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Prior to petitioner's incorporation, Mr. Bennett owned a
printed T-shirt business, which he started in 1973 or 1974. Mr.
Bennett chose to distinguish petitioner from other industry
participants by creating "Sunbelt"-branded product lines and
distributing them through a company-designed catalog that was
mailed directly to existing and potential customers. The catalog
was an efficient and economical way for petitioner to offer its
clothing lines to a large number of customers without incurring
the expenses associated with direct salespeople. Petitioner's
initial catalog consisted of only two pages and was sent to
customers found through trade journal advertisements or in the
yellow pages. Petitioner's catalog expanded from 20 pages in
1982 to approximately 100 pages by 1989. During fiscal years
ending July 29, 1990, July 28, 1991, and August 2, 1992,
petitioner produced eight catalogs per year, which included four
full-scale seasonal catalogs and at least four sale and special
mailing catalogs. Petitioner mailed over 250,000 copies of each
catalog to various wholesalers and retail customers. From these
mailings, petitioner generated over 100,000 customers.
Petitioner's customers have traditionally been small retail
clothing and general merchandise stores. Orders for merchandise
were processed using inhouse trained telephone personnel
operating through phone banks at petitioner's offices.
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