CFDA AWARD NOMINEES/2 CHANEL’S HONG KONG TWIRL/5 Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • March 28, 2006 • $2.00 PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE; MODEL: MANDY/NEW YORK MODELS; HAIR BY RIAD AZAR/L’OREAL PROFESSIONEL; MAKEUP BY JENNA MENARD; STYLED BY BOBBI QUEEN Color Coated NEW YORK — There’s a blitz of brights in fall’s coat collections, eclipsing the notion that color belongs to spring. Rainwear is showing up in a playful palette, in shades such as hot pink or flirty yellow. Here, Cole Haan’s polyester trenchcoat with a lace-edged polyester chiffon dress from A.B.S. by Allen Schwartz. For more, see pages 6 and 7. WWD TUESDAY Ready-to-Wear/Textiles See France, Page 5 Protesting Over Jobs: French Stores Brace For Nationwide Strike By Robert Murphy PARIS — Once again the French are taking to the streets in protest, and retailers here are worried that the movement against proposed reforms to the country’s complicated labor laws could gain momentum, turn violent and keep shoppers home. Most industry executives characterized the impact of student and union protests so far as marginal. But on the eve of a transportation-hobbling general strike scheduled for today, they said concerns over prolonged civil strife have started to build. Levi Strauss & Co. said traffic
Transcript
CFDA AWARD NOMINEES/2 CHANEL’S HONG KONG TWIRL/5Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • March 28, 2006 • $2.00
PHOT
O BY
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ANDY
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BY R
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Color CoatedNEW YORK — There’s a blitz of brights in fall’s coat
collections, eclipsing the notion that color belongs to spring.
Rainwear is showing up in a playful palette, in shades such
as hot pink or fl irty yellow. Here, Cole Haan’s polyester
trenchcoat with a lace-edged polyester chiffon dress from
A.B.S. by Allen Schwartz. For more, see pages 6 and 7.
WWDTUESDAY Ready-to-Wear/Textiles
See France, Page 5
Protesting Over Jobs: French Stores Brace For Nationwide StrikeBy Robert MurphyPARIS — Once again the French are taking to the streets in protest, and retailers here are worried that the movement against proposed reforms to the country’s complicated labor laws could gain momentum, turn violent and keep shoppers home.
Most industry executives characterized the impact of student and union protests so far as marginal. But on the eve of a transportation-hobbling general strike scheduled for today, they said concerns over prolonged civil strife have started to build.
Levi Strauss & Co. said traffic
WWD.COM2 WWD, TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006
FASHIONFashion changes as quickly as the weather, so rainwear designers are taking the traditional trench and tweaking it for cool but sunny days.
GENERALFrench retailers are worried that protests against proposed labor-law reforms could gain momentum, turn violent and keep shoppers home.
Celebrating the premiere of his collaboration with Tiffany & Co., Frank Gehry transformed Rodeo Drive into one of his iconic environments.
RTW: A new and improved generation of down jackets is back on the fashion charts from a crop of Italian manufacturers and designers.
TEXTILES: A trade battle over Vietnam’s 11-year effort to join the World Trade Organization is fl ying just below the radar in Washington.
Specialty stores are emerging as a serious force in retailing, in large part because of the recent department store megamergers and acquisitions.
BEAUTY: Inter Parfums SA and Quiksilver Inc. have teamed up for a worldwide beauty licensing deal, the companies said Monday.
Sens. Chuck Grassley and Max Baucus plan to introduce a bipartisan bill today addressing China’s “currency imbalances.”
EYEFew people have tried the approach of playwright-actress Lisa Kron and put those mother-daughter confl icts on stage, along with mom herself.
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WWDTUESDAYReady-to-Wear/Textiles
● PAUL FRANK RULING: A federal judge in Los Angeles has granted a temporary restraining order to Paul Frank Industries that prevents Paul Frank Sunich, one of the founders of the ap-parel and accessories fi rm, from using the company trademark or trade name. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney was issued Thursday. Sunich had fi led a lawsuit in California Superior Court alleging he was fi red without cause and seeking the dissolution of the company. He also fi led a fed-eral lawsuit to prevent PFI from further use of the iconic Julius the monkey character that helped make the label famous.
● MOVIE TIME: The Gen Art Film Festival kicks off its 11th in-stallment on Wednesday with a party at the Salvatore Ferragamo boutique here on Fifth Avenue. The festival officially opens on April 5 with a screening of Jason Matzner’s feature film directo-rial debut, “Dreamland,” at Clearview’s Ziegfeld Theater. The week-long festival, which showcases emerging North American independent filmmakers, was founded 10 years ago and high-lights seven features and seven shorts. An all-access postscreen-ing party, open to the audience, cast and industry, follows each screening. On April 11th, the festival concludes with the New York premiere of “Live Free or Die,” the feature film directorial debut by co-directors Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin, co-executive producers and co-writers of the hit sitcom “Seinfeld.”
● TIMEX TAPS SHEVACK: Timex, the 152-year-old watch fi rm based in Middlebury, Conn., has appointed Kate Shevack as chief marketing offi cer. Shevack, most recently a consultant at SpencerHall, which specializes in product development and branding, will be responsible for developing and driving Timex’s global marketing strategy. Shevack will oversee adver-tising, public relations, media and promotions.
In Brief
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To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is fi [email protected], using the individual’s name.Gehry, Tiffany Fete Union on Rodeo Drive
By Marcy Medina
BEVERLY HILLS — Celebrating the premiere of his collaboration with Tiffany & Co., Frank Gehry transformed Rodeo Drive into one of his iconic en-vironments Sunday night, complete with undulating wooden furniture, monumental cardboard walls and paper “clouds” suspended above the whole scene.
The requisite movie stars — Anjelica Huston, Christina Ricci, Mira Sorvino, Felicity Huffman — milled about among the likes of Ed Moses, Quincy Jones and Carine Roitfeld. As she ogled the jewelry, displayed on live models posed in-side lit window boxes, Roitfeld chirped, “I fl ew here just for this. He’s an amazing talent and with quite a sense of humor, no?”
Gehry’s collection, which will be on display in the Rodeo Drive Tiffany through April 10 before traveling for its launch at the New York flag-ship, comprises six groups based on architecture, movement and nature: Torque, Fish, Axis, Fold, Equus and Orchid. The 300-piece collection, includ-ing jewelry, a selection of table-top items and one-of-a-kind signed pieces, ranges from an opening price of $140 for a sterling silver fi sh pendant on a black cord to $750,000 for a one-of-a-kind gold mesh, keshi pearl and rough di-amond collar necklace worn by Huston on Sunday night.
Speaking a few days ear-lier in the Rodeo Drive store’s conference room, Gehry said: “It’s wild. It takes seven years from the day you are hired for a building to realize it. Jewelry is like instant gratifi cation and I need that. And it’s fun. It gives you a vector and keeps your mind going.”
At 77, he still possesses a razor-sharp wit and an endless well of ideas.
“See that purple vase over there?” Gehry asked, pointing to a mass of undu-lating glass, part of the tabletop collection. “Some of the shapes in it are coming into my buildings. There’s a kickback effect. It keeps me in the game.”
The materials for the sleek, modern jewelry pieces range from sterling silver and 18-karat gold to agate, opal, rutilated quartz and several types of exotic woods.
“There are nine designers working with me
and they bring me things. It’s like a candy store. Metal I would have thought of, but opal or quartz I wouldn’t have,” said Gehry.
Tiffany plans to add onto the debut collection in September and update it every six months thereafter. “The beauty of this relationship is his pro-lifi c nature and his excitement about it. The opportunities are endless,”
said Tiffany’s senior vice president of mer-chandising Jon King, who declined to give a sales estimate, but
said the collection had the potential to eclipse the $300-million-a-year Elsa Peretti line. That was the last artist collaboration for the house and began about 25 years ago.
And clearly as Tiffany grows the Gehry collection, there is no problem with the supply of ideas for new pieces.
“We need to cut him off at a cer-tain point,” said King. “When we sit
with him, he has so many ideas that after a couple of hours we have to say,
‘Go home! Enough! Let us chew and swallow and explore this further.’”
Some of the ideas Gehry has already executed for future collections include arranging diamonds and stones within the outlines of his architectural fl oor plans for items like a brooch, and forming sculp-tural pieces from strips of sterling silver that look as though they are springing up from a jack-in-the-box.
“He always had this artistic interest and paint-erly curiosity and the limitations in executing that in monumental buildings has been frustrating for him. It’s been fun for him to work in this scale and execute his ideas for women,” said King, adding that a men’s collection is in the works.
CFDA Reveals NomineesBy Lisa Lockwood
NEW YORK — Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein; Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough for Proenza Schouler, and Marc Jacobs have been nominated for the 2006 Womenswear Designer of the Year award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
Olivier Theyskens for Rochas will receive the International Award; Stan Herman, presi-dent of the CFDA, will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Stephen Burrows will receive the Board of Director’s Special Tribute. Other special awards will go to Joan Kaner, for-mer senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus, who will receive the Eleanor Lambert Award, and Bruce Weber, who will re-ceive the Eugenia Sheppard Award.
The awards gala, which will take place June 5 at the New York Public Library, will be hosted by “Entourage” star Jeremy Piven.
In the men’s wear category, Ralph Lauren, Thom Browne and Alexandre Plokhov for Cloak have been nominated for Menswear Designer of the Year. Tom Binns, Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors will compete for the Accessory Designer of the Year award.
