August 7 Kiwanis Program: Professional Clothier Eric Hymowitz, Manager of “Tom James” New Providence Sales Office described how their customers are served.

Professional Clothier Eric Hymowitz, Manager of “Tom James” of New Jersey (center in photo) was introduced by Kiwanian Tom Mullin (left) at the August 7, 2012 Kiwanis breakfast meeting at Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse in Chatham Township. Clothier Marco Giannetti is on the right in the photo.

Eric began his presentation by giving a brief history of his background, which included a two-year period playing professional soccer. He started his Tom James career in Baltimore and after about seven years was transferred to New Providence to start an operation in New Jersey.

He and his wife travelled to the new job in late October, 2011. Driving on the day of the freak “Halloween” snowstorm was a harrowing arrival into an unfamiliar place where there were power outages and traffic jams everywhere. There was no electric power in his new apartment and office. All restaurants in the area were closed because of power outages. He and his wife drove to Morristown where they found that the George and Martha restaurant was open. Sitting close to Tom Mullin and his wife, they struck up a conversation and Eric discovered that Tom is already an enthusiastic customer of Tom James. Since that dramatic starting day in New Jersey, Eric has built the local Tom James into a successful operation where he is serving many satisfied customers.

Eric went on to describe the company and its services. Tom James, has been in business since 1966, and has built up a successful business serving custom needs of customers. They don’t do traditional marketing and advertising - customers learn of the company through word-of-mouth. There is no store - at Tom James, “we come to you with fine clothing” is the motto. Eric is a trained Taylor and he will travel to the customer’s office or home to help them select their clothing, which includes shirts, suits, and accessories. Over 80 percent of the products are made in the USA.

Customers like the purchasing experience much better than going to a store and buying something off the rack and altering it. They also like the custom fit, the huge number of fabrics and styles to choose from, and having a personal clothing advisor. Tom James keeps a database of past purchases by the customer so fit and selections constantly improve over time.

Cost of clothes is on the high side but it pretty similar to high end prices found in stores like those found at the Short Hills Mall.

People who use Tom James end up with cloths that they really like and they last a long time. This is not often true for store-bought cloths. The process starts with Eric talking with a customer about what his particular clothing needs are.

The audience enthusiastically applauded this interesting and entertaining presentation. To learn more, please visit the Tom James website.