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Period: to
Riding the wave
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Beginning
- 1957 went to junk yard Bought forge, anvil tongs and hammer to teach blacksmithing -825.35 from my parents for drop forge die
- profits were slim, lived on .50 per day
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Pause
- 1962 had to close business due to the draft
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Getting the word out
- Started making climbing gear againβ and βput out first catalogue
- Hired first employees, 5 people
- Retail and wholesale were part
- Roughing up parts for export to avoid duty
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Lean Times
- Not much profit, only 1%
- Sales were doubling each year
- Held 75% of the maket
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Expansion of space
- Took over building next door
- Our first products with new logo nearly brought us to bankruptcy
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International sourcing
- Sourcing product from Hong kong
- We unloaded as many shirts as we could for less than cost and almost lost the company, still not profitable and cash flow problems
- While defective shirts were emptying our account we had to have lunch with bankers to convince them we didnt need money
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Split of Partners
- Split of Partnership
- Secured more favourable financing
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More People
- 16 employees
- Survived major cash flow problem by sercuring revolving LOC