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ApparelMagic Case Study Swannies Golf Apparel

Driving Success: Swannies Golf Apparel’s Growth with ApparelMagic

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Challenge

Swannies Golf Apparel embarked on their journey in 2015, seeking to disrupt the traditional golf apparel industry. A few short years later, Swannies quickly reached exciting milestones and found themselves confronting the challenges of managing a growing team and expanding customer base.

As they expanded, their reliance on spreadsheets and outdated systems became increasingly impractical. With aspirations to scale further, they needed a solution that could support their growth trajectory.

The ApparelMagic Solution

In their quest for a comprehensive solution, Swannies turned to ApparelMagic over five years ago. Recognizing the potential of ApparelMagic ERP’s capabilities, they implemented the platform to streamline their operations. As their wholesale customer base grew to over 3000, ApparelMagic remained a steadfast partner throughout their journey, providing the essential infrastructure needed to manage their business efficiently.

A pivotal moment in their partnership with ApparelMagic occurred when they collaborated with the development team to launch the ATP (Available to Promise) calculations. This functionality was especially critical for a business model like Swannies’, providing the confidence needed to continue scaling. With ATP calculations in place, Swannies could better manage their ordering processes, ensuring they could fulfill customer demands accurately.

Results

Swannies’ growth since implementing ApparelMagic has been nothing short of remarkable. In terms of revenue, Swannies is now approximately 100 times the size from when they started using the system. As such, ApparelMagic has been an integral part of their success story. The platform has continuously scaled alongside Swannies, providing the necessary tools and support to navigate their surge.

Looking ahead, Swannies anticipates many more years of growth with ApparelMagic by their side. The platform’s adaptability and functionality continue to be instrumental in their success, empowering Swannies to achieve their ambitious goals and solidify their position as industry disruptors in the golf apparel market.

Conclusion

Through their partnership with ApparelMagic, Swannies Golf Apparel has demonstrated how the right ERP solution can act as a catalyst for advancement and streamline operations for apparel businesses of all sizes. With a robust platform and dedicated support team, ApparelMagic has aided Swannies in evolving from a startup to a thriving enterprise, setting the stage for continued success in the years to come.

How Gameday Social Replaced Spreadsheets with a Purpose-Built Fashion ERP

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Challenge: Streamlining Operations for a Rapidly Growing Apparel Brand

Gameday Social, a certified women-owned company based in South Dakota, has experienced rapid growth since 2021. Specializing in elevated, trend-driven licensed sports apparel for female fans aged 21 to 40, the company positioned itself uniquely in the market. Like with most success stories, challenges came about along the way – Particularly in managing operations efficiently in this case. Prior to adopting ApparelMagic, Gameday Social relied on a combination of spreadsheets, warehouse management software, and QuickBooks, resulting in a non-scalable and hectic method. 

The ApparelMagic Solution

In search of a more tailored solution for the apparel industry, Gameday Social discovered ApparelMagic. Finding an ERP system specifically designed for fashion was a priority. ApparelMagic stood out as a solution that understood the nuances of the fashion industry, distinguishing it from other generic manufacturing and warehouse management options.

ApparelMagic addressed Gameday Social’s challenges by providing a comprehensive platform that integrated inventory management, order fulfillment, and streamlined B2B processes. The scalability of the system was a crucial factor for Gameday Social, as it not only met their current needs but also positioned them for significant future growth. 

The implementation of ApparelMagic allowed the company to transition away from time-consuming manual processes, providing end-to-end efficiency and freeing up their team for strategic tasks like product development.

Results:

The positive impact of ApparelMagic on Gameday Social has been evident in various aspects of their operations:

  1. Efficiency Gains: The system’s user-friendliness and quick response times significantly reduced the time spent on manual workarounds. This newfound efficiency allowed Gameday Social’s team to focus more on what truly matters: growth strategy.
  2. Scalability: Gameday Social reported that ApparelMagic not only met their current needs but could easily accommodate future growth. The platform’s scalability became a pivotal factor in positioning the company for ongoing success.
  3. Quick Onboarding: Onboarding new sales representatives became a seamless process with ApparelMagic. The intuitive nature of the platform minimized the need for extensive training, allowing the new team members to navigate the system quickly. 

