Apparel companies have struggled with broken supply chains, Covid shutdowns at factories and inflation. But Ashland company Sunday Afternoons overcame a catastrophe that forced it to rebuild from the ground up after 2020's wildfires.
“In the beginning, we lost all communications, and didn't know if our staff was OK. I didn't know if our headquarters was still standing, and I reached out to all of our team members to make sure everybody was OK and had somewhere to live,” said CEO Sarah Sameh of the loss of its headquarters in the fires.
Sameh came on as CEO of Sunday Afternoons, a family-owned hat company with more than 50 patents, in 2015 from her CEO role with Ashland's Massif Mountain Gear.
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Though her tenure included the 2020 disaster, it also came with major milestones: 400% sales growth, a 140% increase in wholesale accounts, a doubled staff size and expansion into 65 countries globally.
Sameh now is set to retire, and Patrick Mahaffey is in line to take her place. He is former president of Medford-based pet tech company Good Life.
As Mahaffey steps into the CEO role for the nearly 40-year-old company, he is focused on more global expansions and opportunities in direct-to-consumer sales.
“One of the challenges is to look at all the opportunities — there are a tremendous number of opportunities that have opened up in the market post pandemic — and decide which of them is the most critical to focus on,” Mahaffey said.
Sunday Afternoons' start
Sunday Afternoons was founded by Robbin and Angeline Lacy in the late 1980s and began with a blanket rather than a hat. The two created a blanket for their family to lie on for picnics, and then all their friends wanted one too.
Using leftover blanket scraps, Angeline made the brand's first hat. Soon after, the company created the first hat that featured UV protective fabrics and a protective neck cape, called it the Adventure Hat, and filed for a patent.
Sunday Afternoons did not stop there, going on to incorporate innovations, such as sunglasses sleeves to keep them in place atop a hat, that set them apart from other makers. The company also expanded into hats for winter, trail hiking, gardening and other lines, further setting it apart, Sameh said.
She attributed the growth to Sunday Afternoons’ dedication to these innovations as well as their teamwork through hard times such as the fire. Not only did its burn headquarters down, but several employees' homes, she said.
“(After the fire) we all rallied. We did a triage huddle every day once we finally could get online and be in touch with each other, and we checked in on what were the critical things we needed to do today and in the next few hours to get things moving?” Sameh said.
Sameh said Sunday Afternoons’ was homeless for a time, floating between rental spaces until it found an old hardware store that was available for the company a few blocks from their retail store.
“We have such an exceptional team, that's what truly got me up every morning. It was 18-hour days just trying to keep things moving, and we did,” Sameh said. “It truly is a testament to our entire team because we take care of each other, and it's the most exceptional team I've ever had the privilege to lead.”
Overcoming obstacles
There were other struggles for the company though, Sameh said. One of the tops ones was getting the staff engaged with logistical changes to help scale the company. Sunday Afternoons also underwent a rebrand as Sameh came on.
“For me in the beginning, it was two steps forward one step back trying to get everyone excited about things that aren't, on the surface, necessarily exciting. But you can't successfully scale without that foundation in place,” Sameh said.
She found success in balancing smaller changes with more exciting moves in innovation and product design.
“Putting together those pieces not too fast that you lose the team or lose the enthusiasm, but also fast enough that you can scale and continue to push forward, is important,” Sameh said.
New CEO takes over Sunday Afternoons
Mahaffey comes from a job where he specialized in direct-to-consumer sales and hopes to find ways to improve Sunday Afternoons’ direct business in his new role. But he also said he is excited to explore opportunities with the company’s wholesalers, including Whole Foods and REI.
“For me coming in, where my job is to really be a brand steward and take what Sarah has built and build on it, is highly unusual. And it's exciting. It's also a little bit nerve-wracking,” Mahaffey said.
Sunday Afternoons sells in about 100 stores in Oregon and employs 55 employees all based in Oregon, and keeping local roots and connections is vital. Mahaffey said he will focus on balancing the need for local sales versus its global opportunities.
Sameh said Sunday Afternoons chose Mahaffey from about 100 applicants because of their similar philosophies around leading and personal connection with employees.
“He obviously has grown other brands, he has a wealth of knowledge in software and direct to consumer, and so I just have every confidence that he is the person to take it from here,” Sameh said.