Nominees for Swarovski’s Perry Ellis Award for Womenswear are Doo-Ri Chung, Kate and Laura Mulleavy for Rodarte, and Thakoon Panichgul. In men’s wear, nominees for the
Perry Ellis Award are Steven Cox and Daniel Silver for Duckie Brown; Nathan Bogle, David Neville and Marcus Wainwright for Rag & Bone, and Jeff Halmos, Josia Lamberto-Egan, Sam Shipley and John Whitledge for Trovata.
For Swarovski’s Perry Ellis Award for Acces-sory Design the nominees are Devi Kroell, Alyssa Norton and Jessie Randall for Loeffl er Randall. The winner in each category will receive fi nan-cial support and product from Swarovski, as well as exposure to the company’s crystal resources.
The nominated designers for the top awards in the women’s wear, men’s wear and accessories categories will be judged on both their spring and fall 2006 collections.
The nominees were announced Monday night at a cocktail party at the Rooftop Gardens on top of Rockefeller Center, hosted by the CFDA board of directors and Nadja Swarovski. For the fi fth consecutive year, Swarovski has underwritten the CFDA Fashion Awards.
The award nominees were selected by the CFDA membership, press, retailers and styl-ists. The nominees, as well as recipients of the honorary awards, were confi rmed Monday at a meeting of the CFDA board. This year’s awards selection committee will be able to vote online and view each nominee’s collection, beginning April 24 at cfda.com. The fi nal votes will be tabu-lated by Ernst & Young LLP, the offi cial account-ing fi rm of the CFDA Fashion Awards.
Anjelica Huston and Frank Gehry
Brown banded agate, ebony and sterling
silver Torque bangles.
A rutilated quartz fi sh pendant on a black silk cord.
Two rings from
the Axis collection.
the power of innovationFor more than 85 years, Paxar innovation has transformed every area of apparel
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This year’s Bal de la Rose in Monaco might have had a reggae theme, but Charlotte Casiraghi spun a more ethereal fashion web in a haute couture dress from
Chanel, the royal family’s house favorite.The 19-year-old fl oated into the Monte
Carlo Sporting Club on Saturday night on the arm of her younger brother, Pierre, in a gown straight off the spring 2006 runway — a frothy confection of pink silk organza, festooned with maribou feathers and topped with a sequined cropped black jacket. Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hanover, meanwhile, kept things more streamlined in a black column gown.
But the reggae motif of this year’s ball — which the late Princess Grace began in 1964 and which benefi ts her eponymous foundation — had everyone hopping to Rasta vibrations from the likes of Salomé de Bahia, The Wailers and Jorge Ben. The Jamaicans even brought a little bit of home with them — the club’s Salles des Etoiles was bedecked with exotic vegetation and painted murals in the vivid colors of the island nation : red, green and yellow. While Charlotte opted for an elegant innocence amid the Caribbean spice, she paid homage to the evening’s laid-back ethos with a perky ponytail perched on top of her head — perfect for spinning on the dance fl oor with her older brother Andrea.
NEW YORK — “Something that lasts this long is almost like a social bear trap; everyone comes through it,” says John McDonald, owner of SoHo mainstay MercBar, which celebrates its 13th year in business this week. Indeed, since the Adirondacks-inspired watering hole opened on Mercer Street in 1993, luminaries from Sarah Jessica Parker to Jerry Garcia have passed through its discreetly marked doors.
Its heyday was undoubtedly in the early Nineties, before Marc Jacobs and Prada had colonized the street. Most of the neighborhood storefronts and lofts were empty and the Mercer Hotel was merely another building under development and stuck in bureaucratic limbo. McDonald, then 24, opened MercBar with the naïveté only someone his age could. “I really wanted to have a lot of fun and have a party every night,” he recalls. “I never envisioned it lasting. I knew these things lasted about a year.”
One year turned into two and then Billy Gilroy, now owner of West Village boîte Employees Only, opened the restaurant Match across the street and suddenly the pair of hot spots became the dynamic duo of the New York nightlife scene.
But the chic set can be fi ckle. Eventually Match shut down and the partiers moved on to places like Moomba, Lotus and eventually Bungalow 8. Yet, MercBar has managed to stay afl oat by subtly weaving its way into the fabric of the ever-changing neighborhood. “MercBar became a great spot to come after work, when you’re shopping, after a movie at the Angelika, to meet before dinner, meet after dinner,” McDonald says. “If you can plug yourself into all those different scenarios, that’s what drives it.”
— Emily Holt
MR. GOODBAR
NEW YORK — Mother-daughter issues have been fodder for a veritable library of self-help books. But few people have tried the approach of playwright-actress Lisa Kron and put those conflicts on stage — along with mom herself.
In her critically acclaimed play “Well,” opening this week at the Longacre Theatre after a sold-out run at the Public Theatre two years ago, Kron takes audiences on a dramatic and hilarious journey exploring ideas on race, mental and physical illness and, of course, Mommie Dearest. Posing as a fi ctitious version of herself, Kron, along with a supporting chorus of actors, narrates the autobiographical tale of trying to put on a play about her memories of growing up in a black neighborhood in Michigan, time spent in the allergy unit of a hospital and her mother Ann’s chronic illness. Throughout, actress Jayne Houdyshell sits on stage in an armchair as Kron’s mother, interrupting her storytelling attempts. Actors fall out of character, interacting with Houdyshell; scenes fall apart, and Kron loses her cool as general chaos ensues, much to the audience’s amusement.
Like any fruitful — or frustrating — relationship, “Well” has been a work in progress since Kron began writing the piece six years ago. And so has, naturally, the actress’ career. Raised in Lansing, Mich., Kron studied theater at Kalamazoo College and toured with the National Repertory Theatre for a season before moving to New York in 1984.
“I was pretty hapless for a long time,” she says. “I sort of found my way by accident to the East Village into the performance art scene.” There, she clocked many hours telling and improvising anecdotal stories on stage, working at the theater collective at the Wild Café and going on with a group to found the company the Five Lesbian Brothers. Kron began writing plays, and her solo theater career was born (though she still performs with the Five Lesbian Brothers).
After writing and performing in “2.5 Minute Ride,” about her Holocaust survivor father and her brother’s marriage, Kron started work on “Well,” not without some anxiety on her mother’s part.
“In the creation of the play, she was very nervous, in the way that the character of her is on stage, and that what I was saying was I got better and so she should be able to get better,” explains Kron, referring to her stint in the allergy ward. Now, many years and multiple viewings later, mom is a big fan, though she offers her occasional criticism. For example, an earlier version of the play had her collecting thimbles.
“My mother was, like, ‘I have never had a thimble collection — I never would collect thimbles. I think that’s a stupid collection,’” laughs Kron, who obligingly changed it to candle snuffers, the one thing her mother admits to collecting. “The director and dramaturge were kind of horrifi ed, because it seemed wordy, but I
said, ‘Listen — I’m gonna give that one to my mom.’” Navigating the factual details was one of the many challenges Kron incurred
in structuring the story. But one shouldn’t mistake the play disintegrating on stage for Kron’s actual, much lengthier struggles in crafting it.
“I think the problem with writing a play about how hard it is to do a play is that I certainly have seen plays like that and thought, ‘Well, why don’t you fi gure out how to make your play work, and then I’ll sit here and pay some money and spend my time watching it!’” she says. “So I don’t think that the play is about the real diffi culty we had writing it. It uses an imagined diffi culty to make a form that is refl ective of the content.”
If the end result has landed her on a Broadway stage for an open-ended run, no one is more surprised than Kron herself. “It’s certainly not what anybody pictured, ever!’ she laughs. “You know, it’s like, how will I get to Broadway? I’m going to become a lesbian performance artist and write these really weird plays. That’ll work!”
— Vanessa Lawrence
Well Deserved
PARTY FLASH
Lisa Kron
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MercBar enters its 13th year in business.
Fit for a Princess
Charlotte Casiraghi in Chanel couture.
WWD.COMWWD, TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006 5
By Constance Haisma-Kwok
HONG KONG — Karl Lagerfeld believes his Chanel collection is ideally suited to the Asian consumer.
“The physical look of Asian women is perfect for Chanel, because she [Coco Chanel] was not too tall, had dark hair and a very tiny silhouette, like they have,” the designer said during his whirl-wind visit here to show his spring-summer cou-ture collection for the house on Friday evening. “Here you don’t see big, fat women like you do in other parts of the world. I think Chanel is made for Asian women more than any other label.”
The show was held at the famed Hong Kong soundstage Shaw Bros. Studios, which may be best known for producing some of the most ac-tion-packed fi lms in cinematic history. Nearly 900 guests, including fi lm pioneer Sir Run-Run Shaw, singer Kelly Chan, local supermodel QiQi, a plethora of socialites and journalists from around Asia gathered for the show, which was a virtual re-creation of the one in Paris. Accomplishing such a feat meant that Lagerfeld and Chanel SA president Françoise Montenay arrived in the city with dozens of Chanel staff and the same models, lighting, music, 15-meter-high white column, spiral stair-case and circular set that made its debut in January.
“For me, seeing the dresses again was like a strange dream,” said Lagerfeld. “I thought, ‘I’ve seen these be-fore, but where?’” Despite working on two other col-lections since presenting this one, the designer said the collection still feels fresh, although there were occasional hiccups in showing the line in Asia. “The dresses have traveled a lot, been photographed a lot, been tortured — and here, it’s very humid. The lining is affected. These are so delicate. The dresses have to be kept in perfect climatic conditions.”
