PETCO Animal Supplies Stores, the nation's #2 pet supply specialty retailer, is hounding PetSmart for top dog status. As the operating subsidiary of holding company PETCO Animal Supplies, it runs more than 950 stores in all 50 US states. Its 15,000-sq.-ft. superstores carry some 10,000 pet-related items, including premium cat and dog foods (Nutro, Hill's Pet Nutrition), collars, leashes, grooming items, toys, and animal habitats. Its stores also offer grooming, training, vet services, and mixed breed DNA testing, and sponsor pet adoption for cats and dogs with local animal-welfare organizations. PETCO's products are also available through its Web site. Buyout firms took PETCO private in 2006.

Founded in 1979, Katun is the world’s largest supplier of OEM-compatible imaging supplies, photoreceptors, and parts for the office equipment industry. We serve more than 18,000 customers in more than 150 countries from our headquarters in Minneapolis and dozens of worldwide locations.Katun wants you to exercise your options -- to not buy OEM parts. The company designs and makes alternative parts and supplies for copiers, printers, and fax machines. Other sales come from toner cartridges, drums, and rollers. Also included among Katun's more than 6,000 products are ink jet cartridges, thermal ribbons, ball bearings, and tools -- many for products made by companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Canon.

Kingmaker Footwear Holdings wants to make feet feel like royalty. The company is a contract shoe manufacturer specializing in leather rugged footwear and casual shoes for such popular brands as Clarks, Marc Ecko, Privo!, Rockport, Skechers, and 310. It also makes children's and baby footwear for such brands as Elefanten and Stride Rite. Customers include department stores based in the US and Europe. The footwear firm has production lines in Cambodia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Zhongshan, and Zhuhai. In addition to its manufacturing operations, Kingmaker runs MOCCA, a Hong Kong-based chain of shoe and accessory shops.

Steven Madden, Ltd. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Long Island City, New York. Steven Madden, Ltd. designs, sources, markets and retails fashion-forward footwear for women, men and children. The Company also designs, sources, markets and retails name brand and private label fashion handbags and accessories through its Daniel M. Friedman Division. The Company distributes products through its retail stores, its e-commerce Website, department and specialty stores throughout the United States and through special distribution arrangements in Canada, Europe, Central and South America, Australia and Asia. Its business comprises three segments: Wholesale, Retail and First Cost. Steven Madden Retail, Inc., its wholly owned retail subsidiary, operates Steve Madden and Steven retail stores, as well as its e-commerce Website. The Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Adesso-Madden, Inc. (A-M), acts as a buying agent for footwear products under private labels and licensed brands for many mass merchandisers and mid-tier department stores.

Director Gordon Merchant founded Billabong in 1973. Billabong International makes Billabong brand surf and extreme sports (skateboarding and snowboarding) apparel and accessories. Products sporting its wave logo include board shorts, swimwear, T-shirts, jackets, backpacks, watches, and footwear. Board riders and wannabes can buy the firm's gear at specialty sport stores and a few Billabong stores in more than 100 countries. The company sponsors surfers, skaters, and pro surfing tournaments in Australia, South Africa, and Spain.

It was the 1980s: Robin Williams wore rainbow suspenders, Tom Hanks wore a dress, and if you were hot, you had the Jordache look. Fast-forward more than two decades: Jordache Enterprises offers jeans, apparel, and accessories (shoes, purses) primarily for teens, mostly through decidedly non-designer retailers, such as Wal-Mart. It also licenses the Jordache name for eyewear and luggage. Jordache makes jeans under license for Gasoline, Sasson, KIKIT, FUBU, and U.S. Polo Association. Its premium Jordache Vintage line is sold at specialty stores. In 1977 a New York City store, owned by brothers and Israeli immigrants Joe, Ralph, and Avi Nakash, was burned and looted; insurance enabled them to launch Jordache.

Capital Mercury Apparel is playing the name game. Traditionally a maker of uniforms and private-label clothing, the employee-owned company shifted its focus to concentrate on more upscale, branded merchandise. Capital Mercury, founded in 1960, makes a variety of men's and women's clothing, including shirts, sweaters, dress wear, swimwear, and sportswear. Its Bill Blass Premium, Arnold Palmer, and NYNE brands are sold in department stores, and it makes other labels for Wal-Mart stores. Agreements with the likes of designer menswear labels Robert Stock and Wilke-Rodriguez -- as well as a deal struck with Jones Apparel Group -- have brought the company upscale licensing deals.

B.J. Vines, aka Betsey Johnson, is a perennial favorite among women who are funky and consider themselves eclectic, and after some 30 years in the business, the eccentric designer and her company namesake are still going strong. Betsey Johnson clothes, shoes, fragrance, makeup, lingerie, legwear, and accessories are distributed through about 50 specialty stores of the same name and department stores worldwide. B.J. Vines has expanded its product offerings and operations through about a dozen licensing agreements. Having owned a majority of the firm, Johnson sold a controlling stake to Boston-based private equity firm Castanea Partners in August 2007.

Jesse Owens and Muhammad Ali broke records in their adidas athletic shoes. The heart of the adidas product line is athletic shoes, but the three-stripe logo appears on apparel and other jock accoutrements. As the #2 maker of sporting goods worldwide, behind NIKE, it has inked deals with football and basketball athletes, as well as the New York Yankees, and it serves golfers through its TaylorMade-adidas Golf. The company, which has more than 1,150 retail locations, boasted sponsorship rights to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. adidas' purchase of Salomon, the French maker of ski and golf gear, was short-lived. The company sold the unit to Amer Sports Corporation and bought Reebok for some $3.8 billion.

Lion was established in 1891 and has adopted the slogan: From Good Morning to Good Night, More Dreams for Your Life. Lion takes pride in its top ranking among Japanese toothpaste and toothbrush manufacturers. Brands include Clinica, Dentor, and Dent. Besides oral care products, the company makes and sells laundry detergent, bleach, cleaners, shampoo, deodorant, and beauty products in several countries. Household products account for about half of sales, but Lion also operates food, chemical, and pharmaceutical divisions. The company has strengthened its competitiveness by introducing new products, such as a teeth-whitening toothpaste, medicated cleansing pads, and a men's deodorant.

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