American Apparel Case Analysis

Around the globe, you see billions of stores, and as you go to a mall or outlet, there are some stores that are affordable such as H&M or Forever 21, and others are extravagant such as Gucci or Louis Vuitton. It is impossible to imagine how many stores you see every day passing by and think, why are there so many different stores, but most of them produce the same idea of selling clothing? But some stores land between those accessible and expensive such as, for example, Old Navy. How Old Navy got its name from the San Francisco parent company GAP and was an “Immediate hit when introduced in 1994” (Samano). Old Navy is a typical family some people likes to shop and known and seen as a friendly store that sells appealing clothing and stylish tends. Old Navy is a store owned by GAP Inc., which is the type of clothing for the families since shows toddlers, young teens, and adults; however; this relates to the American culture of must-have clothes and keeps up with the trends of nowadays.

NIKE, Inc., is a company that was founded in by William Jay Bowerman and Philip H. Knight in 1964, and was originally called Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc. It’s name was changed to Nike, Inc. in 1971. It’s base of operation is located in Beaverton, Oregon. NIKE, Inc., is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities worldwide. Entirely owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., a brand that develops, advertises, and sells athletic apparel and accessories; and also Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and sells surf and youth lifestyle clothing and many different accessories. Its athletic footwear products are designed primarily for specific athletic use, although a large percentage of the products are worn for casual or leisure purposes. Nike offers products in many different categories such as men’s/women’s training, running, basketball, golf, and more. The company also sells products designed for children and youth athletic activities such as baseball, cricket, lacrosse, outdoor activities, football, tennis, volleyball, walking, and wrestling. Also, Nike sells sports apparel and accessories; and markets apparel with licensed college and professional team and league logos. Further, it sells a line of performance equipment and accessories, including sports bags, balls, eyewear, digital devices, bats, gloves, protective equipment, golf

Environmental scanning involves an organization to look at any trend, opportunity or threat that could create issues for their company. Once any of these issues are identified, the organization should consider new strategies that react to these external factors. Issues should be examined that involve not only direct customers and suppliers, but also competitors, any changes in regulations and possible political involvement. External factors will be constantly changing so environmental scanning should occur frequently and regularly to ensure the current issues have been captured. Research and data analysis can help drive decisions regarding overall marketing changes that might be necessary.

Unfortunately Lululemon’s pants crisis doesn’t end there. The founder, Chip Wilson, 18 months later, shared his thoughts on the pants debacle and undid all the damage control Lululemon immediately following the recall. Chip Wilson’s interview on Bloomberg News basically negated everything Lululemon did in the first stage of their crisis management. Allowing Chip to speak on behalf of the entire company was a poor choice, as he was the wrong spokesperson and clearly unprepared. He injected his own opinions about the original crisis and did not align with what Lululemon had so carefully crafted. Wilson did not have the proper crisis management or communications training to handle the situation and only continued to make it worse. In his original

This paper commences by defining the problems that were faced by Lululemon Athletica Inc in 2013. After, the author explores the causes of the issues that the company was experiencing and the effects that they had on Lululemon Athletica Inc. The next step is to look at ways in which the issues could have been addressed both for the short-term and long-term. When all is said and done, the audience will fully appreciate why “Lululemon Athletica Inc should revert to its fundamentals – that is, to concentrate on the needs of the consumer”.

In the case of Lululemon, the company's product quality and customer service standards have faced public scutiny on multiple occasions. After the the first publicized incident related to the sheernes of Lululemon's products, the company CEO at the time, Daniel Lieberman, issued a recall (Berg, 2014). While the recall was a succesfull move by Lieberman, the "Bend-over test" was notn(Mail Online, 2013). The bend-over test required Lululemon consumers wishing to return the overly sheer products to wear the item, and litterally bend over for an associate to deem if the sheerness level was sever enough to qualify for recall (Mail Online, 2013).

American apparel has succeeded in depending on a vertically integrated model and promoting a made-in-America philosophy. The company also encouraged some political activities such as immigration reform and gay rights. These orientations play a significant role in boosting its reputation and attaining a competitive advantage. However, it failed to manage it social responsibilities successfully.

The competitive environment of a business is the part of a company's external environment that consists of other firms trying to win customers in the same market. It is the segment of the industry that includes all immediate rivals. These are factors that are out of the company’s control, such as when state regulations change and they have to adjust to meet those requirements. To ensure Macy’s Inc. understands the environment they will conduct an external environmental analysis. This would include identifying any opportunities and threats to the firm (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2013). One of the opportunities that Macy’s could

How has Aurora Textile performed over the past four years? Be prepared to provide financial ratios that present a clear picture of Aurora’s financial condition.

The general environment is composed of segments that are external to the firm. Although the degree of impact varies, these environmental segments affect all industries and firms competing in them. The

Under Armour is currently one of the leading companies in the sports apparel industry whose mission is to “Make all athletes better through passion, science, and the relentless pursuit of innovation”.1 When Under Armour first broke into the sports apparel industry it was a disruptive pioneer that initially made the two giants, Nike and Adidas, a little weary. Under Armour revolutionized the sports apparel industry by creating apparel that used synthetic materials as an alternative to natural fibers, such as cotton, or other materials, such as polyester. This all-important switch to these materials resulted in a 2“shirt that provided compression and wicked perspiration off your skin rather than absorb it. A

Under Armour, Inc. is a multinational company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a manufacturing company that specializes in casual wear, sports, and footwear (Armour, 2015). The company reported during its fourth quarter of the 2016 fiscal year a 12% increase in revenues which was a miss on the consensus by $100 million. Their earnings per share according to the fourth quarter of the year 2016 were $0.23 per share. This saw their stock price tank by 25%as at the close of 31st January 2017. For the fiscal year ended 2016, the company recorded a 22% sales increase as compared to that of 32%in 2014 and 29% in 2015. This is an indicator of a declined growth rate over the mentioned years. According to the company’s 2017 report, the decline has been attributed to a negative effect by various bankruptcies in the sports retailer market, an environment filled with so many promotions and lastly a holiday season that was a weak one compared to the other seasons. Since the company’s sales rely significantly on the United States market, the fact that some other sports companies like City Sports were liquidated had a considerable impact on UA’s sales when compared to some of its competitors like Adidas and Nike. The company’s poor results have also been attributed to its failure in the apparel business that recorded a sales growth of 7% as compared to that of 24% achieved back in 2014.

At just twenty three years old Kevin Plank had made an observation during football practice one day. The former captain of the University of Maryland football team noticed that compression shorts worn by the team managed to stay dry during practice. From this material he created moisture wicking gear which Under Armour is known for (Under Armour Startup Story, 2014).

Hugo Boss has become known as an industry trend setter for its high quality men’s and women’s fashion apparel, shoes, and accessories. Product leadership, intimate knowledge of their market and customers, and operational excellence are what distinguish the company from others in the luxury fashion goods industry. From an operational perspective, the variability that exists as a result of designing and manufacturing short run fashion products is high. This perpetual shifting of demands and preferences makes it difficult to maintain accurate industry forecasts that result in high risk actions as manufacturing products with no guarantee of sale leading to large scale inventory systems.

The economic and social factors play a crucial role in determining monetary climate that the business operates in and the nature of consumption habits that prevail within that particular area concerning lifestyles. These social aspects help a business organization to evaluate potential changes brought about by their products in the market. Evans and Richardson (2007), insist that an enterprise must factor in technological solutions that it can introduce within the market it seeks to establish itself and research initiatives it can introduce to help improve its operations. The environmental factors should be assessed to establish potential impacts of the activities carried out by the organization in the environment. It is important for any enterprise to be familiar to all