SMALL BUSINESS: What Most Women Want

Carl H. Stenzler’s business occupies an eighth floor loft behind the Troc, Philadelphia’s only burlesque theater. In his own way, Stenzler is putting on a more eye-catching show than the Troc ever did.

Last January his Lee Skirt Co. was turning out women’s and misses’ skirts at a good clip of 400 dozen a week. By last week, Lee Skirt had upped production more than 200%—1,250 dozen a week. U.S. department stores were taking the entire output. Retailing mostly at $1.99 and $2.95, the company’s all-wool and rayon skirts are a bargain that few competitors can approach.

Eye for Costs. The bargain is the result of long and careful planning by a family team. Besides 34-year-old Carl, who is the company’s only salesman, the team includes his 44-year-old sister Mildred who runs the office, his 53-year-old brother-in-law Sidney Winegrad who supervises production, and his father, septuagenarian Samuel, who set up the business in 1932 and now handles labor relations.

Back in 1939, unable to sell their higher-priced ($15.75 a dozen and up) output of 100 dozen a week, they desperately turned to making a skirt that would retail for $1. A flood of orders, amounting to 700 dozen on one peak day, showed what could be done on high-volume output with low profit per unit.

Well aware that narrow profit margins can easily be erased by a sudden rise in costs, Lee Skirt snips all possible corners. It has dodged style changes by concentrating on “what most women want most of the time.” By ordering in volume, it gets a steady supply of good fabrics which boost sales and eliminate costly returns because of imperfections. To avoid waste motion, production has been so simplified that, says Carl, “our employees can work blindfolded.” Lee Skirt treats its 50-odd employees well, and except for oral agreements on wage boosts has never had to alter its nine-year-old contract with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union.

Pat on the Back. Smart management has enabled Lee Skirt to take up rising costs and then some. Despite an addition of three inches to the length of most skirts and a 5¢-a-yard rise in flannel, it is currently selling one all-wool flannel item at 15% less than last year.

One happy result: a pat on the back from the National Retail Dry Goods Association. Though “it is not our normal function to advertise any manufacturer,” said a N.R.D.G.A. bulletin, Lee Skirt is providing “a reliable garment at a price which should . . . help overcome the public dissatisfaction over the price situation.” A happier result: the company expects to gross more than $1,000,000 in 1948, a 100% increase in a year.