MAY contents volume 56/number 9 COVERSTORY With digital technologies occupying increasing space in our minds and lives, it’s no surprise that many of this year’s award winners took honors for innovations in the areas of marketing and merchandising, or that a number aligned themselves with another big trend that is making waves as technology makes more things possible: mass one-to-one customization. We say kudos to all of Apparel’s innovators, who continue to move the industry forward in interesting and unexpected ways. BY JORDAN K. SPEER, JESSICA BINNS AND DEENA M. AMATO-MCCOY Cover photography courtesy of Kokatat, Photo credit Jordy Searle INNOVATOR . .PAGE INNOVATOR . .PAGE Acustom Apparel . .17 Kokatat . .42 Aerosoles . .10 Koos Manufacturing . .21 Ascena Retail Group . .38 L. L. Bean . .22 Betabrand . .18 Lands' End Business Outfitters . .12 Brooks Brothers . .24 Macy's . .26 Buffalo Exchange . .34 Mitchells . .33 bumbrella . .37 Mizuno Running . .19 Canada Goose . .36 Mountain Equipment Co-op . .29 Chico's . .13 Performance Scrubs . .32 Dragon Crowd . .9 Rebecca Minkoff . .9 Everything But Water . .26 RG Barry . .41 Francesca's . .41 Stantt . .36 Garmatex . .17 SustainU . .33 Harry Rosen . .23 Timberland . .14 Hatley . .43 Topson Downs . .44 in the pink . .11 Twice as Nice Uniforms . .28 JustFab . .30 Under Armour . .21 Kathmandu . .20 Vestagen Technical Textiles . .15 TOP INNOVATOR SPONSORS BY JORDAN K. SPEER, JESSICA BINNS AND DEENA M. AMATO-MCCOY With digital technologies occupying increasing space in our minds and lives, it’s no surprise that many of this year’s award winners took honors for innovations in the areas of marketing and merchandising, or that a number aligned themselves with another big trend that is making waves as technology makes more things possible: mass one-to-one customization. Our winners include a company that doesn’t produce a product until it pre-sells enough of the item to manufacture it, and another that inspired its customers with a study revealing the collective results that could accrue to the U.S. population – including, perhaps ironically, 14 billion fewer hours spent online – if everybody ran. 8 MAY 2015 • www.apparelmag.com You’ll also find out about a dry suit that lets you disrobe halfway and a shapewear garment that doesn’t pose health risks. You’ll learn how several companies are transforming medical scrubs to meet modern- day needs, while many others are gaining deep insights into their supply chains — and getting closer to their customers — by dumping their legacy systems for connected systems that allow them to better harness the increasing mass of data available to them. We say kudos to all of Apparel’s innovators, who continue to move the industry forward in interesting and unexpected ways. Rebecca Minkoff New York, N.Y. | www.rebeccaminkoff.com NOMINATED BY: eBay | www.ebayinc.com and Avery Dennison | www.rbis.averydennison.com f, while watching Downton Abbey, you’ve the items shipped home, and even order Shoppers can also take their entire Iever slipped into a reverie in which you beverages. “fitting room” with them via the Rebecca have a lady’s maid who helps select and Inside fitting rooms, customers can Minkoff iOS mobile app, adding to their bring you your clothes, knows your per- continue to interact with connected mir- own personal profiles, while each store sonal preferences, adjusts your sur- rors to request assistance or other items, associate is equipped with a mobile com- roundings to suit you and generally makes save their items to mobile for later, check panion app to the fitting room and con- smooth the path of your day, well, Rebecca out and even change the lighting to bet- nected wall, which gives them full insight Minkoff just may help your dream come ter reflect the atmosphere in which they into customer requests, product details, true. plan to wear the garment, says creative and inventory across channels so that In an example of how our online and director and co-founder Rebecca Minkoff. they can quickly and easily provide assis- offline worlds are beginning to collide, (“SoHo after dark” is the current SoHo tance to customers. It also integrates into Rebecca Minkoff, designer and retailer store favorite.) the mobile POS, so that they can stream- of handbags, apparel and accessories, in Additionally, merchandise is equipped line the checkout process. November 2014 unveiled its “Connected with UHF RFID tags from Avery Den- After they leave the store, shoppers Store” in two locations, one in New York’s nison that allow dressing rooms to iden- can return merchandise easily across all SoHo neighborhood and one in San tify the merchandise when it is brought channels and learn more about products Francisco. The store used Connected in, enabling the store not only to keep they interacted with in the store; that same Glass and other technologies from eBay track of inventory