Catching Up With Marty Staff

It’s early March, the endless winter is easing its grip and Marty Staff is in good humor. His new tattoo is almost healed (check it out: it’s very cool!), his new showroom is gorgeous, Danny Glover is about to boycott Hugo Boss at the Oscars for closing its domestic factory (providing a great press op for JA Apparel), and their suit business at retail is healthy (planned up 22 percent for 2010, profits are expected to double!).

“Our business really jumped 4th quarter ’09,” he explains. “Given that stores like Nordstrom and Bloomingdales had drastically cut back inventory, we decided to take advantage of this with ready-to-ship goods. We probably had our best December ever, and first quarter 2010 was much more profitable this year than last.”

Much of this is due to a revised distribution strategy: eliminating promotional department stores in favor of better stores on the one hand, JCPenney (with the JOE label) on the other. Asked if the decision to sell Penney hasn’t tarnished the Joseph Abboud image, Staff insists it hasn’t. “In fact, it’s taken aided awareness of the label up ten points,” he explains. “And it was already at 60 percent! With Penney doing major TV spots and marketing events, it’s actually helping our upscale retailers who understand the concept of tiered business models.”

Staff maintains that JOE has been a big success at Penney. “All six product categories were ahead of plan and four out of six were spectacular, with tailored clothing the big winner. This will be a $100+ million business by the end of 2011.”

Also expected to be big business but in upscale stores (and with no Joseph Abboud identification), the new Nuvo label. “The Abboud label is the dominant player in updated traditional, but stores were requesting a true contemporary silhouette to compete with Boss in the modern sector. Nuvo is a small tight group featuring narrow peak lapels, 7-inch drop modeling, details and trim unique to the brand. It’s exceptional modern product but without advertising or sales support so stores can sell it at a great price and still make money. Suggested retails are $495-$695 for suits, $395-$545 for sportcoats.”

In addition to great fall 2010 product (sportcoats are now 40+ percent of JA Apparel clothing volume; our favorites are the hybrid coats with separate quilted vest at $695 suggested retail and the knit cardigan softcoats with working sleeve buttonholes at $545), other excitement centers on an accelerated 2010 marketing budget focusing on events rather than print. Numerous star-studded projects are in the works involving sports stars, rock stars and various other celebrities as only Marty can do it.

Says Staff, “The arrangement between Penney and Claiborne was a game changer for the industry. The only reason stores need suppliers these days is for partnerships. Relationships are no longer buyer-seller, it’s collaborative planning on how to do more together. Some designers are still inflexible and arrogant but our account base is limited so we’re happy to work with them. Consequently, we’re gobbling up market share, which used to be a slow and expensive process.”

Part of this, Staff explains, is the fact that they just spent seven figures enhancing their Massachusetts factory so it now takes just two to four weeks to make a suit. “The era of twice a year buying is over,” says Staff. “It’s about in-season reorders, now more than 20 percent of our business. Our competitors are unwilling or unable to do this.”

On the sensitive subject of Joseph Abboud’s new position at HMX and the new legal ruling allowing him to use his name in certain ways that are not part of a logo, Staff is surprisingly gracious. “I wouldn’t have a job without Joseph. He founded this company and propelled it; we just built on it. I wish him luck…”

Clearly, Staff is re-energized. “Although I love what I do,” he confides, “I loved it less the last few years. Even New York City seemed dull for the past two years. But suddenly, it’s coming back. I’m going out more than ever: to clubs, restaurants, Knicks games and Vegas was better than it’s been in a long time. It seems people are ready to have fun again!”