Jansport Starts Line Of Active-Wear Clothes -- Plan May Mean 50 New Jobs At Wenatchee Plant

EVERETT

For 25 years, JanSport has been widely known for its frame packs and book packs. Now the company hopes to capitalize on that brand-name recognition in men's shirts, shorts, pants and jackets.

Made in Greensboro, N.C., the JanSport clothing will go on sale at REI, Olympic Sports Centers and other department and specialty stores across the country in June or July, said Skip Yowell, JanSport co-founder and director of advertising and promotions.

Of JanSport's 430 employees, a handful are in Greensboro, two sales managers work in New York and 150 run the company's credit, computer-systems and customer-service departments in Appleton, Wis.

The rest work in Washington state. Next month, JanSport plans to move its main offices, warehouses and manufacturing plant from Paine Field into a new 100,000-square-foot building under construction nearby.

Yowell said the company also plans to hire about 50 more sewing-machine operators at its Wenatchee factory, opened last year, which now has about 100 operators.

But that won't necessarily mean a 50-percent increase in day-pack sales. Yowell said it will mean less use of outside contractors such as Jantzen.

The new clothes, marketed with the slogan "Get Out While You Can," are aimed at male yuppies who once bought JanSport backpacks but now indulge in less demanding activities.

"Our primary target is the 25- to 40-year-old man who, even as he tackles the challenges of the adult world, has remained true to a spirit of adventure and individualism," said Mark Clift, general manager of JanSport Apparel in Greensboro.

JanSport started developing the clothes a year ago to take advantage of the manufacturing and marketing operations of Wrangler jeans, produced in Greensboro by VF Corp., JanSport's parent company.

"We can use their production facilities, fabric sources, warehouses and all their experience," said Yowell.

The line includes slacks, shorts, knit and woven shirts, T-shirts and sweat shirts, all to retail for less than $40. In addition, JanSport will make two jackets with higher prices.

JanSport marketing materials indicate the clothes will emphasize "a sophisticated, classic approach" and "active details," like twill tape reinforcement on collars and other stress points, and use of JanSport's "four directions" logo.

The company's shorts and pants are made from chambray, sheeting, denim and twill. Woven shirts will be made from washed fabrics, including chambray and denim.

Later this year, the company plans to roll out a line of unbleached cotton "Earth shirts" with environmental graphics.

To make sure its hearty outdoor image rubs off on its new clothes, JanSport plans to stage "mountain in the mall" promotions, with 17-foot-high, free-standing Fiberglas climbing walls, in shopping malls.

Yowell believes the clothing could become a major part of the company's business in the next few years, especially with the resources and financing of VF Corp., which also owns the Lee, Jantzen, Health-Tex and Girbaud clothing brands.

At the moment, 70 percent of JanSport's sales are its roughly two dozen models of day packs, including some aimed at school children, college students, hikers and travelers.

"This business seems to grow, as it becomes more accepted," said Yowell, who noticed that many New York City commuters have switched from carrying briefcases to wearing day packs.

Another 20 percent of sales come from frame packs, of which Yowell says JanSport is the largest U.S. manufacturer. "We're still in a growth mode in this business," he said, and the company shipped 60,000 frame packs last year to Japan. Those packs were made in a Korean factory which licenses the JanSport brand name.

That factory also makes JanSport bicycle bags for Germany and JanSport hiking boots for Japanese consumers.