How the web is changing retailers’ buying of apparel

In another example of how the web is revolutionizing the way retailers operate, Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., retailer of casual apparel to teens and young adults, is getting ready to use a web-based product design and manufacturing system from Gerber Technology, Ron Ehlers, PacSun’s vice president of information services, tells Internet Retailer. The web-based system will allow PacSun to approve clothing designs with designers and manufacturers around the world in a fraction of the time it takes today, Ehlers says.

Anaheim, CA-based PacSun will post specs for apparel on a portion of its web site that will be accessible to designers and manufacturers around the world. Once the company has chosen a designer, that portion of the site will be closed to all others and PacSun and the designer will collaborate on final design and specs using the web site.

Requesting and reviewing bids, reviewing designs and then finalizing designs all take place on a paper basis today, using faxes and overnight services. The web will greatly simplify and speed up the process, Ehlers says. “Today it is totally manual,” he says. “The web will allow us to more easily deal with multiple manufacturers all over the world.”