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Lew Frankfort, Coach’s chief executive, said that over the next five years the company would cut its China production to 40-50 per cent of its total from 85 per cent at present by opening factories in lower-wage economies including India, Vietnam and the Philippines.
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Coach’s plans point to the shift in China’s role from workshop of the world to consumer of first resort. Coach is aiming to make annual sales of $500m in China within the next three years.
The move is also reminder that while China’s consumer class is expanding because incomes are rising, companies manfucturing goods in the country to meet that demand face the risk of narrower profit margins.
Mr Frankfort said: “We are subject to rapid wage increases in China among employees working in the manufacturing sector, which we support. We work with factories to offset high labour costs through improved efficiency and lean manufacturing.”
But he also said: “We are beginning to diversify production out of China into other Asian countries that are not enjoying that level of prosperity.” He was speaking at conference of the Committee of 100, a Chinese-American group in New York.
The Chinese government is trying to encourage a shift in the economy from being heavily export-led to depending more on domestic consumption. As part of that process, it has encouraged a substantial rise in wages in coastal manufacturing cities such as Shenzhen in the past year.
Li & Fung, a Hong Kong-based consumer goods sourcing and logistics company, said in March that wages had risen by 20 per cent in China this year, heralding “a new era in sourcing with higher prices”.
Coach’s sales in China doubled last year to $100m and it is aiming to boost them to $500m by 2014 and secure a 10 per cent share of the luxury accessories market.
Coach has nine stores in Hong Kong, 44 in mainland China, and is planning to add 11 new outlets in this quarter.
“We are pacing our growth. We could profitably open twice or three times the number of stores we open each year,” Mr Frankfort said.
It is especially keen to tap into the market for men’s handbags – or “man bags”. Coach says men account for 45 per cent of spending on handbags and accessories in mainland China, whereas they make up only 25 per cent across Asia and 15 per cent globally.
The ballroom at the Embassy Suites hotel was buzzing with energy re cently when members of Soroptimist International of the Americas (SIA) gathered from across five states for the organization's 85th Southern Region Conference.
The theme for the recent four-day conference in Montgomery was "Building Our Legacy: Hats Off To Soroptimist," and featured a variety of activities with hat-related themes.
This year's conference was hosted by Soroptimist International of Montgomery, under the leadership of president Sylvia Pate. The local club was anxious to showcase the Capital City during the event, which they have not had an opportunity to do since 1986, when Joanne Crane of Montgomery served as the organization's Governor of the Southern Region.
A big hats-off welcome
Soroptimist board members and Federation guests arrived Wednesday evening for a casual dinner at the hotel, continuing with gatherings throughout the day and dinner at Lek's Taste of Thailand on Thursday night. District Director Helen Wilson was among those joining in the early fun.
A member of the Soroptimist's Montgomery Club, Wilson was elected to two terms as a director of the organization, and spearheads leadership for clubs in Columbus, Miss., Columbus, Ga., Atlanta, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery.
She was among those welcoming out-of-town members, who came prepared to have some fun while also getting down to conference business.
Friendship dinner
As a highlight of their Capital City gathering, all enjoyed a Friday night friendship dinner, hosted as "3H -- Heels, Hats and Handbags."
With members arriving to showcase their favorite accessories, Camille Phillips of Montgomery helped set the ambiance for the event by creating 14 different centerpieces for their tables that fit right into the theme of the night.
A small black travel
purse was the base of the centerpiece at a table designed to pay tribute to the military. A military cap, flashlight, and black web belt, were among the accents of the centerpiece as well as a bandana featuring patches for the 908th Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command.
Arvind Ltd has launched its second Big Megamart in Pune. Located at Pulse Mall, the store is spread across 40,000 sq.ft and offers a wide range of menswear, women's wear, kidswear, home, travel and accessories.
The sections at the Pune store include Women's World, which features apparel, handbags, clutches, belts & fashion jewellery; a kids' section featuring apparel and toys; Home Mart with furnishings and kitchen items; Travel Mart featuring luggage and travel accessories by leading brands; Fashion Mart with a great assortment of watches and sunglasses and a range of handbags, clutches, belts & fashion jewellery, as well as a men's section.
The new store also offers brands such as Arrow, Lee, Wrangler, US Polo, Levi’s, Reid & Taylor, Belmonte, Flying Machine, Sushilas, W, Aurelia and Cherokee, among others.
Arvind Ltd currently has a network of 200 Megamart stores spread across 85 cities in India and seven Big Megamart outlets across Chennai, Pune, Bangalore, Thane and Trichy.
Forget about candy and flowers. If you want to celebrate the true spirit of Mother's Day, you'd be better off marching in a rally or writing a letter to your congressman.
