About Lakeland Industries

Lakeland Industries, Inc. (Lakeland) manufactures and sells a comprehensive line of protective clothing and accessories for the industrial and public protective clothing market. All Lakeland products either protect the wearer from something in their environment or protect a product or process from the wearer. The company's products must meet minimum performance requirements defined by industry best practice, and/or international or local standards. The company's products are sold globally by the company's in-house sales teams, the company's customer service group, and authorized independent sales representatives to a global network of over 1,600 safety and industrial supply distributors. The company's authorized distributors supply end users, such as integrated oil, chemical/petrochemical, automobile, transportation, steel, glass, construction, smelting, heavy and light industry, cleanroom, janitorial, pharmaceutical, and high technology electronics manufacturers, as well as scientific, medical laboratories and the utilities industries (electrical, natural gas, and water). In addition, the company supplies federal, state and local governmental agencies and departments, such as fire and law enforcement, airport crash rescue units, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Internationally, the company sells to a mixture of end users directly, and to industrial distributors depending on the particular country and market. Sales are made into more than 50 foreign countries, the majority of which are into China, countries within the European Economic Community ('EEC'), Canada, Chile, Argentina, Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, India, the Middle East and countries within Southeast Asia. The company has seven revenue generating reportable geographic segments: USA Operations, Other Foreign, Europe (UK), Mexico, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. On December 2, 2022, the company acquired the U.K.-based Eagle Technical Products Limited ('Eagle'). Eagle is a leading designer and provider of protective apparel to the fire and industrial sectors. Eagle provides differentiated product offerings through its innovative and technical solutions. The acquisition enhances the company's product portfolio, particularly within fire service protective clothing, and expands the company's sales presence in the Middle East and Europe. Business Strategy The key elements of the company's strategy are to improve sales & marketing in existing markets; introduce new products; and increased focus on fire service. Products The following is a description of the company's core product offerings: Firefighting and Heat Protective Apparel The company manufactures an extensive line of UL certified, NFPA compliant, structural firefighter protective apparel (turnout gear) for domestic and foreign fire departments. The company's turnout gear is available both in standard stock patterns and custom configurations. The company offers basic firefighter turnout gear in the Attack (A10) and Battalion (B1) styles. Introduced in 2013 are the Battalion ('B2') style with advanced ergonomic features and the Stealth style, with innovative features new to the fire industry. The company also manufactures each of the above styles in the company's UL certified, NFPA compliant, Proximity line for Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting ('ARFF') with aluminized shells. The company manufactures full lines of Fire service extrication suits in FR cotton, UL certified, NFPA compliant Wildland firefighting apparel in multiple fabrics and Aluminized Kiln entry/Approach suits to protect industrial workers from extreme heat encountered in foundry's, boiler rooms, and direct fired ovens. The company manufactures fire suits (turnout gear) at its facilities in China and Mexico. The company's Lakeland Fire brand of firefighting apparel continues to benefit from ongoing research and development investment, as the company seeks to address the ergonomic needs of stressful occupations. High-End Chemical Protective Suits The company manufactures and sells heavy duty chemical protective suits and protective apparel from the company's proprietary CRFR, ChemMax 3, 4, Interceptor and other fabrics. These suits are worn by individuals on hazardous material teams and within general industry to provide protection from powerful, highly concentrated, toxic and/or potentially lethal chemicals and biological toxins. These suits are useful against toxic wastes at Superfund sites, toxic chemical spills or biological discharges, chemical or biological warfare weapons (such as sarin, anthrax or ricin and mustard gas) and chemicals and petro-chemicals present during the cleaning of refineries and nuclear facilities, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in industrial applications, and protection from infectious diseases, such as Avian Flu and Ebola. The company offers the most complete line of chemical protective garments available on the market. Garments are certified to both NFPA, CE, and ISO, as well as other international standards allowing the company to offer products composed of these fabrics all over the world. The company's ChemMAX 3, 4 and Interceptor fabrics are supported by PermaSure, an