Rob Dubow, an industry giant, just passed away after a long illness at his home in Minnesota. He started Dubow Textile in 1991.  He had a brilliant business mind and a brilliant production mind. His facility was the most impressive facility I have ever set foot in, the best of the hundreds I’ve seen. He realized the value in software before most of us had hardly begun to think about it and his systems would be the envy of anyone seeing them in action. Dubow Textile has a dizzying array of decoration techniques, all involving the latest technology, both soft and hard goods from etching, to DTG, to DTF, to screenprinting.  The tracking they offer in their facility and after goods leave their facility is absolutely amazing. Rob and his family created that facility and those systems from a very humble start in a garage and made it into the decoration powerhouse it is today.

Personally, Rob was always generous with advice and information, and it always came with a twinkle in his eye, maybe a few expletives if they were deserved, and without exception with a few laughs. I don’t think I’ve met anyone more focused when it was called for and he was so insightful on business and production. He was in on the ground floor with much of the production software folks now take for granted as well as being a pioneer on utilization of SanMar’s PSST system, again now the norm for the industry. He didn’t just accumulate knowledge, you could always count on him for profound yet simply put insights that were uniquely his.

Rob leaves a big grieving family, many business associates, and many loyal friends. He definitely leaves our industry with a void, but he also leaves with many of us glad he passed our way.