Certainly there's nothing wrong with cherished traditions such as going out to a chi-chi champagne brunch or giving your mother a strand of pearls. However, in honor of Mom's big day, we thought it was high time to revisit just why the holiday began in the first place. It's one of the forgotten chapters of women's history that Mother's Day got its start as an antiwar protest. It was supposed to be all about peace, not pampering.
For the record, the notion of celebrating motherhood may be as old as civilization itself. The ancient Egyptians had a special day of worship for the goddess Isis, the mother of the pharaohs. But the concept behind Mother's Day in America has very specific origins, forged in the chaos and crises of a nation reeling from war.
Famous for writing the patriotic anthem "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," Julia Ward Howe later became aghast at the carnage of the Civil War. She wanted women to join forces to stop their sons from ever going off to die again. In 1870, she issued what she called her Mother's Day Proclamation.
"Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice," she wrote. "Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience."
It wasn't so much a
celebration as a clarion call -- a battle hymn for a better republic, if you will.
"Women in the 19th century took their role as moral guardians seriously," says Estelle Freedman, professor of U.S. history at Stanford University. "They thought of themselves not just as mothers in the home but as mothers of humanity, mothers of civilization. They were very active in social reform, and the need to vote, the suffrage movement, sprang out of that activism."
Somehow over the years, the origins of the day got overshadowed. In fact, one of the early champions of Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis, spent every last penny of her fortune to stop what she perceived as the crass commercialization of the occasion. Jarvis had taken up the crusade out of love for her own mother, who had worked, under the auspices of a "Mother's Friendship Day," to reunite families divided during the Civil War.
It was Jarvis who came up with the carnation as the official flower for Mom, and she who fought to get the day recognized as a national holiday; it was in 1914. But by the '20s, she was appalled that the holiday had been hijacked by purveyors of cheap sentimentality. She died in 1948, embittered and penniless, and was buried next to her mother in a Pennsylvania cemetery.
"It's deteriorated into a token sentimental gesture, a day where women get taken out to eat. But that's not at all what Ward Howe intended," says Freedman, who specializes in women's history. "It was supposed to be a mix of honoring women in the domestic sphere and honoring women in the world."
While we often think of Mom as the ultimate icon of home and hearth, not a rabble-rouser taking to the streets, some say we have overlooked the fact that a mother's love for her family naturally extends beyond the scope of her minivan. That's because the destiny of her children is inextricably entwined with the state of the world, from foreign policy to environmental issues.
"We've forgotten that political issues matter deeply to mothers, and we've silenced and marginalized their voices," says Lisa Harper, author of "A Double Life: Discovering Motherhood." "Instead of being the day when mothers speak up and are listened to in the public sphere, Mother's Day has become one when we stay in bed or are whisked off to private celebrations. Mothers have lost their day as a time to come together, with a public voice and a powerful political agenda. Maybe it's time we brought this platform back."
To be sure, many activists still revere Ward Howe's call to arms. Code Pink cites her poem on its website. Filmmaker Robert Greenwald drew attention to the roots of the day in his short film "Mother's Day for Peace," in which celebs such as Vanessa Williams, Felicity Huffman and Gloria Steinem do a dramatic reading of the proclamation. But for most Americans, the occasion has lost its teeth entirely.
So why is this milestone in women's history so little known? Why do we all remember to buy a present (or at least a card, if we're pressed for time), but no one remembers the point of it all?
"It's about who tells the story. That's who shapes our notions of history. Women do not tell the stories," says Katie Orenstein, founder of New York's OpEd Project. "Whoever controls the story controls the central conversations of our age. That's who narrates the world. That's who assigns meaning to the events in our lives. That's who has a voice."
Certainly the conversation about what Mother's Day stands for also has been steered by businesses eager to sell stuff. According to the National Retail Federation, Mother's Day generates about $14 billion in spending. If instead, mothers simply talked politics over a cup of tea, there would be a whole lot less ka-ching involved.
Jarvis, for one, lambasted the greeting card routine: "A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world."
Mothers today are a little torn about what the holiday means, what it ought to mean and how best to celebrate it. Some say that hardworking moms more than deserve a little appreciation. They think it's all right that insight takes a back seat to indulgence, in this instance.
"Moms today, and probably forever, do so much for everyone in their families all the time, making sacrifices on a daily basis to care for their children in so many ways, that a day to say, 'Thanks, we appreciate you' is a nice thing," says Lisa Mallette, a mother of two, who lives in San Mateo. "I, for one, appreciate a day with feet up, bonbons and flowers."
Others are saddened that the holiday has lost its substance. They fear that mothers have given up a valuable opportunity to have their voices heard.
"I'm all for celebrating mothers and their work, and I love a beautiful bunch of flowers and chocolate any day of the year (also jewelry). But the commercialization of Mother's Day sentimentalizes women's work and reduces mothering to a private, domestic affair," says Harper, a mother of two who lives in Redwood City.
