{"id":69794,"date":"2018-03-26T10:46:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T15:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=69794"},"modified":"2018-03-26T10:47:03","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T15:47:03","slug":"a-neckwear-business-rooted-in-china-prospers-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/a-neckwear-business-rooted-in-china-prospers-in-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"A neckwear business rooted in China prospers in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charlene Zhang<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter was given a Harvard logo shirt a decade ago by the school president, when Becky\u2019s father Arnie mentioned me as the Harvard logo tie manufacturer in China,\u201d said Michael Yin, the proud Chinese supplier of custom-made neckwear for Shop4Ties, a Chicago wholesaler and distributor.<\/p>\n

Shop4Ties was founded in 1982 by Arnie Kapp, who quit his job at a tie shop on Michigan Avenue and started the business in a basement.<\/p>\n

Becky Galvez, Kapp\u2019s daughter, joined the company in 2011 after teaching Spanish at an international school, and took the reins as CEO with her mother Rhonda Kapp as chief financial officer in 2014 after Kapp passed away from colon cancer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

All the products have been manufactured outside the U.S. since the start of the company. Arnie Kapp had sent the orders to Korea until he met Michael Yin, owner of a factory in Shengzhou, Zhejiang.<\/p>\n

\"Factory\"
Inside Michael Yin’s factory in China. Photo credit Michael Yin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe have worked together for 17 years and will be longer. It is mutual trust and professionalism that sustain our cooperation and condense it to deeper friendship,\u201d Yin said in a recent interview. Orders from Shop4Ties account for 30 percent of Yin\u2019s volume, with an average order size of 100. He also sells company ties to such American corporations such as Citibank, Chase Bank and American Airlines.<\/p>\n

\"Workers\"
Workers make ties at Michael Yin’s factory in China. Photo credit Michael Yin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shop4Ties’ revenue in 2017 reached $1.15 million, up 30 percent from 2016, according to Galvez. \u201cI am still looking for 30 to 40 percent growth this year, and will hire one more person to our current team of three employees and three graphic designers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Things haven’t always gone that well. It took some time for father and daughter to overcome generational differences and work smoothly together after she joined the business in 2011.<\/p>\n

But they eventually proceeded to expand the business to scarves, pocket squares, ascots, and Hawaiian shirts.<\/p>\n

Today around 50 percent to 60 percent of the orders are ties and bowties, 30 percent are scarves for women, and 10 percent to 15 percent are Hawaiin shirts that are becoming more popular for conferences, trade shows, and casual Fridays, Galvez said.<\/p>\n

One third of the business comes from sports teams and various departments of schools and universities including Stanford, Yale, Harvard, the University of Chicago and Northwestern.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the company is required to fill out licensing applications that ask about the suppliers’ labor standards. \u201cWhile designing ties for the University of Michigan rugby team, we had to go through the licensing application that took about a week,\u201d Galvez said.<\/p>\n

Other clients include non-profits Clinton Foundation and YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, transportation companies that require uniforms, and individual artists.<\/p>\n