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What would a seasoned senior retail executive feel like upon joining the staff at Cotton Incorporated world headquarters?
"A kid in a candy store," says Dennis Horstman, Manager, Global Product Marketing. One would think that after a successful 30-year career in retail merchandising and product development, Horstman would be quite familiar with the range of services Cotton Incorporated offers the industry, but his new position came with some pleasant surprises.
"My perception, and those of my colleagues, related mostly to the color forecasting services offered at Consumer Marketing Headquarters in New York, in addition to the marketing and advertising campaigns that run in the both trade publications and consumer media," Horstman notes. "I am now seeing that Cotton Incorporated is like a great two-sided coin, and most people only seem to know one side," he emphasizes. I first got that 'kid in a candy store' feeling when I saw what was available from the Fabric Development group. Getting their input and creative expertise on fabric development will be invaluable to many of the retailers I know."
Indeed, by his second day on the job, Horstman was already "calling my retail contemporaries to relay what was available in our 'candy store' of fabrics, as well as all the other information we have to share," he reports. "As one of six managers in Global Product Marketing, my goal is to work with this exceptional team in improving the demand and profitability of cotton by marketing Cotton Incorporated's myriad of services. These range from new developments in weaving, knitting, and finishing, to supplying the contacts and information from our research experts. I am working with key product development groups at retailers like Lands' End, Lane Bryant, and Limited Too, as well as manufacturers and fabric producers to discuss new ideas we've developed that will give them the best cotton products for their target markets," Horstman explains.
He knows as well as anyone in the industry how valuable these resources can be, as Horstman was at the forefront of major transition that would afford him exceptional perspicacity. This extraordinary vocational voyage started some three decades ago when Horstman decided to follow his instincts, leaving the new and promising field of computer technology for the more traditional retail trade.
"The retail industry was probably 'in my blood,' as my mother worked for JC Penney in Cleveland for many years, and I began work for a small town, family-owned store at the tender age of 14," Horstman says. "So even with my background as a computer analyst in the Army and the experience I had teaching computer programming while earning my MBA from Bowling Green University, I just couldn't get retail out of my career path."
Horstman's professional journey began at Federated Department Stores, but it was when he joined the Limited Stores division of The Limited Inc. in 1984 that his career, and the nature of retailing, were both to change significantly. "During the period I moved up from Senior Buyer to Executive Vice President of Sportswear, I was involved with the positioning a major cotton-based line of women's apparel called OBR (Outback Red)," Horstman recalls. "It became the Limited's most successful brand in terms of both volume and profitability."
While this was hardly the first private label -- known in the retail trade as a proprietary retail brand -- it came at a time when big stores saw the potential profit of taking these programs beyond the generic looks that had been the backbone of this industry segment. Fashion was becoming the name of the game.
When Horstman left The Limited in 1991, he was more than a retail merchandising executive; he also qualified as an apparel manufacturer. This diverse experience not only led to other positions in the retail industry, including President of the Petite Sophisticate division of Casual Corner Group and President of Liz Claiborne Specialty Retail, it made Horstman a more than qualified candidate for the recently created Global Product Marketing group at Cotton Incorporated.
"During most of my time in product development, the use of cotton as a key to my assortments was a focus because of the consumer demand for, and acceptance of, the qualities and value of a cotton garment," Horstman relates. "The changes in cotton as a fiber have been varied through my career, especially in the types of 'hand feels' that have been achieved by various finishing methods and fabric construction. The many ways that it can be enhanced to a create a soft luxury feel, if that is what is desired; or a 'high tech' sheen, to almost anything in between." Armed with this kind of insight into the possibilities for cotton in the women's wear market, Horstman joined Cotton Incorporated this year after a move to Chapel Hill, N.C., not far from World Headquarters in Cary.
Currently, this “kid in the candy store” along with his Global Product Marketing colleagues is bringing this message about the many tools available at Cotton Incorporated to all segments of the industry from textile mill to garment manufacturer to national and proprietary retail brands. In addition, he is coordinating the efforts of a select group of technical, fashion, and marketing experts who are developing on a new range of luxury cotton-rich blends designed for the women swear market.
"Both cotton and proprietary retail brands have come a long way in the women's wear business," Horstman maintains. "To me, the irony is that big U.S. retailers are now selling their brands to stores in other countries. Cotton and cotton-rich fabrics are certainly an essential part of these lines and my job is to maintain this momentum."
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