app based chemical database and permeation modeler that allows the company's customers to quickly determine the safe use time for supported Lakeland garments, under specific environmental conditions for over 4,000 chemicals. This tool allows Lakeland customers to safely minimize the chemical protective clothing cost by not having to default to the most protective garments available because chemical data is not available, or because there is not time to consult with the manufacturer. PermaSure can be used to model response scenarios so that contingency plans for response can be put in place. Limited Use/Disposable Protective Clothing The company manufactures a complete line of limited use/disposable protective garments, including coveralls, laboratory coats, shirts, pants, hoods, aprons, sleeves, arm guards, caps and smocks. Limited use garments can also be coated or laminated to increase splash protection against harmful inorganic acids, bases and other hazardous liquid and dry chemicals. Limited use garments are made from several different nonwoven fabrics. The company uses spunbonded polypropylene (SBPP), spunbonded meltblow spunbond (SMS), hydroentangled woodpulp/polyester, and needlepunched fabrics. These fabrics can be used alone or in combination with films of varying composition, and/or topical chemical treatments to make the company's own trademarked fabrics, like Pyrolon Plus 2, XT, CRFR, CBFR MicroMax, MicroMax NS, CleanMax, Safegard, Zonegard, and ChemMax 1, 2, 3, and 4, as well as the company's patented Interceptor fabric. The company incorporates many sewing, heat sealing and taping techniques depending on the level of protection needed in the end use application. Typical users of these garments include integrated oil/petrochemical refineries, chemical plants, automotive manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, construction companies, coal, gas and oil power generation utilities and telephone utility companies, laboratories, mortuaries and governmental entities. Numerous smaller industries use these garments for specific safety applications unique to their businesses. Additional applications include protection from viruses and bacteria, such as Ebola, AIDS, streptococcus, SARS, hepatitis, and COVID-19 at medical facilities, laboratories, and emergency rescue sites. Clean manufactured and sterilized versions of the company's MicroMAX NS product, trademarked CleanMax, is used in aseptic laboratories to protect both the wearer and the product from cross contamination. Durable Woven Garments The company manufactures and markets a line of durable, launderable woven garments that complement the company's firefighting and heat protective offerings and provide alternatives to the company's limited use/disposable protective clothing lines. These products provide the company access to the much larger woven industrial and health care-related markets. Woven garments are favored by customers for certain applications because of familiarity with and acceptance of these fabrics. These products allow the company to supply and satisfy a wider range of its end users' safety needs. The company's product lines include the following: electrostatic dissipative apparel used in electronics clean rooms; flame resistant (FR) meta aramid, para aramid and FR cotton coveralls/pants/jackets used in petrochemical, refining operations, and electrical utilities; cotton and polycotton coveralls, lab coats, pants and shirts; and FR fabrics containing blends of cotton, Modacrylic, meta aramid, para aramid, and viscose. The company manufactures woven garments at its facilities in China, Mexico and Argentina. The company is continuing to relocate its woven protective coveralls and flame-retardant coveralls to the company's facilities in China, Mexico, Vietnam and India where lower fabric and labor costs allow increased profit margins. High Visibility Clothing Lakeland's High-Visibility Division manufactures and markets a comprehensive line of reflective apparel meeting the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) requirements, as well as multiple national standards around the world. The line includes vests, T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, coats, raingear, jumpsuits, hats and gloves. Fabrics available include solid and mesh fluorescent, polyester, both inherently FR and FR treated fabrics, and Modacrylic materials, which meet the arc flash protective requirements for use by electrical utilities. The mesh modacrylic fabric, with its inherent FR capability, has a strong appeal to utility workers in warmer climates during spring and summer months (heat prostration). The company's High Vis FR/ARC rated rainwear is light-weight, soft, flexible and breathable, providing for a cooler garment. This product is intended for the Gas and Electrical Utility markets. The Lakeland ARC-X FR/PU garment exceeds all of the required ASTM arc flash and flash fire ratings for the Electric and Gas Utility market. The company's vest production occurs in its facilities in Mexico and China. Much of this manufacturing is for custom products. Many corporations and agencies, such as State Departments of Transportation and large electric utilities, develop custom specifications which they feel are more