California Apparel News

Finance executive Debbie Steinberg spent nearly 40 years in fashion before retiring at the end of 2014.

“There’s always a time for the changing of the guard, and for me it was time. I’ve really retired,” she said. “But I’m not ready to remove myself from the industry in its entirety. I still love the industry, and I love the people in it.”

Steinberg worked for CIT Trade Finance in its Los Angeles office for more than 23 years, most recently serving as vice president of sales/new business development.

Prior to joining CIT, she worked as an account executive for Citizens & Southern, a factor that was eventually acquired by GMAC and then by Wells Fargo. She landed her first job in factoring in Los Angeles in 1976 at James Talcott Inc., a factor that ultimately was acquired by CIT.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Steinberg worked in Philadelphia for After Six Formalwear.

Over the years, she has watched the industry shift its business model. “The industry went from being a vertical domestic manufacturing industry to literally a design and import industry,” she said, adding that one thing that has not changed is the fashion industry’s endless supply of small businesses with big dreams.

“It is still an entrepreneurial industry that allows those with talents to be able to garner that American dream a lot easier than in a lot of other industries,” she said. “That needs to be nurtured because it takes so much money to start up a company these days. We’ve got a lot of these little companies, and we’ve seen more and more private-equity firms coming in and buying [larger] brands. I think there’s that middle area that really needs to be served—that $5 million to $15 million or $20 million company—that needs to be helped and nurtured and served. That was one of the things that I was able to do at the companies I worked for. Because the companies I worked for understood the industry, and they saw some of the pitfalls and were able to help companies grow and prosper.”

Since announcing plans to retire, Steinberg has been asked to consult for the industry, which she said she is considering, but she’s keeping her options open for now.

She plans to spend some of her newly acquired free time traveling with her husband, Stu.

“I’m going to look at every opportunity as it comes up. If it’s something that I want to do, I will take it under advisement,” she said.

The one commitment she’s prepared to make is to continue to use her deep apparel-industry roots to continue the philanthropic work she has done for organizations such as Fashion Industry Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, City of Hope and National Jewish Health, which honored Steinberg and Roth Capital Partners’ Paul Zaffaroni last year at its annual Black and White Ball.

Steinberg and Zaffaroni helped raise more than $500,000 for the Denver-based hospital, which specializes in research and treatment of respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders.

This year, Steinberg is the dinner chair for National Jewish Health’s June gala honoring Hana Financial’s Sunnie Kim.

“I’m still going to be very much involved in all three of [those organizations], sitting on boards and helping fundraise and being active in an advisory capacity,” Steinberg said. “The reality is that the generosity of clothing manufacturers, big and small, is really unbelievable. And these companies get hit up by everyone.

They’re always willing to go into their pocket to support these three charities that have their foundation in either the apparel industry or the professionals of the apparel industry.”