Pilgrims’ Progress

Victor Kiam got into the travel product business by chance when he bought a small company whose major product was a compact Wrinkles Away garment steamer for travelers. “It was 1989, the beginning of glasnost and I figured tourism was going to be a big part of peoples’ lives,” Kiam said.

Today, the Franzus Co., based in Beacon Falls, Conn., with its Travel Smart assortment of portable irons, hair dryers, massagers, converters and adapter plugs, is among the top suppliers of travel appliances and accessories. Kiam estimates that this year’s sales will be $50 million.

“We started with electric, then added fabric products, then games and now products for car travel,” he said. “Nothing luxurious--we think practical, practical, practical.” The Franzus products, carried in specialty stores and travel departments, range from $4.99 luggage tags to heavy-duty $50 transformers.

Kiam, whose personal resume boasts that he started on the corporate ladder with a sidewalk Coca-Cola stand at age 8, is chairman of Manhattan-based RPI Corp., an umbrella for 10 companies. A zesty salesman as well as corporate executive, he became a household presence after buying Remington in 1979 and personally promoting its electric razor with a TV commercial proclaiming, “Shaves as close as a blade, or your money back!”

Kiam, who is still chairman of Remington Products, was in Los Angeles recently after receiving the Corporate Entrepreneur of the Year award from the International Council for Small Businesses, meeting in San Francisco.

A seasoned traveler, both by luxury liner (“on a boat there is no room for anything”) and airline, he is always scouting for new ideas, focusing, he explained, on what the English call “the smalls,” which are little, easily packable items.

He picked up a little nylon pouch that expands to a hearty travel tote. “I’m never without it,” he said, demonstrating the zipper pockets. “You start out with nice, clean clothes and by the end of the trip they are rumpled and lumpy. You need something to carry them in.”

The expanding line of auto products includes a tray for back seat kids that hooks over the front seat, holds a fast-food burger and drink and has a litter bag attached. “It’s like an airline tray,” he said. “Kids love it.”

His ideal item, in terms of being small and practical, is a disposable earplug, the Cirrus EarPlane, with a porous ceramic filter that regulates the air pressure change during takeoffs and landings. Kiam, who bought major control of Cirrus Air Technologies Inc. of Locust Valley, N.Y., in 1995, has been marketing it vigorously in drug stores, discount stores and travel departments.

Sales have zoomed from $500,000 to $10 million in less than two years, he said, and the potential remains enormous. “There are 1 billion, 200 million airline flight segments a year--that’s 60 million round trips--and 30% of the fliers have some form of ear problem, according to our research.”

Kiam’s company, like others, is capitalizing on a huge expansion in international travel, said Bill Keller, who owns Le Travel Store in San Diego. It’s the baby boomer population at work again.

“Their birthright is international travel. They started out backpacking in Europe, which still dwarfs other destinations, but this generation also had the resources and drive to become world travelers. They’re going to Asia, Australia, South America, all corners of the globe.”

Furthermore, said Keller, who carries both Franzus and its major competitor, Austin House of Ontario, Canada, today’s travelers have a whole new wave of electronic needs. “We’ve expanded from hair dryers and curling irons to camcorders and laptop computers with modems.”

That explains the presence in the Travel Smart catalog of two pages of converters and transformers. Many foreign countries have an electrical current that operates on 220V, while North America (as well as Japan and much of South America) runs on 110V. The Travel Smart line even includes one model that automatically selects the right setting for wattage that differs among appliances.

“You just plug it in and it works,” Kiam said. “It’s the first universal model.”

And because the trend-setting baby boomer travelers are getting older (“from backpacks to backaches,” Keller noted), inflatable back and neck rests and lightweight telescoping luggage carts are important aids for the discomfort of being stuffed into a snug airline seat for hours.

“It’s very bad to sit in that position for so long,” said Kiam, who frequently travels tourist himself, just to check the territory. “It’s called the ‘Economy-Class syndrome’ and we’re always looking for new products to help.”

His company does lots of R & D, he said, picking up a hair dryer small enough to fit into a woman’s purse. “This looks simple but it took three years to get the components, make sure it gives enough power and enough heat, and take it to consumer testing groups.”

The company also seeks feedback from consumers, such as asking focus groups what they’d like for travel that isn’t available now. “Out of that developed a shoe carrier for women,” Kiam said. The see-through fabric carrier has compartments for six pairs of shoes. “I didn’t think it would be a hit, but it was. It turns out most women tuck their shoes in the corners of the suitcase.”