Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank Industries Inc. is all about design these days, literally.
In early 2008, the clothing company known for its Julius the monkey and other cartoon characters switched gears by striking a deal with Australian marketing company Creata.
Paul Frank now comes up with designs for companies that sign licensing deals to make products based on them. It no longer contracts out for production of its own clothes and other products. Gone too are Paul Frank’s warehouses and shipping operations.
The switch prompted Paul Frank’s move in January to a smaller headquarters within Costa Mesa, where its focus now solely is on design.
A handful of artists crank out about 1,200 different designs a year, mostly for clothes and also for wallets, headphones, lip gloss, bikes, sunglasses, furniture, dolls and others.
That’s about 300 designs each per season—spring, summer, fall and winter.
The designers come up with stuff with three types of stores: upscale retailers such as Nordstrom Inc., Macy’s Inc. and boutiques; mid-tier chain operators such as Sears Holdings Corp. and Kohl’s Corp.; and mass-market retailers such as Target Corp.
Artists upload finished designs into an online “vault.” There, licensees peruse them for use in prototypes they can pitch to retailer buyers.
Plush Dolls
One licensee is Vernon-based Fiesta Corp., which makes and sells plush toys based on Paul Frank’s characters.
The dolls look like two pieces of fabric sewed together: “Something that your mom would sew for you,” art director Mike Smith said.
It’s a back and forth process of approvals until Paul Frank signs off on a final design from a licensee.
“We get the final say,” Smith said.
Approvals take up a large chunk of the day.
“It’s push and pull,” Smith said.
Paul Frank tries do provide as much design guidance as possible upfront.
“There’s a lot of room for people to mess things up,” artist Alex Funderburk said. “We overcompensate to do as much as we can for the licensee.”
“I’ve heard we aren’t the easiest licensor,” Smith said. “We don’t entertain too much adjustment to the art.”
Sydney-based Creata, which has a Dana Point office that goes by Gator Group, oversees all of Paul Frank’s licensing contracts.
Creata is known for its work promoting products from companies such as McDonald’s Corp., Kellogg Co., Nestlé SA and Coca-Cola Co. It offers brand strategy, merchandising, administrative services, packaging design, entertainment marketing and other services.
Paul Frank’s deal with Creata marked a sea change for the company, coming a few years after a 2005 falling out with cofounder and namesake Paul Frank Sunich.
Sunich, who came up with Julius and others, now is designing a new line of characters.
He sold his stake in Paul Frank in 2007, clearing the way for designer Mossimo Giannulli—known for his stylish, low-cost clothes at Target—to become an investor.
Giannulli spearheaded the deal with Creata and pops in frequently, according to Smith.
About two months ago, Paul Frank’s products launched in Target, including kids’ pajamas and headphones.
Target’s line, called Paul Frank for Target, is an exclusive to the retailer. It features just the company’s trademark cartoon characters.
Other Paul Frank designs veer from the characters, including shirts with funny sayings such as “I like NY but not as much as Los Angeles” or “Monkey See Monkey Dude.”
Paul Frank still runs its own stores, with six in the U.S. and 30 worldwide, half in Japan.
“I kind of look at it like Sanrio,” Smith said. “You see Hello Kitty everywhere but the Sanrio store is like the Mecca.”
Paul Frank has more than 100 characters, 15 of which are used the most. They include Worry Bear, Sheree the raccoon and a whimsical skull and cross bones dubbed Skurvy, its second most popular character after Julius.
The characters have been tweaked for consistency, Smith said.
“It was subtle,” he said.
The company is working on a character style guide for its licensees, including insights into each character’s “personality.”
Worry Bear, who constantly is doing something wrong and frequently is chased by bees, is set to be featured on Bonne Bell Co.’s new Paul Frank Lip Smacker line.
Paul Frank’s designers recently wrapped up work for winter 2010 and have uploaded art for licensees to tap.
Soon, Paul Frank will be brainstorming designs and possibly characters for spring 2011.
“I love owls,” said Smith, who designed an owl that could make it into the spring lineup.
Inspiration
Designers sometimes go on field trips for inspiration.
Music also is big for the designers. Smith plays in a band outside work.
Many at the company play music, including cofounder and President Ryan Heuser, who plays the drums.
There’s a band room at Paul Frank’s headquarters, where staffers can play any time of the day.
Smith said he stays on top of the company’s best-selling characters and designs so he knows where to focus his designers.
“If we don’t know, then it makes more work for us,” he said. “The majority of requests are for Julius. We’re trying to move people into getting used to other characters.”
The company has high hopes for Chachi, a Chihuahua who appears on pajamas, hoodies and other products.
It’s aimed at young girls.
Smith cites Walt Disney Co. as a model. At first, there was Mickey Mouse, who became synonymous with Disney, like Julius is for Paul Frank. It took a while, but Donald Duck, Goofy and others have attracted their own followings, he said.
A TV show could help boost the other characters, according to Smith.
“We’re talking to people about it,” he said. Paul Frank characters appear in cartoons on the Web but not on TV.
The characters have made their way to books. San Francisco-based Chronicle Books LLC publishes Paul Frank children’s books.
The designers write and illustrate the books. They soon plan to start work on another.
