户外用品公司菲尔森的大抱负

    直到过去十年，菲尔森还一直是个行动比较缓慢的企业。它在1914年就推出了旗下最畅销的巡航夹克。但直到上世纪50年代才推出了鞋类，180年代才推出了包类产品，而这些基本就是它的全部看家宝贝了，而情况一直到2005年才有所改观。在柯克到任之前，这家公司的首席执行官是道格•威廉姆斯，他是拉夫劳伦公司（Polo Ralph Lauren）的前任高管。2005年，洛杉矶的Brentwood Associates私募基金公司收购了菲尔森公司，作出了这项任命。这真是一种奇怪的组合方式，用《财富》杂志（Fortune）的话来说就是“这就好比凯迪拉克（Cadillac）的高管去掌管约翰•迪尔公司（John Deere，美国著名农业机械企业——译注）一样。”去年，这家公司推出了一系列女性服装，还开始进行多方合作，一方面和李维斯（Levi’s）合作，另一方面和一家日本设计公司合作。

    柯克正着手终止这些合作。“我们现在采用的方式是：和设计关系不大，更多是和产品开发有关。”我问他这是什么意思，并提到了根据功能来形成设计创意，他马上回答说：“对，就是这个意思，”同时开始描述“围绕这些标志性产品打造金字塔的计划。拿公文包来说——我们正在增加一款采用弹道尼龙的产品，它使用经过优化的瑞士拉链——Riri牌，绝对堪称拉链中的保时捷——这个品牌对拉链的每个链齿都精工细作，让它滑爽得像黄油一样。当我们想到户外、狩猎和钓鱼领域里的菲尔森时，我们就会发现它和爱马仕（Hermes）的诸多相通之处。它们都有150多年历史，都是从制造马鞍起家，生产同样功能的产品，而且只有几种颜色和样式。柏金包（Birkin）还是柏金包，而且终生保修。它就是个传家宝。”菲尔森的包也是终生保修，消费者只需把包送回菲尔森公司即可获得维修服务，而且这家公司70%的产品都是在西雅图的同一个工厂制造的；但是菲尔森的包价格只有柏金包的1/35（后者价格不等，但均价约为7,000美元，菲尔森则仅售200美元），而且也不存在要等上六年才能买到一个的情况。

    新掌门来到菲尔森后的最大变化就是推出了“西雅图系列”服装，这是一种更修长，更适合城市居民的城市风格服装。而这家公司的传统风格现在被称为“阿拉斯加系列”。柯克最担心的是，这些变化会不会疏远那些忠诚顾客。他说：“我们觉得自己似乎为这两类客户都打开了通道，同时又不让他们任何一方觉得不满。”这两个系列的名字是对公司历史的明智致敬，而且显然更偏爱其中一个群体。毕竟，当那些纯爷们儿纷纷奔赴北方淘金时，C.C.菲尔森自己却留在城里发了财。现在，他创立的这家公司已经找到了路子来同时为这两个群体服务。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远   

    Until the last decade, Filson was a very slow-moving company indeed. It introduced its best selling cruiser jacket in 1914. Footwear came in the 1950s, bags in the 1980s, and that was pretty much it, until 2005. Before Kirk, Doug Williams, a former Polo Ralph Lauren executive, was the CEO. This was after a private-equity firm based in Los Angeles named Brentwood Associates bought Filson in 2005. It was an odd coupling, "a little like finding out that John Deere was being taken over by a Cadillac executive," as Fortune described it. The company launched a line of women's wear last year and embarked on a few collaborations, one with Levi's, and another with a Japanese designer.

    Kirk is ending those collaborations. "The approach we're taking is: It's less about design. It's really about product development." When I asked him what he meant by this, and brought up the idea form following function, he said, "Yes, yes that's it exactly," and began describing plans to build "pyramids around each of these iconic items. Take the briefcase -- we're adding a style with ballistic nylon, and an improved Swiss zipper -- Riri, the Porsche of zippers, really -- they tumble every tooth so it zips smooth as butter. When when we think of Filson in the outdoor and hunting and fishing world, we see similarities to Hermes. They're 150 years old, started as a saddle maker, they make products in the same facilities, in just a few colors, with a few patterns. The Birkin bag is still a Birkin bag. And it's repairable for life. It's an heirloom." Filson bags are also repairable for life, all one needs to do is send it back to Filson, and 70% of the company's product is made in a factory in Seattle; but Filson's bags are about 1/35 the cost of a Birkin (which range considerably but average about $7,000, compared to a $200 Filson), and there is not a six-year waiting list for one.

    The biggest change to Filson under its new CEO is the introduction of "The Seattle Fit," a slimmer, more urban cut of clothing for the more urban set. The traditional cut is now known as "The Alaska Fit." Kirk's greatest concern with all change is the possibility of alienating that loyal customer. "We feel as if we've opened the funnel to both without upsetting either," he says. The names of the two categories are a clever nod to the company's history, and tellingly favor one group more than the other. After all, in the beginning, real men ventured into the North seeking fortune, while C.C. Filson stayed back in the city and made his own. Now the company he built has figured a way to serve both customers.