With most apparel and footwear now manufactured offshore and far from the protective eyes of brand owners, keeping goods secure calls for program commitment and technology-based safeguards.
Under an effectively managed program, a brand might certify factories and establish relationships with industry organizations, such as the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition. It will become familiar with the intricacies of search and seizure in different parts of the world and work in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, local police and intellectual property lawyers. Contracting for security assistance with investigators having apparel industry expertise is yet another productive course. Such undertakings equip brand owners with the broad-ranging knowledge and resources necessary to address their security challenges.
On a parallel plane, technology rules. One use of technology that should be central to any brand protection program is a means to identify authentic versus counterfeit goods in any market venue - from the shelves of big name retailers to shipments found in unauthorized warehouses or ports of entry. Technology today gives us tools to do so easily and with a virtually indisputable degree of certainty.
Security-laden brand labels are a case in point. The labels, which are sewn in to form an integral part of garments and footwear, are a preferred method for authenticating goods. They are a permanent part of a garment that physically conveys brand and confirms the product's value. Accordingly, brand labels remain attached and go where the garments go. Moreover, the labels are typically applied at the place and time of a garment's manufacture, the most cost-efficient production point along the supply chain. The inclusion of security features into the product's core labeling provides the brand with the lowest total applied cost.
The different types of label security vary in price from very cost-effective to premium, but virtually all security labels are extremely difficult to detect or duplicate. The technology best suited for the job will depend on the garment, the application and the garment's attraction as a counterfeit target. Some security is overt, visible to consumer and counterfeiter alike, and can even have customer appeal. Holograms containing brand logos and text are an example.
Covert security includes specialized yarns that can be selectively woven into labels for authentication by viewing with a hand-held tool. Security threads, of the type in currency and secure documents, can authenticate apparel with printed codes or serial numbers in micro- or human-readable type. Labels can contain multiple technologies to serve different needs within the supply chain.
Serialization is a particularly important tool because it helps to further identify and control one of the biggest challenges facing the apparel industry - overproduction and grey-market diversion.
Overproduction occurs when a factory manufactures a greater number of garments than called for on a P.O. and unlawfully sells the overage from its back door. Serialization is effective against this because both the label manufacturer and the brand can tell exactly which serialized labels were shipped to a particular factory. When overproduced goods are located in the marketplace, a brand can utilize the serial number to identify the source that originally received the labels for production. Via a database from any point worldwide, the brand can identify predetermined critical information, including the factory and production detail.
Sourcing security labels
Sourcing branded security labels is a critical decision. The process should entail examining the supplier's production capabilities, its global distribution network, its reputation in the business community and, of course, the quality of its labels and security technologies.
Because your supplier will partner with you in the sensitive area of security, its reputation for integrity must be beyond question. Quality suppliers are publicly held corporations with codified standards for transacting business. Their management practices are overseen by multiple levels of ethics governance and their operations regularly undergo professional audits both for quality and adherence to the corporation's business principles.
Regarding quality, consistency is paramount. Expect your supplier to identify product consistency as a core competence and to willingly demonstrate successful solutions on a global basis. Your security label supplier should have the worldwide resources necessary to deliver products wherever you need them.
The sourcing decision should also involve evaluating the supplier's depth of knowledge and its ability to partner with the brand on security-related matters. Ultimately, the brand should select a supplier that can function as a trusted business advisor, and not just a vendor. A label supplier having the business skill and willingness to provide supporting evidence in a court case, for example, brings an added dimension to the brand's overall product protection program.
A supplier's experience is likewise an essential selection consideration. Does the supplier understand the need to provide robust labels that will withstand harsh post-processing activities, such as stone washing? Will it build into its security labels a durability that matches a garment's expected service life? Will it recognize the criticality of producing labels that have consistent color, hand and clarity and be able to deliver them on time, every time wherever you source your products?
Can it provide solutions that fit with the brand's sensitivity towards cost?
The answers to all such questions should be a resounding yes.
Other considerations for securing your brand
Security-laden brand labels can also help to guard against fraud at the retail level. Consider the case of counterfeit products that were purchased in good faith over the Internet, but then brought in to a brick and mortar store for return due to faulty workmanship; or goods returned as part of an organized attempt to exchange phony goods for the real thing. Either way, security labels can help retailers and brands to authenticate goods brought to a store and refuse illegitimate returns.
Serialization offers additional benefits such as tracking the pedigree of a product to meet the new Consumer Product Safety legislation that was recently passed into law for children's apparel and toys. It can be an effective tool in managing recalls of product having quality or safety issues.
RFID and Security
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) holds momentous promise for increasing security throughout the supply chain. It can provide brands with a way to efficiently capture unique product identification at each touch point from manufacture to retail shelf. Indeed, pilot programs are in place today testing the technology for uses that will add to brands' protection against diversion, theft, gray marketing and counterfeiting.
Brands are well advised to maintain awareness of RFID advancements via conferring with their label suppliers. As costs continue to decrease, RFID's promise will become a more widespread reality.
