges. Readers attributing this to change management and need for Digitization. Very impressive!
RaviJul 26, 2020 at 07:49 am
Sourcing knows vendor cannot survive on one customer and manufacturers for number of other retailers. Sanjay Lal comments will make the sourcing think, that Technology implementation will enhance all other Brands too. Its a one time implementation and vendor benefits the most.
SujithJul 26, 2020 at 07:45 am
Hi Krishna Kumar Point greatly captured - We don’t need to look at International fashion brands for inspiration. Today we have infinity count of design collections in domestic retail
Arun MJul 26, 2020 at 07:41 am
Dear Ramesh Sir, Break through product innovation helps reinventing the brands. The brands must look and re invent to make more innovative products.
MangaladossJul 26, 2020 at 07:36 am
Shifting responsibilities with stakeholders, in a sense makes it a cat mouse game with cost negotiations between Vendors and Sourcing. The wining point is to avoid duplication's and development of innovative ideas through digital thoughts makes it more beneficial to Vendors. Great Feedback Garima !
VikasJul 26, 2020 at 07:31 am
I liked this statement by Mr.Ram Subramanium. When you have Information why do we have to carry Inventory This in concurrence to the digital world makes it more relevant. Great Thought!
UmeshJul 26, 2020 at 07:27 am
Excellent interpretation by all readers ! Thanks Anindya for being the person behind 'the making this Inside Apparel' . We designed and formulated by Shilpa. Great work. Looking forward for more intellectual topics .
Shilpa PolavarapuAug 02, 2020 at 11:28 am
Thank you Umesh :) We are glad that you have taken the time read the articles...
Muthu KumarJul 26, 2020 at 07:05 am
All the blogs are well designed and easy to read and understand. Interesting point by Poonam Sood Lal, manufacturers can look into lean concepts. Its time to re-engineer existing processes.
Poonam Sood lalJul 29, 2020 at 19:39 pm
Thanks Muthu .The traditional way of manufacturing has to change . speed can only come in with lean manufacturing in addition to the traditional line system Why can't factories try a few modules of lean manufacturing ?
SreejithJul 26, 2020 at 07:00 am
Hi Gunish, We all spoken on change management and the key was digital transformation. Thanks that you are working exclusively on apparel sector. Great Team.!!
JadabJul 26, 2020 at 06:55 am
Virtual Designer in today's apparel scenario is much much relevant and many brands are already adopted. As commented by Rupa Giani its is relevant - we evolve or perish .
ArivuJul 26, 2020 at 06:49 am
The industry working and academics of Fashion actually don't sync . Like Mrs Moutushi commented, the academics must have more of industry focused
GauravJul 25, 2020 at 21:32 pm
Most of the Brands like Nike , M&S are opting for vendors with vertical integrated vendors. Very truly commented Mr.Gunish
Arun SJul 25, 2020 at 21:29 pm
Good one... Change is inevitable, how you deal with it is optional. In this blog lot of insights and experience put together, and it is very informative.
Anil JamesJul 25, 2020 at 21:21 pm
The statement what Garima made on stakeholders is apt .The Sourcing and the vendor keeps to bargain margins and its a win win situation. Its the technology that gives them the cutting edge.
Garima JoshiAug 07, 2020 at 10:59 am
Yes, Anil. What is needed to fuel this is a lot more collaborative approach and transparency between functions and of course mentoring of the vendors by brands to help them get to this level of efficiency.
AmanJul 25, 2020 at 21:16 pm
Change is inevitable . If we wont catch up we would be redundant . Thanks Poonam. Well commented
Poonam Sood lalJul 29, 2020 at 19:41 pm
Correct Aman .The world is moving on .Post Covid businesses will re-orient themselves We have to move into the new world now --not when its too late
Javed SyedJul 25, 2020 at 21:12 pm
Hey Prashath.. The key challenges are dealing with MOQ and Flexibility of management. We often tend to get stuck while negotiations on MOQ. Great insight!
Prashanth HVJul 30, 2020 at 21:27 pm
Agree with you Javed. Flexibility of management in adopting new ways of doing business is very important. As the customers buying pattern is changing rapidly we cannot be following old systems and mindsets.
Manoj KumarJul 25, 2020 at 21:06 pm
Dear Gunish,I was fascinated by the digital tools of Quality and experiencing it . I witness to see it unfolding to all cross functional teams.
RajeshJul 25, 2020 at 21:02 pm
Dear Mr Singh, You are spot on..Brands must give the vendor the visibility and time to the vendors to explore this new dimension.
SwamyJul 25, 2020 at 20:58 pm
Design will be driven by Sales, Absolutely . Its a number game ultimately. Thanks for the insight Poonam.
UmeshJul 25, 2020 at 20:03 pm
Stick to the core .. by Kamal Gupta . Well I hail from the days Gap introduced Chinos. Millions of orders executed. Primarily we need to get back to the basics.