ApparelMagic proved to be a transformative solution for Gameday Social. If you’re also looking for a solution to help you streamline processes in the competitive world of fashion, book a demo to see if ApparelMagic is right for you.

How Bridge & Burn Enhanced Operations to Solve Inventory Challenges

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Challenge: Streamlining Operations and Inventory Management

In late 2022, Bridge & Burn, under new ownership, faced the immediate challenge of streamlining operations and gaining control over their unique inventory management needs. The company’s commitment to custom-developed fabrics and small-batch production required a robust solution that could seamlessly handle B2B, inventory, development, and invoicing, all while accommodating the complexities of their specialized inventory partitioning.

The ApparelMagic Solution: A Unified Hub Tailored to Apparel Brands

Enter ApparelMagic, the comprehensive ERP solution that became the backbone in Bridge & Burn’s quest for operational efficiency. Taylor Murray, the owner, notes that ApparelMagic allowed them to consolidate various functions under one roof, eliminating the need for expensive third-party apps. 

This central hub not only streamlined their processes but also facilitated easy integration with essential apps like Xero and Shipstation, minimizing the disruption of their existing workflows.

While ApparelMagic offers numerous features, the Bridge & Burn team is most excited about its unparalleled inventory management capabilities. The software’s flexibility enabled the company to efficiently organize their inventory based on the detailed needs of their operations.

Utilizing ApparelMagic’s barcode scanning for inventory maintenance, purchase order (PO) creation, and PO receiving, Bridge & Burn saved time, increased accuracy, and gained invaluable insights into their operations.

“The fact that ApparelMagic is set up exactly for apparel is incredibly helpful. You don’t need to do any type of workarounds or anything. It’s just there and it works, which is the number one thing for us.”

Results: Operational Gains and Cost Savings

The implementation of ApparelMagic resulted in tangible benefits for Bridge & Burn. The software’s user-friendly design, tailored for the apparel industry, eliminated the need for tedious workarounds, reducing the likelihood of errors. 

The efficiency gains from improved inventory management translated directly into cost savings and increased satisfaction among both staff and customers.

Bridge & Burn had previous experience with other ERP providers, but none matched the tailored usability and effectiveness of ApparelMagic, especially in the apparel industry. The software’s seamless integration with existing tools, coupled with its flexibility in handling unique inventory challenges, made it the clear choice for the company’s needs.

Furthermore, the collaboration with ApparelMagic’s development team allowed Bridge & Burn to contribute to the enhancement of the software. Their joint effort resulted in the roll out of the “Feedback” module, a valuable addition for adding notes and images to tech packs, thereby improving factory communication, reducing errors, and saving time.

Future Steps: Continuing the Journey with ApparelMagic

In summary, ApparelMagic has not only met Bridge & Burn’s immediate challenges but has also positioned itself as a long-term partner in their growth journey. The software’s adaptability, integration capabilities, and ongoing support have proven instrumental in helping Bridge & Burn navigate the unique complexities of the apparel industry.

Hype and Vice leaves Google Sheets behind to optimize operations with ApparelMagic

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College merch is suddenly cool. The merch revolution, starting with classic rock band tees and then moving into arts-adjacent tote bags has now made its way into collegiate apparel. But we’re not talking about standard-issue baseball caps and hooded sweatshirts. These are not your dad’s lucky jerseys.

What’s really hitting campus stadiums on game day is a whole new breed of school spirit that finds itself on crop tops, pleated skirts, and shrunken puffer jackets. And it wouldn’t have happened unless Hype and Vice cofounders Cecilia Gonzalez and Kimberly Robles entered the college apparel market.

