There is a company that has been part of many celebrations over the years — whether it is for

Christmas, a new family mem-ber, a good friendship or even celebrating and enhancing the beauty of an outdoor space. That company is Roman Inc., with over 45 years in the indus-try. Giftware News recently talk-ed with Roman President Dan Loughman about the company, its products and what he sees for the company’s future.

Giftware News: What is the origin of the name Roman?Dan Loughman: Roman is the first name of our founder’s, Ron Jedlinski’s, father. Roman Jedlinski owned a religious goods store in Chicago, and Jedlinski began his company selling prod-uct to other retailers out of the back of his father’s store. When it was time to actually give his business a name, Jedlinski chose “Roman Religious Goods” in tribute to his father. It has since been shortened to the current “Roman.”

GWN: Where do you see your company in the marketplace — what is your niche?DL: I see Roman continuing to serve the general gift and the inspirational markets. One of Roman’s greatest assets is our diverse product line we can offer to customers. It offers us protec-tion when the market has its various ups and downs (i.e. if Christmas is down, general gift could be up to offset it).

GWN: What changes have you

seen in the categories you offer?DL: In inspirational and gen-eral gift products, the design and quality of the merchandise continues to get better. When holes are created in the mar-ketplace, as we’ve seen over the past couple of years, you need to be careful what categories you introduce to not get too far from your base. We’ve tried a few new categories, and some have worked and some haven’t. Roman purchased Cottage Garden a few years ago, and this was a great move for both com-panies. Cottage Garden music boxes fit extremely well with the rest of Roman’s product line and sells into the same retailer base.

Customers still like the tra-ditional Christmas look. They want angels and Santas in reds, greens and ivorys; not every-thing can be whimsy. We have had success with LED lighted products and, of course, our Fontanini and Joseph’s Studio nativities.

Even during a recession, our retailers still see Roman offering big ticket items as people will continue looking for detailed, high quality product. For exam-ple, many of this year’s best selling items retail for $79.99 and above.

GWN: What are some of your best-selling products?DL: With our diverse brands, we have best selling products in sev-eral unrelated categories, such as Christmas, garden, babyand inspirational, among others.

GWN: So Roman has several brands that it offers?

62 GIFTWARE NEWS giftwarenews.com

Roman bRings giftwaRe foR celebRations laRge and small

SentimentFrom the Amusements collection

From the popular Glitterdome collection

Dan Loughman, president and chief execu-tive officer

Part of the Joseph Studio Collection

Sharing

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DL: Correct. In Christmas, we do extremely well with Glitterdomes, Acrylics and our Amusements, which are lighted, mechanical and musical tabletop items. Our 103-year-old Fontanini brand has the widest selection of nativities and nativity figures in the market. Our Joseph’s Studio brand was created only five or six years ago and is now a major player in general Christmas, nativities, garden and is the number one inspirational figure line in the market. Our general giftware brand still contains some of the most traditional and best selling inspirational product in the company. This gets supplemented each year with hundreds of new baby, wedding and everyday items.

For Cottage Garden, the new digital music boxes have been a huge hit, and the tradi-tional boxes and framed sentiment continue to sell extremely well.

GWN: How do you attract new customers and serve your current market? DL: Roman offers good, quality products, and that is the best way to attract new customers. We stick with what Roman is good at and continually strive to make improvements and innovate. No matter what happens with the economy, consumers will celebrate Christmas and want gifts with sentiment for other occa-sions throughout the year. We provide excel-lent customer service, and Roman is consis-tently ranked in the top 10 for our customer service in retailer surveys. Customer service is all about people — from the salesman that takes the order, to the coordinator that answers retailers’ questions over the phone, to the packer on the line boxing up the order.

GWN: Where does Roman fit into today’s digital age?DL: Roman created its wholesale website (retailers.roman.com) for retailers to utilize seven years ago, and it has been a great resource for our customers. Our consumer information website (roman.com) has been around much longer, and just received a face-lift this summer. We have one of the most

comprehensive websites for our sales force to use to give them information to better service our customers. We have put a good amount of effort into our Facebook page to provide another avenue for information on programs and new introductions.

GWN: We hear you have an upcoming cel-ebration on the horizon?DL: Yes, Roman will be celebrating its 50 year anniversary in 2013. I’m very proud of the fact that Roman has evolved over the years and stood the test of time while some other companies haven’t been able to. Hopefully, my wife, Julie, and I will be able to pass this company along to our children for them to celebrate the 75th and 100th anniversaries.

Roman, Inc. is a leading producer and exclu-sive distributor of more than 4,000 gifts and decorative accessories. Among the larg-est privately owned and operated firms in the industry, Roman offers a vast array of Christmas decorations and a wide range of inspirational, special occasion, and year-round giftware. Roman products are sold through specialty retailers, upscale depart-ment stores, select mail-order catalogs, gift shops and internet sites.

In operation for more than 45 years, Roman is the inspiration of Ron Jedlinski. His business was born in 1963 with $500 and an old station wagon full of inspira-tional products. He quickly carved his niche in the religious articles and giftware mar-ketplace and subsequently expanded into wedding, anniversary, baby, christening and retirement products.

As his organization grew, the compa-ny evolved into Roman Religious Goods, Inc., followed by the current Roman, Inc. Product categories expanded into collect-ibles, Christmas, garden and other every-day categories over time. Roman purchased Cottage Garden Collections, most known for their top of the line music boxes and framed sentiment pieces, in the fall of 2008.

While Ron serves as chairman, ownership and management of the company has passed onto the next generation of the Jedlinski family. His daughter, Julie and her husband, Dan Loughman, are co-owners and serve on the Family Board. Dan Loughman is the company’s president and chief executive offi-cer. Julie’s mother, Diane, also serves on the Family Board.

With five corporate showrooms through-out the U.S. (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Minneapolis), interna-tional distributors in Australia and the UK, and a U.S./Canadian sales force dedi-cated to Roman products and its retailers, the company is a shining example of the vitality of the American dream. Roman’s office and warehouse facilities are located in Bloomingdale, IL.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 201163

By Barbara WujcikSentiment From the New Baby collection

From Fontanini, a 103-year old brand

A ribbon cutting in January celebrating the new Dallas showroom.

A painting depicts where it all began

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