Hi,
I did find some information in the Reference USA Database. The company
has been importing since 1984 and manufacturing since 1993. The
estimated sales are $1 to $2.5 Million and their credit rating is
'Very Good'.
I looked in Dun's Million Dollar Directory and found Romar Fabrics
Corp. - which I suspect may be another office of the same company.
Romar International may handle the leather/handbag/luggage section
while the fabrics company handles the clothing lines - the SIC code is
5131 which means fabric piece goods, woven, silk, or synthethic fiber.
The address for the Romar Fabric Corp is: 145 W 30th St, tel:
212-736-7364. They have 7 employees according to Dun & Bradstreet and
sales of $1.4 Million. As I said, I'm not sure that they are
connected, but since the showroom, the other factory and this place
are within a five block radius, it seems that there might be a
connection. The Romar Fabrics nmae is not listed in the Reference USA
where I found the data for Romar International.
You asked who the competitors are...
The top brands in the same NAICS code 316991 - Luggage Manufacturing
are:
Christian Dior SA Paris $13,234.4 M Sales
LVMH-Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA Paris $12,878.5 M Sales
Prada Retail SpA Terranuova Bracciolini $1,821.8 M Sales
Hillenbrand Industries Inc. (HB) Batesville, Indiana $1,757.0 M Sales
Hermes International SCA Paris $1,292.0 M Sales
L.L. Bean Inc. Freeport, Maine $1,100.0 M Sales
Cortefiel SA Madrid $832.1 M Sales
Samsonite Corp. (SAMC) Denver, Colorado $736.3 M Sales
Groupe Zannier GZ SA Saint-Chamond Cedex $660.4 M Sales
Hermes Sellier Pantin Cedex $628.0 M Sales
Peter Black Holdings Ltd. Keighley $407.5 M Sales
HOLDMAN Alger $367.7 M Sales
Bally International SA Caslano $318.0 M Sales
Loewe SA Madrid $156.8 M Sales
Zero Manufacturing Inc. North Salt Lake, Utah $116.2 M Sales
Airway Industries Inc. Ellwood City, Pennsylvania $96.0 M Sales
Lee and Man Handbag International Ltd. Kowloon-Hong Kong $90.2 M
Sales
Doskocil Manufacturing Company Inc. Arlington, Texas $90.0 M Sales
Tom James Co. Individualized Shirt Co. Div. Franklin, Tennessee $90.0
M Sales
Longchamp Paris $83.4 M Sales
Pelican Products Inc. Torrance, California $75.2 M Sales
Admanco Inc. Ripon, Wisconsin $74.2 M Sales
Delsey SA Roissy Charles de Gaulle C $66.8 M Sales
Ingear Corp. Buffalo Grove, Illinois $61.0 M Sales
Samsonite Paris $57.3 M Sales
The companies doing between $1.5 - 2 M Sales:
Princeton Case Company Inc. Union, New Jersey $2.5 M Sales
Ru-Nell Inc. Dallas, Georgia $2.3 M Sales
Erell Manufacturing Co. Skokie, Illinois $2.0 M Sales
Pantos Canvas Corp. Waltham, Massachusetts $2.0 M Sales
Sirtage Inc. Raleigh, North Carolina $2.0 M Sales
Dynasty Sacs Corp. South San Francisco, California $2.0 M Sales
Accessory Exchange L.L.C. New York, New York $2.0 M Sales
Jeti Co. Milan, Michigan $1.9 M Sales
American Leather Products Johnston, Rhode Island $1.8 M Sales
Horizon Designs Inc. Kearney, Nebraska $1.6 M Sales
Gmt Inc. Elgin, Illinois $1.6 M Sales
Mil-Tech Inc. Nevada, Missouri $1.6 M Sales
"Industry Snapshot
Luggage shipments increased about 17.1 percent between 1988-1989
reaching to almost $1.13 billion in 1996. Total industry employment
declined 3.7 percent, to 13,000 employees, but employment in the area
of production increased about 4 percent, to 10,200. This indicated
that the industry was lowering overhead labor, while increasing
production. In 1997 the number of employees again declined (to 9,655
people); of those 7,038 were production workers. There are more than
two dozen types of occupations in the luggage/leather products
industry, including sewing machine operators, plastic molding machine
operators, leather workers, assemblers, inspectors, and packagers.
In 1996, the moderate economic recovery continued and resulted in
slightly more travel and, hence, more demand for luggage. Luggage
purchases amounted to $2.2 billion in the mid-1990s, up about 12
percent from earlier in the decade. Similarly, imports increased about
15 percent from 1.8 billion in 1994 to $2.1 billion in the mid-1990s.
The value of shipments was $1.4 billion in 1997.
"Current Conditions
In the United States, 279 establishments claimed luggage manufacturing
as their primary occupation; the highest number of establishments (41)
was in California. New York had 32 and Illinois had 18. Although
Washington only had 8 establishments, its shipment value was higher
than that of Illinois.
In terms of shipment value, the largest industry segment in 1997 was
luggage with a leather or mostly leather outer surface ($90 million).
Business cases of leather or mostly leather had a shipment value of
$35 million that same year."
("Luggage." Encyclopedia of American Industries, 3rd ed. 2 vols. Gale
Group, 2001. Reproduced in Business and Company Resource Center.
Farmington Hills, Mich.:Gale Group. 2003.
http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BCRC)
It seems like a decent company - a very good credit rating is
excellent. They've been in business for quite a while - and they give
to charity...
Seriously, looking at this data, they seem like a solid company. I
wouldn't call them a leader in the accessories market, but they are
doing ok. They have made deals with some of the major players. One
article refered to a deal with Sesame Street and there are those
licences you mentioned. Those names are picky about the companies that
they'll allow to use their brand. Add to that the new York Fabric
District location and the credit rating. If you are thinking of this
as an investment, I would do some more research - like checking books
with an independent accountant that you trust and that sort of thing,
but from what's available - they seem solid.
Hope this was helpful. If you need clarification just post. Good luck!
bcguide-ga |
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