Fox Opens Office In ‘Core’ OC Hub
By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO
Fox Racing Inc. has opened an office in Irvine to be closer to Orange County’s action sports crowd.
“It’s important for us to have a presence here just so we can be in the loop,” said Sammy Nigh, Fox’s sportswear sales manager. “All the design that goes on for all the brands goes on down here.”
The motorcycle equipment and accessories maker, which bills itself as an active lifestyle brand, has about 300 workers at its 175,000-square-foot headquarters in Morgan Hill, some 12 miles south of San Jose.
Its Irvine office is staffed with about 10 employees, mostly in design and marketing. Fox has plans to expand to about 20 OC workers by the end of the year and 30 to 35 employees by 2004, Nigh said.
The 4,500-square-foot OC outpost enables Fox to tap design talent and get visits from various vendors, since both mainly stick to Southern California, the “core” of the action sports industry, Nigh said.
“With us being up north we’re not getting those types of visits,” he said.
The company, which remains family-owned and operated, was founded 29 years ago by Geoff Fox and got its start in the motocross world.
Fox started out as a small distribution business for European motocross bikes and soon began making its own high-performance suspension and engine parts.
The business has since evolved to include motocross apparel and sportswear for BMX, wakeboard, mountain bike and young men’s and girl’s markets. The company has a number of sponsored athletes, including top motocross racers James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael.
Frank Kaufman, partner at Irvine’s Moss Adams LLC, said Fox continues to be the “icon” of the motocross market.
“Originally a hard goods supplier, the apparel line with the distinctive logo has led to broader distribution,” Kaufman said. “Although they still dominate the market in motocross and BMX, the 12- to 28-year-olds see them as an action sports brand.”
Fox’s motocross pants, jerseys, gloves, boots and helmets are sold through independent motorcycle and parts dealers internationally. Its sportswear line can be found in surf specialty stores, such Irvine-based Tilly’s and Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc.
Fox continues to expand its sportswear category, particularly its denim clothing.
“Their retail floor space in surf and skate stores has risen rapidly in the past two years,” Kaufman said.
