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Document 25 of 320.

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

September 2, 1998

SECTION: No. 175, Vol. 175; Pg. 32; ISSN: 0149-5380

IAC-ACC-NO: 21101922

LENGTH: 537 words

HEADLINE: NETWORK TIES SHOE INDUSTRY.

BYLINE: Hye, Jeanette

BODY:
NEW YORK -- From his mother, an artist, and father, an engineer, Todd Ricci inherited the skills required to create shoes with style and function.

Now, Ricci, the owner of Vittorio Ricci shoes, based here, is utilizing those skills on a new project, called Shoe -- The Network.

Operating as a secure Web site that requires a password, Shoe -- The Network (www.shoe.net) is being developed to link shoe retailers and vendors. Ricci's goal is to establish the network as a centralized forum for communications, product searches and buying and selling supported by Web-based electronic data interchange (EDI) solutions.

He expects to sign up several retailers by early next year. The network is already accessible on the Web, but trading on the site has not yet begun.

Co-sponsored by FFANY (The Fashion Footwear Association of New York), Ricci already has commitments from two shoe makers, Cole Haan and H.H. Brown, to participate in the network. His own line of shoes will also be on the site.

"I'm not concerned about signing up other shoe manufacturers because retailers buy from all different lines, and the object is to make it easy for them to find out about the products available and then make it easy to buy," he said.

When it launches, Shoe -- The Network is expected to provide an on-line hub where footwear manufacturers and retailers will exchange information and place orders electronically. It will host secure extranets where companies can communicate with each other privately, as well as customized news and information about the industry, a searchable database of footwear companies, and eventually an auction feature where retailers can try to sell their unsold merchandise to other retailers that want to buy it.

A clear benefit for manufacturers will be easing the management of smaller special orders. "The onesies and twosies orders really get you. They are hard to manage from the retail side as well as the manufacturing side. Handling those orders electronically will help ease the burden for everyone."

The service will cost retailers $ 20 a month, while manufacturers will pay a "small commission" on each pair of shoes sold on the network. Each member that trades on line will be issued a "digital certificate" that will establish them as prequalified by the network.

The site's on-line trading function is complemented by its EDI capabilities, which could make it popular with EDI-capable manufacturers that want to conduct electronic transactions with small retailers. The network will allow retailers to place orders electronically, convert them to standard EDI format using software from Atlanta-based Preminos, and transmit them to the manufacturer. This process could also enable large retailers to conduct EDI with small manufacturers.

Electronic ordering can also take place on the network without the EDI translations.

"We are talking about people being able to conduct EDI in its broadest sense," Ricci contended. "Whether it is the VICS 12 standard or a flat file, the small companies don't even have to know that it's being converted to EDI."

Ricci said the network will initially target small retailers who find the cost of traditional EDI too much.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

IAC-CREATE-DATE: September 9, 1998

LOAD-DATE: September 10, 1998