The Juicy Couture company, formed by two So-Cal scenesters and orginally named Travis Jeans, makes women's T-shirts and other casual attire with a glamorous flair -- claiming that women want to be comfortable and feel gorgeous. Since its formation, the apparel firm has expanded into swimwear, beachwear, watches, children's and infants' wear, fragrances, and footwear. Juicy Couture brand clothes are distributed throughout the US, Europe, and Asia in 60 of its own stores, as well as through specialty and high-end department stores, such as Bergdorf Goodman. The firm was acquired by Liz Claiborne in early 2003.

Seiko Corporation of America (SCA) keeps US time for Japan's Seiko Holdings Corporation, a firm best known for its watches, clocks, and athletic timing devices. SCA markets watches and clocks under popular brands the likes of Pulsar and Seiko. Watches in Seiko's Kinetic series are powered by wrist movement rather than batteries; if the watch is set aside, a chip stores the time for several years. The manufacturing company is focusing more on fashion than function by adding the kinetic features to some of its fashion watches. SCA also offers personalized touches such as custom engraving and diamond settings.

Marchon Eyewear, Inc. company designs and distributes eyeglasses and sunglasses in some 100 countries. Marchon sells collections of eyeglasses and sunglasses, including Calvin Klein, Coach, Disney, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Nautica, Michael Kors, Sean John, and NIKE brands (all under license); the patented Flexon metal memory frames; and its own eponymous frames. Marchon also makes optical software under names such as OfficeMate (management), and ExamWRITER (health record software) and offers continuing education courses and various publications for eyewear professionals.

Autumn Harp Inc. was founded in 1977. Autumn Harp company is a contract manufacturer for the cosmetics and personal care products industry. It makes lipsticks, lip balms, blushes, eye shadows, skin moisturizers, body scrubs, and other beauty aids. The firm also runs a research and development lab for formulating flavors, fragrances, shimmer effects, and natural and organic products. Clients have included Bath & Body Works, The Body Shop, Estee Lauder, and Victoria's Secret.

Begun as a haberdashery in 1919, it evolved from making hats and gloves into a leading distributor of imprintable sportswear distributing more than products under 35 retail brands, including adidas Golf, Champion, and Dickies, and private labels and operates under the Broder, Alpha, and NES divisions. Its private labels include Devon & Jones, Desert Wash, Harvard Square, and others. Customers, mostly small US retailers, order merchandise through seasonal catalogs or online. Private investment firm Bain Capital has held a majority interest of the company since May 2000, when the Broder family sold the firm.

Owner Charlie Clifford founded Tumi, Inc. in 1975 after a Peace Corps stint in Peru. Tumi company is named after an Incan god of medicine, and has been a unit of Doughty Hanson & Co. since 2004. The high-end designer and manufacturer of such travel accessories as prestige suitcases, backpacks, garment bags, totes, and travel kits, specializes in corporate travelers whose cargo is arguably precious (the company has its own tracking system for retrieving lost bags). Tumi distributes its luggage in the US and abroad through some 50 of its own retail stores, its Web site, other specialty stores, and partnerships with hotel chain Starwood and luxury cruise line Seabourn.

Jockey International has nothing to do with horses and everything to do with the classic men's brief (its invention). The more than 130-year-old company makes men's, women's, and children's underwear and loungewear. Its products are sold through thousands of department and specialty stores the likes of Bloomingdale's and JCPenney. Jockey International licenses and distributes its apparel in more than 120 countries and holds numerous licensing agreements. Chairman and CEO Debra Waller and her family own the company. Jockey International was founded by Samuel Cooper in 1876 as a hosiery company intended to relieve lumberjacks of blisters and infections resulting from shoddy wool socks.

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.

Hartz Mountain offers a mountain of products for pets of all sizes. The company makes and markets more than 1,500 pet-care products, including nutritional items for small pets, birds, and fish; over-the-counter animal health products; and toys and accessories for dogs, cats, and birds. The company also caters to ferrets, chinchillas, hamsters, and rabbits. German immigrant Max Stern founded Hartz in 1926. His family operated the company for more than 75 years under the Hartz Group umbrella along with the family's real estate operations. Investment group J.W. Childs and Hartz management bought the company in 2000, then sold Hartz to the Sumitomo Corporation in 2004 for about $364 million.

As Iams tells it, Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to fetch her portly pooch a bag of Eukanuba Large Breed Weight Control food. The Iams Company makes Eukanuba and Iams dry and canned versions of premium dog and cat foods and sells them in pet supply stores and veterinarians' offices in more than 70 countries. However, North America accounts for the vast majority of the company's sales. Founded by Paul Iams in 1946, Iams also funds research efforts related to animal dermatology, geriatrics, allergies, and nutrition through its Paul F. Iams Technical Center. Former chairman Clayton Mathile acquired the company in 1982 and sold it to consumer products giant Procter & Gamble in 1999.

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