Excellent article about the Italian firm Luciano Barbera:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/busin ... era&st=cse
“It is a hard world for poets”
-
Simon A
Very interesting. I think he has an uphill battle arguing for mandatory detailed "local content" on clothing labels, but it is a nice idea. Even established Italian weavers like Loro Piana have three textile mills in the US and one in Mongolia, so an LP label does not necessarily mean the textile is European made unless it is stipulated.
Throw country of origin of the fibre (Australian wool makes up a great deal of the suitings wordwide, and Chinese silk is ubiquitous) into the fray, and a garment label would become busier than a bishop's hat.
If textile millers like this gentlemen can obtain proper representation in Asia, Middle East and the CIS, then the decline of their home market will not be so damaging to their business. The British weavers like Taylor and Lodge have been very energetic in this regard and are doing well. The downside of this is that much of this export textile is superfine worsted, the mills change their orientation to chase that market, and the heavier suitings become harder to obtain (hence LL's Cloth Club).
I think that garment companies using European textile are usually happy to tell the consumer all about it; the textile costs more because of higher environmental standards and higher labour costs, so the garment retailer must sing its praises to cover his costs. It is already a marketing point volunteered to the customer, so "local content" stipulations are currently available in many cases.
If one buys a garment labelled "Made in Italy" or "Made in EU", then one assumes that the textiles and the fibres that make them up are imported, unless otherwise stipulated. Perhaps one should not have to engage in such mental gymnastics, but it is a fact of modern life...
Maybe Cloth Club can direct a fabric commission to Mr Barbera one day, to help him fight the good fight
Throw country of origin of the fibre (Australian wool makes up a great deal of the suitings wordwide, and Chinese silk is ubiquitous) into the fray, and a garment label would become busier than a bishop's hat.
If textile millers like this gentlemen can obtain proper representation in Asia, Middle East and the CIS, then the decline of their home market will not be so damaging to their business. The British weavers like Taylor and Lodge have been very energetic in this regard and are doing well. The downside of this is that much of this export textile is superfine worsted, the mills change their orientation to chase that market, and the heavier suitings become harder to obtain (hence LL's Cloth Club).
I think that garment companies using European textile are usually happy to tell the consumer all about it; the textile costs more because of higher environmental standards and higher labour costs, so the garment retailer must sing its praises to cover his costs. It is already a marketing point volunteered to the customer, so "local content" stipulations are currently available in many cases.
If one buys a garment labelled "Made in Italy" or "Made in EU", then one assumes that the textiles and the fibres that make them up are imported, unless otherwise stipulated. Perhaps one should not have to engage in such mental gymnastics, but it is a fact of modern life...
Maybe Cloth Club can direct a fabric commission to Mr Barbera one day, to help him fight the good fight
-
- Information
-
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests