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A ha-ha at Hanna's expense

If you've ever perused apparel cataloger Hanna Andersson's holiday editions and wondered what kind of dysfunctional family would pose for a photo wearing matching long johns, you're not alone. We were amused at the following November post on Bloggingbaby.com: “I got the latest Hanna Andersson catalog this afternoon. The cover features a family wearing coordinating long underwear, which is a signature look of Hanna for kids. But a grown man in brightly striped long underwear? I have to be honest it makes me laugh so hard to imagine my husband in a set of these pajamas, I'm almost tempted to buy him a pair and force him to wear them long enough to get a picture… Tell me, do you know any grown man who wears striped Hanna pajamas? Someone must be buying them since they're in the catalog every time, who is it?…” Interesting enough, while a few readers in the follow-up posts copped to owning the matching long underwear, and a few others said they'd never wear them (or rather, that their husbands would never wear them), the majority said they would actually buy Hanna's long underwear for their men if it were more affordable. One poster noted that seeing her husband in the striped suit would be a riot, but “not $74 worth of riot, plus shipping.”

J. Crew shedding its fur

After a barrage of antifur protests, petitions, and letters to the company spearheaded by animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), apparel cataloger/retailer J. Crew Group announced on Nov. 30 that it will no longer sell products made with fur. PETA, which began the campaign on Sept. 12, says it targeted J. Crew because the marketer sources its fur from China, where no laws protect animals on fur farms. PETA held a series of “die-ins,” protests outside J. Crew stores that included nearly nude PETA members covered in fake blood. Perhaps the final straw was PETA's Nov. 25 “Fur-free Friday” in Norfolk, VA, which involved protesters holding posters showing skinned animals and handing “J. Cruel” literature to passersby. For its part, New York-based J. Crew said in a statement that it had made the decision to ditch fur about a month before for business reasons and that the move was not related to PETA's campaign. That sounds like Pee-wee Herman saying “I meant to do that” after he fell off his bike, but whatever — we wouldn't want to be on PETA's bad side either.

Ode to George

Consultant Mark Amtower, founder of Highland, MD-based Amtower & Co., pays tribute to George Mosher (below) of Milwaukee-based mailer National Business Furniture. Mosher, who cofounded National Business Furniture with his wife, Julie, 30 years ago, recently sold it to Germany-based Takkt and is retiring as of Jan. 2.

My history with National Business Furniture dates back to 1994, when I spoke at my first Direct Marketing to Business conference and two of its staffers attended my session. A few months later the company signed on as a client. While I was on the first of many trips to Milwaukee, George took me aside and told me not to take offense but that he would be working with me for only one year. This was based on his theory about consultants: Every consultant has three ideas, and at the end of a year you'll have them all. But we ended up working together for eight of the past 11 years.

George never seemed to stop thinking or doing, tinkering with one of the more profitable b-to-b catalog firms around, and he was always looking at the processes. The result was usually a more profitable operation. On one visit, I saw that everyone had a printout from the customer database. The marketers had printed the entire customer file for a manual dedupe, and everyone in the company, from receptionist to CFO, got a chunk of the data to dedupe. When I walked into George's office, there was a chunk on his desk too, with a yellow highlighter on top, dupes properly noted. He explained that this was not simply a good way to dedupe but also a great way for his employees to familiarize themselves with the customers.

George Mosher is his own man, defined by his own terms. He was driven more by curiosity than anything else. I have profited from our relationship in so many ways it is hard to find a simple way to say thanks, so I will say this: Godspeed, my friend, and may all havens be welcoming and safe for you and Julie.