To thrive as a textile company requires being adaptable and innovative, and willing to embrace technology. Redwood Classics, started by an immigrant in 1988, mastered these concepts and is poised for significant growth.
BY Jill Motley

'Made in Canada' is not just a slogan to Kathy Cheng, CEO and President of Redwood Classics. In an industry that has been devastated over the years due to globalization and technology changes, Redwood Classics Apparel, the in-house brand of WS & Co., has been adaptable and flexible in addressing changes in markets, industry, and customer preferences, while also giving back to the community and serving as an example of the benefits conveyed to Canada's economy as a result of the country's generous immigration policies. Today, the company is poised for significant growth as Kathy drives the company into the future with quality products, quick-to-market strategies, flexibility, and a collaborative approach to product development and bulk production.

Customers are Considered Business Partners
Kathy is the second generation in a family business that her father began in 1988 with five people and 10 textile machines. The company saw rapid growth by specializing in the manufacturing of high-end retail private label items for customers, but also saw the textile industry undergo major upheaval as companies took manufacturing overseas to countries like Vietnam and China in order to lower labor costs. Finally, the financial collapse of 2008 devastated the North American textile industry. In 2009, a time when many people would have chosen to leave the textile industry, Kathy decided to become business partners with her father. Many of the craftspeople who work for WS & Co. have been with the company for 10 to 20 years and many started out as Canadian immigrants themselves. "We wanted to continue giving back to this amazing country," Kathy explains. "We try to give back in our own way through employment and spending in the community." It was Kathy who developed the in-house Redwood Classics brand to create a new revenue stream.

With this perspective, it is not surprising to realize that customers are considered business partners, and that allows Redwood Classics and its customers to concentrate on their core competencies. For example, a retailer or a corporation can collaborate on a design with Redwood Classics to customize every aspect of the garment. The customer then focuses on their strengths in marketing and distribution of the product, while Redwood Classics concentrates on high quality manufacturing of the garments themselves.

Supporting a Circular Economy
Kathy is always looking for opportunities, which is a critical skill in a struggling industry. Yet, her inquiring mind asks questions that go beyond the expected. For example, she started asking Fortune 500 customers what they do with their branded products that sit in inventory for years. Some donate their products to charities or send them to landfills, but there are inherent risks in these practices. The company does not know who is wearing the branded clothing, and sending the inventory to landfills is not a sustainable practice.

"We look at solutions to give, branded products a new life and build a circular economy. That is what we see as our real role – a participant in a circular economy by producing locally in Canada. But just because we are local doesn't mean we cannot also be a player in the corporate global circular economy," says Kathy. To this end, Redwood Classics looks to form partnerships with suppliers and retailers concerned about their impact on the world, resulting in a number of items that were destined for landfills being upcycled and repurposed into unexpected goods. A good example their collaboration with Staples Promotional Products, which ran a branded merchandise program for 3M. Staples Promotional Products had items that had been sitting in inventory for a long while and was not sure what to do with them. That’s where Redwood Classics stepped in; taking already branded 3M umbrellas, deconstructing them, turning the material into pillows and recycling the metal parts. "I believe it’s important to create a platform to tell every brand’s story. The pillow we created isn’t just a pillow; it’s a physical representation of the 3M brand’s commitment to sustainability and innovation,” explains Kathy.

One of the biggest challenges Redwood Classics struggles to overcome is the preconceived notion that 'Made in Canada' means products are more expensive. Simply put, this isn’t true. "We are value driven, so people who consider all our touchpoints in terms of product quality and customer service will realize the ROI of the Redwood Classics' experience," explains Kathy. Cotton Candy, a promotional marketing company and provider of branded corporate merchandise, knows firsthand the value in working with Redwood Classics. "There are not many companies like Redwood Classics that are continuing to manufacture, cut and sew right in Canada," says Jennifer McAvoy, Director of Client Engagement at Cotton Candy. "Redwood Classics brings quality products to our organizations. They are right here so they can react quickly, and they are very creative so they can help us with our initiatives. Kathy has a high level of engagement with supplier diversity, and that is very important to us too. She’s always looking for ways to connect businesses, even if Redwood Classics has nothing to gain from it," adds Jennifer.

Mutually beneficial relationships with distributors, like the one with Cotton Candy, have taken Redwood Classics to the doorsteps of some of the biggest corporations in Canada. One such corporation is BMO. Cotton Candy is a prime supplier to BMO, making Redwood Classics a Tier 2. "I identify language in our contracts with prime suppliers to ensure supplier diversity is considered. I also identify opportunities for our prime suppliers to engage Redwood Classics in particular,” says Catherine Grosz, Manager of Supplier Diversity at BMO Financial Group. “We rely on our prime supplier to ensure the Tier 2 supplier has the qualifications and depth to service the BMO program. We give Tier 2 opportunities to come in and pitch to our buyers, so they can grow capacity." This is a successful model for increasing BMO's supplier diversity spend, and gives growing small-to-medium sized diverse-owned companies in Canada the opportunity for growth.

Learning the True Value of D&I and Analytics
In 2014, Kathy was inducted into the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ program, a North American competition and executive leadership program. This was her first introduction to diversity and inclusion as a corporate value (D&I). She says, "To be honest I didn't know there was such a thing as diversity and inclusion and especially in the corporate world. They had generously invited me to participate in a number of events, and I still didn't believe it. I thought, 'I'm just arm candy.'" Her perspective changed after talking to corporate people at the program, and she began to understand why Fortune 500 companies are investing in D&I programs as a success strategy. The D&I focus gives Kathy a seat at the table in the North American market as at least a Tier 2 supplier; a seat that she might not get otherwise. "D&I is a reflection of the community of our customers, and that fits nicely with our belief in the circular economy," says Kathy. The company is now certified by WEConnect International, WBE Canada and CAMSC. In 2015, Redwood Classics had the distinction of being honoured by CAMSC as their Supplier of the Year, a recognition that directly led Kathy to receiving a scholarship, underwritten by General Motors, to attend the Tuck Executive Education Program at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. During the program, she networked with a variety of faculty, peers, and fellow MBEs which empowered her to return home and begin working on new strategies to take Redwood Classics to the next level.

Last Fall, she attended the NMSDC Conference in Chicago, having been selected to attend the Google and Tuck Digital Excellence program for minority entrepreneurs. "Once again, my eyes were opened wider, but this time concerning the power of analytics to help me grow our business and find opportunities for efficiencies within operations," says Kathy. Technology, she points out, can only be helpful when people are empowered with the skills to utilize it to its fullest advantage. Redwood Classics has recently begun a journey of digital transformation, investing in upgrading its current legacy ERP and exploring ways to better collaborate with internal and external stakeholders. The process of making garments still begins with paper patterns created by the company's House Italian, but the final design eventually goes through CAD - something that is not the norm for the vast majority of production houses.

Industry Trends as Opportunities
The textile industry is going through many changes. Some of the trends include fostering more emerging designers, sustainability, and reshoring of apparel manufacturing. WS & Co. sees the desire to reshore textiles as an opportunity for business growth. Kathy's ability to innovate and grow a business in a shrinking industry attests to her entrepreneurial abilities. She is proud of what her family has accomplished over the last three decades and sees plenty of opportunities for greater success in the future. It is the power of positive thinking combined with good business sense that is creating success.

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