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Apparel sourcing: Factors for a better supplier

Article · February 2016

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Apparel Sourcing: Factors for a better supplier

Sourcing is one of the most important activities in fashion business. It can be defined as “knowing who
to go to" and maintaining healthy relations with those contacts in order to find the right product for the
right quality, at the right price, in the right time frame”. Apparel brands and retailers have to select right
partners for the supplies of fabrics, trims and apparels. In this article, an attempt has been taken to
identify various important factors which a buyer considers before selecting a sourcing partner. These are
flexibility, technological capabilities, lead time, cost, quality, and working condition.

While selecting a production base, flexibility is top most priority. The apparel products have short life
cycle, the success of brands lies in offering varieties in the product range. By flexibility it is meant the
production facility should be capable enough to manufacturing varieties of products in a given category.
This will help the supplier to meet various requirements of the buyer. The buyer in turn will have reliable
supplier.

Technological capability of a supplier puts the enterprise on competitive edge. Right ERP system for
production, supply chain, product life cycle management helps to stream line operations. Use of
effective information technology helps in terms of sharing information, status of flow of materials and
information. Visibility of information across the supply chain leads to speedy communication, better
coordination, planning, scheduling, and it results in reduction of lead time.

Lead time for short life cycle product is very important. Fashion changes very quickly. Apparel sourcing
requires very long lead time as the production of finished fabric takes a lot of time. So, the supplier
needs to work with reliable demand forecast to have adequate amount of ready fabrics, which would
help to reduce lead time. The lead time has reduced significantly from earlier days. It has reduced to 30-
40 days from 120 days A shorter lead time is evitable to provide mid-season replenishment if items are
sold well. Buyer requires the supplier to deliver finishe d goods on time. Timely delivery is linked with
other factors such as capacity, quality system, and capability of the supplier. Buyers expect suppliers to
be responsive in terms of quick deliveries.

Buyers generally selects the suppler based on the first cost. Selection of lower cost sometimes
accompanied by large hidden cost such as lost sales, inventory cost, marked downs etc. Keeping the long
term business strategy, cost could be secondary factor. Quality can be given priority over cost. Costing is
a very complex exercise as it takes various factors into account. In case of apparel, costing includes costs
of supplier search, sampling, production cost, cost of raw materials, logistics, customs duties, quality
control, disposal and re-work, loss of sales (due to quality or delivery problems), and markdowns.

Customer is very quality conscious. Maintaining quality has very lasting effect on business performance.
It is established fact that implementation of right quality system helps in reduction of rejecti ons,
visibility of flow of material & information, traceability of lots, timely delivery (reduction in lead time),
reliability on manufacturing capability, retaining customers and after all making profit. The supplier must
understand the buyer’s requirement and establish quality systems to be followed. They must identify
the performance indicators to assess the performance level. Buyers always do quality audit as part of
quality compliance. If a supplier is doing business with multiple buyers, it has to fu lfill the quality
compliance of all the buyers. Many times it becomes very difficult and annoying to the supplier when
quality and social audits are conducted very often by different buyers. So, it is imperative on the part of
supplier and buyer to establish a long term business partnership.

The working condition in a garment factory is one of the important factors. Better working condition
helps to improve morale, reduce turn over, absenteeism and increased productivity. Better working
condition includes greater compliance with labour standards , implementation of innovative human
resources management practices, safe working condition, sense of physical security, assurance in wage
payment, avoidance of low and unreliable pay, forced overtime hours and verb al and physical abuse.
Better working condition leads to productive work force which improves the position of the factory in
the supply chain.

Buyers search for reliable supplier. The reputation of supplier plays a crucial role in establishing
reliability of the supplier. If a supplier is able to satisfy on the above factors, it is quite possible that the
supplier is going to be reliable on long term basis.

The ability to communicate with buyer is also very important aspect. Merchandiser and designers are
two important people that they can decide the success of brands. Designers develop range of product
based on forecast, trend analysis, color story, silhouettes, fits etc. The merchandisers team work out
how much would they sell. Accordingly, they plan the quantity to buy, when to buy and when to deliver.
The communication between buyer and supplier is a very crucial part of sourcing business. The
communication should be done in a very simple language which is easy to understand. It is always useful
to use sketches wherever required. Merchandiser from supplier side should be very proactive. All kind of
approval process should be done prior to starting production at any stage i.e. fabric, shades, production
 sample, placement of labels, trims, packaging etc. In all these matter right communication is crucial.
Wrong communication or wrongly interpreted information can lead to deviation from what is exactly
required. It can result rework and delay in delivery schedule.

In conclusion, it can be said that the supplier must equip themselves to be flexible, incorporate
technology like CAD, ERP, and work on shorter lead times, provide better working condition to their
worker, maintain right quality and offer competitive price and delivery on time.

References

Muhammad, A. J., & Ha-Brookshire, J. (2011). Exploring job responsibilities and requirements of US
textile and apparel sourcing personnel. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 15(1), 41-57.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13612021111112331

Hartman, L., Joines, J. A., Thoney, K. A., & King, R. E. (2012). The effect speed and replenishment
flexibility has on overall costs of sourcing apparel products. Journal Of The Textile Institute, 103(6), 604-
621. doi:10.1080/00405000.2011.595106

Russell, M. (2015). SOURCING: Apparel working conditions linked to profit. Aroq - Just-Style.Com (Global
News), 8

Katie Smith (2015). Tips-for developing the right apparel sourcing strategy. Aroq - Just-Style.Com (Global
News), 10

So, K. (2014). Sourcing shifts: Technology to help track and oversee changes. Aroq - Just-Style.Com
(Global News), 9.

Smith, K. (2015). PPI Apparel Group invests in PLM and SCM. Aroq - Just-Style.Com (Global News), 13.

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