Tom's Threads: How an Organic Toothpaste Magnate Will Take On American Apparel
What do you do after you develop a successful brand based on sustainable practices and sell it to a major corporation for $100 million? Retire to a palm-shaded oasis, or start a nonprofit perhaps? Not so for Tom Chappell, founder of natural toothpaste Tom's of Maine. After selling a majority stake to Colgate-Palmolive (CL) in 2006, Chappell's onto a new venture -- apparel.
Partnering with his wife Kate, Chappell is launching another environmentally-conscious initiative that will produce organic wool apparel and undergarments for men and women. The company, Ramblers Way Farm, is named after the Chappell's Rambouillet sheep farm in Kennebunk, Maine.
Chappell's not only using a renewable resource not treated with harsh chemicals, but he's keeping his company all-American. As such, the sheep themselves are American-raised (as opposed to grazing the hills of New Zealand or China) and the clothing is manufactured in Fall River, Massachusetts. That puts Ramblers Way Farm squarely in competition with American Apparel (APP) â€"as strange as that seems â€" but it's a good thing.
Pornographic ads, controversial hiring practices, and a sleazy CEO aside, American Apparel's built a reputation on some of the same sustainability principles Chappell is touting. And that's likely one of the big reasons American Apparel's received a series of last minute bailouts. That and no one wants to see an American clothing company fail.
Though it's likely Chappell isn't following American Apparel CEO Dov Charney's antics too closely, the timing to launch Ramblers Way Farm couldn't be better. American Apparel is scrambling to get its financial act together before August 16 to get back in compliance with NYSE Amex rules and its latest investor, billionaire Ron Burkle, is mired in litigation with shareholders at Barnes & Noble.
While this financial mess unfolds -- and American Apparel's images of nubile butt cheeks and nearly-bare breasts grow yawn-worthy -- Chappell and company have time to trot out their untarnished image and not have to share the made-in-the-USA spotlight. That makes Ramblers Way's shots of freshly shorn sheep on a bucolic farm and the wide-eyed gazes of new lambs seem downright sexy.
When or if Chappell tires of this enterprise, he may find it convenient to duplicate his deal with Colgate and sell Ramblers Way Farm to multi-billion dollar apparel manufacturer Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH). By then, it'll have made a pile of profits off the buyout of Tommy Hilfiger.
Images via RamblersWay.com
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