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

Julia Albul/Shutterstock.com

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.

School Uniforms: Making The Grade Year-Round: Uniforms Magazine

Between the end of July and the beginning of September, the school uniform business is in full swing.  Stock is literally flying off the shelves.  But what happens to dealers and distributors the rest of the time?  It’s not so easy.  Yet, the same venerable companies thrive year after year, managing just fine.  Here are some of their secrets for success during the ten off-months:

Marketing—In today’s world, the Internet comes first.  Be sure that your company can be Googled, identified with a first class website, and can support online ordering for fast easy-access service, 24/7.  Make sure that freight and payment terms are straightforward, included, and safe, and that your images are present and attractive to the shopper’s eye—kids as well as adults.  Check out www.UniformsBySharon.com to see a perfect example. 

Advertisements go everywhere from the schools, themselves, to the phone book, bulletin boards, and mailers for parents.  Coupons?  You bet.  Use the media including radio, TV, computer ads, links, and text messaging; billboards, and even bumper stickers keep your easy-to-remember company name in the consumer’s mind.  Focus on particular selling points or specialty items that only you carry. 

  

Call on the schools, personally, and make repeated visits.  Become friendly with the staff, and don’t hesitate to take the store to them via samples, catalogues, and brochures.  All of this comes into play during those long silent months when business slows.

Make your store accessible.  Multiple retail outlets are optimum, and hopefully in safe neighborhood shopping areas or places that are geographically tempting for many nearby schools.  Partner with other similarly minded business concerns such as school/office supply companies or bookstores, and make agreements to support one another in terms of promoting merchandise.  You want to be a household word.

Diversification—We tend to think of school uniforms as outfits for K-12.  If a uniform company is going to survive for a period of more than two months a year, consider the broader spectrum.   Many stores today include all kinds of kids’ wear.  Cookie’s in New York, for example, handles multiple types of children’s items from toys, baby things, and children’s furniture, to mainstream kids’ clothing, and school uniforms.

“Oh, if we didn’t have a lot more than just the uniforms, it would be terrible,” Al Falack of Cookie’s states plainly.  There’s a lot to choose from, keeping business buzzing for the entire twelve month cycle.

Also, we tend to think of school uniforms as being only about kids.  There are cooking schools, nursing schools, medical schools, carpentry and trade schools, to name a few.  A school uniform store or manufacturer can just as easily branch out into these areas as not.   Look at Dickies that makes uniforms for multiple careers, and includes its children’s line, too.  These other school types have classes running constantly, plus graduated professionals who are continually needing replacement garments: Scrubs, labcoats, industrial shirts, pants, and so on.

Land’s End manufactures men’s and women’s clothing, children’s wear and accessories, in addition to its school uniforms.  Dennis Uniforms manufactures labcoats, even though its focus is the school market.  The more investment in various garments, the larger the overhead and expense, but the alternative is there are more garments to help keep the industry and the dealerships going through the winter and spring months. 

“Remember that department and big-box stores only sell school apparel during the height of the season; uniform stores stock their merchandise year-round,” emphasizes Sharon Brushett of Uniforms By Sharon.  In agreement, Sheila Farber of Denver Dennis Uniforms reiterates, “Someone always wants a fresh pair of pants, or there’s a new student who needs outfitting.  We manage to keep busy.”

Gimmicks—Sales work wonders.  January sales, June sales: Remind the folks that you’re still around, and that you’re giving them a chance to get the jump on the upcoming season.  In spite of the Fall-only big business, things happen at Winter semester, too.  Check out school schedules very carefully. 

“We present our customers with “advantage” or “bakers’ dozen” cards,” says Andrew Dunbar of Dennis Uniforms.  “We at Dennis give punch cards that offer $10 off with a purchase of $150 or more during on-season shopping, and $20 off for off-season purchases.”

Add an extra pair of socks with an outfit, a hair bow, or a fun pair of “undies.”  Include or offer school identity, such as embroidery of a school logo, screen printing of a favorite wrestling character, or a matching backpack for purchases over $200.  Maybe, some gift certificates to a fast-food store tucked inside a pocket would be just the ticket.  

“The littler kids like to pick out a lunchbox or some extra small thing to go with the uniforms,” observes Al Falack. Do whatever it takes to bring the folks into the shop, keep them buying, and keep them coming back.

