I woke up around 3 am this morning to pop some laundry in and start writing. So after creating a few pages of semi-complete sentences that structure themselves somewhat as commands and somewhat as questionable grammar, I found what I was looking for, that jewel of an idea.
Targeting what I want to do with the rest of my life has been a challenge. I tried engineering, writing, editing, financial planning, and went back to school for my MBA. During my MBA, I figured out that I liked supply chain. It was interesting. It seems to be history in the making. After all, there are lots of historians that get excited when archeologists dig up some old Roman canal. Logistics is how we live as human beings.
"Supply chain," however, is not very specific. And while I was at the CSCMP conference in Denver, I was told more than once, "pick an industry that you're interested in." Well, how do I know what I'm interested in? The answer came to me when I finally decided to get a job, any job, even one that won't quite cover my bills.
So, I started walking around town and applying to anything and everything. Only, I didn't apply to just anything. I applied to work at American Eagle, White House Black Market, Victoria Secret, Hollister, and Ann Taylor. Yes, I also applied to Hallmark, Munsons, and a few other stores, but it was the fashion stores that I really followed up on.
Now, I've always have had my own sense of fashion. In college, I was very convinced that cut off pants over pajama bottoms was going to be the next big thing. Thankfully, I've made some personal improvements since then. (Read: I dated girls that helped me make the proper corrections.) And, I've graduated to a look somewhere between American Eagle and Lands End.
But that isn't quite specific enough, because, well, I care about the environment. At least, I like to think I do. So, as I thought about these two things, fashion and the environment, which are frequently in conflict, the idea hit me:
Dress smart, both in fashion and for the environment.
That's a solid idea, right there. I Googled it, and it didn't come up, so I felt original. Obviously, fashion uses a lot of not so great chemicals and supply chain uses a lot a fuel, so this is really about measured improvement and starting the implementation of Detox (Greenpeace) and Lean (Toyota) practices. Essentially, use friendlier chemicals for the environment and shorten supply chains.
Chemicals are being improperly disposed of in many manufacturing processes. There were a lot of dye mills around where I grew up, and town tours often include the phrase, "And you could tell what color they were dying the fabric that day because the water came out the same color." In 100 or 200 years this practice has not stopped, just moved elsewhere.
Not surprisingly but often overlooked, fuel makes up the majority of logistics costs. The further something travels, the more fuel you burn, the worse it is for both the environment and your pocketbook.
Due to mystery chemicals and fuel, the more time a product changes hands, the more expensive and toxic it becomes. With each exchange the wholesaler has less control of their product, and upstream management becomes either more complex or ignored. In which case, does the complexity justify the cost? Or what costs are incurred that the wholesaler doesn't know about?
