Rasco Interview with Tarek Shahla

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Rasco.com
(225) 273-3163
orders@rasco.com
support@rasco.com

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Episode Transcript:

Marty Hartman:
Welcome to the Supplier Spotlight Interview. We’re happy today to be talking with Tarek Shahla, chief operations officer at Rasco. Welcome.

Tarek Shahla:
Marty, thank you so much for having me.

Marty Hartman:
It’s good to talk to you about FR today. So, tell us a little bit about Rasco. Give us the elevator pitch so that our listeners are going to be glued and listen to the rest of the interview.

Tarek Shahla:
Rasco is the company that provides the best value with the highest level of customer service. And when I say best value, it’s not about being the cheapest. It’s about whether you are buying an entry level garment or an extremely top of the line complicated garment. We’re going to find a way to create the best value for that garment and we’re going to back it up with excellent customer service.

Marty Hartman:
That’s great. So I like that explanation. It’s not necessarily about price. I imagine you’re probably trying to get more wearing for the customer; so more uses.

Tarek Shahla:
Oh, exactly right. It comes down to just a philosophy that’s kind of embedded in everyone who works for us. We want to make those garments that last forever. I like to think about, back in the day, I don’t know, there’s these companies when you’re growing up where you… I remember for me it was a, I guess it’s different for everybody else, but depending on the thing, but it was LL Bean. I bought a pair of shoes and I wore them for five years and they had a lifetime guarantee, and I sent them back in as a kid, and I didn’t think anything of it. And they sent me a new pair of shoes and I couldn’t understand how that was possible. But for us, we said as we started to build our products, how do we make these things last as long as possible and put them out there for a good price.

Marty Hartman:
Well, I think that’s a good philosophy to have, getting value to the customer. So tell us a little bit about how Rasco got started.

Tarek Shahla:
So this is a good story. It’s one of those American dream stories. We are a privately held, family-owned company, and our founder literally started the company in his garage. He started in South Louisiana making welding caps and selling them to welders in Louisiana. And it took off and then he started making welding shirts and set up a production facility in South Louisiana selling and it just kind of grew organically and by word of mouth. And then as FR started to take off, this is 32 years ago in 1988, at some point it became kind of a… The industry started growing and growing and entered other industries like oil and gas and utility, and the company kept growing and adapting and evolving organically. And it’s just been, every day since then we’ve been trying to grow a little more.

Marty Hartman:
That’s great. Everybody loves an underdog story like that. Starting in the garage.

Tarek Shahla:
Right. Yeah. It’s amazing that, it’s one of the special things about where we live is that we live in this great country where that thing happens and it happens all the time.

Marty Hartman:
Well, you talked about the growth of Rasco. How big is the FR market and why should Universal Unilink members care about it?

Tarek Shahla:
This is an interesting market because I think that the thing that even we’re discovering is that it’s even bigger than we realize. You think, of course, it’s hard to say. And what I would say is that about five years ago, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal and they said it was about, I think, 1.7 billion dollars a year. But since then what’s happened is, they’ve just been tacking on more and more industries to that market.

Tarek Shahla:
So of course the first one, everyone thinks of is oil and gas. That’s a no brainer. But then you have utility workers, and that’s an essential business that is practically recession-proof because we all need electricity. But beyond that, you start to see it emerging in other places; welders, people working in food processing plants, combustible dust is a new industry. So it’s any facility that works with a dust that could ignite and cause a flash fire. And then you have this really interesting kind of blanket NFPA 70E, which is an electrical certification that can apply to almost anybody in that industry.

Tarek Shahla:
And it just keeps growing and growing because if there is a risk in any sort of setting for a flash fire, which is a small explosion, or any kind of arc flash, which is when you get a shock from electricity, you need to be protected. And this clothing will save your life. I think there’s just, as time goes on, we’re finding there are more and more places where it legitimately needs to be used, and it can be a game changer for saving and protecting people.

