In the apparel industry, importers have always been looked upon with scepticism, as they are perceived as unreliable and very poor pay masters. However, there are always exceptions and one such company is Wilson Design Source Supply, which has been present in Bangladesh for more than 15 years besides having sourcing operations in India, China, Hong Kong and Pakistan with headquarters in Glasgow, Scotland, and selling offices in New York and London. But global presence and a strong foundation are not enough to make Wilson an exception, it is the company’s design development-based approach towards apparel sourcing that sets it apart, an approach that has helped the apparel manufacturers working with the company sharpen their product development capabilities. Highlighting his company’s product development-based business model, Al Amin (Sohel), Country Manager of Wilson Design Source Supply-Bangladesh speaks to Apparel Online about the key issues such as value addition, minimum order quantities and compliance.
Defining the business model of his company, sohel states, “We are a design development firm producing a range of designs for our customers based on a market study of their brands. once the customer selects the design he likes, we give our final prices.” since the first task is of design development, everything starts from the company’s headquarters in glasgow, where a team of designers who constantly travel to fashion destinations such as Milan, paris, tokyo, korea and new york is based; their observations and experiences are compiled in a trend book and presented to the buyers. “We are able to give a more diverse range of products to a buyer or a brand compared to any other apparel manufacturer. hence brands prefer to work with us,” adds sohel, who has been with the company for two years.
“There have been cases wherein a manufacturer chose to work through us with a buyer instead of working with them directly because the manufacturer was able to get orders of value- added products, but was not sure how to go about it.” – Al Amin (Sohel)
After the final selection, the designs are then shared with each sourcing country’s head office along with the maximum and minimum fob limits for each product. the country offices work with their network of suppliers to identify vendors offering the best balance of right price, quality and quantity. hence as a company, Wilson Design is always on a lookout for new vendors, fabric mills and processing houses along with the latest printing, embroidery and washing techniques. 70% of the company’s total sourcing from the country is of knits and the rest comprises of bottoms, casual shirts and sweaters.
To ensure accurate production of designs at the mass production stage, the samples that are presented to the buyers and brands are developed in the factory of the vendor, so that the manufacturer knows what is required for making the final product. however, in case a manufacturer cannot do something, they are encouraged to visit the factories that are doing the same and learn the process. “With such sharing, our vendors have upgraded their vendor development skills and have started offering newer and diverse product ranges to their own buyers, inspired from what they developed with us,” avers sohel, who believes that the manufacturers are improving really fast, but are yet not that ahead in the game. “the companies that are offering value-added products are not able to meet the lead time, which is a must in case of value-added items because of the lower shelf life. With faster turnaround expected in four or six weeks, buyers prefer to source from countries such as turkey,” explains sohel. Digital printing is available with only a few companies in bangladesh due to which the prices are high and the company is getting better prices from china for the same.
Since Wilson works with brands and retailers looking for value-added products, the order quantities offered are relatively low. Explaining the reason for the same, sohel says, “no one will buy basic products through a trading company as the margins are already very low and coordination with the buyers is less cumbersome.” Wilson Design can easily source a Minimum order Quantity (MoQ) of 1,200 pieces per colour in a style with a cumulative quantity of 5,000 t-shirts because knit fabric is readily available in the market. but in the case of woven products, one cannot source below 5,000 pieces per colour from bangladesh, since most of the woven fabrics are imported, except denim, and even the fabric mills that export fabrics in bangladesh have a MoQ for that. “other aspects such as minimum lc value, container booking and shipping charges add to this problem. Even if the materials are available in the market, manufacturers can do it at a higher price. but it would be more profitable to source small quantities of value-added woven products from india or pakistan as you can buy 100 yards of fabric from the local market,” elaborates sohel.
Compliance and Ethical Trading
Wilson Design have taken compliance and ethical trading very seriously and have a very focused approach to ensure that all customer requirements are adhered to by putting in place its own compliance team. certifications such as bsci, WRap and sEDEx, and approvals from accord and alliance are a must for a factory to work with Wilson imports and some brands that are working with the company; audit the factories themselves and even through third party agencies such as bureau vertias. “Whenever new manufacturers approach us for business, their factories are reviewed by our production and merchandising teams for the machineries, capacities and systems. the next to visit them is our team of compliance auditors and they review the company’s present certifications,” adds sohel. their ongoing task is to bring all the relevant factories to the highest compliant level and also to ensure that this is then maintained with very regular vigorous checking via closely working with all the various concerned parties.
