Then he followed what can only be described as a traditional apprenticeship, at first spending a few years in the factory learning about operations and how to sew, then going to New York where he learned how to sell, and then on trips abroad when the company developed its import business. “It was a lot of difficult work, but it was a phenomenal learning experience— my version of an MBA,” he says.

As if running the company isn’t enough, Howard is also the founder of Patterns For Progress®—a joint initiative with the international charitable organization CARE®, which is focused on helping mothers around the world become self-sufficient in providing clothes for their children.

It started when the company began donating dresses to the Grace Center for Children and Families in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Deeply touched by the impact the donations were having, Howard saw the potential of doing more when he learned about a program in India that sold pre-cut jeans components to individuals, who could take the kits to tailors and pay them a fraction of the cost of a pair of finished jeans. Since this was a commercial enterprise, which benefited the individual as well as the local economy, Howard recognized the potential in creating an entirely new program that empowered caregivers and created self sufficiency.

“We’re giving parents the tools to make their clothes, and it’s very rewarding to see how much we’re helping people who have had so little in their lives,” Howard says. “As I learned a long time ago, passion is the key to success.”