Marty Hartman:
Absolutely. So you mentioned a lot of the different applications. You cover quite a few safety standards at Rasco. Is that correct?

Tarek Shahla:
Yes. That’s absolutely correct. The biggest, the hottest one right now that everyone’s talking about is probably NFPA-2112 which kind of started for oil and gas. It’s a flash fire, but a lot of people rely upon that as a benchmark for other industries. The other one is NFPA-70E, which is for electrical and that deals with something called an arc flash. I think that, the way I would to tell people to think of it is there’s two major risks.

Tarek Shahla:
One is the explosion or the flash fire and the other is the arc flash. It’s electrical. Either one can can cause burns on your body and injure you tremendously, but there’s a lot of standards that come off of that. There’s one called AFTM 1506 which is also electrical, but really if you kind of… The way that I would say for someone approaching it who’s not in the industry, is start off with what you’re protecting against and go from there. And so we are certified by UL for city standards and test our stuff very rigorously to make sure it passes.

Marty Hartman:
Well, that’s great that you mentioned for people outside of the industry. If our members are say in the work wear… They’re doing a lot of work wear sales or rental but they’re not as familiar with FR, can you help them a little bit with that?

Tarek Shahla:
Oh absolutely. I think anyone in our team would be delighted to help them. Whether it’s talking to someone in our customer service team, or one of our sales persons, or have them even come on site. I know that’s a funny thought right now because we’re recording during this pandemic and social distancing. But that’s something we are happy and it doesn’t, I want to stress this. We don’t care if your members are actually buying from us at the time. If they’re interested in learning more about it, and they haven’t bought a dollar worth of product, we’re still happy to extend all of that to them as a courtesy.

Marty Hartman:
Wow, that’s a great offer. Hope members take you up on that.

Tarek Shahla:
Oh, even if they think there’s an inkling they could sell it, they should learn about it, just so it’s in their back pocket. Because it is the kind of thing, it’s a safety standard, and it can truly save lives. And what I think, what my recommendation to them is, take five minutes, take 30 minutes, learn about it, have it written down somewhere, and have it in your back pocket. So when you see that opportunity with a customer or a potential customer, you can say, “What about this? Is this something you could use?”

Marty Hartman:
Yes, I think that’s key in sales is knowing the right questions to ask. And especially if you go back to what you commented about earlier. You’re putting clothing into the workforce that could potentially save lives. So, it’s a pretty big deal.

Tarek Shahla:
Oh, for sure. And it’s just a… One of the craziest things is when you see the letters for people who are unlucky enough and fortunate enough to have an accident and they’re wearing the clothing. And I know that’s something we talk across the industry with all the companies who do this. It just gives you chills because it does make that difference and it’s a lifesaver. So if everybody… I think one of the things that’s interesting is, even with all the talk about it, there’s people who are in these industries, people who are working in the field who don’t know enough about this. And if we could, if everyone takes the moment and learns a little more, that could lead not only to more business, but to more awareness and potentially saving someone’s life down the road.

Marty Hartman:
Exactly. So, aside from the fact that the work wear you produce can save lives, it also has a very unique look. And in fact, some of the folks here at Universal Unilink have commented, “I wouldn’t mind wearing that on the weekend.” Is that something that is on purpose?

Tarek Shahla:
Absolutely. And we’re really flattered to hear this positive review from your team. Yeah. We try to make… We’ve always felt internally that if people don’t like what they’re wearing, when you’re on their shift, they’re going to be thinking about it, and it’s going to lead them to being a little distracted. If it’s not something they like. And even worse, this is actually the worst thing you hear sometimes is if they don’t like it, they’re not going to wear it. Because at the end of the day at these facilities, you really can’t police what people are doing. So we said let’s make something that they actually want to wear and they enjoy wearing. Both the style and the comfort level as well.

