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INNOVATE
10 •
PPB
• FEBRUARY 2016
INNOVATE
PROFILE
FASHIONABLY LATE
HOW SUPPLIER SCULLY FINALLY FOUND THE PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS INDUSTRY
BY JULIE RICHIE
F DAN SCULLY’S GRANDFATHER HADN’T lost a bet in 1906, Scully Inc. (UPIC: S174962) might
never have come to be the successful apparel, accessory and Western wear company it is today.
“My grandfather had started his own glove manufacturing company in Napa, California, but there was
another glove manufacturer in town and the two business owners quickly realized there wasn’t enough business for
both of them,” Scully says. So they flipped a coin to see who would stay and who would go.
After being on the losing end of
that coin flip, Scully’s grandfather
relocated to Los Angeles, where he
expanded his company’s product line
to include leather jackets and flying
helmets in addition to gloves, and his
business thrived. The company outfit-
ted Rear Admiral Richard Byrd’s team
for its famed 1928 expedition to
Antarctica to establish a scientific
research base camp on the Ross Ice
Shelf—“I still have the original certifi-
cate of appreciation,” Scully says—and
supplied aviator jackets and flying hel-
mets for WWI and WWII pilots.
Both items are on display at The
Smithsonian Institute.
Dan Scully (third from left), his wife, Laney
(second from left), their sons Brian (left),
Dan IV (third from right) and Kevin (fourth
from left) and their families celebrate the
Fourth of July in Scully shirts from the
company’s Patriot collection.
I