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Copyright 1998 Information Access Company,
a Thomson Corporation Company;
ASAP
Copyright 1998 Capital Cities Media Inc.
Daily News Record

October 5, 1998

SECTION: No. 120, Vol. 28; Pg. 8; ISSN: 1041-1119

IAC-ACC-NO: 21191057

LENGTH: 350 words

HEADLINE: FOR SPRING '99, DAVID CHU'S NST LINE IS A STREET-INSPIRED TAKE ON SPORTS.

BYLINE: McKinney, Melonee

BODY:
What started as footwear technology under the Nautica Competition name has evolved into an entire activewear line that will take Nautica beyond department stores and into sporting good and specialty stores.

The NST (Nautica Sport Technology) line will debut in 600-800 doors for spring, according to Nautica International designer David Chu, and by January will be housed in its own 250 to 500-square- foot soft concept shops in many locations.

"Nautica Competition is the department store channel because it is athletic-influenced with a sportswear feel," Chu said. "NST is multi-purpose activewear designed for the sporting goods channel. Competition is shifting more to a spectator style, so the NST line is more for the active person."

The NST line, Chu said, is activewear fused with fashion and designed for a younger customer than the Competition label. The spring collection features technical fabrics applied to more fashionable pieces such as drawstring and cargo pants, with influences from sports such as soccer and running. Although the line is designed to be technical, Chu said he did not want it to be sports-specific.

"We want to take activewear a little bit further," he said. "We want this line to have function first with some fashion elements to it. We want it to work first and then look good. This line is not sports-specific necessarily, but it borrows looks from several different sports."

Bottoms are priced at $ 30 suggested retail, T-shirts are $ 19 to $ 22, knits are $ 36, warms-ups are $ 89, swim and shorts are $ 29.

Chu said he thought the time was right for fashion companies to branch into the active business because of the sluggishness of that market. "This segment has always been dominated predominately by footwear companies. With the state of that market right now, the door is open for new companies to come in and we'd like to take a shot at it."

For fall, to continue after the spring line, Chu said he wants to expand the line into some snowboarding and more rugged outdoor pieces, and add accessories such as eyewear and watches.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

IAC-CREATE-DATE: October 12, 1998

LOAD-DATE: October 13, 1998