Rio Garment’s knitwear factory in Honduras is well positioned
to take competitive advantage of rising production
costs in China, according to Buxbaum Group Chairman
and CEO Paul Buxbaum.
“As the Chinese government imposes rules on factories
for severance and vacation pay, Chinese manufacturers’
prices will continue to go up,” says Buxbaum. “We already
have those factors priced in, and have become much
more competitive. We also have the added advantages of
having an English-speaking staff and a Central Time Zone
operation, and are just three days by ship from Miami and
seven days to Los Angeles.”
To better accommodate Rio’s growing shipments of embellished
knit tops and bottoms to major retailers in the
U.S., a warehouse building across the street was leased
in September 2007. “We moved the cutting and sampling |
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operations to that building, along
with the housing of raw materials
so we can better lay out our main
facility for sewing and packing,”
Buxbaum explains.
Buxbaum described the Rio operation
as unique for Honduras.
Among other things, it has a full-time doctor on staff to
help care for the 800-plus employees, and provides an
air-conditioned workplace. “We give employees a comfortable
place to work and a good space to work in, so they
are not jammed on top of one another,” Buxbaum says.
“We also have an excellent bonus structure in place. We
get great productivity out of our employees at Rio.”  |
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was fortified in the first quarter of 2008 by its emergence
as a key outdoor apparel brand on Amazon.com.
Next up for Gramicci—which was acquired by a Buxbaum
Group affiliate in 2005—is a new urban biking line,
reflecting growing interest in the “bike more, drive less”
movement around the world. “This will be an exciting
growth area for our business that closely reflects our
customer’s increasing interest in biking,” says Weening.
The urban biking apparel will be part of Gramicci’s Built for
Sport product segment, one of its four distinct lifestyle
categories. The others are Authentic Originals, the climbing,
freedom of movement products for which Gramicci
has long been known; Gramicci Life, the second largest
part of the business, consisting of crossover lifestyle
apparel designed for sport and life; and Greenicci, the
organic/recycled product line.
“By delineating those four categories, we have made it
much easier for retailers to purchase our product line
in a clear and precise presentation of lifestyles, while
also making it much easier to merchandise at the point
of purchase,” Weening explains. “Our consumer wants
the shopping experience to be effortless, and delineating
these four segments accomplishes this important task.”
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In other recent developments:
Gramicci added the Tri Marketing Group sales agency as
its representative in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana
and Arkansas, further strengthening its relationships with
retail partners. Based in Plano, Tex., the seven-year-old Tri Marketing has strong ties with both major chains and
small retailers and will help Gramicci “give our customers
what they need to make their business successful,” Weening
says.
Gramicci intensified its international presence with the
addition of Christian Vogel as sales director for Europe. He
reports directly to Weening and will be based in a newly
established Munich office, where he will help grow the
Gramicci brand throughout the continent via distributorships
and licensing programs. Vogel has held similar sales
positions in Europe with other leading suppliers of outdoor
apparel and accessories, and most recently was director
of European sales for Easton-Bell Sports.
The company added two new members to its design
team. Natalie Sichko, formerly an assistant designer at
Perry Ellis International, joined Gramicci as associate
designer for women’s. Sichko is an avid runner and snowboarder.
Also joining the design team is Michelle Yi, a contestant
on CBS-TV’s “Fiji Survivor.” A competitive climber
who studied design at the University of Cincinnati, Yi
established a reputation for style at climbing competitions
with outfits ranging from leg warmers to leather chaps.
“The appointment of Tri Marketing, opening of the European
office and additions to our design team all point to our ongoing
efforts to expand the brand’s sales base and develop
fresh, cutting edge designs,” concludes Gramicci CEO and
Buxbaum Group VP Arnold Rubenstein. “We look forward
to another year of strong sales growth in 2008.”
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