Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Thank You (TY) Very Much
As the team prepares for the next quilt market and 85th anniversary celebration, of when my great grandfather started the business, I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you (TY), TY team and TY fabric world. There are so many people involved with running our family business and I can’t say TY to them all the time and I just can’t say it enough no matter how hard I try.
So let’s start here. TY grandpa Jack for starting the business…who knows what would be of our family without your courage. TY grandpa Everett and uncle Dan for continuing the business that grandpa Jack started. TY dad for taking the business to the next level and having the foresight to pursue other fabric venues i.e. quilt shop business and chain business versus the women’s sleepwear that was our mainstay. TY for getting us past the third generation who typically has the stigma of ruining the generational run. In short, TY to my entire family for the support to keep the business going.
TY to all of the different people that we purchased all of our current businesses from. As you may or may not know, the only company that we have that wasn’t purchased is the original Jaftex Company. Jaftex doesn’t really sell fabric under that name per se, but Studioe is a division of Jaftex in case you were wondering. We do need to keep that name for corporate structure purposes.
TY to all of our nearly 80 dedicated in house employees. TY designers, artists, cad operators, salesmen, convertors, managers, customer service reps, credit managers, bookkeepers, secretaries, assistants, sales managers, social media team, analysts and everyone else in between. TY to all of the multi-line reps carrying our Henry Glass line and TY to all of our brand new dedicated sales reps who carry Studioe, Blank and A.E. Nathan. TY for opening our eyes to the new world of exclusive sales reps. So far so good….keep it up! TY to our US and international distributors for helping us to make sure that our fabrics make it to all corners of the world. TY to all of the amazing licensed designers that have joined our team and have been so dedicated to our business.
TY to our great customers for your continued faith in our fabrics. TY for taking the time to see our reps and being patient with them while they show you everything we have to offer. TY for promoting our fabrics in your shop and online. TY for your honest communication and great suggestions. TY for telling us when we aren’t perfect as we realize things aren’t perfect in the fabric world, but if we aren’t advised of the problems, we can’t rectify them. So don’t be afraid to let us know if you have a problem. TY for paying your bills promptly. TY you to your customers who are deciding to pick our fabrics up from your shops among the millions of other choices they have. Without you, we would be nothing and I would have no one to thank. So TY for keeping the art of quilting and sewing alive. TY to everyone that socializes with us on all of our social media venues.
TY to everyone working in the two contract warehouses that we use. TY for shipping as quickly as possible. TY for double and rolling as neatly as possible. TY for trying to ship orders as complete as possible. TY for not losing too much of our inventory. TY to the UPS, FEDEX and other truckers who deliver the fabric. TY to all of our loyal suppliers and everyone associated with them all around the world in places like: Korea, China, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan & India to name a few. It is hard to imagine, but before fabric gets to the ultimate consumer it is probably touched by around 10 people if not more. So TY to those 10 people.
I hope I didn’t miss anyone, but if I did, it wasn’t intentional. So TY to anyone that I missed. TY, TY and TY again.
TY Goodnight!
Thankful Scott