About Us: Botana & Gomez's Journey of Success

Our Timeline

1942 - William "Bill" Botana started as a warehouse worker for a women's apparel company. Bill, the aggressor and talented hard worker that he was, made quite an impression with owner Ms. Pat Primo, soon after he was promoted to warehouse manager and head manufacturer.

Caroline Gomez, with a well-established alterations and tailoring shop in East Los Angeles, agrees to make samples for Ms. Primo's private dress line. With the success of Ms. Primo's new line Caroline moves to a new and bigger location.

1952 - Sister Mary Judith, manager of six Marinol Schools, approaches Caroline to design school uniforms for all six schools.

1953 - Sister Mary Judith opens three more schools and uses Caroline to design the school uniforms once again. As a result Caroline moves to a new and bigger location. With all the new business, Caroline hires a staff to run the retail store and three seamstresses to assist her and to keep inventory for Ms. Primo's line.

That same year, a representative from the Los Angeles Archdiocese meets with Caroline and makes Botana & Gomez (B&G) the exclusive school uniform company for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The first school to sign on was St. Matthias Elementary School.

Concurrently Bill leaves Ms. Primo's company and begins cutting fabric for Caroline. Caroline's husband, Jim Gomez, leaves his career as a celebrated chef to assist Caroline with the family business as well. Word soon spreads of B&G's high quality uniforms. Bill makes political connections and hires a representative to make personal presentations to parent groups and within a short time B&G establishes a clientele of 362 schools throughout Los Angeles.

1971 - B&G has 220 employees, mostly family members. Business is great but in August, a fire wipes out more than half the inventory. Eventually B&G is able to recover from the fire and expands its line to cheerleading uniforms, athletic apparel, and Boy Scouts uniforms.

Present - Within the last two years, movie and television studios have begun contracting deals with B&G to provide uniforms for such projects as 7th Heaven, The Gilmore Girls, Murphy's Dozen, and Hearts in Atlantis, Strong Medicine, Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Bliss, Aces, and the Princess Diaries.

Today, with a business that spans three generations, B&G is still going strong. B&G services over 11,000 families in areas from San Fernando Valley to San Pedro/Torrance and from Santa Monica to San Dimas. With its prominent location in the heart of East Los Angeles we are near four major freeways (5, 710, 10, and 60).

Who is Botana & Gomez?

Botana & Gomez School Uniform Company is a family-owned business as well as a manufacturer and distributor of the finest quality apparel such as private and public school uniforms, athletic apparel, and Little League baseball jackets.

"Some people dream of success, while others like Botana & Gomez have worked hard at it for over 52 years." The essence of our success lies in the quality of our uniforms and the respect of parents and children who return year after year. For many years now B&G never fails to look for the best in others or to give the best of ourselves.

At B&G we instill our core values of honesty, respect, pride, commitment, quality of product, and quality of service to everything we do. We provide unique customer service.

B&G'S 3 Major Servicing areas:

Manufacturing Plant
At our manufacturing plant we produce boys and girls schools uniforms in mass quantities as well as most other apparels. We have 15-25 sewing machines, an in-house private cutter, an in-house presser, and tailored detailer. Our factory is 3,100 square feet.

Retail Store
During peak seasons, B&G hires and trains over 30 high school and college students as Sales Representatives. Caroline Gomez states, "There is much more to Botana & Gomez than what the public sees."

These thoughtful and committed Sales Representatives enjoy catering to the needs of parents who wish to buy quality uniforms that grow with their children. Each and every customer who is serviced by Botana & Gomez is assigned their personal Sales Representative who works with then on a one-on-one basis to explain the uniform process and dress code guidelines.

According to Caroline Gomez, "Everyone at Botana & Gomez loves what they do. A precious moment is created when you see a child try on a school uniform for the first time. It symbolizes a child's first opportunity to learn their educational potential and face one of their first responsibilities: to learn."

On-site Presentations
Our Sales Representatives also travel regularly to private and public schools where they give formal presentations and offer school uniforms at factory-direct prices as well as attending Back to School Nights, Open Houses, Carnivals, and Fundraiser/Donations to meet our clients needs.

Customer Service

Customer Service is the "lifeblood" of Botana & Gomez Company. It's not a department; it's an attitude.

Every Customer is special and receives the following service:

• A Personal Sales Representative.
• An appropriate fit for their children, yet prepared for future growth.
• A verification of their order to meet their particular policy regarding dress codes.
• Ability to make special requests.
• Thirty (30) day return policy.
• Custom made-to-fit garments of all sizes.
• One-year warranty on all garments and apparel sold.

and

• No problem is too big or small that we cannot solve.
• No minimum orders required.
• We are open year round.

The late William Botana once said, "Now that you have exhausted all possibilities, it's time to return to Botana & Gomez."