The Art of Business

Useful is as Handsome Does:
Stylish Practicality from Utility Canvas
By Amanda Bader Photos by Tom DiMauro

W e live the lifestyle that our clothes represent,” claim Jillian Kaufman and Hal Grano, owners of the Gardiner-based Utility Canvas company. And it certainly seems to be true. Those clothes (and the company’s other products—work aprons, home furnishings, and bags) are honest, well made, uncomplicated, and have a subtle sense of humor.

The company’s headquarters, in an unlikely rural location, enjoys an atmosphere of calm that is a far cry from the typically frenetic Seventh Avenue garment district, but this is not a typical garment company. Kaufman and Grano have found a lot of ways to de-pressurize their existence. The main thing is that everything is made of, well, canvas.

The products are a result of a synthesis of Kaufman’s background in fashion and Grano’s appreciation for the sturdy and useful canvas bags and clothing that he used as a canoe guide in Maine for many summers. Current designs range from quilted vests and jackets to sturdy, sensible pants that are at home in the country or in town. The home furnishings are an assemblage of quilted coverlets, shams and drapes in spring-like greens, serene ivories, steely blues and greys and earthy cinnamon. Colors, trim and styles of all the items vary with the seasons, but the line is very cohesive. A collection of stylish and functional bags rounds out the offerings. Many of the items are not inexpensive, but they’re built to last and they’ll look good doing it, without calling too much attention to themselves.

Necessity is the mother of…

It all started when Kaufman was an art student in Philadelphia. She needed a bag that would carry her portfolio and her art supplies; it just didn’t exist. She and Grano designed what she wanted and they found a young man who had inherited a family awning-making business to put together a dozen samples. Wondering what to do with the extra 11 bags, Grano decided he would just go out and sell them. And Utility Canvas was born. The Portfolio Carry All is no longer part of their line, but the Philadelphia-based supplier is still making their bags today.

Kaufman sees this experience as typical. “It seems we aren’t people who can just go and get something—it never exists in the form we envision. We always have to create what we want, and that’s what we’ve done with this business. We had to design the life we wanted, which makes it exciting and dynamic, if sometimes exhausting.”

The Hudson Valley location was also by design. After starting the business in 1990 (complete with a fancy Fifth Avenue New York City showroom) they realized they needed to get out of the city, but not too far. They drew a 100-mile radius around the City, eliminated Westchester and Connecticut because Grano and Kaufman (respectively) grew up there, eliminated New Jersey out of hand, and realized that the New Paltz area offered what they wanted. They relocated in 1991. “It’s ideal,” says Kaufman. “I can get to the city one or two days a week, but when it gets too crazy, at least we have a view of the mountains here.”

Keep it Simple and Close To Home

Just as the products have a certain simplicity, so does the business model. Having only the two of them as full-time staff and working in just one fabric keeps their overhead down. When she was a designer at Perry Ellis, Kaufman saw the effects of working with new fabrics each season, “There were bolts and bolts of fabric at the end of every season, which is expensive and time- and space-intensive. I knew it wouldn’t be feasible for us to do business like that.”

They see their stable relationships with their factories and suppliers as a key element in the way they function. Their business relationships help Grano and Kaufman stay small because they’re not re-sourcing all the time. The companies that cut and sew their products like making their orders, having gotten used to working with canvas. These factories are all within driving distance, which makes it cost effective for them to make face-to-face visits and reduces the time needed to receive shipments, as they’re not coming from overseas. “Without relationships, we wouldn’t have a business,” says Kaufman.

Utility Retail

After struggling through the first Gulf War (getting part-time jobs to tide hem over) their trade show-based sales effort paid off in 1993, when they were inundated by buyers from Japan at a major Men’s Wear show in Las Vegas. They continue to do a good trade with Japan. Says Grano (who has visited their accounts in Asia to see what their customers’ environment is like), “The Japanese realized that this clothing really is authentic, and they keep coming back to see what we do next.”

They’ve had a more difficult time with the us market. Explains Kaufman, “While many of the retail store buyers like our clothing—appreciate the integrity of the products—they’re afraid of the line because there’s no big marketing budget backing it. We don’t do advertising, the companyis not flashy, and that makes it harder to sell the domestic retail market.”

To get a first-hand sense of whether their concept really holds up in the retail world here, in 1999 they opened a store in New York City’s SoHo. They wanted to know, once and for all, if there is a retail market for their products. The answer is definitely yes. Kaufman says, “The store has opened up new options.” Not only does she have an outlet for designs she loves that buyers don’t order, but “so many people feel that Utility Canvas is ‘real’ now that we’ve got a store. We are just naturally assumed to be successful now.” The New York store has also given her a vision of the future. “Our best domestic customers are high-end, small specialty stores that appreciate the value of our product and are not put off by the higher price-point. I definitely think there’s an opportunity for some sort of franchising,” Kaufman says with a smile of anticipation.

Your Chance to Shop at Home (almost)

Utility Canvas used to have regular retail hours in Gardiner, but the walk-in trade was so erratic it wasn’t worth it. Now Kaufman and Grano limit their local retail activity to two or three factory sales a year. The next one is June 5-9 at their offices at 2686 Route 44-55 (between Brunswick and Albany Post roads) Hours are 10am-5pm. It’s a great opportunity for locals to buy without worrying that they paid too much to actually work in these sturdy and stylish clothes. Take the opportunity to buy two—keep one aside for that trip to town.

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All in the Family

How does it work to be married to each other and married to the job? Apparently, that’s simple, too. Kaufman believes they would not be nearly as close if they didn’t work together. “If we had different jobs, we’d have to schedule the time that we spend together now just as a matter of course. We would probably never see each other.” She explains, “If I’m going to spend so much time at my job, I’m going to work with people I care about.” Grano is clearly at the top of that list.

They both point out that this was not one person’s business that the other came into. They conceived and developed it together and grew it organically with care from both of them.

Trade shows, their main sales vehicle, offer them an opportunity to have what Grano describes as a special date. “It’s just the two of us (our children stay home with Jillian’s parents). We get to eat in nice restaurants, stay in hotels, and visit with our business friends. We genuinely enjoy that time together.”
Kaufman says she always knew she would work and have kids, so she needed to find a way of having a life in the country so she could do what she wanted to. “If you own a business, it has to work for you, not you work for it.” And that’s what they strive for. She says, “If you’re too busy working for your own business to enjoy your life, you’re in trouble. We love our business and we work hard, but it doesn’t own us. The way things are set up now, we can be here at three o’clock when the kids get off the bus.”

They agree that they are both pretty passionate about things—but not always the same things. Says Grano, “The key is being able to fight for what you want and then figuring out when it’s time to give in to the other’s passion.” He adds with a grin, “It’s not always easy, that’s for sure. But as long as we eat lunch together, we’re fine.”