sportstyle

44 • September 2021 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com strengthening corporate culture. When the stay-at-home orders hit our headquarters location, we realized that we may take for granted the value of the in-person interactions we enjoy at the office. Working remotely can be isolating and not the best for supporting corporate culture if the interpersonal bonds can't be supported. Therefore, we invested in new communication technology to enrich our employees' ability to connect and make work flow more personal and efficient. These communication investments will continue as business returns to normal so that all of our employees feel connected, productive, and integrated in our organization wherever they may be working." Sagee Aran Head of global marketing, NILIT 4. Pricing 5. Trade Shows "At Farm to Feet — and with all Nester Hosiery business units — we secure a forward material position down the supply chain. This allows us to guarantee pricing through future seasons for retailers and brands. 2021 has tested this for us. I give us a B+, but of note we did have some lower volume component items without positions where we have absorbed at-once increases, and experienced pricing challenges. With regard to future seasons we have had to assess all styles and either tighten our margin or plan for increases, which usually lead to higher retail prices." Kelly Nester CEO, Nester Hosiery "Further underscoring the importance of a domestic supply chain, we have been able to mitigate increases in raw material costs by leveraging our close relationships with our U.S.-based wool supplier. COVID spurred dramatic increases in freight costs for imports, not to mention the delays seen in transit and at port during Customs clearance. Of course, rising material prices are impactful to business, but there are certainly real costs associated with delays as well. Utilizing domestic material suppliers gains us cost efficiencies that allow us to continue to provide our customers with premium products while insulating them, when- ever possible, from dramatic price increases on our yarn." Keith Horn President, Kentwool Yarn, and Lauren Luneckas, president, Kentwool Performance Apparel "Price increases are a challenging reality cre- ated by pressure within the supply chain; Raw material, labor and transportation all factor into the cost increases. We all work together to minimize the impact of this. Partnership is vital." David Parkes, founder Concept Ill Textiles "This problem isn't a new one and has been an issue since time immemorial. It isn't going away and will continue to be an issue with the only alternative being to innovate away from raw materials that cross an unacceptable price threshold and fine alternatives. Necessity is the mother of invention and that has historically been the driver for innovations and the discov- ery of new technologies. All of this exemplifies HeiQ's philosophy. We provide our customers solutions that are more sustainable and help them save costs at the same time, such as our HeiQ Pure TAG and HeiQ Clean Tech." Hoi Kwan Lam CMO/ product management, HEIQ "Trade shows are important points of customer outreach in many of our markets, especially our newer markets like AIRADIGM apparel and footwear performance fabrics and CELLATEX medical device membranes. The pandemic cer- tainly disrupted trade shows across the board. With almost all of our customer contacts working from home or barred from hosting meetings, we looked for other ways to engage. The virtual trade shows just weren't as effective for us. Instead, we chose to develop engaging sample mailings and used video conferencing to conduct demos and work on product development. We hosted webinars and used electronic media to get infor- mation out to our customers. I think trade shows will once again become a part of our customer contact strategy in 2022 when they can provide that interpersonal reward and hands-on product experience that make trade shows so beneficial." Greg Vas Nunes Chairman & CMO, TTG "Trade shows have always been a great platform to meet with many suppliers and customers in one place. They have also always been an enormous monetary and time investment for companies. I believe trade shows will have to evolve — new places, perhaps once a year versus twice a year. Being customer-centric, we are also evolving to ensure more focused time 1-on-1 with our custom- ers versus too much emphasis on trade shows." Brian Parnes COO/CMO, downlite "It was a major challenge to try to pivot trade shows to a virtual model during the pandemic, and frankly it didn't work very well. It's hard to replicate that experience virtually when so much of the value of the show is the in-person interactions and the unplanned drop-in visits and impromptu conversations that happen when you start chatting with someone. It just doesn't translate well to a virtual platform. With higher vaccination rates and easing of restrictions on travel and gatherings, in-person trade shows could probably resume in 2022. But I think they will look quite different. Lower density to allow for social distancing, fewer attendees, smaller travel and show budgets for some vendors, etc. Trade shows are still enormously valuable, and this is a great opportunity for the organizers to rethink how they deliver that experience and to find innovative ways to make them even better than they were before the pandemic." Mary-Cathryn Kolb Founder & CEO of brrr° "As the industry has looked at other ways to communicate and interact more digitally, that will only continue as we try to be smarter about our travel and the impact that has. But there isn't a substitute for personal connection. The big marketing spends that had previously been used for booths at fairs may be the big change going forward. Looking at what was being spent on those booths, that now seems a little extrav- agant and can be used in a more impactful way." Ulrika Björk CEO, Polygiene l • DESIGN

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