After a Boxing Giant's Departure From the Bronx, a Tiny Contender Steps Up - New York Times
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April 24, 2006
After a Boxing Giant's Departure From the Bronx, a Tiny Contender Steps Up
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
In a dimly lighted fourth-floor factory in the South Bronx, three women chatted in Spanish as they stitched together boxing headgear. The windows were closed, the smell of leather and glue strong. They set each piece aside after it was finished, to be inspected one last time before it was packaged.
The tiny operation represents a hope, a prayer even, on the part of John Golomb, the grandson of the man who in 1910 founded what would become the Everlast boxing equipment company in the Bronx. In 2003, the company, which was no longer in the Golomb family's hands, closed its factory there, laying off more than 100 workers and moving production to Moberly, Mo.
Mr. Golomb remained behind, determined to build a boxing empire in its place, and opened a shop of his own in early 2004 with a handful of former Everlast employees. The shop is in Port Morris, the same section of the Bronx where the Everlast factory stood.
Mr. Golomb, 52, seems to have the same sort of confidence displayed by Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard and Mike Tyson, just some of the boxers he designed equipment for. "My father used to say that Everlast is the Mercedes-Benz of boxing," he said. "If you want the best cigar, you get a Havana cigar. I'm not saying I can make a Havana cigar in the Bronx, but I can make a boxing glove."
Mr. Golomb's battle to succeed sums up the challenges facing manufacturing in an expensive city like New York, and his tactics follow what many see as the only viable approach: seek a niche market, ensure the product is of high quality, and charge a premium price. Above all, be efficient.
James Orr, a research officer with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said, "The high cost of doing business, including paying high wages, needs to be matched with high productivity."
Mr. Golomb, who named his company Legacy, pays workers what he calls a decent wage of about $10 an hour as well as benefits. At the moment, there are just five of them, all former Everlast employees. His wife, Barbara Lerman, who is a co-owner, does administrative duties.
Seth Horowitz, the chief executive officer of Everlast Worldwide, who once worked with Mr. Golomb, chose his words carefully when asked about him, saying he was "a very knowledgeable craftsman."
But can he make a go of it?
Mr. Horowitz paused, and said, "Depending on the size, the scale, I think he can be a success."
Making a top-notch pair of regulation 8-ounce fight gloves is akin to making art, Mr. Golomb said in his workshop, surrounded by gloves, headgear and photographs of three generations of Golombs posing with boxers and other athletes.
Making a boxing glove starts with a high-quality section of cowhide, a strong and supple leather, cut very thin. It is treated and cut into patterns. The strongest part of the hide will form the gloves' punching surface, while weaker portions — from the cow's stomach area, for instance — will be used for the palm and thumb.
The interior lining is a synthetic, absorbent material, while the padding is a combination of four types of foam molded together with an adhesive. Each glove is first sewn inside out and then turned right-side out. Then the foam padding is inserted and the remaining hole covered with leather. An experienced operator can make 25 pairs of gloves a day.
Martin Snow, owner of the Trinity Boxing Club in Lower Manhattan, praised the work done in the Legacy shop.
"It's good, quality stuff," he said, adding that the prices were competitive. "It's all handmade. It's not something that gets run off by machine in Pakistan and India."
Mr. Golomb's grandfather, Jacob Golomb, was a 17-year-old Russian immigrant and a frequent swimmer who was dissatisfied with how quickly swimsuits wore out.
He decided to make more durable suits, and guaranteed that they would last at least one year, thus the name "Everlast."
A few years later, a little-known boxer named Jack Dempsey asked Mr. Golomb to make him a headgear that would protect his cauliflower ear during training. Mr. Golomb did so, and later designed the gloves Dempsey used to pummel Jess Willard and win the heavyweight title in 1919.
By the time Jacob's son, Dan Golomb, took over the business in the 1950's, many people were following boxing on television. Exploiting the new medium, Dan Golomb increased the size of the Everlast logo on the back of the gloves to make it easier for fans to see on the small screen.
Jacob's grandson, the Golomb trying to build the Legacy brand today, made gloves for Sugar Ray Leonard fights that allowed him to make a comeback from an eye injury suffered in a previous fight. Leonard did not want to fight against someone wearing standard gloves, because the extended thumbs on them could be used to gouge out an opponent's eyes, so Mr. Golomb came up with a thumbless model.
Mr. Golomb left Everlast in the mid-1990's and spent time making and repairing baseball gloves, including an overnight repair job for Wade Boggs, the Hall of Famer.
John Golomb returned to Everlast in 2001, a few years after his father died and not long after the company had been sold to George Horowitz, the father of Everlast's current chief executive. His last job at Everlast was overseeing production on the factory floor.
Seth Horowitz said that Everlast was forced to move because of the quadrupling of the rent on its factory and that it was unable to get government help to stay.
"There was no way our margins could have absorbed that increase," Mr. Horowitz said.
When the South Bronx factory closed in December 2003, Everlast said it would save $2.8 million annually.
Mr. Golomb said that the laid-off workers persuaded him to start again.
"The only thing that left the Bronx is Everlast," he said. "The brand is not the important thing — it's who made it."
