Phat (acronymic slang for "pretty hot and tempting") Fashions designs and markets urban hip-hop fashions for men, women, and children under the Phat Farm and Baby Phat names. It also makes clothing in Big & Tall sizes. The company's products are sold through department and specialty stores, company-owned Phat Farm stores in New York and Montreal, and a Web site. Most of Phat Fashions' products -- which include apparel and accessories -- bear the brand name. The company got into footwear in 2008. Entrepreneur and hip-hop media guru Russell Simmons founded Phat Fashions in 1992; he sold it to clothier Kellwood in 2004.

Samas NV (formerly Samas-Groep) specializes in creating furnishings needed for an ergonomic work environment. The company develops and supplies a wide variety of office furniture for customers throughout eastern and western Europe. Samas products include seating, storage, and desktop furniture for individual workstations, as well as meeting spaces. The company serves its clients through about 20 European operating companies. Samas started as a stationery store in the 1920s, expanded through acquisitions, and later changed its focus to office furnishing.

DC Shoes was among the first to capitalize on the skateboard, snowboard, and adventure sports niche market. The company designs technical footwear for skateboarding and snowboarding, as well as casual apparel, accessories, and other sports gear. In addition to its standalone retail shops in New York and Los Angeles, DC Shoes markets its products online and through such retailers as Macy's and Pacific Sunwear. Co-founders Damon Way and Ken Block sold the firm to Quiksilver in 2004 to the tune of $87 million. Quiksilver, which had been under pressure to sell assets to help alleviate its debt, appears content to keep DC Shoes in its closet.

Founded in 1985 to market a tea tree oil formulation called Melaleuca Oil, the firm sells personal care products, cosmetics, household cleaning supplies, and vitamins directly to consumers through a network of sales representatives, catalogs, and its Web sites, but members only please. Melaleuca now sells more than 350 products, many of which are environmentally friendly and derived from natural ingredients, including tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is a powerful antiseptic and antifungal agent used for skin care, as well as the treatment of a variety of ailments, insect bites, boils, and wounds.

International Paper Company was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. International Paper Company operates as a paper and packaging company with operations in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Russian Federation, Asia, and north Africa. Its Printing Papers segment produces uncoated printing and writing papers, including uncoated papers, market pulp, and uncoated bristols. The company's Industrial Packaging segment manufactures containerboards. Its products include linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium, and saturated kraft. Its Consumer Packaging segment produces coated paperboard for various packaging and commercial printing end uses. The company's Distribution segment provides services and products to various customer markets, supplying commercial printers with printing papers and graphic pre-press, printing presses, and post-press equipment; the building services and away-from-home markets with facility supplies; and manufacturers with packaging supplies and equipment, as well as offers warehousing and delivery services. Its Forest Products segment owns and manages forest lands primarily in the United States. International Paper Company's Specialty Businesses and Other segment consists of a joint venture with Ilim Holding S.A. that operates a pulp and paper business in the Russian Federation.

Oakley, Inc. company, founded in 1975, also makes and markets a line of footwear, as well as watches, apparel, and accessories. Eyewear behemoth Luxottica acquired Oakley in 2007. Oakley makes high-performance sunglasses and goggles for sports and fashion enthusiasts in more than 110 countries. Its vast products portfolio spans the mid-level to upscale range and features high-tech designs, including interchangeable, high-optical clarity lenses and damage resistance. Oakley runs a handful of its own stores (O Stores and Oakley Vault) and others -- totaling more than 220 global locations. It also sells its wares at Dillard's, Sunglass Hut, and specialty retail outlets.

L'Oreal's success is built on a strong foundation. The world's largest beauty products company, it creates makeup, perfume, and hair and skin care items. Its brands include L'Oreal and Maybelline (mass-market), Lanceme (upscale), and Redken and SoftSheen/Carson (retail and salon). L'Oreal, which owns Dallas-based SkinCeuticals, also conducts cosmetology and dermatology research. With about half of its sales generated outside of Europe, L'Oreal has focused on acquiring brands in those markets. L'Oreal also owns the UK-based natural cosmetics retailer The Body Shop International, which numbers more than 2,550 stores worldwide. The firm's dermatology branch Galderma is a joint venture between L'Oreal and Nestle.

American Educational Products (AMEP), a maker of hands-on educational materials (mostly math and science items) for school and home. A major producer of raised maps, AMEP also makes items such as aquariums, human models, and other items that teach concepts in many fields of science. Operating through the Scott Resources, Hubbard Scientific, Teaching Tank, and National Teaching Aids divisions, AMEP markets its wares in the US and abroad through catalogs and educational dealers. Rival Nasco International acquired AMEP in mid-2001 and took it private. Nasco merged with Aristotle (medical teaching aids) in 2002 and AMEP became a subsidiary of Aristotle.

Global Group was founded in 1966 by chairman Saul Feldberg. He and his family still control the company. The Global Group Worldwide company manufactures all sorts of seating, including leather, management, multi-shift, ergonomic, industrial, reception, and all-purpose. It also makes other kinds of office furniture, such as desks, workstations, tables, and filing cabinets. With factories around the world, Global Group distributes its products to Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the US. Brands include Adaptabilities (meeting room tables), Frisco (leather executive seating), and Presidential (bookcases, desks, hutches and other casegoods).

Manhattan Beer Distributors serves more than 20,000 accounts through its five operational sites, one each in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Long Island, and in the Hudson Valley, delivering more than 28 million cases of beer every year. The company's delivery area encompasses 15 counties in the metro NYC area. It manages a fleet of more than 500 delivery trucks and other vehicles. In addition to national brands, the company imports and supplies beers from all points of the globe -- products from 40 beverage companies in all. In addition to beer, the company also wholesales wine, cider, soda, energy drinks, and bottled water.

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