Chicago Uniforms

This month, UniformMarket launches Spotlight on Dealers, the first of a series of columns that turns the focus on uniform dealers, their accomplishments and their ability to succeed in today’s increasingly competitive business climate.

Are you a dealer with a unique story to tell? Have you adopted a marketing technique that reaped better than expected rewards? Were you able to win an account against all odds? Have you used technology to increase your bottom line? Do you have an award-winning website? In short, have you employed tactics which not only ensured your survival but enabled your business to flourish?

More importantly for our purposes, are you willing to share your ideas? Can we turn the spotlight on you next time? If so, send us an email at info@uniformmarket.com and we may feature your store and its techniques in a coming issue.

In our first feature, we turn the spotlight on Chicago Uniforms, a dealer whose business centers around the police, fire and postal industries.

“This is the best business anyone could ever be in,” says one of Chicago Uniforms partners. “You meet the nicest people and get to provide a product that truly enhances the customer’s business. I really love what I’m doing.”

The words of an idealistic newcomer? Not exactly. It is the credo by which Sol Kale lives. No stranger to the industry, the 83-year old Kale opened his store two years ago, at a time when most people his age are heading to Florida and other sunny destinations. He added a second location last year so he could better focus on the needs of the United States Postal Service.

After selling his successful chain of uniform shops to the equally successful Warren Buffet in 1991, Kale left the scene for what many imagined as a carefree and lucrative retirement. Many, that is, except Kale. A five-year no-compete clause which Kale had signed as part of the deal kept him out of the business until the late ‘90s, but a series of events, including a stroke suffered by his wife in 2002, made him realize that he still had much to contribute. “I have always felt a great sense of loyalty to this business and to the city of Chicago, and I felt that I still had more to do,” he says.

He is currently trying to reintroduce the concept of a uniform program to Chicago’s many cab companies. “They look so unprofessional,” Kale notes. “A uniform program will enhance this city and could even help cabbies get better tips.”

So far, his quest has been an uphill battle. Popular during the middle of last century, uniforms for cabbies in the United States have gone the way of business suits in career apparel and Class A uniforms in the police industry. Indeed, in our research for this article, UniformMarket could not find any American cab companies with a uniform program.

But Kale remains undeterred. He has invested $50,000 to stock a program that doesn’t exist, and has met with the area’s major players to pursue his idea. While his presentation was originally met with enthusiasm, talks are currently stalled. “I have always stated that the uniforms should be paid for by the individual employee, not the company,” says Kale. “But somehow this has gotten lost and negotiations are at a standstill.” UniformMarket placed numerous calls to the prospective cab companies for comment. None were returned.

So Kale has taken his campaign to the individual cabbie. Chicago Uniforms has placed signs in every cab depot urging drivers to spruce up their appearance. And while the phone isn’t exactly ringing off the hook, the approach has begun to take hold. Kale estimates that he has had about 20 walk-ins per month since the campaign’s inception, all from drivers willing to purchase the cap, white shirt and jacket emblazoned with company logo. “They recognize that it’s important to look good, and they’re willing to pay for it,” says Kale. As for the cab companies, Kale doesn’t appear to be worried. “I was the first person to put Chicago’s drivers in uniforms back in the ‘40s, and I’ll be the first one to do it again this century,” he adds.

Still, to invest so much money in a program that may never happen seems, to say the least, risky. “If you don’t take a chance, you go nowhere,” note Kale. “Successful people don’t play it safe, they are risk-takers.”

Some might also suggest that starting a business at his age is equally fool-hearted. But in the two years since he opened Chicago Uniforms, he has done over two million dollars in business. His postal store, opened last July, has already done $750,000. “We have so much business and are growing so fast that we have to be careful how it’s managed,“ he says.

His success is due to a number of factors. Clearly, his name has earned him a reputation unsurpassed in this industry. “I know this business like the back of my hand, and I can turn any situation into a success,” he boasts. His confidence and expertise make customers want to do business with him.

Yet it is one thing to attract customers; it is an entirely different situation that keeps them coming back time and again. What are his secrets? First, it is that old dealer mantra -- service. “Look, there’s no question about it -- the industry has changed. But I don’t care how many big guys there are out there, you can still survive and do well if you provide exceptional service. This is the one area where the big guys can’t compete, and you have to be able to capitalize that,” he says.

He also employs a tactic from a by-gone era. Remember when banks would reward new customers with a gift? Kale remembers, and still uses this method to cultivate customer relationships. “Everybody loves a freebie, no matter what it is,” says Kale.

What final advice does Kale offer dealers? “Gain a full understanding of the business and have the patience to see it through. Provide first-rate customer service and be willing to take risks in order to compete in today’s competitive environment.”

You may contact Chicago Uniforms at 550 W. Roosevelt Pl., Chicago, IL 60607, (312) 913-1006