FOR THE BOYS

John Varvatos teams with Peerless for a range of tailored clothing and sportswear for boys ages 4 to 14. Page MW4

August 2, 2012

Fresh Start

After splitting with Rag & Bone in 2006, the brand’s cofounder

Nathan Bogle worked as a consultant, modeled for

J. Crew and enrolled in screenwriting school.

Now he’s back in the fashion game with

Jardine, a men’s label that emphasizes

pared-down designs enlivened with pops

of bold color, such as this lightweight

denim jacket and foil-print dot T-shirt.

For more on the spring 2013 launch,

see page MW4.

PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE

PLUS: Man of the Week takes a look at one of the world’s most sought-after bachelors. Page MW2

GLOBAL BROUHAHA

London Shows To OverlapPitti UomoPitti organizers lash out at British Fashion Council, but U.K. group sticking with original dates.

by SAMANTHA CONTI and LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Pitti Immagine is firing back.A day after the British Fashion Council

released dates for its second London Collections: Men, scheduled to run Jan. 7 to 9, which would mean a partial overlap with Pitti Uomo, the men’s exhibition scheduled to take place in Florence from Jan. 8 to 11, Pitti criticized the BFC’s decision.

“In what is such a delicate moment for half of the world’s economies, while fashion fair organizers are all working hard to draw up an international calendar that will increase the efficiency and coherence of the work carried out by buyers and journalists and, at the same time, minimize costs, it seems that the board of the BFC is taking none of this into account,” said Raffaello Napoleone, chief executive of-ficer of Pitti Immagine. “I am truly surprised about this as the subject was discussed with the management of the BFC last June and it appeared that the right conditions were in place for a different outcome that would re-duce the potential risk of inconveniencing the exhibitors (including a number of excellent British brands), buyers and journalists who usually attend Pitti Uomo.”

The organizing body said such a step “of-fers a distorted view of the competitive con-text of the top men’s fashion fairs.”

In response, the BFC told WWD: “We have arrived at these dates following a great deal of feedback from buyers and press from domestic and international audiences and while this is not ideal (we know Pitti have an established and respected position in the men’s wear calendar) we feel that this is the only solution for this coming season.

“For what will be London’s second dedi-cated men’s wear showcase, it is essential that we ensure designers and brands taking part will have their sample collections back, following the closure of European factories, and that audiences will have returned from their Christmas break and are therefore free to travel to London. With these dates we hope that buyers and press will come to London, then Pitti, Milan and Paris, en-suring they experience the whole of the European men’s wear calendar.”

The battle is reminiscent of the months of negotiations that ensued over the women’s fashion week schedules among the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the BFC, Italy’s Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and France’s Chambre Syndicale when those dates overlapped. An agreement was finally reached in April.

Despite the controversy, Tom Ford will present his men’s collection in London for

{Continued on page MW5}

Men’s WeekMW2 WWD THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2012

Winchester Brand In Apparel Debut

ARNOLD J. KARR

VINCENT NESI is putting a new fashion spin on an historic American brand in the third phase of his career.

Nesi co-founded Bugle Boy Industries in 1977 and served as president of the company and creative steward of the Bugle Boy brand until his departure in 1995. He then founded Nesi Apparel Group, which developed — and generally let expire — fashion licensing partnerships with such hip-hop luminaries as Eminem (Shady Ltd.) and Jay-Z (Rocawear), adding new takes on existing brands like Mudd and Le Tigre along the way.

Bugle Boy derived its name from the young soldiers who sound-ed the call to arms during the Civil War. Starting with its pioneer-ing work with young men’s cargo pants, its volume ballooned to more than $500 million before a cash crunch led to bankruptcy six years after Nesi’s departure.

Nesi is letting Nesi Apparel Group remain dormant for the time being and, through a separate entity owned by him, Bull Moose Properties LLC, has taken on the apparel license for Winchester, a brand founded in 1866, the year after the Civil War ended, and now owned by Olin Corp.

Best known as “The Gun That Won the West,” Winchester today produces ammunition and licenses in about 30 other categories, in-cluding firearms, but its relationship with Nesi marks its first foray into fashion. Bull Moose holds the license for men’s and boys’ sportswear in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Pacific Rim as well as distribution rights in Europe. The firm has the right of first refusal on any European licens-ing deal as well as an option to market women’s and girls’ wear.

Nesi’s first products were shipped last month to accounts including Dillard’s and clearly are aimed at an audience more focused on fashion than fishing and hunting. Nesi believes the Winchester brand is primed for the same kind of brand trans-formation experienced by Abercrombie & Fitch in its post-safa-ri stages as a teen retailer.

