60 Years of Success Brought M. Rubin & Sons to the Blue Generation

Recognizing when to change styles is perhaps the most powerful competitive advantage for any apparel manufacturer. The ability to predict a trend and respond to the marketplace is critical to a clothing lines longevity. The Rubin family, owners of M. Rubin & Sons, has proven their talents in this area for several generations their most recent success being the brand sensation Blue Generation.

Im the third generation in the business, says Eric Rubin. My grandfather, Milton Rubin, started the business in 1944 with his oldest son, Don, when he returned from the army. My Grandfather was a jobber at the time. Once Don joined him, they set up a manufacturing facility. That was the start of M. Rubin & Son Singular. Bob, the middle brother, and my father Phil, the youngest brother, each joined the company soon after. It then became M. Rubin & Sons.

The firm used to be in several locations on lower Broadway in New York City, NY. The manufacturing and warehousing facilities were located at 555 Broadway for many years, with showrooms in the Empire State Building. Today the company operates from its location at 34-01 38th Avenue in Long Island City, NY.

Over the years, there were many success stories. Milton Rubin got his start manufacturing outerwear for the armed forces. The line also grew to include civilian contracts.
The company is now celebrating its 60th anniversary. The decades in business have been marked by a variety of apparel product categories.

There was Alpine Guide Skiwear, Ice King Insulated Underwear, Wildcat Hunting Apparel and Antler Uniform and Sportswear to name a few, says Eric Rubin. We also licensed the name Ken Venturi for Golf jackets. In the 1970s, we manufactured a line called El Toro Bravo. I call this line the hippy look. We also took on the Sergio Valente license in the 1970s, which was a huge success for many years. As the name began to decline, we focused more on manufacturing private-label programs for the largest retail stores.

M. Rubin & Sons always maintained both uniform and fashion lines. Its current leading brand, called Blue Generation, is the driving force behind this generation of the firmand the brainchild of Eric Rubin.

Ive been working in the company full time for 25 years, I started by sweeping the floors and stuffing catalogs at age siz. I grew up with the business. My father took me to the Orient when I was in college, and this gave me my first exposure to overseas importing. I really fell in love with it. I went to New York University for my MBA, and that whole time, I was still only eight blocks from the warehouse, so I still worked there after school, Eric says.

About six years ago, we started getting requests from a different market, not the retail market, for denim shirts. We were known for denim from our Sergio Valente line. We realized there was another market out there the promotional products market. We gave the new line the name Blue Generation, which felt appropriate since we started with a denim shirt. This has been my baby, so to speak.

The company started showing the Blue Generation line, and there was response right away. The market responded to the quality denim product offered at a lower price. The Rubins then added a few colors in twill.

In addition to the basic colors, we made red and yellow twill shirts, which was unheard of in the industry at that time, Eric says. We were also a bit afraid to cut for inventory the first 100 dozen yellow shirts.

Based on past business strategies, the Rubins also looked at who the big distributors were in the market and offered these companies a private label option based on the same lower-priced imported items they were promoting as Blue Generation.

The program went from seven colors in twill just six years ago to 34 for the 2004 line.
The crossover to the uniform market was interesting. At first, our product was 100% cotton for the corporate promotion market. We were getting requests however for blended shirts that would wear for the uniform trade. So we introduced a line of Teflon treated twills and piques in a large array of colors, in both mens and womens sizes. The market was just waiting for it.
Now, corporate casual has also become uniformwear. So we are increasing the line every year to include blended poplins and polo-style shirts. The uniform area is probably the biggest growth area of the company now, says Eric.

The irony is that it brought the company back to its roots. M. Rubin & Sons always was a uniform company with a large fashion component.

Fortunately, because of our great international resourcing and a strong financial position, we were able to move into this business in a big way. We know how to make the goods, and weve got the financing to do it.

The merchandising concept for Blue Generation is color, size and gender. Interestingly, some of the marketing concepts from decades ago for other lines the company promoted are similar to todays approach notice the Color Power theme in the graphics.

Is there a fourth generation on the way into the business?

Eric Rubins children are still very young. The only involvement they have so far is modeling the youth line of shirts the company offers.

I predict the crossover of the corporate casual and the uniform market will continue to grow, Eric says. With new fabrics available in the market, I think we will be able to offer the uniform business technologically improved garments as time goes on in terms of wearability and comfort. I think the market is growing rapidly.

As far as M. Rubin & Sons? Don, Bob and Phil are all active in the business. We moved all operations into one building, says Eric. One of the great successes of the company is that we all have lunch together everyday and discuss business. It is the most valuable time we spend together.