The campaigns drew harsh criticism from other clothing companies, plus complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.

But that's all in the past and Musto's 2003 campaigns are less strident. "We've gone back to a much more gentle form of marketing because we achieved what we wanted to, " said deputy managing director Nigel Musto.

"Our marketing strategies are orientated around product development and marketing, " said Musto. "We develop good products that are good value for money and we market them aggressively."

It's the combination of quality product and good marketing that's got us where we are, he concluded.

But there is still room for improvement in the technical clothing and Musto is working hard on stretch fabrics, longer closures and waterproof zips.

The company is also working on the look and the design of its technical clothing.

Our engineering is second to none, said Musto. Look at the backpacking and the skiwear markets and neither can beat the marine clothing manufacturer's ability to keep volumes of water out.

But they have gone much further than we have on look and fashion, he added.

So the next generation of Musto technical clothing will be more attractive looking garments. "The little bits of piping and the trimmy bits we added last year took us a little closer and I think work on the closures will take us another step nearer.

Outside marine I asked Musto how they got their ideas. "We look outside the marine world."

One of those areas is the equestrian world which, along with the shooting market, form Musto's second and third markets.

The equestrian clothing does a completely different job to the marine clothing and it's a less strenuous job, he said.

"But there are lots more women in the equestrian world and we learned a lot about women's fit, " he said. "We 're applying that to our ladies marine clothing."

The major influence on Musto's product range is its dealer network. "We do a huge amount of listening to our retailers."

The dealers don't get experience of the new range of clothing until the London boat show because Musto doesn't deliver until December. Then it's hard work to get comments, criticisms and praise because Musto has to close developments for the following year at the end of March.

"We concentrate very hard at LIBS because our new products and all of our competitors new products are there and it's the first opportunity to see what the consumers and the stores go for."

Does Musto use focus groups to test ideas? No, replied Musto firmly. "But the big difference between us and others is that we live and breathe the sport, " he added.

Everyone I go to dinner with is a yachtie. Everyone I mix with in the bar is a yachtie. We have five or six yachties in the company who do nothing but talk about sailing every minute of the day. "So the company just lives and breathes the sport, " he said. "That is our focus group."

I asked about the company's other marine product ranges - footwear and casual.

"We had a shock on the footwear side last year, " Musto grinned. The company "dipped its toe in the water" (he had the grace to grimace) and ordered a couple of thousand pairs of just two styles.

No idea "We re-ordered four times on the performance shoe, " he said. "We had no idea the market was that big."

And Musto is very hopeful for footwear for the 2003 season. "We 've got a new line for 2003 and we're surprised again at the pre-orders we've got."

After six years in the cotton casual market, Musto now has its annual routine.

"Every year we kill off what didn't work and think of a load of new ideas. The amount we're stripping out now is perhaps 5%. We have to force ourselves to strip out more because we want to put more products in but keep the range to a sensible size."

We pre-order then manufacture what we get enough pre-orders for, said Musto. "If we don't get enough orders, we won't manufacture.

I think we made 98% of the range last season and this season looks like 100%."

Musto has been working for nearly two years on a new range due for the summer of 2004. "It's very different identity to what we have at the moment."

I asked what terms Musto offers its dealers. "We have one price structure so everyone knows where they are, " Musto replied.

We don't do different deals, he said. We have a standard margin and everybody then has full knowledge of the structure.

Everybody gets 7.5% settlement discount. Everybody is included in the retrospective discount scheme. And if they hit different turnover bands they achieve different retrospective discount levels.

"It's all public and everyone can see it, " he said.

"Sometimes we'll do quantity breaks - buy an extra 250 pieces and get extra 5%. An extra 500 gets 10%."

Stocking credit?

And does Musto offer extended credit for stocking? "No - we'd rather give them 7.5%. They get 1.5% over base on overdraft right now. Base is 4, so say 5 1/2% that gives them 15 months interest payments by paying in 14 days instead of 30."

Musto then makes sure the consumer knows the product is out there by advertising and promoting its range. Which is where we started.

The company's advertising is split between advertisements designed to make people smile and testimonials using top names.

The casual campaign images include a person being pushed off a pontoon and a shot from the rear of crewmen wearing damp-bottomed shorts and shoes and nothing else.

The testimonials use Ellen MacArthur, Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell, Mike Eaton and the GBR crew to promote technical clothing and footwear with the headline "People who know wear Musto".

"When you sponsor someone you have to spend money for people to know you are part of it. And these ads are getting value out of the sponsorships, " said Musto.

How much of your budget is spent on sponsorship? "15% of marketing spend. And our budget is 6.5% of sales."

Bridging the gap between paid-for advertising and sponsorship to the in-store merchandising, all the technical advertisements appear in the store displays.

John Wakeling was in sports retail for 12 years, during which he went from shop assistant to retail manager. He's now Musto's retail operations manager and its one-man merchandising division.

Get the best I asked him how he got the best out of a Musto display area.

"It's difficult in our trade because it's not the High Street, " he said. "In a High Street store merchandising covers the whole of the store layout, right from the way the door opens to till positioning and where staff would stand."

But we don't get that opportunity, he said, because we're just given an area where we can make our own brands the way we want them to be.

"If it's an empty space we can install our own merchandising system to carry the product. It will carry the brands and the image and the lifestyle and the amount of stock we want to put in the shop as well."

When you walk into a store there is a best wall, second, third and fourth wall, said Wakeling. We like to get the first wall. That tends to be the wall facing the door or the wall on the left hand side of the door. The psychology is that you always look left when you walk in the door.

That can change, depending on the footfall outside, he explained. If it's a dead end you might want to be on the right hand wall because it might be the wall you see as you walk up the alley.

Once the space is agreed, the company always goes for the maximum length of run.

"We can always decrease space if necessary, " said Wakeling, "but getting extra space is always difficult. We've got enough product for a 50m wall, so we always go for the maximum length we can get.

There is no limit to the size we can work to."

Colour blocks With the basics agreed, Wakeling will install the units, put the brand in, put the POS in then hang the stock and merchandise it to colour blocked areas or product areas. What we do is block the colours together and merge them so you don't get a green next to a red, he said.

"We do ranges with six colours, " said Musto, "but you don't hang six colours on he same rack - it looks like a jumble sale."

We try hard to get the dealers to think about merchandising before they forward order, said Musto.

"We 'll sit with them and ask what colours they want to merchandise next September, October and November to give some variations."

If they get to thinking about the product in that way, when it turns up in the store they know exactly what's going to merchandise where and they've already got the area ready for it.

"Merchandising is not a science, " he said. "There's a huge amount of personal preference and self-expression and a lot of the ladies are really rather good at it. But for those customers who want the help, we'll come and do it."

And what can a Musto merchandising operation take care of?

"Everything from a branded hanger to a full installation of a branded area, " said Wakeling.

"Another thing we do is to fit out an entire shop if one of our customers wants to open a Musto store within a store, " said Musto. "We have three of these."

It's not that expensive for the customer, he went on. The customer takes on the lease, stock and personnel. "The real capital outlay is the shop fit and we supply and pay for the shop fit."

So what's the value of a full Musto merchandising operation?

If someone's opening a Musto store it'll cost us about £30k in the fitting, said Musto, adding: "Although the last one was £46k."

And what's the other end of the scale? "We 'll do anything down to a couple of units."