“Winchester, like Levi’s, is an historical American company,” Nesi told WWD, “and, like Timberland and Pendleton, has an authentic outdoor heritage and feel, something younger cus-tomers are really responding to. You can see it in the strength of lines like Double RL.”

But the market’s hardly yearning for yet another outdoor brand. “No one is going to want us for what they already have,” he said.

To avoid that kind of duplication, he and designer Frank Gomez, a veteran of the Nesi organization, are pairing outdoorsy buffalo plaids with varsity jackets and sleeveless vests, making cargo silhouettes up in beefy patterns and even shipping outer-wear and vests with detachable faux-fur-lined hats.

Nearly incapable of taking on a fashion assignment without addressing denim, Nesi saw to it that Winchester include an assortment of jeans and denim tops, many employing distress and repair treatments.

He’s priced the line to retail from $68, for jeans, up to $149, for a jacket-hat combination. Sourcing, overseen by chief oper-ating officer Ronald Robles, a veteran of Bugle Boy and Nesi, is coming from Asia.

“It’s the mixing of different influences and even ideas from different seasons that’s really defining fashion today,” Nesi said. “You really saw this kind of mixed message all over Bread & Butter” in Berlin last month.

Hunters and fishermen aren’t being overlooked, either. While Winchester supplies new concepts for department and specialty stores, the licensee is, at a slightly lower velocity, sell-ing less fashion-oriented products to sporting goods retailers, who, like their customers, have an inherent appreciation of the brand but less of an appetite for style.

With his fortunes now tied to a piece of legendary weaponry, Nesi is intent on side-stepping controversy. Flag imagery is ubiq-uitous in the line and collateral materials, but he’s in no way interested in debating gun laws.

“We’re avoiding politics,” he said. “And, as long as we’re at it, religion, too.”

But not women’s wear. Although amused by the way in which the relatively strong state of men’s wear has made it a “safe haven for vendors,” he’s intent to take on the category once the line is established.

“We’re not afraid of women’s,” he said.PHOT

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HMX Hopes to Get Refinancing Done

Man of THE WEEK PRINCE HARRY: B+

It’s not often you get to see a British male royal wearing Stella McCartney, but Prince Harry models his country’s uniform shirt with elegance and style. However, the most sought-after bachelor on the planet leaves us hoping for a better-fitting chino.

The spiky, messy look works perfectly with his infamous bad-boy reputation and minimizes the

ginger effect.

The narrow collar enhances the youthful approach and hints of a fashion sensibility.

The designer’s slim button-down silhouette frames his athletic physique with minimal logo placement.

The Rolex Submariner in stainless steel with white face is the ultimate classic timepiece but

still athletic in spirit.

The Native American-inspired belt matches the bracelet perfectly and evokes his love of world travel and his

philanthropic endeavors.

The cotton chinos are a bit too oversize and don’t fit the narrow lines of the shirt. An Italian slim khaki

would be a better choice.

The brown suede driving shoe is the perfect choice for a man in his world. Unfortunately, the length of the pant

covers too much of the shoe.

VICKI M. YOUNG

WHILE PRODUCT offerings at HMX Group look better than when it was Hartmarx Corp., it’s too bad the same can’t be said about its financial structure.

According to financial sources, HMX Group is hoping to close on a new financing facility with Salus Capital. Once done, the deal would be the firm’s first new credit facility since being acquired out of the Hartmarx bank-ruptcy by Indian firm S. Kumars Nationwide Ltd., or SKNL, in August 2009. London-based Emerisque Brands holds a minority stake in HMX Group. Financing at the time was through an exit facility via a consortium led by Wachovia that is typical of firms coming out of bank-ruptcy proceedings. Wachovia has since been acquired by Wells Fargo.

Officials at Salus Capital declined comment Wednesday.Financial and industry sources said the new senior

facility, of which the amount could not be determined at press time, has already been approved. Closing of the fa-cility could occur at any time.

There’s just one glitch: The new facility requires a capital infusion from SKNL — which hasn’t happened — and that’s what has been holding up the closing of the new loan, according to sources.

Nitin Kasliwal, SKNL’s vice chairman and largest shareholder, declined to comment.

Had the financing come through, the loan could have closed back in June, sources said. They said the current facility is close to expiring, possibly as early as this week, and the consortium led by Wells Fargo isn’t willing to provide interim financing to allow SKNL more time to get the funding through to HMX. That means the consor-tium is likely to push for a sale of the company.

