Dick Farmer, chairman of the board of directors at Counselor Top 40 distributor Cintas Corporation (asi/162167), has announced his retirement from that position, effective immediately. Farmer, who founded Cintas in 1968, will remain on the board as chairman emeritus, while Robert Kohlhepp will assume the role of chairman. "There is no one who can surpass the standard of ethical and intellectual brilliance that Bob has brought to every position he has held in the company," said Farmer, in a statement. "I am confident that he, along with my son, Chief Executive Officer Scott Farmer, will see our company to continued success, with our rich culture serving as the foundation of that success."

Over the past 41 years, Dick Farmer has grown Cintas from a small uniform and towel supply business to the nation’s largest uniform company. A Nasdaq-100 company, Cintas’ sales approach $4 billion annually. The company, however, has not been insulated from the downturn in the economy. Cintas’ fiscal year that ended in May broke a 40-year streak of rising sales and profits that stretched back to its founding. Lately, though, the company’s stock price has recovered, rising more than 30% since July.

Kohlhepp, 66, a former Cintas vice chairman, first joined the company in 1967 as controller. In 1979, he was appointed executive vice president and in 1984 became president and COO. In 1995, he became CEO, the position he held until becoming vice chairman in 2003. Kohlhepp holds an MBA from Xavier University, where he was appointed chairman of the board of trustees in September. He also currently serves as director of Parker Hannifin Corporation in Cleveland.

Micheal Bernstock is the CEO of Superior.

Wearables: How was Superior Uniform Group founded?
Michael Bernstock: In 1920, Superior was founded in Northport, Long Island to "manufacture surgical, medical and hospital apparatus and equipment." During the first half of the 20th century Superior (then called Superior Surgical Mfg. Co Inc.) specialized in health-care apparel and became one of the leading companies in that vertical. After going public in 1968 and raising capital to expand its business, Superior started diversifying into other uniform products. Today, Superior is one of America’s most distinguished and respected providers of fine image apparel in a number of markets and categories.

Wearables: What types of products do you manufacture?
MB: Superior manufactures and distributes uniforms to all of its different business verticals from shoes to caps and everything in between. Chef apparel, hospitality uniforms from front of the house to back of the house, health-care scrubs, patient gowns and protective apparel, food service workers uniforms, chain store employee uniforms as well as police and many others wearing uniforms. More than 3 million people each day wear one of our branded apparel items during the course of their day. We support most marketplaces except the military and some of the higher tech fire-retardant categories.

Wearables: What has been the biggest challenge so far? 
MB: The economy has certainly presented challenges to top line growth. Our products are primarily utilized by America’s workforce. With near-record levels of unemployment and lower voluntary turnover levels, we must work harder and be more flexible to create increased demand for our products. In addition we are in a somewhat unique position of being able to focus our attention and capital on additional acquisitions. Our strategy this year has been to build a more solid foundation for the future, so that when business does turn around, we will be uniquely positioned to take advantage of it. This is a great time to invest in your business and work on strengthening your company’s identity.

Wearables: What would you say has been the reason for your increase in net earnings in the third quarter?
MB: Superior proved its agility by right-sizing its workforce and continuing on its path to in-source non-essential processes to its Central American subsidiary. In addition we were able to reduce our inventories in line with reduced customer requirements which resulted in significantly improved cash flow. This has allowed us to reduce interest costs and as a result to focus on other potential areas of improvement in processes and efficiency.