That’s too Cheap! I’m Not Going to Buy it!

By Frances Harder @fashionforprofit ★ FOCUS ON FASHION RETAIL ★

I don’t think this statement is usually something that is said or heard when clothing is purchased. However, with the changing times, and with the new demands for all things sustainable, social justice for workers, domestic production and on demand production for smaller orders the cost to produce a garment will increase. All these demands will and must be recognized by the manufacturer, the retailer, and the end consumer. The consequences of the price increase will, with time be recognized by the end consumer who needs to be educated about why there is an increase in their price tag. Hopefully, consumers will begin to appreciate the reason for these new demands and happily pay a realistic price for the work that goes into the production of each article of clothing. Interestingly, all these demands and changes were already in the works but have now been accelerated due to the pandemic. I feel optimistic that the Millennials and Ganz’s who seem, for the most part to be more environmentally concerned will understand these price increases.

So, why are these demands affecting the price tag?

Sustainable Demands Incorporate Many Things: 

Recycled fabrics and clothing that can be repurposed or resold as used clothing. This of course takes more time to either repurpose both clothing and fabric. Either they are shredded and respun and woven, or clothing can be redesigned into new clothes for resale. This means that the used or unsold clothing would be individually restyled which is comparable to couture clothing as they are dealing with different styles. 

Repurposing of fabric scraps, which are normally discarded into landfills are now being used for other products such as rugs, or small soft toys are a few solutions I have heard about. Or, shredding and respun to be woven into new fabrics.

Organic cotton and other organic fibers are also in big demand. 

The demand to use less water for denim production is now incorporating laser and oxidization to give the denim the washed look. This saves valuable water and stops the pollution for rivers and other water ways.

The use of biodegradable dyes used for fibers, fabrics, garment, and printing. 

No plastic use for wrapping and tags. The oceans are over full of plastic and killing fish and other sea life.

Domestic production to support U.S. workers and the economy.

Social Justice for Workers:

• Slave labor conditions, bad working conditions with few breaks, low wages, long days six days a week to name a few. Workers’ rights are also a demand and the implementation to improve workers’ rights are necessary for factories to get the certifications they need in order to sell into the US and other western countries. Sitting in diapers and some stories of machinist chained to machines. Then the horrors of devastating factory fires with no proper escape routes available for the workers. These human rights changes had to be implemented, which of course costs the owners money. The consequences of these much-needed changes have and should increase the production costs of apparel. California and to some degree NY state implemented these changes in the early 1990’s. Manufacturers and contractors must take a test and pay an annual fee in order for them to be awarded the certificate to produce apparel. This has made it difficult for domestic manufacturers to compete with the cheap labor offshore. But hopefully “the times they are a changing!” 

Domestic or Near Shore Production:

• To save on the pollution created with container shipments of goods.
• Supporting domestic manufacturing and the demand for this, plus it is a good branding process. This I feel has been long overdue. 
• California was at one time such a very vibrant apparel manufacturing center. Unfortunately, due to the lack of investment in our domestic infrastructure and the demand for cheap clothing most clothing production went offshore. This is very tragic, and I truly hope it can be turned around before it is too late. But this means a BIG investment in planning and restructuring the infrastructure. Old buildings with out-of-date elevators, allies behind the factories for loading and unloading are too narrow for today’s trucks.  
• One good example of what can be achieved domestically is Los Angeles Apparel that is owned and operated by Dov Charney, who originally owned American Apparel. He has worked with a very thoughtful and innovating consultant Marty Bailey who has the workers wellbeing and their social justice very much in his plans. He implemented modular, or team manufacturing, which is such a brilliant move. A team of four to six workers work together to sew their garments. Rather than sitting all day sewing one part of the garment teams work together to create one garment and these teams are rewarded on their work they turn out and are paid rather than on piece work they are rewarded on their efficiency of garments made. They even stamp a picture of the person who sewed the t-shirt into the back of the garment.

On Demand for Smaller Orders or Even Individual Orders:

• On demand is also about sustainability and all the very exciting developments for sustainability. Each garment can be made specifically for each customer’s body type based on their own measurements. The body is scanned, and the patterns adjusted to the customers body type. 
• Tech companies such as Tukatech & Gerber have amazing technology to scan a body and make the necessary changes to the pattern to fit each customer’s individual size, or even make styling changes.
• These new developments for on demand really save on sampling and over production that typically would end up in a landfill.

All of the above points if implemented can really help with all aspects of producing sustainable clothing. Saving on the over production of clothing is much needed, as I noted above that all too often unfortunately end up in the over full landfills. 

However, in order for a company to implement all, or some of these changes it will take good planning and a budget to incorporate these changes. It will also require larger companies to adjust their minimum orders downwards as buyers are being far more cautiously and buying smaller quantities more often. For the smaller companies who tend to be nimbler these changes could be implemented more easily. But the result for these needed changes will be that the cost of clothing will undoubtedly need to increase. The end consumer will need to understand these changes and respect the amount of work that goes into producing fabrics and creating garments.

Frances Harder authored and published a series of books dealing with starting a fashion business. Fashion for Profit (10th edition), Costing for Profit, Brand Building for Profit and Forms for Profit are industry focused texts used both by new companies and for further education programs. www.fashionforprofit.com.  In 1999 she foundered the FBI (Fashion Business Incorporated), an educational not for profit 501c3 organization, which provided vital business development, resources and certified job training programs to both the US, and to the International apparel industry. Closed in 2017 to relaunch under Fashion for Profit platform as a for profit entity in 2018. Frances is also a consultant to the United Nations assisting small businesses in Peru for producers of Alpaca products & Nepal for Cashmere products. She consults and speaks internationally on product development, branding, merchandising, production and entering the US market. She also serves as an industry expert in legal disputes and is an adjunct professor at Cal Poly Pomona and serves on the Dean’s advisory board.

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