EFN has learned that Cardi International has partnered with two of the formal wear businesses’ shirt makers to cover price points and quality levels that will appeal to a broad spectrum of formal wear buyers. According to sources, CSS Chaplin and Ascot have been retained to produce shirts under Cardi specifications that will be exclusives.

Cardi’s impact is now being felt by coat makers, as a finer feel, super 150’s synthetic tuxedo is said to be renting and performing well in rental stores. In some cases, Cardi products are out performing goods at twice the price, even super 100’s Lora Piana products made by Fabian Couture. An ongoing watch is starting to confirm that bookings taken against Cardi’s commitment to same day shipping are decimating the reported declining stock position of Fabian and other suppliers that find it difficult to compete.

Owner of the company, Chris Cardi, declined to elaborate on the topic simply saying, "We are happy to partner in with our own trade suppliers and forge long lasting relationships that work for both sides and benefits the business that we service. We are committed to the tuxedo business and believe we can continue to deliver good quality and value to them."

EFN continues to monitor Cardi’s progress and has heard ongoing efforts to add shoe products to their line have been unsuccessful. Reports say Cardi’s criteria to meet certain standards have not been met, but the supplier remains hopeful they will be able to add shoes at some point.

Posted on E-Formal News, 3-19-2009

CARDI International, Inc. Is proud to announce the release of two new colors, Fern (Luxury Herringbone) and Lapis (Palermo and Solid Twill).  These two new colors are currently in the air, being shipped to our Trenton, NJ warehouse where they will be available for ordering shortly.

Check out the product pages below!

Fern Luxury Herringbone Products - Vest, Longtie, Bowtie, Hankie

Lapis Palermo Products - Vest, Longtie, Bowtie, Hankie

Lapis Solid Twill Products - Longtie, Hankie (Product Page Coming Soon)

This week, Cardi International announced the launch of their new tuxedos, supporting all size buyers by offering a sample pack which includes seven new style coats and three pants. The tuxedos join the accessories, creating a package that will be difficult, if not impossible to beat.

Modestly priced, Cardi told EFN they have committed millions of dollars in inventory to match the scope of their accessory launch that began in July of 2006.

“We’re pleased with the response we’re getting already,” said Chris Cardi today. Cardi told EFN a significant amount of inquires and shipment of samples began immediately after an EFN article announcing the move this week.

Since Cardi’s launch in 2006, success was almost instant. With no traditional form of selling, the Internet based company has continued to grow without the help of a sales force. The company’s focus remains online, offering venerable designs and an intricate system of marketing formal wear products that bypasses all the usual methods.

Cardi’s growth and main target has been a vast majority of moderate to smaller accounts and has all but snubbed larger buyers that cannot buy their way into controlling them. The policy since day one has been Cash On Delivery, shying away from credit terms that have been the down fall of many of the businesses’ suppliers and bankrupted Lord West, has hampered Fabian Couture and reportedly still holds After Six at bay.

Samples and testing have scored well in over a year’s use in local Philadelphia shops that helped to develop the products and have reportedly been using them very effectively and under the radar.

EFN sources say Cardi could be at the verge of several other announcements in the near future to further capture a greater portion of formal wear buyer’s budgets. The news has updated Cardi’s very favorable STRONG BUY status with today’s date.

Posted on E-Formal News, 2-13-2009

After recuperating for a while, competitors of Cardi International are in store for another relapse, as an announcement made on Friday that was read by an expanded readership of EFN operators is again raising the blood pressure of the tuxedo business.

This time, the news of a sample pack of items in clothing will be joining Cardi’s accessory programs, allowing smaller and moderate size operators to torso mannequins with a super 150’s feel product made in China. In a Just In Time (JIT) chain environment, operators will be able to book weddings against a multimillion dollar inventory position that has quietly landed in the United States and taken residence in an expanded warehouse in Trenton, New Jersey and buy what they need, as they need it.

“It eliminates the risk of overbuying or buying dogs that don’t rent at the store level,” say owners that say they’re at a loss of what to buy and what consumers really want. “No one advertises any more– and those that do only make a sample for a photo shoot but don’t tell us there’s no distribution or production of the products, so we get stuck,” say others. While yet other new readers on free trial subscriptions said, “I mentioned I have nothing but great things to say regarding Cardi. As far as I’m concerned if the “traditional” manufacturers had what I needed during May, guys like Cardi probably wouldn’t have stood a chance. But to Chris’ (Cardi’s) credit, not once have I called for something that wasn’t there and shipped on time, including in May. I think the last time I could say that about After-6 or FLOW was… I can’t even remember.”

