Advise Me on Intriguing Int'l Trade Oppty

RE: [spiers] Advise Me on Intriguing Int'l Trade Oppty

John et al,

I've been doing my research on best way to ship rather small orders of
textiles from Asia. My business has been importing several packages per
month ranging in value from $1000 to $10,000.

My conclusion is that working with UPS, Fedex or DHL is by far most cost
effective, even for orders of $8 - $10,000. UPS is my favorite and
their "expedited" service is advertised to take a day or two more
(although it usually gets here just as fast as express) and is the least
expensive.

Yes you have to pay the duty plus a $25 customs transaction fee, but the
customs brokerage entry fees are built in to the price and perhaps more
importantly, this system does not slow the shipment down as often
happens with a customs broker. Usually get it in 2 - 3 days, even from
India.

The other advantage is that the rate includes carriage all the way to
your (or the customer's) door unlike air cargo shipments where often you
need to get the package at the airport.

You can even go to the UPS website and get an all in quote online by
entering the points of origin, destination, weight, size and value.

Its working for me.

Best

Shel Weinberg

phone: 360 299 3579
mobile: 360 941 5443
shel@sheldonweinberg.com

-----Original Message-----
From: spiers@yahoogroups.com [mailto:spiers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of John Spiers
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 12:42 PM
To: spiers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [spiers] Advise Me on Intriguing Int'l Trade Oppty

Folks,

My Hong Kong tailor is importuning me to open a biz here in USA having
custom clothes
measured in USA and made in Hong Kong.

I think I mention in my book a fellow in Seattle who did exactly this
for 25 years here in
Seattle, but through in the towel when congress made the paperwork
process overwhelming
for this biz.

I would never run such a business, but owning it would be fine. To
investigate this
possibility, I put on my 3 piece pinstripe suit made by these Hong Kong
tailors, and visited
the competition in the Seattle area. I walked in and introduced myself,
mentioned I lived
locally but bought tailored suits in Hong Kong. Then i said, "tell me
how come I should buy
from you and not from Hong Kong". (Mustn't ask "why"... "how come" is
much less
threatening...)

He looked at the suit, and his first best answer was "well, that is a
fall weight suit..." that was
his best shot!

Then he explained how tailoring works in USA. The customer selects
fabric, the tailor takes
your measurements, and sends them to a plant back east which executes
the suit, and a
second fitting is done back here in the shop. Same with shirts, but
different factory.

I read all about this in Forbes once, the biggest such plant being
Oxxford in Chicago. Inn
essence USA tailors are simply measurement taking storefronts, and you
select from a set
range of avaialble fabrics.

Hong Kong on the other hand, with the worlds widest selection of fabrics
on hand, and
efficiently managed, can give one a wider range. Next, their ability to
accomodate outside
the box is unsurpassed. I've read several tests that put hong kong
tailors ahead of Saville
Row tailors.

What occurred to me was these USA tailor shops are for people who must
wear suits, wheras
a Hong KMong tailored product would be for people who love to wear
suits.

And the trick in buying suits tailored is not to get a $500 suit for
$300, but a $3000 suit for
$700. I was surprised the normal price point for the local tailors suit
is about $900 he said.
Rather low i thought.

Seattle's premier tailor shop works on the same basis as the others, so
it seems to me there
is room for very high end, upscale tailor shop.

Now some people do have suit made in hong kong and sent to USA. To
avoid the heavy costs
and taxes and paperwork, it is commonly misprepresented as to what is
coming in. A formal
entry done by a broker can be $90 - $150 .... and takes time... and
there isd I believe a 10%
tax... much is done to get around these legal hurdles.

Avoiding the tax is foolish, i think, but the broker fees are hefty.
Happily I can fill out those
forms myself, or teach a clerk to do it cheap, since it will be the same
thing over and over. I
will have a reality check conferenced with a customsbroker on this.

I have an associate who has connections with real tailors, so that part
is covered. Starting
small and financing a few suits a week is no big deal. And a tailor
shop can be anywhere.

I am meeting with an auctioneer this afternoon, who often works charity
events. For
advertising, we'd auction off a tailored suit, such as the auctioneer
wears, one of ours. We
get our name in front of high rollers who in turn buy one of our suits,
named in the auction,
and then we sell the winner 2 other suits when he shows up to be fitted
for his tuxedo.

By the way, this Tailor will be in Seattle on July 18 and 19 if you want
to meet him yourself
and get a gorgeous suit made to fit. he takes credit cards, and you pay
in advance, but I've
worked with him 30 years now...

But to the point... anything I am missing here? Anything I should
cover...problems I should
look out for?

john

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