Malcolm Gullish
A Natural Born Teacher

With over 30 years in the apparel manufacturing industry and a burning desire to teach, FIDM and evening instructor Malcolm Gullish were a perfect match. " I always wanted to be a teacher," says Gullish, "but I got diverted from that in my youth. I've had a lifelong desire to teach." Malcom’s day job is Vice President of Tukatech, Inc., the fourth largest manufacturer of apparel-related computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology in the world. Gullish deals with products such as automatic spreaders, automatic cutters, and computerized integrated manufacturing technology, which is state-of-the-art in the apparel industry today and what students will be faced with when they enter the job market.

Gullish grew up in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from C.U.N.Y's Bernard Baruch School of Business before entering the family concern—a Fruit of the Loom apparel manufacturing franchise. "I've done everything in the business," says Gullish, who ran a juniors company of his own in the 1980s and also owned a chain of retail stores before getting into technology sales and marketing. It's an especially great background for an instructor of Apparel Manufacturing Techniques. "I teach everything in apparel manufacturing from merchandising, specification sheets, costing analysis, and how to do it in the new technology with PDM—that's product data management." As a former motivational speaker and senior sales executive, Gullish brings definite expertise to his course on Wholesale Selling. "I incorporate the psychology of selling along with selling techniques, and that I'm really passionate about. I've taken my knowledge in manufacturing and directed it to selling."

As an evening instructor, Gullish has the opportunity to work with students who are really motivated. "I'm extremely impressed with the dedication that the students have," he says. "They come to me late in the day and they're tired, but the most impressive thing is that they're electing to learn instead of go home and watch Friends. To come in and focus their attention at the end of a long day is fabulous. People who work in the industry really know the value of what that education is going to give them—an opportunity to re-engineer themselves."

And what important message do students take away from Gullish's courses at FIDM? According to Gullish, "I think what they learn is that given the skills and given the techniques and given the proper beliefs in themselves, there's no way they can fail. It's a great industry and a great country. Success is inevitable!"

Please Note: The information contained herein was confirmed at the time of original publication