DISTRIBUTORS OFTHE ROUND TABLEAt ASI Orlandol distributors discussed theindustry/s mostpressing issues.

The beginning of the ASI OrlandoShow (which ran from JanualY 5-7)always heralds a time of renewal.

Suppliers debut their new products,distributors are eager to start the calen-dar year and, hey, the weather's not tooshabby. As fresh products and trends (seesidebar) dominated the show floor, topdistributor salespeople and owners alongwith eager newbies gathered for the first-ever Wearables Distributor Roundtable.They touched upon the latest trends anddebated some of the most pressing indus-try issues. Here's a transcript of some ofthe things they discussed.

Q: WHAT'S AN APPAREL TREND THATYOU BELIEVE HAS LONG-TERM STAY-ING POWER IN THIS INDUSTRY?Scott Stewart, Brand Fuel (asi/14 5025):I think performance fabrics are somethinghere to stay long-term. As society goes moretoward sports, outdoors and fitness, every lineat this trade show has performance fabrics,and you'll see that in retail as well.

Carl Albrecht, Proforma Albrecht & Co.(asi/116308): I think the retail lines are reallydriving it, same with the lighter-weight cottonT-shirts. Even in the corporate world, thingslike stripes are back now after they went awayfor a little bit.

John Helder, HALO Branded Solutions(asi/356000): I agree that retail drives a lot ofit, because what's in retail now is in our indus-try. When I started a long time ago, what yousaw in the store last year· was available to usnext year. It turns quickly now.

Marc Kozak, Blue Monster Promotions(asi/466761): We don't deal as much in corpo-rate apparel as with the trendy Next Level and

Bella brands. We go to the stores - we do allour research by going to Bloomingdale's andMacy's, and you see an Alternative Apparelshirt that's selling for $50. And I know whatwe can get them for. People are getting killedon retail price.

Albrecht: I think the bigger issue in the indus-try is the gap with the ladies' apparel. It's justnot there. I'm not a woman, but I feel like whenyou're selling to someone in corporate apparel,women like variety and differentiation.

Stephanie Walter, Kaeser & Blair (asi/238600):I disagree with you about the ladies' cut. Thelast two years, I've seen so many more stylesfor ladies, especially from SanMar. They'vegotten so many more in the button-downs,V-necks, crewnecks, Y4-lengths - more in twoyears than in the last 12 years.

Walter: Even in T-shirts now, almost everybrand has a ladies' cut. Gildan, Anvil - yearsago none of them had a ladies' cut ..

Anita Brooks, ASB Marketing (asi/202900):Definitely from when I started, when women

wore only men's clothes, we've come along way. Certain lines like Tri-Moun-tain's Lilac Bloom are a little more pro-gressive because they're actually showingus more of a feminine, retail look, and I likethat. And I love the new trendy T-shirts forwomen, shirts I'm actually wearing. Thechallenge I'm still seeing with women'swear is that women are more selective buy-ers for themselves. They want it to fit a cer-tain way.

Cheryl Kozak, Blue Monster Promo-tions: I have to agree witl1 that; when Ifirst came into this industry, Marc wanted

to wear our logo, and I'm like, "I don't want towear a Hanes shirt or a polo." But then I startedseeing Next Level and Bella - and now I wearour own clothes wherever I go.

Brooks: I have to sample an endless amount,because women are not going to be happyunless they try it on. Years ago, when I workedin retail, I sold bathing suits, and I never letwomen look at the size of the bathing suit,because I knew how they were cut, and I didn'twant them s~ying, "I don't wear a size 16 inthat bathing sUit!" It didn't matter because itlooked good on them. It's kind of the samething here.

Q: WHICH DECORATION METHODSARE ATIRACTING THE MOST INTER-EST FROM YOUR CLIENTS?Tim Holliday, Children's World UniformSupply, Inc. (asi/161711): I think decora-tion is ~uch more retail-driven because theywant wh:i't they can get at American Eagle andthings like that. They want full-color stuff, andthere's a whole education process there. Weoffer screen printing, embroidery and digital,and out of all of those, digital's been growingthe fastest. Embroidery is the standby for a lot

of things, but when you get into T-shirts, definitely digital is grow-ing the fastest because you can do more with it and do some reallycreative things, more than: "IIi, here's your one-color T-shirt."

