Birnbaums Global Guide to Winning the Great Garment War [Paperback]

David Birnbaum (Author), David Birnbaum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2005

The Premier book on garment costing, and the ultimate book for all garment industry professionals. Ideal for buyers, suppliers, manufacturers and all those working to develop an apparel export industry in any country. If you have not read this book, you're probably not working with the lowest cost

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Fashiondex (April 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974101109
• ISBN-13: 978-0974101101
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #286,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Birnbaum Breaks New Ground, April 15, 2002

By 

Mike Todaro (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birnbaums Global Guide To Winning the Great Garment War (Paperback)

David Birnbaum is one unique man. He started his apparel career in New York, in the Garment District, then left it for a 30 year career living in China. Now he is consulting all over the world, opening plants, changing strategies, and speaking at industry meetings.
His book breaks new ground by redefining costing in a global way, using actual examples and taking into account every imaginable cost - especially those overlooked by those who only seek 'the low cost needle' and forget the basic arithmetic of full costing.
Like a text book, he defines; like a business book, he explains; and like an autobiography, he embellishes - but what he does mostly is hit you hard with 'nothing but the facts'.
To many in the apparel industry who say they are 'global', what they really mean is they are 'local' or 'regional'. David is global and therefore his book - whether you agree with his personal views or not - is a 'must read' for anyone who supplies to, works within, sources from or retails clothing of the global apparel industry.
While he does address Europe, NAFTA, the CBI and emerging regions, his experience is in that mysterious part of the world referred to as the 'Far East' or simply 'China' and is the core of the value of the study of his book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insight into the world of garment production, December 28, 2001

By 

Dallas S. Deluca (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birnbaums Global Guide To Winning the Great Garment War (Paperback)

This insightful and humorous book takes the reader on a step by step guide through the production of apparel with a focus on the cost analysis of each process. Birnbaum has frequent fictitious examples and true stories explaining the practical application of each of the ideas behind his full value cost analysis, making the book easy to read and understand.

Birnbaum's focus is to point out to the reader the folly of chasing the lowest labor rate by fully explaining the other cost variables involved in garment production. He begins with basic macro economic factors, which should be familiar to anyone who has ever taken an intermediate economics class, and illustrates the impact of country policies and conditions on product cost. He moves through indirect costs before discussing the impact of direct labor costs. The concluding chapters of the book examine the future competitive positions of the garment industry in the EU, NAFTA, and Indonesia, before finishing with a very interesting comment on the WTO and globalization.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone in the apparel industry. To anyone who is easily offended by caricatures and stereotypes, you will need to hold your nose. Birnbaum is not politically correct and uses both devices to humorous effect.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars outdated book, August 26, 2007

By 

M. HAMZA "worthless_war" (Piscataway, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birnbaums Global Guide to Winning the Great Garment War (Paperback)

The book is good to understand the process; but information/statistics used in the book is very much outdated and misleading. If someone use the book as a guideline to select the potential supplier definitely will be in problem. Author stated that it takes two days to get a fax from a third world country. This is definitely not the case anymore as every country has access to internet. Another place the author stated that only the garments in a developed country (i.e. Italy) have the pattern and sample making facilities. This is not the case anymore. He must be talking about the situation at least 20 years ago. The author needs to visit the countries he used as examples/reference and correct the data/information to make the book useful again.