 Hi.
My name is Dan Sherman and the lovely lady pictured with me is my
wife, Allison. Our "story" revolves around our oldest and
most popular line of collectibles... our Old
World Santas. Our Old World Witches were first released in 2001,
our first Flaty
was released in 2003 and our Uncle
Sams were introduced in 2002.
In 1988, a wood carver by the name of *DeLancy Smith approached Jack
Taylor, owner of Great American Taylor Corporation, and asked if he’d
be interested in reproducing her carvings in the form of resin. His
company was already making resin teddy bears, fan-pulls,
switchplates and collectible lamps so he thought this would be a
good addition to his company’s offerings. The Great American®
Old World Santa was born.
From the very first
year, it was apparent that these charming little Santa collectibles
would find a place in the hearts of many Americans. They convey a
sense of holiday tradition that sadly stands in stark contrast to
the ever increasing world of holiday commercialization. They just
bring a certain warmth and tradition to the holidays.
During the Christmas
of 1996, my wife Allison and I (left) were introduced to the Great
American Old World Santas for the first time. Allison’s mother
purchased one for us (as well as other family members) as a gift.
Everyone loved them so much that they soon started flying around the
family in the form of gifts all year ‘round and all of us became
official collectors.
In the summer of
2000, fate was about to have a hand in Allison’s and my future.
The owner of the Great American Taylor Corporation (makers of the
Old World Santas), Jack Taylor, asked if I could do some marketing
as well as build a website for his company. I agreed. Our efforts
were so effective that his company’s production ability became
over-taxed during that holiday season. After a series of unrelated
set-backs as well as his inability to keep up with demand, things
started to unravel for Great American Taylor Corporation. By January
of 2001 it was apparent that they would be ending their 25+ years of
successful operation.
One thing led to
another and at the end of January 2001, we had the opportunity to
purchase the "Great American" trademark as it applies to
collectibles as well as all trademarks and copyrights associated
with all collectibles manufactured by Great American Taylor
Corporation. In essence, we were able to save this wonderful line of
collectibles that we were so fond of. We were thrilled.
I quit my job on
February 1st, 2001 to start work on making Santas. We rented an
abandoned barn in the middle of a field in Sherwood OR and I went
there every day, sometimes 18 hours a day, trying to figure out how
to make a Santa. Before quitting my job I was in the world of
corporate sales. I had no idea how to make a Santa.
Meanwhile, we had
over 900 Santas on backorder from existing customers that we brought
over from the previous company. Many of those backorders had already
been paid for (for which we, unfortunately, didn't receive the
funds.) We had decided from day one that we'd honor those backorders
and fulfill them without being paid. It was just the right thing to
do.
May 2001 came and
went but I still hadn't made an actual Santa. Frustration was
running REALLY high. But I was bound and determined to figure it
out.
After a LOT of
research, talking on the phone and reading online, I made our first
production quality Santa in June, 2001. Now the challenge was to
make a LOT of them in a very short period of time. By July 2001 we
had close to 2000 Santas on backorder because we were starting to
get orders for the 2001 Christmas season on top of the orders that
were left over from the previous Christmas. Talk about pressure.
On July 1, 2001, I
moved our operations to a 1200 square foot industrial bay located in
the Old Town section of Wilsonville, OR. I hired a total of 5 people
to start making Santas as quick as they could. At times, we had two
shifts casting 24 hours a day.
Then there was the
absolutely incredible task of finding painters to paint them once
they were cast and ready to be painted. We advertised in the
Oregonian and had about 10 painter orientation meetings where we
would have anywhere from 25 to 80 people show up wanting to be a
painter. We held try-outs by giving them a character, with
instructions and the correct paint colors and instructing them to
take it home, paint it and bring it back the next day. On average,
only about 1 in 4 people are good enough (and patient enough) to
actually become a Great American painter. Over 250 painters have
painted for use at any given time and many of those were all at one
time during that fall of 2001.
On August 18, 2001,
we shipped our first order of Santas. If you know me, you know that
I can get choked up pretty easily. Well, that day I came really
close to it. But it was a week later, when our retail stores started
getting their orders that I finally broke. I got call after call
from retail stores (and collectors) thanking me from the bottom of
their heart for taking on the task of continuing the Old World Santa
tradition. The comments that sent me over the edge, however, was
when they said they were amazed at the level of quality over the
previous company's work and they loved everything about them.
Needless to say, I cried like a baby.
(Even writing this I get teary eyed.) The reason for my emotional
release was because they had no idea what kind of ordeal Allison and
I had gone through to get to that moment. It was the culmination of
7 months of amazingly difficult and tedious work. Their comments
gave what we had gone through some sort of validation and it was the
most incredible feeling of euphoria.
By November 1st we
had fulfilled all the backorders and on December 24, 2001, the last
of the 2001 Christmas orders were delivered. It was close, but we
had gone from not knowing one thing about making resin Santas in
February 2001 to delivering close to 5000 of them in a 4 month span
of time between August 18th and December 24th.
Of course, our
"story" is continuing. I'll add more to this space as time
goes on. Thanks for reading about us. I hope to see your name in our
collector list soon (if it's not already there, of course.)
*NOTE: Michael Sampson was our Old World Santa carver from 2000 to
2004. Rob Francis, from
Syracuse, NY, will be carving our Old World Santas from 2005 and
beyond.
|
