I missed getting a Roxy product update at ASR, so I caught up this week with Laurie Etheridge, the new senior vice president of merchandising and design.
But first, a Roxy store update from Gregg Solomon, Quiksilver’s senior vice president of retail.
Quiksilver is expanding standalone Roxy stores globally using the new prototype that opened in June in La Jolla. The new store was designed by architect Barbara Bestor. Bestor is known for her book “Bohemian Modern” and it’s a look and feel Roxy is going after.
At the end of this month Roxy will have five company-owned standalone stores in the U.S. and one licensee, Solomon said. The company plans to open two or three next year. Ideally, Quiksilver wants to put Quiksilver Boardriders stores next to Roxy stores when it makes sense, he said.
In Europe, there is a big rollout of Roxy stores planned, some company-owned and some owned by licensees, Solomon said.
Laurie Etheridge, Roxy SVP merchandising and design. Previously Laurie worked for
Levi Strauss in San Francisco for many years
with a stop at Speedo
before joining Quiksilver four months ago.
On the product front, Laurie told me Roxy’s surfing heritage will always be a key value of the brand, but the goal is to broaden the base and turn into a leading junior player.
Laurie and the Roxy team see big opportunities in dresses, denim – especially wide-legged jeans – loungewear and reinvented luggage and T-shirt lines. Look for luggage to now include small bags with handles so girls can “grab and go” and large totes for sleepovers and weekends away.
Roxy is also building on the success of its wide-legged Kalani jean, first introduced in fall 2006. The team is building out the collection with a variety of washes starting in spring 2008 and throughout next year, Laurie said.
Roxy’s Kalani jean. The wide-legged style has
been a hot seller.
And Roxy hasn’t given up on the T-shirt business, which has died for most brands recently. (Sally Frame Kasaks, the CEO of PacSun, also told me that the T-shirt business for girls came to a grinding halt in PacSun stores.) Laurie believes T-shirts can be rejuvenated with innovative graphics and fresh silhouettes and styling.
Roxy is owned by Quiksilver in Huntington Beach, the world’s largest surf/skate/snow company. Roxy is a huge money maker for Quiksilver and accounts for 27 percent of revenues, according to Quiksilver SEC filings. The girls line is close to catching the Quiksilver brand, which comprised 31 percent of revenues in fiscal 2006, the most current numbers available. Total company revenues totaled $2.4 billion.
