Getting to the Source

Talking fabric sourcing with some key performance running and outdoor brands.

Contributing to the conversation: Tarena Jones, apparel development manager for ASICS, a leader in running and fitness apparel and footwear; Nicole DeBoom, founder of Skirt Sports, a stylish performance brand with a fast growing niche in running, multisport and fitness circles; Chris Harding, managing director for Rab, a UK-based brand that specializes in technical mountaineering apparel; and Steve O’Meara, founder of Kokatat, which has been manufacturing paddlesports and outdoor lifestyle apparel since 1971.

ASICS
Tarena Jones, ASICS apparel development manager

Are you sourcing fabric from different countries than in the past?
“Not really. ASICS has been pretty stable with the countries that we have been working with (or within). The reason being is that we feel very comfortable with the countries we are currently working with, not only in terms of safety but also reliability and quality.”

Where are some of the best spots for sourcing fabric currently?

“Definitely Taiwan. This is the area where the majority of the mills are that we use and we are very happy with the quantity and quality of mills coming out of this area.” Has the process of sourcing fabric gotten faster? “Yes. There are more choices in terms of mills and more technologies available.”

What other changes have you seen in the sourcing supply chain in recent seasons?

“Fabric mills are working together as a partnership instead of competing against each other. We are finding that several mills from one area are coming to us as a group and pitching us together with multiple offerings.”

Is the process more integrated?

“Yes, mills are selling multiple offerings. Not only are they selling the fabric, but they are offering technologies, color trends, prints, etc, mainly because they have multi-faceted partnerships with other mills. They are either partnering with a mill or sub-contracting the work out — trying to make themselves a one-stop shop.”


Rab
Chris Harding, Rab managing director

Are you sourcing fabric out of different countries than previously? Where are some of the best spots for sourcing fabric?

“We tend to source fabrics from top quality mills in order that we can maintain or premium quality. Generally we use Taiwan and Japan but just recently we have been seeing and using some good fabrics from the Shanghai area and also Thailand.”

Do you feel that the fabric sourcing process has gotten faster and more integrated between the manufacturer and the fabric mils?

“We tend to source our own fabrics direct from the mills and then forward these details to the manufacturers for them to use in the production of the garments. We have a number of favorite mills and/or buying merchants, usually out of Taiwan or Japan, as well as the global brands like Polartec, Pertex and eVent.”

Have there been significant changes in the sourcing supply chain in recent seasons?

“We haven’t seen any major changes in the sourcing chain except that this year there has been a huge increase in demand for fine denier woven nylons out of Japan which has had significant impact on deliveries... Each company tends to develop its own sourcing model pertinent to its particular requirements.”

Is product development being integrated into the supply chain more nowadays? Do you work closely with mills in your product development?

“For us product development starts at the fabric mill and we are integrating more and more with fabric R&D teams and then introducing these new ideas to our manufacturers at an earlier stage in case special methods of make-up are required or new ways of construction needed to ensure that the finished garments deliver the full potential of the overall design.”

Are there any specific fabrics or mills that you are particularly excited about?

“Polartec has some very interesting developments and we are working closely with them but they are under wraps for now!”


Skirt Sports
Nicole DeBoom, founder

Skirt Sports is a relatively new brand. Has the sourcing process changed much since you started in the industry?

“We’re just over five years old as brand, and I founded the brand without knowing much about the world of fabrics and textiles, so I’ve been on a five year learning curve. But for me sourcing has always been about word of mouth. And it still is... I wanted to make skirts for running. I went to the 2004 Outdoor Retailer winter show and walked up to mills and said ‘Hi, I’m Nicole and I want to make skirts for runners’ and they literally started talking me through it. I learned that the hand of the fabric is so important to me and it is so important to my customers.”

Does your design process start with the fabrics or with the idea? Has that changed at all over time?

“For fabric sourcing it can go either way. I might develop an idea for a product that we think the market needs and start from a product level and then work towards what fabric goes with it. Sometimes we find a technology or fabric we like so much that it sparks the idea for a collection right off the bat. There is creative flexibility. The factories often have the best sources in fabrics. So it can start from me going to a mill who makes a certain fabric or we may go to a factory we work with and ask for their referrals, but that can be dicey if there is a conflict interest and capital gains they can get. We still have to do testing to make sure we are getting what we want from the mills.”

Are you sourcing from different countries than in the past?

“We have worked with so many different mills. It depends on the product. We have sourced fabric and trends out of Europe because we wanted a special fabric for a [bike short] chamois or if we needed some silicone grippers. But we also source a lot of performance and polyester fabrics out of Taiwan because they make fabulous performance fabrics.”

Have there been significant changes in the sourcing supply chain in recent seasons?

“At Skirt Sports, we need flexibility to order different sizes of dye lots. We’re not big enough yet, and every mill always pushes you to do more than you should be doing. Our biggest holdup in the process is the fabric ordering part. It is still a bit scary because a lot of times you develop or approve a fabric but you approve it from a swatch so it is not often that you get large startage runs that you can test like crazy. You have to really stay on top of the process. The fabric turn tends to be the longest part in our design process... Everyone has different approaches to sourcing. Some companies are built purely around fabric and they have to stake their name on it. In our business, fabric is really important, but we are also on the fashion side of fitness, so we also design around style.”


Kokatat
Steve O’Meara, founder

Has fabric sourcing changed significantly for your company in recent years?

“Oh yes. Over the last five years, the U.S. textile industry has basically gone away because the mills are gone, aside from the military contracts. Lead times are a lot longer than they were before.”

How does the process of finding fabrics work for your brand?

“We work with a converter and they use mills around the world and we work with the mill and the converter to come up with the right fabric for us. In our case we need really durable and waterproof breathable fabrics, so we always play around with the waterproofing and the breathability. We get fabrics and we test them and we want one with a better hand or we need it to be more waterproof. It increases the lead time because once we do that it is a custom fabrics and not a stock fabric so the fabric and the color is up to our spec. Several years ago we used to be able to do that in the states, but now it’s coming from, say, Taiwan, and now you are shipping through a port and all that, going through customs and putting them on a truck so that is the part where the lead time is a lot longer.”

How are changes in fabric sourcing affecting your business?

“The timeline for developing our products has increased probably 90 to 100 days. It makes it harder because we have to do things earlier and we don’t have as much flexibility, if one particular style takes off, you can’t do much about it.”

Assuming we don’t see fabric mills returning in force to the U.S., what are some ways for specialized vendors such as Kokatat to deal with overseas fabric sourcing challenges?

“I don’t see [a return of U.S. fabric mills] happening any time soon. The U.S. consumer would have to be willing to pay much more for their textiles and products. In the U.S., we have lost that whole infrastructure. It’s definitely an off shore phenomenon now. And the more special make ups you have, the harder it is. Your distribution system starts way far away from where you start shipping products to consumers. We are all looking at how do you do small things to cut that down and make the timeline as short as possible. That’s the challenge.

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