Quality Uniforms vs. Economy Uniforms
With the nation's economy in a full fledged recession I have noticed that our customers are necessarily more price conscious then ever. With school budgets being squeezed, even at the collegiate level, and independent teams having a near impossible time raising money or finding a sponsor it is indeed a challenging time.
Particularly for a company like ours, who prides itself on manufacturing top quality products regardless of cost, it presents an interesting dilemma. When dealing with a cash-strapped customer what do we do? Should we "cheapen" our product to get a sale? Should we use less expensive (yet less quality) fabrics in the construction of our uniforms? That would be an easy way to get the price down. Should we take some shortcuts when sewing our products or maybe be a little stingier with our cuts? After all, we cut all of our products big anyway. Nobody would notice if a couple inches were missing; would they? Well, we would.
To the contrary, we have decided to change almost nothing. We make a quality product that has always been very well received and if it ain't broken; we're not going to fix it. A reputation for quality is not easily earned and we're not going to jeopardize that reputation to get a few more sales when times are tough. Instead, we counsel our customers to still buy the "good stuff" but to maybe cut back on some of the options. A full cut, well constructed uniform is still a tremendous value even if it isn't "fancy". A Mercedes is still a Mercedes even without a sunroof and a navigation system.
Like all economic situations, both good and bad, this one will end at some point. When it does, our reputation will be intact and maybe we will have learned something. Like everyone else we are looking for ways to be more efficient during these difficult times and when this ends maybe we will have learned some valuable lessons. In the meantime, our customers will still be able to count on getting a quality product from us. One that will last them for years and years. Bad times seem to come and go but we would like to believe that good companies, like ours, are here to stay.