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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Printer Friendly Format Sponsored By
April 24, 2006
After a Boxing Giant's Departure From the Bronx, a Tiny Contender Steps Up
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
In a dimly lighted fourth-floor factory in the South Bronx, three women chatted in Spanish as they stitched together boxing headgear. The windows were closed, the smell of leather and glue strong. They set each piece aside after it was finished, to be inspected one last time before it was packaged.
The tiny operation represents a hope, a prayer even, on the part of John Golomb, the grandson of the man who in 1910 founded what would become the Everlast boxing equipment company in the Bronx. In 2003, the company, which was no longer in the Golomb family's hands, closed its factory there, laying off more than 100 workers and moving production to Moberly, Mo.
Mr. Golomb remained behind, determined to build a boxing empire in its place, and opened a shop of his own in early 2004 with a handful of former Everlast employees. The shop is in Port Morris, the same section of the Bronx where the Everlast factory stood.
Mr. Golomb, 52, seems to have the same sort of confidence displayed by Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard and Mike Tyson, just some of the boxers he designed equipment for. "My father used to say that Everlast is the Mercedes-Benz of boxing," he said. "If you want the best cigar, you get a Havana cigar. I'm not saying I can make a Havana cigar in the Bronx, but I can make a boxing glove."
Mr. Golomb's battle to succeed sums up the challenges facing manufacturing in an expensive city like New York, and his tactics follow what many see as the only viable approach: seek a niche market, ensure the product is of high quality, and charge a premium price. Above all, be efficient.
James Orr, a research officer with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said, "The high cost of doing business, including paying high wages, needs to be matched with high productivity."
Mr. Golomb, who named his company Legacy, pays workers what he calls a decent wage of about $10 an hour as well as benefits. At the moment, there are just five of them, all former Everlast employees. His wife, Barbara Lerman, who is a co-owner, does administrative duties.
Seth Horowitz, the chief executive officer of Everlast Worldwide, who once worked with Mr. Golomb, chose his words carefully when asked about him, saying he was "a very knowledgeable craftsman."
But can he make a go of it?
Mr. Horowitz paused, and said, "Depending on the size, the scale, I think he can be a success."
Making a top-notch pair of regulation 8-ounce fight gloves is akin to making art, Mr. Golomb said in his workshop, surrounded by gloves, headgear and photographs of three generations of Golombs posing with boxers and other athletes.
Making a boxing glove starts with a high-quality section of cowhide, a strong and supple leather, cut very thin. It is treated and cut into patterns. The strongest part of the hide will form the gloves' punching surface, while weaker portions — from the cow's stomach area, for instance — will be used for the palm and thumb.
The interior lining is a synthetic, absorbent material, while the padding is a combination of four types of foam molded together with an adhesive. Each glove is first sewn inside out and then turned right-side out. Then the foam padding is inserted and the remaining hole covered with leather. An experienced operator can make 25 pairs of gloves a day.
Martin Snow, owner of the Trinity Boxing Club in Lower Manhattan, praised the work done in the Legacy shop.
"It's good, quality stuff," he said, adding that the prices were competitive. "It's all handmade. It's not something that gets run off by machine in Pakistan and India."
Mr. Golomb's grandfather, Jacob Golomb, was a 17-year-old Russian immigrant and a frequent swimmer who was dissatisfied with how quickly swimsuits wore out.
He decided to make more durable suits, and guaranteed that they would last at least one year, thus the name "Everlast."
A few years later, a little-known boxer named Jack Dempsey asked Mr. Golomb to make him a headgear that would protect his cauliflower ear during training. Mr. Golomb did so, and later designed the gloves Dempsey used to pummel Jess Willard and win the heavyweight title in 1919.
By the time Jacob's son, Dan Golomb, took over the business in the 1950's, many people were following boxing on television. Exploiting the new medium, Dan Golomb increased the size of the Everlast logo on the back of the gloves to make it easier for fans to see on the small screen.
Jacob's grandson, the Golomb trying to build the Legacy brand today, made gloves for Sugar Ray Leonard fights that allowed him to make a comeback from an eye injury suffered in a previous fight. Leonard did not want to fight against someone wearing standard gloves, because the extended thumbs on them could be used to gouge out an opponent's eyes, so Mr. Golomb came up with a thumbless model.
Mr. Golomb left Everlast in the mid-1990's and spent time making and repairing baseball gloves, including an overnight repair job for Wade Boggs, the Hall of Famer.
John Golomb returned to Everlast in 2001, a few years after his father died and not long after the company had been sold to George Horowitz, the father of Everlast's current chief executive. His last job at Everlast was overseeing production on the factory floor.
Seth Horowitz said that Everlast was forced to move because of the quadrupling of the rent on its factory and that it was unable to get government help to stay.
"There was no way our margins could have absorbed that increase," Mr. Horowitz said.
When the South Bronx factory closed in December 2003, Everlast said it would save $2.8 million annually.
Mr. Golomb said that the laid-off workers persuaded him to start again.
"The only thing that left the Bronx is Everlast," he said. "The brand is not the important thing — it's who made it."
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
Link to Article Source
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on Monday, April 24, 2006 at 16:45.
