Kevin Murray, owner of Jedidiah, talks about the brand, its biggest customers, his graphics and printables company and how he plans to use social responsibility to create a new way of doing business in the apparel industry.
How is Jedidiah doing these days? How is business? How has the economy impacted the brand?
We are still here! It has been tough at times, but I believe all the companies who have survived the past few years will be stronger and better having weathered the storm.
Like most apparel companies, we took a shock to the system in 2008. We lost about 40% of our wholesale customer base over a three-month period of time from either bankruptcies or credit related issues.
However, 2010 was encouraging.
We bounced back and grew 21% in revenue and we are projecting another 25% growth this year.
I don’t think the overall retail storm is over, so we are being cautious in our growth models and in choosing new retail partners.
How big is Jedidiah now? How many employees? How many doors?
We are projecting $3 million in sales this year, with eight staff members selling into about 350 doors.
You also own KJM Screen Printing. How much a part of your overall business is Jedidiah compared to KJM and what do you do at KJM?
KJM Enterprises is a screen printing company that I started when I was 23 out of my garage. For the first 10 years we built the company around contract screen printing for other people.
But about 15 years ago we started our journey of building a direct to retail manufacturing business.
Today we print almost exclusively for ourselves through a network of licenses, private label programs and house brands, which we sell into mid-level mass merchants like JCPenney, Sears and others.
Jedidiah has been developed out of this existing infrastructure.
I wanted a way to use our knowledge in art design, manufacturing and distribution to be able to create a brand that had an embedded generosity model. Jedidiah is 25% of our overall business and we plan to leverage the Jedidiah philosophy by doing more programs built around a charity model.
What’s new in the line?
For Spring 2011, it is 17” board shorts and an extended custom knit collection. Fall 2011, we will showcase a few new great jackets and the best graphic collection we have ever created.
What categories are the biggest for you?
We are an art-based brand, so graphic tees still drive the business, but we are also creating a niche for some great cut-and-sew pieces, such as our popular jackets, which were spotted on members of the cast of Glee, Modern Family, 90210 and more this winter.
Are your products all made locally or overseas?
Our tees and knits are all made domestically and printed at KJM. Board shorts, jackets and non-printables are all done offshore.
Who are some of your most important retail partners?
On a national level, Nordstrom has been important. However, their consolidation of going back to one buying office made it difficult to gain traction last year. That being said, we just had a great meeting with them and think we may be able to get in to all-store buys rather than just regional buys. We are hopeful to continue to build our business with them.
We also love to work with The Buckle. They have been a good partner for us and they believe in who we are and what we do as a company.
On the specialty store level, we have been gaining good traction. We have added about 35 new accounts for Spring 2011 from both the West Coast and East Coast. Some of the retailers we added locally this season include: Sun Diego, K5 and Spyder.
See Page 2 for international business and philanthropy
Do you do any business internationally?
Yes, a little. We just shipped our first order to a new UK partner, which is exciting. That is it for now, but we have conversations going with others.
I believe this is a very important sector for us going forward and we will be putting a lot of time and attention in building international distribution over the next 24 months.
Why did you decide to pick Cambodia for your last campaign?
Our Spring and Summer 2011 collections are dedicated to fighting child sex trafficking. We chose World Vision as our partner because I believe they are the most effective NGO combating this tragic situation. The three countries World Vision does the most work in are India, Thailand and Cambodia.
For many reasons, Cambodia has become a major destination for children that are forced into this life. In fact, more than one-third of all sex trafficking victims pass through Southeast Asia.
Through our trip there, we learned one of their biggest needs was to build more capacity to care for children when they are first rescued from brothels.
These are off the grid, underground shelters known as trauma recovery centers, where the child’s medical and psychological needs are first met. This is a temporary 30-to-90-day shelter where they stay until a permanent housing plan can be made for them.
Every sale from our spring and summer collections will help us fund the construction of this new center.
Tell me a little bit about the humanitarian causes you support and why it’s important to the brand? I read you have given a half a million dollars to charities. How?
Our company mission statement is: “To use apparel sales as a vehicle to provide care, support and financial resources to those in need.”
We do this by partnering with amazing NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) each season. Last year we partnered with Compassion International, Invisible Children, Amor, and Surfing the Nations. This year we are working with World Vision and StandUp for Kids.
I believe that business models with embedded generosity have the potential to change history and effect social causes like never before. Cause-related programs are the reason why Jedidiah exists. It is our DNA. It is not just a part of what we do; it is why we exist.
Why is being social responsible to important to you and how do you think that will affect business?
Two things inspired me. One was reading Yvon Chouinard’s (founder of Patagonia) autobiography and all the toils he went through and how he built a business for 25 years around the outdoor lifestyle, mountain climbing, rock climbing, etc. He then found a creative way to leverage that business model by starting 1% for the Planet. He and others have raised millions of dollars over the years to lead the initiative of preserving our earth’s natural resources.
My older brother, who works in the automotive industry, also inspired me. Years ago, he figured out a way to partner auto parts suppliers with a network of faithful mechanics for the greater good. He organizes trips to third world countries and they fix the cars of missionary families who work there.
Like Yvon Chouinard, my brother figured out a creative way to make a difference using what he does for a living. Both of these examples were very inspiring for me and showed me that whatever you do for work you can figure out a way to give back.
See Page 3 for Kevin’s new plan to help charities
What else should we know about Jedidiah and your new plan to use social responsibility as a new way to do business in apparel with MADE FOR GOOD?
We are committed to our model and our purpose, and will never give up. We believe consumers want to be involved with brands that have a social agenda that is real and authentic.
Jedidiah has been a tremendous step in the right direction for creating a brand built around good will and the support of others.
MADE FOR GOOD is a new initiative that we are building. It will be a multi-branded platform. Our goal is to create a sustained donation model where our business platform will generate meaningful revenue to support meaningful causes that support the needs of hurting people.
It is not about promoting an agenda that creates the next cool brand for people to buy. But rather, it is about using the creation of business to support social change.
We call it the collision of commerce and charity. I don’t think the world needs more nonprofits organizations, there are already so many great people out there doing great things. Let’s not compete with them, let’s support them.
We can do this most effectively by encouraging more for-profit companies to build embedded generosity into their business models. This can truly change the world.
What has MADE FOR GOOD created so far?
This year, MADE FOR GOOD has signed three licensing agreements. We are doing a graphics driven music collaboration series supporting MusiCares, the nonprofit arm of GRAMMY’s.
We are also doing a special edition artist network series of tees with Viva La Art!, which is an underground art community in LA that throws amazing art shows where 100% of the revenue supports local charities.
Our third partnership is with Beautiful Feet, a sandal company that donates sandals to children in need. We have agreed to support their efforts through an exclusive apparel collection to be sold in conjunction with their sandal program.
We will continue to look for more strategic partnerships as we build out this multi branded network of apparel products that all have embedded models of generosity.
