There’s an interesting press release out this week from Solstice:
PORTLAND, OR – Solstice Outdoor, Inc. will preview their hybrid brand strategy to selected major retail partners at the Outdoor Retailer Show.
Their design and development team in the USA working in tandem with their Asia manufacturers will fill an unmet need between store private label and established brands. The resulting opportunity for retailers is increased profits on full-featured technical garments using the 25-year-old Solstice brand.
Hard to tell exactly what this is, but it looks like they’re offering private label outerwear to retailers who don’t have the resources to roll their own.
If this is indeed the case, Solstice is sending a sorry message to its dealers:
Since our brand has no equity, you might as well sell our stuff without our logo on it.
EMS had a policy in the mid-90s that required everyone in the corporate office to work for a week in one of the company’s retail stores. It’s a pretty common practice among retailers and a good idea any way you slice it. What’s too bad is that the employees of the brands sold in those chains don’t have the opportunity to spend a few days face to face with the outdoor specialty consumer in its natural habitat.
In my first stint (the Columbus Circle EMS store), I learned from the rest of the staff that if puffy jackets weren’t merchandised away from the front door, they would disappear and that a significant percentage of the shell-buying public thought that Gore-Tex® keeps you warm.
Manufacturer employees who lack the access or the inclination to spend a few days on the retail floor can compensate for in-store experience by being chatty. As unnatural as it is for some of us, acting like your elderly uncle Larry and striking up a conversation with everyone from the bank teller to the guy with the do-rag scalping Giants tickets has its advantages. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s possible that this is old news. I’ll confess that I haven’t read the Title Nine catalog in a while. There’s not much new to report except that they are showing some product using the dreaded Territory Ahead styling gimmick: clothing merchandised on hangers in unnatural places.
And, as best I can tell, they may have a new semi-logo. A number of Title Nine branded items are emblazoned with the Sherpani-esqe flower shown above.
While a careful parsing of the shapes will reveal a Title Nine “9,” what I see first is a Nike swoosh.
