Weber Entertains Crowd with Leadership Style
We’ve gotten this far because we are good at calling out for help. – Bill Weber
Arborwear LLC owner Bill Weber admits his entrepreneurial efforts have had their ups and downs.
An “up” was starting his own tree-trimming business after high school.
A “down” was setting a pair of form-fitting insoles on fire in a microwave during a trade show and knocking out the power.
An “up” was deciding to design and sell clothing for tree trimmers with his friend, Paul Taylor, and setting up business in a log cabin in Newbury Township.
A “down” was trying to find suppliers in the U.S. while the fabric industry was tanking.
Listening to Weber’s roller coaster of a career elicited laughter and groans from a crowd of about 80 in the Arborwear parking lot July 27.
Weber hardly needed prompting by Geauga Growth Partnership emcee Jim McClintock as he recalled a few funny, frantic and fortuitous episodes that define his leadership style.
The early days when he and Taylor were building the business from the ground up started with basics.
“There were a lot of challenges. We didn’t know anything about making clothing,” Weber said. “We’ve gotten this far because we are good at calling out for help. So many people helped us in all different areas — marketing, finance, real estate. We’ve been very, very lucky.”
He hatched the idea for Arborwear from struggling to find pants that were comfortable and safe for an “adrenaline junky with a chain saw 80 feet up in a tulip poplar.”
He also didn’t want a limited, boring career.
“I didn’t want to seal-coat driveways or paint houses,” Weber said.
A friend in New York City helped them with the prototype for the first pair of pants and advice from a variety of sources helped them get their first batch to market.
Weber’s humor has woven its way through the business with varying results. One of his favorite stories was about the mouse that found its way into a shipment.
When the box was opened at its destination, the mouse-phobic guy freaked out, even though the critter was dead, Weber said.
But that wasn’t all. Quality control issues on the U.S.-made jackets failed.
“Two weeks later, the pockets fell off. I felt terrible,” he said.
Arborwear paid for the return shipping, the repairs and the shipping back to Colorado.
And Weber, aiming for a little levity, included a tiny rubber mouse in the package.
“I’ve been known to step over the line a few times,” he told the crowd. “It didn’t go over well. He called me and strung a collection of words together I can’t repeat.”
The rest of the customer’s employees loved the joke and are still talking about the mouse in the jackets, although the musophobe is no longer employed there, Weber said.
For the sake of quality, Weber started having the expanded work-wear clothing line manufactured in China in 2006. Today, Arborwear items are produced in El Salvadore, Morocco and other countries, although the original plan was to have American-made clothes.
“Most of the U.S. garment industry was dead or dying. They were going out of business faster than we could find them,” he said, adding larger companies didn’t want to bother with little lots.
“We’ve always struggled to find companies willing to work with a small company,” Weber said.
The decision was double-edged. The 40-percent quality failure dropped significantly, but it meant fewer items available for the popular seconds sale Arborwear holds the end of September every year.
The other reason for the shift was Weber’s inability to buy fabric in the U.S. The mills that contract with giant brand companies like Levis and Carhart refused to sell to Arborwear, Weber said.
“We didn’t have the money to sue them,” he said, adding his early practice of cutting down or trimming trees in trade for services doesn’t work for attorneys’ fees.
“Most lawyers had really good-looking trees,” Weber said.
Despite the challenges, in 2012, he moved Arborwear to the store at 8269 Washington Street in Bainbridge Township, having outgrown the log cabin and needing more on-site storage space.
While the brand has expanded to include other interests, like hiking and mountain climbing, a significant part of sales are still to the tree care industry. Arborwear does a lot of chain saw and climbing safety workshops and donates to groups promoting safety.
“Wearing chain saw protection is paramount,” Weber said.
He worked with customers and developed chain saw chaps that are better and more comfortable with simple innovations.
When demand for Arborwear clothing increased, outlets started urging Weber to develop something to hang clothes on that would attract attention at the point of purchase.
A display-maker could cost the budding company $30,000, so he went to his parents’ backyard and, with the help of a buddy with a metal shop, put together a log display including cross-cut saw handles.
“The prototype looked pretty cool,” Weber said, adding they installed it in a store.
“Two weeks later, the owner called and said ‘Bill, what do you know about beetles? There’s 500 flying around my store and they all came out of your log!’”
That was when Weber learned about the white-spotted pine beetle and to use kiln-dried logs for future displays, he said.
“Every time you think you’ve got it licked, there’s something else coming around the corner,” Weber said.
His knack for telling a joke on himself and keeping in touch with this customers relieves the every-day stresses of running a business.
“We never wanted to take ourselves too seriously. We’ve ruffled some feathers, but I think we’ve opened up a lot more opportunities by doing that,” he said. “We’ve gotta have fun, keep the brand fun — and a little irreverent.”