Discussions with Chris Cardi today said he remains optimistic that the tuxedo rental trade will find value in his products. “This is why we are selling the goods in sample form for a nominal price. We understand times are getting tougher and we want those that partner with us to be successful,” said Cardi.

Friday’s news continues to hit a nerve, as cryptic e-mails and a proportionately small percentage of Cardi users complain. To date, only a small portion of accounts that have bought Cardi goods say they were disappointed. Cardi has tried to satisfy customers, as best they could but has also told some they could not satisfy them and they should seek goods elsewhere, in a very polite fashion.

EFN continues to be allowed extraordinary insight into Cardi’s plans to further distribute products and is aware on ongoing negotiations with other organizations that could leverage Cardi’s resources and distribution capacity. Neither Cardi, nor the other parties involved would elaborate further.

Posted on E-Formal News, 2-9-2009

The “Tapestry Tie Collection” is CARDI International’s newest neckwear collection for Fall 2008.  The Collection will consist of 36 colors which coordinate with the successful Premier Solid Satin Vest Collection.  Swatch cards are currently in production.  Once fabrics swatch cards arrive in our warehouse, we will be immediately shipping out fabric swatch cards to all CARDI authorized dealers.

More info coming soon.

Our architect has finalized blueprints for our newest 9000 square foot expansion.  Thanks to the successs of the CARDI Identity tuxedo (Two-button Notch, Super 150’s luxury viscose blend), storeowners have requested that we create new tuxedo styles in this same luxuriously soft fabric.  In efforts to continue our tradition of large in-stock programs, additional second and third floor additions must be implemented to hold the literally tens of thousands of units that have already been ordered.

Our colored jewelry sets continue to sell well for proms and as specialty items; however, storeowners requested that we begin stocking more traditional styling formal jewelry sets.  We have 43 new formal sets (studs and cufflinks) arriving for Fall 2008.  These sets include genuine onyx, mother of pearl, and enamels.  Each set will come packages in an attractive Cristoforo gift box.

We believe that the most popular set will be the SC01S (Black Circular Enamel with Silver Trim).  Instead of making the basic boxed jewelry set similar to everyone else’s in the formal wear industry, we have done a couple upgrades compared to the basic boxed sets out there.  The cufflinks and studs are definitely higher quality evident in their size and weight.  Also, we included an updated backing to the cufflinks to add a little something special.

All formal jewelry sets will be part of CARDI’s instock programs.  Jewelry set photos should be posted on the website by Monday, 09/22/08.

Our Chinese partners have joined forces with a French fusing company in order to make even better formal vests.  For two years, China has done a wonderful job creating vests for CARDI International.  Sizing scales are right on point; color consistency has been proven through dozens of cuttings; styling has been consistent.  In our opinion, the only spec that needed to be improved was the “fusing sourcing.”  Our Chinese partners have initially been getting their fusing from a smaller province in China.  Although most of the cuttings would come in fine, every once in a while we would receive a cutting where the fusing did not bond as well as we would have liked; this was due to the result of inconsistency in the fusing itself.  After careful analysis of the product, we realized that the issue was not with our Chinese partners, but with the Chinese fusing company that was providing our partners with fusing.

Once our Chinese partners began sourcing upgraded fusing from the French company, we noticed a substantial improvement in the bonding process .  All subsequent orders now use the higher grade French fusing.  (NOTE: even though our costs have recently risen since upgrading to the French fusing, we have not increased the wholesale prices to all our valued accounts).

Most customers will not even notice that we did an upgrade since it is the inner parts of the vest being upgraded.  However, we like keeping our customers in the loop and letting them know of any new updates, improvements, or product releases.

For those of you who have been in the rental industry for many years, you probably noticed the increasing need for larger sizes over the past several years.  It seems like guys are getting bigger and bigger each passing year.

A few of our valued customers expressed their desire to add “Long” sizes in the larger vests (2XL and up).  In response to this request, we have added sizes “2XL-Long, 3XL-Long, 4XL-Long, and 5XL-Long.”  The long version vests will add 2 inches length to the vest to help accomodate the taller and larger gentleman.

We have already placed our order for these vests and they should be available Fall 2008.  These sizes will continue to be part of our instock programs.  Premier Solid Satin, Luxury Herringbone, Palermo, and Venetian will all have these additional sizes added to their vest collections.