“We were both college roommates back then,” remembers Kimberly Robles, “and the whole idea started just because we went to the USC tailgates and all the girls were cutting up T-shirts that were just available at the bookstore. They mostly wanted crop tops, bandana tops, and then a lot of them used to buy little kids-size skirts that weren’t available in adult sizes.”

It dawned on the pair that there was a gap in the market, and their unique position gave them a new perspective that hadn’t dawned on the established college apparel businesses, mostly run by men.

“No one is doing adult clothes that girls actually wanted to wear,” Robles says. “We looked, we did our research, and we found that no one else was doing it. There was not a brand catering to that specific woman. And that’s how the whole idea started.”

From there, they were off to the races, slowly building up a stable of licensed deals with universities. After a few signed on, Hype and Vice started to gain credibility and watch their growth snowball.

As they grew, the team needed more sophisticated software to track their sales and guide strategy.

“We grew a lot last year,” Robles says. “That was our inflection point, and we needed a system. We couldn’t keep doing this manually on a million Google sheets.”

Robles says they turned to ApparelMagic after researching their options and seeing how user-friendly and visually-oriented the software is, a nonnegotiable for their design-focused team. And once they started using it, the benefits were obvious.

“Now there is one place everybody can access to look at orders,” Robles says. “It’s definitely a time-saver because we used to do everything very manually. Now everything’s automatic.”

So what’s next for Hype and Vice?

“We’re right now at 192 schools,” Robles says.”I think the goal for this year is to get licenses that we’re missing for the NCAA, and then continue growing wholesale. That’s the area that’s been growing a lot for us, so definitely getting into top retailers.”

Sights are set high, and with the brand’s trajectory, Hype and Vice looks likely to keep this momentum going.

H&H Sports Protection boosts customer satisfaction with ApparelMagic Desktop to Cloud move

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Established in 1992, H&H Sports Protection is no newcomer to the industry. They’ve seen trends come and go, weathered the ups and downs, and kept up with the newest technologies along the way.

The company, behind the major motorcycle helmet and accessory brands Just1 Racing and Torc, is an international powerhouse, with a footprint covering China, Italy, and the United States.

“We go deep in this industry,” H&H Sports Protection CEO Peter Miao says. “We’re not just manufacturing, we actually design and develop new projects, promote our brands, and promote sports events in Asia.”

With this kind of worldwide reach, taking orders and payments has always been a challenge, but one that they’ve been solving with ApparelMagic.

Way back in 2016, Miao’s team recognized a need in their business to process credit cards, and they came across an earlier server-based incarnation of ApparelMagic. The software’s merchant functions were more than enough to win them over, and they began using it as the backbone of their business. Over the next five years, they continued to use the server-based ERP, but were soon looking for alternatives to maintaining and upgrading their remote server. 

As Miao looked into alternatives, he came across the cloud-based version of ApparelMagic. Seeing the ability to integrate to many services and get away from headaches associated with server hosting, he pulled the trigger.

“I made a subscription for just one user to try and test it,” Miao says, then hiring a consultant to migrate the company’s data while ensuring none of the core business functions would be affected. “It was a smooth process.”

As of January 2021, H&H was good to go, and already they were experiencing the benefits of the state-of-the-art tech. Suddenly his team could turn their attention away from repetitive tasks as ApparelMagic and services like ShipStation took care of them behind the scenes.

“A lot of manual work had to be done,” Miao says. “But now, all the work could be automated. It improves efficiency, but also, because we have the energy and resources, improves the customer satisfaction level. It’s a win-win.”

Beyond their daily workflow, H&H has innovated in their selling process by using ApparelMagic’s built-in B2B sales tools. Rather than sending PDFs back and forth, customers can now check available inventory and create their own orders online with a true wholesale ecommerce experience.

“Customers don’t need to write emails anymore. They don’t need to call reps. They don’t need to remember SKU numbers,” Miao says. “It’s a very easy process.”

