Richard Kastleman
President

Richard Kastleman serves as President and one of the principal owners of Directions Studios. Mr. Kastleman has spent more then 30 years working in the garment industry. From 1978-1996, he served as President of Mirage, one of the preeminent outerwear manufacturing companies at the time, with sales in excess of $50 million. During Mr. Kastleman tenure as President of Mirage the company had several high profile licenses including Major League Baseball, NFL, NHL and Guess. He was also the President of the Leather Apparel Association from 1991-1994 which represents the leather apparel industry of America.

Subsequent to his leaving Mirage, Kastleman became co-founder/ President of Jackmax (licensee of the brand “Rainforest”) an outwear company in 2001. In March of 2003, Mr. Kastelman acquired his partner’s interest in Jackmax and renamed the company Directions Studio.

Frank Marchese
Executive

Frank Marchese serves as Executive VP, Design Director and is also one of the principal owners of Directions Studios.
Before joining Directions Studios, Mr. Marchese was Executive VP/ Design Director and one of the principals of Avirex Ltd. Avirex is a major outerwear manufacture and supplier of flight jackets to the United States Air Force. During his tenure with Avirex, Mr. Marchese was responsible for all design and production and is credited with the brands highly successful entry into the urban marketplace as well as distribution for Europe and Japan. The brand has become synonymous with this highly appealing demographic.
Frank has a keen understanding of what appeals to today’s male youth and has repeatedly shown his ability to develop trend setting designs that translate into significant sales.

Mr. Marchese was even named Urban Outerwear Designer of the Year for 2002 by the Urban Fashion Council of America.