Twenty-five years ago, Jerry Berkowitz hawked balloons at the Super Bowl.
Today, propelled by that same knack for sales, his Manchester T-shirt company, Hot Leathers, is a national leader in the motorcycle apparel industry. The multimillion dollar business has produced award-winning designs and taken Berkowitz on buying trips to China, Pakistan and other far-flung locales.
Operating from a nondescript 30,000-square-foot industrial complex on Progress Drive, about 80 employees design, print, sell and ship more than 1.3 million pieces of apparel annually all over the world. The company has another 30 employees at five retail outlets across the country.
Berkowitz, 56, is a soft-spoken man who wears a neatly combed salt-and-pepper ponytail and rides a Harley Davidson Fat Boy. He’s had his motorcycle license since he was 18.
“Biker is more of a lifestyle than just the motorcycle,” he said, adding that different owners have different allegiances and different experiences based on what they ride.
His evolution from balloon peddler to motorcycle apparel mogul is a sales and management success story. “A lot of it has to do with the people,” Berkowitz said. “It’s not a one-man band here. One of the key things that keeps us moving forward is the longevity of the people who work here. We’re not a revolving door for employees. We want them to grow with us.”
Hot Leathers is part of a $3.6 billion industry for motorcycle parts, accessories and riding apparel, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.
“Cycle World,” in a 2008 study of 320,000 motorcyclists, found that at least three out of four buy motorcycle gear at least once a year.
Motorcycle apparel sales alone amount to $250 million a year, according to Aaron Golshani, vice president of LeatherUp.com in Las Vegas, Nev., who cited his own company’s survey of the industry.
Golshani said his company’s annual sales are $20 million. Based on information from suppliers he shares with Hot Leathers, he has pegged the Manchester company’s sales at $19 million a year. Berkowitz declined to provide his own number.
As the company has grown, it has also won special recognition in the industry.
In October, Hot Leathers was honored with the Silver Golden Image Award at the SGIA Specialty Printing and Imaging Expo 2008 held in Atlanta. SGIA awarded Hot Leathers’ “Skull Made of Skulls” graphic T-shirt design for outstanding and innovative use of graphics, imaging and screen printing. It also won an honorable mention for special effects printing.
Paul Resnick, art director, initially downplayed the award’s creative aspect saying it is more an accolade for the company’s technical skills. “But it’s hard for a judge to not look at the design,” he added.
Rodney Bull, the senior illustrator credited with the award-winning T-shirt, said, “The design has to catch the eye.”
Berkowitz said Hot Leathers has about 500 copyrights in its library. “Every year we produce about 100 pieces of art,” he said.
Most of his customers wear black T-shirts, and 75 percent of the company’s goods are printed on dark stock. Printing on dark garments is like painting a black house white, Berkowitz said.
“There is a lot of skill to do it effectively so the colors don’t look muddy or gray,” he explained. “That skill is not all over the screen printing industry. There are less than 10 (companies) probably that specialize in that kind of printing. It’s exactly what our customers want.”
In-House Production
All of Hot Leathers T-shirts are printed in-house to assure quality control. Years ago, when one of his printers went out of business, Hot Leathers bought its equipment and hired its owner.
“Everything [apparel related] is in-house from the creation of the art to the buying of the accessories and fulfillment,” he said. Nonapparel production is done overseas. Blank T-shirts come from Mexico and South America, while leather is imported from Pakistan and patches from China.
Berkowitz said Hot Leathers’ international sales — largely Europe and Australia — have grown from 5 percent of its wholesale business two years ago to 10 percent today.
The company presses deliver up to 2 million prints a year, which translates to nearly 1.3 million T-shirts annually, and those designs can be put on other items, such as wallets, gloves, pins, decals, patches, bandanas and headwraps. Its presses can print up to 14 colors at once.
The T-shirts are printed by two shifts of workers who toil four days a week at 10-hour shifts.
The company regularly takes its show on the road, hitting 25 to 30 major motorcycle events, including the Bike Week Rally in Sturgis, S.D., and Bike Week in Daytona, Fla., in March.
“We’re a pretty significant player at motorcycle rallies. We have a major presence where we are selling direct to the participants,” said David Lejfer, wholesale operations director and general manager.
