Guess for success.Pan Pacific Designs' fast-paced sales of Guess-brand athletic shoes An athletic shoe is a generic name for a shoe designed for sporting and physical activities, and is different in style and build than a dress shoe. Originally known as sporting apparel, today they are known as casual footwear. has put it near the front of the pack of L.A.'s fastest growing private companies "Athleisure." The word may not be in Webster's New World Dictionary Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language is an American dictionary first published in 1951 and presently published by John Wiley & Sons. The first edition was published by the World Publishing Company of Cleveland, Ohio in two volumes or one large yet, but it's being used by marketing types to describe athletic wear intended for the less athletic among us. And Pan Pacific Designs Inc., among the fastest growing private companies in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, is cashing in on the trend. Pan Pacific sells athletic shoes under the Guess brand - not usually associated with athletics - to those who want to look athletic without actually working out. "Most people who buy athletic footwear never broke a sweat in it," said Dominic A. Ferlauto, the company's chief executive. Several fashion labels, including Polo and Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger (born March 24, 1951 in Elmira, New York) is a world-famous American fashion designer and creator of the eponymous "Tommy Hilfiger" and "Tommy" brands. Biography Hilfiger was born March 24, 1951 and raised in Elmira, New York. , are breaking into the casual and athletic shoe market, but Pan Pacific has been producing shoes under the Guess Athletic label since 1991, when the name was first licensed by Los Angeles-based Guess? Inc. Guess, originally associated with jeans, is now featured on everything from wristwatches to children's clothing. "We have one terrific advantage: we have one of the best names in the business, and that's Guess, so that certainly opens a number of doors for us," Ferlauto said. Owned by Korean-based Doosan Corp., Pan Pacific has grown from $4 million in revenues in 1991, the year it was founded, to $34 million in revenues in 1995. Projected revenues for 1996 were not available. With a 120,000-square-foot distribution center and office building in Sylmar, the company has grown from just half a dozen employees in 1991 to 40 this year. Ferlauto and marketing director Randi Berger attribute the growth to the increased demand for "casual athletic" - or "athleisure" - shoes. "It has become a brand-name-driven business where you have people taking brands like Polo and Tommy Hilfiger and they're going mainly into the casual (footwear) area driven by fashion," Ferlauto said. Berger said that the market, where "it's an image of having an ensemble of casual clothing with shoes to match," is only just starting to take off. "We're just at the beginning of it right now, and we're right on it, so hopefully it will be very successful for us," she said. Pan Pacific's shoes are sold through athletic shoe stores such as Foot Locker Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL) is a major American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in New York City, and operating in approximately 20 countries worldwide. It is the successor corporation to the F.W. Woolworth Company (“Woolworth’s”). , Lady Foot Locker, Champs CHAMPS Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals CHAMPS CHemometrics Applied to Metabonomics Proteomics and SAR CHAMPS Cleanliness-Hospitality-Accuracy-Maintenance-Product-Service CHAMPS Characteristics of Hardware Assemblies & Mission-build Planning System and Sneaker Stadium, as well as department stores This is a list of department stores. In the case of department store groups the location of the flagship store is given. This list does not include large specialist stores, which sometimes resemble department stores. such as J.C. Penney and Mervyn's. But the company is trying to break into higher-end department stores as well. It already sells through Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores, and wants to increase that side of its business. "We definitely want to break into the Federated Connected and treated as one. See federated database and federated directories. matrix - Macy's, Bloomingdale's," Berger said. Berger also hopes to be able to increase its appeal among men, who account for about 20 percent of Pan Pacific's customers, and women, who account for about 30 percent. Children make up the remaining customer base. One way Pan Pacific hopes to increase its number of adult female customers is by selling the Guess image to them when they are between the ages of 12 and 17, and then keeping them as customers when they become adults. "You're talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to the girls - the ones who are interested in the brand, who are interested in the status, who are interested in the image ... that's who we're talking to," Berger said. Berger said it's easy to "get them young and train them to stay with the brand" because the 200 or so shoe styles the company sells each year allow girls to grow up with the brand and go through different phases. Pan Pacific, along with Guess Inc., tries to attract those customers by advertising in Seventeen, and then keep them by ads in Elle, Marie Claire Marie Claire is a monthly woman’s magazine conceived in France but also distributed in other countries with editions specific to them and in their languages. While each country shares its own special voice with its audience, the United States edition focuses on women and Mademoiselle. Berger said that Pan Pacific is also at an advantage with the Guess name because it crosses age, sex, ethnic and class lines. "That's a big positive for us," she said. The company sold close to 1.8 million pairs of shoes in 1995, and expects an increase of 10 to 12 percent in sales for 1996. About a third of the business is outside of the U.S., where the Guess name is popular in such Pacific Rim Pacific Rim, term used to describe the nations bordering the Pacific Ocean and the island countries situated in it. In the post–World War II era, the Pacific Rim has become an increasingly important and interconnected economic region. countries as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. and Korea. Spotlight Pan Pacific Designs Inc. Year Founded: 1991 Core Businesses: Manufacturer of Guess? label athletic shoes Revenues in 1991: $4 million Revenues in 1995: $34 million Employees in 1991: 6 Employees now: 40 Top Executive: Dominic A. Ferlauto, chief executive officer Driving Force: Desire to become a significant factor in the fashion athletic business for men, women and children Goal: Increase presence in department and specialty stores Noun 1. specialty store - a store that sells only one kind of merchandise shop, store - a mercantile establishment for the retail sale of goods or services; "he bought it at a shop on Cape Cod" |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion