戶外用品公司菲爾森的大抱負

????直到過去十年，菲爾森還一直是個行動比較緩慢的企業。它在1914年就推出了旗下最暢銷的巡航夾克。但直到上世紀50年代才推出了鞋類，180年代才推出了包類產品，而這些基本就是它的全部看家寶貝了，而情況一直到2005年才有所改觀。在柯克到任之前，這家公司的首席執行官是道格?威廉姆斯，他是拉夫勞倫公司（Polo Ralph Lauren）的前任高管。2005年，洛杉磯的Brentwood Associates私募基金公司收購了菲爾森公司，作出了這項任命。這真是一種奇怪的組合方式，用《財富》雜志（Fortune）的話來說就是“這就好比凱迪拉克（Cadillac）的高管去掌管約翰?迪爾公司（John Deere，美國著名農業機械企業——譯注）一樣?！比ツ?，這家公司推出了一系列女性服裝，還開始進行多方合作，一方面和李維斯（Levi’s）合作，另一方面和一家日本設計公司合作。

????柯克正著手終止這些合作?！拔覀儸F在采用的方式是：和設計關系不大，更多是和產品開發有關?！蔽覇査@是什么意思，并提到了根據功能來形成設計創意，他馬上回答說：“對，就是這個意思，”同時開始描述“圍繞這些標志性產品打造金字塔的計劃。拿公文包來說——我們正在增加一款采用彈道尼龍的產品，它使用經過優化的瑞士拉鏈——Riri牌，絕對堪稱拉鏈中的保時捷——這個品牌對拉鏈的每個鏈齒都精工細作，讓它滑爽得像黃油一樣。當我們想到戶外、狩獵和釣魚領域里的菲爾森時，我們就會發現它和愛馬仕（Hermes）的諸多相通之處。它們都有150多年歷史，都是從制造馬鞍起家，生產同樣功能的產品，而且只有幾種顏色和樣式。柏金包（Birkin）還是柏金包，而且終生保修。它就是個傳家寶?！狈茽柹陌彩墙K生保修，消費者只需把包送回菲爾森公司即可獲得維修服務，而且這家公司70%的產品都是在西雅圖的同一個工廠制造的；但是菲爾森的包價格只有柏金包的1/35（后者價格不等，但均價約為7,000美元，菲爾森則僅售200美元），而且也不存在要等上六年才能買到一個的情況。

????新掌門來到菲爾森后的最大變化就是推出了“西雅圖系列”服裝，這是一種更修長，更適合城市居民的城市風格服裝。而這家公司的傳統風格現在被稱為“阿拉斯加系列”?？驴俗顡牡氖?，這些變化會不會疏遠那些忠誠顧客。他說：“我們覺得自己似乎為這兩類客戶都打開了通道，同時又不讓他們任何一方覺得不滿?！边@兩個系列的名字是對公司歷史的明智致敬，而且顯然更偏愛其中一個群體。畢竟，當那些純爺們兒紛紛奔赴北方淘金時，C.C.菲爾森自己卻留在城里發了財?，F在，他創立的這家公司已經找到了路子來同時為這兩個群體服務。（財富中文網）

????譯者：清遠???

????Until the last decade, Filson was a very slow-moving company indeed. It introduced its best selling cruiser jacket in 1914. Footwear came in the 1950s, bags in the 1980s, and that was pretty much it, until 2005. Before Kirk, Doug Williams, a former Polo Ralph Lauren executive, was the CEO. This was after a private-equity firm based in Los Angeles named Brentwood Associates bought Filson in 2005. It was an odd coupling, "a little like finding out that John Deere was being taken over by a Cadillac executive," as Fortune described it. The company launched a line of women's wear last year and embarked on a few collaborations, one with Levi's, and another with a Japanese designer.

????Kirk is ending those collaborations. "The approach we're taking is: It's less about design. It's really about product development." When I asked him what he meant by this, and brought up the idea form following function, he said, "Yes, yes that's it exactly," and began describing plans to build "pyramids around each of these iconic items. Take the briefcase -- we're adding a style with ballistic nylon, and an improved Swiss zipper -- Riri, the Porsche of zippers, really -- they tumble every tooth so it zips smooth as butter. When when we think of Filson in the outdoor and hunting and fishing world, we see similarities to Hermes. They're 150 years old, started as a saddle maker, they make products in the same facilities, in just a few colors, with a few patterns. The Birkin bag is still a Birkin bag. And it's repairable for life. It's an heirloom." Filson bags are also repairable for life, all one needs to do is send it back to Filson, and 70% of the company's product is made in a factory in Seattle; but Filson's bags are about 1/35 the cost of a Birkin (which range considerably but average about $7,000, compared to a $200 Filson), and there is not a six-year waiting list for one.

????The biggest change to Filson under its new CEO is the introduction of "The Seattle Fit," a slimmer, more urban cut of clothing for the more urban set. The traditional cut is now known as "The Alaska Fit." Kirk's greatest concern with all change is the possibility of alienating that loyal customer. "We feel as if we've opened the funnel to both without upsetting either," he says. The names of the two categories are a clever nod to the company's history, and tellingly favor one group more than the other. After all, in the beginning, real men ventured into the North seeking fortune, while C.C. Filson stayed back in the city and made his own. Now the company he built has figured a way to serve both customers.