Stance Inc. is collaborating with New Balance Athletics Inc. on a series of shoes and socks kits, the first of which pays homage to the companies’ hometowns—San Clemente and Boston.
The Boston kit features Stance’s 144 Needle crew socks and New Balance 997 shoes in copper rose and tan, a nod to the city’s well-known brownstones. The San Clemente kit contains the New Balance 1978 shoe in slate blue and tan suede and the Stance 144 Needle crew sock “with athletic stripes to evoke the famed beaches and surf breaks of San Clemente where Stance came to life only seven years ago.”
Orange County-based artist, surfer and skater Mark Oblow and his counterpart in Boston, artist Matthew Zaremba, developed social and retail marketing ads for the kits.
“This is our first major collaboration with a footwear brand and it’s been an honor for us to work with a company that we have such deep respect for,” Stance President John Wilson said in a statement. “To see our culture captured like this with a heritage American brand is a proud moment for Stance.”
RAJ + Sports Illustrated
RAJ Swim in Tustin added Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit to its roster of licensed brands. The multiyear collaboration will include swim and active apparel collections, which will be available early next year.
Some styles will be featured in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue and on the e-commerce part of SI.com.
RAJ Swim President Brenda West said she sees “the future of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, swim and active collections as a strong complement to our business.”
“The brand has instant recognition for consumers around the world,” West said in a statement. “The swim and active ecosystems are evolving, and this collaboration sets the stage for infinite possibilities.”
RAJ Swim makes and markets swimwear for Ella Moss, Splendid, Nautica, Reef and other brands, and designs and produces its own labels, including LUXE by Lisa Vogel, NEXT, Athena, Basta Surf and VYB. The company’s revenue is estimated at about $300 million.
UNITED Front
Johnny Rockets Group Inc. in Lake Forest named PR agency ROX United in Los Angeles—part of UNITED COLLECTIVE in Huntington Beach—its public relations agency of record. ROX United will “help the restaurant chain reach consumers nationally by increasing awareness of the overall brand.”
Johnny Rockets’ 385 restaurants open at the end of last year included 205 U.S. locations—88% franchised—and 180 overseas. Nine are in Orange County.
Chick-fil-A in Atlanta, meanwhile, selected Gallegos UNITED—also part of UNITED COLLECTIVE—as its Hispanic ad agency of record. The agency, whose client roster includes Kia Motors America Inc. in Irvine, Wonderful Pistachios, Foster Farms, Comcast, Intuit Turbo Tax, also picked up a Silver Effie Award in the Hispanic category for its work on XFINITY’s “Language Choice” creative campaign last month at the North America Effie Awards Gala in New York.
Acquisition
Software developer Vincit California Inc. acquired Xtopoly on undisclosed terms. The Irvine-based digital shop specializes in brand strategy and user-experience design, and will continue as XTOPOLY – a Vincit Company, while its founder and chief executive, Naushad Huda, will manage strategic partnerships for Vincit.
“We have worked with Xtopoly in the past and always been struck by the quality of their designs,” Vincit Chief Executive Ville Houttu said. “The acquisition is a step towards our goal of having a higher customer satisfaction rate and happier employees tomorrow, than what they are today.”
Vincit, which opened its Irvine office last year, specializes in developing mobile apps, business-related software and e-commerce platforms. Its parent, Finland-based Vincit Group PLC, employs about 350 globally and posted about $39 million in revenue last year.
Bits & Pieces
Home Franchise Concepts in Orange hired Gayle Milling as chief marketing officer. … Gabrielle Windsor left Rhythm in Irvine to join Amusement Park in Santa Ana as director of digital strategy.
