Figi

Gifts & Decorative Accessories: Tell us about the origins of Figi.

Chris Collins: Todd Figi founded the company 35 years ago, selling framed prints out of the trunk of his car. On his way to success, he reinvented the company many times. In the late 1990s, he sold out to an investment group, and last July, Figi was purchased by Milestone Partners. Woody La Forge is the new CEO and president, and I'm in charge of sales and marketing.

Gifts & Dec: What's your and Woody's history?

CC: Woody spent over 20 years with Lenox and a number of years with Blyth, as president of the Colonial Candle division. That's where we met. Woody hired me as a consultant for Colonial, and I became senior vice-president of sales. Before that, I spent 16 years at Russ Berrie.

Gifts & Dec: We hear a lot about the "new" Figi. What does that mean?

CC: The new Figi is aggressively employing the successful business applications that started with Todd and made this company great. There was a time after Todd when Figi went astray.

Gifts & Dec: What are some of those applications?

CC: One of the strengths that Figi has always had is that we ship over 98 percent of what we book, efficiently and on time. We've also employed much better value pricing. Our prices are about 20 percent lower than a couple of years ago. And we're boosting the sales force. When we purchased the company, there was a sales force of about 40. We've got about 90 salespeople now, and we're looking to have over 100. We pride ourselves on having an employee-based sales force, as opposed to using independent reps.

Gifts & Dec: What does that mean for Figi's product offerings?

CC: All our products are what we like to call "Figi-ized." We have developed a niche for being cute, creative, whimsical, and unique. Most recently, we developed a very strong garden line called Family Matters that's just exploding. Of course our JW Stannard brand wind chimes continue to be very important.

Gifts & Dec: What does the new Figi offer for inside the home?

CC: Equally important was to bring back the themed collections that Todd was famous for — the golf, the fishing, the baseball home accessories. We also offer Figi gifts, Figi seasonal, and the Michel & Co. baby, wedding, inspiration, and licensed product brand.

Gifts & Dec: How do you see the gift industry changing?

CC: I see it growing. Not from the standpoint of mom-and-pops — I expect them to stay pretty steady — but expanding into new channels of distribution like grocery and floral shops, Linens 'n' Things, Kohl's, and Starbucks, for example. They all want a piece of the gift industry, for innovative product — and, of course, for the margins. The industry is also going through an exciting change on the vendor side. Up until a few years ago, it was led by the Russ Berries and the Department 56es. But now a number of those entrepreneurs have passed away. The companies are still here, but they're without their founders, and in some cases they're without the spirit that made them so competitive. That creates room for a lot of smaller companies to get a piece of the action.

Gifts & Dec: What is the bottom line in running a successful gift company?

CC: The gift industry is damn near 100 percent driven by emotion. There are a lot of pure business people who don't do well in it for that reason. Our customers buy on emotion; we sell on emotion; ultimately the consumer buys on emotion. Our most successful product is the wiggle stake, and I assure you no one ever left the house in the morning saying "I gotta get out of here, I have to buy a wiggle stake." There's not a single thing in this showroom that you really need, but it's all emotionally satisfying.