The Outsourcing Evolution - in men's clothing - Statistical Data Included

Bobbin, May, 2001 by Jules Abend

A Look at Challenges Facing the US. Tailored Clothing Industry

Industry Executives Speak Out

CASTAGNA: Preparation is Key

Bruno Castagna, executive vice president of quality maker Hickey-Freeman Co., a division of Hartmarx Corp., has strong opinions about the "degrading" of the U.S. tailored clothing industry over the past decade. He doesn't agree with the reasons many companies give for the decline of this segment at the top-end and mid-range levels, which include manufacturing inefficiencies.

Rather, Castagna says that "benign neglect" created the current situation the industry is facing. "We didn't prepare throughout the years," he says. "There is no heart, no willingness and no manufacturing strategy to protect this environment. More than the economic factor is the lack of skills available. They are disappearing."

When asked if the Union of Needle Trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) has hampered the competitiveness of U.S tailored clothing companies, he responds: "If we want to, we can find an excuse -- we can have all the excuses we want.

"The Europeans have been competitive worldwide -- think of Hugo Boss or Brioni or Canali -- and they have the same regulations that we have here," Castagna adds. "The unions in the United States are very cooperative. In Europe, the unions are more conflict-oriented and more antagonistic. And still [manufacturers] manage to make the right product and to make progress."

Making the right product means benchmarking, observes Castagna, who believes that in the U.S. industry, the practice doesn't have the proper position in corporate mission strategies. "We don't use it enough to compare our weaknesses and strengths vis-a-vis our international competitors," he says.

In that regard, Castagna offers: "The Canadian [manufacturers] are in much better shape than the American [producers] because they prepared, revised their processes, etc. In the late 1980s and at the beginning of the '90s, [U.S. makers] were a very formidable competitor among North American companies. Now, look at the success of Peerless or Jack Victor. They are aggressive because they did the groundwork to build the product. Now something has to be done to protect the little business that is left in the United States," he concludes.

FRYMAN: Retail Realities

Will tailored clothing gain back its former ground at retail? That's the big question.

"I don't think it's ever going to come back the way it was," says Norman Fryman, executive vice president of Bayer Clothing Group Inc. "There are always industries that slip a little and bring it back. But let's face reality: Things have changed. When men dressed in suits, we had a very viable tailored clothing business in the United States. Then the consuming public said, 'I don't have to wear a suit anymore.'

"In addition," continues Fryman, 'what happened economically in this country was that labor went up, and we had a problem with piece goods. The duty rates to bring in worsteds were killing us. If you made goods outside the country, you paid a lesser duty rate than you did for bringing in the raw materials."