Member Info for ragtrade

Any issue now with UK compliance is now put to rest with this, that is not to say that any of these Factories do not have the capability to still sub contract, they do, BH cannot watch dog every second, what BH have done though is lay down their rules of Supply, tbh it's not rocket science, if any of these rules are broken then Factory will pay the penalty, fact is previous to this there really weren't any rules and certainly no enforcing of them, they cannot do anymore than this in the UK, if they are broken by Ftys then BH now actually have strict guidelines to refer to and fall back on. A key line from this report is :-

"Suppliers will continue to have their operations and standards monitored frequently to drive long-term positive change."

This in effect means unannounced Audits, during the last two weeks we have received unannounced visits from both Asos and Very Group inspection agencies, this is nothing new, as seen in the report BH are now adopting this approach, it is essential in order to maintain standards of Compliance.
They still have a big task in implementing these Standards offshore, this is evident in the date they have given for overseas supplier list of 25th September, once this is complete then BH will at least be up to industry standard for manufacturing. I will be extremely interested to see what the Sustainability Report brings in May, if they are really taking this seriously then they need to look towards encouraging Suppliers to sign up to the HIGG Index as developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) and the Facility Environmental Module (FEM) to all it's Tiers of Supply.
To the markets this report should represent a commitment to meet and hopefully surpass Industry Standards, with AR joining this was never in doubt.
The structure i keep mentioning is slowly but surely happening, this report is just the very very beginning of this.

Pedro, anyone with an ounce of empathy would feel the same, these are the ones that get reported, Primark over the years have built up very strong compliance and ethics standards (a lot during AR's stewardship) , as i said many times on here you cannot watch dog 24/7, they will have immediately investigated this and if found to be true and broken the PM standards then they will have been fined and depending on severity disengaged.

Moose i would be amazed if they have not lifted every rug and and pulled off skirting boards to see nothing is behind them before publishing this list, the fact they are doing it is a massive leap forward from where they were.
Meanwhile as i posted last week but barely gets a mention.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/13/primark-supplier-accused-of-locking-workers-in-factory-in-myanmar-protests

Ancient of Days great post.
Late Q3 and Q4 is where i think we will really start to see if BH Group have managed to put in the structure needed for the new wide offer they now have and are starting to reap the rewards. I think anything positive before then is a bonus.

Mudis def New Look, they are a one dimensional Brand, they have done some debt restructuring in CV but not sure if its enough, also in Court at mo being challenged by landlords over the turnover based CVA, one to watch closely, could be yet another Brand for BH altho they do have rather a lot on their plate at mo!

One point on margins, BH Group now has a whole stable of Brands to be able to offer at all price levels now, this is why i saw the battle for winning the purchase of Brands was vital to BH, they now appeal to many Demographics, from Back to School to Middle England to Glam Girl , it's a Pandora's Box and the flexibility they now have is absolutely enormous but they need structure and good people, see my earlier post re this.

Pedro, i'll be very surprised if most sectors of the UK do not see margin pressure in the coming year due to inflation, currently demand for raw materials in our sector is extremely strong, even cartons to ship goods in are going up due to shortages and costs are coming down the chain, tbh clothing prices have been suppressed for so long they could not stay where they were, ultimately to varying degrees the consumer will pay.

Pedro , it's BH Group, many Brands, many diff price points and many diff demographics. As i mentioned on here a few weeks ago cotton is going up because of a shortage due to the situation re Uighur Muslims in Xijiang, this will effect the whole of Textile Sector.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/23/virtually-entire-fashion-industry-complicit-in-uighur-forced-labour-say-rights-groups-china

I posted a while back on hear and also keep posting that this company needs structure to make the most of the many Brands that BH Group now offer, it needs good people, in this industry it is vital that whoever heads up some of these Brands is 100% on message for that Brand, i said it wouldn't come overnight. Due to the destruction of the H St from Covid there are some extremely talented and not least very experienced people out there in the Market. I can tell that structure is being laid down, expect to hear news in trade press soon.

https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/prettylittlething-turns-burj-khalifa-pink-193300494.html

Ratherbelucky , sorry to tell you that BH was one of only ones who didnt, Asos even going down to Tier 4 and asking suppliers to sign up to Hiig Index. BH just starting on journey to properly enforce compliance now, they will def get there as AR is good guy but it takes time and at mo even witb list they are still be behind curve, all very well to list makers of garments but also wash houses, trim suppliers, fabric suppliers, cartin suppliers etc , these are the other Tiers BH are trying and willing and thats the most important aspect of all of this.

All battles aside CN your dick cream post did make me laugh, also have to say that PP1 give him credit where its due equally funny retort.
Nice work Gents.

