ertising for the Gold Toe brand. Great American Knitting Mills relied on local advertising to promote the Gold Toe brand. The department store accounts were responsible for both the development of such advertising and the conduct of the advertising campaigns. Great American Knitting Mills agreed to contribute one half of the cost of all such advertising. The quality and intensity of advertising for Gold Toe brand men's socks varied widely by market because of this policy.
Great American Knitting Mills charged a premium price for Gold Toe brand socks. The company also maintained the quality level high for the products.
There were six persons in the Gold Toe brand sales force. The sales force was close knit, long in longevity with Great American Knitting Mills, and on unusually good terms with the company's department store accounts. The Gold Toe sales force did not provide services to accounts such as counting the Gold Toe inventory and stocking Gold Toe shelves services that were provided by the company's competitors. Nevertheless, the exclusive distribution arrangement strengthened the company's position with its accounts to the extent that such services were not demanded of the company by its department store accounts. Thus, the six member Gold Toe sales force compared with a sales force of more than 100 persons employed by one of the company's competitors.
Great American Knitting Mills executives were somewhat concerned about the company's Gold Toe distribution policy because the strongest Gold Toe market share was in smaller markets and in those larger markets where some degree of overlap occurred between major department store accounts. A change of distribution policy, it was speculated, might lead to higher market shares in all larger markets. Offsetting this factor, however, was the $200 to $300 per square foot sales ratio for Gold Toe brand men's socks that compared very favorably with the $180 ratio for ...