I pulled out a medley of old photos, marketing materials, fabric work sheets, and much more from the saved boxes when we cleaned out our storage locker. I must say it was really fun to revisit these transformative times. This is a photo of me in my office next to Marla’s dad in the early 80’s.

A few thoughts…..

I just love this this 1947 photo of Marla’s Mom, Joline, at a Denver retail sales event. Someone in their shop made her skirt from Venetian blind slats! To put this into an interesting context,…World War II ended on September 2, 1945. Harry and Joline were ready and energized to build a business to fill the needs in this new building era.

I found an old client mailer I created in the 80’s. I designed and had a craftsman construct the furniture for the warehouse showroom in Columbus, Ohio. One of our staff created the wall hanging.

This mailer showed our 4 warehouses. We had 2 showrooms in Dallas at the time; one in our warehouse and one at Oak Lawn Plaza. Can you believe the emerald green carpet? “Wowza!”

This mailer shows our cut yardage department before we expanded our Denver warehouse in the 80’s.

Can’t believe we had 10 people working in the Denver “Woven Wood Department”! We eventually expanded this manufacturing to all 4 of our warehouses.

A photo of Marla looking like right out of Vogue Magazine at an exhibit at the Heimtextil trade fair in Frankfurt, Germany.

Getting ready for an open house party at our Columbus, Ohio warehouse and showroom.

A couple of trade magazine quotes from the early 1990’s.

Kathy Greaser made a memory board of the 1991 sales meeting in Keystone, Colorado.

A memory board from a Vail salesmeeting.

I found this slightly wrinkled invitation for our 1996 50th Anniversary Party. I can’t believe we requested “semi-formal” attire, but it was really a great party!

Our sales team and showrooms attended the sales meeting and the 3 days of activities for the 50th celebrations! This was a party at Joline’s home in Cherry Creek.

Marla and I (on the lower right) are admiring the presentation of our 50th Anniversary decorative fabric line and history. Marla worked with a good friend to orchestrate the show with professional dancers and fabulous live music. They began by somersaulting through a Venetian blind! A creative member of our staff made my tuxedo from a metallic silk of the new line.

Now this is how to show a line!

The page above is taken from my sales meeting notes used at our 50th Anniversary sales meeting. I really laughed reading them again!

I’m presenting the 50th Anniversary fabric line to the sales team and showroom representativees.

Marla in the Denver warehouse showroom with Randy Troll, a textile designer and representative from North Carolina.

A photo of Marla, our daughter Lisa, and I dancing in the hallway during a 1990’s showroom party.

Steve Beard (left), the Southern States Sales Manager from Jackson, Mississippi, joined us in Heimtextil in Frankfurt, Germany one year. We’re at a French print resource.

We did our version of a haute couture fashion inspired window covering event for design clients in our Denver Design District showroom. This was a unique valance design made from one of our gorgeous fabrics.

We had a huge party for our 60th Anniversary in 2006. Marla brought Joline on stage (her Mom) to salute her many accomplishments. The extended family members were there as well.

I’m with our son-in-laws, Ray on the left and Stan on the right, at the 60th party. Wow, did we look young!

A September 2006 client mailing about the 60th Anniversary party.

A December 2006 client mailing.

A client mailing piece from the 90’s showing products in our Denver Design District showroom. We really had a unique and eclectic assortment of products.

Another mailing piece showcasing the Denver Design Center Wesco showroom.

A photo of our booth at a window covering tradeshow in Atlanta. These were always busy affairs!

A fun photo of a Marla and I, along with our daughter Stacy dancing in Laguna Beach, California, after a sales meeting.

I am so happy I found this early 1955 catalog from the time the business was at 30th and Larimer Street in Denver.

A 2010 catalog cover.

Marla in her office.

A 2007 client advertising flyer of the sales incentive trip to Cannes, France. Beginning in 2004, we hosted 3 client sales incentive trips to Thailand, 3 to Bali, 2 to France, 1 to Positano, Italy, 1 to Hawaii, and 1 to San Francisco & the Napa Valley.

On our 2008 client trip to Cannes we had to split our large group between two different restaurants. Marla heads up this table.

During the 2009 Thailand adventure we visited one of our fabric suppliers outside Bangkok.

I found these 2 (slightly beat up) fabric presentation boards.

A fabric inventory sheet of one of our exclusive silks with a velvet applique. It was expensive, but sold really well!

2 fabric boards from our 2015 collection.

I found this photo of me doing a new line presentation in our Denver showroom around 2015.

A marketing piece about our warehouse fabric and furniture sale.

RM Coco purchased our Wesco Fabrics’ company name and our inventory in 2017. We kept and later sold our buildings in Denver and Columbus, Ohio. (We had previous sold our Irvine and Dallas warehouse.) Yes, that is Marla cleaning the floor. I’ve never seen a person work so hard to help get our Denver building ready for sale. It took about a full year!

An early 2018 photo of Marla and Jerry Gette in front of our Denver Warshouse. We were not relocating as seen on the sign.

Thank you for allowing me to share some of the items found in the 2 storage locker boxes filled with memories. I’m including a few previous blog links about our Wesco Fabrics’ journey for those interested in more information.

https://gentryconnects.net/?p=8856

https://gentryconnects.net/?p=9647

https://gentryconnects.net/?p=9744

https://gentryconnects.net/?p=9295

https://gentryconnects.net/?p=9467