Classic to Fantastic: Cross Speaks to Fashion - 06.03.2010

The classic style and rich heritage of a Cross pen have made it the perfect choice for everyday use, as well as for gift giving—or receiving. These days, the company is making its mark as a writing instrument for the style-conscious consumer, while retaining its reputation for authenticity and value. Chad Mellen, president of the Cross Accessory Division, talks about what the future holds for Cross.

Stylus: How has Cross stayed current while maintaining its classic heritage?
Chad Mellen: I think we’ve done a good job of taking our classically designed styles and brand and making them more contemporary. Cross has to continue to be more relevant to the consumer, and my sense is to appeal to style rather than functional needs. We’ve done a good job in making the brand more diverse, and we’ve done that by expanding resources and looking outside the industry for trends.

Stylus: In your opinion, which of your current collections best represents Cross? Why?
CM: The collection I feel best represents us is Apogee. It has a clear Cross design, with a modern take on the conical top. However, we’ve added a wide center ring, a contemporary extended clip and new finishes, with rich lacquers and engraving. And I believe the quality at that price point cannot be touched anywhere in the marketplace.

Stylus: What new products will be introduced within the next few months?
CM: In 2010 we are increasing our focus on women. We believe that females are still an untapped audience, and I believe that the best way to attract women is to be more thoughtful than simply slapping pink on a product. For example, we are updating our female-focused Sauvage line with a new textured stingray pattern finish. We are also focusing on our core consumer with the launch of a new classic silhouette, Cross Advantage, which features a complimentary Switch-it™—our new pen to pencil converter. The Switch-it will be available on its own later in the spring and will allow consumers to have the flexibility to convert many of their favorite Cross ballpoint pens to a mechanical pencil. We also have great updates to our leather goods coming out this spring. About 10 percent of our sales come from categories other than pens, so we’ll continue to launch additional leather and stationery products in the second half of the year. Color will continue to be important.

Stylus: Who and where are your fans?
CM: They are about 45 years old, male and female, educated, professional, married, urban. We are in about 3,000 active accounts across the globe, the majority of which are pen retailers, stationers and department stores. Our largest market is the U.S. and we have significant business in the U.K. and the rest of Europe, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East, Taiwan, Australia and India. We have worked very hard at extending the brand to new consumers across the globe.

Stylus: In what areas does Cross excel?
CM: In our products and our customer service. You can count on something new and exciting from Cross every season. Our products are refreshed more often, and I believe they are more relevant than that of our competition. As for customer service, Cross has made a large investment in Cross-employed customer service people around the world. Not only do our customers have an actual person they can talk to; they develop relationships with these people. We continue to do all our repairs in our own facilities: the U.K. handles most of the repairs in Europe, while Lincoln, R.I., Tokyo and Hong Kong handles the Americas and Asia  Complex repairs go back to Lincoln, R.I.

Stylus: What is the outlook for writing instruments?
CM: The outlook is very challenging because we, as an industry, have not done a good job in making our products relevant to younger consumers and for the core consumer, our products remain indulgences and not necessities. Unfortunately, I just don’t see a lot of spending on indulgences. I think an era of lower consumption is here to stay and having a very compelling value equation is critical. Increasing consumers’ feeling of value will have to be a major part of the answer for our industry.