TSI built to win

Bobbin, Jan, 1999 by Kathleen Desmarteau

"We also see other opportunities in expanding our product categories. We're licensing out the Savane and Farah name into categories like boys' wear. We're going to have a strong boys' house making cotton slacks for us and selling directly to the retailer, regardless of whether it's Savane or a private label. That move is part of a licensing strategy we have just adopted that goes from cotton casual pants all the way out into watches, cologne, etc. The four major categories we're focused on are men's, boys', women's and young men's. The approach is this: I'm putting a big investment in marketing all of our products as consumer packages."

STANDING ITS GROUND ABOVE THE FRAY

In the free-for-all fight for business that the apparel industry is experiencing these days, there are certain lines that Tropical Sportswear Int'l. Corp. (TSI) refuses to cross, though its competitors, suppliers and customers may do just that.

"We have no desire whatsoever to compete with our customers, though that's very much in vogue today," TSI executive vice president of sales, marketing and merchandising Elliott Lightman wryly observes. "You have fabric companies - our suppliers - making pants and selling to our customers, and you have retailers - our customers - sourcing goods themselves. ... But it's funny. We keep growing, and we're still the best at what we do. That's not being complacent. That's just being focused on what we do."

First and foremost, despite its considerable expertise in merchandising, TSI does not want to operate its own retail stores, and it is carefully considering the approach it will take with internet-based sales. When it comes to the Web, Lightman says: "The Internet certainly brings up the issue of 'Who is the customer?' For the near term anyway, we'd rather continue to help our existing customers to sell more, even if we sell it for them on-line."

As for mills making apparel, TSI president Richard Domino laughs at the irony, saying: "Welcome to the business!" But in all seriousness, he adds: "Are the mills competition? Absolutely. But they're not used to having to take back returns, and they're not used to dealing with quotas, etc., and so I think they're going to have a challenge. And as they become more and more a part of our competition, we're going to have to look at who we're doing business with, there's no question, and make adjustments accordingly."

Then of course, there's always the "problem" of TSI's own brands going head-to-head with retail private label brands that are also TSI products. But in the true spirit of today's industry, the firm can only say: May the best brand win!

Kathleen DesMarteau is associate editor of Bobbin.