The killing fields

Time waiteth for no man and time also kicketh him in the bum.

Before I get to the kick, let's go back many years to when a certain garment manufacturer of my acquaintance was starting out. Money was scarce and so were orders. He did the tough metres, and through talent and hard work he became successful.

Some time later, in a moment of soulful reflection, he acknowledged the contribution of his faithful staff, in particular his designer, production manager and accountant. How could he express his gratitude for their loyalty? He'd always paid them well and had given them the use of company cars and occasional trips, so it had to be something more than that. Ah yes, a share in the company. He decided to give 15 per cent to each - which still left him in control with 55 per cent.
When finally he announced that he wanted to close down and retire he noticed that these three staff members (now his fellow shareholders), took on a different appearance. Their eye teeth grew into fangs and their fingernails into claws. When he told them what payout they might expect in a best case scenario when the company was wound up, they didn't wait, but used their trusted position, along with the inside knowledge of the accountant, to grab what they could immediately, including money, company cars and other benefits. The owner could have sued them but he was at the end of his career, tired, and struggling toward the finishing line. Instead he closed off any chance of further financial leaks and battened down the hatches to ride it out.

What had been a happy company had turned into a lawyer prodded financial killing field.
The moral of this true story is never to give private company shares away as an expression of gratitude to staff. Give bonuses, trips, bottles of Scotch but don't give shares.

This is not a story about bad people, far from it. They'll Performance based shares in a public companies are a different animal. Their shares are impersonal and kept in perspective by the huge number of other shareholders. They often form part of a pay package from the commencement of employment.

But if you are a little retailer and you love your manageress for her skill and loyalty, give her a hug and slip her a brown paper envelope full of schwartz. Don't, whatever you do, give her shares.

The enabler
I often come across people who want to get into fashion design and manufacturing without any idea of what that entails. They are often well heeled, intelligent and persuasive. They crave riches and fame, and believe fashion will supply them.
Of course, I invariably tell them to save their money and draw again. Fashion, I intone, is a minefield, and not for the inexperienced and untrained.

But now I find there's a new way of getting into the business without having to go to tech, do an overworked stint with a clothing company and then make your first samples on your mother's kitchen table. All you need, apparently, is an ability to market a product, especially over the internet, and a powerful passion to succeed. You don't even have to immediately know what your damn product is.

The secret is to find an 'enabler': somebody who knows the trade, who can turn vague dreams into clothes by making patterns and samples, and who can introduce you to fabric suppliers and contract makers both here and overseas.
Do enablers exist? Yes they do. I just discovered one, a Sydney-based patternmaker who has lit the fuse under several highly successful brands that sell mostly on the internet.

"Even so, most of them fail," she frankly admits, "but let me tell you, their success rate equals that of trained people". She tells of a former solicitor who took a couple of somebody else's garments, photographed them and showed them on a beautifully presented website. The orders flooded in, delivering a business out of virtually nothing. The production back end, of course, was in dire need of an enabler, and this lady obliged.

The enabler charges for her services by the hour. The first half hour is free and she then delivers the aspirant a prognosis. If there is harmonious mutual chemistry she flicks on the meter and gets to work.