Raylon's Pollack, Lauten Thrive on Service to Niche Markets
April 3, 2001
New York – From men's rainwear in 1953 to a company that caters to multiple industries, including flags and infant bedding, Raylon Corporation has stayed flexible in finding its niche markets.
"When you're a converter, you invest in people and give them the tools to be successful and a substantial share of the profits. We keep the overhead low and the incentive high. We're not afraid to invest in new ideas," said Leonard Lauten, president of Raylon, who bought the company from its founder Disney Bernstein in 1988.
Raylon was founded to supply rayon and nylon fabrics to the men's rainwear/outerwear business and later became a supplier to the ladies' rainwear business. But in 1980, when imports started to impact the domestic rainwear business, the company began to market non-apparel fabrics to the handbag, flag, lampshade, ribbon and juvenile furniture industries.
"Today, Raylon is the largest printer of American flag cloth. Who's going to make that off-shore," said Lauten. "Somebody told me to stay out of the textile industry in 1988 but they were wrong." Raylon also supplies shell cloth to Kate Spade, a trendy handbag producer, and supplies surf cloth to the baggy short producers in California as well as textured goods, terries, denims, cottons, poly/cottons, silks, embroidered fabrics and voiles to many industries.
The company recently developed a new rotary screen-printing process that it claims captures realistic colors and images with its sophisticated computer-driven engraving and color separations. "Countless Colors," Raylon's name for the process, is being trademarked. Its first patterns will be debuted by CHF Industries during the spring New York market.
"With four color photography of images directly printed on fabric, we have created a new market with new price points for mass merchants in the juvenile bedding category.
This is a niche business. It will remain in the U.S.A. If we have a successful print in the U.S.A., we can start domestically and make it overseas. It takes a year until you know the consumer wants the item," said Jay Pollak, executive vice president of Raylon.
Lauten feels he has created a magnet for good people to join Raylon. Jay Pollak, who owned the converting operation Vanessa Fabrics, was attracted to Raylon in 1996. Pollak's background was in converting home and apparel fabrics, and in his early career he ran a mill and dye plant. He opened the Vanessa Fabric division of Raylon, which develops end cap items and self-contained promotions catering strictly to the U.S. manufacturer.
"Once you want fashion with in line service and replenishment, you need the domestic converter," Pollak said. The Vanessa division prints cloth for the flag and banner trade, and converts cloth for children's bedding and traditional home furnishings fabrics.
Pollak's knowledge of cut and sew manufacturing, dyeing and weaving has made him a resource to his customers. He has developed a multi million-dollar business working with American manufacturers to develop new products overseas.
He sees a cost savings in producing overseas because the labor is cheaper, he said. He has been to Turkey, China, Korea and Pakistan to measure the price versus quality issues.
"The curtain and drapery field in the U.S.A. today is a marketing business, not manufacturing. The place to put manufacturing is near the cotton fields in Pakistan and China. In my opinion, Africa will be a player in the synthetic fabrics in the future," he said. The company supplies imported fabrics to domestic manufacturers, but also ships fabrics directly to companies that have offshore cut-and-sew operations.
"But there are cultural and language differences in dealing with a foreign supplier. It's our sense of manufacturing and their sense of our marketing requirements that must be matched," Pollak said.
"When you're a converter, you invest in people and give them the tools to be successful and a substantial share of the profits. We keep the overhead low and the incentive high. We're not afraid to invest in new ideas," said Leonard Lauten, president of Raylon, who bought the company from its founder Disney Bernstein in 1988.
Raylon was founded to supply rayon and nylon fabrics to the men's rainwear/outerwear business and later became a supplier to the ladies' rainwear business. But in 1980, when imports started to impact the domestic rainwear business, the company began to market non-apparel fabrics to the handbag, flag, lampshade, ribbon and juvenile furniture industries.
"Today, Raylon is the largest printer of American flag cloth. Who's going to make that off-shore," said Lauten. "Somebody told me to stay out of the textile industry in 1988 but they were wrong." Raylon also supplies shell cloth to Kate Spade, a trendy handbag producer, and supplies surf cloth to the baggy short producers in California as well as textured goods, terries, denims, cottons, poly/cottons, silks, embroidered fabrics and voiles to many industries.
The company recently developed a new rotary screen-printing process that it claims captures realistic colors and images with its sophisticated computer-driven engraving and color separations. "Countless Colors," Raylon's name for the process, is being trademarked. Its first patterns will be debuted by CHF Industries during the spring New York market.
"With four color photography of images directly printed on fabric, we have created a new market with new price points for mass merchants in the juvenile bedding category.
This is a niche business. It will remain in the U.S.A. If we have a successful print in the U.S.A., we can start domestically and make it overseas. It takes a year until you know the consumer wants the item," said Jay Pollak, executive vice president of Raylon.
Lauten feels he has created a magnet for good people to join Raylon. Jay Pollak, who owned the converting operation Vanessa Fabrics, was attracted to Raylon in 1996. Pollak's background was in converting home and apparel fabrics, and in his early career he ran a mill and dye plant. He opened the Vanessa Fabric division of Raylon, which develops end cap items and self-contained promotions catering strictly to the U.S. manufacturer.
"Once you want fashion with in line service and replenishment, you need the domestic converter," Pollak said. The Vanessa division prints cloth for the flag and banner trade, and converts cloth for children's bedding and traditional home furnishings fabrics.
Pollak's knowledge of cut and sew manufacturing, dyeing and weaving has made him a resource to his customers. He has developed a multi million-dollar business working with American manufacturers to develop new products overseas.
He sees a cost savings in producing overseas because the labor is cheaper, he said. He has been to Turkey, China, Korea and Pakistan to measure the price versus quality issues.
"The curtain and drapery field in the U.S.A. today is a marketing business, not manufacturing. The place to put manufacturing is near the cotton fields in Pakistan and China. In my opinion, Africa will be a player in the synthetic fabrics in the future," he said. The company supplies imported fabrics to domestic manufacturers, but also ships fabrics directly to companies that have offshore cut-and-sew operations.
"But there are cultural and language differences in dealing with a foreign supplier. It's our sense of manufacturing and their sense of our marketing requirements that must be matched," Pollak said.