One of the best ideas is the Mattel American Girl dolls that have matching uniforms in the appropriate plaids, and that can be purchased through Dennis Uniforms: The Peter Pan blouse, a hair bow, and the street length jumper on your favorite character.  How perfect for a young lady to be able to see herself and her twin doll in fashionable school clothes!

Merchandising—When doing the buying for school uniform items, shop the competition, find unique fashions in multiple sizes, and include "plus" sizes.  Carry all colors, the several styles approved by the schools, and even those that aren’t, in order to draw the attention of kids or parents who want something special.   If you skimp, the customers will go elsewhere.

Depending on the demography of the area, if there are conservative or parochial schools, skirt lengths can matter: As Sharon Brushett says, “Skorts are a definite trend setter.”  Yet, the longer below-the-knee length is often mandated for a traditional look.  Cookie’s has its own manufacturing facility and features apparel for particular religious groups, as well as stocking standard school clothing that is ready-to-wear.  “Sometimes, we have whole schools where every girl has to have a 27” skirt hem,” marvels Al Falack.

Check out what it is that your area schools are needing as well as wanting.  Don’t exclude important population components.  If you have schools that need to meet requirements for specific ethnic garb, look into this; there are small custom manufacturers around the country that make these specialized uniforms. 

Customer Service—Finally, have the best customer service that you can provide.  To keep overhead low, use fewer people during most of the year, and add another five or six employees during the height of the season.  Don’t be shy about cutting help and your hours when they’re not necessary. 

“We have limited hours during the off-months,” advises Sheila Farber.  There’s no need to pay overhead for a building that isn’t used, or for help that isn’t producing.  Think practically and pragmatically.  Your customers will adapt.

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“Hot Stuff”

Girls will be girls—that means craving doo-dads for their hairstyles.  Barrettes, headbands, bows, scrunchies: They come in different solid colors, or the plastic is designed to have inlaid plaids with extending ribbons that match the garments.  It doesn’t matter how old a woman is; for her to be well-dressed is about head to toe, and that includes items for the hair.

*

Outerwear is huge.  There are hooded duck jackets, fleece windbreakers, Ike bomber jackets, quilted vests, raincoats, and of course, hoodies.  Screen printing and embroidery are available to enhance any item; both guys and gals are now dressed for the seasons inside and out, in the best fashion.  All of these items come in school colors, and may include added racing stripes across the shoulders, around the cuffs and collars, or down the front.

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Fabrics are changing as organics are entering the picture.  From pre-school up, mothers are especially conscious of “going green,” with garments that are made from environmentally sensitive, custom-dyed yarns.  (Watch your costs here though, as organics are more expensive.)  In contrast, several manufacturers are adding Lycra to their slacks so that girls can have tighter fitting as well as more comfortable pants.

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Styles are morphing away from the dressier girls’ jumpers with blouses, and boys’ pants with dress shirts; instead, it’s items such as capris, and hip-huggers with flared bottoms for girls; cargo pants and bicycle shorts for the boys.  Polo shirts are taking over the traditional shirts and blouses; solids are replacing plaids.  The reasons are not only about taste, but about economy, which is beginning to play a larger factor in uniform choices. 

Many items have become much more casual.  Land’s End has added more length to its turtlenecks so that they may be worn untucked; T-shirts are part of the uniform scene; backpacks, lunchboxes, boots and shoes, colored socks in multiple lengths with plaid trim, and even underwear are all becoming items for the school uniform ensemble. 

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Survival Skills In A Tough Economy: UniformMarketNews.com

(Note: This article was never published, nor was I paid for it, as Uniform Markets' felt the article was too negative.  In truth, it was perfectly correct and accurate.)

If you're reading this and you're like most of us, you're probably saying your prayers at night, and struggling plenty by day: The uniform industry, like many of those in today's world, is feeling heat from the huge economic meltdown.  Unlike jobs in technology, healthcare, the military, maintenance, or educational sectors, which are considered sacrosanct and necessary, the entire American market is in jeopardy; the apparel and uniform sectors are hanging by a thread.  Only those with the cleverest of survival plans, abilities to be flexible and roll with the punches will survive the shakedown.

If one goes online, looks in the Yellow Pages, or watches the ads in the newspapers, it will become readily apparent that under the heading of "Uniforms," there are not a lot of choices available.  Part of that is because not everyone wears a uniform and it’s a smaller niche industry; the other reason is that there just aren't that many of us around any more.  Tip: Consider partnering with a larger company.

