Legwear, Outerwear, Blazers, & More - FMMG.com

M. J. Soffe Prevails With Tops
M. J. Soffe Co., a wholly owned subsidiary
of Delta Apparel, Inc. is planing to capitalize
on synthetic fibers for the back-toschool
2008 season.
“Before jersey, fleece and twill were
dominant materials, but now it seems as if
the industry is moving toward synthetic
fibers,” said Steve Wheeler, VP of sales and
marketing. “And, synthetic holds up better
than cotton and poly/cotton.”
M.J Soffe said that even though the
school industry has a long way to go before
it accepts polyester, they are experimenting
with 100 percent polyester and fleece performance
tops. In the meantime, nine
ounce basic fleece continues to do well for
the company, as well as zip hoods, crews
and pants.
“Performance fabrics will become the
standard,” said Wheeler.
For more information visit
www.mjsoffe.com. — D.C.
SanMar Joins Fair Labor
SanMar, a supplier of imprintable school
uniforms and apparel, recently joined the
Fair Labor Association—a non-profit organization
that aims to defend the rights of
workers worldwide. The company’s decision
to become a part of the association was
based on the strong similarities in its existing
workplace code of conduct with that of
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News Briefs
Reported by Deena Campbell,
Libby Dowd and Gina Goldblatt
the Fair Labor Association.
SanMar supports initiatives that ban
forced labor, child labor, discrimination
and abuse, as well as those that promote
freedom, safety, timely payment of wages
and overtime compensation.
SanMar sells through retail outlets, catalogues,
and the company’s website, which
is www.sanmar.com. — G.G.
“Fresh” Uniform Chemical
BASF, a manufacturer of performance
chemicals for textiles, recently formed a
global alliance with Arch Chemicals, Inc., a
global Biocides company headquartered in
Norwalk, Conn., to market the freshnessenhancing
textile chemical Repudex 20,
under the branded name Purista.
Reputex is an antimicrobial treatment
for textiles such as cotton and cotton
blends, which allows textiles to stay fresher
for a longer time by inhibiting odor-causing
micro-organism growth. Mico-organisms
also fabric deterioration. Textiles that
contain Repudex are advertised as being
“Treated with Purista-Fresher for longer.”
Peter Cowey, international business
manager of textiles at Arch Chemicals, said
that the company joined forces with BASF
to strengthen their existing operations
“making Purista treatment available
throughout the global textiles chain.”
— G.G.
LogoSportswear’s New Age
With so many schools and other organizations
looking for personalized T-shirts,
bags and other apparel, LogoSportswear
.com has been able to expand from one to
three flagship sites and over 100 web
domains, all of which provide schools and
teams with custom designed sportswear.
The three flagship sites include:
Logosportswear.com, TeamSportswear.com
and SchoolSportswear.com. Each site produces
custom designs without a minimum
order as well as providing pre-designed
templates that customers can personalize.
“Our business is growing substantially
and the fact that we have online designers
and design templates, allow people to very
conveniently and easily design and proof
their own sportswear,” said company president,
Frank Nevins. “We have quick turnaround
and rush processing to go along
with that, so we can meet any time table.”
It is because of innovations in technology
and the popularity of the World Wide
Web, that Logosportswear.com has been so
successful.
“The technology allows us to meet the
expectations of customers much better
since they can now do all the work online,”
said Nevins. “They know what they are
getting because they can design, proof and
submit corrections so that all expectations
are met.”
Nevins also thanks the advent of digital printing for improving
the turnaround of his product. Different from the traditional
screen-printing method, digital printing takes computer generated
art and burns it directly onto the apparel and can do so in one
to two days.
Schools have also come to Logosportswear.com for
embroidered woven and polo shirts to meet their uniform needs.
The company is also working on setting up individual online
school stores.
“The school will be able to build an e-commerce site that they
will be able to manage on a turn key basis and they won’t have
to invest in any inventory because it’s all made to order by us,”
said Nevins.
To learn more about opportunities at Logosportswear.com,
visit them on the Web or contact the company
at (203) 272-4883. — L.D.
Delta Hires Gatewood
Delta Apparel, Inc. hired Elizabeth Gatewood as a member of the
company’s board of directors. Gatewood previously held the
position of director of the office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal
Arts at Wake Forest University. Prior to that, she was the Jack
M. Gill Chair of Entrepreneurship and director of The Johnson
Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Indiana
University, and executive director of the Gulf Coast Small
Business Development Center Network in Houston, Texas.
Gatewood also co-founder the “Diana” project, a research
study that focused on women business owner, which earned her
and a colleague an FSF-NUTEK International Award for scientific
work of outstanding quality and importance. Gatewood was
also the author of a book entitled “Clearing the Hurdles: Women
Building High-Growth Businesses,” which was published in
2004 by Prentice Hall.
Delta Apparel, Inc., markets, manufactures, and distributes
branded and private label apparel and owns subsidiaries M. J.
Soffe Company and Junkfood Clothing Company. The
company specializes in casual and athletic activewear, T-shirts,
and fleece products. — G.G.
Artcraft Hangs with the New Biz
Bob Lazar, president of Artcraft Blazers recently noticed a trend
in the industry that does not have to do with apparel.
“I’ve been in the manufacturing business
for almost thirty years and I havn’t
seen many trends as far as blazers are concerned,”
he said. “However, there has been
a tremendous influx of young people and
women in this industry.”
Facing the challenges posed by new and
competitive businesses, Lazar has
Bob Lazar remained steady in his long standing commitment
to the industry.
“It means we have got to get on the ball and do what we have
been doing,” he said. “We are calling and keeping in touch with
companies we don’t know. There are a number of new young
people selling blazers that we don’t know and we want to call
their attention to our blazers.”
Lazar remains confident in his line as it stands ups against
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