The B2B site allows customers to find exactly what they need on their own and add it to their shopping carts, saving time for everyone. H&H sales reps often arrive in their California office to new orders East coast customers placed just that morning.

“With the help of ApparelMagic, we are able to offer an ease to customers doing business with us,” Miao says. “We saw a 50% growth in sales in 2022, and we are confident that we will continue growing in 2023.”

How Scott Barber fully integrated all business aspects with ApparelMagic

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Legacy brands have a lot going for them: vendor connections, wholesale distribution networks, and loyal end customers, but they have challenges all their own as they grow to meet challenges of the current era.

Scott Barber, a men’s sportswear line founded nearly 30 years ago in 1994, had steady business for decades and a reputation that preceded it. However, when new management took the business on two years ago, they saw it could reach new heights.

“We’ve given the brand a new life,” says Rosemarie Grieco, Managing Partner of Scott Barber, “by evolving and elevating the collection in the better men’s specialty market, and by expanding our reach on our direct to consumer site.”

This two-pronged approach is the result of fresh thinking and a deep analysis of the Scott Barber business already taking the brand from good to great.

“We are a new team with a new vision,” Grieco says, “and it’s highly appreciated by our retailers!”

As soon as Grieco and her colleagues took on the business, it was clear that outdated technology behind the scenes was holding it back. As a small team, it was important that they could get full control and visibility of each element of the business, and they turned to ApparelMagic to get it done.

“I’m one person,” Grieco says, “so I needed to streamline as much as I could.”

Grieco single-handedly took on the business’s transition to ApparelMagic, integrating their data with built-in tools like line sheets and ApparelMagic Pay, as well as connecting with outside service providers like QuickBooks, NuOrder, and Shopify.

“Every aspect of the business can be run through ApparelMagic,” Grieco says, “and that’s what I love.”

For legacy businesses like Scott Barber, ApparelMagic’s multi-channel sales tools and integrations are ideal. With big wholesale customers like department stores eager to keep Scott Barber in their assortments, for example, it was necessary to connect through EDI.

“EDI is so important and critical to run a business because you have trading partners that work that way,” Grieco says. 

Meanwhile, they also do strong business through an online B2C storefront built through Shopify. ApparelMagic’s platform manages all of these sales channels in one convenient place.

With Scott Barber’s priceless brand equity paired with ApparelMagic now taking them to the next level, the future is bright for another 30 years of continued success.

How Frankies Bikinis manages explosive growth with ApparelMagic

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Open Instagram on any fashionista’s phone, and you’re bound to see a a model, celebrity, or friend posed on a photogenic beach or perched at the edge of an infinity pool. And chances are, that glamourous swimsuit she’s wearing is probably Frankie’s.

Frankie’s Bikinis, that is. Starting as a humble mother-daughter business just a decade ago, founder Francesca Aiello has steadily built an international following for her trend-driven swimsuits.

In the past ten years, the brand has went from influencer darling to Victoria’s Secret protege after a minority stake was made by the lingerie and lifestyle giant.

Since its founding, Frankie’s Bikinis has grown to encompass far more than than those bikinis, now offering a healthy assortment of clothing, activewear, and even skincare staples.

Throughout this explosive growth, the team has relied on ApparelMagic to power their business, acting as a central hub that connects sales, distribution, manufacturing, and design.

“We have a little under 40 people at Frankie’s, and all of them are at some point in ApparelMagic,” says Emma Johnson, head of operations.

And better yet, the team has found the onboarding process for the whole team smooth and efficient, with learning resources and trainings provided by ApparelMagic rather than needing to build their own training program.

“I do a mini-training on how we use it specifically,” Johnson says, “But it helps a lot that I don’t have to train someone on a whole platform”

With tools for everything from tech packs to B2B eCommerce to business intelligence, the software is an invaluable part of daily life at Frankie’s. Not only does it manage the product and sales data, but it reaches out to connect with other services like Shopify, keeping a constantly accurate sync of inventory and styles.