Chances are that if you go out to dinner, you'll find your servers in T-shirts, polo shirts, or white dress shirts—basic and no frills.  They will all have been made off-shore.  If they need a cover-up, it's quite possibly an apron—also less expensive if purchased from an off-shore company that manufactures by the thousands.   If you check pants, it's the same: Off-shore.  It doesn't matter whether they're industrial, chefwear, casual or dress.  For the most part, it's off-shore manufactured slacks that are being worn. Tip: Sell off-shore merchandise as well as "Made in the U.S.A."

What is also noticeable is that fewer and fewer establishments are purchasing uniforms at all.  Employees are asked to purchase their own garments within certain guidelines.  Uniforms are no longer desired, save a cover-up to protect an employee's street-clothes, if even that.  While the littler mom-n'-pop shops are cutting out uniforms altogether, even the bigger companies are honing down.   Tip: Think aprons and vests.

Larger establishments are leaving the rental business as a means of handling their uniforms, and returning to the concept of purchasing the garments while letting the employees launder their own.  One large Sheraton hotel in Colorado is reported to have cut its uniform costs by $100,000 per year, as a result of returning to purchasing their garments instead of renting them.  Tip: If you're a renter, offer the alternative of buying.

Embroidery and silk-screening are the good news and the bad news in the uniform business.  One can look at them as the ribbon around the uniform package—good looking identity by offering a logo on low-cost garments, rather than higher priced uniforms that offer the identity by themselves.  Or, one can do away with the identity imprints as being too costly, and merely use a style, a color, or an accessory such as a hat, scarf or tie—one less aspect again on which to spend extra dollars.  Tip: Be familiar with alternative accessories.

As businesses go out of business, as corporations become more casual, as mergers rid themselves of duplication, as salaries and budgets become less instead of more, the question of how the uniform will survive, is a very real one.  It used to be, of course, that mostly service people wore them.  It also used to be that there were very few choices of garments available, and styles, colors, and fabrics from which to choose were limited.  A waitress looked like a waitress, a chef looked like a chef, a nurse looked like a nurse, and a doctor looked like a doctor.  Today, there are literally big-box stores for medical and kitchen wear.  It will be interesting to see how they do as time goes forward. Tip: Think about adding garments for the service industry in your inventory.

The entire state of California expects to go under in a couple of months, the real estate and banking industries are dying on the vine, and the automobile industry is in the soup.  If they go under, the ripple effect in terms of the economy will stagger businesses everywhere.  What does this forecast about uniforms—an added burden on company budgets?   Can't bank personnel just wear their own clothes?  Can't eateries?  Do liquor stores and mall personnel, or department stores really need an entire ensemble, when a single article will do just fine?  Tip: Think inexpensive, practical, and clever.  

Several of the manufacturers and retailers here in the United States are out of business.  Others are barely managing, as one owner of a factory that's been in business for over a century, said the other day.  "Production is down to three days a week," she confessed.  "People are making do, and no one wants to buy.”  

A customer who had long bought a particular product for his Shrine accessories is now ready to change the product and purchase Canadian, NAFTA and customs be hanged.  "It's half the price," he defended.  "Even though the quality isn't nearly as good as American, we can't afford the real McCoy any longer."  Tip: Offer alternatives.  Think outside the box.  Never say "never."

The trick of it, if there’s any "trick" at all, is to survive however one can. 

If it means pounding the pavement, cold calling, follow-up calls, using the Internet, having flyers or sandwich boards on the street, do it. If working out of your home, shortening your hours, cutting your personnel, cuts down on the overhead, do it.  If you need to streamline your telephones and technology in order to save dollars per month, do it.  Tip: Advertise like crazy and think do-it-yourself tactics.

Whatever it takes, either commit yourself to the long haul, or think about getting out.   Be careful not to drive your business, your credit, and your capital into the ground on a last-ditch hope that you might make it.  Last but not least, be sure you get a minimum payment of 50% up front, and the balance pre-paid before delivery.  Even the best customers these days are huge risks.  The bigger the customer, the greater the loss for you if he defaults.

Zehnder's of Frankenmuth: Tradition and Common Sense: Interview with Made to Measure Magazine

Jonathan Lenz/Shutterstock.com

Spending time at Zehnder’s is like walking into a Hallmark card: There is no other way to explain it.  We are talking about America’s largest family restaurant, and second largest independently owned.  It also sports a

152-room hotel with a 20,000 square foot video arcade, a championship

18-hole golf course and country-club, a four-story 30,000 square foot water park, and a good-sized retail food/bakery/boutique outlet.  This single campus is located in Frankenmuth, Michigan, in the Saginaw Valley between the cities of Flint and Saginaw, northwest of Detroit.

