Apparel Production

Apparel Production

Apparel Company Report

The final paper is worth 100 points. If you get a 90 or better on the first draft you do not need to
resubmit it. You have the option to resubmit it however, if you think you can earn a higher
score.

Please use the grading rubric, along with this document to guide your writing.

Goal of the paper

The primary purpose of this paper is to explore the product development and sourcing done in
one of the companies i n Apparel Magazine’s list of the Top 50 Apparel Businesses for 2014 .
Through the research process you will also become more familiar with the history, structure and
operations of one company , as well as any environmentally and socially sustainable practices the
company has used. You will also be exposed to the many possibilities for employment in the
apparel industry.

Research Sources

Start with Apparel Magazine ’s Top 50 article. Some of the companies on the Top 50 list have a
short write- up in the article and you can use this as your first source of information. Then use
compa ny web pages and annual reports, US Securities and Exchange Commission10- K forms
(annual reports) , trade journal articles (web and physical) , newspapers, weekly news magazines,
and books, as well as contacts within the company if you can reach them.

Wikipedia is not a valid resource (but sometimes has citations that could be valid if you can find
them to read).

Citations for all information within the body of the paper will be done using footnotes.
Use Chicago Manual of Style, 16
th
Ed. for your footnotes and bibliography.
See library link:
http://uri.libguides.com/content.php?pid=57687&sid=2087763

Include a b ibliography of every source you used for the res earch. There must be at least 7
sources from a variety of media. You will have one web site for the company and a web site
each for one of the brands/licenses owned by the company, if applicable. Do not rely solely on
company/ brand web pages for your information because web sites function as advertising and
are not to be fully trusted. The bibliography is located at the end of the paper.

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Company Description and History

Describe the company. Where is the location of the corporate headquarters? Provide a web site
in the footnotes . List with a brief description all of their house brands and licenses. These are
brands the company develops then sells. Some of the larger companies own or licen se many
brands. Please list all of the brands they own or license in a separate table . If it’s a large list
(more than 5 brands/licenses) create a chart and put it in an appendix at the back of the paper, in
front of the bibliography.

House Brands/Licenses History and Description

Choose one apparel house brands and/or license to explore in detail , if your company owns more
than one brand . Please do not choose a beauty product or accessory brand . S tick to apparel
brands. If your company has only one brand then describe the company brand in more detail. Is
this house brand/license a traditional brand that is sold only to other ret ailers or is it developed
and sold in a vertical retailing situation , or does the brand use both methods ? What is the target
market for the brand/license : age, sex, income level and any other relevant information you can
find about the target market. How does the brand/license characterize their customer?

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Are there other product lines besides clothing bein g developed or sold under the house brand?
Provide a web site for this house brand/license in the footnotes .

Marketing Channels for the House Brand/License You Have Chosen

How are the house brands/licenses being sold? To other retailers? Through a catalog and/or the
web? House brand stores?

Please don’t include anything about advertising unless it is extremely significant to the brand ( for
example, Calvin Klein’s “nothing comes between me and my Calvins” campaign with Brooke
Shields in the 1980s was very significant to the success of the brand ).

Sourcing for the House Brand/License You Have Chosen

In this section you are answering the question, does this brand make or buy its fabric and
findings? If the answer is ‘buy ,’ then you must explore how and where the company
buys/sources its fabric and findings. You may find that a house brand sources some of its fabrics
and develops others.

Also answer the question, does this brand own factories in which they manufacture their own
clothing (inside shop) or do they hire/buy/source other factories to do the work (outside shop) ?

Discuss the countries from which fabric/findings and apparel manufacturing are sourced. The
company or house brand’s annual report and US Securities and Exchange Commission10- K
forms, are good places to look for this information.

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For keyword searches inside the annual report or on the web use the words like: sourcing, fabric
development, outsourcing, fabric research.

Product Development for the House Brand/License You Have Chosen

If a brand ‘makes’ its own fabrics rather than sourcing fabrics from another vendor, that means it
is ‘developing’ its fabrics. Some times they “develop” the fabric design (weave, knit, print), but
contract someone else to actually make the fabric. Please describe the nature of the fabric
development process for the house brand/license .

One way to find information about whether or not a company develops fabric is to look for fabric
development jobs on their careers/job opportunities web site.

Apparel for house brands are typically designed by the brand, but sometimes a company hires an
outside firm to do the apparel development. Describe the process of developing apparel for the
house brand/license .

