It Can Be Done--Karen Donovan: UniformMarketNews.Com

“I like to be part of a team.  I don’t want to do it all on my own,” says Karen Donavon.  The feisty 67 year-old takes time from her job to perch on a tall stool, and tell what it’s like to be a part of “the back of the house.”  The apparel business relies on thousands and thousands of people like Karen.   Some do one or two tasks; others are multiply trained and find themselves to be rarer than hen’s teeth in an industry that treasures them.

Gary Schultz, President of Edwards Garment Company, offered Karen a job on the spot when he met her, and asked her if she wanted to move to Kalamazoo.  “I’ve got only three like you, and one is about to leave!” he wailed.  Jest or no, the longtime multi-taskers are hard to find.

Whether larger corporations like Edwards, small manufacturers, or distributors, all of us need the folks who are the backbone of our industry. The more talented they are, the more quickly they rise to the top.  But there are also those whose “top” is about doing their jobs well, no matter how great or how small.  Karen is the perfect example.

She was raised on a 160 acre farm in Illinois, and learned from day one how important it was to do her work well; survival depended on it.  She learned the value of producing something that benefited her own family, and helped others at the same time.  “Uniforms are the same as my Daddy’s crops, or Mommy’s grapevine in her garden,” Karen recalls.  “When I work, I feel important because I know that I’m helping to make clothing that makes people feel proud.  I know that while I’m earning a salary and keeping busy, others are going to be looking mighty nice in the special outfits we do for them.  What could be a better job?”

Karen, like so many, learned to sew at an early age.  Her mother taught her, and she took Home Economics in school; if she wanted new clothes, the treadle sewing machine was there to accommodate her.  She graduated from high school and was off to the big city.  Six years later, after marrying and having her one and only child, Karen found herself looking for something to do that she really enjoyed.  In the meantime, she and her husband couldn’t afford much, so Karen decided that if she wanted pretty outfits, she was going to have to make them, herself. 

In the late ‘60’s, polyester double knit was “in.”  Karen went to the fabric store, and not having the money to buy a sewing machine, she learned to cut and hand-sew every bit of her own clothing.  When was the last time you bought fabric, cut it out on a pattern—knit, mind you—and made the whole thing including setting zippers, making the button-holes, doing the hem and all, so that it not only hung together for a decent period of time, but it fit you so well that you would be pleased to wear it in public.  When she applied for her first sewing job—a western wear manufacturer—she was hired on the spot.

Along the way, Karen had several people who helped her and trained her.  She made it a point to be curious, and to learn as many things as she could about each business and the world of garments.   Her first supervisor, Marie, taught her how to run sewing machines—and how to work on assembly line production.  She started on Western pants with their specialized pockets and styling, double needle stitching and bar-tacking; for years, that was her specialty.  

From there, she moved on to band uniform pants, with adjustable side zippers, bibbers, high waistbands, and stripes.  “I just loved to make stripes,” Karen smiles.  “Yep.  I was a real hummer with that sewing machine foot that keeps the braid straight.  I like things to go smooth and fast.  I like to make noise and I like to be heard.  I like it to be known that I’m doing my job.”

When the band factory decided to move its quarters to Missouri, it not only offered Karen a job, but promised her husband a good job, too—she was that valuable.  However, Karen turned it down.  She liked where she was, and decided that maybe it was time to try something new:  Dry-cleaning.  A couple of old-timers (Inga and Star) showed her the ropes, and Karen was off in a new direction of her apparel career.  “I thought it was fascinating!  I learned how to press clothes, fold them, get spots out and what cleaned what the best.  We had a lot of fun.”  Eventually, she was given her own store to manage on a university campus.  She laughs.  “I’ll tell you, between the cops coming in all the time, and those terrible stains from the fraternity parties, it was an education.”

She went back to the uniform business after the dry-cleaners closed down.  This time, she came back as a presser.  “New garments aren’t the same as old garments,” she found.  “New garments have no creases, nothing knows where it’s supposed to go, the lapels aren’t set, the pants don’t lie straight, the facings and linings have to be just right or they hang outside of the clothing.  Coats—blazers and them—those are the hardest to press.  There’s training in that, and it takes a smart person to train you right and teach the short-cuts.  Otherwise, it takes forever.”

