Concept Is Key in Apparel Market
Viken Momdjian, founder of Politix, a growing chain of European-inspired menswear boutiques, says the only way to break into the cutthroat apparel market is to have a totally new concept and as much control over the finished product as possible.
“If you don’t have a new concept, don’t do it,” he bluntly advises.
Since 1986, Viken and his brother Asbed have opened 10 Politix stores around Los Angeles. The brothers attribute their success not only to their unusual styles and colors, but also to the fact that the parent company, Moba Inc., does everything for Politix from designing the stores to manufacturing the garments.
While Viken Momdjian, who serves as president, runs the company from his Westwood office, Asbed lives in London, where he supervises an in-house staff of designers.
Before considering a move into the apparel world, Momdjian suggests spending as much time as possible on your ideas, rather than rushing to open a store. “The more your brain works, the less your muscles have to work,” he says with a smile.
To be successful, Momdjian believes, newcomers must not only have a striking concept to offer but also total control over certain factors. One is the ability to change colors and designs in the middle of a fashion season. Most retailers who carry several lines of clothing are limited to buying what is available at any given time. But, Momdjian said, this means you will be subject to the whims of others, perhaps unable to drop items that aren’t selling well or unable to produce more of something that is. On the other hand, being your own manufacturer means dealing with another set of headaches, including labor and material costs.
“You must have the flexibility and control to avoid dictation by others,” Momdjian said in a recent interview in his flagship Westwood Village store.
By acting as a manufacturer-retailer, Politix executives estimate that they save the consumer as much as 50% to 60% off other designer brands. The company’s Panini line of sophisticated styles is designed in London and manufactured in Italy. The Sonneti casual wear line is also designed in London but sewn in the Far East.
They find that men are willing to pay more for unusual clothing. At Politix, cotton shirts sell for about $79 and suits are priced in the low $300s. And the company’s loose-fitting, drapy look is definitely more Giorgio Armani than Brooks Bros. Momdjian, who is 41, said his clothes are designed for men 25 to 49 years old who are “confident, relaxed, very independent and decision makers.”
He believes that men in Los Angeles, especially West Los Angeles, have embraced his avant-garde look. In fact, this year, Politix expects its U.S. sales to reach $16 million.
Momdjian said he chose Los Angeles as the place to open his first stores because the city is becoming more cosmopolitan and sophisticated. “Los Angeles has an excellent environment--the best in the world--to do business,” he said.
Much of Momdjian’s life has been devoted to his quest for freedom--freedom to live and do business the way he wanted to. His family’s search for freedom began in the 1920s, when his father fled Armenia for cultural and political reasons. Since then, Momdjian, who was born in Syria, has lived in Lebanon, Cyprus, Egypt, Britain and finally America.
“My father would always say, ‘Don’t look only to your store, let the world be your horizon,’ ” said Momdjian, who started in the men’s clothing business at the wholesale level in London about 15 years ago.
Looking ahead, Momdjian said he is ready to open Politix stores on the East Coast. And last week he decided to open a store in Cleveland. Although Momdjian said it is usually wives and girlfriends who bring men into Politix to shop, he has no plans to enter the women’s clothing market.
Momdjian laughs when asked how he and his brother came up with the name Politix.
“We have been victimized by politics around the world,” he said, referring to his family’s flight from country to country as political climates changed and wars broke out. “It was an obsession with us. This time, we decided to have fun with politics, not sadness.”
Small Business Leaders Meet With President
Betty Jo Toccoli, the new president of National Small Business United, a grass-roots small business advocacy group, recently returned from Washington feeling upbeat about the Bush Administration’s view on small business.
“I came back feeling that people are not only listening to what small business owners have to say, but are very interested in us,” said Toccoli, who was elected president of the group in February. Toccoli, president of Total One Development Center, a Los Angeles management training and consulting firm, is the first woman to be elected president of the 53-year-old organization.
National Small Business United represents more than 54,000 small business owners and a network of regional small business organizations. She said her organization is different from most advocacy groups because all its lobbying is done by actual small business owners rather than by paid staff members. Most members have family businesses employing an average of 35 employees.
Last week, Toccoli was among those representing 15 associations at a meeting with President Bush to discuss his federal minimum wage proposal.
Bush announced that he will veto a compromise bill worked out by House and Senate negotiators that calls for a $4.55-an-hour federal minimum wage by October, 1991. The minimum is now $3.35, where it has been since 1981. California’s minimum wage is $4.25.
The President supports an increase to $4.25 by January, 1992. “We originally opposed any increase in the minimum wage, but decided to support the Bush proposal,” said Toccoli.
She said her members support Bush’s plan, which calls for a “training wage” that would allow employers to pay new workers 85% of the current minimum wage for six months to reduce any job cuts that might result from increased costs.
“The President definitely understands small business and small business issues,” said Toccoli. “He asked good questions.”
Toccoli’s organization is also working toward a revision of Section 89 of the Internal Revenue Code. The section, enacted as part of the 1986 tax reform, was supposed to eliminate discrimination by employers who were offering special benefits to executives and not other workers.
Benefits such as executive dining rooms and paid parking were among the targets of the rule. But Toccoli said section 89, with its 180 pages of regulations, is incredibly costly and cumbersome to comply with.
“Many businesses, big and small, threw up their hands and said we can’t meet these regulations,” she said, adding that some companies have actually cut certain benefit programs or forced employees to seek their own benefits in response to the rule.
She and others are working with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) to substantially rework section 89 because it is “having just the opposite effect its authors intended.”
Toccoli has been active in small business issues for several years. Her company, founded 11 years ago, provides training and development programs for companies nationwide. It also helps firms set up employee benefit plans. In 1988, her company received the Small Business of the Year award from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
SBA Will Conduct Seminar on Marketing
A seminar on do-it-yourself marketing is scheduled for Wednesday at the Small Business Administration office, 350 S. Figueroa St., Suite 600, in downtown Los Angeles. The session runs from noon to 2 p.m. and costs $5 at the door.
Seminars to Be Held on Updating Minute Book
On Wednesday and May 20, Corporate Records Maintenance Service will host daylong seminars on how to update your corporate minute book.
“Many business owners operate as corporations because they want to protect their personal assets from business debts and lawsuits,” said Rebecca Staples, president of the company. “Unfortunately, many corporation owners have neglected the legal requirement of maintaining their corporate minute book.”
Staples said an up-to-date minute book is “essential to keep the IRS and creditors from piercing the corporate veil.” The session, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., costs $295. Both will be held at her company headquarters, 28038 Dorothy Drive, Suite 5, Agoura Hills. For reservations and information call: (800) 423-8146.