in real time, but also trail of information is also available to to merge the experiences of shopping to provide a better customer experience, Rebecca Minkoff, which can now col- online and shopping in a brick-and-mor- says CEO and co-founder Uri Minkoff. lect information in-store about what cus- tar store via “Connected Walls” — over- From inside the dressing room, a cus- tomers browse, try on and buy, just as sized mirrored displays where customers tomer can find out, for example, what they do online. can view videos, browse content, request other sizes and colors are available in Sounds like a dream come true for items to be sent to fitting rooms, push the store, or receive recommendations the retailer, too. checkout to their mobile phone, have about complementary items, he says. — Jordan K. Speer Dragon Crowd Garment Inc. www.dragon-crowd.com | Costa Mesa, Calif. NOMINATED BY: Self n many Asian cultures, dragons — those mythical serpen- the box, choose the road less traveled and make differentia- Itine fire-breathing creatures — often are renowned for their tion from the competition a top priority — all important ingre- wisdom and longevity, and it’s just those two qualities that dients for a lengthy and productive showing in a notoriously have informed Dragon Crowd’s rapid evolution from its tra- cutthroat and corner-cutting industry. ditional apparel manufacturing roots into a vertically inte- “We asked our current customers, what could we do above grated, WRAP-certified producer of young men’s and women’s and beyond the scope of what we currently deliver as a apparel that now boasts a thriving research and development company?” says Jeff Marshall, marketing director for Dragon operation. It takes a healthy dose of wisdom to think outside Crowd, which operates four factories producing 1.8 million www.apparelmag.com • MAY 2015 9 TOP INNOVATORS units monthly and owns three fabric mills, two for knits and one for wovens. “Across the board they asked for more fabrics, more design, more innovation through manufacturing.” Founded in 1998 by Edward Zhou in Ningbo, China, the com- pany now has offices in Hong Kong, New York City and Costa Mesa, Calif., and employs more than 3,000 staff, including more than a dozen full-time associates in southern California who are developing innovative apparel silhouettes, new wearable fabrics and post processes. “As a partner and stakeholder in the success of our clients’ business, we have made it our mission to forecast and identify trends, anticipate client needs and customer desires, and deliver goods to satisfy those needs and desires,” Marshall explains. Those clients include household names such as Nord- strom, Urban Outfitters, Vans and Oakley, and with California’s status as a hotbed of creative innovation, access to these R&D associates has proven to be fruitful for Dragon Crowd. “The research and development strategy provides 100 to 200 new fabrics monthly, quarterly trend-right men’s and women’s styles guides, and a constant flow of new garment styles and sil- houettes,” Marshall says of the new team, which travels across the globe searching for innovative fabrics, creative fabric post-pro- cessing approaches, unique washes, interesting trims, and novel Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan — Dragon Crowd seemingly has ideas in garment construction techniques. found a winning formula doing what it does best, a strategy that Dragon Crowd produces a swatch booklet for clients to review resonates with clients to the tune of more than $125 million in the latest fabric innovations, and the manufacturer has also cre- annual sales. ated an accompanying “vibe booklet” that aims to provide And happy employees are a big part of the company’s “good inspiration for key apparel pieces relevant to trends in the mar- business” plan; workers get a fair wage and factories shut down ketplace, an approach that Marshall refers to as “innovation for promptly at 5 p.m. The oldest facility, Rock Maui, was constructed inspiration.” in 2008; the newest, Rock Guangming and Rock Bay, opened While company president J. Spencer is fond of quoting the clas- just last year. sic film Dirty Harry — “A man’s got to know his limitations,” says — Jessica Binns Aerosoles Edison, N.J. | www.aerosoles.com NOMINATED BY: CGS Inc. | www.cgsinc.com erosoles has been practically syn- houses, allowing the retailer to lever- Aonymous with “comfortable footwear” age inventory in all available channels to for more than 25 years. The company has meet SKU-level demand. grown to include the what’s what, A2 and However, as business expanded to aerology brands over the years, in addi- include 120 company-operated stores in tion to the flagship Aerosoles brand, all the United States in addition to franchises of which are distinguished by the com- in 15 countries throughout Europe and pany’s signature diamond-patterned soles.