Poonam Sood lalJul 29, 2020 at 19:44 pm
Correct Umesh .I brought the first Gap Chino into the country into K.Mohan .Only Basics can get the volume business the factories need
UmeshJul 30, 2020 at 17:38 pm
Thank you
JithenJul 25, 2020 at 19:59 pm
Hi Anindya , Inside apparel seems to be one of a kind information where we see a different perspective and view points . Am enjoying the articles as well as the responses.
LokeshJul 25, 2020 at 19:55 pm
Interesting comment on Centralizing Inventory to reduce Inventory by Mr.Himanshu. End of the day , transparency and data visibility among stakeholders is key
NagarajuJul 25, 2020 at 19:52 pm
Dear Poonam , I liked the comment on Why are we not changing? Practically we follow multiple mails and excel sheets for daily tasks and followup. Digital platform like cloud can be a real saviour. The world has moved faster. The apparel business needs to catch up.
Poonam Sood lalJul 29, 2020 at 19:50 pm
HI Nagaraju -We live in a digital world .Why is the garment business then not evolving Why are hours and hours of sourcing and merchandising time being wasted on reports Why can't the vendor access our report page and update daily or why can't he put the report on the cloud so that the customer simply has to access or call for a report The apparel world has to move out of the excel sheet age if it has to keep up with other businesses
NagarajuJul 30, 2020 at 17:12 pm
Absolutely one source truth really helps and we are in the cloud Age
Ajay RavuriJul 25, 2020 at 19:43 pm
Dear Mr Sanjay , Its a misconception that Digitization is cost burden. It is definitely a long term impact plan and we can benefit the ROI. We tend to see short term benefits and lose the game. I appreciate your thoughts on this,
Sanjay LalJul 29, 2020 at 15:23 pm
Dear Ajay, Digital transformation of fashion design and manufacturing is viewed as both an opportunity and a threat, depending on who you ask. The perceived threats include job security, creativity, and loss of the “human touch” in fashion design and garment-making. Digital transformation lacks access to human-centric technologies fit for the creative nuances and ephemerality of fashion design. How do you express the value of a North face jacket valued at over USD 200 in a 3D render? Digital design has been borne out of engineering and is based on CAD/CAM solutions, which are not creative or intuitive in a way that empowers designers. Solutions are driven by technical specifications that still do not bridge the gap between creative design and product creation. Fashion needs a platform that plugs creative design into the supply chain painlessly and without designers having to change the way they work. This is fundamental. Designers should not be asked to drop their manual design and illustration techniques in favor of a mouse and keyboard. There is no single roadmap to digitization. With an almost limitless range of software, hardware and services that can theoretically be linked to form a cohesive digital workflow, the direction each business takes will be dictated by its goals and challenges. Seeking shorter lead times, some brands will embrace virtual prototyping and 3-D printing. Looking to exceed customer expectations across channels, other brands will come to rely on machine learning, applying algorithms to real time information feeds from all their retail channels to serve up pitch perfect recommendations. Aiming to improve material utilization and cut cists, yet others will connect their cutting machines to an intuitive software layer that delivers minute to minute technical; insights to design and development teams leading towards investment both on parts of Brand and Factory. Businesses should remember that not all PLM solutions are created equal. Everyone who is currently 23 years of age, or younger, is considered a true “Digital Native.” The rest of us are mere digital immigrants, not quite as savvy as them. Digital natives are born into a digital world where they have grown up surrounded by technology and have interacted with them from an early age, which gives them a better understanding of the digital landscape around them. The garment is controlled by the people who are “Digital Immigrants” and they are reluctant to go for all out digitization as they do not want to swim in unchartered territories for a fear of losing all they have made in over the years. To bridge the gap between fashion and technology, one need a digital mindset. The apparel and fashion industry should focus on real innovation and long-lasting technology. The industry needs to analyze the pain points and should create partnerships to implement innovative solutions to solve their unique issues. As we know Speed is going to be the name of the game ... speed and control that means designs to serve what customers like, operations to put (products) in the right place, and technology to make it super-fast, super-efficient and super personalized. If you control those three areas, you become unbeatable. The days of stack-them-high, sell-them-cheap "fast fashion" are coming to an end, replaced by a new model which favors speed, precision, traceability and adaptability over bulk. The reshuffling of supply chains is the consequence of seismic changes in the fashion industry. Retail chains specializing in the disposable, low-margin retail that prevailed in the early 2000s are struggling to survive. Technology-led online retailers, such as Stitch Fix, are winning customers through mass-personalization -- using algorithms to understand individual customers' tastes and recommend clothing -- which is changing how customers shop and pay for clothing. An evolution from "fast fashion" to "accurate fashion," where every line of clothing sells out with nothing left over. But when clothing retailers need to react to a sudden trend driven by Instagram, it creates a daunting barrier. Time has come when instead of going through the cycle of designing, sending items to Asia for production, coming back ... most of the fashionable items are produced close; meaning [they are] more expensive, but it allows them to close the cycle in four to five weeks. For this one has to be smarter, like a tech company. Labs and intelligent systems will be required if the factory has to grow 15% to 20% in sales and profit; but the costs of labor, energy, technology, they just keep getting higher, and demand for speed increases. It's getting tougher all the time. This means a factory will have to invest heavy every year on new technology. On top of this these garment workers may need to work with more sophisticated machines and software to better meet customers' demand for faster delivery, more flexibilities and agility in production. All costs money. Is the “Digital Immigrant” generation ready to invest when “Digital Native” generation is not ready to step in?
