Apparel Case Studies Samples For Students

In a quick span of time, American Apparel has emerged as one of the leading Apparel companies in the US with a unique business strategy of appealing to consumers who look for natural beauty. Over the years since it was founded, American Apparel has earned reputation for its policies like sweatshop-free environment, and environmentally friendly business practices. These policies have made it one of the most respected apparel manufacturer in USA. It continually implemented social welfare programs for its employees like English language training, medical care, and job security. But the company has been facing an allegation regarding some its business practices ...

A Tale of Two Markets: NYC Subway Line

Executive summary of the case
The case, “A Tale of Two Markets: NYC Subway Line” speaks about the various business establishment strategies applied by Lynne Lambert during her pursuit to establish her brand NYC Subway Line and the line of products used the New York Lifestyle based positioning. The case describes how Lynne tried to channel across the conventional distribution system of the apparel retail markets and tried to develop retail sales for her products in two different markets, the gift retail, and the apparel retail markets. The case study provides an elaborate detail of the competition, costing, distribution, ...

Introduction

Lululemon Athletica, Inc. is a leading designer as well as retailer of top-end yoga and sports apparel. The company was established by Chip Wilson in 1998 in Vancouver and has been operating mostly in New Zealand, Australia, and North America. Wilson created Lululemon Athletica, Inc. to address the unique preferences as well as needs of women, but later the management decided to increase its market target. As a result, the company started designing and retailing yoga and athletic apparel for the female youths and men. The company reaches out its potential customers through instructors and yoga studios. It is ...

Introduction

The entrance in the sport apparel and footwear arena of Under Armour, a relatively young sports brand followed its founder, Kevin Plank’s mission to provide athletes with fabrics that would prevent the accumulation of sweat, allowing them to focus on their games. This is still the company’s mission today: “Our mission. To make all athletes better through passion, design and relentless pursuit of innovation” (Thompson 53; Under Armour official website). Mission statements should answer the question why the company exists, it should be short, memorable, inspiring, market focused, indicate what the company wants to be remembered for ...

Environmental Scan

Under Armour is a sporting apparel manufacturer and wholesaler for women, men and youth. Their products feature special moisture-wick fabrics engineered in a diverse range of styles and designs for the performance athlete in any climate and at any age. Under Armour's products are worn by athletes at all levels including professional as well as consumers living active lifestyles. In 2015, Under Armour grew approximately 20% in revenues from year prior, generating global revenues of $4..9 billion and maintaining an operating income of $503 million.(Mann 2016) The majority of its net revenues are generated from wholesale sales of ...

Abstract

In the current global economies, organizations aim at achieving competitive advantage given the intensified competition in the global market. This can be related to the story of Under Armor Inc from 1996, where the founder Kevin Plank aimed at making superior T-shirts. The idea originated from the fact that he was a former student and football player in University of Maryland.

Under Armor Strategic Management

In the current global economies, organizations aim at achieving competitive advantage given the intensified competition in the global market. This can be related to the story of Under Armor Inc from 1996, where the founder Kevin Plank aimed at ...

Statement of the Problem

1. Mueller-Lehmkuhl GmbH (MLG) is a major producer of apparel fasteners. It has corned the European market with its 17% average market share and is operating in nine European countries among others. It also has stretched its markets as far as Africa, as a result of joint-venturing with the German subsidiary of a large American company called Atlas.
2. The European market for apparel fasteners is sizeable. In 1986, the estimated sales value of the apparel fastener industry exceeds half a billion US$. Given that the market operates in a seemingly oligopolistic manner, with non-financial barriers to entry, and a growth rate of only ...

Executive Summary

This paper is a summary of how Marks and Spencer (M&S) developed its management style to transition from a traditionally managed, loss-making company to a successful, international, multichannel retailer. The paper also discusses the various planning processes used by M&S, and the leadership styles adopted within M&S.
Although late, but M&S successfully transitioned from a strict hierarchical management structure to a flatter organization that encourages open communication and collaboration among employees and management.
Earlier, planning processes within M&S involved only the senior management. Decisions were taken on a reactive basis and experimented with, which often led to failures. Today, ...

