David Birnbaum

This book is all about strategies – not a good way to begin a book for people in the garment industry. We in the garment industry — both the factory suppliers and the importer/retailer buyers — none of us like strategies. We are very good at tactics. We are masters at dealing with crisis. But long-term strategies are simply not our thing. At best, strategic thinking in our industry is a last resort. At worst, it occurs only afterwards.

We all had ten years to create viable strategies to meet the challenges of the quota phase-out. We all knew the actual date that quotas would disappear on December 31, 2004. We all knew that the end of quota would bring the greatest change in the history of the global garment industry. Yet on January 1, 2005, we were all taken by surprise, unprepared.

Talk to the average garment industry professional about strategies and the immediate comment will be, “Are you crazy? Who has time for strategies? For me, long term is the end of the season.”…

Published July 2008 | No Comments »

A factory that does not supply fabric or trim is called a CM (cut-make) factory, or in Latin America, a maquila. These are terms which will gradually disappear from the apparel industry vocabulary because in the post-2005 era, there will no longer be factories exporting garments on a CM basis. Working under CM [...]

Published July 2008 | No Comments »

This book is a tool for buying and producing at the lowest cost. The tool is Full Value Cost Analysis (FVCA). As with any tool, you have to read the operating instructions before turning on the power…

Published July 2008 | No Comments »