Brands need a lot more support from suppliers these days to navigate complex market conditions.
S.P. Brother Co., Ltd. is not only focused on quality, price and delivery, they have also invested in helping customers with product development.
“We are a more customer service oriented garment factory. Because we are a mid-size factory we are able to be very flexible,” said Pirapol Tatiyamaneekul.
“Sometimes our customers want to transition their brand DNA or maybe launch a new brand, so we work with them on product development.
For example, we have a U.S. customer that is a traditional golf wear brand and they used to only have one style of golf pants. However golf wear has moved to become more fashionable so we helped this customer expand their range to six or seven different styles and fits with a variety of fabrics.
Being a True Brand Partner
Normally when brands work with garment factories they simply give them the size sheet or stylesheet and ask them to produce the order.
“We ask customers to share with us their mood boards, as early as possible. We want to understand their concept. This way we can help them in sourcing materials,” said Mr. Tatiyamaneekul.
Unlike other factories, S.P. Brother is not doing CMT, instead they source the materials for customers from their global network of mills.
“We can do small test runs in our Thailand factory - or large orders in our Cambodia factory with lower FOBs.”
“Our product development team is quite big with approximately 30 to 40 staff. So we invest a lot on product development for our key customers,” he said.
All Orders of All Sizes
S.P. Brother has a factory in Thailand with MOQs of 500 pieces, and another factory in Cambodia that focuses on bigger volume orders of about 3,000 pieces.
“Some brands might have order sizes of 3000-7000 pieces but if they first want to make a trial run. We can do that for them in our Thailand factory. When they see that the product is selling well, we can produce a larger order for them at our Cambodia factory where they can get a lower FOB price,” said Mr. Tatiyamaneekul.
“For example, if they want to create a new brand or new sub brand, maybe they cannot meet the MOQ in Cambodia. Or they might need salesman’s samples, which require only a small number of pieces. So we use our Thailand factory to produce the order.”
S.P. Brother’s Thailand factory has a monthly capacity of 150,000 pieces and its Cambodia factory can produce 450,000 pieces per month.
Ensuring That Materials are Sustainable
Behind S.P. Brother’s excellent customer service is the assurance that the materials they are using are sustainable.
“We choose fabrics made from U.S. cotton because the way it is grown is very sustainable. Also, the quality of U.S. cotton is very reliable. It is easy to ask customers to place orders with us when they see that we are using fabrics made with U.S. cotton,” said Mr. Tatiyamaneekul.
“Buyers now want to know not only where the garment was made but what fiber it is made from. What is the process of making the yarn? Are you helping to protect the environment? U.S. cotton is more advanced in this area.”
S.P. Brother has also joined the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol® (the Trust Protocol) in order to provide even more transparency to its customers.
“The Trust Protocol is like being a member of an exclusive club of very trustworthy suppliers. You have to be selected to join and that involves many things like audits, interviews and meeting strict compliance standards.
“As a member, it demonstrates that you are part of a really reliable supply chain network. This is very important as part of our long term business plan,” he said.
Email. pirapol.t@spbrother.com | Tel. (662) 877-8600
Certified Sustainable
The Trust Protocol is aligned with existing sustainability programs including the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. It brings quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurement to sustainable cotton production, and drives continuous improvement in six key sustainability metrics – land use, soil carbon, water management, soil loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficiency. The Trust Protocol is designed from the ground up to address the unique regulatory and larger farm growing environment in the United States.
How the Trust Protocol Works
The Protocol Consumption Management Solution (PCMS) starts at the gin when the participating producer’s cotton is ginned and each unique Permanent Bale Identification number (PBI) is attached. At this point we know the exact gin weight and can create an exact amount of Protocol Cotton Consumption Units, where one Protocol Cotton Consumption Unit is created for each kilogram of Protocol Verified Cotton. This important step provides absolute authentication of U.S. cotton origin, verifying against the USDA database.
Supply Chain Transparency
The PCMS harnesses blockchain technology through a powerful combination of the Trust Protocol platform and TextileGenesis™ system to deliver full supply chain transparency by recording and verifying the movement of U.S. cotton along the entire supply chain. This creates article-specific transparency for finished products that was not previously accessible to brands and retailers.
Trusted Third Party Certification
The Trust Protocol incorporates a comprehensive program of verification against Trust Protocol benchmarks, in the form of both second-party and independent third-party audits of grower performance through Control Union Certifications—the latter through allocated on-site visits.
Control Union Certifications has certified over 150 industry standards programs worldwide, including working as a key partner in the early development and piloting phases of Impact Claim Verification Protocol.
Learn More https://trustuscotton.org
The COTTON USA Advantage
- Family growers who are committed to working their fields sustainably and leaving them better for future generations.
- A long history of innovative harvesting and ginning technologies resulting in higher-quality cotton.
- One of the highest rates of adoption in the world for Precision Agriculture, which minimizes water and pesticide usage.
- U.S. farmers operate under voluminous, stringent, and enforceable regulations.
- A commitment to transparent partnership that is unmatched anywhere.
- One of the most comprehensive systems for monitoring and measuring all the key metrics involved in sustainability.
U.S. Cotton Facts
- 2/3 of U.S. cotton land uses only rain water
- U.S. cotton water use efficiency has improved by 79% over the past 35 years
- Cotton is carbon footprint neutral, meaning the plants remove more greenhouse gasses than production produces.
Sustainability Goals
The U.S. cotton industry is building upon the strong environmental gains already achieved over the past 35 years. The aim is to help members meet their current needs while making the world a better place for future generations.
Specific goals include:
- Reducing by 13 percent the amount of land needed to produce a pound of cotton fiber
- Reducing soil loss by 50 percent, in balance with new soil formation
- Increasing water use efficiency (more fiber per gallon) by 18 percent
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 39 percent
- Increasing soil carbon in fields by 30 percent
- Reducing energy to produce seed cotton and ginned lint by 15 percent
Learn More www.cotton.org
