Now that I have your attention...
Some people will remember that I posted a diary some months ago with an editorial from Body Magazine, an industry trade journal.
I this is another good and timely one, it touches on several areas we're thinking about these days.
The best bit is at the end.
Publishers Statement
Nick Monjo
I write this on the day that Federated announced it will buy May Company. It is an unsettling announcement for manufacturers an wholesalers who have long complained about consolidation in the retail market.
This, and other troubling events of recent months, have set apparel makers to wondering how, and sometimes if, they will survive. All over the market there is talk of change and challenge. And here, in abbreviated form is some of what I've heard.
more after the break...
From one major importer: "You will see companies failing, right and left. Just like Donnkenny."
And another: "The prices from China are actually not as low as we had expected." But from a third: "The scramble to find the next, best, manufacturing source is crazier than it has ever been.
From a long-time jobber who is now hurrying to get out of that business: "What I used to get for off-price is now the regular price. It's too tough to make money doing this any longer.
From a wholesaler who has been buying form the Orient for years: "Why does the government keep talking about protecting American jobs? Nobody in their right mind is making apparel here any more! There are no jobs left to protect Are they protecting the Mexicans? The Central Americans?"
[...]
Meanwhile, our new Medical Apparel magazine (launched last fall) is off to a strong start. And it has given me an interesting perspective on the rest of the apparel industry.
On the first day of my first trade show dealing with medical apparel, I went from booth to booth asking, "What is the retail price of that garment?" Most of the exhibitors never answered. They just laughed at me. "Who cares what it costs," they smiled. "Medicare or some insurance company is paying for it!"
But I just couldn't get the question out of my mind. After all, it's one I've been asking over and over, every day for decades. So, I insisted on an answer at the next booth. "This thing?" said the maker of compression hose, as he fingered a grim looking, rubbery piece of footwear: "This sells for $60."
"Somebody pays $60 for a pair of those things?" I asked, incredulous. (Keep in mind that I was staring at something that looked like an object at the bottom of a smelly gym locker, not some dainty from Wolford or Fogal.)
"Who said anything about a pair," he grinned. "That's the price for one. For a pair you pay $120."
"A patient pays $120 for a pair of those?" I gulped.
"No. That's the wholesale price. If you're the patient you pay $240"