HMX has been plagued by rumblings since the spring, when creditors said some bills had not been paid.

At the time, Doug Williams, HMX’s chief executive of-ficer, acknowledged that there were liquidity issues, and sometimes vendors didn’t get paid for 30 to 60 days.

On Wednesday, amid reports in the New York Post that HMX might need to be put up for sale, Williams said, “We continue with the same plans as we have always done. The company is not for sale. It never was put up for sale. Our focus is on completing the refinancing.”

He added that the company is “managing our pay-ables every single day.”

William Blair & Company is the firm advising HMX on its refinancing. It supposedly has been approached by some strategic firms keeping tabs on HMX. A source familiar with the identity of those firms declined to say which ones were eyeing HMX. This individual did say that neither PVH Corp. nor The Warnaco Group Inc. have made any inquiries. Both firms often come up as poten-tial acquirers, as they’ve said publicly that they are ac-tively on the prowl for acquisitions.

During the Hartmarx bankruptcy process, a key issue was the factories the firm operates in Chicago and Rochester, N.Y.

That was a key point of contention during the Hartmarx bankruptcy. Lenders during the bankruptcy were pushing for a liquidation, but it was believed that most of the in-terested bidders in Hartmarx would selectively buy assets and shutter domestic operations. Lawmakers and union officials turned on the pressure and that gave Emerisque more time to pull a deal together.

Three years later, the “Made in the USA” tag is gaining more momentum. Firms interested in the old Hartmarx operation in 2009 — such as Spencer Hays’ Individualized Apparel Group and Perry Ellis International Inc., as well as Peerless Clothing International Inc. — could be poten-tial buyers, sources speculated.

SKNL, a textiles firm, had hoped to have an initial public offering for its Reid & Taylor (India) Ltd. subsid-iary last year. Those plans, originally made in 2010, have been delayed due to market conditions in India. The Mumbai-based firm was believed to have been the lead-ing bidder to acquire discount fashion chain Peacocks out of administration in the U.K., but that acquisition was completed by Scottish firm Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group Ltd.

HMX’s Hickey Freeman division is dressing the NBC broadcasters

for the Olympics.

A look from Winchester.

BY APPOINTMENT, PEERLESS CLOTHING 212-541-8720

I N T RO D U C I N G T H E B O Y S C O L L E C T I O N

Men’s Week

John Varvatos Launches Boys’ With PeerlessMW4 WWD THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2012

by DAVID LIPKE

JOHN VARVATOS is set to bring his rock ’n’ roll-inflected style to the boys’ market.

The designer will launch a range of tailored clothing and sportswear for boys ages 4 to 14 with licensee Peerless Clothing this fall under his John Varvatos USA label. The new line will be carried in 35 doors this fall, includ-ing Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom and Fred Segal.

“It’s mom-friendly, it’s sophis-ticated, it’s edgy and it’s very much our handwriting,” said John Varvatos, chairman and chief execu-tive officer of John Varvatos. “When you look at the boys’ tailored cloth-ing market, everything is pressed and pristine — and we have some of that in the line for a graduation or bar mitzvah. But we also add that flavor we do in men’s, with a vintage sensibility and a little bit more rus-tic attitude. It doesn’t look uptight — the tailored jackets can be worn as an outerwear piece with a T-shirt and jeans.”

The deal with Peerless, which is headquartered in Montreal, builds on the license the suit maker already holds for men’s tailored clothing under the John Varvatos USA label. Peerless as-sumed that business when it formed a strategic partnership with tailored clothing manufac-turer George Weintraub & Sons last year.

“John Varvatos represents a look that is young, exciting and different than any other designer boys’ line in the market,” said Ronny Wurtzburger, president of Peerless Clothing. “John believes in boys’ and it gave us an addition-al opportunity to work with him.”

Boys’ has been a growth area for Peerless, with the divi-sion expanding sales at a rate of 20 percent a year, according to Wurtzburger. Additional licenses in the Peerless boys’ portfolio in-clude Joseph Abboud, Michael

Kors, DKNY, Elie Tahari and Hickey Freeman, in addition to the owned Tallia Orange brand.

“Peerless really owns the tai-lored boys’ business, but they haven’t really stretched their wings like they have with us and made it a collection,” said Varvatos. “Ronny and I had a conversation about doing boys’ tailored and I said I didn’t want to do just tailored, I wanted to do a whole lifestyle thing. We really thought about who this kid was, from school to weekend to party and special events.”

