Seymout Jaron
President

It is hard to become a living legend in your field of work. Seymour Jaron, after more than 55 years in the garment industry, has become exactly that. His motto states, “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten.”

Seymour, as he prefers to be called, learned the business the old fashioned way. Starting out in the late 1940’s, Seymour learned from doing, as he went from spreader/cutter to marker maker, grader, patternmaker and then production manager. The Korean War interrupted his studies, but upon his return he received formal training at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. He graduated in 1966, while developing his career and supporting his growing family.

Working in New York, the center of the US fashion industry, allowed Seymour the opportunity to learn from many of the finest designers and clothing marketers of the day. One of his most memorable feats was producing the first line of bell-bottom pants, though they proved to be ahead of their time.

In 1967, Seymour moved to Portland, Oregon to work as a Production Manager for White Stag, one of the first skiwear companies. He traveled the world setting up factories and improving production. Before “socially responsible” employee practices were in, he set up worker friendly plants in Puerto Rico and gave jobs to an entire village in the mountains of Columbia. He even integrated segregated factories in Georgia.

In 1976, Seymour continued his burgeoning career by opening a factory contracted by Levi’s in San Francisco. He was instrumental in designing and producing the clothing for the 1980 and 1984 US Olympic teams, summer and winter. Merging style with revolutionary competition fabrics, the breakthrough line was a hit.  

With Seymour at the helm, the factory became SJ Manufacturing and is still in operation today under his management. Seymour, an innovative force in performance and casual apparel, worked with a number of big brands including Levi, Nike, Talbots and LL Bean over the years. In fact, when Nike first decided to go into performance apparel, Seymour headed up to Portland to develop patterns and produce their samples in his factory. He has also helped launch the brand of many emerging companies, including Joe Boxer, Chi Pants, Jagged Edge, Bonobos Pants, Aimee Gowns and My Hip T.

Over the last few years, as the domestic clothing industry began to decline, Seymour turned to teaching. Hundreds of students from local fashion schools such as Canada College and the Fashion Institute have visited his factory. Currently, Seymour offers private consultation to up and coming fashion entrepreneurs hailing from as far away as Georgia and Florida. Seymour enjoys his time working with the successful designers of tomorrow and thrives in sharing his experience and wisdom that comes from doing, lessons that cannot be gained in the classroom.

Hong Ning
Production Manager

Hong Ning has been in the garment industry for over thirty years. Working for O’Neil, a surf/action wear clothing company, she set up lines and trouble shot production around the world. She has been working with Seymour for the past twenty years. There is nothing about garment construction that she does not know.

Laury Ostrow

Laury first met Seymour twenty five years ago when he was starting his clothing company, Chi Pants. Seymour was an integral part of his success. Laury went on to open seven stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, develop a national mail order catalog and sell over half a million pairs of pants. He has also produced lines of organic cotton and hemp clothing for Mens Wearhouse. Over the last six years he has designed kinetic art, setting up production in China and gaining patent protection on his designs. As he has continued working with Seymour advising the new generation of clothing entrepreneurs.