Quick, what do you know about Avery Dennison Corp.? It makes those printer-ready, peel-off address labels still floating around in your desk, right? Wrong. But the fact that the public still associates the $6 billion corporation with the stick-on office products it churned out for 30 years doesn’t surprise Shawn Neville, president of its Retail Branding and Information Solutions division. The bulk of the company’s operations these days focus on branding and labeling for the consumer products industry, including clothing tags, logos and labels. It has 40 apparel label factories around the world. The office supplies division was sold more than a year ago, when Avery moved headquarters to Glendale from Pasadena. On Sept. 25, the segment that Neville heads is making a leap into the uber-trendy downtown Arts District, with the grand opening of its Customer Design and Innovation Center. It will be a hub for 50 employees currently working in far-flung Westlake Village and Brea. And it will be a place where L.A.’s trendiest fashion designers – premium denim and the “surf & skate” segment primarily – can get consumer insights, trend forecasting and advice on branding and sustainable manufacturing. The “very cool,” 15,000-square-foot building, a former architectural studio on Third Street just north of the Southern California Institute of Architecture, “has got a great vibe,” Neville said. While Avery’s footprint in the apparel district may surprise outsiders, the company’s industry presence has been growing, said Ilse Metchek, president of the California Fashion Association, a trade group. “Apparel is a complicated business, but over the years (Avery) has found out that this is a huge opportunity for them. Branding is so important; they hope to develop new clients from all the new companies that are popping up on the Internet,” she said. – Karen E. Klein
