Stores Magazine - October 2007 - (Page 24) COVER PEOPLE EXECUTIVE SUITE / RETAIL STORY Sew and Sell Going high-end was the key for family-owned garment maker Walter C. Meck Chairman, president and CEO, FesslerUSA in producing it overseas. For example, we have customers who might want to do a short production run because they recognize it’s a style that might be made just once and discarded. It’s really difficult to make that cost effectively or time effectively in China. Yours is a family-run business: what members are involved? I t’s a good bet that if you pick up a knit Tshirt with a “Made in the USA” tag, it was probably made at one of six Pennsylvania plants owned and operated by FesslerUSA. Walter Meck and several family members reclaimed a birthright in 1994, buying back the company his grandfather founded in 1900 as the H.H. Fessler Knitting Co. It was still profitable, but faced an uncertain future thanks to overseas competition. Meck’s new model was steeped in speed-to-market initiatives. Meck changed the Orwigsburg, Pa., company’s core business from low-cost T-shirts for low-cost providers to high-quality, high-fashion knit tees for retailers such as Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters. To serve the fast-paced fashion industry, where a hot item can change overnight, FesslerUSA invested in technologies that allow it to produce goods faster, and with better control, than factories in China or India. The company offers washing, screen-printing, pressing, bagging and tagging of retail-ready garments; it also supplies other producers with “blanks” and bulk-sale fabrics, including certified organics. Stressing quality, speed and service, the company invested in state-of-the-art, made-in-America knitting machines and computerized-cutting equipment. It also invested in people, by creating an in-house design shop, enabling FesslerUSA to analyze trends and produce fashion-right goods more quickly than overseas competition geared more to a one-size-fits-all model. In all, FesslerUSA employs about 300 in its U.S. facilities, some acquired from closing garment makers finding it difficult to compete in a NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT climate. Meck previously served as executive vice president and COO of investment and merchant bank Farrel & Co. and as CFO of Mack Trucks. Could other U.S. manufacturers benefit from adopting a business model that focuses on higher-end or better-margin goods? One brother is vice president of IT and another brother is vice president of sales and marketing. My sister is in charge of our closeouts and my wife, who is a CPA, is the corporate controller. My sister-in-law is the assistant controller. We also have three managers from the next generation. That’s quite a bit of family togetherness. Do you ever want to get away from it all? We believe in working hard and playing hard. One of the reasons we bought the company is to do the right thing and enjoy life. When you do things right, you can enjoy life. Can you provide an example? We take great satisfaction in delivering on time, even if that means the owners pack boxes. Last year we shipped over fourand-a-half million fashion tees, and if we need to pack boxes on a Friday to get an order out because the customer needs it, we call it “All hands on deck.” Everyone helps and when we’re done we all go have a beer. What about other interests? I’m a big history buff, mostly Civil War. I get to Gettysburg at least once a year. I like to walk the battlefield, because there are a lot of lessons there. Care to share one? It’s a model that has been used in a number of different industries. Some of the most successful survivors of the trade wars are those that focus on niches not served by USA manufacturing. There are niches of business that should be produced in the USA because there’s no benefit or economic advantage 24 STORES / OCTOBER 2007 Well everyone knows that Pickett’s Charge [named for Confederate Maj. Gen. George Edward Pickett] was one of the worst strategic mistakes in the history of the world: You’re moving blindly in the face of certain failure. It takes a strong person to change direction or strategy, particularly when it’s very clear that what [the leader] wants to do is not the right thing. That’s one of our core values — do the right thing. StORES — Janet Groeber WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG
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