Not coincidentally, the motif of the couture collec-tion was partially inspired by an exhibition of Chinese jade objects and porcelain in London. The China con-nection was not lost on the audience, publicity team or designer. “I am not a marketing person, but I wanted to do the campaign in Hong Kong,” said Lagerfeld. “I have done it in New York and LA. I wanted another big city of today’s life as a backdrop for the mood of it. Plus we just reopened the big [Prince’s Building] boutique and they loved the idea of doing something here.”
That 6,800-square-foot fl agship, which fi rst opened in 1986, recently received a major face-lift, which included all new interiors designed by Peter Marino, outdoor LED screens, custom-made artworks and individualized spaces for selling the complete range of Chanel products — from ready-to-wear and accessories to fi ne jewelry and shoes. Lagerfeld commented about the store, “For me, when I walk in I know it’s a Chanel shop, it’s beautiful. There are moments that it’s like a private mansion — even if the ceilings are a little low.”
Montenay said, “The reopening of this store is an opportunity to show all facets of the brand.” She added that bringing the couture show to Hong Kong was not so much to market it as it was “a promotion of our image. The haute couture is the ultimate — it’s the beginning of what we do.”
She also admitted that educating local media about Chanel’s history is important, particularly in mainland China. “We bring journalists from China to Paris for the shows, show them the [Chanel] apartment, because the journalists can really explain Chanel in magazines and on television.”
Lagerfeld, on the other hand, feels Chinese custom-
ers should come to their own conclusions. “I hate the idea of teaching. I propose. I say it in a gentlemanly way. I am not here to say do this or do that,” he said.
Currently, there are two Chanel boutiques on the mainland (in Shanghai and Beijing), with plans for two more. “It’s important to be at the right place in the right location,” com-mented Montenay. “To go somewhere that isn’t the center of luxury is a mistake.”
She said Chanel intends to expand its Shanghai store and to add an adjacent fi ne jewelry boutique. But the brand’s expan-sion plans for China are intentionally lim-ited. “We don’t want too many points of sale — even beauty has only 50 and will have a maximum of 80. We do not want to be every-where,” said Montenay.
She noted that although China is chang-ing quickly, it hasn’t yet caught up to luxury-
brand retail standards. “The most important obstacle has been the outlets. In the past fi ve years, there has been a huge increase in the num-ber of malls in mainland China, but they were not always at the right level or the right location. You have to fi nd the right one.”
In the meantime, the brand is busy fi ghting coun-terfeiters in China, which Montenay called “a big issue.” She said the worst thing was seeing the brand’s label on inferior products. “Quality is the answer — you can see the difference. Those who buy counterfeit products are not Chanel customers. We fight them again and again and again.” Montenay cited meeting
with ministers of trade and industry as well as with police as part of the continued effort to fi ght piracy. “The Chinese government has to understand how bad it is for the image of China. It will come, but it will take time,” she said.
While Chanel’s legal team was pursuing pirates and the public relations team worked publicity, Lagerfeld spent his time pursuing artistic endeavors. “I will be working on photos next week,” he said. “And I may do it at night, because I love Hong Kong at night.”
Continued from page onealready has declined in its high street shops here.
“The situation is similar for all high street players,” said Brice Penaranda, Levi’s general manager for France. “The prospect of being stuck in the city center while protests are going on [does not] en-tice consumers.”
Although spokeswomen for the big Printemps and Galeries Lafayette de-partment stores said they expected little
disruption from the strike and have felt little impact from protests so far, luxury players voiced anxieties.
Bernard Fornas, president of Cartier International, said a strike is “certainly prohibitive for shoppers.” But he gave a nonchalant shrug when asked about the ex-tent to which protests could hurt business.
“The French are used to demonstra-tions,” he said. “It’s becoming like break-fast, the usual French way. It’s never good. But a strike for one day is one day
in a 365-day-long year.”Sarah Lerfel, the buyer at Colette, said
she expected tough business today.“Many of our staff think they won’t be
able to get to work, so it’s the same for customers,” she said.
Lerfel said the trendy fashion empori-um so far has “survived events pretty well. But we’re worried that the protests and strikes could continue and get violent. It’s not good for tourism to see violence hap-pening in Paris.”
Last week, youths clashed with riot po-lice near the Invalides, where Napoleon is buried, and vandalized cars and shops during a protest march. Similar protests turned violent elsewhere in France.
Riot police have been on high alert for several weeks now, with the streets around the Sorbonne University bar-ricaded. The bunker-like atmosphere has been compared to the famous May 1968 student movement. But critics have pointed out that while that movement aimed to change the world, this one wants to maintain the status quo.
The ruckus started after Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin pro-posed legislation that would relax the country’s rigid labor laws, making it easier to hire and fi re fi rst-time workers. Under the proposal, companies would be able to fi re workers under the age of 26 without cause in the fi rst two years of their contract. De Villepin met with union leaders over the weekend in an attempt to defuse the growing crisis, but the talks broke down after the govern-ment insisted the law go ahead.
Union leaders and students have
called the legislation unfair, with pro-testers claiming it would make them “the Kleenex generation,” or one that employ-ers would use and then discard. France suffers from endemic unemployment that hovers around 10 percent.
Unemployment was cited as one of the main causes of riots last fall, when angry youths rampaged in the Paris suburbs — mainly in immigrant neighborhoods — in what was the country’s worse civil disobedience in years.
Come Rain Or Shine NEW YORK — Fashion changes as quickly as the weather. For rainwear designers, that means taking the traditional trench and tweaking it so that even the most downpour-ready coats look great in sunlight. Think bright yellow and lilac tones and circle-skirt shapes in leather or satin.
WWD, TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006
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Misty Harbor’s twill cotton and nylon trenchcoat; Iisli’s wool dress.
Leather trenchcoat from identify by Marquis Leathers; Saja’s silk chiffon dress.
Italian Brands Dress Up Down JacketsMILAN — A new and improved generation of down jackets is back up on the fashion charts.
A far cry from the nondescript puffy styles stocked in heaps for $30 at discount outlets, the latest looks in down jackets have morphed into hot must-have items for fall.
Just ask a crop of Italian manufacturers and designers such as Moncler, Add Down, Authier, Ermanno Scervino, Allegri and C.P. Company. Their injection of pizzazz into fall’s offering — body-skimming and cropped silhouettes; top-quality feathers that increase warmth but reduce volume; innovative fabrics such as silk taffetas, multicolored denim and fi ne nylon, and luxurious details such as hand embroidery or fox trim — has resulted in double-digit sales growth.
Wholesale prices run the gamut from $250 for basic styles to $2,500 for fur-trimmed ones.
“These jackets have an urban connota-tion. They’re not destined to parking valets who stand in the cold for 12 hours, but to a sophisticated consumer who wants a warm yet slim jacket with luxurious details,” said Maurizio Cittone, the chief executive offi cer of high-end outerwear specialist Add Down.
For fall, Cittone reported a 50 percent sales increase in the U.S. versus a year ago and a 20 percent hike worldwide. He cited Russia, Ukraine and Japan as other strong markets.
Fashion’s change of winds to sportier garb is also evidenced by the fact that Miuccia Prada sailed into new waters for fall, leaving behind ladylike pretti-ness in favor of a tough-chic current that spotlights roomy sportswear and a plethora of fur fl ourishes.
“With the fl op of couture, many designers like Scervino transported intricate embellishments such as embroideries, passementerie, fur applications, etc., onto wearable and practical outerwear,” said Roberto Trapani, a co-owner of the trendy Vertice store in Turin, Italy. “We bought much more for fall, because it’s a key item.”
Ermanno Daelli, the designer for the Ermanno Scervino label, feels gratifi ed by fall’s new course.
“We registered a 40 percent sales in-crease, which proves that people are fi nally realizing the potential for sophis-ticated outerwear,” said Daelli. “It’s eco-logical, warm and chic — you can easily wear the more elaborate styles over a chiffon cocktail dress.”
Scervino’s fall styles meld Old World class with high-tech materials via hand-embroi-dered cropped jackets with frog closures in pale neutrals and dusty roses. Caterina Autelitana, owner of the Gallery store in Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany, praised Scervino’s military-derived duvet jackets with green mink trim.
“In general, there’s a comeback to more sartorial and sophisticated outerwear, but since women are constantly on the move, they want practical jackets that are elegant
enough to wear from day into night but also easy to pack,” said Autelitana.
Carlo Rivetti, chairman of Sportswear Company, the manufacturer for C.P. Company and Stone Island, said, “I believe that this trend has increased over the past fi ve years, but it’s now really consolidated. The fall bestseller is a piece-dyed quilted silk and cotton muslin jacket. I be-
lieve that our success lies in the fact that we have transported our experience in men’s wear into
women’s wear.” He also said that he offers function, technicality and more competi-
tive prices (a jacket costs an average of $722 at retail) than what other women’s sportswear makers produce.
Aeffe Spa, which manufactures the Alberta Ferretti, Moschino, Narciso Rodriguez and Pollini lines, just acquired Swiss skiwear brand Authier (see related story, this page).
“This acquisition proves that we believe in the potential of the outerwear sector. We have reworked historical styles like the Fifties polkadotted quilted down with ex-
treme attention to the materials, the interiors and fi nishes,” said Simone Badioli, Aeffe’s ceo.
He also cited fur-trimmed nylon styles as bestsellers, a combination that did well even
at Moncler, Add Down and Scervino. The coat of choice at Moncler’s new Gamme
Rouge line, designed by Alessandra Facchinetti, was a cropped style bordered with silver-haired fox. In its
fi rst season, Gamme Rouge secured 120 sales points worldwide and reached its sales budget, also thanks to short and swingy winter classics showered with se-quins, beadings and organdy petals.