“I like pressing.  I can be in my own little element and press my heart away.  I make mistakes from time to time, and I’m not perfect.  I insist on neatness; the secret to inspecting is that if it don’t lay straight, it ain’t gonna work.  That’s all there is to it.”

Karen was now working in a smaller shop, and there wasn’t manpower or salaries for one person to do only one job.  She learned how to handle all the special machines, such as the button and button-hole machines (as well as the different types of button holes that can be made), the snap machines and kick presses, the hemmer, the pocketing machine, and whatever else was left.  “It was all just so fascinating,” she says over and over.

“I’ve been at my recent shop for over 11 years, I guess.  The time passes so quickly.  I expect I’ll retire when I’m around 70.  But right now, in addition to running the machines, pressing, or inspecting and shipping, I’m helping out the new owner the way Marie, Inga, and Star helped me.  That’s a real good feeling—like I’m paying them back.  I try to do the right thing by people, I try to be optimistic and believe that yeah, it can be done.”

Profiles In Entrepeneurs: Mike Wiesner: UniformMarketNews.Com

Mike Wiesner has been in business for almost 30 years; he is 45.  “I like success,” he grins.  “Money is only one aspect.  What I really enjoy is the thrill of business: The wonderful combination of strategic thinking, logic, and relationships.  Most successful people can put all of this together, but it’s easier said than done.  You have to have good relationships with your customers and your employees, and you have to pay attention to detail.”

Having just sold multi-million dollar Connecticut based Heidi’s Uniforms, Mike, his wife, and three children have recently re-located in Israel.  He commutes back and forth. Armed with more communication devices than NASA, this man seldom operates fewer than two companies at one time, takes note of his investments, has his nose in the financial pages, and still manages to be a very involved citizen/philanthropist, as well as husband/father.  His secret for energy is simple: He loves what he does.

Born in small town Trumbull, Connecticut, Mike was not your typical kid, even though that’s how his folks, Sid and Evelyn, raised his sister, Andrea, and him.  In high school, he was ahead of his peers by as many as four years, taking his biology and psychology courses with college credits.   

Whether it was geographical proximity to New York, his uncle who had a business in junior fashions and novelties, his dad who was in retail and always wanted his own store, or whether it was just Mike, who can say?  But by the time he was a teenager, he was reading every financial paper he could lay his hands on, loved courses in economics—especially mergers & acquisitions—and at 16 when he ended up at the flea market, he thought that business was “pretty cool.”  His first attempt was visiting garage sales, buying up old stuff and re-selling it at the market.  He saw what he could do, and he was just beginning.

With his uncle, he bought more costly items, which he sold again at the market.  Then, he expanded to festivals and parades—Mylar balloons and souvenirs.  Presto, he was a business man and paid his way through college.  One summer, he spent eight days at the Rhode Island State Fair, worked 15 hours a day, and made $5,000.  He was 17.

Eventually, his parents did buy a business, a small medical uniform shop—Heidi’s.  Founded in 1950 as a “Mom and Pop,” Heidi’s had two locations—the flagship New Haven store (that would be run by Evelyn), and Hartford (later opened in 1983 and managed by Sid).  The company had originally done well, and in 1980, the Wiesners took over. 

By the time Mike graduated from college with a degree in finance in 1982, the stock market had begun to drop.  Mike remembers how his professor/mentor said, “‘If you go to Wall Street, everyone there will be as smart and hardworking as you.  If you go into your family’s business, you will be the cream that rises to the top.’”  Mike listened.

Heidi’s did well at first, but then uniform styles began to change: Nursing caps and whites were out, and medical uniforms became “anything goes.”  As the store started to flounder, Mike saw that his creativity and business acumen were what was the business needed, and so he joined his family.

He began pounding the pavement, looking for customers; he advertised in the Yellow Pages; he got the name of every customer who came into the store and where that person worked—then he called on that particular business; he joined “leads groups;” he broadened Heidi’s base and went into hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and industrial areas.  “I had a lot of fun,” he says.  “I would go out and call on a fancy country club, and then end up at a factory the same day.”

Business began to pick up once more.  He kept the two stores open for his parents, but he looked into the future and saw that retail sales were much less promising than “B to B” (business to business) transactions.  What were once 90% retail, and 10% group sales, Mike completely turned around.

