THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070566
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
With products like ``Smokin'' kneeboards and underwater ``Toypedoes,'' Swimways Corp. has carved out a niche in the toy and water-sports industries.
``What Swimways brings to the pool business is a toy mentality,'' said David Arias, vice president of sales and marketing for the Virginia Beach company.
That means Arias, son of company owner Manny Arias, often takes his work home. He checks out competing products in his spare time and lets his kids and the neighborhood children play with Swimways products, all the while watching their reactions.
``My kids have more toys than any kids should have,'' he said jokingly.
Arias works out of Swimways' headquarters, which is tucked in an industrial area off Baker Road in Virginia Beach. The 180,000-square-foot office and warehouse facility employs 65 people who help develop, manufacture and market the company's products.
Inside, workers put the finishing touches on kneeboards and wakeboards, smoothing over labels, adding belts and warning stickers. Others polish the boards, eliminating spots or other flaws.
Throughout the plant, boxes are stacked to the ceiling, waiting to be shipped to some of the nation's biggest retailers.
Swimways knows its place in the toy industry as a small niche player. Its annual sales are less than $20 million, though the exact figure is not known because the company is privately held. For comparison's sake, toy giant Mattel Inc., maker of Barbie dolls, had more than $3 billion in annual revenues last year.
Still, Swimways has thrived. Arias said the company is profitable, and he anticipates a 35 percent increase in sales this year.
The manufacturer also is No. 1 in its HydroSlide brand of kneeboards, recreational boards that are towed behind motorboats. The company's Skurfer wakeboards also have taken off, and executives expect them to beat out the competition this year. Wakeboards, which also are towed behind boats, are used more like surfboards and require more agility than kneeboards.
The bodyboards have done OK, but face a lot of competition, Arias said.
The company's line of swimming pool products is less well known. But some of its items have become hot sellers. Flimflam Fluggle, a floating foam tube that looks like a gigantic Q-tip, has been a hot seller at Toys ``R'' Us, Arias said.
The newest Swimways offering is Toypedo, a silicone projectile that kids can throw underwater. Toypedo, described as an underwater Frisbee shaped like a small torpedo, travels up to 50 feet before hitting the bottom of the pool.
``It's really neat,'' said Kelly Gebauer, Swimways' marketing director. ``When I get the kids to do photo shoots, I can't get them to stop playing with it.''
At an Oceanfront hotel pool where Toypedo was being tested, people began approaching Gebauer, asking whether they could buy the toys.
``We knew we had a hit,'' she said.
Company owner Manny Arias is familiar with innovative toy concepts. He once worked for San Francisco's Kransco, maker of Hula Hoops and Frisbees.
The elder Arias was a senior vice president at Kransco, which owned the Virginia Beach warehouse and offices, when Mattel Inc. began sniffing after the company.
Mattel wasn't drawn to the hoops or the frisbees. Instead, it wanted Kransco's hot Power Wheels battery-powered carts.
Mattel purchased Kransco in May 1994, but got rid of most of its water-sports division.
Arias saw a solid foundation. Soon after the buyout, he made his move, buying the water-sports division.
``He didn't want to retire, (Mattel) wasn't going to hire him and there were 40 employees here looking to be out of work,'' said his son, David Arias. ``He saw a company that had a lot of opportunity.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Swimways is No. 1 in its HydroSlide brand of kneeboards,
recreational boards that are towed behind motorboats
by CNB