Sports Executive Weekly has learned that Russell Corporation is now making the long-anticipated move to roll its Moving Comfort brand under the Brooks Sports umbrella. Sales, marketing, customer service, distribution, and finance responsibilities for the brand that was one of the first to focus solely on the female runner will move to Brooks’ Bothell, Wash. headquarters, but product merchandising and design will stay in MC’s home in Chantilly, Va. Company founders Ellen Wessel and Elizabeth Goeke are expected to retire from the full-time operational aspects of a business they launched 26 years ago, but will stay on board as consultants to Moving Comfort.

In an internal memo sent to SEW late last week by a company spokesperson, RML said that Moving Comfort is one of Russell Corp.’s fastest growing brands and remains “extremely important to the company’s business portfolio,” but the current volume of business was not sufficient to support a free-standing division and remain competitive. The company has set a goal of completing the move by the end of the third quarter, but sees a June date possible if the planets align.

Ms. Wessell told SEW that many thought the move made a lot of sense from the time RML acquired Brooks in December 2004, but the timing just wasn’t right. She said that Brooks and Moving Comfort have almost 100% overlap in customers, a fact that should serve those customers well, but she stressed that the two brands will remain separate from a sales and product standpoint.

In January of this year, RML reported that it was consolidating the Moving Comfort brand under the Russell Athletic group as part of a restructuring effort that was expected to net the company roughly $8 million to $10 million in annual savings. Last month, the company announced the formation of an integrated Russell/Spalding Team Sports Group to manage all team dealer efforts for the Russell Athletic, Spalding, Huffy Sports, Bike Athletic, and Dudley brands.

RML said this latest move allows Russell Athletic to “continue to focus on building its brand at retail, with teams and in college book stores.”


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