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DON'T START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME
Wells Lange remembers the firing of
the shot heard 'round the world: Sunbrella. The
introduction of Sunbrella
way back in 1961 amounted to nothing less than a revolution in
fabrics, and WCPA honorary lifetime member Wells Lange was there
for the unfurling of the sheet heard 'round the world. Lange at
the time an independent sales rep for Glen Raven Mills, the
originator of Sunbrella
was a passionate promoter of the new fabric.
Born in San Francisco and raised in
Los Angeles, Lange started his career in the New York textile
industry following his 1951 graduation from UCLA and a stint in
the Army. He worked a number of years for Milliken, then as now a
major textile company. That firm transferred him from its New York
office to Cleveland and, later, to Los Angeles. In 1959, Lange
left Milliken to become an independent rep in partnership with one
Frank Swirles Jr. A while later, Roger Gant Jr. of Glen Raven Mills approached
Lange and Swirles with an offer to represent his division's fabric
products to the West Coast awning and marine markets.
"This was just before they came out
with Sunbrella, which
quickly changed the entire face of the fabric world where awnings
and boat covers were concerned," Lange remembers. "When I got
started in the business, almost 99% of the fabric going to the
awning and marine markets was cotton duck just the same as was
true 100 years before then. It was basically the same product in
use during the Civil War."
BIG DOUBTS
A problem for Glen Raven in the initial
months following the debut of
Sunbrella was that fabricators almost universally doubted its
performance promises. "Hardly anybody could be convinced that
Sunbrella would hold up to
exposure to the elements," says Lange. "People had been burned in
the past by the unfounded claims of other mills that this or that
improvement to their cotton duck product would allow the fabric to
perform as never before. People figured Sunbrella was just
another in a long line of disappointments."
Faced with that hurdle, Glen Raven took the risky
step of warranting Sunbrella
against fading or failure of any kind for a period of five years
after installation. "There were predictions that Glen Raven would go
bankrupt by having to honor this guarantee," Lange tells. As
history attests, those predictions never came to pass. Just the
opposite occurred, in fact, and
Sunbrella soon thereafter emerged as the new gold standard in
awning and marine fabrics.
GOLDEN YEARS
In 1994, Lange retired (a move
which, incidentally, cleared the way for his son, WCPA Southeast
Regional Director Bart Lange, who'd been working with him for a
number of years prior, to step into a full-time position with Glen
Raven). Currently,
Lange spends his days steeped in vacation travel. Most recently,
for instance, he and his wife Betty took a trip to Bermuda. He's
also out on the tennis courts five days a week. Biking and hiking
figure into the picture as well.
However, Lange still maintains ties
to the fabric industry through his capacity as a member of the
board of directors for the
Seaman Corp., a firm he also rep'd during his career heyday.
"Over the years, I've had the pleasure of working with the most
wonderful people in the world, both at the mills I've represented
and among the customers to whom I've sold product, "he says. "So
many of them are gone now. But it was my good fortune to have
become friends with them. Those are friendships I've always
treasured, just as I treasure the friendships I continue to enjoy
to this day." |