International Business - H&M

H&M is ranked as one of the world’s largest clothing companies and is based in Stockholm, Sweden. As a clothing industry, the company has to ensure it captures the latest fashion trend in order to match the market demand for clothing industry. This is crucial because today’s customers tend to be trendy in terms of the type of clothes they wear. Given the changing dynamic of the fashion culture, the industry has to be cost effective in terms of their production to keep up with the customer’s demand. H&M is large clothing industry, which means it has ...

Statement of the Problem

Mueller-Lehmkuhl GmbH (MLG) is one of the four major suppliers of apparel fasteners in Europe. It currently holds the top position, having a 17% share of the whole market but is closely followed by major competitors having almost the same market share. As such, the mature market for apparel fasteners works under an almost-oligopolistic system wherein there are a lot of buyers and a few sellers. Coupled with long-standing relationships with these clients acting as a barrier to entry, future participants would find competing in this market very difficult.

The surprise entry of Hiroto Industries (HI) not only threatens the business of MGL, ...

Parker & Pine is a new apparel company that is going to launch its very first product - the boxer briefs for the plus-sized men. The company carried out the test launch and received some positive feedback, but now it has to answer two questions in a short period of time: at what price to sell the boxer briefs and what promotional strategy to choose in order to market the products effectively and without the high costs.
The company was founded by Irfan Hajee and Leo Park who had some experience of working for a custom clothing start-up company. Two ...

Regional integration refers to a process of states entering into regional agreement in the bid to enhance regional cooperation following regional rules and institutions. Despite the merits that the process may possess, there are extensive disadvantages that go along with regional integration. This element of trade may become exclusively significant through combination with other factors that may enhance performance. Having proper understanding of free trade, various measures must be undertaken.
Free trade is a major policy in international trade. Following the exclusive drawbacks of regional integration, free trade should not be allowed to take its natural course. One of the ...

Global and regional free trade

H &M ranks as the second largest in terms of world retailers. It is located at Stockholm in Sweden. Its main competitor in this industry is Zara, Top Shop and Gap among others. It is one of the firms that are categorized as the first component of “fast fashion”. H&M holds the primary objective of producing fast in a way that is cost efficient. This favors a vertical integration model of design. This is by producing, delivery and making sales in time. The reason that makes it apply this model is for it to enjoy the large market share in the ...

Gap Inc. is a retailer located at America at San Francisco that deals with clothing and accessories. It was founded in year 1969. It is one of the world largest giant's dealers in the apparel retailers. It has more than 3000 stores and branches in the united state, Canada, Britain France, Ireland and Japan. In 2009, it registered fiscal revenue of 14.2 billion dollars. This shows how it operates at great budget and has high revenue. Therefore, the profit margin is also high. The most apparel brand in the word that it operates is five and consists of Piperlime, Antheta, ...

Statement of the Problem

1. Mueller-Lehmkuhl GmbH (MLG) is one of the four major suppliers of apparel fasteners in Europe, having a 17% market share.
2. The market is acting in an almost-oligopolistic manner. Barriers to entry include a long-standing business relationship between sellers and buyers. The $551 million European market is also very mature, growing 1% annually.
3. MLG is limited by its recent joint venture with an American firm in terms of possible other markets. Its strongest hold is the European market which is the main source of its revenues. In 1986, MLG is profitable company, with gross revenues of 103 ...

Mueller-Lehmkuhl GmbH:

Statement of the Problem

Mueller-Lehmkuhl GmbH (MLG) is in a very curious position. In 1985, MLG was comfortably perched on top of the European apparel fastener industry, and while it has neither technological advantage nor other competitive strength against rivals, it has protected market share due to its long-standing relationship with its customers.
A new competitor has entered the mature European market, called Hiroto Industries (HI). HI has completely changed the landscape by successfully entering the market by giving a 20% discount to MLG’s prices and by attacking the high volume low-quality segment of the market, which makes up ...

