Improving speed to market is a top initiative across fashion firms, and while many companies are making progress, most are still falling short of meeting the immediacy of consumer demand.
The apparel industry continues to be hampered by long lead times, raw materials availability and layer upon layer of decision making. Full package, vertical production partners offer a solution to these problems—and there’s an extra benefit when they’re close to home.
Thanks to its proximity to the United States, its vertical operations and high production capacity, Textimax Peru has carved out a niche as a go-to for short-lead time production. The manufacturer works with an array of household name retailers on quick turn deliveries.
Approximately 35 percent of the company’s customers take advantage of short lead times, working 30 to 40 days without any capacity commitment or yarn booking.
The manufacturer, which can produce more than 60,000 garments per day, is a vertical business, which means textiles are never a hold up, there’s no wait time between steps and no time is lost during handoffs. The company offers everything including spinning, knitting, dyeing and finishing in house.
“The only way to achieve speed is to have available capacity and the factory was design accordingly so we can react really fast from yarn to finished fabrics,” Patrick Petch, commercial manager of Textimax Peru, said. Textimax produces a variety of cotton, polyester, modal and blended knits, including pima, organics and slub. Additionally, it has the capability of knitting more than 800,000 tons of fabric such as jersey, pique, interlock, fleece, and more, a month.
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“We always say that we can go as fast as our customer allows us to go,” Petch said. The more streamlined a retailer’s internal processes are and the more parts of product development and production its willing to entrust to Textimax, the quicker they can get the goods, he said. For instance, one of Textimax’s largest off-price partners works from approved fabrics and only requires one prototype and one set of lab dips. “That helps a lot because most customers have a lot of procedures before you can start cutting.”
Textimax’s design team and printing capabilities are also a key differentiator, making the manufacturer an integral extension for the brand.
“For some of our customers, they send us briefings at the beginning of the season, and we prepare the collection starting with the fabric going to silhouettes and colors,” Petch said. Textimax R&D also works constantly in new and sustainable developments to offer innovation and the latest trends to their customers. The company produces 1,200 samples a week. With allover printing, screen printing and laundry capabilities, Petch said, “we pretty much have everything under the same roof.”
Thanks to the convenience and reliability it offers, Textimax has garnered a portfolio full of retail partners, including mall staples, discount clubs and major off-price chains. In some cases, the retailers rely on Textimax to help them get back into goods that have proven to be top sellers. In others, the brands use small runs from Textimax to test the market before committing to larger deliveries. Additionally, the manufacturer powers retailers’ in-stock programs. “We work with brands on VMI [vendor management inventory] programs,” he said. “We keep yarn in stock and we turn their programs in 45 days.
Due to the free trade agreement between the U.S. and Peru, Textimax clients enjoy the added benefit from working there. The manufacturer is also keeping step with the industry’s sustainability movement. It is a member of the Higg Index, and it is WRAP and Oeko-Tex certified for its social responsibility.
Learn more about working with Textimax on the company’s website here.