ApparelMagic’s ease of integrating is a huge help for a business that is constantly growing and adapting as they reach new heights. As their needs change, users are able to connect to a range of services as well as develop their own using API access.

“Any coder can come in and read the guides and create a custom integration pretty easily,” Johnson says.

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Introducing a comprehensive returns service recently, the team has automated processes and taken headaches out of their standard workflows. As Frankies goes from strength to strength and continues to grow, they’re able to simplify their day-to-day even as their operations become more complex.

Building a business is tough, but as with their swimwear, Frankies Bikinis makes it look effortless.

ApparelMagic helps Dromedaris give their wholesale accounts a sophisticated eCom experience

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It’s no secret that eCommerce has been fashion’s fastest growing sales channel. But that boom hasn’t just come on the consumer end—retail stores are now asking for easier ways to buy.

We’re well past the days of sending excel spreadsheets back and forth, and innovative fashion businesses like the footwear brand Dromedaris have begun selling to their wholesale accounts via sophisticated B2B stores that take all the friction out of making the sale.

Dromedaris, winner of our B2B Store Showcase award, has a beautiful wholesale store they built using ApparelMagic’s new B2B ecommerce platform.

We spoke to Amanda Malis of Dromedaris about how changing technology and expectations combined with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic led Malis and her team to launch online wholesale.

“B2B actually came at a really great time,” Malis says. “Our retail customers aren’t seeing our products in person.”

The challenge became how to get their footwear—cool, statement-making boots for women—in front of buyers without physically being in the same room. Other approaches worked for a time, but a more permanent solution was needed.

“We had physical catalogs at one point,” Malis says. “but now everything can be in our B2B site.”

The new Dromedaris wholesale site gives retailers everything they need to put together assortments for their stores.

“They are able to view our catalogs, stock levels and prices, access marketing material, administrative documents and customer reviews for buying guidance, as well as complete orders at their own convenience.”

It’s a streamlined experience for the customers, and even from the brand side, they’ve seen an immediate benefit of orders rolling in with less friction.

“They used to have to either email or call us,” Malis says. “It’s helped a lot with our customer service, because I don’t have to take as many calls or emails. Customers can put their orders in themselves.”

It goes without saying though that even for a wholesale customer, the eCommerce experience has to be top-notch to make that sale. Using the visual style the brand is known for, the Dromedaris B2B store has the same panache as their direct-to-consumer shopping experience. Lifestyle imagery and polished product shots pop off the screen. It’s significantly livelier than a fax or spreadsheet.

“We were able to design the store to resemble our B2C store, which is important for our branding strategy,” Malis says.

The retailers, for their part, are thrilled. They get their orders faster, and can shop the B2B store just like they are shopping for themselves, browsing and adding items to their cart as they go.

“When I talk to my retailers on the phone and tell them about it, they’re excited that they don’t have to wait to hear back from me if we have stock,” Malis says. “The site has brought us many efficiencies and even improved sales due to the wonderful shopping experience it provides.”

In addition to a high quality experience, Dromedaris has been able to implement new sales strategies using the B2B store’s intuitive page-building tools.

“When we have items that are closed out with only a couple items left, it was really hard to get the retailers to know that,” Malis says, “So we created a part on the site that’s called ‘Outlet’ where we promote special offers to the retailers where they can get a great deal on an assortment of shoes.”

Fresh ideas and new implementations of technology are key to running the modern fashion brand, and after building such a successful eCommerce experience for retailers, Malis has high hopes for how Dromedaris will approach the future:

“Not only has the B2B store helped us to transition smoothly into a digital era, but it has allowed us to help our retail customers do the same. We hope to continue to improve and grow using this platform.”