[First Name Last Name]

Five Key Elements Of Lululemon’s Strategy
There are five key elements of Lululemon’s strategy, which includes the following;
International Expansion: The primary strategic objective of Lululemon was to double its size in the United States by adding new stores in order to strengthen its presence while tapping the new geographical markets in Canada and North America.
Increased Brand Awareness: In order to enhance the brand awareness among people, Lululemon leveraged the marketing by opening up a new store with aggressive grass-roots marketing approach, which specifically exploits brand ambassadors such as yoga instructors and ...

Under Armour has managed to increase its competitive edge by incorporating a variety marketing strategies for the realization of sports accessories and performance apparel. The company ensured that most of its athletes get the appropriate facilities and training to enhance their design and passion for sporting activities. They set up initiative or programs that allow the athletes to engage in innovative sporting activities. The company established a strategy that advocated for the marketing, distribution and development of the branded footwear, performance apparel and accessories for both genders. The marketing strategy is among the substantial Under Armour’s competitive force ...

SWOT Analysis

The mid 2008 and early 2009 of the Lululemon Athletica’s growth was focused from a specialty retailer leaning on a single niche market to a publicly traded international firm, was characterized by critical opportunities, strengths, however long-term sustainability under the leadership of Christine McCormick Day called for the mitigation of the threats and weaknesses posed by the external market forces and competitors.

Strengths

Lululemon avoided the traditional marketing strategy of hiring the high-priced sports celebrities to model its outfits –this marked the company’s product and marketing strengths. This made Lululemon spend almost nothing on the advertising expenditures beyond ...

Disruptive Business Models

Disruptive innovation model, which explains why the world’s largest companies fail with the advent of new technologies, was named one of the most important for modern business. The author of this concept, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, who wrote the book “The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (originally published in 1997), led Thinkers50 rating of the most notable business thinkers in 2011 and 2013 (Thinkers50, 2013). According to Christensen’s model, at the time the new technology occurs in the market, it is still very flawed, and by most of the ...

Marketing for Kids: A New Perspective

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
With the help of new, kid- friendly technologies, are savvy marketers gaining a sort of advantage over parents? Are toy marketers like Ganz , food marketers like McDonald’s and kid-apparel retailers such as 77kids by American Eagle too desperate to target kids? Some of the kids like Isabella Sweet spend almost an hour a day on Webkinz website. The site posts ads that reward kids with virtual currency that they can use to create sophisticated rooms for digital version of their Webkinz pets.
The world of kids-marketing has become extremely complex and tech-friendly. Marketers have become innovative ...

English

Introduction
New Balance is a privately held athletic footwear and apparel manufacturer in the US. Based in Boston, New Balance was founded in 1906, and is the only major company manufacturing its products in the US and labeling them as “Made in the USA.” The company has 200 stores across the globe and operates through five factories in the US and one in UK. The company is private and is not obliged to commit towards its employees or the society as a whole. But that is not the case. The best demonstration of commitment was during the recession of 2007-2009, ...

Statement of the Problem

1. Mueller-Lehmkuhl GmbH (MLG) is a major producer of apparel fasteners. It has a market share of 17% and competes in an industry whose growth is projected to be just 1% every year.
2. MLG’s business model is to produce fasteners for the apparel industry and to support the sales by forming close relationships with its clients. To do so, it offers the sale or rental of attaching machines, free-of-charge maintenance, and has developed an over-all R&D, general management and distribution network to maintain its hold on the market.
3. MLG is currently threatened by a new player ...

Statement of the Problem (1 page)

Mueller-Lehmkuhl GmbH (MLG) is a German producer of apparel fasteners. In 1982, it formed a joint venture with the German subsidiary of the Atlas group, an American multinational for the purpose of benefiting from MLG’s technological superiority and access to other markets through the Atlas subsidiary. However, the effect of the joint venture essentially was the limiting of MLG’s markets to Europe and Africa.
MLG is one of the major competitors in the very mature European market for apparel fasteners. Its market share is currently 17% (although three other firms have about the same market share), taking a slightly ...

