Alpha Dogs by Donna Fenn

Author:Donna Fenn [Fenn, Donna]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-01-20T14:00:00+00:00

To Market, To Market

While Throneburg was busy developing Thorlos sport-specific socks, the athletic shoe industry was already in the process of its own sweeping transformation. One morning in 1970, Nike, Inc., co-founder Bill Bowerman poured rubber into his wife’s waffle iron, creating the first prototype for what would become the Nike Waffle Trainer, a shoe designed to give runners superior traction. Podiatrists began putting in their two cents as well, advising major shoe companies with brands like Nike, Adidas, and ASICS on the use of wedges and arch supports to enhance comfort and performance. The upshot: generic sneakers like PF Flyers and Converse’s Chucks were becoming obsolete, squeezed out of the marketplace by running, tennis, and basketball shoes that were suddenly being endorsed by professional athletes. It was spot-on timing for Throneburg. His sport-specific socks, which entered the market under the brand name Thorlos in 1979, were the perfect high-end companion to the new athletic shoes. And because they were far pricier than 10-to-a-bag tube socks, margin-hungry retailers snapped them up. At the time, the going rate for the best pair of athletic socks was $2.50; Thorlos sold for $4.50.

THOR·LO first approached the specialty stores—small outdoor and sporting goods retailers that were constantly on the lookout for new products that would give them an edge over their larger competitors. “I remember seeing the first Thorlos and being amazed,” says REI’s sock product manager Denise Friend. “The beautiful cushioning, the thought process that went into the different zones, and the packaging—I thought, ‘Wow, this is fabulous.’ Customers responded wildly.”

But as important as retailers like REI were, Throneburg prided himself on being more concerned with sell-through than sell-in, meaning that he valued the consumer even more than the retailer. “We want to own the consumer before the retailer owns the consumer,” he says. “This forces all the channels to have our brand whether they want it or not.” And eventually, everyone did want the brand. “For the first time, people would come in, ask for Thorlos by name, and refuse an alternative at any price,” he says. That brand loyalty would be even more important when Throneburg’s patents expired and competitors began trying to copy his designs.

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