Norm Bishop - EdwardsX

Norm Bishop, President
EdwardsX

Can you tell us about the origins of your business?

Our journey with EdwardsX started in 1997 when we bought the company from Orbit Intl. At that time, we were known as Symax, which is a portmanteau of Syd & Max Ipshits, the original owners who founded the company in the 1940s.

My wife Carolyn and I knew that we wanted to own our own business and we had some experience with fashion and sales. While we didn’t set out to buy a clothing company, we were interested in the industry and Symax seemed like a great fit. For us, ownership was less about building something huge and more about having something of our own and a lifestyle that worked for our growing family.

What was your vision in creating EdwardsX?

I don’t think we had a clear vision for what we could create. Rather, it was all about doing something interesting that we could call our own. Carolyn, a CPA by trade would handle the finances while I would use my consumer-packaged goods expertise to handle the product and sales side.

Symax began as a government focused uniform company selling police, fire and transit uniforms to various cities and municipalities across Canada through RFPs. When we bought it, the company had a large foothold in the Varsity jacket business – all produced at our East Vancouver facility. Shortly after we bought it, we changed the name to Bishop’s. We since sold Bishop’s to Edwards Garment in late 2019 with the ultimate goal of retiring a few years later. In January 2022 we became EdwardsX to reflect our new ownership.

The company was already selling to various promotional apparel distributors when we took over, but we quickly realized that there was a considerable opportunity to grow in this channel and expand across the border. Sometime in our second year, I drove down to Seattle and started “knocking on doors”. Luckily, one of my first calls led to a huge order from Boeing for flight jackets. Shortly after, we landed a deal with Microsoft as their jacket supplier for the Windows 98 launch (remember that?!?) which became a real turning point for our focus on the promotional industry.

Tell me about the products and services you offer.

Currently, we manufacture all types of garments. We operate as a one-stop-shop for fully custom garment for the promotional and uniform industries. While much of our business is T-shirts, hoodies and Jackets, we make everything from beanies to bags and tank tops to tights. Our customers know that if they can dream it, we can make it happen.

We are almost exclusively business to business meaning that you will rarely see our product in stores. Rather, we make the uniforms worn by foodservice workers, the exclusive jackets worn by sports team’s season ticket holders and the specialty garments worn by factory workers at premium auto manufacturers.

What sets you apart from your competitors?

Anyone who makes garments knows that it’s hard to make something from scratch. In our industry, speed and volume are king which is why many other suppliers prefer to simply embellish stock items or only make small modifications to the same styles over and over again. We don’t shy away from new-ness and will execute exactly on the client’s vision. You want pink and black strips? Sure! Zip-off Sleeves? No Problem! A matching bag? Why Not!

We deal with hundreds of requests and may be working on dozens of projects at any one time. All of our customers demand a fair price, quick turn-around and high quality. It can be a tough business to plan because we don’t always know what is going to come down the pipe. We anticipate as best as we can and spend a considerable amount of time building relationships with our customers, which has led to a strong reputation and steady growth.

What are some challenges or problems that are you trying to solve in your business and organization?

For us, the biggest problems are almost always in manufacturing or the supply chain. Up until about 4 years ago we were still producing many products in-house at our own factory and our biggest issue was not sales but sewers. It was challenging to find and retain strong operators. We were fortunate to have some amazing, highly skilled machine operators but worker cost and availability limited what our factory could handle.

We eventually started to shift our focus to offshore manufacturers, which opened more opportunity for volume and product types. However, it came with the challenge of managing manufacturers and the massive complexities of moving materials and finished goods around the world. We have been fortunate enough to find great partners who understand our business and can be nimble with the many different product requests we make but this has required us to invest in highly specialized talent and navigate a constantly changing global trade environment.

Like most other Asia-focused apparel producers, Covid has made our day-to-day business very challenging. What used to be somewhat predictable – ie. The cost of certain materials, cut & sew leadtimes or transpacific ocean freight costs are now mostly unpredictable. We have had to re-think the types of materials we use, the locations and types of manufacturing facilities, our margin structures, sales approach and most other business decisions that relate to our product.

The other thing important challenge is our sustainability program. We are already making great strides with materials initiatives (recycled PET, Organic Cotton, biodegradables etc.), engaging with partners like Higg, working with our factory partners and taking various actions to be more sustainable in our operations. However, it’s a complex, nuanced and evolving landscape. While we are incredibly committed to being a more sustainable organization it can be hard for smaller companies like ours to identify, drive and fund some of the more impactful initiatives.   

What is one piece of advice you would have for yourself if you could go back to when you were starting out?

Think bigger! The industry we service is massive and there is a tremendous amount of opportunity. We had (and still have) a distinct competitive advantage but weren’t quite aware of it because we weren’t thinking about growth. Once we started to really dig into new opportunities, we discovered that we could have been much bolder, much earlier on. Being bolder earlier would have allowed us to have an even bigger positive impact on our business, people and the planet. We obviously have no regrets and are really happy with what we have been able to create.