Success strategists always say that first impressions matter because they endure. That’s true for businesses as well as the individuals.

Consider Martin & MacArthur. Most people still think of the company as a specialist in koa-based home furnishings and gift items, but the company is being transformed to the point where CEO Michael Tam expects no less than to hear people talking about Martin & MacArthur in the same breath as fashion retailers Kate Spade, Michael Kors and Coach in a few years.

The transformation from furniture gallery to fashion house is something Tam aimed for when he and Simon McKenzie partnered six years ago to buy the company that was started in the 1960s by furniture builder Jon Martin and Doug MacArthur. With a background that included serving as executive vice president for product development of house brands and private labels at Nordstrom and as chief marketing officer at American Eagle Outfitters, Tam knew change was necessary for survival.

Even using sustainable practices such as harvesting wood from dead and fallen koa trees and replanting koa seedlings to ensure a continuing supply of the coveted wood, the market has its limits, Tam said.

"We were finding ourselves in a smaller and smaller niche. People don’t buy koa furniture all that often, and the furniture attracts an older, over-60 clientele. On top of that, we offer a lifetime guarantee to repair the furniture for free," he said.

"We started re-branding to focus on other items, personal accessories that would take advantage of our expertise with koa and broaden our demo•graphic."

So, in addition to turning out fine, handmade rocking chairs, love seats, consoles and coffee tables, Martin & MacArthur’s artisans began turning out koa watches, koa frame sunglasses and iPad and iPhone cases.

HEADING into the holiday season, the company will be ramping up its leather goods and jewelry production since recently hiring its first director of design, Mia Jameson, who worked for a number of companies in New York before following her heart to Hawaii.

With no job lined up on arrival, she said, "I would wander around Ala Moana Center and pretend I worked there."

She was drawn to the Martin & MacArthur store and thought she could help expand its jewelry line. After she and Tam talked, they found themselves on the same wavelength in developing a high-end fashion jewelry collection that he describes as "on trend, not trendy."

This fall marks the launch of several jewelry lines in seasonal colors to match koa-accented leather goods designed by Tam. The new jewelry collections will arrive in stores every four to six weeks.

The pieces will feature koa in many forms, including being cut as cabochon "stones" incorporated with semiprecious stones, freshwater pearls, quartz and glass on sterling silver, 14-karat gold and rhodium.

All the work is already paying off. In six years the company has grown from two to 11 retail stores, and Tam plans to open three more within nine months.

"That would not happen if we were just selling furniture," he said.