The current paper is committed to the analysis of Lululemon athletica. When conducting this analysis, a conclusive situational analysis of the organization is made. To help analyze both the internal and external environments of the organization, its SWOT analysis is undertaken using the information presented in the case study. This then leads to the development of the problem statement, and available alternatives. The paper ends with a recommendation where the author suggests the best alternative as well as the best plan of implementation.
Headed by Chip Wilson, Lululemon athletica was founded in 1998 by a group of athletes. Since its inception ...

Marketing Analysis

Harrington Collection is a retailer and manufacturer of female’s apparel has suffered loss because of poor sales and low margins. The company is now considering option of an active-wear production line, and is expecting that it will conclude poor performance and poor sales of the company. In this regard, active-wear is appropriate with rigor division. In the rigor division, the target market is females of ages between 25 to 50 years, and has an average household income of more than $75,000. The company found via surveys that people who are loyal to brand were enthusiastic and interested ...

Business Strategy Analysis

One characteristic attribute of the fashion industry is its predisposition to change; therefore, an innovative product may become irrelevant and lose market share within a short period. Consequently, this element necessitates for continuous product development coupled with market research to maintain a competitive advantage. In some industries, having a R&D department is a competitive edge, but in the fashion sector, it is a survival tool. These rapid changes in the industry are not limited to products only, as marketing tactics and other business strategies need to be constantly reviewed. The emphasis on customer engagement is increasing in this sector ...

VF’s Supply Chain Design

Like other companies, the economic crisis of 2008-09 took a toll on VF Brands. However, beyond the crisis, there was another obstacle standing in the company’s way of success. The President of the company discovered long-term structural changes throughout the apparel industry that could call for major changes when it came to how the company managed its supply chain. The company had to find cost saving ways of managing their supply chain. This paper discusses the positive and negative aspects, as well as the issues and concerns that come along with VF Brand’s supply chain.
In the ...

‘Fashion and quality at the best price’ is the motto on which H&M bases its business concept. H&M had humble beginnings over sixty years ago in Vasteras, Sweden. It is now a highly successful, contemporary fashion group with a global reach. H&M’s Annual Report for FY 2013 reported 3,132 department stores worldwide; H&M department stores are now in 53 countries.

Outward processing trade (OPT) agreements work well for many segments of the textile production and marketing sectors. OPT is better than free trade regulations for H&M when using production facilities in countries in closer proximity to ...

Executive Summary

The athletes industry is highly competitive and unpredictable for organizations that venture. As such, the industry has been dominated by companies such as Adidas and Nike. Accordingly, the aforesaid companies that have sustained market dominance have controlled the sports apparel and footwear sector for decades. As well, the market dominance by the various companies has been as a result of clear comprehension of the market of operation. Nonetheless, Under Amour has emerged as a formidable force within the athletes industry. As a new company with less than 30 years of experience, the organization has been growing tremendously. Accordingly, the tremendous growth of ...

Abstract

JC Penney is one of the largest retail stores in the world. It has a century long history of success. JC Penney has seen many big changes over the last 100 years in its product portfolio. However, the last effort to change it brand image went horribly wrong. It lost almost 33% of its customer base within a year, biggest in the history of retail industry. However, it has now realized that it needs to stick to its tried and tested brand image and also the operational tactics that have succeeded for the last 4 decades. Once those are in place, ...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Protecting the House of Under Armour
Patrick Kraft and Jason W. Lee’s article “Protecting the House of Under Armour” tells the story of a “young and up-and-coming” brand (2009, p. 112), Under Armour, who has become the leader of performance apparel, with an uncontested 75% market share, by applying innovative and efficient marketing strategies. Competing against globally renown brands such as Nike and Adidas, the mission of Under Armour, to become a reputable brand in the sportswear market was not an easy one, yet the company succeeded in making its products highly appreciated by athletes around the world, positioning ...

Question 1: Examine the following ratios below, and conduct a three-year ratio analysis. Start think about the general trend of the ratios in each category for the 3-year period.Profitability Ratios

Liquidity and Solvency Ratios

Question 2: Interpret the ratios in each category and try to link them together to provide a coherent summarized viewpoint of the company financial situation. Be creative and analytical.
Let’s first look at the profitability ratios of the company. The company always has a very healthy Gross profit margin so the manufacturing/outsourcing capability of the company was always its stronghold. However the massive drop of margin from Gross Margin to ...

