Eileen Fisher boosted its sales to about $25 million in 1993.

The company continued to

create simple, fluid separates in silk, linen, cotton, rayon, and various knits. Boxy tops,
tunic tops, crop pants, long wrap skirts, and short skirts continued to be the staples, with
styles varying only slightly from season to season. "We've found there's a customer out
there who doesn't follow fashion in a traditional way," Eileen Fisher told WWD's Janet
Ozzard. "She's a therapist, a teacher, an art director. She's busy, she doesn't have time
to deal with fashion, yet she wants to look good and pulled together." For the first time
her company had an advertising budget and marketing plans beyond the mailers it had
been sending its customers.
The rapid expansion of Eileen Fisher's business resulted in its second setback.
Because it had to double its production run with little margin for time, the company
ordered $1 million worth of a wool tweed even before it made a garment. These items
bombed in the marketplace, and as a result Eileen Fisher had to sell about 20 percent
of its line at a loss. Chastened, Eileen Fisher's founder brought in key buyers early the
next season to show them samples and get their opinions on what would sell. She also
sent a staff member to the factory for preproduction sampling in order to reduce
approval time on fabric quality. Sales passed $50 million in 1995, when about 750,000
units were shipped, about 40 percent from China and Hong Kong rather than domestic
manufacturers. The company's number of stores rose to 12, and it opened boutiques in
a few department stores, including Seibu in Tokyo. By the fall of 1996, it was operating
28 in-store shops.
Eileen Fisher moved its shipping and distribution center from Irvington to a larger,
upgraded Secaucus, New Jersey, facility in 1996. The company also installed a CAD
system to make style adjustments easier. Eileen Fisher's four designers were receiving
regular input from the merchandising team with the purpose of assuring that customer
favorites remained in the product line from season to season, even while new colors
and fabrics were introduced. "The customer wants to feel it's the same," Fisher
explained to Staci Bonner of Apparel Industry. "A wrap skirt might be offered in three
new fabrics, but consistency has to be maintained. The fabric may drape differently or
have a different weight, so you can't just use the same pattern--your specs have to be
different." The CAD system made it easier for the company's designers to make subtle
adjustments in a style when changing the fabric. It also made it easier to issue the petite
line introduced in the fall of 1995 and the large-size line added in the fall of 1996.
Eileen Fisher Inc. was in many ways a model employer. When its founder, who
promoted from within and knew everybody by name, decided to move to the suburbs,
she selected a site convenient to public transportation. The company paid for the
commute, and only a few staffers quit. Employees received 10 percent of the profits in
the form of year-end cash bonuses. They were also provided with $4,000 ergonomic
chairs. When a fabrics cutter developed carpal tunnel syndrome, the boss paid for
physical therapy out of her own pocket because the firm's health-insurance plan did not
cover it. Fisher also encouraged community involvement. Even some employees who
continued to live in Manhattan joined the Irvington volunteer ambulance corps,
interrupting work to go out on calls. The company donated 3 percent of its pretax profits
to charitable organizations, many of them based in Westchester County. Fisher herself
promoted the county as a desirable business location in television commercials. Eileen
Fisher hired a manager of social accountability in 1998 to address human-rights issues
in the factories of its suppliers, including the ten plants in south China. The company
committed itself to meeting the guidelines developed by Social Accountability
International for child labor, compensation, working hours, and health and safety. Fisher
offered aid to her suppliers in meeting the SAI's certification standards.

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