The Rubin family of M. Rubin & Sons, parent company of Counselor Top 40 supplier Blue Generation (asi/40653), has lived the epitome of the American dream.

In 1944, Milton Rubin, a native of Russia who had settled in New York, and wife Rose welcomed home their oldest son, Donald, who had been serving in World War II. Milton had a proposition for him: to go into retail apparel sales together.

From left: Milton’s sons Phil, Bob and Donald Rubin, with Phil’s son Eric, now the CEO of Blue Generation, second from right.

A butcher by trade, Milton saw opportunity in retail garments. So, he and Donald established M. Rubin & Son and sold surplus military jackets and outerwear in Manhattan. When middle son Bob returned from the war, he also joined – necessitating a name change to M. Rubin & Sons. They built a thriving business, eventually opening a manufacturing facility and showroom in the Big Apple.

Youngest son Phil, 10 years younger than Bob, had gone to college to become a lawyer. But the lure of the family business was strong, and he joined as well.

Just over a decade after the company opened its doors, however, disaster struck, and the future was less than certain. The manufacturing floor and warehouse on Broadway in Manhattan caught fire, resulting in a total loss.

The M. Rubin & Sons showroom in Manhattan in 1946.

“It was a different world back then,” says Eric Rubin, today the CEO of Blue Generation. “People wanted to help, and ‘the Rubin brothers,’ as they were known, were determined to rise from the ashes and come back stronger. And that’s what they did.”

In the decades following, the company diversified into a number of different apparel lines – like Alpine Guide for skiwear, Commando for military and industrial garments, Top Sail for sailing-inspired looks and the El Toro Bravo line of leather goods made in Mexico.

M. Rubin & Sons launched the El Toro Bravo line of Mexico-made leather goods in the 1960s.

Phil Rubin also introduced brightly colored men’s jackets – it was a hit.

“My dad brought fashion to the company,” says Eric. “Pro golfer Ken Venturi represented a line of their golfwear, and then he went on to win the U.S. Open in 1964. We had 10 colors of men’s jackets and by the time Blue Generation was founded in the 1990s, that’s a garment we were known for.”

Professional golfer Ken Venturi sporting a red jacket from M. Rubin & Sons.

They also began offering Sergio Valente denim in the 1980s, at a time when designer jeans were a consumer must-have.

By this time, Eric Rubin was firmly entrenched in the company. He had grown up there as “the kid around the warehouse,” watching his grandfather, father and uncles at work, but as a young man he had other plans. He got his master’s degree at NYU, just steps from the company’s manufacturing building and had dreams of heading to Wall Street. He even had a job offer. Then his father took him on a trip to Hong Kong to see production facilities there, and it changed his life.

“It was a world I just couldn’t believe,” he says. “My eyes opened up. I decided to join my father and uncles.”

Milton Rubin, founder of M. Rubin & Sons.

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Milton had retired and the retail market was changing rapidly. M. Rubin & Sons had been selling retail to major companies in the U.S., inspired by styles spotted on trips to Europe. Now, those companies, corporations like Target, were bringing design work in-house. The Rubins knew it was time to make a shift.

It just so happened that Eric had a contact in the wholesale industry who introduced the Rubins to apparel companies like Bodek & Rhodes and New England Sportswear that sold wholesale garments with embroidered imprints.

“I started dabbling in embroidered denim shirts,” says Eric. “We were in retail – we didn’t realize those shirts would be so popular.”

That was the beginning of Shirt USA, which offered embroidered denim shirts at low minimums. “People really started reacting to it,” says Eric. “We had global resources from retail, so we were buying from all over the world.”

A Shirt USA catalog with one of the company’s signature embroidered denim shirts.

In the mid-1990s, the Rubins established Blue Generation as its wholesale operation (the “blue” is a nod to the branded denim that had become so popular) and closed all other divisions under the M. Rubin & Sons name. Like their popular men’s jackets from the 1960s, the company launched branded button-downs in bright colors like yellow, purple and green, and were also one of the first industry suppliers to offer ladies’ companion styles. They did $2 million in their first year.

They now have a showroom in Long Island City, NY, and work with manufacturing facilities around the world – what began in China and Hong Kong has expanded to Egypt, Korea, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Kathmandu, Qatar, the UAE and Turkey. Diverse sourcing helped during recent supply chain snafus during COVID.

“We run a totally vertical operation,” says Eric. “We control everything from production of the yarn to delivery. We make our own buttons and tags. Our overseas warehouses offer quick turn times and superb quality.”

A few years later, Phil and son Eric bought out Donald and Bob. Under their leadership, the company has maintained its status as a Counselor Top 40 supplier, hitting $61.4 million in North American revenue in 2023 and ranking 31^st on Counselor’s list of the largest suppliers in the industry.

Now, Matt Rubin, Eric’s 27-year-old son, has joined as director of strategy. Previously with a software-as-a-service company in the commercial real estate sector, he recently traveled overseas with his dad and has attended industry trade shows and the company’s national sales meeting.

From left: Eric, Phil and Matt Rubin, who joined Blue Generation in May 2024.

“The option to join the company was always there for him, but we had to see where his heart was,” says Eric. “Each generation takes the business to a new level.”

Matt has hit the ground running, looking at ways to improve efficiencies, both internally and externally, and continue to offer top-notch customer service. “Eighty isn’t just a number,” Matt says of the company’s milestone anniversary. “It’s a testament to an enduring business that extends beyond bloodlines. We’ve thrived through challenges, and we live and breathe family values. It means so much to continue the legacy.”