We recently connected with JAY Arbetman and have shared our conversation below.

JAY, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I work in an office in my home in Oak Park, IL. 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 daughters, 1 wife. I’ve done a lot of traveling over the last 50 years and I’ve pretty much had my fill. Being able to spend 90% of my days in my home has been great. I like the other animals and humans that are here. I’ve got an interesting little office and six or seven guitars. It’s all good.

Straight job!! I don’t think so. I get the shivers just thinking about it. Look, I work alone and I have a lot to do. I worked in New York on Seventh Ave for ten years and I was pretty much on my own. Our company was back in Aurora, IL so I was in our New York Showroom. Glad I did it. Won’t do it again.

I like being at the “bottom of the mountain” every month. No one pays me a salary. I make a living on commissions. It has the element of competition but you are only competing against yourself. Most important, finding the right product being handled by the right people is key. You’ve got to work with good people. I also have very nice customers of significant talent.

JAY, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have quite a story. My family was in the women’s coat business at first in Chicago and then in Aurora, IL. I was maybe 14 when I would occasionally go to work with my Dad and pick orders, sweep the floor and try to stay out of the way. Just to give you a space in time, this takes place in the mid-1960’s. There was a real cast of characters, both at our company and in the Chicago Garment District in general. Our offices were at 209 S. Jefferson in Chicago. Working there was OK but nothing compared to going out to lunch. My all time favorite place to eat was called Art’s Grill. It was a cafeteria style steam table establishment. The sound of the lunch crowd was quite similar to a jet engine though they are making quieter jets all the time so it may be a bit louder than a jet engine! Art himself manned the meat slicer and held up the stub of a finger (he had many less than 10) and said, “Remember kid, safety is number one”, as he was holding up a significantly shortened index finger. The garment company owners were loud and bombastic. The credit managers sat quietly in the corner. Even at 14, I could figure out which women were the models and which were the office workers. Of course the clunky shoes indicated the office worker. Stiletto heel….well, you get it, don’t you? When I was 21, after a brief and unmemorable college career, I became a road salesman for my family’s business. I would throw 8 or 10 sample bags of coats and collapsible folding racks into a large sedan with the back seat removed, and off I went. I called on specialty stores, old dry goods stores, small town dress shops, a few department stores and a smattering of discounters. I called on stores in Northern Illinois, Indiana and the five largest cities in Ohio. I worked with such fine merchants. Buyers and owners at Robertson’s in So. Bend, IN, Szold’s in Peoria, Meis Brothers in Terre Haute and department store buyers from L. S. Ayes to May Company and many more were all unknowingly teaching me the ropes. By osmosis, I learned a ton. I started a lifelong interest in fabrics. Almost all of the garments that I encountered were made in the USA. Our company only bought domestically milled fabrics from J. P. Stevens, Warshaw Woolens, Wyandotte Woolens and so many more. There were 1,000’s of garment companies in New York of course but also in St. Louis, Denver, Kansas City and Milwaukee. My family and 100’s of other families did our business in Chicago. Every large city had some kind of “Garment District”. On Saturdays, my Dad and Uncles would work on their line of coats and jackets for the next season. Everything operated on a rigorous schedule. We had a designer, a technical designer and a pretty sophisticated sample room. Definitely pre-CAD. Samples were developed for Sears, J.C. Penney and Montgomery Wards and of course, our open line. Every decent size city had two or three local department stores and big cities had five and significantly more. There were a lot of customers and a lot of small to medium domestic manufacturers providing the entire family with clothing. Then I got traded! I was sent off to work for women’s specialty stores in the Chicago area. Different times. Salaries were reasonable. This was way before the common (and I mean so common) era of nine million dollar CEO’s and $9.00 an hour store clerks. In 1980, my brother told my father that I was dying to come back. My brother then told me the our Father really wanted me back. Needless to say, my brother is today a tremendously successful business man. My family did not mind me working for them as long as I was 800 miles away. I moved to New York. I was the sole employee in our family’s New York Showroom at 500 Seventh Ave. I did spend about the first year gawking at the tall buildings. I was there for 10 years. In the middle of my tenure, our business was humming. We had about a dozen “road men” that my father managed. Initially I had another uncle who ran the production but he retired and the previously mentioned devious but lovable brother ran production. The business revolved around the remaining uncle who could be the subject of a book or at least some kind of case study. For the most part, until illness and death broke up the show, it was quite the operation. While in New York it went to F. I. T. at night for a couple of years. A smart move as it turned out. I was yet to find my post-coat business calling. Now to make a short story long, I’ll turn the clock up to about 2003. I had in the meantime married the oh so worthy and current Mrs. Arbetman and as things will happen, the previously mentioned kids, dogs and cats came along. So back to 2003. At that time, the Chicago Garment District had become more like a garment block. I sold my New York connection’s zippers for the next few years as I was working full time for a couple of domestic jacket companies. Zippers led to buttons and buttons to fabrics and more fabrics and more fabrics. This morphed into a full time business in 2010 and became something a bit more substantial about 10 years ago. The lock down, which I thought would be disastrous for me, has molded everything in some way or another since March of 2020. It actually propelled my business forward. I sold a ton of elastic and mask fabric. The suppliers that continued to create are my top lines today. There is going to be a seismic shift in the retail world and of course, this will prove in the long run to be advantageous to Indie Designers and independent fabric stores. Big box stores just do not work and are heading to be obsolete. I know I am getting way ahead of myself but this is what I see. At the same time, fabric and garment construction necessities are available in more variety than ever. Sustainable options have grown exponentially. While you went to New York to buy fabric 30+ years ago, today the offering of fabric comes from all over North America. I represent companies in New York, Florida, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and the Vancouver area. I bring my brands to Zoom Trade Shows that I produce. I also am highly active on Instagram. I have an information website. I also offer hard to find items such as high quality interfacing. A complete label, tag and narrow printing service. Elastic, bias binding, draw cord, twill tape and much more are always available. We are moving into an era of domestic manufacturing that is just emerging. We’ve made progress but we have a long way to go.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

While I am active on social media every day, I believe you have to attack the marketplace in many ways. Texts. Emails. Instagram. Linkedin. Trade shows. Set ups and more. You also have to use the currently much hated telephone. How did I build my audience? I stuck with it. I had several “developmental” years which were difficult but I kept plowing forward. I made changes. I tried to become better at what I do. I’m a better listener than I was 10 years ago and it is something that I continue to work on.

How can you get started? I believe it works differently for different people. The most important thing is to leverage your skills. Are you a great sales person? Participate in events (One of a Kind, Renegade, local art fairs etc) Do you have great technical skills? Get a Youtube channel and show these skills off. Sadly, this is not a business with a great deal of collaboration. Also, be careful of rather expensive bad advice.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I suggest you try and create a situation similar to mine. No partners. No employees. No problems. Just a thought. I have seen many partnerships fail (and sometimes ruin very nice friendships). Find good suppliers and find good advisors which is no small task.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thesourcingdistrict.com
• Instagram: thesourcingdistrict
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSourcingDistrict
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-arbetman-5563a4b/