Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 12, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba Details special rates May apply to denims subject to certain minimums conditions apply fees i 78m040 i Brandon 7264646 Rice financial Winnipeg free press january 1990 pages 1728 Philip business editor business Dave flee press Bob Silver of Western Glove works intends to expand Market share regardless of free Trade Deal because his firm has manufacturing Plant in suit All Manitoba garment Industry leaders optimistic but fabric curbs Needle Nygard by Rhoda Feldman mixed reviews from the Manitoba garment Industry Greet the close of the first year of the free Trade Peter who Heads the colossal Nygard fore casts a grim future with Little growth for the Industry under the he is also convinced the Industry competitive Edge is further imperilled by the upcoming seven percent goods and services but others View the Deal with optimism and Are aggressively pursuing the massive Gary president of be a Winnipeg outerwear said that even though the Deal is Only a year his firm has substantially increased its sales Force in the and has launched mar Ket studies in a bid to pump up he believes that As the Deal in gemini will increase its sales by As much As 50 per increased sales Bob president of Western Glove said his firm has experienced some increased sales from Canadian retailers who have opened stores in the but its through manufacturing in the which the firm already does in a California that it intends to expand Market share regardless of the an increased sales Force and extensive bookings into major Trade shows has been the approach Stan Dard knitting has taken to increase sales in the in the first year of the said president Lou Kli and Kliman is optimistic about making further inroads South of the the Deal has made Little differ ence to Megan Gray at Trace de a year after one of a series we Are marketing As aggressively As we did before the Deal was we do the same percentage of business 30 percent that we did but our business has both Here and in the she with the duty Between Canada and the United states on apparel made from Domestic fabric being reduced by 20 per cent in 1990 on its Way to Zero Over a 10year period plus an accommodation for 1988 Export Levels without reference to fabric Nygard believes the full effect of free Trade will not hit three years from at that Point people will Antici Pate the end and Price their lines As if there is no he but the agreement is unfair to the Canadian apparel and to the fashion sector of that Industry in because of the critical ruling restricting the importation of fabric into North Nygard most Canadian firms use fabric from All Over the while manufacturers in the United states can rely on a huge Domestic product it he that free Trade Only prevails on products made of Domestic raw the ruling eliminates most of the 90 per cent of fashion goods that Are made from offshore and the 50 per cent of All Canadia made clothing which Falls into that Cate As a he forecasts a grim future for the Only the strongest firms will hold their and it will be difficult to grow due to a declining business Nygard he also believes More manufacturers will turn to that Canada will lose its most creative people the designers and that Many More canadians will set up plants in the United he is convinced that once the full Force of the Deal is americans will have enormous exposure to Canadian i expect a whole onslaught of american manufacturers to com Pete in Canada and eat up a lot of dollars from Domestic manufacture Nygard said the had manufacturers compared to the 000 in giving them a huge competitive canadians looking to compete in the United on the other will have a Tough time doing Nygard cheaper labor Pool who has plants in Cali fornia As Well As noted that a glut of merchandise in the has resulted in lower they Are much better at mass producing than we Are and have a cheaper labor Pool in Sun Belt states factors that make them More competitive than we the Canadian Niche is a global one based on imported by Gard not one of mass prod but we Are forced to play by their with a Domestic fabric which makes it very difficult for us to penetrate the he in spite of the restrictive terms of the Nygard still believes that Canadian manufacturers can de fend business in the Market place by being More fashionable and of Fering better but its a defensive we have no Chance for offence to gain Market our entire thrust is to defend our Market in and when you Are defending against Competition the Chance for growth is you cant look at doubling your Steiman believes its still too Early to make any assess ment of the deals Impact on the economic in the past year his firm has undertaken certain measures which he expects will help future sales in the Nygard agreement unfair gemini has doubled its sales Force in the during the past year and has taken into account american taste in clothing when developing product lines and name we do much the same thing in Canada where we style our lines to accommodate the differences be tween Western Canada and que Steiman he added that geminis outer Wear product has a Broad and Well established Appeal in the in the outerwear sector Canada has a Good reputation for design and the americans see it As Good value for and As a company we have a commitment to develop products and service All those things that will help our growth in the he added that gemini does sufficient business there right now to consider the to be an important and we feel it can become a substantial one for we Antici Pate steady growth with on third of our business targeted to the within five half of it will be he but it has grown More difficult to do business in the since the Deal was Steiman we have an agreement but find it More difficult to Deal with the than prior to the Deal be cause they Are tightening up at the they Are trying to preserve and protect their Economy from uncontrolled offshore the canadians Are caught in he sex Silver said a number of retailers Western Glove ships to now have acquired stores in the and that has meant increased business for his the retailers who have expanded to the include club Cotton tall girl and club All part of the Dalex in shipping them the same product i sell