“We felt a specific desire to renovate basic sportswear with a more luxurious attitude that spotlights artisanal techniques such as ornate
frog closures and fur details,” said Remo Ruffini, Moncler’s ceo.
Add Down’s Cittone said, “Our products are perceived as luxurious, which is why they are removed from similar styles available at mass market,” said Cittone. “We focused on ultralight materials and shrunken shapes, and to keep the jackets light, we use special resins instead of metal hardware.”
To that end, he showed jackets lopped from Japanese denim made with yarn-dyed Egyptian cotton that are luminous and soft, and a waterproof polyamide microfi ber blended with liq-
uid-crystal fi bers that refl ects the light.Allegri tapped Viktor & Rolf to spin a new
edge into its outerwear for fall. Based on the belief that the brand should exude a fashion aura rather than focus on sin-gle pieces, the duo put a modern twist on cinematic favor-ites. That meant coated silk down jackets with houndstooth print, and trenchcoats with tiny umbrella motifs.
— Alessandra Ilari
By David Moin
NEW YORK — Ralph Pucci International has headed West, opening a 9,000-square-foot showroom in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles.
The showroom, on the second level of the center, is intended to replicate the essence of Pucci’s eclec-tic presentation of furniture, photography, sculpture, illustrations and mannequins at his Penthouse and Gallery Nine showrooms here at 44 West 18th Street. The showrooms, a total of 23,000 square feet, have evolved into cultural melting pots.
With each new exhibit in New York [every eight to 10 weeks], Pucci organizes a launch party for an artsy crowd that includes clients, celebrities and retailers, refl ecting how he taps different corners of the creative world to nurture his business.
“Our mix is a unique experience,” Pucci said in an interview. “It’s a blend of nature-inspired work, mod-ern classics, contemporary, midcentury and minimalist works.”
Pieces from the New York shows will be transplant-ed to Los Angeles about three months later, though there won’t be quite as much display turnover on the West Coast, where Pucci envisions three exhibits dur-ing the year.
The Los Angeles showroom, at 8687 Melrose Avenue,
Suite B203, opened this month. It is sparingly designed, with white walls and fl oors, surface-mounted lighting and Fifties jazz in the background. The space’s huge grid of windows beckons those riding the atrium’s es-calators to drop by, or at least peer into the showroom, as they ascend to other levels of the center. The design of the showroom was inspired by the Dia:Beacon and Noguchi museums, and Pucci’s two-year-old Gallery 9.
“We’ve tried to create a very cool, relaxed environ-ment,” he said. “We didn’t want it to be an architec-tural statement.”
The West Coast showroom features Pucci’s re-cre-ated classic furniture designs of Jens Risom; Vladimir Kagan’s “Skulptur” walnut and biomorphic shapes; handcrafted furniture by Chris Lehrecke; Andree Putnam’s 6 Easy Pieces collection; sculptures by Jerome Abel Sequin; horses, male nudes and fl ower photographs by Christopher Makos, with words evok-ing pop culture and politics, and photography by Paul Solberg, who, as Pucci said, “turns petals into organic sculptures and blooms into modern architecture.”
There are also minimal furniture pieces by Robert Bristow; others by Kevin Walz, who works in carbon fi ber and walnut fi nishes, and David Weeks lighting, including a large Calder-esque fi xture anchoring the fl oor.
Pucci plans to stage mannequin shows during Los Angeles’ fashion weeks and will be working with de-
signers such as Anna Sui and Ruben Toledo, as well as the Otis College of Art & Design. Pucci’s signature is to get well-known designers or illustrators, includ-ing Kenny Scharf, to collaborate on creating manne-quins, while Pucci manufactures them. His upscale roster of retail clients includes Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Holt Renfrew, Scoop and Federated Department Stores. Also planned for the new show-room is a tribute to Noguchi by Hawaiian artists who work in stone, wood and photography.
“We will be reaching out to the local fashion and de-sign communities, like we do’’ in New York, Pucci said.
The Pucci Universe Arrives in Los Angeles
MILAN — Italian manufacturer Aeffe SpA is em-barking on a plan to pump up ski brand Authier with more fashion and wider distribution.
Aeffe bought a controlling stake in the com-pany in January for an undisclosed sum and is producing and distributing the line starting with the fall season.
“The partnership with Aeffe offers a solid foundation for the development of this brand and gives the brand greater power to innovate, an international scope and the potential of a big group,” said Simone Badioli, chief execu-tive offi cer of Aeffe, which also produces and distributes collections for Alberta Ferretti, Moschino, Narciso Rodriguez and Pollini.
Authier was founded in 1910 in Bière, Switzerland, and became one of the top producers of racing skis in the Fifties. The brand’s first ready-to-wear collection was launched in 1990. Aeffe is build-ing on Authier’s iconic down jack-ets and tweed suits while maintaining the line’s feminine, fi tted shapes.
The new leisure and après-ski looks stay clear of padded and cumbrous styles but remain suitable for the slopes: water-proof quilted jackets, an innovative cash-mere polar fleece, superlight shearling vests lined with detachable lapin, sheepskin cropped jackets and merino knits. The color pal-ette ranges from natural cream and brown to apple green, azure and red. Aeffe also reworked Fifties ad prints on the back of down jackets. The brand’s logo is the crossbow, which stands for Swiss quality.
Aeffe has expanded Authier’s accessories division, with oversize fur shoulder bags, foot-wear, gloves, scarves and hats. Retail prices range from $750 to $1,400 for a jacket and from $200 to $500 for leisure/ski pants. Knitwear prices range from $395 to $695.
Badioli said Aeffe plans to expand Authier’s distribution to about 200 stores this fall. In the U.S., Authier is available at stores such as Performance Ski in Aspen, Colo.; The Nines in East Hampton, N.Y., and Roslyn, N.Y., and Startingate in Bondville, Vt. In Canada, it’s available at Oh La La in Calgary.
— Luisa Zargani
Authier Gets a Major Makeover
The new Los Angeles showroom of Ralph Pucci International.
A down jacket with fur from Add Down.
A best-selling Moncler’s cafe jacket in nylon with fox-fur collar.
Authier has more accessories now.
By Evan Clark
WASHINGTON — A trade battle over Vietnam’s 11-year effort to join the World Trade Organization is flying just below the radar in Washington.
The stakes are high for the apparel and textile industry and lobbyists on both sides are mustering their forces.
Domestic textile producers fear Vietnam’s entry into the WTO would eliminate its quotas, unleashing an apparel and textile industry supported by a managed currency and subsidies from Vietnam’s Communist gov-ernment. The U.S. industry is pushing for the Bush ad-ministration to make safeguard quotas, similar to those levied on China last year, a condition of Vietnam’s ac-cession to the global trade body.
“It’s ludicrous to expect that they’re going to make substantial reform and modifi cation at a reasonable pace toward an open market economy if we give them accession to the WTO,” said Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition. “That should be the carrot that is used to, in essence, force them to adopt a more open trading envi-ronment or a more market-based economy.”
Importers, denying the utility of safeguards in pro-tecting the domestic industry and remembering the headaches of working under them in China, fear their inclusion in any Vietnam deal.
“There is a great deal of industry concern on both sides of this issue,” said Scott Quesenberry, special tex-tile negotiator in the U.S. Trade Representative’s of-fi ce, who spoke at the WWD Sourcing Leadership Forum earlier this month.
“To say whether it’s going to happen is way premature,” he said of the possibility of a textile safe-guard in Vietnam’s acces-sion agreement.
Even though restrained by quotas since 2003, Vietnam’s imports to the U.S. rose 5 percent last year to 950.6 million square meter equivalents, worth $2.9 bil-lion, making it the 12th-largest supplier of apparel and textiles to the U.S.
Where U.S. textile fi rms see shades of China in Vietnam, importers see an opportunity to diversify their sourcing in Asia.
“They don’t have the same number of people, the same number of facilities,” said Brenda Jacobs, coun-sel for the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel, comparing Vietnam to China. “They don’t have the same level of vertical integration. They’re not going to make the same wide range of products.”
Jacobs also said safeguard quotas would undermine the value of joining the WTO for Vietnam.
“The U.S. has never tabled it and Vietnam could never accept it,” she said. “For Vietnam, apparel ex-ports are a more signifi cant proportion of their trade [than in China] and they need to bring in currency.”
Vietnam needs to pass a few more hurdles before it can join the WTO, including fi nishing up bilateral talks with the U.S. on the subject and completing multilateral negotiations within the WTO. Congress also has to ex-tend the vital designation of Permanent Normal Trade Relations to the country. Vietnam and Canada complet-ed bilateral talks last week.
Bob Zane, senior vice president at Liz Claiborne Inc., said if Vietnam is going to concede to some restrictions on exports to the U.S. market, it should skip over anti-surge protections such as safeguards and go right to an import agreement.
This would essentially bypass what happened last year, where Chinese imports to the U.S. surged, prompting the Bush administration to impose safe-guard quotas, which caused uncertainty in the import community. The U.S. and China ultimately worked out a deal to regulate trade through 2008.
“What frightens me and my colleagues is that, if Vietnam sub-jects its industry to an antisurge mechanism similar to what the Chinese did, then we will prob-ably see a repeat of the chaos that we saw in China,” said Zane, who is also chairman of the USA-ITA. “Personally, I’ve had it with unpredictably. I don’t like it. It’s a lousy way of doing business.”
There is no telling how much Vietnam’s imports would in-
crease if the country joined the WTO, though it lacks the resources to be-come another China.
