AHEAD And Kate Lord Add New Eco-Friendly Segment To
Spring 2009 Collection

Plus Expands Performance and Hybrid Categories

NEW BEDFORD, Mass., August 18, 2008 -  AHEAD will continue to fuel its unprecedented growth in its apparel business with the launch of its Spring 2009 apparel line.  New for spring will be an eco-friendly segment for men and women, plus the popular performance and hybrid categories have been expanded. 

“Our apparel business has hit double digit growth for the past four years,” said Jeff Waller, national sales manager for AHEAD. “Our philosophy has always been to offer clean classic styles that will enhance our customer’s logo. Our customers have been very supportive and have applauded our expansion into new categories such as performance, hybrid and now eco-friendly.”

Highlights of Men’s and Women’s Spring 2009

Eco-Friendly Green 
AHEAD is going green in 2009 by offering a line of apparel featuring Cocona® natural technology™, all-natural technology derived from coconuts shells that creates one of the most effective moisture and odor management fabrics available today. The fabric also blocks out UV rays that equate to an Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) of 50+.

“Fabrics are constantly evolving and Cocona is one example of this,” said Casey Waid, apparel design director, AHEAD. “These new technologies in fabric allow us to offer consumers a unique look and feel without sacrificing performance benefits that they come to expect.”

AHEAD will offer the Eco-Friendly line in four styles for men: Bamboo Charcoal Mesh Polo, Cocona Textured Polo, Organic Cotton Jersey Polo, and Cocona Pin Dot Polo.  The Kate Lord line will offer one style: Organic Cotton Jersey Polo. Suggested retail will range from $48 - $70.

Performance
AHEAD will add to its popular Quick Dry Performance line a new Cross Dyed Pique Polo.  The Quick Dry Performance line features a collection of 100 percent polyester performance polos with moisture wicking and odor management attributes to keep the garment dry, cool and fresh.  

In women’s, Kate Lord will add six new styles in the Quick Dry Performance category: Jersey Polo, Button Polo, Zig Zag Stitch Polo, Birdseye Polo, V-Neck Polo, Zip Neck Top, and Striped Color Polo. Suggested retail will range from $45-$65.

Also new for Spring 2009 are three new styles in Hybridwear for men.  A perfect combination of performance and comfort, the popular Hybridwear line combines the feel, comfort and care of cotton with hi-tech fibers. Hybridwear combines the benefits of moisture wicking performance with the easy care of cotton. The new styles are Dri-Balance Block-Color Polo, Dri-Balance Solid Polo, and Dri-Balance Piped Polo.  Suggested retail ranges from $55-$60.

Rounding out the Performance line for Spring 2009 are two additional styles. CoolMax® Fx™, a collection which features breathable garments with a moisture and odor management system. And Mercerized Dri-Balance Polos made out of 55 percent Egyptian cotton/45 percent polyester, 60’s 2-ply double mercerized polos with moisture wicking via construction.

Deliver date for Spring 2009 is December 1, 2008.

Colors:

The men’s and women’s line debuts new nature blended colorways for Spring 2009. For the men’s line the color schemes are nectar, lime, coral and cobalt.  For Kate Lord, the colors are spray, azalea, sorbet, jade and scarlet. 

“The Spring line has received great reviews from our customers,” continued Waid. “Buying trends are less collection based than in previous seasons and have become more focused on expanding key items.  This has always been the merchandising philosophy of our lines. Our pieces complement any wardrobe and they are easy to display in a group or have the ability to stand alone.”

Outerwear: 

AHEAD will offer new outerwear pieces for both men and women utilizing Nanotex™ fabrications.  The lightweight wind and water resistant jackets use nanotechnology to provide excellent stain resistance that is embedded in the fibers and will not wash off or wear out. The windshirts also feature a self fabric stand up collar with contrast panel, concealed zippered pockets and raglan sleeve for freedom of movement. The Nanotex ™ windshirts come in men’s short sleeve half zip and long sleeve full zip and in the Kate Lord collection it comes in a long sleeve half zip and full zip for a suggested retail of $55-$60.

The entire men’s and women’s line can be customized using one of the following: traditional embroidery, woven appliqué label, woven appliqué label with embroidery or rubber appliqué for outerwear garments. To view the new 2009 spring collection, please visit www.aheadweb.com.