Over the past 78 years, A. Feibusch Corp/Zipperstop has been a leading supplier in the Sewing/Garment Industry. We offer a variety of sewing and craft products ranging from zippers, thread, Swarovski rhinestones, ribbon & more! We are most known for our YKK Zippers but expanded greatly into the sewing industry, offering our customers a one-stop-shop for all their sewing needs.

Being a zipper company, when the COVID-19 pandemic initially began, our zipper business, which has been around since 1941, basically went to a halt. Not only being a zipper company but also being a small, 4th generation family business we needed to figure out how we can help the community and how we can ensure our small, family business can survive this pandemic, all without letting any of our employees who have been with us for several years go. We began to hear stories from customers, social media, and people all over the country of making/sewing masks, since finding them online or in the stores was nearly impossible. We turned our Zipper company into an elastic company overnight. We started shipping elastic all over the world to people sewing masks, as the part that goes over your ears. We also were able to offer our customers sewing supplies, such as sewing needles so they can complete their masks for hospitals, communities, neighbors, family, and friends. Elastic was impossible to find, and with businesses shut down in NYC, we came together and practiced social distancing, Ubering our employees in from all over NY, to get elastic out to these amazing people as fast as we possibly could while staying safe and healthy. Working 7 days a week, around the clock, we all came together during this difficult time.

Being unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown of NYC and the country, we needed to think fast to develop a plan that would make sure we would not go out of business after 78 years. We started researching what people needed to make masks and how can we get them these products in a timely manner, while keeping our employees safe. The product with the most demand was Elastic. We turned our zipper business into an elastic business, buy bringing in enough elastic to get to people all over the country and the world. We wanted to help out the best way we knew how. We were able to promote our new initiative on social media, and market places, such as Etsy and Amazon. Also, the biggest promotion was word of mouth. We were getting new customers all over the country from word of mouth from their friends, sewing communities, and people just trying to help make masks. It was so nice to see the whole country come together.

My grandfather started our family business on December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor Day) at the age of 16, with $100 to his name. He escaped the Nazis in Austria and came to America with nothing. He started off working in a grocery store, then he used to work for a zipper business and realized if his boss can do this, so can he. He started A. Feibusch Corp right away. He went back to fight in WWII, where he was wounded and received the Purple Heart, and came back to NY and ran the business with his mother, and eventually, my grandmother, and then my father, and now my husband and I are all part of this amazing story. My grandfather did not let anything take down our business. He used to even take zippers out of used clothing to stay in business. He made it through the tough times after September 11, two fires, and much more. He worked until the age of 94. He was our true inspiration through all of this. I know he would be so proud of how we handled this devastating time.

We have seen such amazing, positive, and uplifting results from this initiative. The most rewarding results are the amazing emails, calls, pictures, and feedback from our customers, telling us how it's so amazing that we are keeping the garment district alive, and how we are helping them make masks for nurses, sick patients, the elderly, family, friends, and neighbors. We are so happy the changes we made to our everyday business are helping the country right now stay safe.

We define success for this by the rewarding feedback we receive from existing and new customers. We also define success by making it through this Pandemic with ALL of our employees still working for us, all healthy and safe. We also define the success by being able to stay open as an essential business during this time and getting the essential supplies like elastic and other face mask supplies to people around the country trying to help by sewing. We define success by being to keep our doors open, the door my grandfather opened up over 75 years during the Pearl Harbor and WWII difficult times.

The biggest challenges have been the challenges that came along with the pandemic. Having our employees come in each day, we need to make sure everyone was able to feel safe here and at home to ensure the safety of all our employees and their families. At the beginning of the pandemic, we were only having our employees coming in a few times a week in rotations to make everyone feel more comfortable about social distancing. It was challenging to get out all the orders as fast as we wanted to. We worked 7 days a week just packing and shipping out face mask supplies. It was definitely stressful at the peak of Covid-19 in NY, while everyone was staying home, and we were coming into work every day to get out the goods to everyone around the country. It seemed like we were one of very few companies to stay open in our industry in the USA, so we were trying to just keep up the best we could.

I think the best way to learn is to listen. We listened to our customers and people on social media, friends, and family. We realized by listening to them, that we can help. I think if people asked "how can I help" especially with the resources they have, they will be amazed at what they can do.