Nobody ever said that the apparel business was easy, certainly no one who’s ever sourced garments internationally. In fact, the business has become increasingly complicated now that buyers have to be concerned about compliance issues, as well as producing a quality garment and delivering it to the market with increasingly short lead times.
“Sourcing is not just about price negotiation, it takes extensive hands-on efforts by experienced QC experts to produce high quality garments,” said Carina le Roux, Head of Quality Assurance for Source Direct International Limited, the sourcing arm of Shop Direct Group, the UK’s largest non-food online retailer.
“We’re in the factories all the time - on the floor working with their staff and training them about quality. Even our senior management gets involved,” she said. “We’re constantly in the markets. We’re working to get the best product produced at the best price and with the best quality – and with the shortest lead times.”
With over 250 staff in offices in seven countries, including China, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and India, Source Direct oversees the production of in excess of several hundred million (FOB) worth of apparel, accessories and hard lines annually.
The Most Misunderstood Aspect of Sourcing
The thing most people don’t understand about sourcing is how to balance cost, quality and ethical compliance, said Ms. le Roux.
A big part of what she and her team at Source Direct monitor is ethical compliance.
“Compliance is becoming a much more visible aspect of business these days.” Indeed many high profile retailers have learned painful lessons about the risks of skimping on compliance issues. One ‘incident’ can go a long way in tarnishing a company’s reputation with buyers and consumers.
“We do quality and ethical compliance audits before working with a factory. We need to make sure that they have the capacity to produce and deliver the volumes they say they can. And that they have the right equipment to produce the product quality we require. We also check to see that they adhere to the correct code of conduct – that they don’t use child labor, pay wages on time, paying overtime and so forth.”
Better Information Supports Better Quality
“We’ve been subscribing to Inside Fashion and Fashion Technology Magazine since 2003,” said Ms. le Roux.
“The trend information about fabric and trims is brilliant to work with. It is so well presented and ‘spot on’. Our sourcing teams really value the direction we get from Inside Fashion.
Fashion Technology Magazine gives us a great overview of the latest technology, manufacturing and production developments. We can then do further in depth research into those products which are of interest to us.”
The Getting The Best Products
“Too often buyers put all their efforts on price negotiation and then fall short when it comes to checking the goods before they leave the factory. This is where our strong network of highly trained QC’s provide real value,” she said.
“We have a passion for quality. We want to see the success of all of our customers.”