Profiles of Entrepeneurs: Clifton Shirt Company: Made To Measure Magazine

Ed Levy & Deb Levy Rayburn

66 year-old Ed Levy, champion swimmer, college Prof., and self-proclaimed traveling adventurer, arrives at the office by 7:00 AM in his electric yellow BMW (license plate SUNBEAM); completing an early day’s work before the handball courts, vegetarian cooking with garlic, and an evening with “Tweetie Bird,” his wife of 39 years and mother of his 3 daughters.

Morris Levy escaped the Kaiser’s Germany in the 1870’s, came to the ‘States and became a cutter in a Cincinnati shirt company. Learning the trade, he and another fellow bought the Victor Shirt Co., which they renamed “Clifton,” after a nearby upper-class neighborhood.

In 1886, the Clifton Shirt Co. began with the manufacture of dress shirts. A small company in a mid-western town, Clifton floundered until it found its niche—producing for the Cincinnati police department—the first uniform shirts in the country.

Morris’ 2 sons, Leslie & Sidney, came into the business during the Depression. Struggling to keep the company lucrative, the brothers used their good name as collateral, and borrowed extensively. Eventually, loans were paid off, and the company became profitable. In 1972, Sid moved to Florida; Les stayed with the business, until he retired in 1978.

Ed Levy became president of Clifton in 1970. The family has always prided itself in good, straight, plain dealing. It was a foregone conclusion what Ed’s future would be. He received his BS in business on a swimming scholarship from Bowling Green State University, contributing his academic knowledge to the hands-on experience of his father, uncle, and grandfather.

Clifton, manufacturer of a stock house uniform shirt, has grown and diversified under Levy’s guidance. 4th generation, daughter Deb, continues that tradition. Down-sizing from a high-tech workplace to more flexible low-tech production, Clifton has entered the custom business with shirts for racing, theme parks, casinos, and private label. The big 100,000 shirt orders are harder to come by—prisons, off-shore manufacturing, the big shirting companies fight for the competition.

Originally based in Cincinnati, Clifton has now expanded to contractors in Tennessee and Mexico. “Clifton is a union shop. We profit-share,” asserts Ed. We never use imported garments to compete against other American manufacturers, only those off-shore. We’ve had to do it to survive.”

Ed is emphatic that he works very hard, but is not a workaholic. “If you have to do everything yourself, you’ve hired the wrong people. The business should work for you,” he states. “You’re inefficient if you need to work all the time—either that or you have the wrong priorities.” At the 2 colleges where he teaches, he offers a business course in economics based on Plato’s Republic, and a management course styled after Machiavelli’s The Prince.

During his years at Clifton, Ed is most proud of being able to survive during very difficult times. “Everyone else went South, and we stayed in the North. We’re highly mechanized and very efficient.” Pragmatic, Levy recognizes the “winds of reality and sails with them.” Whether he agrees with a practice or not, as long as it’s ethical, he’ll participate if it’s necessary to survive.

“The Americans With Disabilities Act, Affirmative Action, Workmen’s Compensation--three good reasons why we’ve gone to off-shore manufacturing and contract labor. I’m an arch-conservative,” Ed insists. “I look at each individual, I don’t look at an entire group. I don’t want to be forced to run my business in a certain way; I want the freedom to choose.”

In spite of his own education, Levy prefers street smarts. “Going to college doesn’t mean you’ve learned anything,” he quips. “It just means you’ve been exposed to learning.”

As his business is changing, so is he. “I’m still not grown up,” Ed Levy laughs. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do next. He takes his opportunities where they exist, always putting loyalty to his customers and his firm ethical standards first. “If I’m not having any fun, I know it’s time to get out.”

Like Ed, Deb Levy Rayburn was born in Cincinnati, raised in the family business, and received her BS at Bowling Green State. Like her father, she is outspoken, full of laughter. She and her husband, Mark, have a daughter; parenthood taught Deb that family is her first priority. Deb, who co-manages the company, readily states that Clifton is neither the biggest nor the most successful. That’s okay. “Dad always provided a good living for us; more importantly, he was there for us. I must be there for my family, too.”

Deb, with a background in marketing and retailing, pushes diversity within Clifton. “I want to see the company grow,” she claims. She, too, seeks out smaller contracts, simpler more customized garments. “Dad is very production oriented, I’m people-oriented. We make a good team. While Dad supervises the manufacturing, I network the trade shows, build a more aggressive sales force.”

Being the boss’s daughter has meant growing into the job. “I’ve had to earn respect,” states Deb. “I think our employees accepted me faster than the public. People either think I’m the assistant or the secretary, because I’m 35 and a woman. I’m pretty aggressive, so that impression is changing. I don’t know any women in my position, which is difficult sometimes. I have no one to bond with—it’s all men.”

Deb accepts off-shore manufacturing as a necessary evil. It bothers her that Americans are without work. One of her goals when emphasizing low-tech manufacturing is to keep more American labor employed.

At Clifton for 12 years, Deb Levy Rayburn reflects on increasing competition in the market-place. “We must carve our own niche—we have to offer greater flexibility,” she muses. With approximately 110 employees, Deb has seen generations of families working together in the factory. With greater technology, that’s beginning to disappear. “I need to tell people how things are. I’m always honest with them,” Deb feels. “I could never be disloyal to our employees, customers, or our suppliers.”