Formal wear origins

GLOBAL BRAND
IN PEOPLE WE TRUST
FAST AND FASTIDIOUS:
THE LOGISTICS OF
HIGH FASHION
Bespoken meets the team of six that completes the final, decisive link
in the customer service chain: Scabal Logistics.
The Scabal Logistics team. From right to left: Martine Capenol, Francesco Bisschop, Le Hieu, Vu Tran Ba Hoang, David Smets, Oscar Vleminckx
Scabal fabrics and finished clothing
are available through tailors and
fashion retailers in more than 65
countries. The job of supplying this
network of customers from a central
source in downtown Brussels falls to
the Scabal logistics department –
a dedicated team of specialists
shipping several hundreds packages
every day.
The team handles all three divisions
of the company’s business: individual
fabrics cut lenghts, accessories and
finished garments.
Scabal’s renowned fabric bunches
are also packed and shipped here,
as are promotional items, retail
support material and even the copy of
Bespoken you are now reading. These
items travel round the world at a more
leisurely pace than customer cuts and
clothing.
“Scabal works with a group of global
freight companies,” explains Le Hieu,
Scabal Shipping Manager “selecting
the most economical solution for each
particular shipment and destination.”
© S. Papandropoulos
SHORT AND RAPID CHAIN
At the heart of Scabal’s business in
Brussels is the supply of cut cloth to
customers. From more than 5,000
articles of stock fabric, up to 800
individual fabric cut lenghts are
dispatched around the world every
day. “Our day ends when the shipper’s
truck has left,” says Martine Capenol,
Scabal Warehouse Manager.
Scabal logistics specialists are the final
link in a five-step chain that starts
with an incoming order. After entering
this order in the computer system, it
passes through sales to the cutting
department. After the wizards with
the scissors have done their work,
the cloth moves on to packaging and
dispatch, all in the same 3,000 m²
warehoused operation.
Orders received by lunchtime are
dispatched the same day, and most
are sent air express for next-day
delivery to the customer.
Packaging itself is an art. Cut lengths
are carefully rolled and folded creasefree
and then packed in carton boxes,
THE TEAM
which come in a range of sizes to suit all
possible cloth sizes. To prevent the cloth
from moving and creasing in transit,
cuts are packed tightly with airbags.
‘OUR DAY ENDS
WHEN THE
SHIPPER’S TRUCK
HAS LEFT.’
FULLY AUTOMATED
PROCESS
Le Hieu is the Shipping Manager, with 20 years’
experience in Logistics. His golden rule is ‘just in time’:
the management system that produces only what is
required, in the correct quantity and at the correct time.
In his spare time, Le travels. He’s travelled south across
Europe, west to North America and east to Asia. Almost
as far as Scabal cloth.
David Smets has spent his eight years at Scabal in the
Logistics Department and understands the importance
of precision. He continues a family tradition of working
for the company with both his mother and grandfather
previously employed by Scabal. He seems to carry this
through to his private life: David is a martial arts expert
and exponent of the very precise Bikram Hot Yoga
(26 postures, 90 minutes, 40°C).
Francesco Bisschop believes the most important rule
in shipping is to keep a cool head. He should know:
he’s worked for 23 years in Scabal’s logistics hot house.
His hobby is video gaming; you need nerves of steel for that.
When an order is packed, weighed and
ready for shipment, Scabal logistics
staff takes over. Some consignments
require complex handling. Frequently,
certificates of origin are required,
depending on the destination country,
which Logistics obtains through
chambers of commerce or local
embassies of the destination country.
Certain types of fabric also require close
attention, and specific export documents.
Passage for most shipments is rapid
and highly automated. When the order
is ready for shipment, an operator
clicks ‘ship’ and passes automatically
to a fulfillment page where the
weight of the package is computed
and combined with other order
information to be fed into the fullyintegrated
shipping label generator.
“All this happens in seconds,” says Le
Hieu. “Using this process in our fulfillment
chain, we are able to manage a large
volume of orders with a surprisingly small
workforce. We aim to get every order right,
every day. Our customers depend on it.”
From a logistical point of view,
customer care means no borders and
no loss of time. It’s not surprising to
learn that a Scabal client located in
Sydney who sends an order on Friday
morning, will receive his delivery the
following Monday, meaning that his cut
length has travelled 16,753 kilometres
in just one weekend.
Similarly, a US order received in
Brussels in the morning, will be
delivered the following morning to
wherever the client desires, either the
United States’ East or West coast.
Nigel Bishop
Vu Tran Ba Hoang is the new boy in the department. His
future certainly looks bright: his motto is “order, tidiness
and punctuality”. Three essential qualities for running a
global shipping business.
Oscar Vleminckx has seen more than anyone how Scabal
has grown over time. In his 39 years with the company,
shipping quantities have doubled, doubled again, and
carried on doubling. Oscar has probably shipped something
like half a million Scabal packages to customers, from
Valparaiso to Vladivostok. We wish him a happy retirement
next year.
Martine Capenol is the new Warehouse Manager, and
her responsibilities stretch beyond shipping. But no other
department is more important in her mission to provide
the highest possible customer satisfaction – an attribute
she learned during 25 years in the management of an
international car textile production plant.
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