Three years after Mike joined Heidi’s, he bought the company.  Over time, he moved it from the original New Haven shop to its current 25,000 sq. ft. building in West Haven.  Wherever he could, Mike gave Heidi’s customers a desirable, complete experience: He installed multiple embroidery machines; as early as 2003, he also joined ASI and sold promotional products along with the uniforms—again the total presentation. 

“I had a lot of opportunities, and a lot of people around me who expressed their interests in business,” Mike explains, “and if they were interested, I was interested.”  He learned, and Heidi’s grew from five employees to 18. 

“Sales people and entrepreneurs have to be eternally optimistic.  They must always see the glass as half full, not half empty.  You need ego.  If you don’t think you can win, don’t get into the game,” he warns.  “Winning isn’t everything, and we all make a ton of mistakes.  But you need to believe in yourself.  You also need to believe in people; you need to have empathy for your customers and your salespeople.  A good salesperson is ethical, not in your face, willing to commit to a long-term relationship, and brings value to the customer.”          

A little over a year ago, Mike and his wife, Orna, decided they were ready to do other things, and his parents were ready to retire.  He put the business up for sale—not to another uniform company but to a broader marketing firm.  Thus, Heidi’s became part of an even larger consortium, thereby increasing its overall value to its customers and its overall sales. 

Feury Marketing Group, with its 40,000 sq. ft. building in New Jersey, added its property and talents to the existing Heidi’s warehouse and store, totaling over 60,000 sq. ft. of successful, enticing, capabilities, and blending the concept of promotional products with uniforms, web design, graphic arts, and more: The ultimate image.  “There are strong synergies between us, and together we deliver a powerful message,” Mike reiterates.  Current package sales bring in as much as seven figures per client. 

Mike now happily works for Feury, not only in this country but in Israel, where he searches out small to mid-sized companies that are looking for the same unique look that Feury (also Heidi’s) will provide there, as well as here.

“I have an enormous amount of freedom without the tremendous responsibilities, and I love the networking,” Mike Wiesner says.  “I never want to grow up.  Growing up is boring.” 

          

Class + Innovation = Success: UniformMarketNews.com

Winnipeg, Manitoba, is a major hub of clothing manufacturing in Canada.  It is here that so many arrived from Eastern Europe in the early 20^th century, used their tailoring skills as their primary occupation, built fulfilling lives for themselves, and created an enormously successful industry.  Even as manufacturing has become an offshore endeavor for so many companies elsewhere, this city remains a strong and surviving force in the North American garment trade. 

One success story is JMJ/Ingenuity, celebrating over 75 years and multiple generations of family ownership.  34 year old Morris Shenkarow heads this firm that fills over a city block of manufacturing space, and is capable of running 24 hour per day alternating shifts when necessary.  He succeeds his father, Marvin, who created a joint venture between Morris’ maternal and paternal grandfathers, each of whom had their own distinct companies.

Founded by Morris Neaman in 1933, the Sterling Cloak Co. Ltd. was originally a producer of ladies’ overcoats and sportswear, until it was merged with

S. Stall & Sons in 1978, and became the Sterling Stall group.  This partnership produced a wide range of ladies’ clothing, adding leather, down coats, and suits to the already successful lines of the original Sterling Cloak.’  From there, the company became JMJ Fashions, as it continued to expand and create private-label programs for Canadian retailers.

In 1995, always capable of changing with the times, JMJ introduced the Ingenuity line of washable, crease resistant women’s tailored sportswear.  It was an enormous success and today, Ingenuity is sold all over Canada, the United States, and in Mexico City.

Multi-faceted Sue Paymer has been involved with the group for the last 15 years.  About seven years ago, between dress-down Friday’s, and a general trend toward casual wear in the workplace, Sue began to seek additional venues in which to introduce the more stylish presentation of Ingenuity:  She came up with the idea of using the company’s made-for-street-wear garments as uniforms.  It was the perfect niche.

Without changing the basic nature of the firm, what had been selling as women’s fashions, Sue and her fellow sales reps also began to sell direct to various industries where hospitality was key—anywhere they could think of where classy corporate identity garments were wanting in terms of the ideal busy woman’s dream outfit.

