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          Business View Magazine
        
        
          “The customer base was already established when the
        
        
          new owners took over,” Mason says, “and we grew it
        
        
          from there. We worked hand-in-hand with the existing
        
        
          distribution network and responded to circumstances
        
        
          and opportunities as they arose. We still provide this
        
        
          type of customer service today.”
        
        
          “Back then,” Brewer
        
        
          adds, “federal regulators
        
        
          were becoming promi-
        
        
          nent in this industry, as
        
        
          far as creating rules and
        
        
          guidelines for personnel
        
        
          within a potentially haz-
        
        
          ardous area. The family
        
        
          that purchased this com-
        
        
          pany had the foresight
        
        
          to see that this was an
        
        
          up-and-coming,
        
        
          evolv-
        
        
          ing market. That was the
        
        
          main stimulus then that
        
        
          moved Steel Grip into the
        
        
          industrial apparel mar-
        
        
          kets.
        
        
          Logistically
        
        
          speaking,
        
        
          having three manufactur-
        
        
          ing facilities within a 20-
        
        
          mile radius of each other
        
        
          is brilliant. Each plant
        
        
          focuses on certain prod-
        
        
          ucts, yet interfaces with
        
        
          the others. One makes
        
        
          shirts and jackets, as
        
        
          well as high-temperature
        
        
          gloves and mitts; the sec-
        
        
          ond produces industrial
        
        
          pants and coveralls. The
        
        
          main Danville site does
        
        
          custom-made specialty
        
        
          items such as aluminized
        
        
          apparel and leather prod-
        
        
          ucts. But, they all feed the same industry with regards
        
        
          to personnel protection against potentially hazardous
        
        
          industrial environments.
        
        
          Five major sectors comprise the Steel Grip customer