Celebrating 50 Years with Marty & Sharon Lott

January 29, 2021

Celebrating 50 Years with Marty & Sharon Lott

This year, SanMar is celebrating its 50th Anniversary and to kick things off, we talked with our founder, Marty Lott and his wife Sharon. Marty and Sharon started SanMar with $1 in the company’s checking account. From there they have worked together selling t-shirts at concerts, unloading boxes at warehouses and teaching their sons the ins and outs of the business.

In this episode, Marty and Sharon reveal how SanMar started with a backpack created for college students, discuss the challenges of running a family business and share how being a family…and being a SanMar family…has been at the core of what they’ve created.

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS EPISODE  

• What it means to Marty and Sharon for SanMar to celebrate half a century of operations this year.
• How they define success on their terms.
• Marty tells the story of the first backpack he created and how SanMar grew out of it.
• Sharon shares the story of the infamous yellow T-shirts.
• How they manage work-life balance in a family business.
• Why you should tie a rope around your tent.
• What Marty and Sharon love most about their SanMar family.

• “Fifty years has gone way too fast in my mind.”
• “Doing what makes you happy is success.”
• “My greatest joy now is watching my children be in the business.”
• “As long as you and your partner think alike, have the same goals and have the same values, you’ll be fine.”

• SanMar U: http://www.education.sanmar.com/
• SanMar’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sanmarcorp/
• SanMar’s Twitter: @sanmar_corp
• SanMar’s Instagram: @sanmar_corp