efficient in meeting their specific needs than off-the-shelf product. The company can also import significant quantities of product from China and Mexico to meet the demand for items in high volume commodity markets. In addition to ANSI Reflective items, Lakeland Hi-Visibility manufactures Nomex and FR cotton garments which have reflective trim attached as a part of their design criteria. These garments typically are used in rescue or extrication operations, such as those encountered as a result of vehicular accidents. Garments in this group are not as price sensitive as those in other reflective categories. Gloves and Sleeves The company manufactures and sells specially designed glove and sleeve products made from Kevlar, a cut and heat resistant fiber produced by DuPont, Spectra, a cut resistant fiber made by Honeywell, and the company's own patented engineered yarns. These gloves offer a better overall level of protection, lower worker injury rate, and are more cost effective than traditional leather, canvas or coated work gloves. These gloves allow workers to safely handle sharp or jagged unfinished sheet metal, are used primarily in the automotive, glass and metal fabrication industries. The company has patents for its Despro and Despro Plus products that provide greater cut and abrasion protection to the areas of a glove where injury is most likely to occur. For example, the areas of the thumb, thumb crotch and index fingers are made of heavier yarn than the balance of the glove, providing increased wear protection and longer glove life, reducing overall glove costs. This proprietary manufacturing process allows the company to produce the company's gloves more economically and provide a greater value to the end user. Marketing and Sales Domestically, the company employs a field sales force, organized in four vertical sales groups (industrial sales, fire service, critical environment, and utilities), to better support customers and enhance marketing. The company further leverages its in-house sales team with independent sales representatives to a global network of over 1,600 safety and industrial supply distributors who buy the company's products for resale and typically maintain inventory at the local level in order to assure quick response times and the ability to serve their customers properly. Internationally, Lakeland has sales representatives in 21 countries outside of the U.S. and sells products into more than 50 countries. The company's sustainable market advantages continue to be the company's knowledge of global standards, the diversity of the company's product offering and the fact that the company manufactures its own products. The company provides its customers with an exceptionally broad product selection, high quality, and excellent customer service. Patents and Trademarks The company owns 20 patents and have one patent in the application and approval process with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The company owns 56 trademarks and have six trademarks in the application and approval process. The company's active U.S. patents expire between 2023 and 2037. International and Domestic Standards Lakeland sits on committees and/or works closely with groups involved in writing many international standards such as the American Society for Testing and Materials International ('ASTM'), the National Fire Protection Association ('NFPA'), International Safety Equipment Association ('ISEA'), the European Committee for Standardization ('CEN'), ISO, the China National Standards Board ('GB') in China, and the Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand ('ASNZ'). Seasonality The company's operations have historically been moderately seasonal, with higher sales generally occurring in March, April and May when scheduled maintenance on nuclear, coal, oil and gas fired utilities, chemical, petrochemical and smelting facilities, and other heavy industrial manufacturing plants occurs, primarily due to moderate spring temperatures and low energy demands. Sales decline during the warmer summer vacation months and gradually increase from Labor Day through the fall with slight declines again during holidays, such as Christmas and the Chinese New Year. As a result of this seasonality in the company's sales, the company has historically experienced a corresponding seasonality in the company's working capital, specifically inventories, with peak inventories occurring between December and May, coinciding with lead times required to accommodate the spring maintenance schedules. Certain of the company's large customers seek sole sourcing to avoid sourcing their requirements from multiple vendors whose prices, delivery times and quality standards differ. In recent years, due to increased demand by first responders for the company's chemical suits and fire gear, the company's growing sales into the southern hemisphere, and the company's development of non-seasonal products like CleanMAX, the company's historical seasonal pattern has shifted. Competition Where larger competitors, such as DuPont, Kimberly Clark, Ansell, MSA and Honeywell, offer products that are directly competitive with the company's products. History Lakeland Industries, Inc. was founded in 1982. The company was incorporated in 1982.