Fair Indigo

Certainly you’ve heard this before: The experts strongly urge you to “break down those silos” in your organization. But I’m now wondering whether that’s such a hot idea after all.

Whether you pursue a small niche or the broad mass market, there are few decisions more vital than choosing your merchandise suppliers. Often businesses treat sourcing as an arm of product development; something to be simply spreadsheeted out by a team of analysts who report back to managers on which suppliers will be best for the lines the company plans to offer. That’s not to say a spreadsheet won’t come in handy, but it’s no substitute for digging deeply to figure out what you need from your suppliers and what they can do for you. First and most importantly, define the critical factors that

Below is a comprehensive list of all the articles published in Catalog Success magazine in 2007. If you would like to view stories by issue date, click here. You can also use the Article Archive to search by keyword or topic. CATALOGER PROFILES Cover Stories Chinaberry: “Reinventing the Wheel” by Paul Miller, January After 5/Surf to Summit: “Kayaking and Cocktails” by Paul Miller, February Patagonia: “Shiny Happy People” by Matt Griffin, May Garnet Hill: “A Natural Issue” by Carolyn Heinze, June Fair Indigo: “Playing Fair” by Paul Miller, August The Nailco Group: “More Than Skin Deep” by Carolyn

Bill Bass, president/CEO of fair trade apparel cataloger Fair Indigo, offers catalogers and other multichannel merchants looking to source through fair trade factories, several tips and insights into how and when the fair trade apparel market might develop in the United States. Catalog Success: How do you do it? Bill Bass: Find the factories. There’s not an installed base of factories out there that treats its employees well. You have to go out and spend a lot of time finding them. It takes a lot of work. You have to want to do it and do it enough that you’re willing to figure out other