Zehnder’s was originally a hotel that was built in 1856, used as a stop-over for farmers who wanted a friendly fried chicken meal, hay and water for their horses, and a place to bed down; all for the nifty fare of $.75 a night.  It passed from owner to owner over the years, and was eventually purchased by William and Emilie Zehnder in 1927, who eliminated the hotel, and turned it into a restaurant, instead.  Zehnder’s opened on Mother’s Day, 1928, (still their biggest holiday).  They completely remodeled the place, and being German Lutheran immigrants who recognized their great fortune to have been Americans, decided that the new establishment would resemble the Colonial styled residence of Mt. Vernon, President George Washington’s pastoral home in Virginia.  It looks much the same, today.

As with most family concerns, William ran the hotel, and Emilie cooked the food—for the most part, her recipes are still used. They had eight children, and in one way or another, every son or daughter was put to work to keep the family business alive.  The brothers and sisters remained close as relatives, as well as being smart, savvy business colleagues. 

During the Depression, they struggled desperately, and report that their lowest day was in the 1930’s, when they sold a single seven-cent Speckled Sport cigar.  That’s a far cry from today’s receipts, with the multiple dining rooms serving as many as 5,916 guests in one day; at approximately $20 a person, that’s good business! 

The Saginaw Valley community came about in 1845, when an influx of the German immigrants migrated to the area.  What was then about 3,000 folks, grew to approximately 5,000, and it hasn’t changed much over the last 163 years.  The growth of the automotive industry as a result of the presence of an interstate in the ‘50’s, caused heavier population and changes in demography.  However, the surroundings of Frankenmuth are basically farming community and small towns where everybody knows everybody, and their ways of thinking.  The church unites one another with family values that are very traditional and conservative in perspective, thriving in the midst of a closely knit and caring group of people.  The old-fashioned tried and true Protestant Ethic—hard work—is the core for everyone, every day.  Zehnder’s is a paradigm.

Edwin, son of William, eventually took over Zehnder’s, itself.  However, don’t forget that one sister ran the gift shop, a brother was the postmaster of the town, one a minister with a son who is now the head chef of the restaurant, one a professor of hospitality management, and Uncle

William, Jr., who ran the Austrian restaurant across the street.  Now, in the third generation of ownership, (all of whom are in their 50’s,) Edwin’s four children run Zehnder’s; they work together and they vacation together, celebrating the holidays on their own time before their customers’, so dedicated are their lives to family and opportunity.  “We are grateful to have what we do,” says Susan Zehnder, vice president of Human Resources.  “We think of ourselves as being very fortunate.” 

Everyone cooks, serves, bakes, you-name-it.  And the best part?  Even the farmers in the surrounding area supply the chickens, the vegetables, and grain for the breads.  For the purposes of dietary accommodations for the customers, as well as serving fresh homegrown items, very little processed food is served.  “The secret,” confesses Susan, “comes from Dad.  He always said that no one works for him—everyone works with him.”

There are over 700 employees affiliated with the Zehnder’s corporation, some workers marking 35 or 50 year anniversaries.  Every aspect is overseen and neatly divided by job description in tune with specific areas of activity.  The basic philosophy of uniforms, the same as with the restaurant, is the simple, down-to-earth system that has kept the company running for so many years.  “Guests, like everyone else, judge a book by its cover,” philosophizes Susan, in Trumanesque plainness.  The garments are mostly utilitarian with an eye for cost and beyond that, they are quite straightforward. 

The employees themselves, coming from the surrounding rural areas are quite like-minded, so that the down-home atmosphere of the restaurant spills over from them, as well.  The most that’s spent on want-ads for hiring new people is $600 per year.  Everyone else is either family or a referral.  Folks don’t fight because there’s little to fight about; they’re too busy working to earn a day’s living, rather than frittering away time with arguments.  Trust runs high, and friends respect friends.  The garments that they wear are reflective of themselves, and they are practical for job service.    

“Our company goal is that everyone leaves satisfied,” reports Susan.  “Customer service is number one.  We want to be the number one choice for our guests, our employees, as leaders in our local community, region, state, and nationally, where we work very hard to be good citizens.” 

