Looking for some Santas to save an iconic city business

You've heard, no doubt, of flash mobs and Occupy movements, and of course the power of the people from the Arab Spring.

But how about "crowd funding?" That's a new one.

Although the "cause," if you can call it that, is sadly familiar, and the story behind it has a warmly nostalgic feel.

Someone once called Winnipeg the team-jacket capital of the world.

For me, and thousands upon thousands of Winnipeggers who grew up playing football, baseball and basketball in this city, Harv-Al Sportswear was the locally made label attached to our team jackets.

And even our uniforms.

It was Harvey Lipkin and Al Rimer, a couple of rag-trade "cutters" who started Harv-Al back in 1947, who are largely identified with that local team-jacket fashion statement and their larger, custom-made market across North America.

My own first Silver Heights bantam football team jacket was black melton with a gold No. 11 on one sleeve and a Spartan warrior's head on my pumped-out chest.

Harv-Al is still a family-owned business, run now by Al Rimer's nephews, Yale and Mark Singer, and they're still making made-to-measure jackets for Spartan football players, except now they're from Sisler High School. They're also making hockey jerseys for high school players as far away as Chicago.

But after nearly 65 years supplying amateur sports teams -- and pro clubs such as the Blue Bombers and the old WHA Jets before the likes of Reebok took control of making and marketing sportswear for the pros -- the Harv-Al family franchise has been hearing a different kind of knock at the door. It's the banker, and he's pounding more than knocking.

Harv-Al isn't running out of cloth, clients and suppliers, but it has run out of its line of credit.

This in a company that as recently as 2006 did 60 per cent of its business in the United States. Until, that is, the Canadian dollar went north and the American economy went south.

Harv-Al summed it up in an online pitch for support:

"For us, the global economy has become the shrinking universe."

Which brings us to "crowd funding."

Yale Singer was introduced to it in an email he received from someone in California who dispenses daily business advice.

"One of the emails was to try crowd funding," Yale said last week at his North Main Street factory.

So he "clicked" on the site.

This his how he describes what he found and what crowd funding is.

"It's a way to raise money from friends using social networking."

Others might describe their campaign to "reboot" their business more bluntly.

Online panhandling.

Although, to be charitable, you could look at it the way the Singers did.

They haven't been able to attract a local investor, the bank won't loan them any more money, and they both have personal guarantees attached to their business loans.

So, as they had nothing to lose but everything, why not try crowd funding?

In Harv-Al's case, it's an effort by an iconic North End business with 16 employees to survive by asking friends and friends of friends for a hand up as much as a handout.

You can find Harv-Al's pitch by Googling "Small Factory -- Big Request."

In part, it reads:

"We are the only custom team sportswear manufacturer in our area. We are an established business with a storied past, and with your help a bright future. The purpose of this campaign is to raise money to help boost us into the future."

Harv-Al has put a 30-day limit on its campaign to upgrade equipment and their websites and add to their inventory.

They're hoping that by Jan. 6, they'll be able to use the money to leverage more capital and start fresh.

So far, one friend has pledged $175. As of today, they have 24 days to reach their $10,000 target.

Mind you, this is a giving time of year. And, if I were Yale and Mark Singer, I'd try cold-calling the biggest gift-giver of all.

At the very least, they might be able to sell Santa on outfitting his elves in Harv-Al team jackets.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 13, 2011 B1