California Apparel News

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—Radio frequency identification technology, the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the end of quotas remained hot issues for buyers and exhibitors at last week’s Material World and Technology Solutions expo. But despite the importance of those concerns, buyers concentrated on more immediate issues, including getting the latest in fabrics, technology and sourcing.

Thanks to new features, such as the ASAP Global Sourcing Pavilion staged by El Monte, Calif.–based Cyber Merchants Exchange and a home furnishings section, the show was 20 percent larger than last year’s, said show producer Tim von Gal, a partner with Marietta, Ga.–based Urban Expositions.

While show officials said they were unable to report buyer traffic at this time, exhibitors said they were mostly pleased with the turnout.

“Traffic was surprisingly good,” said Howard Klein of Los Angeles–based Impala Industries International, which showed a mix of stretch fabrics, cotton, terry cloth and rayon. “They are buying across the board.”

Elara Saghian of Los Angeles–based Elyan Enterprises Inc., who came to the show for the first time, said she was also pleased with the attendance. The company specializes in embroidered, washable polyesters used mostly for eveningwear and children’s apparel.

Cary, N.C.–based trade group Cotton Inc. staged its second pavilion of U.S. mills, which facilitated navigation for buyers looking for upland cotton. Cotton production is currently on a high, said Mark Kametches, manager of global product marketing for Cotton.

“There’s record production up in every region of the world,” he said. “Denim remains a strong segment, and we don’t see that changing. There are so many brands now, and you’re seeing high-end companies doing well even with low volume in some cases.”

Kametches added that the business-casual dress trend has also helped cotton sales.

Cotton announced that it will support the commercial development of HueMetrix Co.’s Right First Time dyeing systems, which improve shade consistency and reduce dye-cycle times. Cotton will provide HueMetrix with facilities and equipment at the trade group’s laboratory and pilot plant facility in Cary.

Interest in organic fabrics appeared to be on the upswing. Los Angeles–based Eclat Textiles showed a series of soft bamboo-fiber textiles with moisturewicking characteristics that appeal to the activewear market. The company also showed a charcoal “burned” bamboo fabric that acts as a natural filter of body odor.

“We’ve seen a very good turnout here,” said Eclat’s April Booth. “We had some buyers looking for fullpackage deals. We’ve surprisingly seen lots of people from the West Coast. Everybody wants to see what’s being done. They’re looking for the best prices.”

CAFTA concerns

The large contingent of Latin American buyers and exhibitors naturally had the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on their minds. At the Material World show last May, Latin American manufacturers had hoped the trade agreement would be a done deal by the end of 2004, and they reiterated this concern at the recent show.

“I believe CAFTA will be passed [by Congress] by the end of the year,” said Milton Roussel of Grupo Beta, a pants manufacturer based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. “It is vital for interest in the region and our partners in the U.S. to keep things locally owned.”

Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have ratified the treaty. The United States is expected to debate the issue next month.

Charles Gilbert of Marietta, Ga.–based consultancy Charles Gilbert Associates, who recently visited the White House with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zolick and others, said passage of the agreement will not be easy. “The message was clear for us to push Congress, but they want it to come from the grass-roots level on up,” he said.

Passage of CAFTA would relieve duties for nations participating in the agreement. Because many of these countries use U.S.-produced fabric and trim, many U.S. producers are supporting the treaty. The argument against the agreement is that it would hurt small farmers and the working class.

Trade expert Tom Travis, speaking at a Material World seminar, said he thinks passage will come down to presidential intervention. “CAFTA is like NAFTA [the North American Free Trade Agreement, passed in 1993]. I think [President Bush] will be successful.”

Outside of Latin America and China, Material World buyers also looked to India and Pakistan for sourcing. The ASAP Global Sourcing Pavilion featured about 40 companies from India, Pakistan, China, Korea and Malaysia. About 20 of those were from India, which, along with Pakistan, has been serving as a strong alternative to China for companies looking at more than just price, said ASAP executive Mohammed Ashraf.

“The traffic was more than we expected,” Ashraf said. “It was a good start, and next time we hope to have about 100 companies here.”

RFID in the hot seat

Radio frequency identification concerns have been hot-potato issues since Wal-Mart Stores Inc. acknowledged that it has been experiencing a significant level of failure rates in reading RFID tags on incoming shipments. The retailer has mandated that its top 100 accounts be RFID-compliant.

Natalie Hughes, director of industry development for EPC Global, one of the agencies helping to establish protocols for the technology, said despite the setbacks, she expects there will be five to 10 more mandates instituted this year. “The early adopters are learning from the mistakes,” she said.

Hughes noted that even the smallest companies might have to jump on the RFID bandwagon. “Wal-Mart has suppliers for which [the retail giant] accounts for 60 percent of their business,” she said.

Gilbert agreed that RFID will eventually become a full-blown reality. “It will still happen, but manufacturers are seeing it as an additional cost with no benefit to them. They are having a hard time adding two to three cents to the price of their garments.”

Teched up

The Technology Solutions expo doubled in size over last year’s event, according to show officials. Attendees showed interest in product development and data management software, as well as in CAD and 3-D products, RFID labels and printers, and Internet-based applications.

Technology vendors said the globalization of the industry has helped the sector. “The lifting of quotas is great for technology. That’s the only way to communicate between continents now,” said Yoram Burg, president of New York–based OptiTex USA Inc. Burg said the company doubled its sales in 2004, and the momentum has carried over into 2005.

“The first quarter is usually slow for technology,” Burg said. “That’s not what we saw. That’s a very encouraging sign for business.”

OptiTex highlighted its Runway 3D draping software, among other products.

At the Tukatech booth, Chief Executive Officer Ram Sareen said the global apparel trade has forced companies to react by “connecting islands of technology together,” putting all solutions—CAD, enterprise resource planning (ERP), shipping and logistics— under one umbrella. “We started working on this way before quotas ended. It’s the first time a technology vendor can handle business from concept to shipping,” he said.

Sareen referred to Tukatech’s new menu of services, which features CAD, ERP, product lifecycle management, 3-D, Web-based servicing and shipping through its alliance with FedEx-Kinkos.

Lectra’s Tim Copeland said technology is helping the domestic apparel business maintain an edge in design and development. “The U.S. will not give up its creativity. I’m sure we will see Chinese [apparel lines] here some day, but ultimately the brand has to be close to the market,” he said.

Ilona Foyer, chief executive officer of Malibu, Calif.–based Shapely Shadow agreed.

“You have to be more innovative,” she said. “You cannot just come here with the same product over and over again.”

Foyer and partner Roxy Starr highlighted the company’s line of symmetrical dress forms as well as its 3-D software, which allows companies to view garments over a digital fit model so garment characteristics can be examined before final production. The company recently struck an alliance with fellow software companies OptiTex and Browzwear that allows those companies’ applications to import Shapely Shadow’s 3-D data, enabling users to create more lifelike visualization tools.

Material World in NYC

Urban Expositions executives recently announced that a new Material World show will debut in New York. The new show will be held Sept. 28–30 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Von Gal said about 450 exhibitors are scheduled to show their products. The executive said one reason why the trade show is moving into the New York market is to “fill a void” left by the International Fashion Fabric Exhibition (IFFE), which reportedly will lose its fall dates at the Javits Center.

Show Director Amy Bonomi of AdvanStar Inc., which produces the IFFE show, said the company plans to make an announcement regarding its fall schedule in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, she said the company intends to proceed with its April 18–20 show, as well as its summer Fabric@Magic event in Las Vegas.