There are four areas for uniform wear: The restaurant, itself, which capitalizes on its Williamsburg styled Colonial architecture, surroundings, costumes, and fried chicken dinners with all the fixin’s; the retail outlet that merchandises homemade bakery goods, foods, and a few doo-dads; the lodge with the adjoining water park; and the golf course with its club house.  It’s all at once different, and yet the same.  Here’s how:

The restaurant is really the only place where there are unique costumes.  The design, instituted in the 1960’s, is very simple, and with low-key colors in brown’s and beiges with black and white accents.  There are the servers’ ankle length plaid Colonial dresses with white eyelet lace pinafore aprons.  Mop caps and puffed sleeves with pleats and velvet ribbons accentuate.  The fellows wear large white peasant shirts and black knickers.  Hostesses dress in black street length dresses with impressive eyelet pinafore collars.  The bartenders wear vests, slacks, and ties.  When it comes to “fancy wear,” that’s it for the entire expanse of property.  Everything else is strictly comfort, practicality, and job-description oriented.

The retail area is outfitted in black cobbler aprons.  Period.  No muss, no fuss.  They’re worn over an employee’s basic dress, and serve to identify and to keep the individual clean. 

Once a year, an employee is given a free uniform from Zehnder’s, itself.  If an employee wants additional garments, he must purchase them.  This is throughout the establishment. 

The hotel is about khaki pants and polo shirts.  Certainly, there are white chef coats for the kitchens, and black or black & white checkered chef pants, which are everywhere on campus.  But the hotel as well as the golf club, maintenance, and everyone else, is dressed in the khaki pants and polo shirts.  If the heath department requires a hat, then it’s a black baseball cap.

The polos are color-coded by job description: E.G., royal for Splash Village water park dining room; red for the water park, itself; white for the front desk and professional staff; burgundy for the maintenance people, etc.  Susan chooses the colors, and with her assistant and various managers of particular areas, the uniforms are kept in perfect condition.

The state of Michigan mandates that everyone must be fitted into a uniform, no matter individual needs, so certain items in the Zehnder’s line have to be custom-made to accommodate people who are particularly large or small.  “Weight is a protected class,” Susan cites, “so ‘buying off the rack’ is impossible.”  She tries to work with as few vendors as possible to narrow the multiple efforts for fitting and purchasing uniforms.  Before each uniform article is purchased, the item is tested by employees for fabric, durability, quality, laundry, stain-resistance, comfort, and employee likeability.  Susan is the bottom line when it comes to selection, but employees always have a say in what they wear.

Enough stock is kept on hand for new hires or unexpected damages.  To be sure, each employee is expected to take care of his own uniform.  There are spreadsheets that record each employee and what is given out at time of hire and orientation.  They either own the garments or they’re given out.  The uniform stock room depends on the time of year, in terms of gauging how many garments are needed for the slower months vs. the more active ones.  Also, different areas are recorded separately: For instance, the golf season may require a varying level of in stock apparel vs. the dining rooms, when it comes to seasonal needs.

Including part-timers, there are several thousand sets of uniforms that are in use on a regular basis, as most workers have at least three sets of garments.  Tailors in the surrounding area are recommended, but Zehnder’s, itself, does not have its own alteration department.  When a new employee is taken on, he ventures into the fitting room and is supervised by his area manager who makes sure that he has the correct items and is appropriately and attractively attired.

There is very little, if any, desire to re-vamp the uniform program.  “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” is the motto.  “We consider freshening things up a bit, from year to year, but that’s it,” says Susan.  “We’re happy.  People know who we are.  Our uniforms identify us in a way that’s easy.  If we put our uniforms only on a billboard, we wouldn’t even have to use our name, because our guests know us when they see us.”

The employees are shown how to iron, how to sew on their buttons or fix a tear, and how to clean their own garments.  Sloppiness is not allowed.  One has to look as good as possible.   If a worker arrives in a uniform that is less than “bandbox,” then he is sent home without pay.  If a garment is dirty or torn, there is no pay for the time spent repairing it on the job.  Tattoos, appropriate undergarments, jewelry, and shoes, are all discussed:  Expectations are clearly defined.   

Understanding the basic philosophy of Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth may appear to be somewhat old-fashioned or even odd in today’s anything-goes world.  But the other side of it is, how many can say—particularly in this day and age—that they’ve survived 82 years, remodeled and grown, including multiple wars, a depression, recessions, strikes, and plain hard times?  Truth be known, Zehnder’s, in its down-home, no frills, brass tacks simplicity, is just plain heart-warming.  It’s about American success, and the basic values that this country was made of.  Think about it, go there, try it.  And smile.