However, Cass Johnson, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, said Vietnam has shown it has the ability to fl ood the U.S. market. Apparel and textile imports from the country jumped
to 827.4 million SME in 2003 from 32.7 million SME in 2001, even after being constrained by quotas during May of that year.
“It’s very important for us to get an effective safe-guard against Vietnam,” Johnson said.
The importers’ argument against safeguard quotas on
Vietnam follows the same lines as did their case against restrictions on China: They won’t bring business back to U.S. producers, but give it to other countries. U.S. tex-tile groups, on the other hand, contend the restraints will help apparel production in Central America, a key market for American textile exports.
“The battle lines are the big Asian suppliers [and] the big Central American and Mexican suppliers,” said Johnson.
Though there is no real consensus on how the Vietnam accession talks will pan out in the apparel and textile area, some importers reading the tea leaves see continued restraints on the Southeast Asian nation.
“I don’t see any great sentiment for free trade in Washington,” said Tom Haugen, president of sourcing fi rm Li & Fung USA, who thinks Vietnam will more than likely
have safeguards built into its ac-cession agreement. “You’re going to have [Congressional] elections this year, so therefore people are looking for something to run be-hind, hide behind actually.”
WWD.COM
Debate Builds on Vietnam WTO Bid
AT A GLANCECapital: HanoiType of Government: Communist stateSize: Slightly larger than New MexicoPopulation: 83.5 millionGross Domestic Product: $3,000 per capitaSOURCE: CIA WORLD FACTBOOK
Vietnam shipped $2.9 billion worth of apparel and textile products to the U.S. last year.
The Fiber Price SheetThe last Tuesday of every month, WWD publishes the current, month-ago and year-ago fi ber prices. Prices listed refl ect the cost of one pound of fi ber or, in the case of crude oil, one barrel.
*THE CURRENT COTTON PRICE IS THE FEBRUARY AVERAGE ON FIBER BEING DELIVERED TO SOUTHEASTERN REGION MILLS, ACCORDING TO AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICES/USDA. THE WOOL PRICE IS BASED ON THE AVERAGE PRICE FOR THE WEEK ENDED MARCH 24 OF 11 DIFFERENT THICKNESSES OF FIBER, RANGING FROM 15 MICRONS TO 30 MICRONS, ACCORDING TO THE WOOLMARK CO. INFORMATION ON POLYESTER PRICING IS PROVIDED BY THE CONSULTING FIRM DEWITT & CO. THE SYNTHETIC-FIBER PRODUCER INDEX, OR PPI, IS COMPILED BY THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS AND REFLECTS THE OVERALL CHANGE IN ALL SYNTHETIC-FIBER PRICES. IT IS NOT A PRICE IN DOLLARS BUT A MEASUREMENT OF HOW PRICES HAVE CHANGED SINCE 1982, WHICH HAD A PPI OF 100. OIL PRICES REFLECT LAST WEEK’S CLOSING PRICE ON THE NEW YORK MERCANTILE EXCHANGE OF FUTURE CONTRACTS FOR LIGHT, SWEET CRUDE OIL TO BE DELIVERED NEXT MONTH.
NEW YORK — Specialty stores are out to capitalize on the consolidating retail landscape.
After the mega retail mergers of last year, key players in the independent spe-cialty store sector see opportunity rather than threat. In their view, this is the time to expand into new territories and add more doors, while many also are cobrand-ing with fashion and accessories houses to offer consumers a more special, less homogenized shopping experience.
And with all the private equity capi-tal out there, observers predict that it is only a matter of time before hedge funds and other investors start snapping up the leading specialty store players follow-ing Nordstrom’s purchase of the Jeffrey chain last year.
“There are fabulous department stores all over the world, but there is also a severe case of product pollution,” said Stefani Greenfi eld, owner and founder of Scoop, on competing for department store customers.
Scoop has been gradually expanding its product assortment, with categories such as baby’s, men’s and home in par-ticular stores.
“For me, it’s all about merchandising with a focus on service,” Greenfi eld said. “Those with the best service will rise to the top.”
This year, Greenfi eld is upping the number of Scoop doors to 12 from eight, with openings in Dallas, Atlantic City, N.J., and two other still to be fi nalized U.S. locations. Last year was the retail-er’s biggest ever, with $62 million in sales, 15 percent of which came from the sale of cobranded merchandise. Scoop cobrands with companies such as Diane von Furstenberg, J. Crew and Theory.
“As a designer, cobranding with [a re-tailer] who knows exactly what her cus-tomer wants is a perfect fi t,” said Lee Angel designer Roxanne Assoulin, who creates exclusive jewelry for the Scoop stores. “But to cobrand, you have to part-ner with a store that needs enough quan-tity, unless the collaboration is a com-pletely creative experiment.”
Stacey Pecor, owner of Olive & Bette’s, cobrands with designers when the mar-ket trends aren’t in accordance with her customers’ needs.
“This season there wasn’t a miniskirt out there,” she said. “So we went to our favor-ite brands and asked them to make them. When we didn’t see colors that were good for us, we went to vendors like Autumn Cashmere, Jake’s Dry Goods and Velvet to make what we need at a price point that we want with a special hangtag.”
Having these categories gives Pecor the edge over a solely trend-based store that isn’t as connected to its customers.
Pecor’s business has grown steadily at 40 percent a year and, according to industry sources, the stores’ revenues amount to over $14 million annually. Late last year, Pecor launched an e-commerce site, which she said is thriving.
Calypso, which specializes in resort-wear, opened a fi ve-story, 10,000-square-foot fl agship this month, its 10th location in New York. Calypso also has stores in Palm Beach, Fla., Chicago and Boston.
Owner Christianne Celle credits the fi rm’s success to offering weekly deliver-ies of merchandise divided into six sea-sons and the immediacy with which she can react to customer needs.
“Our structure is very reactive, since I am the buyer and owner,” said Celle. “I can therefore make quick decisions and react to the market and trend.”
Another contemporary specialty retail-er, Searle, shares its Manhattan customer base with department stores and big-time specialty stores such as Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf Goodman. Searle owner Steve Blatt said that regular sales and promotions like coupons are big advan-tages department stores have over the lit-
tle guys like him. As such, Blatt counters with exclusives and offers private label dresses and outerwear to specifi cally suit his customer’s tastes.
Blatt said the department store merg-ers “force us to be much more careful” in what he carries.
“We have broadened the target audi-ence,” he said. “We moved into accessories in the last couple of years. We constantly search out new lines and try to get people to keep special items for us alone.…We don’t use coupons or discounts, we would never survive with that formula.”
Searle is opening its eighth Manhattan shop on Eighth Avenue and West 67th Street this spring.
Expansion however, may pose prob-lems for contemporary retailers who pride themselves on knowing their cus-
tomers intimately.“Once they start getting past six stores,
they come to a challenge of keeping that small store approach,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, a marketing research fi rm based in Port Washington, N.Y. “The minute you open that seventh one, you’re a chain store. You start getting issues that are further than your reach can solve.”
A tough consumer environment may be ahead. Earlier this month the Commerce Department’s monthly moni-tor of retail sales reported sales at appar-el and accessories stores fell a seasonally adjusted 3.3 percent in February, to $16.2 billion, but were still 1.6 percent ahead of 2005. Revised fi gures for January showed a 2.4 percent rise against the preceding month and an 8.1 percent jump from a year earlier. Sales at department stores fell 1.4 percent in February to $18 billion
and were off 2.8 percent from February 2005. This came after a 1.4 percent rise in January, which was also 0.4 percent ahead of a year earlier.
On the designer specialty store front, retailers such as Tracey Ross in Los Angeles, Kirna Zabête in New York and Ikram in Chicago are benefi ting from a blitz of media attention. As stylists like Rachel Zoe, Jessica Paster and Arianne Phillips have been gaining attention from celebrity tabloids to cable-style network panels, some chic boutique owners are garnering their fair share of the limelight and with it, a new customer base.
Tracey Ross, who owns her namesake store, hired a public relations person to handle just that.
“It makes a big difference,” said Ross. “I’ve gotten clients from Japan and
Dallas, by doing press, TV and news. You have to work every angle to keep yourself out there and keep your boutique hot.”
Department store retailers are face-less for the most part in magazines and on TV. Fashion- and media-savvy con-sumers often look to the store owners to identify the “best of the best” offerings in their shops.
At New York Fashion Week in February, photographers routinely popped their flashbulbs at Kirna Zabête co-owners Sarah Easley and Beth Buccini.
“You can feel that with our store, it’s a very personal store,” said Easely of her SoHo designer emporium. “Every piece in the store is handpicked by Beth and me. We buy clothes for Kirna that we want to wear ourselves.”
Of the paparazzi attention, she said, “it’s not a conscious [marketing] dedication.”
Designer specialty boutiques thrive on
the one-on-one relationship with clients.Brian Bolke, owner of 4510 in Dallas,
got calls from customers during the recent fall fashion shows requesting him to buy specifi c looks for themselves, after seeing the shows on the Internet — and he did.
“That’s where hopefully we’ll always be a success,” said Bolke. “We don’t have the same relationships with designers as department stores do. We can’t buy the volume or every size. By opening in other cities, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish what we’re doing.”
Bolke is brainstorming ways to ex-pand, but is not planning on growing into new territories.
Ikram Goldman, owner of the Chicago boutique Ikram, criticized department stores for a lack of editing designer col-lections and a lack of service.
