Today, we hear from ONE Industries CEO and President, Neil Calvesbert, on the ONE brand.
Neil discusses ONE’s business structure, energy drink collaborations, ONE’s first full-fledged causal apparel line, and how the San Diego-based motocross graphics company is evolving at retail domestically and abroad.
Here are excerpts from the interview.
How is ONE doing? What has the brand been up to recently?
I am proud to say that ONE is making a lot of progress and the brand is truly evolving. My focus in both 2008 and 2009 was to make much needed change and upgrade the business to support our future growth strategies.
To build a solid business model and structure takes time, patience and commitment. 2009 was a solid year of progress and positivity during a year where many brands and businesses were completely consumed by the challenges of the economy.
Instead of reducing our investment and bolting down the hatches, I made some significant changes and increased our investments. Those changes and investment have really allowed me to create the team I have today at ONE and the strength of that team provides the springboard for the success that ONE is having this year.
Alongside the investment in the business, I wanted to give something back to the sport and the athletes. We created a charity called “RIDERS F1RST” which provides financial assistance for riders with spinal injuries. We launched the (project) at the Oakley building in January.
On page 2: ONE sales performance
How are sales?
Sales are up significantly over the same period in 2009, which were up significantly over 2008. The domestic market has not grown, but ONE has had great success taking market share from other brands and our growth here is solid double digits.
As a global brand, our international business is a key growth strategy and we are growing very aggressively in Europe.
Our technical apparel sales will more than triple this year and our casual wear is increasing significantly.
Business is out there, but retailers now have so much choice and are only buying brands that can deliver solid sell-through at the retail level and brands that their consumers are demanding.
Are you launching or expanding apparel?
Casual apparel is a significant part of our business and has been for the last two years, but so far we have not sold outside of what I call our “core” moto accounts.
The recognition of the brand has prompted major retailers outside of moto to call, and while other brands might jump on the opportunity, I needed to make sure our infrastructure and the product line were ready.
Obviously, the root of the ONE brand is moto, but it is also heavily influenced by other elements such as surf, skate, music and street fashion. We will be showing at Agenda in August and delivering to retail in January 2011. This is what we call our first full casual apparel line, but internally it is just a natural progression from the casual apparel we have been producing.
On page 3: About those energy-drink collaborations
Are you doing any energy drink collaborations?
Actually, ONE was the first brand to do collabs with energy drinks. It goes back as far back as 2005.
Our first collab was graphics and then a helmet with Monster. This developed to include casual apparel and this has grown to be a significant product range. We also were the first collab with Rockstar through graphics. We were the first brand to do a collab on Rockstar casual apparel. Other brands have now jumped on what we started.
We also have a collab relationship with Carey Hart and Hart & Huntington, offering a complete Carey Hart signature series collection.
I heard you guys hired a top apparel VP from DC, Vicki Redding? How is that going?
I believe investing in talent is key to any brand’s success. ONE has grown from 30 people in 2008 to over 120 today. By year-end we will be around 145 to 150 people.
Vicki has been with us since January. She is very demanding and has high expectations, and is a joy to work with. She has built a great team around her and to watch them work together and their results really makes me proud.
I also recently hired Jim Poore from Roxy, Moe Bennet from Thor and this week Ronnie Reyes joins us from DC. But to focus on these four would not do the rest of our team justice.
There is no “I” in team and everyone in the ONE team deserves credit for what we are achieving together.
While researching a moto story, I heard that you had a strong at once business. Can you share your strategy and positioning?
In my opinion in moto, there really are only two progressive brands: ONE and Fox. Three years ago, it was a David and Goliath situation. Fox has been around 36 years, they have a great brand and I have a lot of respect for what they do.
ONE has been around for 12 years, in the last three years we have grown considerably.
Our distribution strategy is dealer direct. This allows us to control our own destiny. We can react to “at once” needs that retailers have. The economic situation has made this a requirement, not an option. Both Fox and Oakley have similar dealer-direct distribution strategies and if ONE can achieve similar levels of success then we are doing OK.
Moto equipment sales aren’t doing so hot. What are you guys doing to stay ahead?
I can understand those comments. The hard goods side of the market is challenging and new bike sales are slow.
Fortunately, 50% of our sales are outside the U.S. and growing rapidly. We continue to develop new relationships and establish new distribution. We have also created our own distribution and have great people involved in that area.
Like I said, I don’t believe the market is growing but we are taking market share from other brands.
