Chapter 4 The Textile and Apparel Industry
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• Production engineers. Managing a variety of engineering projects is the
main responsibility of production engineers. They help select machinery
and choose operation methods for top performance.
• Costing engineers. These individuals determine the price of producing an
item of clothing or an accessory.
• Quality control engineers. Developing standards of quality for garments
and meeting those standards are the key responsibilities of quality control
engineers. They conduct tests of products at each step in the manufacturing
process to check for quality.
Sales and Marketing
Marketing in the apparel industry is primarily wholesale rather than retail.
Wholesale means to sell quantities of goods for resale to other companies. In con-
trast, retail means to sell small quantities of goods to consumers. In the apparel
industry, manufacturers sell to retail buyers who represent shops and department
stores (wholesale). Shops and department stores sell to individual customers (retail).
New fashions are in the process of production at least a season, or six months,
before they are ready for sale in stores. When samples are ready, retail buyers
view them in showrooms during market weeks. Market weeks are those time
periods when apparel companies offer the next season’s fashion lines.
During market weeks, retail-store buyers come to the fashion centers to
view the new collections and make their selections. The U.S. fashion centers
are New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, and Miami. In several large cit-
ies, such as Atlanta and Dallas, there are also apparel marts. Apparel marts are
buildings where many garment manufacturers have permanent showrooms
and sales offi ces. Here, garment manufacturers show their lines or collections
and take orders from the buyers for their retail stores.
Manufacturers often hold special fashion shows for buyers. Models wear
the new clothing designs to help convince buyers to order them. Fashion writers
and fashion-promotion specialists also attend these invitation-only shows. They
gather information about the new fashions. On returning to their home cities,
they inform the public about the newest fashions and colors for the coming season.
As manufacturers receive orders from retail buyers, they schedule clothes for
production. The stores receive deliveries in about three months. The clothes that
buyers order in spring are in stores by summer so customers can buy them in time
to wear for fall.
Custom Work in Apparel Production
Many people have their clothing custom-made. This means they ask some-
one to make garments especially for them. A desire to have one-of-a-kind gar-
ments could be one reason for wearing custom-made clothes. Figure features
that prevent ready-made clothing from fi tting well may be another reason.
Tailoring is a form of custom work. Suits and coats are the garments most
often tailored. Tailoring can be time-consuming, but many people are willing
to pay high prices for well-tailored garments, 4-7.
Tailors take a great deal of pride in their work. The fi nished garments often
look nicer and fi t better than most ready-to-wear clothing. The tailor’s shop
often sells fabric, too, which provides additional income for the tailor.