“I always tell my staff to learn from de-partment stores,” said Goldman. “You are supposed to say hello to every customer. There’s too much of everything [in the marketplace, namely in department stores] that people feel they don’t want to shop.”
Incentive, like good service, she said, is a necessity.
Jeffrey Kalinsky, who sold Jeffrey New York and Jeffrey Atlanta to Nordstrom last year, said the deal hasn’t affected his buying power whatsoever.
“A specialty store owner has to want this kind of thing [being bought out],” said Kalinsky, who is now president and chief executive offi cer of Jeffrey New York, and director of designer merchan-dising at Nordstrom. “This is part of what I wanted. I wanted to work with a big de-partment store.”
Kalinsky is, however, helping Nordstrom build the fashion side of its business.
“I’m an employee of Nordstrom, and my job is to contribute to the designer busi-ness,” he said, adding that being bought out may have worked for his business, but is not the cure-all for specialty stores.
“The consolidation trend in retail will continue to happen at all levels of the food chain,” said Frederick Schmitt, vice president of The Sage Group, an invest-ment banking fi rm in Los Angeles. “We’ve seen it happen with the larger players and the department stores. I think we will see it happening in the near future with specialty chains and those that op-erate in other retail channels.”
Schmitt said the reason for the inter-est in the specialty store category stems directly from the moving and shaking of last year in the department store sector.
“It becomes increasingly important for brands and wholesalers to diversify their distribution,” added Schmitt. “At Federated, where Macy’s had two buy-ers, now it’s one. Since there are fewer department stores to work with, specialty stores are becoming increasingly impor-tant to diversify the distribution.”
Schmitt said that private equity funds are going to become interested and ac-tive in this area.
Arnold Aronson, managing director of retail strategies, Kurt Salmon Associates, said specialty stores would be on the up-tick this year.
“There is an opportunity for stores that can be differentiated in a real fo-cused assortment and offer expert per-sonal service,” said Aronson. “It’s beyond the image of the store. When you look at Scoop, Calypso and Fred Segal [in Los Angeles], you’re talking about multibrand stores. The major common denominator is that they are contemporary and at the edge of fashion, but they’re not so far out that they become limited in their appeal, that they can move into other areas.
“When customers shop [at Scoop] they aren’t buying a designer [item], they’re buying Scoop. [That happens] when the customer goes into the store that has an in-tegrating feeling, that there is one headset orchestrating the whole store. Rather than feeling segmented it feels integrated.”
Specialty Stores Make Their Move
The fi rst ladies of specialty retail: Scoop’s Stefani Greenfi eld, Tracey Ross and Sarah Easley and Beth Buccini of Kirna Zabête.
4510 in Dallas.
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WWD.COMWWD, TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006 11
By David Moin
NEW YORK — Target is eyeing locations put on the market by Federated Department Stores Inc.
The Minneapolis-based discounter joins other retailers in the bidding for Federated stores, notably Nordstrom which has recent-ly purchased seven Federated properties. Boscov’s, the Reading, Pa.-based department store chain, has purchased 10 units and The Westfi eld Group, the Australian shopping cen-ter developer, has purchased 15.
Federated now has 55 department stores and the 54-unit Lord &Taylor on the block, as a result of its acquisition of May Department Stores last year.
According to retail and real estate sources, Target has bid aggressively for Federated lo-cations and may be close to securing at least two, including a Strawbridge store in the Springfield Mall near Philadelphia and a Robinsons-May store in the Westminster Mall in Orange County, Calif.
“They [Target] bid aggressively on sev-eral Federated sites, but did not get nearly the number of stores they would have liked,” said a real estate source. “They’re hungry for stores. They want to open 120 a year.”
He noted that Target is particularly inter-ested in the Northeast. The mass merchant historically built stores from scratch in strip centers and other off-mall locations, but in recent years has become more acceptable in malls and more urban locations. The company has been eyeing Manhattan for years.
Federated declined comment on the Target report, and Target did not return phone calls Monday.
Target’s objectives raise speculation that it may take a close look at Lord & Taylor loca-tions, although Federated is intent on selling the retailer as an ongoing concern, rather than piecemeal. That may be tough, considering the chain has not been performing well for years and would require major capital infusions to get back on track.
The real estate source, and a retail execu-tive close to the situation, said Federated is
expected to issue a book on Lord & Taylor in 60 to 90 days, and wants to receive bids in the second half of 2006 and have a sale arranged before the end of the year.
Nordstrom, the Seattle-based specialty chain, will take over a Macy’s site in the Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh and open a two-level, 144,000-square-foot store there in the fall of 2008. It will be Nordstrom’s fi rst unit in the Pittsburgh metro area. From 2007-2010, Nordstrom is also opening in former Lord & Taylor sites in Aventura Mall in Florida and Cherry Creek Shopping Center in Denver, and in former Macy’s units in Burlington, North Shore and South Shore Plaza malls in Massachusetts, and in Palm Desert, Calif.
In a conference call last week, Nordstrom’s executive vice president and chief fi nancial of-fi cer, Mike Koppel, said the company is looking at situations arising from retail consolidations, including Federated-May.
Kohl’s, Bon-Ton, Belk’s, Dillard’s, Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney are also considered possi-ble bidders for Federated locations, though Penney’s expansion drive is directed to off-mall sites.
A non-strategic buyer that could consider a real estate breakup of Lord & Taylor is another possibility. There are some excellent L&T loca-tions that are Federated-owned, including the 610,000-square-foot Fifth Avenue fl agship, as well as the Stamford, Conn. unit that would be attractive to real estate fi rms, such as Vornado Realty Trust. Vornado last year teamed up with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Bain Capital to buy Toys ‘R’ Us, and has a stake in Sears Holdings, the entity that emerged from Kmart’s purchase of Sears, Roebuck and Co.
There are also plenty of hedge funds that would take a look, including Cerberus, Texas Pacific Group, Apax Partners, KKR, The Blackstone Group and Bain.
Federated’s bridal group is on the block as well. As previously reported, there is specula-tion that a management buyout of the bridal group might be in the works, led by Robert Huth, president and chief executive offi cer of the bridal group.
Bloomingdale’s Wins Popularity ContestBy David Moin
NEW YORK — Michael Gould, Bloomingdale’s chairman and chief executive, is in the mood to gloat.
For the third year in a row, Bloomingdale’s 59th Street fl agship has been named the most popular de-partment store in the city by Zagat Survey. “It speaks volumes about our store,” said a pleased Gould last week after the 2006 survey results were released.
“This is not three people sitting around at a table talking about shopping. It’s 7,000 to 8,000 people who were surveyed. They’re not saying Bloomingdale’s is the most expensive or that it has the best of everything. They’re just saying it’s their favorite place.
“People see Bloomingdale’s as different than Saks, Bergdorf ’s and Barneys,” he continued. “They are great brands and terrifi c stores. But they recognize Bloomingdale’s because they see a different DNA, a dif-ferent energy level, a different beat and a much broader range of merchandise. Lots of [retailers] can fl ourish in Manhattan because they have different perspectives on life, but the uniqueness of Bloomingdale’s is very clear. That’s what’s behind our success.”
In popularity among department stores, Bloomingdale’s was followed in order by Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New York.
According to Zagat, 7,710 people rated their experi-ences at 2,145 stores. The survey was conducted online and included mostly New Yorkers. Others awarded best in their class included Zabar’s, for the most popular independent store; Century 21, the most popular dis-counter; Bed Bath &Beyond, for the most popular chain; Harry Winston for being tops in quality; Buccellati for the best in home/garden; Ghurka, for top quality in life-style, and Babeland, a sex toy shop, for service.
Gould also liked the survey’s “whole debunking that people don’t like to shop. More than two-thirds [of those surveyed] said ‘We enjoy shopping,’ and the vast major-ity said they are spending more time shopping and they fi nd it an enjoyable thing to do. It isn’t like it’s a chore. That’s a very, very important thing to take away.”
Gould said part of Bloomingdale’s continued popu-
larity stems from the recent renovations on the 59th Street fl agship over the past few years, with about 30 percent of the store overhauled, and from efforts to improve service and remove the clutter that once con-gested the aisles.
He also cited the 2004 unveiling of a new second level showcasing contemporary offerings, as well as last year’s opening of the new third fl oor, which presents “a
whole new concept of melding bridge and designer, and a sense of openness,” Gould said.
He stressed that things are constantly changing in the store, adding to the buzz and sense of theatrics, and that the fl agship will get a big lift later this year after the fourth-fl oor shoe department is renovated so that it’s “pure designer on four.” The bridge footwear resources on the fl oor will be relocated to the second fl oor, for a combined bridge and better-priced presentation.
In another major improvement slated for this year, the intimate apparel department will be “reconceptual-ized,” Gould said.
Ironically, while Bloomingdale’s won for department store popularity, the store’s review inside the Zagat Survey 2006 New York City Shopping guide presented a mixed picture. The blurbs, according to Zagat Survey founders Tim and Nina Zagat, are synopses of the respondents’ opinions, including some of their comments in quotes.
Bloomingdale’s was respectfully called “a Manhattan institution” where you can fi nd “everything you need from moderately priced merchandise to chic couture, except knowledgeable sales help.”
It was also called a “bridal shower mecca for house-wares” and cited for offering clothing to satisfy all ages, but criticized for teeming with tourists and for its “dis-combobulated state” with crowded aisles.
Gould responded to the review by stating, “I thought it really didn’t take into account some of the changes we’ve made over the past three years. I fi nd the com-ment about crowded aisles interesting, in the sense that for the last two years we have not merchandised in our aisles. We also reduced signing by 85 percent. I think any resource today would not say it’s crowded. There is nothing in the aisles….
