ApparelLink
In the spring of 1995, as an apparel manufacturer showing a line at a
Denver Market it occurred to me that this new thing called the "World
Wide Web" could be a great tool in helping to better serve my customers.
It seemed to me that it would help to expand our customer base and improve
other business processes as well. The more I looked into it, the more
sure I was that I was on the right path. The challenge was to figure out
how to implement technically my thirty years of accumulated apparel industry
experience.
The first thing I learned was html, the language of web site design. My first efforts looked like what I now call the "Brother-In-Law" syndrome. We've all seen the "Brother-In-Law" site; the bargain site that was obviously put together by someone's proverbial brother-in-law using an inexpensive web-authoring program. It was then that I realized I had a lot to learn. If a site is to go beyond being a "Brother-In-Law" site the developer must know programming languages, graphics design, database programming and web marketing as well as html. To meet the challenge I started ApparelLink and devoted all of my time to learning the complete skill set for building professional web sites and in implementing those skills within the California apparel industry.
The ApparelLink Index
Not Long after I built my first Apparel Industry web sites I realized
that no matter how professionally they were produced they would not draw
interested visitors on their own. It occurred to me that having a web
site is like putting up a billboard. It doesn't do much good if it is
located on a backcountry road. It needs to be located on a well traveled
highway to be seen by its target market. To that end we created the ApparelLink
Index. The ApparelLink Index cross-links a number of sites that are important
resourcing and information sites with the Index as the central hub. When
apparel industry professionals find one of our sites useful, they have
immediate access to many other related sites that they find useful as
well. "The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts".
Textile & Apparel Traders
Even the most entertaining, professionally built business web sites offer
little reason for return visits unless they offer a useful service. The
philosophy behind Textile & Apparel Traders is simply that if we offer
free services useful to sewn-product industry professionals we will bring
them back to the site often. By offering enough different free services
we will keep them on the site longer. Our banner advertising is not static.
A banner is not relegated to a fixed position but is programmatically
delivered on hundreds of different web pages throughout the site. This
gives us the opportunity to deliver a rich marketing message for our clients.
As part of the ApparelLink Index, Textile & Apparel Traders serves an important function in delivering targeted traffic to the Index and to its member sites as well.
Our Business Model
Our business model is web site developing and hosting as well as online
marketing. ApparelLink can build (or rebuild) and host a professional
web presence for your company; a presence that you will be proud of. A
listing on the ApparelLink Index will bring industry professionals to
your web site. Your banner advertisement on the Textile & Apparel
Traders web site will also serve to generate targeted traffic.
We started our web business in 1995. We have been self-sustaining since 1998. We weathered the dot-com....dot-bomb boom/bust by treating the web as a business opportunity rather than a get-rich-quick scheme. That is why we are still here serving our clients after the dot-bomb dust has settled.
Arnie Wachman
President
Saddle Stitch Group
818 353-4567
webmaster@apparellink.com
http://www.apparellink.com
http://www.apparellink.net
http://www.textileandappareltraders.com