Signatures in the boys’ collec-tion include bold linings in the tailored jackets, dagger buttons and skull, peace sign and starburst graphics on T-shirts. The peace sign logo also adorns polo shirts.

The suits in super 110s and 120s wool fabric retail for $285, cotton dress shirts for $70 and skinny ties with peace sign or fleur-de-lis motifs for $55. There are tailored jackets in corduroy, embossed faux leather or crinkled cotton velvet for $160 to $175, stretch five-pocket jeans in black or indigo for $82 to $98, Henleys and waffle hoodies for $65 to $86 and graphic T-shirts for $45 to $50.

Longtime footwear partner Converse has made a special line of its iconic high-tops in black leather or olive suede, with metal zipper de-tails for the collection as well.

Bloomingdale’s will launch the boys’ line in 10 doors, includ-ing 59th Street in Manhattan, Short Hills in New Jersey, North Michigan Avenue in Chicago and Century City in California. It will be positioned in the Young World department, adjacent to boys’ lines from Burberry, Giorgio Armani, Hugo Boss and Scott James, with the latter two new to Bloomingdale’s for fall, as well.

“The line has both casual and dressy offerings, making shopping for everyday and special occasions a breeze,” said David Fisher, ex-ecutive vice president and general merchandise manager for men’s

and kids. “John Varvatos has an edgier, sophisticated aesthetic that will have our boys emulating the men who favor the brand. Over the last several seasons, we have anchored our Young World assort-ments in brands that have proven successful in men’s and women’s.”

The boys’ license joins other existing John Varvatos licenses, encompassing fragrance with Elizabeth Arden, eyewear with the Basecurve division of REM Eyewear and Converse for the Converse by John Varvatos line of casual sneakers.

The company is in the final stages of negotiations for an un-derwear license, which will be revealed in the coming weeks, added Varvatos.

The John Varvatos USA men’s line, which uses a star as its em-blem, was launched in 2006 as a younger counterpart to the brand’s Collection business. Priced 30 to 40 percent lower than Collection, the USA line emphasizes a preppy-meets-rock aesthetic in its vintage-inspired denim, sportswear, tai-lored clothing, footwear, bags and leather goods. The men’s line is car-ried at about 500 doors, including Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Barneys New York.

The boys’ launch is the first major initiative for the brand since it was acquired by London-based Lion Capital in March from VF Corp. However, Varvatos, who retains a minority stake in the company, said the license with Peerless was initiated last year while VF still owned the brand.

“It’s been fantastic. They are very like-minded thinkers in terms of the brand and protect-ing the brand,” said Varvatos of his new partners at Lion Capital. The private equity firm, headed by Lyndon Lea, has not taken a day-to-day role in the company, added Varvatos. “They’re not operators, they’re investors.”

John Varvatos is aiming to open four to five new stores in 2013, add-

ing on to the nine it currently op-erates. Potential locations include Chicago, Miami, another New York location, additional West Coast lo-cations and London, which would be the first international store for

the brand. Current John Varvatos stores include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Costa Mesa, Calif., Malibu, Calif., East Hampton, N.Y., and two each in Las Vegas and downtown Manhattan.

The John Varvatos USA boys’ line will launch in 35 doors, including Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom and Fred Segal.

Nathan Bogle Readies Jardine CollectionSINCE NATHAN BOGLE exited as co-founder of Rag & Bone in 2006, he’s watched from the sidelines as the brand has rocketed to promi-nence and opened a string of 10 stores, including its latest flagships on Madison Avenue in April and London last month.

Now Bogle is back in the game with his own men’s label, called Jardine, which will launch at re-tail for spring. If he has any pangs of regret about departing Rag & Bone — or feels any pressure to live up to his former brand’s re-markable recent success — he doesn’t express it during a preview of his new line. “They’ve done a fantastic job. I commend them all the way and I see the work they’re doing and I think it’s great,” he ob-served of former partners Marcus Wainwright and David Neville. “I’m not in touch with them. We do our own things now.”

There are no traces of the vin-tage-centric Rag & Bone aesthetic in Jardine, which is overtly modern and minimalist, gilded with a touch of Eighties exuberance. There’s no denim in the collection, either.

“Back then, I was really in-spired by Americana and denim. I’m a different person now and I’m responding to something fresher and cleaner, to simplic-ity and an uncluttered look,” ex-plained Bogle, 37.

