Shoemaker Gravis Footwear is hiring and revamping the brand inspired by surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding after recently moving its headquarters from Vermont to Orange County.
The shoemaker, part of Burlington, Vt.-based snowboard maker Burton Snowboards, opened an office in Irvine and hired a general manager, Fabrice Le Det, to oversee some changes.
Le Det is the former European global sales director for San Diego-based Reef.
Gravis has hired about seven workers here and expects to add 13 more by March, including in marketing, public relations, product design and development and advertising.
“We want to hire people that live and breathe the industry and the lifestyle, and in Orange County, there’s a good talent pool,” Le Det said. “It’s basically the capital of action sports.”
Gravis sells men’s and women’s leather and canvas sandals and shoes ranging from $65 to $90. The 8-year-old brand is looking to create “some buzz and excitement,” Le Det said.
“Within the last two or three years it hasn’t happened,” he said.
Gravis started in 1998 and grew quickly. It lost steam in 2001 and since has regained momentum abroad, Le Det said.
“But in the U.S. it hasn’t grown the way we want,” he said.
Le Det declined to give sales for Gravis. Burton has estimated yearly sales of $200 million. Gravis is pegged at about $20 million.
The shoes are sold in about 2,500 stores worldwide, 200 to 250 of them in the U.S., including surf and skate shops such as Jack’s Surfboards in Huntington Beach and K-5 Board Shop in Oceanside.
Gravis hopes to build sales through existing accounts, particularly in California, and expand the number of stores it sells through in the next few years.
The brand has developed a following with 25- to 35-year-olds. Gravis now wants to target a younger crowd, Le Det said, say 20-somethings and younger.
Plans call for revamping Gravis’ collection of about 28 shoe styles and cutting it to about 20, he said.
“We want to make the brand a little bit louder than what it has been, a little bit more irreverent,” Le Det said. “But without losing touch with lifestyle feel of our product.”
The shoes use “sophisticated materials,” such as better leathers, suede and cool colors, including chocolate brown with lime green.
In the past, Gravis has been “well liked,” but Le Det said it hasn’t had “a specific identity” or a “specific target consumer.”
That proved challenging as other shoemakers came on strong. They include Lake Forest-based Sole Technology Inc., which makes etnies and other skateboarding shoes, Rockford, Mich.-based Wolverine World Wide Inc.’s Merrell Boots and Goleta-based Deckers Outdoor Corp.’s Simple.
“Competition is intense,” Le Det said.
Gravis has Burton’s backing, which comes with some “major horsepower in terms of resources and factory connections,” Le Det said.
Burton is one of snowboarding’s biggest names. It sells boards, shoes, goggles, clothes and helmets under several brands, including Burton, Anon Optics, Red Protection and Analog Outerwear.
The company moved its Analog division, which sells snowboarding jackets and other garb, from Vermont to Irvine nearly three years ago. The division has about 20 workers, Le Det said.
Burton also has three other snowboard brands in Irvine, Forum Snowboarding, Four Square Outerwear and Special Blend Outerwear, which it bought from San Clemente-based Four Square Distribution in 2005.
Gravis shares its offices with the other brands.
Gravis plans to revamp its marketing and is close to signing a deal with a new local advertising agency, Le Det said.
The brand likely will increase its advertising budget by about 20% this year and run more print ads, do more public relations and events, he said. Le Det didn’t say what he plans to spend.
