Tailoring Directly to Their Customers

Catalog established: 1980

Headquarters: Charleston, S.C.

# of employees: 35 (full- & part-time)

Merchandise: Men’s neckwear, shirts, eyewear, shoes, slacks, jackets, some women’s apparel

Customer demographics: Professional men, 45-plus, who prefer traditional clothing

# of SKUs: 5,000-plus

WHAT GOT YOU HERE: Both Sue, the company’s president and daughter of Ben Silver, and Robert, managing director, earned law degrees and spent time working as attorneys. Prior to taking over the family business following Ben’s death, they worked together in the wholesale jewelry business. “We found that the items we were selling weren’t being promoted in a meaningful way,” Sue recalls of the wholesale jewelry business. So when she and Robert took the reins at Ben Silver in 1980, they decided to sell direct.