The debut collection includes suit separates in crisp polyure-thane-coated cotton or tropical weight wool, all with single-button jackets ($825 to $895 retail) and pants that are available in either slim or straight fits ($225 to $250). Dress shirts ($275) are fashioned from 120s cotton, adorned with a double row of vertical pin tucks. Café racer jackets in lightweight perforated leather ($1,195) are soft to the touch yet sleek in silhouette.

Bogle didn’t shy away from uti-lizing synthetic fabrics, such as in his updated take on Sixties Ban-Lon polo shirts in viscose ($295) or gilet jackets in waterproof polyester with zip-off sleeves ($595). Pops of color accentuate the lineup, such as polos in vivid yellow, pants in bright pink and T-shirts in graphic, two-tone tri-angle patterns ($90).

Two angel investors have helped

finance the launch, in addition to Bogle’s own funding. The self-taught designer has hired one person so far to work on the line, which is pro-duced mostly in Portugal. Bogle is selling the line personally to retail-ers, using contacts built up from his days at Rag & Bone.

Jardine — which was the sur-name of Bogle’s great-grandfather — is the end result of the design-er’s long-held plans to launch his own venture. “I needed a little bit of breathing room,” he explained of the extended wait for the label to gel. Since splitting from Rag & Bone — a company in which he sold his entire stake — Bogle has worked on a number of various projects. From 2008 to 2010, he formed his own consulting firm, called NB Associates, and worked for several men’s wear brands, in-cluding Bespoken.

In November 2010, Bogle was brought on board as a partner at a startup film and television produc-tion company called Artful Dodger Productions to work on script pro-posals. He enrolled in a screen-writing course of study at the New

York Film Academy last year and is at work on his own script as well. “It’s a nice balance to the intensity of starting a new brand,” he noted.

Bogle — who became tabloid fodder for a spell while dating ac-tress Natalie Portman in 2007 — also resumed his modeling career. He’s appeared in J. Crew cata-logues for the past few years and was featured in campaigns for the high street chain Next in the U.K. in 2009 and 2010. The London-born Bogle first came to New York in 1998 to pursue modeling and racked up spots in Louis Vuitton, DKNY, Emporio Armani, Paul Smith, Ermenegildo Zegna and Gap ads.

“The men’s wear category right now is very exciting, as it’s grow-ing by leaps and bounds,” said Bogle, who has the advantage of serving as his own fit model for Jardine. “I think the opportunity to introduce new product is there. For next fall, I’d like to add more outerwear and knitwear and be a little aggressive with categories like accessories and shoes, if the opportunity is there.”

—D.L.

Jardine will debut at retail next spring.

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Greg Norman to Add Clothing

Men’s Week MW5WWD thursday, august 2, 2012

Men’s Swimwear Makes Splash at Miami Showsby REBECCA KLEINMAN

MIAMI — The men’s swim category is on fire, buoyed by new brands, fits and fashions that work as well on the beach as in the restaurant.

Pioneers such as Parke & Ronen unveiled some of their most stylish collections to date dur-ing Miami swim week last week, while an influx of emerging brands came on the scene to amp up the offering of exciting product. At Miami Beach’s SwimShow in July, men’s-only brands increased from 10 in 2011 to 25 this year, accord-ing to Judy Stein, executive direc-tor for the trade show’s organizer, Swimwear Association of Florida.

“It’s been a forgotten market for so long that designers are finally realizing the growth potential,” she said of firms like Strong Boalt and Onia, grouped in a designated aisle for the first time.

The question is whether buy-ers have been brought up to speed. Juan Pablo Jaramillo, managing partner for Retromarine, a Miami-based men’s line of swim trunks in SPF fabrics and playful prints manufactured in Colombia, said: “It’s the perfect time for men’s stores to refresh their look, and for women’s-only to add a few cool

men’s labels in the mix,” he said.Victoria Von Hoene, the owner

of Ophelia Swimwear boutiques in Grayton Beach and Seacrest, Fla., is among the latter betting on

a male attitude shift. Taking her first dip into men’s at swim week, she focused on stripes and sophis-ticated nauticals that would appeal to conservative Southern tour-ists from Dallas, Atlanta and New Orleans. Though never doubting her female clientele will purchase upscale swim for their husbands, that wasn’t the catalyst.

“The men actually pleaded for stylish suits that lie somewhere be-tween Miami flash and teen board-shorts,” said Von Hoene.