"So, rather than whisking us off to private brunches this year, put our voices on the front page. ... I would love to sleep in. But I might love even more a day to be listened to."
Perhaps there is some way to combine the two impulses. Why not mull over the state of the nation while sipping mimosas? Maybe mothers can be empowered and appreciated at the same time. After all, moms are masters at multi-tasking. If women can check email and breast-feed at the same time, they can do anything.
Certainly as the nation once again finds itself mired in the uncertainty and terror of ongoing wars, and as we contemplate the possibility of putting yet more boots on the ground, Ward Howe's rallying cry reverberates as loudly as ever. And it's not the kind of sentiment you find in a greeting card.
"Why are we not in the streets?" she asked so many decades ago. "Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of that human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?"
Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs has his new running shoes all laced up in preparation for the 12th annual RBC Royal Bank Mayor's Walk.
The event was announced Thursday morning at city hall.
Sandi Boucher, executive director of Volunteer Thunder Bay, said the event demonstrates just how important volunteering is in the community.
“Volunteerism in Thunder Bay is huge,” she said. “Our non-profits count on it.”
The Mayor's Walk provides the community a chance to raise money through pledges for a non-profit organization of their choice. Boucher said Volunteer Thunder Bay works to support other non-profit organizations in the city, and the Mayor's Walk does just that.
“It's a chance to get the community together and have everyday people who are wondering how they can support their agency, come out, enjoy some exercise and direct where the funds are going to go,” she said. “So rather than the money being put in a huge pot and we decide, you get to decide which agency you support.”
Boucher added that money raised can be in support of a child's sports team, a church group, a cancer organization — whatever the individual chooses.
This year also includes five challenges: individual, agency, school, Aboriginal and executive director. Whoever raises the most pledges in each category will receive 75 per cent of the funds for the organization of their choice rather than the standard 60 per cent.
Hobbs participated in the event last year, and even though he is the mayor of the city this time around, the meaning remains the same.
“This is a great city for volunteerism,” he said. “There are so many volunteers out there and so many emotional volunteers. Not many of them realize what an impact they make on a community and it's events like this that drive that message home.”
Boucher added that the dynamic of volunteering has been changing in the city of Thunder Bay.
“There were always the people who want to give back, but now with some economic challenges, we are seeing volunteers come out to learn new skills, to get into a new agency, or start on a new career path,” she said.
The Mayor's Walk takes place on May 14 at the Current River Community Centre, with two-kilometre and five-kilometre routes offered. Check in starts at 9:30 a.m. and the walk begins at 10:30 a.m. Pledge forms are available at Volunteer Thunder Bay, any RBC Royal Bank branch.
Online PR News – 02-May-2011 –Popular online suppliers attach great importance to website designs as customers tend to buy from web-shops who provide user-friendly shopping experience. To make shopping easier for customers, TOP 500 Most Reliable Online Suppliers That Bag Shop Leather Handbags Factory has its website www.thatbagshop.com redesigned last week.
In the fast-pacing society, people want easy, fast and friendly experience during a shopping time. “Shopping is an enjoyable experience. It should never become difficult or even torturing.” says Thomas Leung, webmaster of That Bag Shop, “My website building team always endeavors to design a most user-friendly website for our leather handbags customers. We just finished redesigning ThatBagShop.com last week. And we are now waiting for feedbacks from our royal customers who have been very consistent and supportive to us.”
ThatBagShop.com has below changes for the website redesign.
a. The home page is redesigned for clearer shopping guide. The home page is now minimized to 1.5 screens, which is clean and clear. Only important functional buttons are shown for use. And the webmaster canceled the previous motionless way of displaying leather handbags; instead he uses the merry-go-around way displaying around 10 most attractive handbags under the big notice board.
b. The product categories are redesigned. There are four main categories of leather handbags, which are “All handbags”, “Style”, “Color” and “Price”. Each main category has sub-categories. This is very clear for customers with different buying habits and emphasis.
c. The shopping procedures are simplified. In addition to displaying a detailed “Order Procedure” guide, the That Bag Shop webmaster simplified the procedures and it now only takes half of the time to fulfill an order, compared with previous designs.
If a leather handbags supplier has really good quality products, with very competitive prices, but with really bad web designs and difficult to place order, 50% consumers will sacrifice time and energy to buy from him. But what about the other 50% leather handbag buyers? That Bag Shop is a most brave online leather handbags supplier, who dares to challenge herself all the time, in order to provide best experience for customers, just like what she’s done on the website redesign.
About ThatBagShop.com:
TBS Leather Handbags Factory is a world's leading and China TOP 10 factory-based leather handbags wholesaler. From the moment it launched its online store www.thatbagshop.com, this web-factory aims to manufacture fashion forward leather handbags and accessories at most competitive EXW price.