AjayJul 29, 2020 at 16:49 pm
Dear Sanjay , Thank you for a very very detailed explanation which actually tells the facts of practical challenges of going digital .Primarily going digital in fashion industry has been a sore eye in terms of Cost and Skill sets to manage digital requirements. Fundamentally our industry depends on 'Touch and Feel'concept. That's the reason our industry falls apart from any other industry. Having said that our industry did pioneering concepts of going digital over the last 20+ years. We have got multiple software's like Lectra, Fast react, GSD Machines like Juki, Brother reinventing emerged to the very fast paced requirements of our industry sustained many years. Definitely some of the high valued and customized products needs certain level of Feel to value the product we made as brand. Having said that some brands like Nike have completely making adaptive products in shoes and sports wear that actually makes us stunned the way digital analysis is done. Like you have mentioned there is no single road map of digitization. Every company is unique in it values and customs. Companies like Toyota invented Lean . But every company cannot follow the same principles. Its constant review of process and grabbing the low lying fruits through digital initiatives is the key. The industry needs to analyze the pain points and should create partnerships to implement innovative solutions to solve their unique issues.This is a well taken point. The labor cost has an annual impact of 15 to 20% and this must be accommodated quicker in our costs. The only way like you have mentioned is to have shorter leadtimes. Its becoming heavy on factory's pocket. Small tools like handling, efficiency improvements, 5S and other lean initiatives must be thought about to compensate. We all are facing these similar challenges and company's really look Digilitization as cost center. The need of hour is making Digital immigrants to Digital Naive's. You have really made a valid point that most generation falls to digital immigrants and also to the fact that Digital Naives sooner become an immigrant as technology is improving 5 folds every day. I really liked the discussion and the the way you have put all the practical pains together.
ShankerJul 25, 2020 at 19:35 pm
Dear Gunish The single truth of information is achieved through technology and over a period of years we are not able to see larger benefits. Thanks for being the forerunner of technology in apparel manufacturing
DavidJul 25, 2020 at 19:32 pm
Dear Anindya , Very interesting articles and the most important factor that has been mentioned is trust based business Infact its the hour we stop policing the process.
Ravindra ChawlaJul 25, 2020 at 18:14 pm
Hi Mr.Gunish, I appreciate your inner feeling and desire, for the need of new generation entrepreneurs for this challenging garment manufacturing industry. They may bring the changes, freshness, new technologies and obviously the need for digitization, will be the priority for them. Yes..vertical integration with fabric supply chain is definitely need of an hour but it is still debatable because it involves heavy investment.
Karan BajajJul 25, 2020 at 17:57 pm
Excellent views and thought provoking comments.
AjayJul 25, 2020 at 17:55 pm
Hi Shilpa, all the blogs are well designed and presented. Great work and appreciate your patience too.
Shilpa PolavarapuAug 02, 2020 at 11:28 am
Thank you Ajay :)
AjayJul 25, 2020 at 17:16 pm
Gunish, you have got the right chord the first generation manufacturers must think out of box and get innovative solutions unlike the traditional working. Its important this transformation is the most needed.
Steephen AnthonyJul 25, 2020 at 11:48 am
HI Mr. R.P.Singh, I really support you on the need of more trust between buyers and vendors which can lead to establishing consistent business between the buyers and vendors. The realization of the importance and the need of co-existence of both buyers and vendors will culminate in the foundation of a mutual beneficial and long business relationship and hence the trust on each other. Once this trust is created with a win-win attitude, then the mutual sharing of technical, practical, & economical solutions and passing on of the benefits reaped through such solutions will happen. The emergence of success through this staunch relationship between buyer & vendor will be manifold.
Steephen AnthonyJul 25, 2020 at 11:31 am
HI Poonam, I have gone through your comments. I still see the fire & passion in you about your beliefs on the need of change in the thought process of Apparel business which has to be more practical and quick and daring. I really appreciate your 'out-of-the-box' notions which are not conventional, but truly practical
Poonam Sood lalJul 29, 2020 at 19:53 pm
Thanks Steephen --The apparel business has to move on with the digital world .We can't live only with excel sheets .We have to use the cloud
Steephen AnthonyJul 25, 2020 at 11:18 am
To. Mr. Sanjay Lal Happy to see your comments on Mr. Anindya Ray's Blogs. I was really interested with the modal of your French Retailer, running the trail of the product and if successful continuing with the production. It has to like this for any production. There is no point in producing huge quantities on the basis of assumptions and creating huge inventory.
ShwethaJul 25, 2020 at 10:28 am
Good job Shilpa, very well compiled...
Shilpa PolavarapuAug 02, 2020 at 11:29 am
Thank you Shwetha :)