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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Happy Independence Day!
Happy Monday Folks! It is the summer, so every chance I get to sneak away with a lazy boy blog, I take it. Sorry folks, but happy boring Scott is also trying to enjoy his summer and the nice long weekend. Anyway, we should all take a moment to relish the fact that we are now an independent nation. This is a great country that we all live in and we should all be very thankful. With that, please make sure to eat a lot of nitrates, red meat and sweets….bearing red, white and blue of course. Also, make sure to have a couple of cocktails to celebrate the special…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Camp Update & Mergers & Acquisitions Discussed
So, my son finally left for camp with a huge smile on his face despite all the tears emanating from the rest of us. He was so brave! And notice how I use the word finally. It was time for him to go. He went. The rest is history and now I feel a lot lighter with this weight off me. Now, let’s pray together for 46 1/2 more days of smooth sailing. Next subject! Over the 87 years of being in business, Jaftex has had nearly 20 companies under its umbrella and almost all of the companies were purchased from someone else. I wanted to discuss the manner in which…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Family First, Then Fabric
Happy Monday and happy belated Father’s day to all the fathers out there! I hope everyone has recovered from what should have been an amazing day with family and friends celebrating Father’s Day. I had a lovely day with my family and some delicious Italian food too. It was Father’s day and I am a father so why not stuff my face with pasta, pizza and so….so much more? My belly isn’t so happy today. Even though Father’s day was a special day for me as a father, I have other much more important things on my mind. For one, I am so sad that my only uncle has to…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: The Proverbial Race To The Bottom
One thing that was very clear at market and something that I have been talking about a lot lately is that competition is fiercer than ever. Everyone, including me, is fighting for customer dollars in order to be one of the survivors. This is our livelihood and why wouldn’t we fight the fight to be king of the mountain or at least be on the mountain and not in the swamp below. With that, I have come to recognize that we are in a race to the bottom that is not healthy for our industry or any industry for that matter. Do you know what I mean by the race…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: What Is The Future Of Our Fabric Industry?
Two weeks ago, I talked about the knowledge I gained at quilt market and this week I wanted to continue discussing the buzz at the show. I am still angry that I can’t write angry blogs. Am I allowed to still be angry about not being able to write angry blogs? This is harder than I thought. Ok, let me get happy boring Scott back. One second, here he comes. So back to quilt market. I am amazed about how fast the world is changing. It is just astonishing and a little scary to be honest. Well, a lot scary. So many conversations at market were about what would bring…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Something To Think About & Act Upon This Memorial Day Weekend
Last weekend at the quilt market, I had a lunch date with a customer. Immediately after, I met up with my brother Greg who was eating at a pizza restaurant called Pi, but it was spelled with the math pi sign. You know that thing that means 3.14159….. I sat with him while he chowed down on this funky looking pizza with so many odd things on it and so much cheese that my heart was hurting to watch him eat. It looked something like this, but so much worse. The pizza place was pretty full. I did notice that one particular gentlemen was in army fatigues eating with his…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: So Much To Learn At Quilt Market
Each quilt market is a life experience in and of itself. I always learn so much about this industry, business, life, people, social media, the world, selling, buying and the list goes on. Here are some things I learned while speaking with customers, co-workers, competitors and sages of the industry…..you know, those guys that have been in the fabric business for a lifetime and are a wealth of knowledge. Kind of like my dad who has worked for over 50 years in fabrics, or like so many others that I spent time with at market chatting about all the changes taking place, the challenges and how fast everything is happening.…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: What Can I Do To Help You Sell Studioe Fabrics?
The clock is ticking down until yet another Quilt Market. With market in mind, I have been thinking a lot lately about the business environment and trying to wrap my brain around what the future might have in store for this industry. The conclusion, I have no freaking clue and to be perfectly honest and that makes me a little nervous. So what’s a textile executive to do or anyone in our industry for that matter? Here are some simple answers in no particular order: Work hard. Keep designing beautiful prints. Stay on top of technological advances. Be active on social media. Listen carefully. Plan for the future and not…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Quilt Market Is Quickly Approaching, Here’s What You Can Expect From Studioe
Happy Monday To All, The countdown is on until we start to pack our bags to head to St. Louis, Missouri for what will be something like my 25th international quilt market. As usual, I am pretty psyched because I will have the great opportunity to show off all the new things that Studioe Fabrics and our other companies (Henry Glass Fabrics, The Blank Quilting Corp. & A.E. Nathan) have to offer. I will be at booth 2915 and I still have time slots available if you would like to set up an appointment with me. Feel free to email me at scott@jaftex.com to set something up as I would…
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Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Interesting Concept About Quilt Market
Hello All, Hope you had a nice weekend. My weekends are just insane these days with sports, sports, more sports and some birthday parties peppered in. Not only do I attend the sports, but I coach both of the kids and scream like a lunatic, so it’s just like work (minus the screaming), but with employees that are the most challenging ever….5 & 8 year old boys. If I could tell you how excited I was to start my weekend today (Monday), you wouldn’t believe it. That all being said, I do get a vicarious thrill watching my boys in action and it’s awesome to see them grow up and…
