Outlet Pass

Designs Inc. (Needham, Mass.), the outlet retailer that operates 102 Levi's Outlet by Designs, Dockers Outlet by Designs, Candie's and Ecko Unltd. stores, said it will open 15 to 20 new stores during this fiscal year, 15 of them in time for the 2002 back-to-school selling season.

The plans include 10 new Candie's junior footwear and apparel outlet stores by mid-year 2002. Four of these stores will be built utilizing space in existing Designs'Levis/Dockers stores located in outlet centers in New York, New England and Puerto Rico; the remaining six will include four in California, one in Las Vegas and one in Miami.

The plan also includes a smaller footprint for the new stores and a possible downsizing of some existing stores. ” Several of our existing highest-volume stores currently average 13,000 to 15,000 square feet,” said president and ceo David Levin, “when in fact our new prototype store is about 9000 square feet. This smaller prototype provides us with an organic growth opportunity, which will allow us to leverage our expenses while raising our Levis/Dockers profitability in these stores. Potentially, there are another 10 high volume stores that we can downsize over the next year.”

Designs also said it plans to open its first Ecko outlet stores by back-to-school. Ecko is a design-driven lifestyle brand targeting young men and women and crossing over a broad consumer base ranging from hip-hop to extreme sports to street-wear to fraternity life. The Ecko brand is also licensed to manufacturers to produce and distribute footwear, outerwear, leather goods, swimwear, gloves, bags, watches, eyewear and other accessories. The company said it has identified Ecko's young mens and junior brand as “an undeveloped niche and represents an opportunity in the outlet marketplace.”