Sperry Top-Sider’s swim launch in 2013 features a men’s collection drenched in sea themes — from sail numerals to lobster prints. Hybrid swimsuits-shorts that can go from the beach to the country-club bar come in photo-realist prints like faux seersucker and embroidered palm trees, or swordfish for a trompe l’oeil effect. The oddball neon grommet is as much a mark of the brand as vintage logos and ads dug up from company archives splashed across T-shirts. Retail prices range from $26 for a T-shirt to $80 for a Nantucket-red hoodie with rope drawstrings.

“We’ve dabbled in men’s, but this is our first real push,” said Howie Greller, vice president of merchandising for licensee

Manhattan Beachwear.Moving away from its tamer

stripes, plaids and blues, Parke & Ronen goes all out with a palette, including aubergine, burnt orange and cocoa, and Eighties throwbacks like ribbed tanks and paisleys.

“Everything complements wom-en’s suits, so couples look amazing next to each other,” said cofounder Ronen Jehezkel.

One can easily imagine a woman lifting her boyfriend’s crocheted cricket sweaters, which are among the line’s assortment of knits. Military-striped cotton shorts re-sembling wool exude a schoolboy charm. Also new are grosgrain rib-bon buckles as embellishment and narrow-legged suits, with shorter inseams, in stretch fabric.

“Even conservative Canadians are responding well to shorter lengths and square-cut knits, just how guys prefer boxer-briefs over boxers for underwear now,” he said.

The most popular suit lengths by 2(x)ist at SwimShow were 12 and 14 inches, according to brand director Alexandre Daniel, who in-troduced 4-ply stretch seersucker, advanced plaids with neon and a large-scale herringbone in hot pink. Colorblocking meets conver-sationals through a school of fish

print with the random red fish as black sheep. Appealing to men’s penchant for gadgets, suits feature up to six pockets.

Salon Allure trade show at W Hotel South Beach showed a hand-ful of edgy men’s designs. Barraca Chic, a nascent women’s and men’s swim company in Zurich, exhibited clean men’s suits in black and pri-mary colors. Higher retail prices of $138 to $207 reflect Italian fabrics and manufacturing. Its founders report versatility should minimize price resistance.

“We chose luxury fabrics, so men could wear suits in almost every resort setting,” said Bojan Noam Bjelic.

Charlie by Matthew Zink, a men’s and women’s line in New York, expanded men’s suits with square-cut briefs and longer surf shorts, and men’s cover-ups such as Seventies-inspired classic sweats in white and heather gray, retailing for $98 to $128. Designer Matthew Zink clearly had the Olympics in mind, which translated into best-sellers like a black Grecian-foil brief and soccer shorts.

“Visiting the Getty’s ‘Herb Ritts: L.A. Style’ and meeting Greg Louganis were huge influences,” he said.

the first time during the London Collections, the BFC said Tuesday. Ford will present the collection at his London headquarters in Westminster, and the retail delivery will coincide with the opening of the first British Tom Ford flagship on London’s Sloane Street, which is set to open in the fall.

The BFC said the events on its men’s schedule would be designed to “showcase the breadth of British fashion talent, from the world’s most innovative emerging talents to global men’s wear brands and Savile Row tailors.”

The BFC also said Dylan Jones, editor of British GQ, has been named the ongoing chair of London Collections: Men. For the shows’ launch in June, Jones served as chair of the 2012 men’s wear com-

mittee. His new role is for an initial fixed term of two years.

In his new role, Jones will work alongside the BFC to develop London Collections: Men into a bi-annual event.

The committee for the January showcase will include Anda Rowland of Anderson & Sheppard; the actor Douglas Booth; Paula Reed, the newly named fashion director of Harvey Nichols; Robert Johnston of British GQ, and Tracey Emin.

“The inaugural men’s week was far more successful than any of us anticipated, and we have been overwhelmed by support and enthu-siasm for the project,” said Jones. “LC:M has already contributed to the changing perception of men’s wear in this country and our plans for the next week in January, and beyond, will hopefully build on this.”

Pitti Organizers Lash Out at LOndOn

{Continued from page MW1}

by SHARON EDELSON

NEW YORK — Onassis is expanding west, to San Francisco.

The men’s retailer in October will open a 2,500-square-foot unit at 845 Market Street in the Westfield Centre, two blocks from Union Square.

The mall, a historically significant struc-ture that originally opened in 1896, has a restored dome, atrium and colonnade.

“Onassis has always had its sights set on the West Coast and San Francisco,” said Michelle Li, vice president of operations and development for Onassis Clothing. “We want to see if we can be successful in the San Francisco market. The guys out there are creative professionals who can wear jeans and a blazer every day to work. There are so many guys in Silicon Valley.” Onassis is priced at the lower end of contemporary.