Tarek Shahla:
FR fabric has come a long way. Back in the days, 20 years ago when it was being developed, it was stiff. Maybe it had a little bit of smell. You wouldn’t certainly wear it after work at a casual outing.

Marty Hartman:
Right.

Tarek Shahla:
We’ve really worked to get comfortable fabrics that are durable, that don’t shrink. And then in styles that people actually want to wear.

Marty Hartman:
Well, speaking of style, you offer a wide selection of FR for women. Is that a growing segment?

Tarek Shahla:
Absolutely. And that’s something we really, we feel very strongly about is that even… We think that we should be able to offer the styles equally to both men and women. So we’re constantly trying to find more options for women and put them into the market. There’s going to be, even with this crazy year, we’re looking forward to releasing some styles. So we’re pretty excited about that.

Marty Hartman:
The FR garments from Rasco, are they industrial laundry friendly?

Tarek Shahla:
Good question. It depends. So everything is marked very clearly in our materials, our spec sheets, our catalog, or on our website as well. It depends on what the fabric’s made of typically. So our entry level items are usually made of 100% FR treated cotton, and that is not recommended for IL. But we have a full line that we’ve launched that is IL. Most of it’s working with US made fabric, particularly Westex and from Glen Raven as well. We’ve pretty strong partnerships with the two of them. And so we offer a pretty affordable but great value IL line, that’s just, we’re really excited about.

Marty Hartman:
Fantastic. I mean, that hits pretty much most of our members.

Tarek Shahla:
Good.

Marty Hartman:
So I hope they take a look at you guys. And if they do want to take a look at Rasco, what’s the best way for members to get started?

Tarek Shahla:
Through us they can call us, email us, whatever is most convenient to them. We’re happy just to send them a sample, to have someone come meet with them, whatever they’re used to doing. It’s our job to serve them. So they just show up and say, “This is what we need.” However they want to handle it, we’re going to bend over backwards to accommodate them.

Marty Hartman:
Okay, so website is-

Tarek Shahla:
It’s www.rasco.com.

Marty Hartman:
Okay. We’ll make sure that we have a link for that here.

Tarek Shahla:
Awesome.

Marty Hartman:
… On the page. And any phone numbers that you would want to give out?

Tarek Shahla:
Oh yeah, so the main line is 225-273-3163. And that’s the main line. That’s probably the easiest phone number to call. And then they can email. Probably the easiest email for coming in, it’s orders@rasco.com if it’s an order, but if they have a question, support@rasco.com

Marty Hartman:
All right. So, before we end the call, Tarek, what else would you like members to know?

Tarek Shahla:
I think what I would say to members is this, if you look at our material, our catalog, our website, if you talk to us, you’re going to see what we offer and we currently stock. But at the end of the day, what I think, this kind of speaks to how the apparel industry is changing. We really at the end of the day are a solutions provider.

Tarek Shahla:
And what that means is, come to us with your challenges, with your ideas, with your problems, and let us work with you to fix them. So if there’s something you need that’s probably different or is completely different, maybe there’s a way we can work together to figure it out. That’s something that I think is different from our company. We really feel that we’re in the business of providing solutions and we’re going to… It’s not about this is the shirt we offer and we don’t have another shirt. If you need something different, if there’s a customer who needs a problem solved, we’re going to work to solve that problem. And the second thing I would say behind that is, it goes to our kind of a core philosophy as a company is that we are, I would say almost militant about partnership.

Tarek Shahla:
We are extraordinarily loyal and we value our partnerships. And so for us, having the opportunity to be a part of Universal Unilink, is just a great opportunity. We want to step up and really support the members. So however we can do that, I think, please, I ask your members, “Challenge us and let’s see what we can do together.”

Marty Hartman:
Oh, I hope they do challenge you and give you a call and start getting some samples in their hands. I really appreciate the time for the call.

Tarek Shahla:
Marty, thank you so much for allowing me to get on a call with you. I really appreciate it.