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Environmentally Sustainable Product Development & Manufacturing Practices

Is the company or the house brand /license you are researching using environmentally sustainable
textiles or manufacturing processes? Are they making changes to their corporate headquarters or
stores to make them more environmentally friendly? Do they work with factories that treat their
employee s well? Have there been any com plaints about the brand/license related to labor
practices? Employee happiness in this country is not part of this section, unless there have been
charges of sweatshop use in this country. US employees are generally protec ted by federal labor
laws. In some cases a company may have had a lawsuit against them for unfair labor practices
like racial or gender discrimination- such data can be included in the paper.

What is this company doing to comply with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of
2010?

Employment in One of the Company’s House Brands/Licenses

Go to the job/careers opportunity page for the company or a fashion jobs/careers website (find
examples) and i dentify an available job in the development of one house brand/license . Please
do not provide an internship opportunity, unless you have also identified a job.

Try to find something that might be personally interesting to you. This isn’t required, just a
suggestion. Do not chose a job related to the retailing or marketing /sales of the house
brand/license. You m ay also use the Glock & Kunz chapter , “ Professional Perspectives on
Product Development”, which is available in your readings, to describe the nature of the work, in
addition to the job announcement web page . You can also use the names of the jobs provided in
the chapter for job searches in the company web site. Please do not include anything about
salaries or benefits.

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Explain why you think this job would be interesting and what kinds of TMD and other university
classes would be n ecessary to prepare for the job. You may need to use the URI course catalog
to help you identify specific course numbers.

Grading

Please use the grading rubric as you are writing the paper. It will help you meet the expectations
for the paper.

Structure of the Paper

Title Page is the first, separate, page and includes your name, course name, professor ’s name,
and the date

Format :
Orient the text to the left margin.
Times New Roman 12 point font for text, footnotes & bibliography
1” margins all around
A ll lines double – spaced throughout
No extra lines between paragraphs
The first sentence of every paragraph should be indented 5 spaces.
Every page after the title page should be numbered and not i nclude your last name

Introduction & Thesis Statement:
Introduce the topic and thesis of the paper. Tell the reader what the structure of the paper
will be.

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Body & Organization – Structural Development of the Idea:

Each paragraph should have enough supporting detail to logically develop the main ideas
expressed within the paragraph. Transitions between paragraphs should enhance the
organization of the paper.

“Fashion speak” and advertising lingo from the company are not part of the paper.

Use of quotations should be limited and carefully used. Quotation s are not an excuse to use
other writers’ words and not your own. Long quotations, if you find an appropriate one, are
indented and single – spaced. You will be penalized for using too many quotations.

Mechanics: There should be no errors in punctuation, capitalization or spelling.

Usage: There should be no errors in sentence structure or word usage.

Footnotes: Footnotes are placed at the end of sentences just after the period. Number footnotes
consecutively. The citation is then numbered and placed at the end of the page. They
sh ould be single – spaced within an individual footnote and between footnotes.
5

One footnotes can contain more multipl e citations. If a paragraph is made up of
information from more that one source, this is the most efficient way to organize
footnotes.

Here is the link to the library guide for using footnotes:
http://uri.libguides.com/content.php?pid=57687&sid=2087763

Please call the URI Help Desk for assistance using the footnote commands in Word or
the program you are using (401 – 874- HELP).

Bibliography: You must have a least 7 major references. All references listed in the bibliography
must also appear in the footnotes. References are listed in alphabetical order.

The bibliography is placed on a separate page at the end of the paper with a heading,
Bibliography, centered at the top of the page . The first line is at the left margin.
Subsequent lines are single – spaced and indented 5 spaces. The space between
bibliographic entries is a double space.

For Example:
Bibliography

Apparel Magazine. “The Apparel Top 50 for 2013.” http://apparel.edgl.com/reports%5CThe -Apparel-Top-50-for-201387333

Glock, Ruth E, & Kunz, Grace I. “Perspectives in Product Development” in Apparel
Manufacturing: Sewn Product Analysis. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.

Boardman, Michelle. All That Jazz: Printed Fashion Silks of the ’20s and ’30s. Allentown, PA:
Allentown Art M useum, 1999.

Borgatti, Jean. Cloth as Metaphor: Nigerian Textiles from the Museum of Cultural History. Los
Angeles: Museum of Cultureal History, UCLA, 1983.

Bowman, Sara. A Fashion for Extravagance: Art Deco Fabrics and Fashions. London: Bell &
Hymann, 1985.

Buckberrough, Sherry. “Delaunay Design: Aesthetics, Immigration and the New Woman.” Art
Journal 52, no. 1 (1995): 51 -55.

 

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