Ingenuity came up with two incredible basic fabrics:  Stretch twill, and Tricotine.  The colors were in the classics, meant to go with everything:  Black, navy, stone, taupe, ivory, and red.  All of the pieces went with one another; all of the pieces were wrinkle free and could travel anywhere.  Everything was fused and sewn to perfection so that nothing would crumple or come loose from itself.  The Ingenuity shoulder pad, alone, was sewn down in 13 places, rather than the typical three.  Just try to ruin one.

The garments have chip resistant buttons, the fabrics never fade, and dye lots are re-produced over and over again, so that a garment from 15 years ago will still match a new garment today; tops still match the bottoms.

The Ingenuity garments are completely machine washable, drip dry, have permanent creases in the pants, and are fully lined.  Every garment comes on a hanger and bagged. 

The styles are so basic that one could conceivably wear a single outfit during the day for a business luncheon, quick change to fancier buttons on the jacket, and have a formal suit for wedding attire by evening.  The fabrics are seasonless and wearable all year round.  As Sue says, “These are miracle clothes—one of a kind!” 

The best part, she is quick to emphasize, is that the durability and wearability of the fabrics save uniform owners a fortune in dry cleaning costs.  Sue goes on:  “What if a woman is wearing these garments in a smelly job where foods or other items regularly soil the fabric?”  No worries.  “Just throw everything in the washing machine and in a few hours, the garments are good as new.”  This is a woman who is completely energized when it comes to pushing her product.  She loves it, believes in it, and speaks to its accolades every moment she gets.  The result is that Ingenuity is making millions.

In addition to standard in-stock programs, Ingenuity also has its fashion line in novelty patterns, such as tweeds, stripes, plaids, and whatever else a customer could possibly want.  If you don’t see a color you want, ask.  You’ll get a lab dip, and the fabric will be custom dyed for you.  If you have a special design you want, discuss it with Ingenuity.   Need a particular size?  Ingenuity manufactures in misses, petites, pluses, plus petites, and tall’s.  If that’s still not you, it will custom make the garments.  

Men’s wear, you say.  Yes, the company is doing that, now, too.  The same basics, only in handsome men’s styling to complement female counterparts.  No one in the entire office ever looks wrinkled, second best, slept in, frayed, or less than band-box fresh.  In business, appearance is a keen element.

“We’re still a tailor shop,” reminds Sue.   She is firm that in repping over 50 organizations in her career, Ingenuity is the most principled and well presented company she has worked with.  “Our customers are 100% satisfied, we bend over backwards to help them, we do not undercut our dealers, and we stand behind our production.”  Asked about turn-around time, she smiles and remarks that Nordstrom’s once asked for 7,000 pieces in five days and Ingenuity delivered on time. 

 *****

Ingenuity products may be found online at www.jmjingenuity.com, or you may call direct to 1-800-600-0001.

The Sweater: UniformMarketNews.com

There is evidence that folks were knitting clothing with various types of yarns as far back as the ancient Egyptians.  However, the actual sweater didn’t appear until the 19^th century, in Great Britain.  While people had figured out long ago that knit socks and leggings could help to keep a person warm, it seems that it took another 4,000 years or so to realize that arms and the upper torso could also be kept cozy in much the same way; hence, the sweater.

The first sweaters (pullovers) were made for the working classes—especially fishermen—and strictly for warmth and dryness: Wool kept a person dry and warm, even when wet.  The various sweater weaves were created, legend has it, in order to identify a man by the unique stitch of his sweater; more likely, women just knitted the garments differently from one another.   

The military quickly picked up on the idea: The close-fitting jacket-like sweater was made famous by James Brudenell, the 7^th Earl of Cardigan, who led the charge of the Light Brigade.  The large drop sleeve was a matter of practicality when Crimean War officer Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, Lord Raglan, lost his arm and needed a coat that he could easily put on and take off.

When the knit garment entered the 20^th century, it became attractive to all classes; even Coco Chanel made it a fashion “must” for women.  It was used not only for warmth and to accessorize, but for uniformity, too.  Sweaters also became a snuggly means of identity with the postal service, law enforcement officers, and other groups with set garment protocol.  

