W&E; Today provides retailers and manufacturers with education and ideas that provoke innovation in the Western and English markets.
Issue link: http://wetoday.epubxp.com/i/235944
Corral Gets a Sister Cowgirl Justice, Cowboy Justice Join Corral Family HEN COWGIRL JUSTICE OWNERS JAMISE AND KURT FISHER approached Othell Welch, about partnering in the apparel business, he had one question. "He said, 'How big do you want to get?'" Jamise recalls. "I said, 'The sky's the limit.' He said, 'Be careful what you ask for.'" In September 2012, Welch announced that Mesquite, Texasbased Cowgirl Justice had become a sister company of Corral Boots. He and Jamise announced the new alliance at the 2013 January Denver Market. The response was overwhelming. "It was jam-packed every single day," Jamise recalls. "I did not get a break in four days. So 5 p.m. Saturday, I go down to his [Welch's] showroom, and he said, 'Be careful what you ask for.' I said, 'Oh, no, I'm happy.'" Happy … and successful. Corral Boots had already launched lines of belts, purses and jackets, and Welch says an apparel line had been in the back of his mind for years. "The more I looked at it and the more I thought about it, it was just too difcult for us to try to set up and show a clothing line," he says. "With jackets, purses and belts, the limited number is fairly easy to show. But trying to show a clothing line was just too difcult." But then came Cowgirl Justice, which debuted at the Western market in Dallas in August 2007, mainly as a T-shirt line. When the Fishers decided to expand into afordable women's fashion, business exploded. "I want great, soft fabrics," Jamise says. "That's my thing, but I always want to bring in our trendy, fun things — cute sundresses with cowboy boots, serapes, cool fringe. We like to push it a little." And often, they would pair their clothes with Corral's boots. "Othell was always a great person to go to for advice," Jamise says. "His knowledge of the industry and business is so great. Anytime we had a question he would help us, and our showrooms were next door, so we'd bring people over and vice versa. Corral was our inspiration." Welch says he's known Jamise and Kurt for more than seven years and they discussed partnering several times. "They got to the point where it was time to take on a partner," Welch says. "They wanted to grow and take the line to next level and in order to do that they needed to partner up with W somebody. We were interested in a clothing line, so it made a good match. A lot of people wearing their clothes were wearing our boots and vice versa." The women's fashion line retails from $50 to $88. T-shirts with themes like "I Love You Like Biscuits and Gravy" retail for about $32. Welch, however, had always been interested in men's shirts, so Cowboy Justice by Corral was launched in September 2013, with delivery of product scheduled for spring 2014. With crinkle and jacquard tone-on-tone fabrics, embellished with focking, contrast stitching, snaps and button-down collars, these are defnitely not your typical work shirts. "You're not going out to pick up feed in that shirt," Jamise says. Kurt explains that the basic cowboy rodeo shirt is available in abundance and says it's difcult to compete for that. "What we're really try to do is bring fashion to cowboy shirts without getting into really expensive cowboy shirts," Kurt says. "We don't want to make a shirt that retails for more than $100." The two companies had a similar customer base that transcended core Western retail. "We get a lot of crossover stores," Jamise says. "The boutique that sells Western-infuenced clothing. A lot of men in Dallas who have never worn a cowboy hat in their lives, but wear boots and jeans, want a cool shirt. We think there's a good niche for it." Welch has always called Corral Boots a family-run business, and now the Fishers have joined that family. "We have so much fun with him," Jamise says. "It's been a great year. It's such a great family feeling with him." So what comes frst, the boots or the apparel? "There are times when I do see a boot and say I've got to do a pink dress to go with that boot," Jamise says. "But a lot of times it'll be fabric. We really try to fnd diferent fabrics. Our fabrics and the boots are so important." Adds Kurt,""There are color schemes every year that are the new trends, and Othell and Jamise are really tied in to those trends. They end up picking the same color schemes." "I get a lot of inspiration from his boots," Jamise says. "I have a ton of them. That's all I have." — JDB "I want great, soft fabrics," Jamise says. "That's my thing, but I always want to bring in our trendy, fun things — cute sundresses with cowboy boots, serapes, cool fringe." 60 Western & English Today