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Spotlight: SGFootwear/SGI Apparel.

Article Excerpt
Established in 1896 by Sam Goldberg, New Jersey-based SGFootwear (S. Goldberg & Co., Inc.) now ranks among the top five marketers of footwear, bolstered in large part by licenses such as Bratz, Curious George, Pokemon, Sesame Street, Family Guy, The Simpsons, and South Park, to name a few. The privately held company's range of children's and adult footwear products includes athletics, sandals, flip-flops, hikers, boots, and slippers. Additionally, SGFootwear is the licensee for brand names such as Dockers, Fisher-Price, Gerber, Gold Toe, Panama Jack, and Jockey.

In January, SGFootwear stepped up its efforts to further expand the business with the launch of a clothing manufacturing arm, SGI Apparel Group, which aims to capitalize on the synergy between slippers and sleepwear. Former Allison Manufacturing executive Michael Diablo was named president and CO0 of the new company, which boasts a separate staff, with the exception of Vice President of Licensing and Marketing Elisa Gangl, who now oversees the department for both the sleepwear and footwear businesses. Both Diablo and Gangl were brought on board in 2005, thanks to longtime friend and current SGFootwear President and CEO Bernard Leifer.

Q: Describe your organizational structure.

Elisa Gangl: It's important to note that SGI Apparel is not an add-on business for SGFootwear; rather the two are separate entities. However, both companies retain headquarters, sales offices, and a permanent showroom in Hackensack, NJ, as...