Gradually, as society relaxed its formal dress codes, the sweater took on a more casual appearance, added styles and colors, and adapted to the needs of various clientele.   Such giants as Burger King and McDonald’s purchased sweaters for their personnel.  Promotional ad companies had their clients decked out in the jazziest of patterns.   Banks, businesses, hotels, airlines, and corporate conglomerates used the sweater as a part of the identity package.  Adding embroidery was icing on the cake. 

In the United States, yarn suppliers—particularly with the addition of cotton and acrylics along with wool—were burgeoning.  There was an abundance of mills, dye houses, and finishing plants where knit goods were cut and sewn.  The manufacturing of sweaters had become its own successful industry, despite the fact that sweaters were a fashion “add-on,” and seasonal items, only.  Everyone had to have a sweater, even Mr. Rogers.  

Today, for all but a very few companies, sweater manufacturing has gone outside of the country.   Cost of materials and labor are two substantial reasons; it’s also about a vanishing work ethic—finding trained employees.   Jon Edberg, originally from Canada, is Sales Director for New York based sweater manufacturer, Cobmex.   The majority of production is done outside of the United States.   Jon’s group is both a stock house for basic items (black and navy seem to be everyone’s favorites), and at the same time, it custom manufactures for huge distributors.   His is strictly a wholesale operation.

“We feel we are not recession proof,” comments Jon, “but we are recession resistant.”  He cites customer service in terms of “great response time” as being the top reason for excellent results in the market, plus very competitive pricing, and keen regard for the Cobmex acrylic blend no-pil yarns.  In business for ten years, and in the U.S. for three, Edberg feels very confident about the company’s direction. 

On the American side, Bill Levene, head of Andrew Rohan—the latest arm of expanding Edwards Garment Co.—bespeaks the year-old merger of a once independent sweater company that now complements the larger corporate/casual uniform manufacturer.  “Edwards needed something to set it apart in terms of enhancing its product line and Rohan was the perfect fit.”  80% of the Rohan sweaters are made in the U.S., with only the most customized being made off-shore. 

For Levene, there is great pride in being an American made company, and he attributes his 15 years in the business with Andrew Rohan to a fine product that has adapted and expanded with both ASI ad specialties, as well as the more conservative uniform lines.  The acrylics by far and away outmatch the cotton sweaters, with the pullover v-neck being at the top of the totem pole.  “Edwards Tuff Pil Acrylics are the driving force behind the sweater penetration in the uniform market,” says Bill.  

He also feels that it’s much easier to manufacture stateside in terms of fast service, and easier-to-maneuver small custom quantities.  “We can give you amounts of ten dozen and a turn-around of 7-10 working days; maybe three to four weeks total by the time we ship from the warehouse.  You pick the color, the style, and the sizes.  In unisex sweaters, Edwards/Rohan sizes range from xs-5xl.”

Erwin Schiowitz, Vice President of Sales at Philips-Van Heusen, plays a somewhat different role in the industry as PVH is now mostly out of the sweater market.  However, it still makes one style—a “¼ zip pullover” out of an Italian Merino wool, for Calvin Klein.  Schiowitz has been in the business for 39 years.   Respectively, the longer each of these three men has been involved, the more change each has seen in the sweater industry and the more different his perspective. 

Schiowitz sees a reduction in the sweater business because of so many new, different lightweight fabrications and outer garments.  “You have microfibre, fleece, sweatshirts, wind shirts, lightweight windbreakers with wicking.  Sweaters aren’t the only option any more,” Erwin opines.  “The smaller quantities we manufacture are all done overseas.” 

Listening to these very successful gentlemen, it was fascinating to realize that each has a unique approach to handling the sweater within the framework of his corporation.  Whether inside or outside of the United States, or a bit of both, sweaters provide a smart accent to any uniform concept, while giving its wearer fine appearance at an affordable price, and with practical warmth, too.

A Colorful Bit of History...Pantone Colors: Essay for Made to Measure Magazine

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For the last 40+ years, the internationally recognized Pantone Matching System (PMS) is what has laid out choices of color for all visual aspects of our world: Cars and fabrics, cosmetics and hair care, house paints and carpeting, china and crockery, plastics and appliances, crayons and computer design graphics, and more.  Colorwise, today’s finished products are determined by Pantone, Inc., and interestingly, not the other way around.  Home Depot orange, UPS brown, Tiffany blue, Barbie pink: It is the work of genius.

