Leslie Jordan History
The Company You Can Count On – Since 1986!
The Leslie Jordan Brand has come a long way since its successful start with Tyvek jackets in 1986. As the Jackets’ popularity grew, it opened the door to the active sports community and the need for affordable performance wear.
Answering the call, Leslie Jordan worked diligently to produce functional apparel for runners, cyclists, triathletes and other active men and women, with moisture management fabrics that stay soft, lightweight and are great to wear.
And her hard work paid off. As an acknowledgement of her noteworthy contribution, Leslie Jordan was inducted into the Running USA Hall of Champions in 2006. This achievement is reserved for those who have enhanced the sport; made it more compelling and rewarding through “dedication, imagination, distinction, courage and selflessness”.
Leslie Jordan has grown into an innovative wholesale manufacturer for performance tees, outerwear, bags and accessories; becoming an Industry Leader for Event Apparel. Whether a Customer is ordering from the Quick Ship Inventory Program or creating something completely custom, Leslie Jordan now covers every detail and color imaginable.
Independently woman owned and operated since the beginning, Leslie Jordan is still committed to providing strong personalized service, to save customers both time and money. The Corporate Headquarters are staffed with apparel design and production departments to create cutting edge garments and make sure that quality standards remain high. A dedicated team of graphic artists help customers generate artwork that pops and has long-lasting impact, utilizing a vast array of application processes.
When you call Leslie Jordan, a live person still answers the phone. Experienced Sales Representatives will be involved with your orders from start… to finish. The Company’s goal is to give you peace of mind, free up your time and provide winning products that shout success!
Our Evolution
ARCHIVE
2009 Article
The market for running event gear is a living, changing thing. For a company to flurish for as long as Leslie Jordan has, you have to do better than chase the latest trend — you have to create it.
As a factory-direct manufacturer, Leslie Jordan is able to both market-test new innovative products and custom-develop garments and products for individual events.This direct connection between manufacturer and event enables the company’s products and services to keep pace with thousands of individual events that evolve from year to year AND the industry as a whole.
“The Poster Child of Tyvek”
Back in ’85, Leslie put on her firstTyvek jacket. It was so comfortable, water resistant and windproof that she decided to introduce these benefits to the active sports community. Runners, walkers and cyclists alike fell in love with the
light-weight insulating qualities and event organizers delighted in the graphic capabilities ofTyvek®. By ’88 Leslie had a thriving Tyvek apparel business. From this came Leslie’s motto,”I will not stop selling Tyvek jackets until everyone in the U.S. has at least one Tyvek jacket … maybe two!” Thus, she was dubbed “The Poster Child ofTyvek” by DuPont.
Tyvek to T-Shirts
Two factors tipped the balance that led Leslie Jordan into the T shirt business. First, performance moisture wicking fabrics were developed, opening the new niche of technical active wear. Second, race directors learned that they could increase efficiency and price points by purchasing all or most of their gear from a single source. Leslie Jordan found herself in a strong position. Not only was the manufacturing expertise from converting rolls ofTyvek into jackets and accessories in place, but
there were also the established partnerships with off-shore factory’s as well as a full compliment of in-house R&D specialists, garment designers, graphics, and logistics personnel. These assets yielded several key advantages: 1) The ability to design & produce a unique product line, specialized for the running event community. 2) Control over every step of production from fabric, to sewing, to printing, to shipping. 3) The ability to offer a superior garment at an extremely competitive price by going factory-direct.
We Make What Your Runners
(& Sponsors) Want
Exciting new product lines such as sport/beach towels, water bottles, sport-gloves, running socks are turning our to be huge hits, while tried and true microfiber & fleece jackets, vented microfiber sport hats, nonwoven & poly totes & backpacks are standard gear for hundreds of long-standing events as well as those just starting out. Furthermore event sponsors regularly foot the bill for quality accessories in exchange for prime logo placement.
LII’s new In-Stock Inventory Program keeps our U.S. shelves stocked with thousands of the most popular shirts, ready for immediate shipping, while the Off-shore Tech-T Program continues to offer custom manufacturing in more than 20 shirt styles-plus big savings on printing-for orders over 500 units.
Of course Tyvek® jackets & accessories remain unbeatable favorites for their bold, seam-to-seam graphics and exceptional comfort.
It’s About Service
LI does not have”sales staff”. What you get when you start a relationship with Leslie Jordan, Inc. is an account executive seasoned in the business of outfitting running events. Priority number one is to create a solution for your event that exceeds your expectations and leaves you money to spare. They understand money flow issues, shipping concerns, re-orders and late coming sponsors. It’s a business plan based service-“It’s not just great products, it’s a partnership in making your event a smashing success.”
Evolving Today – in Real-Time
Here’s the nuts and bolts of what keeps Leslie Jordan in pace with the running event community today:
Expert Staff includes an experienced sales team drawing on over 30 years of running event experience, in-house graphics department both designing and insuring print quality, apparel designers continually refine, test and even customize garment designs while holding factories to rigorous quality standards, logistics experts get products from around the world to your event, on time and in good order, and finally production coordinators bringing all of the aspects of your order together in an efficient, timely fashion. These are not rookies-key department managers have been with LIi for an average of 10 years, and most staff have been in their fields for 20+ years.
We Work While You Sleep
You can sleep comfortably at night knowing that,even as this part of the world slumbers, Leslie Jordan personnel are on-line and on the phone with 16 dedicated factories around the world. It is, in fact, typical for a new employee to be shocked at the 3:00 am
time-stamp on so many of Leslie’s
e-mails … but they soon get used to it.