Shah Safari still on top of trends after 30 years

In the early years, Raj and Akhil Shah would talk into the night, eating potato chips with their own version of salsa — yogurt, spiked with cayenne and salt.

"We'd talk about what to expect the next day," said Raj Shah of their start in the sportswear industry. "We'd talk about different conversations, different ideas and different thoughts."

Thirty years later, the brothers still end up in one another's kitchens, but they have broader, farther-reaching discussions.

Shah Safari — the Seattle-based company the brothers founded in 1975 — today manages nearly a dozen apparel brands, two retail-apparel concepts and a skin-care clinic.

The company has sales, distribution offices, showrooms and production facilities in several countries, including China, South Korea, Kenya and Bangladesh.

Perhaps more important — they have managed to stay relevant over three decades in an industry where apparel manufacturers live and die by their ability to predict trends.

"I think one of the things that I've observed, and has impressed me — they have continued to evolve their brand and their assortments," said Gail Cottle, retired Nordstrom Product Group president, who gave the brothers their first break.

"They've been able to capture a trend and a direction in the market and be current with it."

The Shah family emigrated from India to Kenya in the early 1900s, where the family sold textiles in Mombasa, a coastal community overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Their mother died when both men were toddlers, and they were raised among nine other siblings.

"Our father was a great influence," recalled Raj Shah, 52. "He trusted his kids and encouraged his kids to explore."

Raj and Akhil eventually explored beyond the borders of their home country, making their way to the United States as teenagers to live with an elder brother who worked at Boeing.

It wasn't long before they tapped the family's entrepreneurial bent.

The brothers were students at Edmonds High School when they started their first retail venture — persuading the DECA club to carry African dashikis in the school bookstore.

Budding retailers

By 1975, Raj and Akhil had formed the apparel company Shah Safari — so anointed by combining their family name with a nod to their Kenyan upbringing.

The budding retailers ran the business by splitting the responsibilities. Raj, the elder brother, identified, sourced and purchased apparel, while Akhil served as the pitchman to department store buyers.

By 20, Akhil had already grown accustomed to walking into buyers' offices without an appointment, and staying in the lobby until they agreed to see his garments. His favorite line: "I'm going to show you how to make a lot of money!"

The big break

Like all small companies, they yearned for a break. The Shah brothers received theirs in the late 1970s from Nordstrom.

Cottle, the retired Nordstrom Product Group president, was a sportswear buyer for the retailer when the brothers came to her office with suitcases filled with Indian-made apparel.

In those days, the buying offices were cubby holes just off the sales floor, and it was common for apparel-makers to come bearing goods.

"I just pulled out an order form, and said 'When can you start shipping this merchandise?' " Cottle remembered. "It was probably at that point I realized they were kind of new at this. We just worked it through together."

Whatever the brothers lacked in knowledge, they quickly gained through hard work — and a bit of forethought.

Los Angeles retailer Ron Robinson said the brothers have long been known for identifying trends.

They began selling Indian garments, for instance, at a time when the Beatles had gone to India to visit the Maharishi and people began embracing loose garments and Madras plaid shirts.

"These were cultural fabrics and cultural silhouettes that were important to have," said Robinson, who operates stores at Fred Segal in Santa Monica and on Melrose Avenue in West Los Angeles.

"They were able to be in the right place, at the right time and around the right people, all at once, and bring it together."

By the early 1980s, every major retail chain carried Shah Safari's products. The brothers, now framed by feathered hair and mustaches — admittedly to appear older to prospective buyers — launched the apparel brand International News in 1983 with industry veteran Mike Alesko.

The clothing, festooned with bold, bright screen-print graphics, quickly became synonymous with '80s fashion — giving Shah Safari, at one point, a 25 percent market share for young men's woven tops.

Raj Shah knew the brand had broken through when retailers called with reports that their inventory had sold out in two days, or that "Kevin Costner just came and bought every shirt in the store."

Demand expands

As demand grew for their brands, the brothers identified new ways to manufacture their goods.

Shah Safari was instrumental in developing the first wave of Nepalese garment factories in the 1980s, according to Mallika Shakya, a World Bank economist who researched that country's ready-made garment industry for her graduate thesis.

By middecade every garment factory there contracted work from the apparel maker.

Shakya said the company enabled factories to compete beyond price, based on both the quality and branding of the goods. "For a small country like Nepal, the only way to survive is to differentiate itself," she said. "Many factories acknowledge the role of Shah Safari."

Urban appeal

By the time the International News brand was fading out, the brothers had others plans. In 1994, they worked with Alesko to introduced the new brand Mecca USA.

The street wear line, heavy with tracksuits, and extra-roomy jeans and Tees, targeted the burgeoning hip-hop revolution. Its first year, the brand brought in $6 million in sales. The second year, $15 million.

The company gauged its popularity when retailers asked them to ship the product in nondescript boxes because their orders disappeared.

A year later, it opened an apparel-retail concept called Zebraclub, which featured new designers and cutting-edge fashions in an environment that enhanced the apparel offerings through music, lighting and store design.

Raj Shah said the company's employees — including its younger upstarts — have stayed on top of trends by keeping their eyes peeled on what consumers wear on the streets.

"There is some subculture somewhere that is doing something different," he said. "Without them knowing, they're starting a trend."

The Shah brothers marked their third decade in the sportswear industry by opening Road, an apparel chain aimed at the "boomer" male — or, more specifically, those who have outgrown J. Crew but aren't yet quite ready for Brooks Brothers.

It targets men in their 30s and 40s in the same way new apparel retail concepts, such as the Gap's Forthe and Towne, cater to women of the same age. As part of the business model, they plan to continually contribute a portion of gross sales to charity.

The brothers have other, new projects. The company's brands include Raw Edge (mainstream young men's street wear), Punch (trendy juniors fashion, sold at retailers such as Nordstrom) and Etienne Ozeki (edgy denim designed for consumers in Europe and Japan).

Latest offering

One of its latest offerings,A. Tiziano, caters to men who grew up wearing Mecca USA, but are a bit older and looking for a more sophisticated, urban look. The styles have been spotted on celebrities such as Bow Wow, Ludacris, Nelly and Brian McKnight.

To put their longevity into perspective, actor Michael J. Fox wore Shah Safari's three-quarter sleeve button-up in the movie "Back To The Future" in 1985.

To put the longevity of the brothers' partnership into perspective, the brothers still talk about their future after work, but now in one another's homes. They live seven minutes apart in Seattle.

"Really, it's the love, mutual respect and impeccable trust," Raj Shah said. "That's what really keeps us going every day."

Monica Soto Ouchi: 206-515-5632 or msoto@seattletimes.com