STOLBERG, Germany — May 10, 2019 — Prym Fashion today announced the acquisition of New York City-based Sher Plastics, a proven leader in button and trim manufacturing since 1942. The new entity will be named Prym Fashion Americas, but will continue to do business as Sher Plastics. Richard Sher will serve as managing director of Sher Plastics and Cindy Sher will serve as director, and they will retain part ownership of the company. Greg Adler will serve as director of administration for the company.

With little overlap in products, customers, or geography, the acquisition provides Prym Fashion with a base of operations from which it can grow business among U.S.-based apparel brands and retailers. The company will look to create greater awareness of the innovative, luxury metal fasteners and L.I.F.E. Certified fasteners produced by Prym Fashion Italia, a recognized leader in the snap fastener and rivet industry. Recently introduced, L.I.F.E. Certified metal fasteners are manufactured to significantly lower the process and environmental footprint of Prym Fashion products compared to conventional manufacturing processes, helping them meet the growing demand for sustainability.

“Adding Sher Plastics to the company increases the global footprint of Prym Fashion, and the synergies between our product lines provide us with an expanded assortment of high-quality trim and fasteners that will make us an important one-stop solution for our customers,” said Brian Moore, CEO, Prym Fashion. “This is a big step in expanding the Prym name in the U.S., especially among the fashion brands located in the New York area.  Richard is well-known and respected throughout the industry, and we are very fortunate to have him lead our efforts.”

Prym Fashion will begin selling Sher Plastics products throughout Europe, and will provide sales and technical service support globally. Sher Plastics’ 30 New York-based employees will form the face of Prym Fashion in the U.S., while their staff of 34 in Hong Kong will be incorporated into Prym’s existing operations there.

“Sher Plastics has been a family business for nearly 80 years, and we are very confident that the company will continue to grow and flourish with the resources of Prym Fashion behind us,” said Richard Sher, managing director of Prym Fashion Americas. “There is a great cultural fit between our organizations that is marked by the longevity and continuity of both companies, and we are excited by the opportunity to increase the sales of Sher Plastics products globally, especially throughout Europe.”

Dr. Ansgar Nonn, chief executive officer of the William Prym Group, added, “While we have been in business since 1530, Prym is continually focused on the future. This acquisition is an example of our commitment to being a leader in each market that we enter, and we look forward to being able to service a global customer base with a more complete range of highly innovative and superior quality products and services.”

Posted May 10, 2019

Source: The Prym Group

TOLLAND, Conn. — May 9, 2019 — Speed has become the new normal in fashion, as designers, brands, retailers and manufacturers strive to stay ahead of trends  and meet consumer expectations for personalization and sustainability. To support their users in the race to keep up with what’s now trending, Gerber announced the release of a major update to Design Suite, their Adobe®Illustrator®Plug-in. “We know our customers are looking for ways to improve speed and connectivity to support their creative process.” Said Clayton Parker, Director PLM Product Management.“Adobe Illustrator is a key tool for designers and product development teams. Our latest updates to the Adobe Plug-in and our new UI are a combined element of continually responding to customer input to create an optimal user experience with YuniquePLM.”

A deep understanding of the fashion design and development process drives Gerber’s customer focused innovation process. For YuniquePLM and other Gerber software applications, this approach includes an open philosophy leveraging APIs for integration with key applications in their customers’ end-to-end processes. Adobe is one key example, as Gerber was the first major PLM provider to offer its Adobe integrations through the Adobe Exchange App Marketplace. Having YuniquePLM’s Design Suite integrations in the marketplace ensures users are always up to date with the latest releases for both Mac and PC. The latest update to Design Suite focuses on simplification and speed. Key features include:

Simplified Drag and Drop Open for Artboards: The ability to open any image within the plug-in so assets in YuniquePLM can easily be added to an active artboard in Illustrator.

Faster Use of Multiple File Types: Users can now directly access and edit multiple file types within the plug-in– JPEG, PNG, TIFF, EPS, and Photoshop to name a few. This improves speed by reducing the need to edit files in multiple applications.

Improved Large Image Processing Speed: Large files and multiple artboards can now be processed in the background so a user can continue to work while their artwork is being published to YuniquePLM.

“Our cloud deployment model is enabling us to launch updates and new features every few weeks.” stated Parker.“We have developed a great partnership with Adobe and our rapid deployment model ensures we’re ready to incorporate new Adobe releases for seamless integration with YuniquePLM.”

Posted May 9, 2019

Source: Gerber Technology

WASHINGTON — May 9, 2019 — With retail sales rising and President Trump saying he plans to both increase and broaden tariffs on goods from China, imports at the nation’s major retail container ports are expected to see unusually high levels the remainder of this spring and through the summer, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

“Much of this is driven by consumer demand but retailers are likely to resume stocking up merchandise before new tariffs can take effect,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “Tariff increases and new tariffs will mean higher costs for U.S. businesses, higher prices for American consumers and lost jobs for many American workers. We encourage the administration to stay focused on a trade agreement, and we hope the negotiations will get back on track. It would be unfortunate to undermine the progress that has been made with more tit-for-tat tariffs that only punish Americans.”

The rush to bring merchandise into the country that was seen through much of last year slowed down after Trump postponed a tariff hike from January to March and then put it on hold indefinitely as trade talks with China showed signs of progress. But Trump said this week that 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods will rise to 25 percent on Friday, and that he plans to impose new 25 percent tariffs on most remaining Chinese goods at an unspecified date.

U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.61 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units in March, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was down 0.6 percent from February but up 4.4 percent year-over-year. A TEU is one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent.

April was estimated at 1.76 million TEU, up 7.7 percent year-over-year. May is forecast at 1.9 million TEU, up 4.2 percent; June at 1.92 million TEU, up 3.7 percent; July at 1.96 million TEU, up 3 percent; August at 1.98 million TEU, up 4.6 percent, and September at 1.91 million, up 2 percent. Imports have never before hit the 1.9 million TEU mark earlier than July. And the August number would be the highest monthly total since the record 2 million TEU record set last October.

Imports during 2018 set a record of 21.8 million TEU, an increase of 6.2 percent over 2017’s previous record of 20.5 million TEU. The first half of 2019 is expected to total 10.7 million TEU, up 3.9 percent over the first half of 2018.

“Consumption is facing the potential of increased tariffs on Chinese imports if President Trump’s tweets are anything to go by,” Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said. “One can only hope that this is a simple negotiating tactic that will run out of steam.”

Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by the consulting firm Hackett Associates, covers the U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Port of Virginia, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Jacksonville on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast.

Posted May 9, 2019

Source: The National Retail Federation (NRF)