Burlington’s Throat Threads celebrates 25 years of style
Russ Fearon leads a multimillion-dollar clothing enterprise with 68,000 square feet of warehouse and office space in Burlington, along with offices in Toronto, Montreal and, soon, New York City, employing more than 100 people
THE BIGGEST PICTURE on the wall in Russ Fearon’s office at Throat Threads Apparel in Burlington is a portrait of an older man with silver hair — Terry Hopkins.
Hopkins, the owner of a local industrial machinery company, gave Fearon his first job out of high school.
“They gave me a job as the shop helper,” he said. By the end of the week, Fearon had cleaned up and reorganized the whole place. One day Hopkins walked in and said, “What the hell happened here?” and the foreman pointed at Fearon.
Impressed with the young man’s initiative, Hopkins took him under his wing. He even paid for Fearon to attend Sheridan College and become a millwright.
“He paid for everything,” Fearon said. After seven years at the company, the Aldershot native decided to switch gears and join his boyhood best friends, Chip and Pepper Foster, who were launching their own clothing line.
“I wanted to help my buddies ... and the whole apparel thing seemed like it would be maybe a little bit more fun,” Fearon said, chuckling. “Terry said, ‘Go try it. You’ve got a leave of absence.You can come back, not a problem. Go try it.’”
By 1993, Fearon, then 28, decided it was time to strike out on his own. Again he went to his old boss, Hopkins, for advice and support.
“I was basically unemployed. I went to him and said I have this crazy idea about neckties. He said, ‘I have no clue if it will work, but I believe in you.’”
From there things took off and once again it was because of a mentor, Mervyn Mandelbaum, the owner of Superba and the “Necktie King” of North America.
THE “CRAZY IDEA”
came when Fearon noticed a gap in the market. “When I went to shop for cool, hip neckties, there was nothing at retail. And I said maybe there’s a white space, a void, an opportunity.”
Hopkins agreed, and provided the seed money for the launch of Throat Threads Apparel out of a small rented house in Burlington at Guelph Line.
The Spectator published the very first story about the young entrepreneur — and I was the writer.
The rest, as they say, is history. Now, on the 25th anniversary of Throat Threads, I thought it was a good time to catch up with Fearon.
TODAY, 54,
AT he leads a multimillion-dollar enterprise with 68,000 square feet of warehouse and office space in Burlington, and offices in Toronto, Montreal and, soon, New York City. TT employs more than 100 people, wholesaling “commercial luxury” men’s and women’s clothing to retailers across North America.
The company, voted one of the top 100 fastest-growing enterprises in Canada by Profit Magazine five times, still operates from Burlington, only blocks away from its original location.
That’s because no matter how big Throat Threads gets, Fearon never loses sight of the people — investors, employees, customers and friends — who helped him build it. While he’s always looking forward, he doesn’t forget to look back.
Witness the greeting card on his desk. It reads, “Congratulations on 25 years of success with Throat Threads. Your first customer! Bernie Scrivener.”
Fearon picks up the card and smiles, thinking back to 1993.
“I began in my basement. And my driveway was the shipping department,” he laughs.
He sold a couple dozen ties to Scrivener and to Hamilton retailer Marvin Caplan. The next week, Fearon drove to Toronto and made his first major sale to Eaton’s. “It was a big breakthrough,” he said.
Scrivener agrees. Now 80, he says that Fearon has a level of enthusiasm, commitment and determination that is nothing short of amazing. “You could almost not not buy from him,” he said. “I was very impressed with the guy. You can’t help but like him.”
From there things took off, and once again it was because of a mentor — Mervyn Mandelbaum, the owner of Superba and the “Necktie King” of North America.
“I met him and we clicked. Same values. Same thinking,” Fearon said. “Be nice. Take care of everybody. Build something great that everybody can be proud of. A year later, I got the rights to Canada for Superba ties in 1995.”
OVER
THE NEXT two decades, Throat Threads became the largest neckwear company in Canada, controlling 90 per cent of the market and selling as many as one million ties a year.
But by 2006, Mandelbaum had sold Superba and Fearon knew at some point the new owner, Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., would take the Canadian tie business back in-house. PVH did just that in 2017, but Throat Threads was prepared, having already grown the business in new directions, moving beyond ties and into apparel.
Today, TT has about a dozen product lines, including international brands such as John Varvatos, Robert Graham and Brax. In 2016, TT ventured into the U.S., establishing 300 customers in under 30 months, with the upscale department store Nordstrom as its lead client.
“The world has changed more in 48 months than it has in 25 years for our industry,” Fearon explained.
In 2018, the TT business model is unique, he says, providing marketing support and up-to-the-minute digital product intelligence and sales data. The company is also developing an app that will educate thousands of retail salespeople on the product lines TT provides.
Now, as CEO, Fearon says he’s focusing on strategy and growth, and he put the running of the company into the hands of longtime employee and partner Philippe Binda.
“He runs the show . ... And he’s doing an amazing job,” Fearon said.
As president, Binda manages everything from revenue growth and inventory management to finance and marketing. “He’s actually better at those tasks than I was,” Fearon said with a laugh. “He’s a little bit more disciplined. He’s less flamboyant in his approach. It’s a perfect marriage.”
Binda, 41, agrees. “We share the same values, so it makes it easy,” said the Montreal native who joined the company 13 years ago, becoming president in 2014.
He talks about Fearon’s unbridled enthusiasm and his ability to energize people. “He gets excited. It’s contagious,” Binda said. “People love his enthusiasm. His charisma.”
With Binda’s steady hand on the tiller, Fearon is optimistic about the future.
“I am not sure he could have started the company the way I did,” Fearon said. “But I am not sure I could finish the way he is going to finish.” So where does TT go from here? “My goal is to double our size in the next five years,” he said.
Through it all, Fearon never loses sight of first principles. The company provides education and profit-sharing to employees. The turnover is low.
“At the end of the day, I think people underestimate the power of nice and care and generosity. It has worked well for this organization.”
Fearon is talking loudly now, showing me the new brochure, bringing up stats and visuals on the computer. He’s clearly excited.
“It’s almost like 25 years later, the company is starting over again,” he said.