There are shades of light and dark by adding black and white; tints of colors such as azure, navy, royal, or teal blues; and the various hues such as basic red, blue, yellow, orange, brown, and so forth.  There are metallics, shineys, and flats or bisques—no different than lame’s, satins, and cottons or woolens. 

Every one of the hundreds of Pantone colors is different, and yet similarities abound.  Colors can appear with an entirely different presentation on fabric than on a paper calling card or the sign painted on a company truck.   Sometimes, it’s very difficult to convince a customer that the color he sees in a magazine may be closely duplicated but not exactly, when attempting to transfer ink to cloth, or a printed logo to embroidery thread.  Substances grab dyes differently.  PMS colors help us as manufacturers and sellers of uniforms to convince our shoppers that there is an official bottom line for color.

Based in Carlstadt, New Jersey, Pantone is run by Lawrence Herbert and his daughter, Lisa.   Herbert, whose great love is color, began working for the printing company in 1956, hoping to become a physician one day, while printing color cards for cosmetic companies in the meantime.   However, with his backgrounds in chemistry and biology, he began to perfect various recipes for colors with scientific precision, and eventually expanded his knowledge to deal with the full spectrum.  Ultimately, he bought the printing operations portion of the company, which he finally incorporated into his own firm in 1963. 

Until that time, every printer had his own palette of colors, but none was synchronized with another; even within the same printing house, the colors were often skewed or off-tone from one run to the next.  What Herbert did was profound: He standardized color.  He gave every available shade, tint, and hue a different number and recipe (and sometimes a name) that cannot be varied.  He went to 21 printing companies with his recipes, hoping to convince them that this kind of color regulation would be an asset.  They went for it, and the rest, as they say, is “his-story.”  

Today, there are approximately 1,800 different blends from which one can choose.  When a company wants a particular shade that isn’t a part of the Pantone system, then Pantone will invent it.  If it is a patented, corporate color, then only that particular company has access to it.  If it is less protected, then there is public access.

New colors are constantly being created.  In fact, many industries circle the Pantone crystal ball as early as 18 months in advance in order to find out what the color wizards are up to.  In so doing, there is a cooperative and coordinate multi-industry effort to utilize the latest Pantone offerings: Will it be a brown fall, or a pink spring, a black and red winter, a marigold summer?  If you think fashion or automobile manufacturers know, think again.  It is Pantone.  The environmentalists did not come up with kiwi and lime green for last season’s spring shirts.  Nope.  It was Pantone.

When you open your latest catalogues, or design your new garments for the season, you are specking out the available PMS colors that were developed months in advance.  If you show the current items from your favorite vendor, whether it be seasonal color changes, or newly mixed shades, it’s all from the Pantone color spectrum.   Should you call a thread manufacturer or fabric converter, an embroiderer or screen printer, a button or zipper distributor, you are utilizing Pantone.

To the extent that the uniform industry is more conservative than some, one might think that fewer colors would be used.  On the other hand, because uniforms now include such an enormous array of choices, this is less and less the case.  What has to be called “gigglebox fun,” is that Pantone also delights in pairing colors, thereby putting particular color combinations in the spotlight as readily as it does single tints and shades: Navy and pink; black and khaki; grey and red—such mixes are whole units unto themselves.

Sets of the PMS color cards—not unlike the early cosmetic cards that Mr. Herbert first created—are not only available as basic all-purpose chips, but there are card sets used solely for the textile industry, as well.  The only problem with selling a customer off of these cards is that there is usually a 3,000-5,000 yard minimum to have fabric custom dyed.  Going offshore for a lower minimum, even without customs and freight, is not a lot less.

The next time your customer comes in with a bottle of suntan lotion and tells you that he wants you to match the lettering on the side of the bottle to a razzle dazzle fabric with a keen sheen, as a must for his singing group’s new uniform shirts, think PMS.  Use it with him, and then forward the color number to your supplier, who also should have the cards.  Hopefully, this will save you hours and hours of researching and postage for sample swatches, and earn you a handsome account at the same time.