JMP The Label is our Startup of the Year – Less Excel and more expansion

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Launching in March 2021 wouldn’t be an auspicious start for most businesses, but Juliette Porter’s JMP The Label is a striking exception. The influencer, MTV’s Siesta Key star, and now fashion mogul built a swimwear brand when most businesses were treading water.

Porter has been the one to watch, being named the Emerging Fashion Influencer of the Year at the American Influencer Awards in 2021. Pairing Porter’s taste and natural affinity with the beach with the skills of fashion industry veterans, JMP The Label is no merch line: it’s a well thought out lifestyle brand.

We spoke to JMP The Label co-founder David Kelleher about the business’s success using ApparelMagic.

“ApparelMagic has allowed us to expand rapidly, while maintaining control of inventory, BOMs, vendor information, and details necessary to stay organized with our 1600 skus—and growing!” Kelleher says.

It wasn’t always this easy though. Like many fashion brands, they hit a bump in the road early on when their commercial success was outpacing growth on the backend of the business.

“Prior to switching over, our information was maintained with various Excel documents, and human error plays such a factor with Excel,” Kelleher says.

By identifying their pain points right away, the team was able to start looking for a solution before any errors started to affect the business.

“Because of the fact that we saw success with sales early on, and that we knew that we wanted to continue to design more styles with more fabrics,” Kelleher says, “we were going to need something that was more robust than Excel. We needed an ERP system, and the sooner we could get to it, the better.”

With the goalposts identified, the next challenge was to find the best system for their needs. Though with a reputation that preceded it, a winner soon became clear.

“We knew we needed to move to an ERP system. We met with a bunch of them, and ApparelMagic seemed to be the industry leader,” Kelleher says.

They moved their business operations to the ApparelMagic platform for its ability to manage everything in one accurate, central hub.

“Trying to figure out how to build a brand on the backend as we scaled: that’s where we saw the worth of the software.”

As a brand that communicates directly with its customers, being able to connect to an eCommerce service was paramount. JMP The Label built a Shopify store using a standard integration between it and ApparelMagic, effortlessly syncing product and order data back and forth.

“The integration into Shopify was so simple, and now that we are able to generate reports on sales, styles, and leftover inventory,” Kelleher says, “2022 is poised to be a great year.”

Now that JMP The Label has the software power behind the scenes, they can concentrate on taking advantage of their growing popularity. As they grow, they know ApparelMagic will continue to support them with new features.

“ApparelMagic is the leader in the industry, and we can’t wait to see where the next few years can take us!”

Learn more about JMP The Label here.

Calder Carmel is ApparelMagic’s 2020 Most Promising Startup

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Mark Calder is no rookie in the menswear game. From stock boy for a haberdasher to creative director of a luxury menswear brand, he has spent decades refining his craft and distilling it into the perfect luxury sport shirts.

In 2018, he put his years of experience center stage when he launched his own shirting line, Calder Carmel, with his merchandising and production manager Kristina Stuckenbrock.

The driving force of the brand isn’t anything new, but it’s something far too hard to find in today’s market.

“The quality will last you forever,” Stuckenbrock says. “We buy from the same mills as top Italian brands, and we use the highest quality fabrics and materials.”

And as if that Italian quality isn’t enough, the design too is special, using exclusively-designed fabrics, unlike the competition, most of whom buy a mill’s collection as-is.

This attention to detail is making a mark. Just two years in business, and they’ve already sold almost 20,000 shirts! The real secret to their success though goes back to the basics: forming positive, sustainable relationships.

“We’re partnering with the best retailers across the United States,” Stuckenbrock says. “Some of them have been in business for a hundred years. They really know their customer.”

And that knowledge is key. Calder’s business strategy is to let retailers do what they do best and provide them with the best products possible, showing real loyalty in the process.

“We really believe in partnering with our customers to sell our product,” Stuckenbrock says. “We’ve taken the position that we don’t want to sell online because we don’t want to compete with our customers.”

While direct-to-consumer sales are many brands’ preferred pivot, this one has its own strategy that precisely suits its market.