Li described San Francisco as a “micro-climate, 50 degrees to 60 degrees all year

round. We’ll be tailoring the collection for San Francisco. As we get to know the local customers better, we have the ability to tailor-make items exclusively for the San Francisco market, from graphic Ts to event-driven collections.”

Onassis, which opened its first store in SoHo in 2010, combines American-inspired design with European styling and fit and Japanese techniques. The company for fall is featuring a wool and leather varsity jacket for $498 and selvage denim jeans for $78. A tan windowpane wool blazer is $338, wool waistcoat, $168, and matching trousers, $148. “We’ve been pushing the envelope in the SoHo store with experimental designs,” said Li. “The SoHo customer is willing to take risks. This season, we have shorts with a 4-inch inseam. We thought we’d give it a try, because we can. The shorts sold re-ally well. We also have shrunken vests in Japanese fabrics.”

Onassis this month will unveil a

1,500-square-foot unit at 61 West 49th Street in New York’s Rockefeller Center that will offer select “premium pieces, emotional pieces with higher price points,” said Li.

Onassis has a women’s following that favors its soft Ts and flannel button-down shirts. “Once we settle the men’s side, we’ll move on to the women’s side,” Li said. “Women’s is definitely in the future.”

The company is owned by a group of Asia-based investors, including a Chinese apparel manufacturer who handles pro-duction of the Onassis collections. The company’s ambition is to open stores “in all the major cities where creative pro-fessionals and well-informed shoppers reside, such as Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Vancouver, London, Berlin and Australia,” Li said. And there could be an initial public offering down the road. “We hope the market can accept us and support us as we think about going public one day,” Li said.

Onassis Expanding to San Francisco

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

GREG NORMAN COLLECTION IS dressing up.The brand is branching out beyond its roots

in golf sportswear to expand into tailored cloth-ing through a new licensing agreement with Samtex Fashions Ltd. The first product will launch for spring.

The tailored collection will have two compo-nents: tailored separates in dress fabrics; and casual, soft tailored separates in linen and cotton blends. The styling will be classic with a modern fit and feature performance attributes such as stretch for added comfort and wearability. Retail prices will range from $100 to $250.

“This is a lifestyle brand, not just a golf brand,” said Michael Setola, president and chief execu-tive officer of Tharanco Lifestyles LLC, parent company of Greg Norman Collection. “We’ve worked hard to develop the collection beyond golf shirts.” He said the company’s Greg Norman for Tasso Elba collection for Macy’s as well as its ac-cessories and sunglasses are doing well, giving the company the confidence to take the plunge into more tailored offerings.

In addition, Jeffrey Stein, the vice president and general manager of Samtex Fashions Men’s division, worked with Setola at Oxford Industries, Inc. when Setola was its president and Stein was at Oxford’s Lanier Clothes division. “Jeff is such a creative guy and we felt comfortable with him. We like the Samtex organization and the prod-uct.” Setola said Samtex will work with the Greg Norman design team on the product, which will be “country club-ish. I don’t wear a suit much any-more,” Setola said, “but I will wear a nice dress trouser and a sport coat.”

He said the product will be offered to the com-pany’s 3,000 green grass shops, but he expects the most traction to come from men’s shops at resort locations. “I’d say one in 50 of the green grass shops will carry a sport coat, but at the resort level, most clubs have golf shops and men’s stores. And our microfiber trousers and high-end golf shirts do well there. I can see them adding a sport coat.” He said he hopes that Macy’s and Belk, which carry the product, will add some more tailored pieces.

“The Macy’s line has been a great lifestyle ex-tension for us,” he said. “Now we will have the op-portunity to put tailored product there as well.”

Charlie by Matthew zink

the line is americana-inspired.

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by RACHEL BROWN THE TECHNOLOGY RACE is on at Outdoor Retailer.

With the selling season for spring and summer 2013 starting well before the trade expo opens its four-day run today at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Outdoor Retailer has developed into a showcase for brands to trot out their latest innovations to make outdoor apparel cooler, lighter, airier and just all around better. Retailers and brands are hop-ing the spate of break-throughs will convince consumers they should freshen up their out-door wardrobes.

“There’s a lot of tech-nology in sportswear and outerwear for moisture management, keep-ing cooler longer and faster. That technol-ogy is coming from everyone: North Face, Patagonia, Marmot, etc.,” said Sean Colin, men’s apparel buyer for the outdoor group at e-tailer Backcountry.com. “Seeing every-one’s take on that technology and its evolu-tion is interesting, and I’m interested to see how it’s utilized in sportswear.”

