SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL, DRAGON TAKE THE LEAP TO INDEPENDENCE

14 Jun 2008

Following the announcement of Dragon's independence from it's parent company Luxottica, Source got on the phone with General Manager Aaron Behle, after he got back from an early morning surf, to get the scoop.

Dragon was started by Will Howard in his garage in San Clemente over 13 years ago when he saw an opportunity in the market for new blood. From this humble beginning Dragon grew and to fund the growth of the business brought in a number of investors who were also involved in the Oakley business. Dragon continued to evolve to become a diversified and global brand, deeply rooted in surf, snow and MX core/specialty distribution in over 35 countries worldwide. Meanwhile the ties with Oakley developed into a shared private partnership and with the purchase of Oakley by the optical giant Luxottica, Dragon became one of the portfolio of brands at the biggest player in the global optical market.

The purchase by Luxottica presented Dragon with two opportunities , one to remain part of the global leader and reposition the brand as a purely optical business, the other to regain its independance and continue with the development of the brand by offering a variety of products in the action sports market.

CEO Will Howard and General Manager Aaron Behle, who was previously the former vice president of international sales at Reef, decided the time was right to to break away from the parent company. The deal took six months to put together as Will and Aaron went out to find investors and then led this group to take Dragon private.

There were a number of strategic as well as passionate reasons as to why Dragon chose independence. Firstly Will got his baby back, nothing like being back in complete control of your own destiny to reinvigorate brand energy. Secondly Dragon's product mix was moving in a different direction from its parent. Oakley and Luxottica are fully focused on the optical market, whereas Dragon is positioned as more of a youth lifestyle brand connected with core retail specialty shops . This is reflected in their product spread with two thirds of Dragon's turnover coming from outside the optical market. Dragons more diversified product range was never going to fully benefit from being part of Luxotticas vertical optical business model.

So whilst there was always a lot to gain from being part of a larger company (eg. Lower production costs, increased distribution network etc...) there was a danger that Dragons brand development would stall.
“We want to thank Scott Olivet and the rest of the Oakley team for their support over the years and during this transition,” says Howard. “In two very different business plans, we collectively saw an opportunity to allow Dragon to break off and do its own thing in the marketplace.

With one of the most iconic logos in the industry, Dragon is now looking to build on its global branding mission and progressive product offerings and return to what Howard calls the “specialty power band of the action sports industry”.

Dragon will continue to leverage its core assets, which includes a first tier portfolio of athletes with the likes of Surfing World Champion Mick Fanning, Supercross Rookie of the Year Josh Hill and snowboarding legend Jamie Lynn. Dragon looks forward to focusing on fundamentals and continuing to build dynamic, long lasting business relationships with its retail partners.

“We have now restructured Dragon to fully leverage a decade of brand authenticity and capitalize on what we believe is a paradigm shift in the action sports market,” said Behle. “We have a unique position with a unique plan. More importantly, we have a young and passionate team with the ability to ‘zig’ while the market ‘zags’ and enjoy ourselves along the way.” Dragon now embarks on its independent journey with a familiar yet refined mission statement to be the leading eyewear and accessories brand in the youth lifestyle market.

Speaking on Europe for Source, Aaron commented “This has been a great market for Dragon since the 90's and will continue to be an important part of our growth as a brand. Going forward we will continue to develop our existing distribution network and retailing programs. In fact our business model has alot to do with how the brand developed in Europe, Over there we are already much further down the road in brand positioning and we see this as a pattern we can replicate in other markets”

This bold decision is in completely the opposite direction to what has been one way traffic as the major brands have been scooping up smaller independent brands in the boardsports market- Maybe this is the first of a wave of brands regaining their independence .

Whoes next ?

For more information on the Dragon brand and its products, visit www.dragonalliance.com