(Registered with U. S. Patent Office) Volume VII HIGH POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, OCTOBER, 1953 No. 11 MESSAGE ER0.\1 THE PRESIDENT TO MY FELLOW WORKERS: Looking over a sales report the middle of the month I encountered a striking fact. It had to do with our Plaid Hack garments. Anvil salesmen have placed these garments with an amazing number of dealers who bought in preparation for the back-to-school demand for children’s goods. Our own selling started last April and ’hool sales of retailers reached teir peak in September. Now you might expect volume to drop. But quite the contrary. Far from de creasing, Plaid Hack sales rise so steadily that in the week of mid- October orders from dealers were double the quantities of the week before. That is an impressive record in itself. But I believe we should also think about the reason for such a record. For that reason underlies all Anvil Brand stability and prog ress like a sturdy foundation stone. It might be called Industrial En terprise. It could be defined as manage ment vision, production skill and selling proficiency which create a useful article and broadcast it to an appreciative consumer market. Of course we didn’t originate Plaid Back cloth. But we did origi nate a faith that we could use the material in garments so cleverly designed and skilfully made that the public would buy enthusiasti cally and wear with satisfaction. In a way we invented something, and through Industrial Enterprise we gave consumers a lively and refreshing new line. Day after day you see the prac tical working out of such “enter prise.” An important percentage of our daily production can be credit ed to lot numbers which were “first” with Anvil Brand. We have been told that- while lace back garments have long been made in wool, primarily for Navy (Continued on Page Two) Teamwork Stressed By Short Superintendent H. T. Short, in discussing the recent sales confer ence held here and the challenge put to Anvil Brand salesmen, pointed out that the success and growth of any company depends upon ‘teamwork” from each mem ber of the firm’s family. “Our salesmen’s customers are our employers,” he said. “If we make inferior garments the cus tomer will not buy them a second time. Sales fall off and that, in turn, lessens our need for produc tion. With inferior garments we would cease to be a growing Anvil Brand. “No company can stand still long. It is like a wagon going up hill. It continues to move foi*ward or, if it stops, it will soon roll backward.” Anvil Brand employees work steady, Supt. Short pointed out. They do this only because each member of the Anvil Brand fam ily contributes his or her full share to the task at hand, he believes. “The purchasing department has used foresight in the selection and (Continued on Page 8) • 12-Slar Pants, Plaid Backs Studied At Sales Meet Here Selling points for salesmen was the order of the day when Anvil Brand’s sales department called in all the company sales representa tives for a conference here on Sep tember 26. In all day sessions held at the Sheraton Hotel company of ficials brought the salesmen up to date on recent improvements made in Anvil Brand garments, placing emphasis on plaid backs and 12- star pants. As Sales Director Hugh Webster explained, in speaking of the im provements in the utility pants, the new features are ones around which the salesmen can “romance” the garment. By romance, he means selling points about which both the salesman and his cus tomer can become enthusiastic — features that will lend themselves to merchandising of the garment. They are features which will make the consumer — or the store owner’s customers — happy by long wear, better appearance, and comfort for the wearer. In the 12-star pants, Webster explained, some of the new fea tures are original, some have been borrowed from Anvil Brand’s com petition, and others were suggest ed by the sales representatives ■who, by being in contact with An vil Brand’s customers day by day, have learned what the consumer ^ is looking for in a utility garment. The salesmen were acquainted with every point about the im provements in the pants and, to assist them in explaining these to their customers, the sales depart ment has prepared for each man in the field an illustrated brochure which gives every detail of the 12 major selling points. The brochure includes a copy of the company’s advertisement in the September 25 issue of the Daily News Record, a trade journal read by most retailers of work and sports garments. Other ads sche duled for this paper will bo for warded to the salesmen as well as the company’s “direct to the con sumer” advertising in such maga zines as Saturday Evening Post and The Farm Journal. A new, three-color “tag o’ fact’s” for the 12-star utility pants carries the notation “as advertised in The Saturday Evening Post” and places emphasis on the safety pocket and waistband construction. In addition, the consumer is told that the pants are constructed of laundry tested, color-fast materials and thread; has reinforced strain points, in cluding lined, triple stitched crotch; has “non-rip” sewed flat leg seams; is full cut with generous outlets; are patterned for action and com- (Continued on Page Two)