Suppose we received an email with this title, which we do of course. Who should we send it to for production? Should we send the shorts to our factory members who make bottoms? Should we send the shirts to our tops' factories?
No, we forward this email to all 1,000+ people we broadcast to up to a dozen times a day. Why would we do that? It is because all of our members know more than you think they do - they know what their customers are making. They know what their customer's customers are making. They know who they are making them for. They know their capacity to make it. They know if they pay their bills on time. They know the chain.
Take YKK for example. They make zippers. They know every factory in this hemisphere who makes sewn goods that need zippers. They will never let you look at their customer/prospect database. But inside AAPN, we trust one another. So if I ask if they know a small factory making high-end blue jeans, BINGO - I get a short list.
Same for Thread; Elastic; Pocketing; Embellishment; Sublimation; Labels; and Supplies. Not to mention what those in Logistics; Finishing; Compliance; Consulting; Software; Equipment; Sustainability; and Design know how.
Then consider the relationships between Fiber; Yarn; Cotton; Supima; Synthetics; Knitting; Weaving; and Finishing with the Factories; Brands; Retailers; Direct-to-Consumer companies in our industry.
So, no, we do not target our sourcing broadcasts to small lists. We shotgun them to over 1,000 people out there in the chain. And when we do, whoever it was that asked for this input has about 15 minutes before the answers start coming in - we do that for free - instantly - and have since 1981.
The only question is - if you are one of our industry organizations making stuff or delivering services, are you receiving these broadcasts? If not, that's pretty easy to fix here - https://www.aapnetwork.net/membership-categories