“We’ve taken the approach that if we partner with our customers, we’re hoping to gain more market share within their stores because they know we’re not going to be coming up with a fifty-percent-off sale in the middle of November.”

That loyalty goes both ways, and already men are learning about the brand from their favorite specialty stores and becoming repeat customers.

“What’s really exciting is when we hear about how customers in store are reacting to it.” Stuckenbrock says. “We have some dedicated Calder customers now that they call on anytime our shirts arrive!”

Even during 2020’s retail struggles, Calder Carmel worked with their retailers to help them get through a difficult time. Whether it was sending them extra collection photos they could use promoting online, extending payment terms, or shifting delivery dates.

And you know what? It’s worked out. Customers reported their best sell-through numbers this past Fall, even with reduced foot traffic, and some styles even had to be reordered from factories—during a pandemic!

“For this terrible year, we had a positive end to it,” Stuckenbrock says. “We’re confident that we’re going to be able to get back to where we were and see some more increases.”

Alongside their dedicated relationships with retailers and mills, Calder Carmel has been powered by ApparelMagic. For a small team of two, it’s an essential service to get work done efficiently and accurately.

“ApparelMagic helps me do the work of ten people, really,” Stuckenbrock says. “What a gamechanger it’s been for us to easily access information so quickly. We don’t have time to be sorting through Excel documents all the time. When I get a call from a customer, I can tell them what our inventory is.”

And for an era when what can go wrong will go wrong, ApparelMagic has a whole suite of tools to keep businesses on track.

“Without ApparelMagic, we would not be able to instantly report on overdue invoices, upcoming payables, and the many pending orders in the system that remain to be filled,” Stuckenbrock says. “It is truly a lifeline that I am very grateful to have!”

Lola & Sophie wins the 2020 ApparelMagic Growth Award

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With retailers closing down, some for lockdowns and others permanently, fashion brands have had to regroup and rethink their efforts in record time. The businesses who are best set up for success, like ApparelMagic client Lola & Sophie, have completely recalibrated their businesses as we enter a new era.

For Lola & Sophie founder and designer Gene Kagan, it starts with asking the big questions.

“How do we reach our end consumer?” Kagan remembers wondering at the onset of the pandemic and the industry’s mounting retail woes.

For a womenswear brand doing the vast majority of business through wholesale, this past year set the stage for an evolution in strategy.

“In 2019, ecommerce was 10% of our total revenue,” Kagan says. “2020, we’re looking at 30%, and I suspect that 2021 will be a 50% split.”

Those numbers reflect some big changes behind the scenes. Ecommerce sales require some reliable digital infrastructure, and ApparelMagic has been the label’s data powerhouse when it comes to going online.

“ApparelMagic has been instrumental in our pivoting to a direct-to-consumer business model and incredibly flexible with the changes that we needed to make in order to survive this incredibly challenging business environment,” Kagan says.

Kagan’s colleague, ecommerce manager John Cioni, agrees, seeing a myriad of unique ways the brand has used ApparelMagic in recent months.

“At one point we didn’t know who would and who wouldn’t be taking orders,” Cioni says. “So the reporting where we could see projections on our inventory going out into the future was really helpful.”

Cioni cites the ease of working with ApparelMagic’s API to add new functionality to Lola & Sophie’s ecommerce site that all syncs back effortlessly to ApparelMagic.

“We added to our website support for backorder and preorders on styles so we could rapidly recut if need be,” Cioni says. “It’s been great because it allows a revenue stream that may have not been there otherwise. That was huge for us on the ecommerce side of things.”

The new Linesheet Creator tool has also been a welcome surprise for the brand. With more sales appointments remote, their sales team can make quick presentations on the fly.

“What we’ve been doing is custom tailoring linesheets for them to streamline the whole selling process,” Cioni says. “Our in-house sales rep knows her customer. Rather than bogging them down with an hour and a half of product that they will never buy, it’s very tailored to exactly what it is she thinks they could be buying.”

