PGA Magazine did a write up on President Joe Silva and Garb.

I have long wanted to have a focus group of young, talented golfers.  Young golfers that would not be afraid to speak their mind.  Kids that would tell me exactly what they think about our products--colors, fit, style, fabrics--you name it.  Well, last week we did just that.
 
We enlisted the help of Jake's Academy--a Denver based golf teaching facility that focuses a lot of energy on helping kids become great.  They recommended 5 kids between the ages of 11 and 13 to give us their candid feedback.  We started the day with introductions and a factory tour.  At the end of the tour we gave them an opportunity to screenprint their own souvenir shirt.  Of course they all took us up on our offer.  We had two choices of ink color--blue and purple.  We thought the boys would pick blue and the girls would pick purple.  WRONG! The boys went with purple and the girls picked blue.  Who knew!  Oh yeah, that's why we're having this focus group--to make sure we understand kid's preferences!
 
Then we moved to the conference room where Kim Edwards, our national sales manager, showed the participants the Spring 2012 collection.  All in all the response was pretty good.  Some of the kids felt like some of the designs were too young (kiddy) looking.  Noted.  The girls had specific requests with regard to ruffles or no ruffles and which colors they like together and other color combinations they disliked.  The boys all seemed to like bright colors--that was clear from the onset.  Noted.
 
Afterwards, we presented graphic ideas--graphics for t-shirts, stickers, logos and much more.  The responses surprised us!  Thank goodness these kids agreed to help us with the 2013 product offering.  So, after Caz Perez, our graphic designer was done, she handed the program over to Jenifer Grazian our fashion designer.  She previewed Spring 2013 and again, we were very glad we did.
 
We received so much valuable feedback from the kids…and their parents that the night was a huge success.  As I saw them appear to be getting a little tired after being here almost two hours I had an idea.  I rushed out to the warehouse where we keep our top secret "candy stash".  As many of you may or may not know, Garb puts candy in each shipment that leaves our warehouse.  So, I grabbed a big handful of assorted candy and we made it through the remainder of the meeting.
 
fo·cus
noun \ˈfō-kəs\
 a point of concentration -
 
Taking the time to concentrate on what kids want in their golf apparel was one of the best things I've done in a long time.  Thank you to all of the kids that participated.  Garb is better because of you.   
 

THE KIDS LEARNING ABOUT THE EMBROIDERY MACHINES- from left-right: Ben, Ty, Brandy, and Joe Silva (President)

DANIELLE SCREENPRINTING HER SHIRT WITH NICK (GARB'S SCREENPRINTER)

BEN PRINTING HIS SHIRT WITH NICK

PATRICK SCREENPRINTING HIS SHIRT

TY'S NEW GARB SHIRT

THE FOCOUS GROUP GIVING FEEDBACK ON GARB'S CURRENT LINE. from left-right: Danielle, Theresa (Sales Asst), Caz (Graphic Designer), Ty, Patrick, Brandy, and Ben.

We came across this image of a boy wearing our Elliot at the Wells Fargo Championship, and thought we'd share it.

Last Friday I received one of the best emails I've got in a long time and it reminded me of why I started this company some 16 years ago.  After returning from dinner with one of my manufacturing consultants, my iPhone chirped stating that I had a new email.  It was from a woman in Texas.  Here is what it said:
 
"I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for designing a line for girls golf. My daughter Ellie, who is 10, is an avid competitive golfer and very small for her age and we have had the hardest time finding fun clothes that she enjoys to wear when she plays. Your brand and designs are a breath of fresh air and we just picked up several outfits at the PGA Superstore in Plano, TX. Keep up the great work and we look forward to your new and upcoming designs."
 
This is precisely why I started the company.  Back in 1996, there were NO clothes at all specifically designed for young golfers--none.  Creating a brand and a company was hard.  Creating a category of apparel was something very different.  It was the hardest single thing I've ever done.  Many people thought there was no need.  Others thought it would never sell.
 
So thank you to Ellie and her mom.  Thanks to Ellie for having such great taste and thanks to her mom for taking the time to write such a nice note.  We'll keep those great clothes and fresh designs coming.
 
Oh, and by the way, we name each one of our styles a kid's name.  And you'll never guess what the style name is of the shirt that the young lady is wearing…it's Ellie.
 
Joe Silva
President

Garb is growing. Garb is changing. Garb is on the road to getting LEAN.

My name is Dave and I am the Director of Operations at Garb. I have been with Joe for 7 years and I have been involved in many different parts of the business. You may have met me at a trade show selling, I have been the de facto IT person, and I have even printed and embroidered shirts. For the most part I am working behind the scenes on all things inventory. I work on securing our clothing manufacturing, importing, and ultimately decorating and shipping. Easy right? You would be surprised how quickly things move around here.

We are a growing company and like many others who have been down this path, we need to adapt to our growth. Everyday we can see the issues that hinder us, we discuss the issues, but our solutions seemed to be less than adequate. Until today we have been placing temporary fixes on some flawed systems just to make it through the busy season.

But now I have seen the light…I have gone down to the river…I have received the calling…and the words that I will hold to be the truth from today forward are those written and taught about Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing. (Can I get an AMEN!)

A few months ago I went to Dallas for an intensive training on Lean. Now all of those fuzzy ideas that seemed to be out of my reach, all of the time spent banging my head on a wall over problems, all became clear and suddenly very manageable. All it will take is to change everything we do, the way we think, the way we act, and the way we solve problems.

Lean and Six Sigma are 2 pieces from the same pie. They were invented and put in to use by the Japanese car manufactures in the 1970’s and were the main reason the Japanese auto industry surged ahead of the competition. Using the tools of Lean and Six Sigma the assembly plants were turned into fine tuned, low cost, high output, world class facilities. In the same time an American company could turn out 1 car, the Japanese were putting out 4 or more at half the cost and just as high quality of a product (some would argue better).

Lean is the first step. One of the major themes from lean is called Kaizen. Kai= to take apart and put back together, and Zen = to think about. Over the next 3 months Garb will use Kaizen and all the other Lean tools on many areas of our company. The first and largest part will be a complete redesign of our production facility. This will take about 2 months, but we will be Lean and mean by the time the spring rolls back around.

It will not only be production that gets the Lean treatment. Lean is a company wide implementation and a large culture change. It requires all of our staff to be involved in the rebuilding process, and then not just maintain, but improve our systems each and everyday. We started with a company wide meeting to train everyone on the basics of Lean (as seen in the pictures) and we even put Lean into action that day with a complete overhaul of our common areas. Garb’s kitchen is now Lean and Clean and has remained in pristine condition for over a month.

After we put Lean into Garb we will then start to learn and implement Six Sigma. Lean is used to Streamline, Six Sigma is used to Optimize. This is a large project to undertake, but it is the most important project I have ever been part of at this company. Garb is going to exceed all of our staff and customers expectations.