BATA Show to Open with New Management

Big and Tall Associates (BATA), the group that operates the successful big and tall menswear show at the Chicago Collective show, has named Bill Goodall executive director, replacing the late Paul Daube’s wife Shirlee.

Mr. Daube, a legend in the big and tall menswear market, passed away last May at the age of 78. Daube’s annual trade show for the big and tall market was sold to BATA. Shirlee Daube took over briefly after her husband’s passing.

Goodall says Daube groomed him to take over as director: “We had been joined at the hip for about five years. And I was the guy in training to be there if, God forbid, something happened to Paul, or if and when Paul decided to retire.” The unthinkable happened when Daube passed away in May. “It was then my position to step up and take over the role,” Goodall said.

BATA, the primary function of which is to run the big and tall trade show, is a buying group composed of independently owned big and tall stores. It comprises 96 owners that represent 200 doors. The group works with a stable of about 100 vendors, including Hart Schaffner Marx, Perry Ellis, and Peerless.

The transition after Daube’s death hasn’t been easy for BATA, or for Mrs. Daube, who according to Goodall is disbanding the Daube Company.

“Paul and Shirlee were our parents that raised us,” Goodall said in a phone interview. “We’ve been with them for forty years, so to separate that now, on top of everyone losing Paul, is just a terrible thing to be going through. He was an absolute giant in this industry. He developed this entire big and tall buying project from nothing. He started years and years ago – I think he had eleven stores – and came up with this idea. They couldn’t get cuttings, so he said that if we all get together, we can maybe make it happen. He started to bring vendors in to help these guys get their cuttings, and then they developed the show, and it just grew.”

The BATA show at the Chicago Collective is August 14 and 15.