Vermont Flannel Dedicated to Comfort
Some businesses are born intentionally , others by chance . Such is the story of Vermont Flannel , a
company founded almost 30 years ago by the husband-and-wife team of Mark and Linda Baker .
Mark had worked in the textile business selling advertising on T-shirts and placing the merchandise in large national outlets . After spending more than a decade in the T-shirt business , Mark ’ s parents suggested he “ get a real job .”
“ I told my parents I was going to come up with an idea that would sell a million T-shirts , and [ I ’ d ] show them ,” said Mark . His first idea could have been it .
The year was 1991 , and the U . S . military had just defended Kuwait against the invasion by Iraq and called it Operation Desert Shield , when Mark got an idea . He designed a black T-shirt ( like a rock and roll T-shirt ) that read on the front , “ Saddam Hussein Middle East Tour 1991 .” On the back , Mark listed different countries in the Middle East , and then he placed a huge stamp across those names that read , “ Canceled Due to Desert Storm .”
People ate it up . In one week , he sold more than 2,000 shirts , donating a dollar of each sale to the families of soldiers . Hoping to capitalize on the moment , Mark bought vendor space at a three-day T-shirt convention in Atlantic City , New Jersey , where large national retailers would be hunting for new product lines .
This show was going to be his big break . He had visions of selling millions of his T-shirts in stores across the country . The show did turn out to be his big break , just not in the way he expected . Shortly before the convention , President George H . W . Bush announced he was ending Operation Desert Shield , and with it , came the end of Mark ’ s million-dollar idea too .
Still having to pay for the booth space and airfare , Mark needed a new product line quickly . Enter flannel . Two years earlier , Mark had made a prototype flannel T-shirt and had invented a new type of flannel — the lounge pant .
The initial reception to his innovations was lukewarm . “ The first day of the convention , I don ’ t think I ’ ve ever been as insulted ,” said Mark . “ People asked me , ‘ What the hell are you doing up there in Vermont ? Flannel is for hunting , not for T-shirts — and this is a T-shirt convention .’ I was almost ready to pack it up and leave .”
But Mark didn ’ t leave . By the second day , people were more intrigued by his idea . By day three , no one questioned him . They just wanted his samples . “ I had a line of people asking me for samples and that ’ s what gave me encouragement to keep going .”
One of those companies that asked for a sample was J . C . Penney . Ten weeks after Mark sent it to a company representative , he was surprised to see the store had rolled out its own flannel sleep and loungewear line at 500 stores nationwide . It was made in China and with a much inferior quality . “ If someone wants to copy Vermont Flannel , then I figured I must be doing something right ,” said Mark .
4 VERMONT MAGAZINE