Charles River Apparel Reviews

Pros

My name is D. Selinger and I worked for Charles River Apparel for about 15 years.
Sales tools given me from from Charles River Apparel got me much bigger orders faster.
Working closely with management gave me more sales over a period of time. Charles River made a quality garment from knowledgeable clothing buyers which gave us more sales
Customers bought samples which gave them larger sales quickly.

I worked doe Charles River for many years and grew sales from $300,000 to $3 million. Being a part of Charles Apparel which is an up and coming clothing company with great vision was a great experience. This has made them year after year a stronger company and I enjoyed being a part of that.

Pros

Ha! There aren't really any. I guess if I had to say anything, most people are nice for the most part.

Advice to Management

Understand when morale is low, you cannot pacify employees with a bonus then talk about how the business is down. Morale starts with actually caring that your employees are happy in their roles. Happy that they feel EMPOWERED to do the job they were hired to do. Happy they are making a contribution to YOUR bottom line. Morale has nothing to do with micromanaging employees who have experience (outside of CRA). Be leaders and not dictators.

To the finance folks: you cannot run a profitable business without a business plan. You should spend more time creating that plan rather than micromanaging departments you have no experience in (i.e. Customer Service, i.e. Marketing, i.e. customer facing roles) to make yourself feel adequate.

To the owners: Stop hiring people with experience and then micromanaging them when you have NO idea what you are doing. You need to re-evaluate your sales team. You have obvious fat that needs to be trimmed and replaced with hungry and motivated sales people. Lastly, if you would simply let the experts do their jobs, all of you could retire.

Pros

The products are good and some really great people work here. Having Nice colleagues make work life better and more pleasant.

Advice to Management

Sell while you still have some net worth. Your hard working employees will benefit.

Pros

None, Nothing available that is nice to share.

Pros

The product is good but stifled bc innovation is discouraged. The holiday party is fun. Sometimes there are bagels on Fridays but it's quickly forgotten when you take your last bite and you are then BS k under thumb of CEO

Advice to Management

Play golf and stay away from the office. Hire educated management and leave them to run your company.

Pros

Great place to work. Terrific pay and benefits. Creative fun environment. Management is always willing to listen and open to new ideas. Hard work is required but always noticed and rewarded.

Pros

Majority of people I work with are smart, capable, interesting, creative, team-focused, and a pleasure to interact with day-to-day. There is a decent employee discount, decent benefits, fun and meaningful outings that give back to the community, little perks like Friday bagels and fresh fruit Mondays, and a dog-friendly office. Yay on all of that!!

Advice to Management

There is something really special about this company and most of your employees see the potential. High-quality apparel, true concern about humanity on a micro and macro level. Business-wise some things need to change in order to continue to grow. There have been some steps in the right direction but it needs to continue and expand. You're on the edge of something really big... don't let the personal agenda yes men keep you from the growth and success you and your employees deserve. Trust your team. Don't assume they will fail you. Give them the opportunity to grow - you can afford the resources and I promise the return will be multi-fold.

Acknowledge, value, and promote the talent within before they are acknowledged and valued elsewhere.

Most of all ASSUME POSITIVE INTENT.

Pros

Since I have been working for Charles River for more than years. It organized well. The owner of the company and his family are every kindly to all employees. I am really happy to work here because this company have been grow up every year.

Advice to Management

management no need to change.

Pros

The company does a lot to welcome new employees and I really felt like I became part of the "family" my first few months. Over the past year I have been given numerous opportunities that are not in my job description that I would not have been given at a large company. The CEO genuinely cares about his company and puts in more time and effort then any other CEO I have worked for. He tries to make things fun for employees by always coming up with different ideas to keep things new and exciting....how many CEOs would take the time to make the office breakfast or smoothies just because he felt like it? My coworkers are genuine down to earth people that I love working with. I think my favorite part about CRA is the "open door" feel it has. I always feel I can go into the CEO or other members of management and talk about questions or concerns and its welcomed and encouraged.

Advice to Management

Make the atmosphere more relaxed so people who do their work and like their job don't feel so on edge...we are headed in an exciting direction, need to focus on the good employees and the positive and that will outweigh the bad.

Pros

This company is very family oriented. The Ceo cares about his employees esepically in their time of need. All of the employees are great and the benefits are good.