Our Heritage

Morning Sun was founded by Ferdie Kollar and Marv Pasquan in Tacoma, Washington in 1986. The two men, who spent many years in the apparel business as retailers and sales representatives, had developed a business plan. Spurred on by their wives’ challenges to act on their dream, the enterprise began humbly in a garage.

Despite a wide product offering spanning virtually every market utilizing screenprint (corporate, tourism, custom, contract, wildlife, sports licensing), the company quickly focused on the women’s market and became the dominant provider of decorated fleece. Morning Sun was early in creating illustrative “wearable art,” and was the first company to dress up a sweatshirt by attaching a collar. Within a few years the two entrepreneurs had built a large diversified company with a national presence. Almost twenty years later, we are located in the same 150,000 square foot facility in Tacoma that Marv and Ferdie moved into after outgrowing their garages.

Today Morning Sun produces virtually identical numbers of screenprinted and embroidered tops. Our facility houses seven automatic presses and close to 300 embroidery heads. Primary products are screenprinted and embroidered knit tops and sweatshirts for the misses market. Customers include the nation’s leading department stores, catalogs and specialty retailers. Our labels are Morning Sun, Top Stitch, and Trilllogy.

In April 2001, we acquired Collegiate Graphics, located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Founded in 1989, Collegiate Graphics places its emphasis on the tourism market. Major customers include the casinos, airport gift shops, theme parks and other national attractions. Within a very fast moving market, CG excels at incorporating the latest embellishment techniques with fashion silhouettes. While virtually all production is done in Tacoma, we continue to maintain a vital sales, merchandising, customer service and sampling facility just off the strip in Las Vegas. When the need arises, the crew in Nevada can still crank out high quality, large production orders. In March 2006, we acquired still another Las Vegas based decorator, To-A-Tee, whose operations were consolidated into those of Collegiate Graphics.

What makes us different and why are we still producing in the USA?

We are competing in a tough world in which more and more product comes from overseas. Most of our nation’s textile mills are gone and apparel plants have been closing at an alarming rate for decades. Indeed almost every garment we embellish comes from Asia or Latin America, yet we continue to apply our artwork to shirts right here in the Northwest. Why would we do that?

Pressed for a single answer, I’d respond, “to eliminate the guesswork.” Import purchases typically require long lead times and large quantities. Both of these create risk and water down financial results. Either the customer or supplier, and probably both, has to make commitments significantly earlier in an import environment, and both have to live with the results. Unproductive residual inventory too closely resembles a long forgotten head of lettuce buried in a hydrator. Unlike wine, it doesn’t age well over time.

By decorating here we can customize colors, collars and designs for each account as dictated by their needs or by retail results. The combination of our efficient, quick-turn production facility and 48-hour turn shelves, which house our best sellers, enable us to service reorder needs quickly. And we don’t have to make wild guesses months before we’re ready to.

So we have created an environment based on efficiency, teamwork and analytically based decision-making, which has enabled us to compete. We pay our employees more than their counterparts in China, Pakistan, Mexico or Guatemala both for the privilege of continuing to work with them, and for the economic benefits derived by keeping our inventories lean. And as for our 250 associates in Tacoma and Las Vegas, they are a wonderful, dedicated group representing a myriad of cultures and ethnicities, all of which contributes to Morning Sun being an enriching place to work.

Morning Sun is owned by Three Cities Research and management. To learn more about Three Cities Research (TCR), please visit their website at tcr-ny.com

About This Website

This website exists for several reasons, none of which is to compete with our loyal customers. A major feature here is that of informing consumers where they might find current Morning Sun product.

We hope you enjoy our site and welcome your comments.

-Bob Klein, CEO