“The popularity has to do with the dramatic changes at Bloomingdale’s.”
Gould also addressed the criticism of his sales help, saying, “We have added more sales help and ratcheted up the quality of the training.”
“I can be very critical of myself, and I’m the most criti-cal. I listen to my vendors and my customers. But how can Bloomingdale’s be the favorite [department store] if it’s discombobulated and we don’t have sales help?”
Gould concluded that between the survey and the guide’s review, “I look at the bright side. Bloomingdale’s is a true icon of New York, and I think we have a never-ending battle to upgrade the service and make the en-vironment to be ever more comfortable. We have done a lot of that, and it will continue. This is not the store it was three years ago. I think that the resources and people who shop here see a colossal difference.”
NEW YORK – A three-alarm fire erupted early Sunday morning in a five-story building of loft residences at 125 Fifth Avenue, which houses an Intermix boutique on the ground level.
The building was heavily damaged by the fi re, and there was extensive damage to the store, which recently had undergone a major renovation. Since the fi re occurred at about 6 a.m., Intermix was closed and there were no employees or customers present. There were no injuries to other people in the building, a spokes-man for the Fire Department of New York said, adding the fi re was ruled not suspicious and electrical in nature.
Khajak Keledjian, Intermix’s chief executive offi cer, said it was impossible to assess the damage now because the building is closed off.
Intermix’s Fifth Avenue store is its fi rst and oldest location, hav-ing opened in 1993. The 2,500-square-foot store did about $2,500 in sales per square foot, Keledjian said. The value of the inventory in the store at the time of the fi re was about $2 million, Keledjian said, noting that Intermix carried more than 200 vendors, includ-ing Chloé, Matthew Williamson, Diane von Furstenberg, Catherine Malandrino and Michael Kors.
Keledjian and his brother Haro decided to close the store ear-lier this year and give it a full facelift. After six weeks in a tem-porary space, Intermix resumed business at 125 Fifth Avenue on March 10.
“We fully gutted the store,” Keledjian said. “Now we’ve just got to start all over again. A temporary store may be one of the options now. Once we hear from the buildings department, then we can work accordingly.”
— Sharon Edelson
Target Aims to Acquire Federated Sites
Intermix N.Y. Unit Hit by Fire
Michael Gould with Tim and Nina Zagat at the Zagat Survey awards ceremony.
Intermix’s newly renovated Fifth Avenue store before it was damaged by fi re.
Michael Gould with Tim and Nina Zagat at the Zagat Survey awards ceremony.
WWD, TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2006WWD.COM
12
DUMPING CARGO: Cargo magazine left the world the way it entered
it: with much scratching of heads. On Monday, as word emerged that Condé Nast Publications Inc. was shutting down the men’s shopping title after two years of setbacks and reversals, many were wondering why the company (which also owns WWD) hadn’t given another editor a chance to make Cargo work. Although a Condé Nast spokeswoman said there had been no consideration given to replacing editor in chief Ariel Foxman, recent months have been fi lled with rumors of a quiet search under way, possibly undertaken by publisher Lance Ford, who replaced founding publisher Alan Katz in August after Katz moved over to Vanity Fair. Insiders compared the situation with GQ editor Art Cooper’s 2003 ouster, conducted at the urging of then-publisher Ron Galotti. Since coming onboard, Ford — an old buddy of Richard Beckman’s — has been telling advertisers they could expect to see Cargo move in a more up-market, fashion-centric direction, according to sources in the men’s market. Ford recently met with Greg Williams, editorial direct of Giant and former editor in chief of the British title Arena, but when asked about it, both men described the meeting as a social get-together. Still, Condé Nast editorial director Tom Wallace and his deputy, Rick Levine, are known to have solicited critiques of Cargo from a range of editors in the latter half of 2005.
The question of to what extent a different editor might have changed Cargo’s fate will be asked long after the title’s fi nal installment, the upcoming May issue, departs newsstands. Certainly Foxman was far from a safe bet; plucked from a senior editor position at In Style on the strength of a promising memo, he had never been an editor in chief before.
Perhaps because he was unproven, Foxman was entrusted with relatively little autonomy and had little input into its early form. According to another Condé Nast editor, Foxman was hired only after a prototype existed and a creative director, Donald Robertson, had been engaged. Moreover, he received plenty of hand-holding from then-editorial director James Truman, and later from Wallace and Levine. It was Truman, one may recall, who pioneered the shopping magalogue with the successful Lucky and proceeded to overextend the concept by insisting men liked to trawl the aisles as much as women. However, neither Cargo nor its competitive sibling,
Vitals, lived to toddler-hood. But Foxman was not always
receptive to guidance. Sources at the company say he shrugged off advice aimed at improving Cargo’s performance at the newsstand — even though the magazine was selling, on average, 30,000 to 40,000 fewer copies per issue than it was expected to — and resisted efforts by Robertson to emulate the design of other magazines, particularly the lad titles.
It may be that Foxman (who did not respond to calls for comment) simply didn’t realize how precarious his, and
Cargo’s, position was. According to one insider, in December, Foxman showed up late to a holiday cocktail party Condé Nast chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. held for the company’s editors — a faux pas no employee who felt himself to be on the hot seat would presumably make. If that’s the case, Foxman’s blissful ignorance persisted right up to the end, said the source: Wallace notifi ed Foxman of the shutdown only a few minutes before telling the rest of the magazine’s editorial staff.
While the rest of the magazine’s employees will be considered for open positions at other titles, Foxman and Ford are both leaving the company.
— Jeff Bercovici and Sara James
MEMO PADBy Jennifer Weil
PARIS — Inter Parfums SA and Quiksilver Inc. have teamed up for a worldwide beauty licensing deal, the companies said Monday.
Financial terms of the agreement between the Paris-based beauty maker and the Huntington Beach, Calif.-based surf, snowboard and skateboard wear label were not disclosed. However, their deal includes the creation, de-velopment and distribution of fragrances, sun care and other cosmetics products under the Roxy name and sun care and other skin care products under the Quiksilver name through December 2017.
“By signing this license we bring a new dimension to Roxy and Quiksilver,” said Peter Bloxham, the Saint Jean de Lux, France-based senior vice president of Quiksilver Inc., re-ferring to the lifestyle brand’s two labels, for women and for men and women, respectively. “With Inter Parfums, we found a company that seems to have a good fi t. One signifi cant rea-son we chose them is that they understand us and know how to express brands. That’s the reason we did not go with a big multinational.”
Bloxham added that the partnership should result in some signifi cant advertising pull, as the Quiksilver and Roxy beauty brands will be plugged in some pub-l ications that are new to the brands.
Quiksilver has had a brush with beauty before. In the fall of 1998 it launched a women’s scent called Hula. Details of that venture were not available at press time.
As for Inter Parfums, the new license has many pluses, too.
“Quiksilver fits into our portfolio very well,” said Philippe Benacin, president and chief executive officer of Inter Parfums SA, the French subsidiary of Inter Parfums Inc., who added that Quiksilver has a one-of-a-kind surf heritage. “It is so differ-ent from what we have.”
Indeed, Inter Parfums’ other fashion names — in-cluding Burberry, Lanvin, Paul Smith, S.T. Dupont, Christian Lacroix and Diane von Furstenberg — tend to be more high-end.
“Quiksilver’s outdoor po-sitioning is important to us,” continued Benacin, adding that the brand also has a younger starting target audience, at 15 years old, than Inter Parfums’ other beauty brands.
Further, Quiksilver’s ac-claim in the U.S. could help Inter Parfums’ push there, as well as in Western Europe and Australia, the brand’s two other hottest markets.
On the product front, plans include the introduction of a fragrance for the Roxy line in September 2007.
Given Roxy’s feminine
bent, “I think it lends itself ideally to the fi rst phase of de-velopment,” said Bloxham.
The Roxy fragrance will be followed by a bath-and-body collection the following year. A sun care line is then expected for Quiksilver in early 2009.
Roxy and Quiksilver’s beauty products are to be sold in the prestige perfumery channel worldwide, plus in Quiksilver boutiques and, pos-sibly, in other surf stores.
The announcement of the Quiksilver license comes less than two weeks after Benacin told fi nancial analysts during a meeting in Paris that numer-ous acquisitions were in the offi ng, and that Inter Parfums was eyeing French, Italian and American fashion brands in the prestige category. At that time he ruled out signing any celebrity for a scent.
As reported, Inter Parfums SA’s 2005 net profi ts increased 5 percent to 16.3
million euros, or $20.7 million at current exchange rates, on sales that spiked 23.5 per-cent to 194.4 million euros, or $246.7 million.
Quiksilver’s net income jumped 32 percent to $107.1 million on sales that climbed 41 percent to $1.78 billion in the 2005 versus 2004 period.
Inter Parfums SA’s shares closed up 3 percent to a unit price of 40.89 euros, or $49.13, on the Paris Bourse Monday.
Minogue Mulling ScentLONDON — Pint-sized pop princess Kylie Minogue may be preparing to launch a per-fume.
“It’s a project she’s consid-ering, but nothing has been confi rmed yet,” a spokeswom-an for the Australian singer said in response to a British press report that said Minogue has already concocted a juice and is negotiating with un-named “cosmetics bosses” on a moniker and packaging — and that the fragrance is slated to hit counters by the December holiday season.
If a scent were to be launched, Minogue, who has a lingerie line dubbed Love Kylie, would add her name to the ever-growing list of celebrities who have turned scent-makers, including Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Alan Cumming.
