"The More Things Change"
Mikey LeBlanc, a professional snowboarder, and Scott Zergebel, a clothing designer, founded Holden Outerwear in 2002 to make pants and jackets for snowboarders. Today, the product line is much broader. "Holden clothing," says LeBlanc, "is suitable if you go snowboarding or skiing, or you just might be in New York City on a rainy day, or it’s negative 20 in Quebec, and you just want to feel good, and look good."He attributes the company’s success to its strategy of staying ahead of the industry-wide fashion curve. "We’ve been kind of labeled as.the brand that pushes the style portion of technical outerwear. When Holden came out, we were the new and improved outerwear. For the first five or six years, a lot of our accounts told us, "we can’t wait to see the collection. What have you done this year? What new fabrics, and what new designs do you have?" This approach worked as Holden found itself positioned as being the first to market with new designs. LeBlanc said, "We had competitors at our big shows showing pieces in their lines as ‘this is our Holden piece—our Holden-esque garment."
Design and Development Manager Nikki Brush says of LeBlanc and Zergebel, "The fact is, they take cues from fashion and they’re not looking at what everyone else in the outerwear market is doing. They look at high fashion and figure out a way to apply that to what someone would wear on the hill."
Holden is no doubt nimble when it comes to implementing new ideas—they’re a small company whose competitive edge depends on differentiating its product innovations in style. There are certain obstacles to overcome when you’re a small buyer in your market. "We’re a small brand," admits LeBlanc. "We don’t own factories. We don’t own fabric mills. We can’t fill a factory with our orders. So how does Holden deal with its lack of leverage in it supply chain? "We’ve gotta have really great relationships with all our vendors," says LeBlanc."In the beginning," he recalls, "Scott and I wanted to make a natural-fiber, waterproof, breathable fabric which didn’t exist. Every time we’d meet with a fabric supplier, we would ask, ‘Do you have anything natural, waterproof, and breathable?’ Andy they’re like, are you crazy? Holden had to take the lead in developing the fabric we wanted, and it took hree years to come up with just the right "hemp-poly mix" and to locate a mill that would make it. We won a ton of awards for it, and again our major competitors were chasing us.""That’s how we do business," says Brush. "We’re able to push our vendors in ways they are usually not pushed. That’s how we come up with something new." "It’s definitely getting harder and harder to push our vendors as costs are going up and they don’t want to develop something that may not be used by other clients."Not surprisingly, Holden has gone through a ton of vendors. Brush feels the constant ‘give and take" with different suppliers is a way of keeping her creative energy at a high level. She gets excited working with fabric mills or garment manufacturers and taking something everyone does and doing it slightly different. She also is interested in the marketing angle-- "how are we going to do it different and how are we going to present it to the market in a way that’s still functional."LeBlanc says, "The industry loves change." So when Holden comes out with products that are "radically different" the industry embraces it and competing brands followed suit."Unfortunately, a competitive edge can also be a double-edged sword. There are a lot of ways people can rip you off." LeBlanc says, "I have learned to accept that drawback as part of the cost of doing business the Holden way: We turn over designs....and we are not reacting to current trends. We actually like creating new stuff every year. New things. If people want to copy us, they're probably going to sell a lot of pieces. So, I don’t blame them."
When we talk about driving forces for change, (technology, competition, communication, new management, people, etc.) which have been the driving strategy(s) at Holden? How?

Question

Faythworks3838 Faythworks3838

14-06-2024
Business

Answered

"The More Things Change"
Mikey LeBlanc, a professional snowboarder, and Scott Zergebel, a clothing designer, founded Holden Outerwear in 2002 to make pants and jackets for snowboarders. Today, the product line is much broader. "Holden clothing," says LeBlanc, "is suitable if you go snowboarding or skiing, or you just might be in New York City on a rainy day, or it’s negative 20 in Quebec, and you just want to feel good, and look good."He attributes the company’s success to its strategy of staying ahead of the industry-wide fashion curve. "We’ve been kind of labeled as.the brand that pushes the style portion of technical outerwear. When Holden came out, we were the new and improved outerwear. For the first five or six years, a lot of our accounts told us, "we can’t wait to see the collection. What have you done this year? What new fabrics, and what new designs do you have?" This approach worked as Holden found itself positioned as being the first to market with new designs. LeBlanc said, "We had competitors at our big shows showing pieces in their lines as ‘this is our Holden piece—our Holden-esque garment."
Design and Development Manager Nikki Brush says of LeBlanc and Zergebel, "The fact is, they take cues from fashion and they’re not looking at what everyone else in the outerwear market is doing. They look at high fashion and figure out a way to apply that to what someone would wear on the hill."
Holden is no doubt nimble when it comes to implementing new ideas—they’re a small company whose competitive edge depends on differentiating its product innovations in style. There are certain obstacles to overcome when you’re a small buyer in your market. "We’re a small brand," admits LeBlanc. "We don’t own factories. We don’t own fabric mills. We can’t fill a factory with our orders. So how does Holden deal with its lack of leverage in it supply chain? "We’ve gotta have really great relationships with all our vendors," says LeBlanc."In the beginning," he recalls, "Scott and I wanted to make a natural-fiber, waterproof, breathable fabric which didn’t exist. Every time we’d meet with a fabric supplier, we would ask, ‘Do you have anything natural, waterproof, and breathable?’ Andy they’re like, are you crazy? Holden had to take the lead in developing the fabric we wanted, and it took hree years to come up with just the right "hemp-poly mix" and to locate a mill that would make it. We won a ton of awards for it, and again our major competitors were chasing us.""That’s how we do business," says Brush. "We’re able to push our vendors in ways they are usually not pushed. That’s how we come up with something new." "It’s definitely getting harder and harder to push our vendors as costs are going up and they don’t want to develop something that may not be used by other clients."Not surprisingly, Holden has gone through a ton of vendors. Brush feels the constant ‘give and take" with different suppliers is a way of keeping her creative energy at a high level. She gets excited working with fabric mills or garment manufacturers and taking something everyone does and doing it slightly different. She also is interested in the marketing angle-- "how are we going to do it different and how are we going to present it to the market in a way that’s still functional."LeBlanc says, "The industry loves change." So when Holden comes out with products that are "radically different" the industry embraces it and competing brands followed suit."Unfortunately, a competitive edge can also be a double-edged sword. There are a lot of ways people can rip you off." LeBlanc says, "I have learned to accept that drawback as part of the cost of doing business the Holden way: We turn over designs....and we are not reacting to current trends. We actually like creating new stuff every year. New things. If people want to copy us, they're probably going to sell a lot of pieces. So, I don’t blame them."
When we talk about driving forces for change, (technology, competition, communication, new management, people, etc.) which have been the driving strategy(s) at Holden? How?

Answer :

Other Questions