From mainstream to urban scene.In 1993, when Derek Tucker tossed his position as president of Oaktree to the wind, some people thought he was jumping without a parachute parachute, umbrellalike device designed to retard the descent of a falling body by creating drag as it passes through the air. The development of modern aircraft has led to many experiments in the aerodynamic problems of parachute design, with the result that the . Heading a $185 million company like Oaktree, one of the nation's largest men's clothing retail chains, would have kept many grounded in the executive suite, but Tucker was not convinced. "I was with the company for 19 years, and just for that reason alone, I decided to leave," says the 38-year-old Tucker. But for the San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden native, who went from salesclerk to store manager to merchandiser to buyer before becoming president, there was an even more compelling reason to leave. His vision for Oaktree diverged from that of its parent, Edison Brothers Stores of St. Louis. In 1989, Oaktree became a cash cow Cash Cow 1. One of the four categories (quadrants) in the BCG growth-share matrix that represents the division within a company that has a large market share within a mature industry. 2. for Edison Brothers after Tucker introduced middle America Middle America 1 A region of southern North America comprising Mexico, Central America, and sometimes the West Indies. Middle American adj. & n. to the hip-hop, street-inspired fashions of the Cross Colours Cross Colours was an American-made hip-hop clothing brand, whose products peaked in popularity between Fall 1992 and Spring 1993. Cross Colours was created in 1990 in Los Angeles, California by the designer Carl Jones, a graduate of "Otis Parsons School of Design", and marketed clothing line. Oaktree's new hip, urban private label and designer apparel catered to a customer base that was 50% black and whose needs were previously ignored by retailers. (Oaktree spokesperson Judy Smith confirmed that 1989 was a record year for the chain. But soon after this success, the men's clothing market became fickle fick·le adj. Characterized by erratic changeableness or instability, especially with regard to affections or attachments; capricious. [Middle English fikel, from Old English ficol, . There was no clear-cut fashion trend as "street-chic" rallied with "Armani bridgewear." Edison Brothers abandoned its urban line, opting instead for the back-to-basics look of jeans and T-shirts. Sales plummeted. Tucker's suggestion to continue the fashion-forward thinking that made Oaktree so profitable hit a brick wall. "[Edison Brothers] evaluated that we needed to be like the Gap," says Tucker, and I don't believe that anybody can out-gap the Gap." After leaving Oaktree in 1993, Tucker invested $40,000 in two personal ventures, one that included his own line of quality men's sportswear. The two ventures never got beyond the planning stage. But what goes around comes around. Last year Karl Kani, formerly a partner with Cross Colours, went out on his own. Kani remembered Tucker, who had given Cross Colours its first million-dollar order, and brought him on board. Now president of the $43 million dollar Los-Angeles-based Karl Kani Infinity infinity, in mathematics, that which is not finite. A sequence of numbers, a1, a2, a3, … , is said to "approach infinity" if the numbers eventually become arbitrarily large, i.e. (No. 38 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100), Tucker has taken his extensive retail experience and plugged it into the wholesale clothing arena. With 14 employees, Tucker mixes small company intimacy with large corporate customer service. That means making sure every customer and vendor is treated with respect. "Many of the people in this business are not honest," says Tucker. "Instead of telling salespeople sales·peo·ple pl.n. Persons who are employed to sell merchandise in a store or in a designated territory. they are just not interested in the clothing line," he adds, "the retailer dodges their phone calls. This is how salespeople make their living. If they call me, they'll get me. Even though African Americans African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. spend more than $20 billion on clothing each year, Tucker says there is a dearth of African American designers and manufacturers in the retail industry. Even more discouraging, he adds, is that companies that target and get much of their revenues from the African American community fail to acknowledge this fact. "They think by doing so, they will ostracize os·tra·cize tr.v. os·tra·cized, os·tra·ciz·ing, os·tra·ciz·es 1. To exclude from a group. See Synonyms at blackball. 2. To banish by ostracism, as in ancient Greece. their mainstream customers." At Karl Kani Infinity, Tucker says he can now acknowledge his true customer, and at the same time help build what he predicts will be the premier African American clothing company in the country. |
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