Kozak: We do heat press, and our whole line is heat-press stuff. Ifeel creepy going to stores and malls and I'm feeling the fabric andimprint on garments, and I can tell if it's heat press or if it's silkscreened. There are a lot of companies out there that sell high-endshirts at retail stores that are heat press.

Dave Crofoot, Western Associates (asi/358500): In embroidery,we're doing different locations beyond left chest. I would say 80% ofour decoration is tone-an-tone. Corporate America has gone awayfrom the corporate colors. We're doing the back yoke, the sleeve,different locations. We're pushing it to be different.

Stewart: I think customers are asking for both left -chest and unusualplacement. North Face is a strong retail brand, and they put theirlogo on the back shoulder. So you're seeing more and more clientsasking for that now.

Q: WHAT ARE THE GREATEST CHALLENGES IN WORKINGWITH SUPPLIERS AND DECORATORS?Helder: From a decorating standpoint, on the day they're sched-uled to embellish that product, that's the day they decide to open upthe box, and then they say to me, "I can't find the rest of the order."Or, "Your PO says navy, but we have black. We were going to deco-rate it this afternoon." Well, it's been there for a week. I could havecorrected it before, but I can't do it in the next two hours.

Helder: Yes, and the ones I work with now, I don't have any issueswith. Through 20 years' time, I have found some good ones.

Walter: That's the learning curve we go through when we start. Askaround and find the good ones who have the systems in place, whowill check with you because the blue color is different than the bluecolor on the order, and they want to clarify it. They're your backup.

Stewart: For 99% of whatever business we do, I will go for a manu-facturer that does its own embroidery instead of sending it to anembroidery house. I think it's the ease of doing business.

Walter: Personally I have a screen printer, a heat-seal person, andan embroidery person. And it's taken me a lot of years to find theones that I stick with. My screen printer and I have been togetherfor 13 years. We actually joke it's a marriage, because it really is.Sometimes I talk with him more than I talk with my husband.

Fresh Show TrendsColor is again the story in2013. From neon caps toeye-pleasing thermals, sup-pliers continued to expandtheir color palettes to meetcustomers' growing demandfor choice. Perry Ellis Interna-tional (asi/77715), for example,unveiled golf polos in a wholenew range of brights and pas-tels. The supplier also is offer-ing coordinating polos withmatched panel colors. "Theseare the colors we sell in golftournaments that are translat-ing to corporate owners," saysJeff Smith, vice president ofthe corporate division of PEl.

Color wasn't the only trendthriving at the show. Here iswhat else was making noise onthe show floor:

Burnout: Those who believe thatburnout's moment had come andgone were set straight by thewealth of new options for 2013.In Your Face Apparel (asi/62494)featured its stretch neon burnoutshirts (H03) in four electric colors.J.America (asi/62977) debuted anew hoodie with a paisley burn-out pattern. MV Sport/Weath-erproof (asi/68318) presented.a full range of burnout styles, ..including a new lightweightburnout pullover (W2388). "It'sbeen strong for us," saysCharlieMcGuinness, national salesmanager for the corporate & golfdivisions of MV Sport/Weath-erproof, about the demand forburnouts. "We have differentsilhouette offerings and we'vebeen adding new colors."

Jewelry: BizPins (asi/40595)introduced Eevah, a corporatejewelry line that supports childrenliving on less than $1 a day.The

Color was on display at the AS/ Show Orlando.especially with these new Clique jacketsin both men's (MQOOOO30) and women's(LQOOOO20)styles from Cutter & Buck(asi/47965; circle 96 on Free Info Card).

jewelry - which includes a widerange of necklaces, braceletsand earrings - can be custom-ized with a corporate logo tag oreven a photo-etching of a familymember. "We're crossing overbetween the two companies,"says Pam McCarty, co-owner ofboth BizPinsand Eevah. "Wehave the ability to make this jew-elry for a corporate audience."

New Products: Plenty of new".. products were launched at the• show. Stewart/Stand (asi/54588)

unveiled a woven stainless steelwallet that is lightweight anddurable and offers RFID protec-tion. Visual Expressions revealedthe hipS-sister (asi/61103), astretchy band of fabric (think ofthe waistband of a pair of yogapants) with pockets that is thefashionable alternative to a fannypack. Also launched were HeatCuffs (asi/6050iJ), a hands-freehand-warmer that wraps aroundthe wrist or ankle and directsheat into extremities using a self-activated powder.