General Business Updates and News

[Spokes]

One year after near death, Barbarian is hiring again
August 30, 2014 | Rose Simone | Waterloo Region Record | Link

KITCHENER — The clattering of sewing machines on the large shop floor in the plant on Trillium Drive is a good sign of life.

Last year at this time, Barbarian Sports Wear, a manufacturer of high quality rugby jerseys, spirit wear and sports team clothing for schools around the world, was in receivership and looked to be dead, another casualty of an ailing North American clothing and textile industry.

But then, Steve Wagner, the 50-year-old founder of Salus Marine Wear, a Waterloo-based manufacturer of life jackets, bought the assets of the Kitchener-based business. Within a few months of the deal last October, 40 of the 75 workers who lost their jobs were called back.

Little by little, they brought the plant back to life. It wasn't an easy thing to do, Wagner says. "We lost a lot of momentum because customers thought the company was shut down."

A company needs licenses to make the school clothing, and many of those licenses had to be reapplied for. That took months to accomplish, especially in the United States, Wagner explains. Meanwhile, customers had already started booking orders elsewhere, so Barbarian had to work hard to get them back.

But gradually, they did come back.

Barbarian now employs about 60 people and is facing a challenge that is the opposite of what it faced a year ago: the need for more workers. Wagner says the plant needs to hire at least 10 more people, which would nearly bring it back to the staff complement it had before last year's shutdown.

The plant is now making about 400 shirts a day and Wagner says he would like to boost production.

The job doesn't pay a huge amount — the average is about $13 an hour — but Barbarian offers benefits after three months and the shifts that are entirely days, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with no weekends. Wagner says it's a great job for people with children at home who have dexterity and an interest in sewing.

The ideal employee would have sewing experience, but the floor supervisor, Maria Aguiar, is willing to train, Wagner says. "She has a few new people who have never done it before but have caught on well. So if she senses an eagerness and ability, she will give them a try."

It's tough to find sewers because there aren't a lot of young people going into the trade, Wagner says.

But the challenge of finding workers is a nice problem for Barbarian to have, given that a year ago people thought there would be no jobs. As Wagner walks around and looks at the huge circular knitting machines and sewing machines on the plant floor, he shakes his head. "Can you believe that all of this was almost dismantled?" he says.

Despite the rebound in business, it is still a challenging business, Wagner says. "You have to make sure the amount of money coming in the front door is more than what is going out the back." But the plant is definitely on more solid ground now, he says.

Thread is imported from cotton-growing regions in the United States, dyed at the dye houses and then shipped to Kitchener, where it gets loaded onto giant circular knitting machines that produce fabric, which is then cut and sewn for a 100 per cent North American product.

The quality of Barbarian shirts is a big reason customers came back, Wagner says. They "are virtually indestructible," he says.

The company exports shirts to countries like South Korea and Japan. That may come as a surprise to people who think Canada only imports textiles, but those countries have affluent markets with people who appreciate the high quality fabrics and English labels, Wagner says.

Barbarian is able to have quick turnaround times and has the flexibility to do custom orders in smaller quantities. Overseas competitors require much higher minimum orders to ship a container, Wagner says.

Wagner is trying to expand the company's product line. It sells casual wear to retailers such as Adventure Guide and is looking at other opportunities in the retail market.

Less than a year after Barbarian nearly vanished, Wagner is looking forward to a bright future. More trailer loads of cotton have been ordered for next year. A year ago, people were worried about their jobs. Now, "we need to produce more," he says.