Here Cotton casuals and Silver theres greater difficulty in Selling jeans to the than other like outerwear or leathers for exam that Doest mean you cant do but he explained he int look ing to do business in the United states in the same Way As other we opened a division in the three years ago from which we will learn How to do rather than going Down to the states once a month to we bought a California company that makes and Sells bathing suits Daffy and Beach we did it because we wanted to do business in the regardless of the Trade Silver Kliman says Standard which has a Market Niche in Wool has already increased its business in the the firm is in the process of hiring a sales manager for the he will oversee our own and we Are participating in 10 to 12 shows a year and so we Are looking for fairly Good increases for Kliman he added that the firms plan is to step up efforts to penetrate the Market within the next five years because of the gradual reduction of of course we would like to see the Canadian Dollar not As Strong because it certainly has an influence on the but we Are he continued growth Gray says the Deal int making it any easier for Trace designs to penetrate the which demands a Good Quality product and reliable the Deal int a magical she the firm expects its continued growth will include big Ger sales in the Gray she pointed out that her firm is judged on and if someone Doest like they dont buy Price is an but for buyers of our clothing 10 per cent int going to make or break it for the she conservatives stand sign environment concern for real there Are some especially in the business who May have the impression that the current concern about the environment is nothing but a passing but when the president of the staunchly conservative Howe Tom lists environmental policy As a More important Issue for the Federal govern ment to tackle than the whopping National then i think its Safe to suggest that the Issue has taken Kierans was in town this week As part of a Cross country tour to gauge the feeling among business and Community leaders across the coun try on what they think Are the key issues of the Kierans took Over the Howe Institute last september after 27 years As an investment the last 10 As president of the Scotia Mcleod brokerage this is his first Chance to discuss his own Point of the institutes Point of View and to generally get a feel for the quasi academic perspective he now like a party politician whose most important constituents Are members Martin Cash of his Kierans is meeting with either members or patrons of the or those who Are sympathetic to the institutes need less to say the 33person guest list was a Blu Chip selection of business academics and civil ser most of whom have some ties to the tory one thing Kierans heard in Winni Peg was a dissatisfaction about the Federal governments immigration policies and perhaps More general a Lon term concern about the stability of the work Force and the general demographic makeup of the population in it was some thing he was not necessarily expect ing to what i heard was that the con Cerns about immigration in Manitoba Are not Central to the Federal governments Kierans first Chance besides the emphasis on the in Kierans and the institutes Agenda Are not the priority and the make up of the issues Are some of the important in Kierans include the Mone tary policy that keeps interest rates High and makes capital expensive some might even say it drives it South of the National budget issues and How to Deal with the deficit the Broad Issue of the Quality of education being delivered and the level it is being funded training and retraining in the workforce and beefing up the child care which Kierans says has been postponed because of fiscal Kierans has Well com plex views on How the Economy can keep growing without harming the he says it will require less government More a forcible Laws and a multidirectional Kierans envisions an attitude whereby business will become encouraged to look for Sev eral solutions to the same for the Challenge of Cut Ting Back the release of Chloro fluorocarbons rfcs that damage the Ozone would Deal with the production of the use of rfcs in other products and consumer use of the products that contain while Kierans May sound Green when talking of the he sounds True Blue when about the free Trade among other he says it is inconceivable that the agreement would be and admits Hes Wor ried that it will become an Issue again in the next Federal on the he says the country is not bankrupt and if it does not increase expenditures by which is it will be Able to Stop borrowing and thus prevent the accumulated debt from growing any Odd although the so called Columbus Day computer virus scare of last october was Little More than that a scare there is an increasing awareness in Many quarters of the need to take precautions with com Puter Security in next a data Securi crime prevention seminar in Winnipeg will give local managers of computer systems a Chance to understand How to de fend against an array of potential Security problems that could be very damaging and ultimately the sponsor of the seminar is mind computer a Winni Peg computer manufacturer and systems the firm will be bringing in a noted israeli computer Security aide who is chief of Security of israels Bank and As is responsible for the Protection of billion in assets at the Banks 350 he will discuss defending against Poten tial computer sabotage and identify ing threats to data a commercial crime expert with the Constable Reid Bingo will talk about How computer crimes Are traced and and local computer Security expert Arie Lavy will discuss computer How they and How to control and destroy who says that several months ago he would have said that computer viruses were not an now cites three different occasions when More than 100 macintosh computer Termi nals at the University of Manitoba were he says at least two other Winnipeg businesses were also hit with different which Are software programs that Are activated in various ways and destroy All or part of the data held in that com Lavy says that some obscure which have been known to exist in certain parts of the Are now starting to make their pres ence known in which May suggest that the problem is getting More f ;