California Apparel News

Now that the World Health Organization (WHO) has lifted the ban on travel to Hong Kong and southern China, apparel companies are deciding what to do.

Some are being brave and planning trips in the next few weeks even though a small number of new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases are still being reported daily. Others are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

The Gap Inc., the San Francisco–based retailer that has been making a modest financial comeback since Paul Pressler took over as chief executive last September, has lifted its ban on travel to Hong Kong.

“In step with the World Health Organization’s recommendation, we did lift our restrictions on business travel to and from Hong Kong,” said Gap spokeswoman Debbie Eliades. “We are not necessarily sending anyone in the near future, but if there is a business need, we will allow employees to travel to Hong Kong.”

At Los Angeles–based juniors manufacturer Bubblegum USA, co-owner John Inn plans to make a trip to China as early as July.

“I am giving it a month or two, but I will probably go,” he said.

On May 23, the WHO issued a statement saying it was removing its recommendation that people should postpone all but essential travel to Hong Kong and Guangdong province in southern China. The travel restriction, which the WHO put into place on April 2, virtually halted all trips between the United States and Asia.

As of May 28, there were 5,323 cases of SARS and 325 deaths in China and 1,730 cases of SARS and 270 deaths in Hong Kong. Quarantines and restricted travel have helped reduce the disease’s spread in those areas, according to the WHO.

“In Hong Kong hellip; the pattern of the outbreak shows a sustained decline since the peak of new cases in late March,” a WHO statement said. “The number of people who are still infectious has fallen below 60, although there are other former SARS patients who are still convalescing.”

The WHO reported that as of May 20 in Guangdong province, where many apparel factories are located, the three-day average number of new cases had fallen to less than five during an 11-day period, and the number of hospitalized SARS patients had fallen to less than 60.

Even though that does not sound like the most resounding endorsement for travel to China, some apparel executives are going ahead and picking up where they left off earlier this year.

Inn said the travel ban has not affected Bubblegum’s production capacity. But, he said, he feels the creative process of his line has been stifled with the design team staying in Los Angeles and the production people sitting in China.

So for Inn, the lifting of the ban was good news.

“I feel a lot better,” he said. “I called a couple of people in Shanghai and Guangzhou [the capital of Guangdong province], and most people are not wearing masks any more.... I will give it a month before I go.”

However, Inn is still purchasing videoconferencing equipment to link his staff in Los Angeles, Seoul, New York and Hong Kong.

“We have to have video-conferencing,” he said. “It’s a must. You never know what is going to happen.”

Executives at Cherokee Inc., a Van Nuys, Calif., company that licenses its brands to retailers, are scheduling trips in June to Japan and Korea to set up business deals, but China is still not on their travel itineraries.

“We are discussing right now what to do,” said Michael Choe, Cherokee’s director of business development. “One of our major concerns is, although the ban is lifted, SARS cases tend to go underreported in China.”

Many apparel companies also remember when the WHO lifted the travel ban to Toronto in late April. A few weeks later, more cases of SARS were reported in the area. On May 26, the WHO put Toronto back on its list of SARS-affected regions but did not reinstate the travel restriction.

Some apparel companies have been relying on overseas agents to act as intermediaries with factories in China. Many such companies do not see a need to visit the region until this summer.

“Most of the orders have been placed by other methods [such as e-mail and by telephone conversations], and local people have been hired to watch the production,” said Bruce Berton, director of international business consulting at Stonefield Josephson Inc., an accounting firm in Santa Monica, Calif., that has many apparel clients. “It is really off-season right now anyway. The next big splurge will be in July and August for holiday production and sample-making for Spring 2004.”

Still, many are not convinced it is safe to travel yet. The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. has put a ban on travel to Hong Kong and China until the end of the year.