Ski Slopes Figured in Creation of Company : Loss of income by his son and desire for financial stability caused entrepreneur to launch Anaheim label-printing business.

A skiing accident helped push K. Ivan Narragon into his own business.

Narragon, 57, and his son had been selling labels to consumer-product manufacturers and were getting tired of the feast-or-famine life of commissioned sales, he said.

The frustration spurred action in 1985 when Narragon’s son collided with another skier on the slopes at Lake Tahoe. His son, Ivan L. Narragon, now 38, suffered severe injury to his head. Doctors offered little hope for a full recovery.

“They all thought I was going to be a vegetable,” the younger Narragon said recently. He surprised everyone, he said, when he left the hospital nine days later.

His son’s temporary loss of income and Narragon’s desire for financial stability persuaded him to start his own label company. Besides wanting to be his own boss, Narragon said, years of fielding customer complaints as a manufacturer’s representative for six other label companies convinced him that he could operate a better business by improving customer service.

No bank or investor would loan him start-up money, though, so he took a second mortgage against his Huntington Beach home and by June, 1986, had leased a label press, hired two employees, put his son on commission and started the Label Co. in Anaheim. One of his original employees, receptionist and trouble-shooter Karen DelMastre, is now general manager.

Six years later, Narragon has four presses, including an advanced eight-color rotary letter press. He has expanded his operations twice and now employs 23 full-time workers. He manufactures labels for about 350 companies, he said, including nearly all product labels for Merle Norman Cosmetics in Los Angeles and most of Neutrogena Corp.’s labels. Although he would not disclose exact annual sales figures, Narragon said the amount is more than $2.3 million.

Southern California has more than 250 label-printing companies, so competition was rough from the beginning, Narragon said. He has survived not by offering the lowest price, he said, but with quality and speedy customer service.

Most label-printing companies are about the size of the Label Co. or smaller, said Douglas Moore, a vice president of the Printing Industries Assn. of Southern California. Many printing companies are long-established family businesses, Moore said. It’s difficult for a new company to compete, he said. Narragon went in with a helpful boost: customer contacts from his sales years.

“If you’re going to establish a printing business, there’s an awful heavy investment,” Moore said. “And I hope they have an established customer base.”

Narragon persuaded several large customers that he had as a salesman to let him print some of their labels. His strategy has been to start with a small share of a company’s business and increase that share as he expanded his printing capabilities, he said.

Merle Norman Cosmetics has used the Label Co. from the beginning because of its fast service and thorough customer support, said Tom Smith, Merle Norman’s vice president of purchasing. “He gives wonderful service. If I need something in two or three days, he can do it for me. If I need something overnight, he’ll try to get it.”

Using a larger printing company such as Pasadena-based Avery Dennison Corp. is often unworkable, Smith said, because Avery quotes delivery times in weeks rather than days. There are many other small label companies, Smith said, but they sometimes deliver late or have low-quality labels.

Ron McIntosh, until last weeka buyer at Neutrogena, also bought labels from Narragon when he represented other printing companies. He let Narragon’s fledgling company print some of its product labels, and now Neutrogena buys about two-thirds of its skin-care product labels from him, McIntosh said.

“Ivan’s small enough, and it’s a family business so he does real well and comes through with what he promises,” he said.

Narragon said business has been profitable and growing. Sales grew about 11% this year. His goal, Narragon said, is to build the company to the point where it will support his retirement. He said he has yet to draw a paycheck, preferring to invest the profits into the business.

He earns money by continuing as a manufacturing representative for a producer of wire milk crates and restaurant bakery baskets. For 15 years he has worked to establish a territory and a reputation in this endeavor, Narragon said, which has allowed him to devote most of his time to running his company.

If your Orange County company has annual sales of less than $10 million, we would like to consider it for a future column. Call O.C. Enterprise at (714) 966-7871.