Business & Tech
Dispatches: The Changing American Dream
A Belmont resident's account of how the recession has affected his down sleeping bag and garment manufacturing business.
The worst is over for Gary Schaezlein.
His company, Western Mountaineering, which makes down sleeping bags and camping attire, “is doing reasonably well,” as it has been for the better part of 41 years.
“I wouldn’t say we’re completely recession-proof, but in bad times, people buy sleeping bags and go hiking because it’s cheaper to camp than to pay for a motel,” he said. “In good times people still go camping -- but they go to Nepal. We didn’t think we’d be hit by this.”
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Then he saw advance sales dropping off: His clients – retailers – order stock six months in advance. Suddenly he saw the recession heading straight for his San Jose-based plant.
The year was 2008. The company went to a four-day work week, and he cut the hours of each employee. He cut 30 percent of the staff, and struggled to keep the number from climbing to 50 percent.
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“Every time we would have a meeting, everybody would say ‘Oh, no, not again.’”
Neighboring businesses in San Jose were in no better shape. That year, Adobe Systems slashed 600 jobs, Cisco Systems sliced its staff by 441, IBM cut 344 positions and FedEx terminated 279.
“When you see those sales drop you know you have to take steps,” he said. “It was tough for a while.”
Today, Schaezlein has hired all his former employees back. Western Mountaineering is enjoying brisk sales overseas. His products sell well close to home, too, at retailers including Redwood Trading Post, Lombardi Sports and the Sports Basement.
Consistently in the black, the company has avoided being swallowed by a larger fish – not because he hasn’t been approached.
“If we were bought out, the business would shut down and go to China,” he said. “Today that’s what happens.”
Schaezlein comes from a long line of mountaineers, and the family takes their role as stewards seriously. His grandfather packed in with a saddle horse, and homesteaded a 320-acre piece of land outside Yosemite.
The younger Schaezlein got into the sleeping bag business in the early 1970s with the resurgence in hiking. He and his partner opened a retail shop in Santa Cruz, selling bags as they made them on site.
It was their last year of college, and they were having fun. They taught themselves to sew.
“We repaired some sleeping bags, and we went, ‘Hey, we can make this stuff!’”
They sold the shop in Santa Cruz in the late 1980s and the partners went their separate ways.
Today, his wife Holly puts in one day each week in the business, and his sons work now and again during the summer months. But primarily, it’s Schaezlein’s company.
His experience speaks of a broader trend: Layoffs peaked during 2009 and began coming down this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment in San Jose hovers at 10.5 percent – higher than the San Mateo County average of 8.7 percent and lower than the statewide rate of 12.4 percent.
He said most of his friends “are doing okay.”
Married 24 years, the Schaezleins bought their house in the Belmont hills 20 years ago and just refinanced for the first time two months ago to take advantage of a lower rate.
Both sons are economics majors. Disappointed peers have moved back with their parents to wait out the downbeat job market, but recent grad, Charlie Schaezlein, 22, landed a job in Chicago. Luck had little to do with it, his dad says.
“He put feelers out way early,” Gary Schaezlein said. “He crashed other schools’ job fairs. He worked his butt off.”
But Schaezlein said he always feel lucky.
“I try to be a good person,” he said. “I try to be a good businessman.”