View from the IACDE: countdown: the 'T' day invasion

Bobbin, Feb, 1999 by Bill D'Arienzo

In today's heated war for apparel market share, many corporate casualties have been buried on the battlefields. Their epithets might read, "If you don't start thinking 'out of the box,' your business will end up in one!"

In tailored clothing, this could not be truer, and several nails already have been hammered into the market's coffin. Why? Because the tailored clothing industry as a whole has not been proactive in anticipating and reacting to the threats and trends that are likely to impact its survival, such as:

* At a mid-December fashion show last year, a Dutch prince discarded his tie, proclaiming: "A snake around my neck." It instantly made The Associated Press global wire service.

* A national management recruitment firm recently reported that 42.1 percent of executives surveyed predict that: "The suit and tie will eventually disappear." Of that number, 82 percent predict it will happen in 10 years!

* A nationally respected apparel sales tracking firm found that shirts, ties and tailored clothing all lagged behind sportswear in growth in 1998, with ties and shirts having a small unit increase, and suits, although 10 percent higher in dollar sales, were down 3 percent in unit sales from 1997.

The tailored industry has not succeeded in mounting a unified and visible counterattack to this bombardment. Why is this so? Has the constant artillery barrage so demoralized the troops that their expectations are that of a battered battalion, hunkering down and hoping the siege will end mercifully? If so, their guns are silent not because they lack the firepower to respond, but because they lack the conviction that they can succeed and require a leader to bring the troops together.

(Ironically many tailored apparel industry executives are successful street fighters with a strong instinct for self-survival. But in today's merciless market, we also need to develop the soldier's mindset and its inclination toward unified action.)

Faced with this challenge, the International Association of Clothing Designers and Executives (IACDE) recently joined forces with The Fashion Association, The Neckwear Association of America and the Textile Care Allied Trades Association to formulate a new strategy for combating this malaise. And the ranks have swelled to include representatives from the jewelry, custom tailoring and formal wear business sectors.

The alliance is now ready to pick up the tattered flag and broken staff and raise the colors once more under a newly formed initiative, the Tailored Apparel and Accessories Awareness Program (TAAAP). Its call to arms: "TAAAP into your inner resources."

The TAAAP campaign will build an unprecedented cooperative alliance between all sectors of the supply chain, from textiles through retail, including wholesale businesses and dry cleaning. Its goal is to increase consumer purchases and usage of all types of tailored apparel and related furnishings and accessories. Under this goal, TAAAP's two main objectives are to alter and broaden the perceptions teen-agers, college students and other adult consumers have about tailored apparel and accessories, and to energize the tailored sector and related industries so that they become proactive in shaping trends and promoting a positive image for the industry.

A TAAAP committee first met Jan. 7 in New York, NY, to spearhead a major public relations and advertising campaign and identify companies to assist in funding the project. Storyboards, mockups and media were discussed for a two-pronged consumer/trade campaign. The participants agreed that the message should be fun and whimsical, emphasizing comfort and that dressing up can make you feel good about yourself.

June 6 has been designated "T" Day, when the consumer campaign will be launched and the "troops" will land on the beachheads. If you're in the tailored clothing industry, we hope your company will be among our ranks. It's probably the one war in which those who never step on the battlefield will face the greatest risk of becoming a casualty.

Bill D'Arienzo is the executive director of the International Association of Clothing Designers and Executives (IACDE). The TAAAP advertising campaign will be unveiled at a press conference taking place during the IACDE convention on April 10 in Key Biscayne, FL. For more information, contact the IACDE a t tel.: 212-685-6602.