Friday, March 2

Product Pimping & Sole Selling

By Jason Kuehn
EXPN.com

Can't quite get the big money sponsorship deal? Dread having a 9-5 job that doesn't involve the skate, snow, or surf industries? There are other ways to pay the slum lord while still having fun. EXPN talks with Northwest rep, Phil Kennedy, about product pimping and sole selling.

EXPN:  How did you get into the business?

Phil:  Got into it purely by accident. The guy who shaped my surfboards, Tim Bessel, started designing clothes and asked me to take some stuff from California back to the Northwest. The first two shops I went to bought the line and the rest is history. I didn't even know what a rolling rack was; I was showing the line out of a cardboard box, it was core.

EXPN:  So what lines do you currently rep?

Phil:  Only lines that start with a "D"; DC Shoes, Dub, and Droors.

EXPN:   What would a typical day in the life of a rep be?

Phil:  Get up early and answer emails, process orders, get product availability before the shops open up; of course that's after I've been to Starbucks.

EXPN:  How does one get into the business?

Phil:  A lot of guys start in retail working in a skate, snow, or surf shop and decide they like the business. Then they get a job in a sub-rep position with an established rep. It's easier to get started that way than the way I did. A sub rep will make sure product is in the shops and merchandised. A sub-rep will take care of any items that are selling well and get the shop restocked with them. Like a rep, but not having to take on the full responsibility of the company sales manager breathing down your neck and all the other stresses that go along with the job. The great thing about starting as a sub-rep is they don't have to go out there and find all of the shops, make the connections, and spend 15 years figuring it all out.

Phil laying down the DC knowledge.

EXPN:  What's the biggest challenge of being a rep?

Phil:  The easy part is showing the product. Probably the biggest challenge is getting orders from the retailers by the deadline. The retailer has a tough job, lots of details with the day-to-day business and every rep in the world calling them about the product they have that's "going off". Putting orders together and placed in time is the hard part.

EXPN:  What's the best part of being a rep?

Phil:  I don't know how it is for the other guys but the best part for me is all the great friends I've made on the retail and manufacture sides.

EXPN:  Do any of the companies do anything cool for their reps?

Phil:  We've been to surf camps in Mexico, snow trips to Utah and one year I traveled on the Warp Tour for 6 weeks. It was insane; those music types work pretty damn hard.

EXPN:  Has anyone tried to fake a skate or snowboard shop so they could get cheap gear? Would it work?

Phil:  All the time! No it wouldn't work, any experienced rep would make a personal appearance at the retail location in question to "check it out".

EXPN:  What is a pro-form and how do non-pros get hooked up?

Phil:  A 'pro-form' is usually a form that is given to store employees or your local ripper so they can purchase product below cost. The 'bro-form', as in "yo, bro I rip", is the one you want. All the product comes free-of-charge. To get that you need to ride good and have a good attitude; nothing is ever really free.

EXPN:  What is the best way to get sponsored by a company?

Phil:  Hang with the guys shooting the pictures, ride good, have a good attitude, and remember that getting sponsored is a job.

EXPN:  The industry can appear to be glamorous and a 24 hour party. Any truth to this?

Phil:  It can be a fun job. But if your doing it right, it's easy to work 12 hours a day, miss a lot of time at the hill, in the water, or at the park.

EXPN:  What is the product cycle like? How long does it take for new clothing and shoes to get into the local shops?

Phil:  It takes about a year, from design to shipping. The stuff will get designed on the computer or sketched out, shipped overseas to be sampled and priced, then back to the company in time for the trade shows. That alone takes six months. We then show the line, take orders, and start production. If something is booking really light, we'll pull it and it won't go to production. Right now we're showing product for Holiday with an order deadline of 4/15. The stuff will ship 9/25 and be in the stores for October.

EXPN:  How involved are you in product/brand direction? Do companies listen more to the team riders or the guys selling their product?

Phil:  I'm really lucky with the companies I work for. They listen to the retailers, riders, and the reps on product direction, making my job easier. What they do is take the riders' ideas, blend them with our input and some other ideas to come up with the best product.

EXPN:  What do you do with all the samples? Keep them? Sell them? Outfit the neighbor kids?

Phil:  I get to do a combination of things. Send them back to the company, flow a little extra to the local riders, or help out the local kids.

EXPN:  How involved are you in the local scene? Do you hook up ams and local rippers?

Phil:  We're trying to help locally as much as our personal budget will allow. We've got riders in 5 states and they all rip.

EXPN:  Who has a bigger pile of swag, you or a pro?

Phil:  Always the pro, but I'm a close second.