Fashion Industry Case Study: Sport Obermeyer

In order to recommend changes to Wally we first must fully understand the type of industry Sport Obermeyer is in. The ski apparel industry is part of the fashion industry which means the product life cycles are short and are typically seasonal. This makes forecasting difficult because you have new product designs each year. Another challenge for Sport Obermeyer is long production times. For example, the design process for the 1993-1994 product line began in February 1992 approximately a year and half before it would be sold to customers for use. An operational change I recommend is to try and get feedback from retailers earlier than the Las Vegas trade show if possible. For example, currently our design process has already been in progress for a year before the March 1993 trade show begins. If we can communicate and get feedback from our retailers before this date it will help us predict our demand better. Another recommendation is to reduce the number of styles of the of our products. For example the women 's parka discussed heavily in the case has 10 different styles. If we eliminate a few of the less successful styles we will reduce our

If there is a lengthy amount of time before ski apparel is needed and Sports Obermeyer has an abundance of confidence about the demand for their products, then Obermeyer may want to order from China. The main reason for this is the products will have a lengthy amount of time to be made and inspected before being sold to wholesalers. For the long term the wages and cost of labor is much cheaper with China. The efficiency of the Chinese will likely improve over time due to experience and technological advancements. Hong Kong is more reliable, makes superior products, and completes the orders much faster than China. Hong Kong is the best choice for the short term, while China is the best for the long term due to much lower labor costs. This is proven by looking at the line configuration and hourly wage between the two