1. From Mike Todaro, Managing Director, AAPNetwork
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Industry Supply Chain takes ownership of Sustainability 'Standards'
(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 literally ‘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.
Phone: 404.843.3171 miketodaro@mindspring.com www.aapnetwork.net

2. 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
Phone: 404.843.3171 miketodaro@mindspring.com www.aapnetwork.net

3. 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.
Phone: 404.843.3171 miketodaro@mindspring.com www.aapnetwork.net