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Red Oxx drops fitness gear, finds market in bags for travel
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Red Oxx Manufacturing Inc. http://www.redoxx.com of Billings has embarked on a new leg of its adventure in international business.
In April, the company discontinued its wholesale fitness gear operation – what the business started in – and is now rolling out a bunch of new bags sporting the Red Oxx Mfg. Inc., Made in Montana label.
By DAVE BURGESS
Western Business News
Red Oxx is owned by Jim Markel Jr. and Perry Jones. Markel said the fitness side was a good little business for many years, but, more and more, Red Oxx was getting hammered with off-shore competition.
The other side of the business – rugged travel bags – was the direction the business was moving in anyway, he said. In October, the company jumped deeper into that market with the introduction of eight new products, expanding its selection of adventure bags, carry-on bags and the like to 35.
This is the largest number of new products Red Oxx has ever rolled out at once, and the prospects are good. "You know you have a winner," Markel said, when samples sell out and half of an initial production run pre-sells.
Among the new travel bags are the Rock Hopper, the Chica Purse, the C-Ruck, the Aviator Series and the Expedition Series, all ruggedly built but with unique features.
"Everybody has their own traveling style," Markel said.
Now the company has a blend of both complicated bags with lots of pockets and zippers and some simple ones, he said. The rucksack, for example is simple and kind of retro in design as is the Air Boss. Red Oxx went with a retro look partly to contrast with the high-tech look of competing products on the market.
The company now has about 3,000 customers around its Billings base and only retail store, and it is pushing 7,000 customers worldwide, Markel said.
The company won big-time attention earlier this year with a Gear of the Year Award from Outside magazine http://www.matr.net/article-10598.html . The Red Oxx PR5 Safari-Beano’s bag, which starts at $150, got a full-page photo and product review in the magazine. That resulted in a $30,000 bump in sales, Markel said.
One perpetual challenge Markel and Jones face is getting parts. Both are former military parachute riggers and have built the business on the rigger’s unyielding standards for function and durability. Those standards, though, reduce their options in purchasing.
For instance, they demand the strength of stainless steel sailboat hardware, Jones said, pointing to a shiny ring. "You could pull a car with that." But Red Oxx can get that hardware only from one U.S. supplier back East.
It can take seven days to get material shipped to Billings from the East Coast, Jones said.
Because of the distance from suppliers, Red Oxx must carry more raw goods, Markel said. Red Oxx "can get up to six figures in inventory" in a snap. The cost is a barrier to entry here, he said.
The company now employs seven. Recently, Erica Ortivez, Paul Green and Ted Koernig joined longtime Red Oxx mainstays Scott Shreeve – another rigger, and Irv Ward.
Dave Burgess is editor of Western Business News. He can be reached at 657-1562 or [email protected].
Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
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