Colin isn’t likely to be disap-pointed by the range of technology launches in apparel at Outdoor Retailer. Columbia Sportswear is among the brands leading the pack. “There have been a lot of technological advance-ments, but they have been mostly in equipment, and I think about how you bring that kind of excitement to apparel,” said Adrienne Moser, the company’s vice president of apparel and design. “We believe our innovation message is a reason for consumers to come in and buy a new shirt.”

Columbia Sportswear’s lat-est advancement is a cooling poly-mer it has dubbed Omni-Freeze Zero, which took four years to perfect. Omni-Freeze Zero will be available in 40 pieces, including performance layering, headwear and footwear items. It appears as small blue circles on fabric that generate a cool-ing effect triggered by sweat.

“It creates an immediate reaction. Everybody can feel the technology,” said Moser, who added, “So far, it has been incredibly well received globally.”

Moser believes Omni-Freeze Zero items are a natural fit for regions in which the temperatures are hot year-round, but she said she’s been surprised by the posi-tive reception in countries known for colder climates — Canada, for instance — where retailers are scoop-ing up the items for custom-ers to layer under warm pieces, such as hockey uni-forms or heavy workwear.

Somewhat counterin-tuitively, Patagonia is re-leasing its warmest jacket and pants for spring. The brand has com-pletely redesigned its DAS parka by putting two insulation technologies — the so-called PrimaLoft Synergy and PrimaLoft One — together in the jacket. The DAS pants are insulated with PrimaLoft One as well. Patagonia is “coming out with them in the spring season to support the idea that true alpinists are in the mountains and cold and

needing products like this year-round,” said Patagonia spokeswoman Jess Clayton.

Another big launch for Patagonia is a collection of eight boardshorts in 45 col-ors and prints. They feature a mechanical

stretch fabric, instead of spandex, to increase their life spans. “We look

at our boardshorts truly as a tool for surfing. They are not a fash-

ion piece for us. They need to withstand years and years

of surfing,” said Clayton.Rab, an English brand

that’s been Stateside for six years and is tra-ditionally strong in the winter, continues to make inroads into the spring and summer. It is releasing two jack-ets — the Viper and the Maverick — that con-tain eVent DVL, a per-

meable, waterproof mem-brane. “We wanted to make a breathable yet lightweight rain shell for people who are climbing and backpacking in really warm conditions but where it’s rainy,” said Rab USA marketing manager Samantha Kilgore.

At the last edition of Outdoor Retailer, The North Face’s FlashDry made its debut.

For the upcoming edition of the show, The North Face has extended the

technology, which is driven by po-rous particles that quicken drying time, to mountain-biking clothing. More generally, the brand is dip-ping its toes into men’s training

clothing for spring before com-ing out with a much larger presentation for fall 2013.

“We are teeing our-selves up to do training in a much larger way,” said North Face spokes-woman Jessica Lange. “A lot of our athletes, they need stuff to wear when

they are not actually doing their sport and are doing

workouts to build muscle and endurance.”

It remains to be seen if new apparel technologies will spur spring and

summer outdoor-apparel shoppers to buy. Although spring and summer are impor-tant for business at many outdoor brands — Columbia Sportswear, for example, reg-istered nearly half of its annual sales in the second and third quarters of 2010 and 2011 — David Mudd, business intelligence man-ager at the Outdoor Industry Association, doesn’t think buying habits in the outdoor

apparel sector will shift much to the warmer months. “I just honestly think

the holiday season will always have the highest in sales. It’s hard to imagine anything eclipsing that,” he said.

For spring and sum-mer 2013, the recent snow-deprived winter could play a major role in how stores stock their shelves. At Madison Heights, Mich.-based retailer Moosejaw, men’s wear buyer Erica Draper said the poor win-ter “hurt our first-quarter business. It will make us cautious, but we hope that

this year it’ll just pour on us after having no snow last year.” Kilgore reasoned, “Because we had the bad winter, a lot of shops are sit-ting on product that they had for winter and closing out what they had for summer rather than bringing in new stuff. That could have an impact on our overall sales for summer.”

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM KIRA COLE AND SARAH TOOKER

Outdoor Brands’ Technology Push

Rab’s Maverick

jacket.

Columbia Sportswear’s Freeze Degree

half-zip.

Patagonia’s DAS parka.

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