It's a Tough Job, but somebody's gotta do it!

In this difficult day and time, most people would be hesitant about entering into an industry where retailing is the key. This has proven to be a point for millions of people, as we all sit back and make note that all of our pockets are hurting a great deal because of the current economy. I, personally, am feeling the reel of people not spending their money, because I too work in the retail industry. People are holding their dollars a little tighter these days, in preparation for what could be. However, the apparel industry is one that has taken huge hits as well. People are deciding to hold on to their money and use what they have, or make do without. Yet, this is not the only challenge that faces retailers of apparel. Issues lie within the industry as well.
Mass merchandisers have been a huge source of problems to many specialty retail stores and grocery stores.They have recently began taking over anchor spots in malls for the past 3 years. It is projected that over 300 of these stores will anchor themselves in local malls in the next 5 years. In the past four years Target and Wal-Mart's apparel sector has grown by nearly 21% respectively. These companies are contracting with celebrities such as Mary Kate and Ashley Olson, or designers such as Isaac Mizrahi. They are offering stylish garments carrying a good brand name as a private label. They are dumping lots and lots of cash into the apparel sector because it brings people exclusivlely to their stores for the purpose of that Brand. Also with private labels, these are causing some extreme challenges to retailers as well. These private labels are often less costly and combat the underperfomance and overpricing of brand names. Stores also will market their private label brands better, taking better floor space and giving better displays.
Stores such as Zara have also revolutionized the fashion industry, causing major issues for other apparel companies, which are generally known to be slow to adopt new ideas. Zara is considered an agile vertical retailer. Through technology it is able to identify trends and items that sell or don't sell at stores. Through this data they can make appropriate sourcing, manufacturing and replishment decisions. One way that they can make this happen is by holding inventory in fabrics, as opposed to finished products, therefore they can make tweaks if need be. This company is able to have a particular item from the drawing board to floor sales in about one month!!! Zara is to the apparel industry what Dell is to the computer industry.
Hopefully the industry will jump onto the new idea bandwagon, and technology will help the industry as a whole.

sweating it up in the shop

As bad as this sounds, I definitely have to say that I am a proponent for the sweatshop industry. It sounds like a harsh, unethical way to be. I am completely aware of the horrific, long working hours, unacceptable conditions, the child labor, and the lack of respect that these workers receive. When I began to research this topic, I searched the term "sweatshops." The ONLY responses I got were of pages and pages of people talking about how horrible sweatshops were. There were pages and pages exposing several nationally known companies, citing their particular uses of sweatshops.
Yes, the working conditions for these people are bad. They have to work long hours, endure uncomfortable working temperatures, and seven day work weeks. If in comparison to American laws, these companies definitely are in violation of our work laws. However, if it weren't for these jobs, these employees would have no money and no opportunities. They would have to sell their children into prostitution to help feed the other members of the family. 90 percent of the workers in the apparel industry's sweatshops are women. (wikipedia.com) These women work 16 hour days, seven days a week. If they are sick, they are easily replaced, and this isn't exactly "fair" in terms of the way people are treated. However, when looking at the overall situation, these sweatshops are in third world countries that have no other export to offer the world economy except their cheap labor. These sweatshops offer employment to women who have little or no other options. With the money that they make from the jobs, they are able to feed their families and even send them to school.
It is a horrible situation, but in a world that most every country is technologically and economically advanced, the cheap labor offered by these Asian countries is their way of saying "Don't forget about us!" They give us cheap labor, and provide food for the families that would otherwise starve. It may be unethical, however, I believe that there are some necessary evils in the world. And this would be one.