By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOTFor trendy footwear firm Steven Madden Ltd., as well as for logistics leader DHL, staying a step ahead of the competition is critical. As DHL this year places a new emphasis on serving the fashion industry, one of its significant new customers is the Madden firm, and the logistics company is taking such steps as often bypassing its Ohio hub so that the latest foot fashions get from Asian suppliers to U.S. buyers as fast as possible. “Every week, there are new styles out there,” said Sanjeev Sahni, vice president of logistics services at the Madden company. “You’ve got to be on top of everything. “We want our product in the stores as soon as possible,” continued Sahwi, whose firm is commonly known in the industry simply by the informal name of its founder, Steve Madden. “Every day lost is lost sales.” Sahni said “the big plus” with using DHL has been the practice of bringing Steve Madden’s most time-sensitive shipments directly to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport from Asia on freighters and commercial air carriers rather than routing them through DHL’s hub at Wilmington, Ohio. That direct routing to JFK is contrary to the customary practice of integrated carriers of moving shipments through a respective U.S. hub. JFK is just a few miles across Queens from Steve Madden’s Long Island City corporate headquarters, so, as Sahni computes, a half-day to a day is saved in transit time. When samples of the hottest styles are needed for a showroom floor, such timing is crucial. International shipping industry veteran Tom Hickey, who in March joined DHL Express as vice president for fashion and retail, commented, “When it comes to the fashion world, time is money. Timing is everything. Every couple of hours helps. “Getting the product into the store is very important,” he added, “but, if you don’t have that product in the showroom to sell it to the stores, you’re done.” Hickey, who came to DHL to lead its “dedicated fashion vertical” initiative, said of Steve Madden, “Their shipments are always very urgent.” While, according to Sahni, some 90 percent of Steve Madden’s annual import volume comes into the United States via ocean carriers, the shoe firm is willing to pay a premium for ensured prompt delivery of the kind of shipments for which it uses DHL – mostly samples, small packages and test cases. In addition to timely deliveries, DHL is furnishing Steve Madden with plenty of visibility, so the customer at all times knows just where a given shipment is. “We monitor every single shipment from cradle to grave for them,” Hickey said. DHL handles all Customs clearance for Steve Madden at JFK and typically addresses all clearance-related issues before the inbound plane lands to make sure that product is not held up, Hickey noted. To serve the fashion sector, DHL Express is assembling a team of industry-savvy professionals. They include fashion retail managers Ben Fanning, who was director of imports for the Sports Authority, and William Heaney, who had handled the garment center for APL Logistics. Hickey also came to DHL from APL Logistics, where he was vice president of the global consolidation unit. Heaney, along with sales representative Sergio Garcia, heads DHL’s Steve Madden account effort. While Hickey, Fanning and Heaney are all based in New York, the fashion sector team’s presence is expanding to additional markets. Team members currently are being recruited for Boston and Los Angeles, with hires for Chicago and Atlanta planned as well. “The most important thing is to be in locations where there is a large mix of apparel people,” Hickey said. “It is our intent to eventually have representatives in every major U.S. market.” Leveraging volumes is a key element in the agreement reached this month between DHL and the Korean Apparel Manufacturers Association, which counts in its membership more than 500 firms. Many of those member firms are expected to benefit from economies of scale as DHL handles their impor