Tavik Women’s has made a splash the past few years, especially with swim.
We heard there have been some changes at the brand, so followed up with GM Erik Paulsen to find out more.
One change includes bringing in Brenda West, a very heavy hitter in the swim industry, as a consultant.
We have heard there have been some personnel changes at Tavik. Can you give us details?
Erik Paulsen: We have had a few staff changes recently, primarily on the sales leadership side. That said, we still have many of our wonderful sales reps and showrooms around the country, and we have also brought on some new amazing sales folks.
One in particular, who is well known in our industry, is Kyla Brennan. Kyla is our new key accounts manager, and she was the first ever Tavik Women’s sales rep when we originally launched Women’s Swim. We could not be more excited to have her back!
In addition, Brenda West, someone we have long admired in the space, has come on board as a part-time consultant. She has brought her deep industry experience to advise on the business structure – both immediate and long-term – to ensure Tavik’s continued growth and success.
She has been a great mentor to our team and we have already seen the benefits.
Does your parent company Incipio have a new owner? If so, what does that mean for Tavik?
Erik Paulsen: Yes. Monroe Capital LLC, the financial partner and investor of our parent company since 2014, acquired a majority stake in Incipio Group.
Tavik is finding success with rompers and other apparel – Photo courtesy of Tavik
We are all enthusiastic about the prospects of the parent company’s new ownership as it pertains to Tavik.
Changes included a new headquarters and warehouse to better support the family of brands moving forward. That impacted our fall season, but we are back on track and excited for the opportunities these moves present going forward.
We have already seen tremendous benefits and additions of strong talent and industry expertise to help achieve our strategic and financial goals.
Are there any changes happening with Tavik Swim? How is the line evolving?
Erik Paulsen: Yes, we have some exciting updates with the women’s collections. We are expanding the line with silhouette introductions on the swim side as well as a few new ready-to-wear pieces that complement the entire women’s line.
One update with Tavik Swim is that we are adding a additional deliveries for 2019/2020 Resort and beyond.
Thanks to Brenda’s guidance, we have identified key delivery dates that we needed to capture as a business to better deliver to our established and amazing retail partners.
Through our strong “Made in California” program, we can jump on this new distribution strategy quickly and efficiently.
“Made in California” is currently centered on swim. However, it’s an initiative that we will continue to build on to eventually include ready-to-wear because we see great growth in our cover-ups, dresses, rompers, wovens, and other apparel categories.
How long were you away from Tavik and what it is like to be back?
Erik Paulsen: Incipio Group had a tremendous growth spurt over the last five years, and they acquired numerous brands while also growing their licensing business. Incipio gave me the opportunity to be the GM for an incredible brand, Incase, for two years, before coming back to the parent company as VP of Sales Strategy in 2017.
While I was not involved with day-to-day Tavik operations during my tenure at Incase, I did stay close to the Tavik brand by advising on future business planning conversations and overall strategy with the Incipio Group.
I am happy to be back involved day-to-day with Tavik. With the changes in ownership at Incipio, Tavik needed to strengthen its position in the organization and obtain the necessary resources to better support the expanding business.
There are different nuances with apparel and swim (calendars, reports, seasonality, customer service, etc.) that require alternative resources for success that are outside of our parent company’s primary portfolio of brands and products. That’s especially true at the financial and warehouse operations levels.
Overall, the women’s business is fantastic, the team continues to do an incredible job and we are excited with the continued support of our long-time retail partners as well as new partners going forward.
What’s next for the brand?
Erik Paulsen: Continued growth in the U.S. with a long-term goal to expand internationally, especially in Australia, Latin America and Canada.
We will look to support this growth internally by adding additional head count to our women’s team. You will continue to see amazing new swim and ready-to-wear collections, special retail partnerships and exciting collaborations. We will also be focusing on “Made in California” with new ready-to-wear offerings.