An Upscale Sporting Goods Retailer Becomes A Leader In Trendy Apparel

Answer # 1:
A&F is a very old and renowned brand. It was started as a small scale business in the end of the 19th century by two business partners Abercrombie and Fitch. It indulged in producing several different products with time with the change in customer wants. It was established as a sporting goods retailer which later became a leader of the market in retailing trendy apparel with several stores in line (Rovenpor, 2007).
In the early 1900’s A&F was in the starting stage. It faced several management issues and change in the business line with time. This business was ...

In a hugely competitive apparel market, Levi Strauss & Co. is struggling to keep up the impressive sales figures. Not only are sales declining, but the available market share is also shrinking, with competition growing. Furthermore, Levi Strauss & Co. also needs to decide on their distribution channels as well as on the types of brands to be marketed within the Denim market, not to mention the type of approach to take when dealing with Wal-Mart, a potentially important partner within the apparel market. The most pressing problem for Levi Strauss & Co. is however, dealing with the rising debts, while at the same ...

Statement of the Problem

1. The European market for fashion apparel fastener operates in an almost-oligopolistic manner. The market is $551 million in approximate value, growing at 1% annually.
2. Mueller-Lehmkuhl GmbH (MLG) is a major player, having 17% market share. MLG’s business model incoprates the production of fasteners and the production of specialized attaching machines. The attaching machines are a cost center, not gaining a lot of revenues for MLG but serves as a way of controlling market share.
3. Hiroto Industries (HI) is a new entrant in the market and is threatening the business of MGL. It gained foothold a 7.2% stake in the ...

The business organization under analysis in this case is Mueller-Lemhmkuhl that is involved in production and sale of apparel fasteners and it is located in Germany, Europe. The company has operations on the international front though it is faced with multiple challenges that inhibit is profitability and market dominance. The cost accounting model used has flaws and impinges on pricing of fasteners leading to reduced earnings due to intense competition from rivals. The President of the company, Dr. Richard Welkers attested that HI, a Japanese firm poses a great challenge to Mueller- Lemhmkuhl due to their price wars, as they price ...

Summary of the Analysis

The mission statement of the company is efficient because it states what Amazon is, what it does, and why it exists, which are critical features. It also provides a guideline for the pricing strategy of the corporation; for instance, its choice to offer the lowest prices for quality products makes it very attractive to online shoppers. The firm formulates and implements its grand strategies, such as pricing, integration, diversification, location, and pricing based on its vision and mission statements. The SWOT analysis reveals that it has significant strengths that give it a competitive edge over its competitors. It also ...

Background

Information communication technology has created a new paradigm in how people communicate in both their personal and business lives. Social networking services have created the capability to create virtual identities that are simple to manage. Technologists consulting with enterprise have proposed different ideas with regard to how social networking can add value to organizations. Wooqer is a cloud-based solution that operates as a graphic interface that manages employee communications with a multitude of communication media. Audio, video, word processing, spreadsheets and presentations can all be managed with the Wooqer package (Venkatagiri & Prakash, 2013). Wooqer uses worker interactions with the ...

How has Aurora Textile performed over the past four years? Be prepared to provide financial ratios that present a clear picture of Aurora’s financial condition
On the basis of financial statement overlook and the outcome of the financial ratios, we found that over the period of 1999-2002, the company’s financial performance was bearish. Moreover, just like the other companies in the industry, even the company had not considered the possible impact and consequently lost its financial standing.
Beginning with the revenue figures, the amount has been decreasing consistently and plummeted from $245.90 million to $147.503 million by ...

Introduction

Marks & Spencer is a successful international group of clothing retailer, food, homeware and financial services company. Its excellent marketing strategy turned it into a billion dollar international group in terms of annual sales. However, the emergence of a more competitive market leads to slow growth, which required a reconsideration of their business strategy. The system that once worked for the international company has become its liability with the occurrence of market decline sometime in 1998. They later found that buying for two seasons of the year and phase buying for the rest of the season was no longer advantageous ...

