Lia spohia Started as Lady Remington

 The Courier News

Don’t call Tory Kiam’s company an overnight sensation.Although his fashion jewelry empire based here has caught on in recent years, Kiam’s company had its embryonic stage in 1986, when he purchased the company that is now known as lia sophia.

Kiam, whose late father, Victor Kiam, was a familiar face on television owing to his pitches for Remington razors, purchased Act II, formerly Beeline Fashions.

The company thrived in the 1980s by offering women a chance to earn extra money in direct sales via parties similar to those used to sell Tupperware.

When Kiam took over the company, he renamed it Lady Remington, then later scrapped the name when he decided to introduce a classic line of fashion jewelry to be marketed by women who would serve as hostesses.

Kiam said he thinks the idea is a natural. “Jewelry is particularly good because the product is so visible,” he said.

He calls the women who host the parties that showcase his jewelry “advisers” who, in essence, are entrepreneurs. “They are not our employees — they’re independent contractors — we pay them with a 1099″ IRS income reporting form, he said.

Kiam got some suggestions for renaming his company from a marketing expert who homed in on the lia sophia name because it sounded “fashionable.” And since Lia and Sophia are his daughters’ names, Kiam concluded there was some sort of emotional attachment to the company name.

“We made that change in the year 2004,” he said. “It’s been very well-received.”

He said keeping the company name all lower case connotes sort of a “boutique” shop operation, which he believes further enhances the way the public perceives his company.