Imagine having one of the biggest names in costume jewelry offer to take everything your factory could produce.
And saying no.
That is one of the stories Frank DeLizza tells in his memoir about DeLizza & Elster.
Frank recalls that Mr. Katz of Coro wanted D&E’s entire factory production — approximately $50,000 a month.
Frank’s father turned down that arrangement.
That did not mean DeLizza & Elster refused to do business with Coro. They did take Coro work. What his father did not want was for the factory to work exclusively for Coro.
He was concerned about becoming dependent on a single customer.
As Frank tells the story, D&E went on to have a good relationship with Coro for several years.
But eventually, that relationship came to an end.
And that was exactly the possibility Frank’s father had been concerned about when he refused to put the entire factory’s production into the hands of one company.
It is a small story in Frank’s memoir, but an insightful one.
D&E could welcome Coro as an important customer — without allowing Coro to become its only customer.
When that business relationship eventually came to an end, D&E still had other customers.
Sometimes the most interesting things Frank tells us about DeLizza & Elster have very little to do with rhinestones.
This one tells us something about how the family ran the business — and why independence mattered.
Source: Frank DeLizza memoir, page 48.
Necklace Made for Coro (Vendome is another division of Coro)