Industry Leaders
Is Joe Really Retiring?
Joe Friedlander insists that he is retiring… well, he is but only about ninety percent (90%). So… what is next for Joe? What happens to Joe’s company?
Joe is the owner of New York-based Friedlander Sewing Machine Co., Inc., a third-generation family-owned business specializing in industrial sewing machines.
For over 95 years, Friedlander Sewing Machine Co. has been buying and selling used and new machinery for the sewn products industry. Originally Friedlander Sewing Machine Co. serviced and rented machinery and auxiliary equipment to the ever-expanding New York City garment trade. As manufacturing was relocating to the southern part of the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, Joe’s father, Sid Friedlander, the second-generation owner, expanded the business outside of its New York area home base. Sid’s travels were so extensive that he was often called the “Henry Kissinger” of the used sewing machine industry.
During the summers while Joe was in high school and then in college at Northwestern University, he worked with his dad. After graduating from Northwestern in 1974 with a degree in industrial engineering he joined his dad full-time. In 1995 he took over the company.
Joe made his first overseas trip to Europe in 1979 to source good used machines which were hard to find in the expanding American manufacturing market. Sewing machines (capital equipment) in Europe could be amortized over three years while seven years was required for amortization in the U.S. Therefore a lot of good quality late-model machines were available for purchase on a more frequent basis. Subsequent trips to places like Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand followed in the search for more saleable machines.
With the passage of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in 1994, large numbers of American apparel manufacturing companies began either closing up or moving their production out of the United States. This created an opportunity to purchase this now abundant quantity of second-hand machinery which could then be exported to growing markets such as Mexico, Europe, Central America, South America, and eventually China.
This model worked until 2004 when the available inventory had been depleted and China became an industrial sewing machine manufacturing powerhouse capable of producing their own manufacturing equipment with the capacity to export it as well. After closing his New York City location in early 2001 Joe worked at Superior Sewing Machine And Supply Corp. through most of that year. The Friedlander business was then relocated to Long Island, New York.
Friedlander Sewing Machine became the exclusive U.S. agency for the Chinese-made Highlead brand of industrial sewing machines. These high-quality machines with an emphasis on heavy-duty stitching for the leather, upholstery, canvas, and automotive trades are available and sold only through local dealers and distributors.
In 2016 Joe formed a partnership with Mark Cantrell of C and C Enterprise in Sparta, Tennessee to lay a foundation for cooperation and continued growth. After 54 years in the sewing machine industry, Joe realized it was time to step back and plan for retirement. In January of 2021 C and C took over as the sole distributor of the Highlead brand industrial machines for the American market.
Joe continues to stock and sell industrial sewing machine gauge sets for different machine styles on a wholesale basis to dealers and distributors only. You can still reach out to him for assistance or information.
About the Highlead Brand
Shanghai Biaozhun Hailing Sewing Machinery Co., Ltd. (Highlead) specializes in producing and selling Highlead brand industrial sewing machines. Currently, Highlead has a staff of 200 and a work area of 250,000 square feet. Highlead started cooperating with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. of Japan in December of 1993. This greatly increased the quality standard, R & D, and manufacturing capability.
With the successful adaptation of the Japanese modern management system, Highlead can now offer over 36 series and more than 300 different models. In addition to domestic consumption, these machines are sold to over sixty countries and regions around the world.
For more information on the Highlead brand or machine gauge sets, visit the Friedlander Sewing Machine Co. or C and C Enterprise websites. NE