[Student]
[Professor]

Introduction

Over the years, Benetton Group has successfully operated in the fashion industry with its effective supply chain strategy but currently, things are quickly changing for the Benetton as competition is becoming fierce with competitors such as Inditex and H&M, pushing hard for the market share. Moreover, the global spending in the fashion sector in Europe is also a concern for the Benetton as it needs to now explore new lucrative markets for its products.

Benetton needs to reorganize its activities as the current strategy is not working for the group. In this situation, the company must devise a ...

Internal environmental analysis

Overview of Sara Lee’s market performance and developments
Every business is driven by key objectives that it uses to evaluate the extent to which it has progressed since its inception. These key factors are Market share, profitability and value of a share. Sara Lee Corporation‘s management used these key indicators to assess its progress until they resolved to strategize its business segments to manageable sectors. (Thompson & Gamble,2010).
Sara Lee has extended its growth over the last 70 years through acquisition of different enterprises to increase its pool of risk and projected revenue basket. Appointment of ...

Summary of Main Issues Discussed within the Case Study

Further, the author talks about OPT contracts and how they have been beneficial to countries located within Europe. OPT contracts refer to agreements through which firms within the Euro Zone are protected from stiff competition from other regions such as China due to the production costs differential. One of the privileges they enjoy is the freedom to export temporarily. One of the countries that have gained from OPT agreements is Romania, which is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. This is because OPT agreements led to a significant increase in the orders made from Europe. This in turn ...

This paper is going to present a discussion on Nike’s main officers, their compensations and some corporate governance issues that the company is facing.

Nike’s Main Officers

The main officers in Nike include Philip Knight, the chairperson of the Board of Directors; Mark Parker, the President, CEO, and a member of the Executive Committee; Donald Blair, the Executive Vice President and also the Chief Financial Officer; Trevor Edwards, President of Nike Inc. Brand; Jeanne Jackson, President, product and Merchandising; Erick Sprunk, the Chief Operating Officer (Nike Inc., 2014).

Brief Description Officers

Philip Knight
Knight is Nike’s Chairman of the Board of Directors. He moved ...

One of the most important elements of organization management is to create a respectable and credible corporate image. An organization’s corporate image will affect the rest of its activities ranging from product sales to market stock. Every organization worth its salt must weigh its options for delivering a suitable corporate image carefully (Guth & Macmillan, 96). If the organization intends to create a discrete image with a low public profile then it may be forced to be accustomed to small and simple organization structure and knowing its customers extremely well. On the other hand, if the organization intends to create a large and renowned ...

- What is the "Third Way?" Is it a good or bad strategy? Why do you say this? If you were CEO of the company would you endorse it? Why or why not?
Vanity Fair is one of the biggest apparel companies in the world. The company started with several company-owned manufacturing facilities that became very efficient (i.e. they set the standard in the industry) but because of the company’s growth plans, they had to source production from international suppliers. This put a huge pressure on their capabilities to manage their supply chain efficiently, given that they still own ...

Outputs at the Different Levels of the Company

Introduction
The aim of the current case study is to evaluate organizational performance from the Congruence Model for Organization Analysis perspective. The paper represents an attempt to trace organizational performance from three different perspectives: individual, group, and system. Also, the paper is targeted to analyze the level of interaction between three organizational levels and evaluate the overall performance.
1. Congruence Model for Organizational Analysis
1.1 Description of Nadler-Trushman Congruence Model
One of the approaches to the organizational overall performance was developed by Nadler and Trushman in 1977. The model consists of three components: inputs, transformation ...

The latest annual report for the Amazon.com, Inc. was released on 14^th December, 2010 and covers 2009 financial year. The year officially ended or dates 31^st December 2009. The report is titled ‘2009 Annual Report’ and begins with a brief statement addressed to its shareholders. Like the last thirteen annual reports since the year 1997, the report contains a brief statement as a letter directed to the firm’s shareowners which bears a signature of the firm’s founder: Jeffrey P. Bezos. The statement also shows an executive post of Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) being held by ...