With this kind of thinking, it’s obvious that this isn’t Lola & Sophie’s first rodeo. Having survived fashion’s previous downturn more than a decade ago, the team already knew how to adapt to a changing climate. They knew this was the time to take a few risks to remain relevant.

“We’ve certainly stepped up our efforts with advertising and direct mailings,” Kagan says. “We sent out a catalog at the end of 2020 to go out to 100,000 consumers.”

Why go the route of ink on paper? In an environment of hours-long Zoom meetings and social media scrolling, the opportunity of looking at a physical piece of branding makes for a better connection with Lola & Sophie’s target customers.

“It feels more real than an ad on Instagram or Facebook,” Kagan says. “Our target audience still likes to touch and feel the product before they commit.”

The pandemic has changed a lot of things, but some things, like the fashion industry’s resiliency, prove stronger than ever.

“We’re a creative bunch,” Kagan says. “Give us a challenge and we’ll meet it.”

Portland Garment Factory is ApparelMagic’s 2020 Innovator of the Year

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The saying goes that a crisis shows your true character, and if their approach to 2020 is any indication, Portland Garment Factory is one of fashion’s forces for good.

The Oregon-based factory had been in business for 12 years manufacturing for local and international clients when the pandemic hit. Business slowed right away, according to Donna White, Portland Garment Factory’s operations manager, but they retooled their mission for the short term.

“In March when Covid hit, we saw the loss of projects at the same time that we got word of an impending shortage of PPE in our area,” White says. “We identified two goals for PGF: 1. Stay in business and 2. Be helpers.”

Leveraging their unique position as a domestic manufacturer, Portland Garment Factory immediately saw ways that they could make a difference.

“We hit the ground running and started making medical masks at PGF and selling them at cost to the healthcare community,” White says.

Pivoting to masks ensured that while their production lines might have slowed from client projects, they kept a steady stream of fulfilling work for the team. Their other unique business feature, their online store, aptly named PGF Gift Shop, also became a part of their 2020 plan.

“After the need for medical masks subsided, we started making and selling reusable, cloth masks for the general public as well as custom orders for other businesses and organizations,” White says.

Online among PGF Gift Shop’s offerings is their LeMask, a convertible face mask/head scarf/neckerchief hybrid that for every one sold, they donate a barrier mask to a local nonprofit.

“To date, we’ve made over 60,000 masks in our factory and we’ve donated over 2,700 masks to vulnerable communities.”

In tandem with this shift to producing their own products, they started ramping up their existing offerings including a loose collection of cushions, pet beds, and even clothing and accessories.

The wide variety comes with a message: Portland Garment Factory is a zero-waste facility and items are created using the excess fabric and trims left over from the factory’s client projects. Large scraps turn into attractive patchworks, and tiny leftover pieces of fabric are pulverized and turned into a fluffy filling that beats out conventional synthetic fills in terms of sustainability.

According to White, last year was all about “making the system that we have work to meet the occasion.”

“It’s been a really interesting transition during the pandemic,” White says. “Prior to the pandemic, we were almost exclusively producing client orders at our factory and doing development and full service production.”

Recognizing their business’s capabilities and the pandemic-led push to move more online, they successfully survived–and thrived–in 2020.

“It has been a challenging year but we are grateful that we are still open, and that we’ve had the opportunity to make a positive impact.”

White points to ApparelMagic, the tool they’ve used for the past six years to track and manage their manufacturing, as one system they can rely on when little around them is functioning like normal.

“I’ve had nothing but amazing support from ApparelMagic,” White says.

And what’s next for 2021?

“We’re really hopeful. We’re already experiencing business picking up,” White says. “The kind of business that, pre-pandemic, we relied upon.”

That said, they’re not forgetting what they’ve learned in the past year, and Portland Garment Factory is already planning to expand their gift shop.