(Atlanta) The annual meeting of the American Apparel Producers’ Network was held May 2-4, 2010 at the Loews Miami Bach Hotel. 90 companies and 120 individuals attended the meeting. Those attending represented the entire apparel supply chain literall
y ‘from the dirt to the shirt’.
There were 17 brands, uniform companies or retailers, 14 factories (US, Mexico, DR, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru), 24 textile companies (cotton, poly, fiber, yarn, fabric, finishing), 10 trim (labels, zippers, pocketing, thread, elastic), 8 logistics, 6 technology and 11 industry organizations.
The agenda featured panels and speakers but also our usual interaction. In fact, all 90 companies were introduced slowly and deliberately in the first hour of the meeting so networking began by design at the first coffee break rather than by accident at the end of the meeting. At the end of these introductions, we opened the floor to an hour of interaction.
Clearly, the topic struck a nerve. Interaction went from generalized and restrained to open and creative. Of the 90 organizations there, 21 had never been to an AAPN meeting before. So after introductions, our first panel of the day was 4 retailers and brands and our closing panel for the day was 4 yarn and fabric companies. So right there, we spanned the chain in one day.
This same meeting is scheduled now for May 1-3, 2011 at the same hotel, Loews Miami Beach.
Significant comments included:
“everyone here realizes we are further ahead of sustainability than we thought”
“sustainability can not be defined, really, it is just doing the right thing”
“sustainability does work. The active pursuit of sustainability, of doing the right thing, generates more goodwill and galvanizes your customer more than any marketing you can do”
“you do not have a choice but to promote your proactivity in sustainability. You are being defined by your customer. If you do not write about your company, someone else will”
“sustainability is not a tomorrow problem”
“where else have you ever seen every link in the chain in one room at one time talking about one problem?”
“this is truly a top down initiative. And it is a bottom up action plan. But what AAPN and its supply chain membership can do is both by surrounding sustainability from the top to the bottom”
“more important than learning the message is not getting across is learning who came to this meeting to hear to hear it – 17 brands, retailers and uniform companies I would not have met under any other circumstance”
“this is not an initiative, its a movement”
“I don’t know if the world is really flat but I know it isn’t level. I hoped this meeting would be a tipping point and it clearly was”
“actually, the major problem is staring us in the face – lack of knowledge about the supply chain, loss of experience, bad decisions, poor strategies, insufficient resources. Look at a long term relationship with a factory and its based on knowing the supply chain”
“there used to be many places for the industry to meet. I have been going to industry meetings for years. This meeting is unique because the chain is here and interactivity during the meeting is not only allowed but the core of the meeting. This is the best meeting I have ever seen”
Carlos Arias, President, Denimatrix and President AAPN Board of Directors: Congratulations again to Mike and Sue on a Home Run of a meeting. It is incredible to me that such a fantastic event was executed by an army of two! I would also like to thank the Board for “owning” the meeting. I think we spoke loud and clear to our membership as standing firm behind Mike and Sue. We are relevant, we are efficient and represent the interests of our membership. Kudos to all and I hope in the next Board call we can start talking about next steps.
Rick Horwitch, VP, Bureau Veritas: I can’t begin, or end, to articulate how great the meeting was. We should all feel proud that the AAPN not only put on a great event, but had, what I believe, was a “game changing” event. Now the real work and fun begin. Bravo Mike and Sue – and everyone.
Walter T. Wilhelm, Walter Wilhelm Associates, LLC: This was the best AAPN meeting I have attended. It was well organized, interesting, GREAT networking and dialogs between the attendees. Kudos to each of you and all the speakers and attendees. OUTSTANDING!! One thing to consider is having part of next year’s program devoted to reporting on who took any lessons from this year’s event and made significant strides in Sustainability in 2010.
Gerald L. Cauthen, VP, Contempora Fabrics: A very good meeting and you guys worked hard to put together a very worthwhile program and it was so good to see it well attended. The one mental picture I carry with me is looking out at the audience from the table up front while we were talking and the entire room was focused and for a speaker, as you know, that is satisfying.
Keith Dartley, President, SwissTex: Thanks again for putting together an outstanding event in Miami. I was blown away with the representation you put together. Congratulations on a job well done!
Brian Meck, FesslerUSA: Great Job to Sue and Mike for pulling off a great meeting. The interaction from the brands and retailers was great. The idea of adding a Sustainability Section to the AAPN website and having a checklist of things that Apparel Industry companies can reference and use is a great one.
Laura V. Rodriguez, Intl. Trade Analyst, U.S.I.T.C.: I gained much information, new insights, and valuable contacts at your most timely and engaging conference. It was one of the best I have attended in recent years. The speakers were most impressive.
Andy Dreher, GC Moore Company: I walked away with a much better sense of how other companies are regarding “sustainability”. We likely need to give ourselves and the chain more credit for what we are already doing every day.
