What Comes Around Goes Around: New Life for Old Threads
“I’m constantly traveling the world for our vintage business — and using iPhoto and a digital camera to capture quick visuals of the garments I’m seeing is a blessing. Whether it’s for design inspiration, or consulting with my staff — you know, “Hey, should I really be buying this expensive piece?” — it’s great that I can just snap a photo, transfer it to my Mac laptop, put it in an email and have informed discussions.”
We have a long-term commitment to our vision, he says, and to the Macs that have helped us bring it to life. We’re in a comfort zone working with Mac, and that isn’t going to change.
WCAGA uses a range of Mac-based software for a variety of tasks — from the Adobe Creative Suite for garment design, to iCal for maintaining and coordinating the schedules of dozens of employees. iTunes, of course, is their tool of choice for playing hummable music while they work. And “despite the widespread use of PCs in the accounting world,” says financial controller Michele Sassaman, “I just can’t afford to lose important financial data to PC-borne viruses. Most of my work is done on QuickBooks and Excel on the Mac, and I’ve had nothing but a positive experience.”
Less Support, More Inspiration
Similarly, tech director Jon Fox spends very little of his time supporting his colleagues’ Macs, even as WCAGA has mushroomed to include 40 employees in three locations. Instead, he spends most of his time scoping out new solutions to help the business grow. “When Seth and Gerard decided to forge ahead with the company’s own line, we again heard the same song from people in the business — that we’d need a PC system to run it,” says Jon. “But we quickly found a FileMaker Pro application called Apparel Magic that’s been doing a fantastic job.”
When Jon was asked to find a solution for automating and tracking client contacts and communication — a crucial application for any fast-growing business that wants to provide personalized service to so many different types of customers — he chose Daylite. “To do effective marketing and outreach, we really needed to have a proper history of all our interactions with clients — whether they’re retail customers, designers, wholesale buyers, costumers or wardrobe people,” says Seth.
Back to the Future
That growth, he says, is already beyond the wildest dreams of its co-founders. “We’ve been very fortunate with our vintage stores. Even though they’re still a brick-and-mortar, piece-by-piece type of business, they’ve been growing by 10 to 20 percent a year since we opened. With our new business, obviously designed to sell more than one item at a time, we’re seeing a potential 30 percent growth in our revenue.”
Plans for a full lifestyle brand and additional boutiques are in the works. “We have a long-term commitment to our vision,” says Seth, “and to the Macs that have helped us bring it to life. We’re in a comfort zone working with Mac, and that isn’t going to change.”
