The fickle finger of fashion is pointing toward French designer jeans, making a small Baltimore clothing company the hottest investment in Maryland, Virginia or the District so far this year.
I.C. Isaacs & Co. never puts its own name on the jeans it makes, or the coordinated jackets, tops and other sportswear.
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The clothes carry the Marithe and Francois Girbaud brand, which the husband and wife designers license to Isaacs for the American market.
Since I.C. Isaacs brought in a prominent fashion executive to run the company, business has gotten much better, profits have returned and the company's stock has climbed to its highest level in more than five years.
The stock was the best performer in the region for third quarter and also is the biggest gainer for the year-to-date.
I.C. Isaacs shares nearly doubled from $1.18 a share to $3.30 last quarter. The stock more than tripled for the first nine months of 2004.
The huge gain in the stock reflects the results I.C. Isaacs has been turning in. Second-quarter sales grew to $28.2 million from $16.2 million, and profits nearly tripled to $1.3 million from $471,000.
Credit for the turnaround goes to chief executive Peter J. Rizzo, who in July also became chairman. Before joining I.C. Isaacs, Rizzo was president of Bergdorf Goodman, president of the retail division of Polo Ralph Lauren and vice president of Barney's New York.
I.C. Isaacs shares trade on the over-the-counter bulletin board -- the market for companies too small or too weak financially to qualify for the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Bulletin board stocks often take big jumps after they generate buzz among the small-time speculators who talk up their investments in Internet chat rooms. But I.C. Isaacs stock has been making steady gains this year without such hype. If anybody is talking up I.C. Isaacs, it's probably in the coffee shops of New York's garment district, where Rizzo's name has helped increase the visibility of the Girbaud brand.
