Tough Turnaround Ahead for L.A. Gear’s New Team : * Retailing: The troubled firm’s just-installed president and chairman will generate more interest than its shoes at this weekend’s industry trade show.

When the sneaker industry convenes in Atlanta this weekend to show off the latest wares, L.A. Gear’s new line of executives will be generating more attention than its shoes.

Retailers and rivals at the giant Super Show trade fair will be looking to new President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Goldston and Chairman Stanley P. Gold to lay out their plans for a turnaround of the ailing athletic shoe maker.

And the job won’t be easy, say industry analysts.

The Marina del Rey-based company has failed to come up with a shoe for serious athletes, at the same time that its traditional fashion-oriented lines have lost favor with young women--the company’s largest market. Meanwhile, L.A. Gear has alienated retailers and faces fierce competition from Nike and Reebok.

L.A. Gear is often “perceived to be just a trend or a fad,” said Josie Esquivel, an industry analyst at Shearson Lehman Bros. “That doesn’t mean they can’t come back, but they have lost tremendous market share in the past year.”

Esquivel estimates that L.A. Gear lost nearly $34 million last year. And the firm’s share of sneaker sales to retailers fell from 11.75% in 1990 to less than 8% last year, according to Sporting Goods Intelligence.

Efforts to put L.A. Gear back on track may now move faster with the recent departure of founder Robert Greenberg, industry analysts said. Greenberg remains the company’s largest individual investor, but he no longer will serve as chairman. His replacement, Gold, is general partner of Trefoil Capital Investors, which last May bought a 34% stake in the athletic shoemaker for $100 million.

Gold will help build a stable financial base for L.A. Gear, analysts said. But it will be up to Goldston--a well regarded industry executive formerly with Reebok, who joined the company in October--to develop the strategy and products that will ensure the company’s long-term survival.

Neither Gold nor Goldston was available for comment.

Goldston “is a turnaround specialist and he has a lot of footwear experience,” said analyst Gary Jacobson of Kidder, Peabody & Co. “Mark is the key. And I would be willing to bet on Mark.”

Already, Goldston has laid plans for the company’s revival with separate brands, products and prices for two key markets. Under the two-pronged strategy, fashion shoes would retain the L.A. Gear label, while performance shoes for serious athletes would be sold at higher prices under the L.A. Tech label, according to industry reports.

“They are a lot more focused,” said Robert Carr, editor of Inside Sporting Goods, an industry newsletter. However, “they need to come up with some exciting new stuff.”

The company needs to come up with a successful line of performance shoes, which make up about 20% of the sneaker market. Analysts said L.A. Gear’s highly touted Catapult basketball line has yet to prove itself and quality problems have fouled up the firm’s attempts to win credibility with consumers. During a televised college basketball game, for instance, a pair of L.A. Gear shoes worn by one of the players fell apart.

Not only does L.A. Gear lack fans among serious athletes, the firm has also alienated retailers. Relations with store owners soured after L.A. Gear’s performance shoes failed to perform, and the companies dumped unsold shoes with discounters, said Shearson Lehman’s Esquivel.

“That left a lot of bad blood with retailers,” Esquivel said. “They got stuck with the inventory, and then they had to discount much more than they (wanted) to.”