Richlu still one Tough Duck

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This article was published 17/12/2009 (5950 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Richlu Manufacturing is one of those companies that has a balance between the old and the new.

The Winnipeg maker of the Tough Duck line of workwear and a slew of other brands is the Canadian leader in the work outerwear market.

Started in 1939 by David Rich’s father, it began making outerwear for workers — Richlu’s hydro parka has been a Canadian winter-wear staple for decades — and the company remains in that same workwear and basics category.

It suits the company’s connection with its hardworking customers that Richlu’s only real foray into the entertainment industry is as a regular supplier of embroidered tour jackets for big time country music acts like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

It’s true that a couple of years ago an Italian partner convinced Richlu to get into the high-end designer market with a slightly revised, and much more expensive, version of the hydro parka that is sold in some of Italy’s finer shops. But that will always be a tiny part of their business.

Richlu is all about the basics — what you need to wear as opposed to what you want.

That old-school focus combined with enlightened operational expertise is what has allowed the company to flourish for 70 years.

On Wednesday night the company hosted a splashy event for its 200 employees, suppliers and customers from across the country to celebrate its seven decades of success.

You can hear it in his voice when David Rich, 66, talks about just how much he enjoys the complexities and the traditions of the business.

"When there is some kind of challenge that needs to be addressed in one of the garments, we have a saying in the business… ‘Look to the needle,’" he said. "Instead of going up to the executive offices you go to the shop floor and you’re pretty sure to find the solution."

David’s son, Gavin, 43, is clearly imbued with the same appreciation of the tradition, but he is also committed to sustaining the family-owned business well into the future.

"I run the business, and my father runs me," he said. "That’s pretty much the family business paradigm we go by."

Gavin talks about how the company has just invested heavily in a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system and how the company is focused on controlling its far-flung supply chain — from production facilities in Winnipeg, Bangladesh and China, to fabric production in India and distribution centres in Winnipeg.

"It’s like a big bowl of spaghetti," he said.

It sells its Tough Duck and Work King lines in hundreds of stores across the country as well as private label lines in the 350-store Mark’s Work Warehouse. Its customers include Cabella’s Winnipeg store, Canadian Tire stores and farm and ranch supply stores like the Peavey Mart stores across Western Canada.

The company remains very much centred in Winnipeg with a factory, head office and three distribution centres here.

Richlu is one of the last members of Winnipeg’s garment industry to maintain production here — about 20 per cent of its total — while many others have either shipped their entire production to low-cost offshore locations or have folded.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca