de Kevco Wholesale
Have you heard the one about the distributor which was so busy last year that it stopped opening trade accounts? Neither had Dale Bradford until he went to visit Kevco Wholesale...
their stock range to create their own identity.” The lingerie sector can appear a little tortuous to the newcomer, with all those different styles, sizes and colours, but not to Kevco - it is used to stocking up to 60 different SKUs for one product in the footwear market. The entire René Rofé and Hustler Lingerie ranges are held in stock while around one third of the more formidable (in size) Seven ‘til Midnight range is stocked. This was chosen after examining historical data the firm gathered during its first year with the brand and by closely monitoring the lines its customers buy. Orders for additional items are placed with the USA on a weekly basis.
Kevco has since taken on Blue Line - a range of lingerie for men. “It comes from the same place as Hustler and it was something we didn’t have,” says Wooldridge. “Our customers liked it and it has proved very successful in the gay market.”
LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
Many areas of the trade have reported that business has been something of a struggle over the last 18 months but that hasn’t been the case at Kevco. “We’ve bucked the trend a little bit,” Rennison says. “We don’t really know what a bad time is, nor a good time, in the lingerie side of the business. When we meet our bank and tell them what we’re doing, we’re the only customer who is expanding.”
“Even through the current hard times we are still growing and we feel there is a lot more to come.”
“If you’ve got the balls for it, this is the time to expand,” adds Wooldridge. “The opportunities that we are developing would not have been there if the business had carried on the way it was. GotLingerie was so dominant in the market that we would not have tried to break into lingerie but when they fell by the wayside and a huge gap opened up in the market, we had the nerve to take it. We are still growing even though we understand that it isn’t great for everyone out there.”
The addition of lingerie has not just allowed Kevco to sell more products to its existing customers but it has also widened the market for its footwear, as Wooldridge explains: “When we were just wholesaling shoes we found it hard to get into lingerie sellers. We
Dave Rennison and Kevin Wooldridge - Significant players in the lingerie market 45
Erotic Trade Only June 2011
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