Spring 2019 - Inside Outdoor Magazine

Inside Outdoor | SPRING 2019 32 Made inAmericas purchasing and demand. For decades, apparel trends and demand have been largely pushed down by big brand marketing departments and design- ers. Often warehouses were filled and stores (over)stocked before consumers expressed any interest or input. “Today, however, in many segments in the mass market, trends are more likely to pop up from the street,” McK- insey analysts point out. Rather than being “spoon-fed trends via apparel companies’ ad campaigns,” consumers can now take cues from any number of trendsetters and tastemakers, from In- stagram and Pinterest to user and peer reviews to celebrities and stylish con- sumers with large social followings. “A new generation of consumer in- sights is gaining importance for the de- sign and product development process,” said McKinsey. “Even some of the tradi- tional ‘fast-fashion’ companies have not been able to switch quickly enough from the ‘push’ to a ‘pull’ model – a model in which products are developed, tested and produced on demand.” The volatility and fluidity of this new reality means increased importance must be placed on speed to market and in-season flexibility, said McKinsey ana- lysts, even to the point of superseding traditional concerns over marginal cost advantage and compliance. The offshor- ing model, meanwhile, “is hardly com- patible with the new need for speed,” they continue, while long lead times eliminate any possibility of flexibility and differentiation. Add in the pressures on profitability due to decreasing full-price sell-through, and the laborious and linear production processes followed by crates sittings on boats must be replaced with shorter product development calendars, more agile supply chains, sourcing of small batch sizes and ultimately near- shoring, argues the analyst firm. “Traditional multi-label retailers are putting pressure on brands to increase their responsiveness, as the old preorder model is losing out to an increasing share of in-season, open-to-buy approaches,” said McKinsey sourcing analysts. That could explain why nearly two- thirds of U.S. apparel executives and about 80 percent of international chief procurement officers surveyed by McKinsey named speed to market and in-season reactivity as top priorities for their firms. While it’s true that established fash- ion players are burdened with slow commercial processes and legacy sup- ply chain and sourcing setups, many online pure-play and start-up apparel brands already are developing agile sup- ply chains and small-batch strategies BlackStrap, a manufacturer of facemasks and accessories for winter sports, anglers and outdoor recreationists, recently expanded to its new 25,000 square-foot headquarters just east of downtown Bend, Ore., in order to increase its in-house manufacturing output and productivity. “BlackStrap has done what few outdoor companies in Bend have been able to do: sustainably operate, grow and function as a wholesaler and manufacturer,” said Abe Shehadeh, BlackStrap founder and CEO. Most Impcatful Factor in Selecting a Campground, by Age Source: Kampgrounds of America; Cairn Consulting Group (Percent of respondents) Source: Salsify 2 Images Videos Availability of free Wi-Fi Pet-friendly Onsite recreation and activities Availability of cabins The type of sites that are available The quality of the sites at the campground The location of the campground Campground atmosphere 7% 4% 6% 6% 8% 11% 17% 18% 30% 3% 6% 6% 8% 10% 19% 22% 26% 3% 9% 8% 6% 9% 20% 24% 21% 1% 10% 2% 15% 4% 24% 29% 15% 4% 6% 10% 8% 19% 21% 26% Over ll Millennials Gen Xers Baby Mature What percentage of your sourcing volume will come from nearshoring in 2018 and 2025? Likelihood that disruption will occur before 2025 (Percent of respondents) Source: McKinsey & Co; Sourcing Journal 0-5% 33 3 18 15 15 22 5 18 4 14 3 4 21 24 >5-10% >10-20% >20-30% >30-40% >40-50% >50% 2018 2025 Winning in fashion will mean that a substantial part of a company’s assortment will need to be a fast-track fashion cycle, which is possible only through nearshoring or air freight 1. Step-change in nearshoring for speed 43% Highly likely Somewhat likely Somewhat unlikely Highly unlikely No response