KCC, I occasionally give guest lectures to Fashion Students, every time i give these lectures we of course have debates about FF, i ask students to put there hands up if they seek out sustainable fashion when buying clothes, out of normally 45 odd people in the lecture only ever 1 or 2 stick their hand up. These are people who by and large u/s what fast fashion and its impacts are, Stacey from Wigan who wants a dress in 24 hours for under £15 doesn't care and i hear what you say about Gen Z,X, Y but i just don't think its going to happen on the levels it needs to. We can still have Fast Fashion but what we need is Fully Circular Fashion, might brighten your day a bit to know that many retailers are taking this seriously and starting to take action off their own back, what needs to happen is that the general public need to actually buy this product because prices are higher, once they do then it will gain traction and fingers crossed the momentum will grow. As a supplier these days we have fully recycled cotton poly (from plastic bottles), part recycled fabrics, organic, all our production is BCI, we washing use ozone machines and E Flow Technology, we use herbal dyes for Garment Dyeing and are signed up to the Higg Index (please look this up) many retailers will start to insist that suppliers do this, we do it off our own back. We did very little of this 3 years ago, so be rest assured despite what everyone thinks change is happening probably not as quickly as everyone wants but it is happening.

So to conclude todays play BH Group ends up more in % points than either Asos or JD.

Real Issue for all is not whether Xinjiang cotton is being used because most if not all reputable companies have run a mile, however this has resulted in a World Cotton shortage and has pushed up the price

https://invezz.com/news/2021/01/07/cotton-prices-2-year-high-supply-woes/

Andy, i gave Daman Sachs some actual inside intel from the Asos set up for all the pics they take for each product, he of course dismissed it despite the fact that this studio is critical to their offer and how these product come across, it affects conversion rate and equally important returns rate it's vital for any site and the impact of getting it correct is massive on bottom line.

Danman Sachs btw has no shares in Boo Hoo but he is invested in Mining and Cards, he is an accountant and not an ideas guy, like flea gate and US import ban the above is not on his spread sheet so it doesn't compute, this trait has caused him to sell twice for above reasons. What's more bizarre he still spends more time on here than he does on the sites he actually apparently owns shares in.

Danl90 OMG i thought you were an accountant but your math is a shocker!
Regardless , this is pin money fella, i was playing with spare cash after L/D 1 because i was bored in March /April, as you know i now get to buy myself a nice car guilt free, mate of mine who's based in Cambridge and stores and sells Supercars rocked up at mine last w/e in new Mclaren GT (not the 570GT im sure you u/s that) omg what a bargain at mo, depreciation has been horrific on new px !!!

So you get bonuses, awwww i'm sorry fella, you mean you're not a partner, never mind perhaps one day if you work smarter it may happen, tbf on current reckoning not looking likely, alternative is to leave and start up on your own, take a risk put your house up against a start up loan, we both know though that's never gonna happen, so you'll just have to put up with bonuses decided by other people, i just have to decide what the hell i do with all this money which you may say well that's nice Rag but i'll tell you it's oddly actually bit of a burden.
Now to top all of this your telling me that your the Goldman Sachs of the board, phew!!! so Mr Goldman Sachs or this knowledge and u/s for what exactly, you have no shares in this Company Danman Sachs, so that basically means only reason your on here is that you need adoration.
Cords Daman Sachs i promise you in the Beer Garden will look at you like some Fashion Guru when you swan in, you don;t need this board you just need some Cords.
Danman Sachs, mmmmm, actually quite like that you'd need to change the below to put over the door though.
No Shares
No Cords
If you change above i promise i'll be your first client.

Not long to AR you sure you not got any Questions.

Pmoran Sorry i'm sure like me you are bored with the whole Danl90 v Rag saga , however (sorry again) Dan once more insisted that BH Group were not doing Wholesale and wouldn't be part of their Platform , Model etc or whatever you want to call it. We are working with DP's to specifically full fill Zalando inventory at Wsale, they are pulling out every fibre of there being to get this into them in 4 weeks, this is going in direct to source not via UK, there of course will be many different scenarios and many changes along way the way from market place, wholesale, 3rd party etc etc.

As everyone can see, nothing is on or off the table in this game, its a complete mixed bag, one size does def not fit all, we are into the Wild West of online retail, anything goes, so much cross fertilization its utter madness, this will settle down and there has to be some pullback eventually once the dust settles and everyone has chance to look at the benefits of all these different models.
Big inventories are currently being built up from June onwards, provided we stay on track the market expected to explode in Q3/Q4, it better because there is a mass of stock coming in AND getting cardboard cartons to put stock in is now becoming a real issue, at least the whole shipping container problems are starting to resolve.

Dan apologies i said 10 not 9 so you have 15 mins for your PLATFORM pro's and con's guide and summary.
I think for you to carry on posting on here with any relevance or to be taken seriously you need to address the following, these are in order of importance.

1)Cords as i've said these are in your own interest for your street cred, not sure you liked last lot of links so i'm giving you most commercial link of the lot. Asos Slim Black £28 quid , your a shoe in for these, strutting in to beer Garden, white Hi Tops!!

https://www.asos.com/asos-design/asos-design-cord-slim-trousers-in-black/prd/21357851?colourwayid=60160423&SearchQuery=asos%20cord%20trousers

2)Shares, PP got 360k shares , i got 38.6k shares, you don't have 1, now i toyed with making this No1 but i think the Cords just edge it as they are something more tangible that you can express yourself with and will elevate your stature from accountant to , well, perhaps not a fashion icon but lets say trend setter.

3)Platform, you hardest task, it requires an u/S of the trade and its nuances, you can't cut, copy , past, 30 mins left to deliver on your favourite subject the Next v BH v Asos v Hut Platforms, pros and cons of each verses each other with a summary to which is best and why.

Dan stop d***king around , you've only an hour and a half left.