Company:
CARE WEAR INTERNATIONAL
LTD. is a
British Columbia based company which designs, manufactures, and sells clothing
for people with special needs both to individuals and businesses
worldwide. Corporate headquarters is
located at #103 5660 176A Street,
Surrey, BC.
Current status:
CARE WEAR INTERNATIONAL
LTD. started as
a home based business In 1998 and one year later began to expand its market
focus with the intent of capturing business in other market areas in
Canada. Key staff on board includes
President Ritva M. Reiman, Secretary/Treasurer
James E. St. John.
Products/Services:
CARE WEAR INTERNATIONAL
LTD. offers a
comprehensive collection of clothing designed for people with special needs
offering style, dignity, and quality.
Description of our market:
Research
indicates that our target market finds it very difficult to obtain suitable
clothing and accessories which satisfy the needs for utility, comfort, and
style. Research also suggests that the
number of customers in this market is increasing rapidly due to an aging
population.
Company objectives:
The
goal of CARE
WEAR INTERNATIONAL LTD. is to establish itself as the premiere provider
of clothing for people with special needs.
CARE
WEAR INTERNATIONAL LTD. is dedicated to building long-term relationships
with customers through innovative designs, quality manufacturing, and customer support, and wants to be
recognized as the leading supplier of special needs clothing in the markets
within which it participates. The
method to achieve this goal is through gradual and controlled expansion.
Background:
It
was my third morning working as a Care Aide.
Lena, my co-worker, was working downstairs and gave me the upstairs of
that wing of the building. It was a
normal morning and I felt like working hard.... usually I'm quite fast at
whatever I do. After some time Lena
came upstairs to ask which residents were ready to go to breakfast. I told her that 6 ladies are ready. She gave me a look and said, "You are
slow, and you should have washed and dressed all of these 12 residents in time
for breakfast. We are now late for the
whole day." That was the morning
when I thought to myself, there must be a better way to do this.
I
wanted to give choices to the residents when they said, "I cannot wear
that blouse because it hurts my shoulders" or, "I cannot wear that
dress anymore because I cannot lift my arms up, it hurts so much" and,
"My legs hurt when you put those pants on me." So went my time when I was trying to find
suitable clothes for them.... and I was late!
After
half a year I had designed a whole collection of special clothes for these
people because I did not want to hurt them and ruin their day. I wanted them to be happy with me, and happy
with all of us caregivers, no rush, no pain, no twisting and turning painful
joints, no stress or confusion. These
people have reasons to be happy now.
Why business will succeed:
Ritva
Reiman created Care Wear International Ltd. designs. She has worked in Care Facilities for the elderly both as a Care
Aide and Recreational Therapist in Canada and in Finland. She recognized the need for clothing that
contributes to the comfort, dignity, and pleasure of those with special needs
and also is better suited to meeting all of their functional requirements. As important, the garments are designed for
much easier dressing requiring less time and energy from the caregivers and greatly
reducing stress on the user. This clothing
line is a large step forward in thinking and gives a superior alternative to
the so called adaptive clothing previously available. The reception amongst health care professionals, caregivers, and
customers has been tremendous. The
market potential is huge and growing as evidenced by the aging demographics we
all know.
Achievements to date:
The
achievements to date have been growing market acceptance and valuable
experience in understanding the market channels for our product.
The mission of CARE WEAR
INTERNATIONAL LTD. is to creatively design, engineer, and market innovative
clothing and accessories using quality products and workmanship which will
contribute to the comfort, dignity, and pleasure of those with special needs
and to help their assistants and care givers to be more efficient and reduce
their workloads.
Competitive advantages:
Design
– clothing designs have been developed to satisfy the needs of the wearer and
their caregivers, while appearing as normal clothing.
Sourcing
materials and supplies directly from manufacturers reduces overall costs while
ensuring adequate supply.
In
house manufacturing ensures control over quality and delivery at competitive
costing.
Market differentiation:
Innovative
and unique adaptive designs, quality materials and construction at market
pricing.
Clear
understanding of market segment and end user.
Product
pricing offers clearly superior garments at acceptable price levels.
Possible new or complementary products:
Ongoing
design innovations maintain clear product superiority and market
leadership.
Complementary
possibilities are accessories such as stockings, footwear, simple jewelry,
diapers, special beds and chairs, related accessories.
As the population ages and the baby boomer generation
progresses to old age the market increases rapidly. Our customers typically require assistance while dressing and
have various difficulties that all impede or restrict their range of movement. Some clients also lack the cognitive skills
to dress themselves and become confused, stressed, and agitated while being
dressed.
Care
Wear designs allow the client to be dressed quickly and comfortably without any
problems. At the same time the garments
are attractive, stylish, and also very functional.
Our
pricing points are very competitive with traditional designs.
Quality
is superior because we use the best materials available and do all of our own
manufacturing.
We
take great effort to offer stylish and attractive garments and want to avoid
having everyone in a facility looking the same.
Our
market channels will be storefront, wholesale to other outlets serving seniors,
sales visits to nursing homes, catalog sales, and Internet sales.
Credit
retail sales are not anticipated however we would be willing to extend normal
terms to worthy wholesale customers.
Credit
card and debit card facilities will be required.
Advertising
and promotion will be carried out through local newspaper advertising,
brochures and catalogs.
All
employees will have to be able to work well with the elderly and project an
appropriate attitude and appearance.
Seasonal
cycles will be addressed through summer and winter collections, but the basic
styles will be the same, which reduces risk of large sale discounting. Economic cycles (growth, recession) will
have some impact but the influence of a rapidly aging population base reduces
recession risk.
Our
competitors at present offer only catalog sales of very basic garments. No retail stores to our knowledge carry this
type of clothing because it has not existed.
As competition increases we will strive to lead through better design
and better understanding of our customers needs.
These
competitors include Silverts Of Canada, and Silver Wear. These companies are from central and eastern
Canada and their marketing channels are catalog sales.
Pricing factors:
Relevant
pricing factors are consumer perceptions, competition, channels of
distribution, and production capacity.
Our experience to date at current pricing has been very good. We are able to support retail efforts at our
competitors price points with clearly superior garments, and by using different
channels we are able to continually test markets for pricing.
We will continue to use seminars, trade shows, conferences, editorials and advertising in periodicals and papers including co-op advertising and promotion with retail partners.
Who will conduct sales:
James
St. John
Elsa
Morrison
Ritva
Reiman
Training:
James
St. John – Bachelor of Business Administration, 30+ years of sales
Elsa
Morrison - Marketing education and direct sales experience.
Ritva
Reiman - Owned and operated clothing boutiques and fitness salons.
Arttu
Piippanen – Marketing education
Sales methods employed:
Direct
Contact
Catalog
Wholesale
Internet
Customer complaints:
Item replacement guarantee.
Materials/supplies needed:
Fabrics, thread, and related consumables.
Vendor(s):
Kendor Fabrics - Fabric selection, delivery
Westrade
Sales - Fabric selection, delivery
PSA
Enterprises - Fabric selection, price, delivery
Terms of sale:
Kendor
Fabrics - net 30 days
Westrade
Sales - net 30 days
PSA
Enterprises - consignment
Production process:
Order
entry, cutting, assembly, finishing
Competitors' production process:
Competitiors
use either in house manufacturing or contract manufacturing
Engineering/design support:
Our
designs for special needs are constantly being developed as the market demands.
Quality control:
Piece
by piece inspection.