After Selling Dog Collars, Women’s Belts Are a Cinch

What do women’s fashion belts and dog collars have in common?

Nearly identical production equipment and techniques, Prestige Leather President Sharon Goode discovered, and the similarity has proved highly profitable for her company.

Four years ago, Prestige Leather was in the slow-moving dog collar and leash market, reporting stagnant annual sales of $1.3 million.

In October, 1983, Goode moved into the women’s belt business. Sales this year are headed for $16 million, she said.

“You can put all kinds of studs and things on belts, and the women love them,” she said.

Prestige Leather now notches up 90% of its sales from two product lines, the Singuere label of fashion leather belts and Annie H. bonded leather belts.

Singuere belts retail for $15 to $50 in such department stores as Nordstrom and the Broadway, Goode said, while Annie H. belts go for $4 to $10 apiece at Sears, K mart and other stores.

The Singuere line is aimed at professional women, while the Annie H. is targeted at “the gal between 14 years old and 18 years old,” said Goode, who owns 60% of Vernon-based Prestige Leather.

Belts from both brands are festooned with rivets, nail heads, snaps and other hardware.

“We carry them because it’s a novelty,” said Christine Cadena, a Nordstrom fashion accessories buyer.

Bonded leather is made by pressing particles of leather into rolls of a stiff material that can be cut with little waste, Goode said.

Belts not only offer higher sales growth than dog collars but also fatter profits. For the company’s fiscal year ending June 30, Goode expects sales of $6.5 million and profits of about $600,000.

Most of Prestige Leather’s sales come late in the year, she said, explaining her estimate of $16 million in calendar 1987 sales. “The second half of the year, there’s big back-to-school buys and big holiday buys.”

Demand for belts is highly volatile because trends change rapidly, Goode said.

The company’s success stems largely from its ability to create new products in a hurry for these trends, she said.

“A buyer comes and they want their belts in four weeks, six weeks maximum,” Goode said.

Suspenders hold up a 10th of Prestige Leather’s sales, Goode added, and are the company’s only product line besides belts. The firm no longer sells dogwear.