What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Wolford? “Beautiful Legs” was the quick response from Axel Dreher, COO/ CFO of Wolford, one of the leading hosiery companies in the World. Did you know that the company uses 10 miles of yarn to produce one pair of leggings? The goal is to create a second skin, for women who are comfortable in their own skin. They use about 432,000 miles of yarn a day during their production runs.
The imagery in the office building is unmistakably sensual, yet elegant. Huge posters show off the most beautiful models in the world wearing lacey leggings and body-wear, shot by some of the worlds leading photographers. Move over Calvin Klein – there is something that comes between a woman and her jeans!
The case study is an interesting one. A traditional 65 year old company with a technologically sophisticated production system makes high quality products for the sensual, yet discrete, customer.
Wolford is undergoing a massive cultural and strategic reorganization under the watchful eye of my buddy Ashish, who took over as CEO about 15 months ago. His task is to enable them to reengineer themselves to compete in tomorrow’s global market place. So proud of my buddy. Can’t wait to interview him for this blog.
Tomorrow we tour the factory and continue our research interviews with senior executives. It’s a tough gig, but someone has to do the heavy lifting. I just drew the shortest straw!
About Hemant Rustogi