Duluth Trading Company

Duluth Holdings Inc., a lifestyle brand of men’s and women’s casual wear, workwear and accessories, announced on Monday that Dave Loretta has been appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer. Loretta will succeed retiring CFO Mark DeOrio, and will assume the role of CFO effective immediately. Loretta joins Duluth Trading from Nordstrom Bank, where…

Workwear retailer Duluth Trading Co. has promoted Stephanie Pugliese to president and chief merchandise officer, effective immediately. Duluth Trading said that Pugliese most recently served as senior vice president of product development and marketing, spearheading the evolution and expansion of Duluth Trading's women's line.

PATIENT: Why aren’t catalogs prettier than they are? Isn’t a beautiful design the best thing for my catalog? CATALOG DOCTOR: It’s true that many catalogs aren’t as pretty as they could be. Most important, of course, is what lifts sales. Will beauty improve sales for you? Let’s try to answer that, then look at how to achieve beauty. Look at Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous “Mona Lisa,” acknowledged as beautiful art the world over. Whether from the colors, the proportions or the mysterious smile, it has the underlying elements that make people want to look at it and hang it on their walls.

In a session during last week’s NEMOA conference in Portland, Maine, Lois Boyle, president/chief creative officer at catalog consulting firm J. Schmid & Assocs., said that the customer experience is the key factor in developing a successful catalog company. Stressing that in today’s world you’re more in competition with consumers’ time than with their pocketbooks, Boyle provided a few ways to help your catalog break through the clutter of everyday life. Included below are four of those tips: 1. Develop a schemata (customer’s frame of reference). Calling it the “curse of knowledge,” Boyle said that many catalogers know too much. “We get so close