Getting an international toehold
Even with so many new products poised to reach the market
this year, Tunney remains interested in expanding R.G. Barry
overseas.
Never mind that the company just sold its French manufacturing plant. He regards that decision much like the first
Terrasoles rollout: It was time to start fresh and in a completely new direction.
“They went after it as manufacturing,” he says. “That’s not going
to be our strategy. We like the idea of a distributor and a licensing deal where we can just let them be the experts in the marketplace and collect our royalties off of them.”
R.G. Barry’s upcoming expansion into Canada with the Superga
line is structured that way, and it could lay the groundwork for
becoming a more global company.
“Right now, [the] United States is not the biggest user or wearer
of slippers,” Tunney says. “European countries tend to be bigger
users. There are even places like Argentina or Chile that are also
big slipper users that aren’t exposed to a national brand or international brand such as ours. So we think it’s just a matter of getting the right partners and getting some focus and some investment against it.”
Tunney expects R.G. Barry brands to be established in
Europe, South America and the Far East in the next five years.
“I think our biggest challenge going forward is going to be the
investment community,” he says. “We’re making a lot of money
investments now that will pay off in four or five years. One
thing we tell our investors all the time is, ‘This is not the widget business. This is not the toothpaste business. We’re in the
fashion business. So on a five-year scale, you’re not going to
see a linear line moving steadily up. But even though you’ll see
erratic shifts, long-term, you’ll see a linear line through all that.
If it was only linear, I would tell you that, as a fashion company, we’re not taking enough risks. And we’re probably missing
opportunities then.’”
In fact, it’s the hard times that make a company stronger.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Tunney says. “We haven’t had a disaster
or a bad year since I got here. It will happen. Trust me. I keep warning these guys that we’ll get really good when we have a tough
year. It’s the tough years when you find out who is really on board
and you really grow and stretch yourself. I actually look forward
to even that. But our investors don’t.”
HOW TO REACH: R.G. Barry Corp., (800) 848-7560 or www.rgbarry.com