The Jaftex Southern Christmas Party Tour

From December 11-13, I went down south with my dad and brother for the Jaftex North Carolina and South Carolina Christmas parties…..all 3 of them.

I flew in around lunch time on the 11th and headed right over to the FreeSpirit Fabric office in Charlotte.  When I got there, we worked on inventory issues, new lines, ordering,  social media and the new website.   When 5:30 pm rolled around, it was time to head out to The Napa Restaurant for the party.  We had a lovely private room for about 15 of us. We stood around talking, eating and drinking for the first part of the evening.  Then we sat down for a proper dinner.  A few gifts were exchanged, speeches and toasts were given both by my dad, brother and I, as well as some members of the FreeSpirit Fabrics team.  It was a lovely evening all around.  

I must share the highlight of the night with you.  To my total surprise, the FreeSpirit Fabrics team wanted to thank us for saving their jobs, so they each chipped in to make a donation to my local JCC.  Recall that this is where my siblings and I endowed the Andrea & Robert Fortunoff Arts for Community Program a couple years back.  This was so thoughtful and kind of them that it brought tears to my eyes.  Needless to say, I think they were happy to still be able to work at the dynamic FreeSpirit Fabrics, do you blame them?  

In addition to the generous donation, I got a cute t-shirt that said, “Stop telling me bubbi meises (sic).”  A bubbe meise is a Yiddish term for a long drawn out story.  This is an expression I often use when the team members don’t get to the point.  It was a very fitting shirt no doubt.  I just realized that when I was googling this Yiddish word that they spelled it wrong.  HA HA HA LOLOLOL.  That makes the t-shirt even more priceless and special to me.  Dad got an abacus as he’s always calculating purchase quantities with Louise.  Greg got a mug that said none other than, “Get sh-t done” because that is what he does, he gets stuff done. 

The one fail at the FreeSpirit Fabrics Christmas party was that we didn’t take any pictures as you can see from the lack of photos of actual people above.  Ugh!  However, all in all, it was a lovely night with the amazing FreeSpirit team who is now an integral part of the Jaftex familia.

The next morning I headed south to Greenville, SC to the Fabric Editions office.  It’s not only the Fabric Editions office anymore because this is now where the FreeSpirit Fabrics customer service and credit teams reside.   Anyway, before the luncheon there was some work that had to be done.  I took the time to make the Studioe Fabrics and The Blank Quilting Corp. January 2019 new line videos to share with everyone who sells the line.  It’s a good way for them to get a nice overview of the new products and hear about all the bells and whistles.  

At noon, we headed to Halls Chophouse.  With the addition of the FreeSpirit customer service people and the credit team, the party was a lot larger than normal which was nice.

This was a very special and emotional party because we were also celebrating the retirement of Marsha Walling,  the CEO of Fabric Editions.   Several people roasted and toasted Marsha including my dad, brother and I. We also gifted her some nice going away presents.  Needless to say, emotions were running high and it was a sad day and a happy day at the same time.

The one thing I always enjoy about the Fabric Editions Christmas party is that they have a variation on a grab bag.  It’s a lot of fun because you can steal gifts from other people and hope you end up with something that you actually need.  In the end though, everyone gets a gift.  I happened to win a mock Christmas tree made up of lotto tickets.  I scratched of $16 worth of prizes.  I guess that was better than nothing.   

The next day was the G&S warehouse Christmas party.   Would you believe that this was the first Christmas party the warehouse team ever had?  The people were ecstatic, they felt really good about the celebration and were glad to have us as their new bosses.  In total, there were about 60 people. We set up tables with tablecloths and brought in some nice southern food:  Fried chicken, mac and cheese, beans, bread and some desserts.  To drink, of course we had sweet and unsweet tea.  I must say, it was really nice.  The staff truly appreciated this and to some extent they felt validated and part of a team which is exactly the point.  That’s how we do it in family business-land and these folks are now a key part of the Jaftex familia too.   

With that, allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year from me, my family and the entire Jaftex team.  I am thankful to have you in my life and I hope you feel the same way.  Whether you are a customer, a consumer, a licensed designer, a vendor, an employee or just about anyone else who enjoys the Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive, I am happy you are here and hope you can continue on this amazing fabric journey with me for many years to come starting with next year 2019!

PEACE!!!

Scott