BEAUTY BEAT
Quiksilver, Inter Parfums Ink Beauty Licensing Pact
DESIGNERMajor women’s moderateupdated sportswear co. isseeking a talented designerwith 5-7 yrs. exp. Candidatewill be designing for a majorpublic updated co. Musthave a strong background inupdated wovens and knitsfor pants, skirts and jacketswith a strong knowledge ofprints and fabrics. Must beable to shop stores for thenewest trends and have anunderstanding of developmenttime lines. Position based inBoston with frequent travelto New York.Excellent Salary And Benefits
ARTISTS/DESIGNERSExcellent Opportunity in Central NewJersey. Art Department seeks F/TOutdoor & Humor Artist for trendyMen’s T-shirt lines. Must havePhotoshop/Illustrator & MAC experience.Strong typography skills & apparel exp.a plus. Great creative group environment.New Jersey applicants ONLY! Emailor fax resume with 3 samples to:
Assistant DesignerMichelle Roth & Henry Roth seekentry level design assistant with preferably1-2 yrs. experience. Candidate mustpossess excellent sketching ability,design knowledge, a strong back-ground in beading and trim develop-ment & the ability to assist in all phasesof development. Position requiresexceptional communication skills andspecial attention to detail. MicrosoftExcel and Word proficiency required.
DESIGN DIRECTOR/To $200K Contemporary Sportswear CollectionGreat oppty for highly creative designdir. w/ Contemporary sportswear bkgda must (w/ Status/Premium denim exprthat is a little edgy). This is for a highprofile branded Celebrity collection ofdenim, wovens & knits. You should behands-on w/ knowledge of Illustrator/Photoshop preferred.E-mail resume: [email protected](Fax) 917-591-2521 (Tel) 212-532-5313
DESIGNER
Assistant DesignerFast paced Apparel Co seeks highlymotivated individual w/ min 3 yearsexperience to create tech packs, colorapprovals, knowledge of garment con-struction, fabrics & yarns. Knowledgeof Illustrator and Photoshop.
Fax resume to 704-895-0093
DesignerBetter priced womenswear manufacturerseeks sportswear designer with min 2years exp. designing collections fordepartment stores. Background incontemporary market at big plus. Mustbe able to run a sample room and workwith patternmakers. Great opportunityfor growth. Salary commensurate withexperience.
Fax resume to 212-382-0237.
DesignerBetter womens import manufacturerof woven shirts and sportswear seeks:
Associate Designer with CAD Experience
Candidate will work w/Design Director,be organized & able to work w/a diversecustomer base. Responsibilities includesketching / line plans / presentations /fabric development. Experience w/Primavision graphics/weave & ColorMatters 32 is A+. Photoshop & Illustratorexperience is needed.
Please fax resume with salaryrequirements to: (212) 328-1230
Designer
Danskin, Inc., a well est’d active apparel co.seeks an EXPERIENCED dynamic
Associate Designer to create variety of apparel productsfor licensed mass market brand. 3-5years exp. & apparel design degree,Adobe Illustrator & Photo Shop skillsrequired. Must have strong sketchingability, knowl. of garment construction& specs, excellent organizational &communication skills. Must be teamplayer. Competitive comp & benefitspackage. Please send resumes withsalary history to:
EDI COORDINATORMajor denim brand seeks responsible/organized individual with extensiveknowledge of all aspects of order pro-cessing/EDI transactions. Must have 3yrs. exp. in industry. Great opportunity.
Fax resume to HR @ 212-719-1521
EDI MANAGER 40M Apparel Manf. seeks individualwith solid experience in EDI standards,mapper/translators, XML as well aswith AS2, VAN’s, and VPN’s to producedaily EDI production for in-bound andout-bound transaction sets.
BERLIN — KarstadtQuelle AG sold its department store real estate portfolio to Whitehall Fund for 4.5 billion euros, or $5.4 billion.
Whitehall Fund is a joint venture be-tween Goldman Sachs and Karstadt Quelle. The retailer is looking to pay off its debt load of over 4 billion euros, or $4.8 billion, with proceeds from the deal.
KarstadtQuelle, together with its pen-sion fund, will receive an immediate cash payment of 3.7 billion euros, or $4.5 billion. The German department store and cata-logue group said it expects an additional 800 million euros, or $1 billion, “from the participation in the potential appreciation of these real estate assets,” the company said in a statement.
“We reduced group debt to zero, and this gives us new fl exibility for further development and growth on the basis of a less capital-intensive business model,” said Thomas Middlehoff, chief executive offi cer, at a press conference Monday. Mid-dlehoff said as a result of the transaction, “group earnings before taxes will improve by more than 120 million euros a year on a sustainable basis. In addition, we realize an extraordinary income of almost 2.4 bil-lion euros before tax this year.”
Middlehoff said in 2006 the group ex-pects to commercialize more real estate assets with a value of 600 million euros, or
$722.2 million, in a separate deal.Separately, the fi rm released 2005 fi nan-
cial results that showed sales fell 4.1 per-cent to 3.6 billion euros, or $4.3 billion, at its 90 Karstadt department store chain. The group is realigning its department store portfolio, with fi ve doors including KaDeWe in Berlin and Alsterhaus in Hamburg form-ing a new premium group.
The group’s pretax earnings came in at 274.7 million euros, or $300 million, which compares with a loss of 275.1 million euros, or $332 million, in the prior year. Adjusted for special factors, disinvestments and joint ventures, pretax earnings in 2005 were 544.1 million euros, or $655 million.
“We are on track to becoming an abso-lutely normal company again,” Middlehoff said. “In 2004, the company fought for sur-vival. Over the past year, we considerably in-creased the pace for restructuring. We com-pleted our disinvestment program rapidly and with great success.”
The group sold 75 KarstadtKompact department stores, as well as the special-ty store chains SinnLeffers and Runners Point, and also divested a parcel of 40 lo-gistics centers.
For the current fi nancial year, the group expects a gain of about 20 percent in ad-justed pretax earnings, and a slight in-crease in sales (on a comparable basis).
— Melissa Drier
KarstadtQuelle Sells Real Estate AssetsRetail Group Opposes China TariffBy Kristi Ellis
WASHINGTON — The Retail Industry Leaders Association, representing Wal-Mart, Target and other mass marketers, on Monday urged Sens. Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham to back off on a pro-posal to impose a 27.5 percent tariff on all Chinese imports if China doesn’t allow its currency to substantially appreciate.
Schumer and Graham need to decide whether to move forward this week.
The organization’s senior vice president of federal and state government affairs, Paul Kelly, made the remarks as Sens. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has ju-risdiction over trade, and Max Baucus (D., Mont.), the committee’s ranking Democrat, said they would introduce legislation today to address China’s “currency imbalances.” No details were disclosed.
Importers and retailers are concerned the Schumer-Graham bill will hurt their businesses, as well as consumers.
“They have not suggested anything as punitive as a 27.5 percent tariff across the board, which could do more damage to relations, not to mention being non-compliant with WTO agreements,” Kelly said. “I think they are trying to remain in the middle of the debate [with their legis-lation] and say that they have an alterna-
tive approach that might be more reason-able and constructive.”
Republican leaders agreed to bring the bill proposed by Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Graham (R., S.C.), which has bipartisan support, to a vote by the end of March. Last week, the two senators met with Chinese government and business leaders in China. The New York Times reported Monday that Schumer was more optimistic than Graham about China’s efforts to devalue its currency, suggesting that there might not be a vote on their bill this week.
Schumer’s offi ce did not respond to requests for comment. Graham’s press secretary declined comment.
The developments come as Chinese Presi dent Hu Jintao plans to make his fi rst offi cial visit to Washington in April and the U.S. Treasury Department is to release a biannual report determining whether China manipulates its currency — a ruling that could lead to sanctions in the WTO.
Critics of China’s currency policy, in-cluding U.S. textile executives, charge that it artifi cially lowers the price of Chinese goods by 15 to 40 percent and subsidizes exports, putting U.S. companies at a dis-advantage and leading to job losses. They support the Schumer-Graham bill and feel China’s move last year to change the peg of the yuan to a so-called basket of curren-cies was insignifi cant.
First PatternmakerFast paced womenswear manufacturerseeks first patternmaker experiencedin both sportswear and dresses. Mustbe able to drape and flat pattern min 2designs a day. Experience in contemp-orary market a big plus.
Fax resume to 212-382-0237.
Fit Model (Size 6)Professional fit model needed for newcontemporary women’s line. Only de-signer size 6, 34x26x34, h:5’7-5’8 needapply. Flexible schedule a must.
Prod’n Coord. / Asst.Forward sportswear co. seeks an ex-tremely organized, hard working indi-vidual used to working in a fast pacedenvironment. Responsibilities includetracking work in progress, schedulingproduction, keeping accurate records,& communicating w/ overseas factories.Attention to detail is a must. 3-5 yearsexp. Position is located in North Bergen,NJ. Excellent growth potential, bene-fits, salary commensurate with exp.
Leading garment importer seeks anorganized and self-motivated applicantwith 3 yrs experience in ladies woven/knit garment production. Must be PCliterate (Excel, Word, Photoshop) req’d.
Please fax resume & salaryrequirements to: 212-869-8961
Production ManagerKNIT PRIVATE LABEL
Minimum ten years experience in allphases of knit sportswear production.Work with sales team / factories fromcosting thru shipping. Establish laborprice and follow up shipping. Respon-sible for construction & quality control.Computer literate. Please fax resumeto Karen 212-947-7218.
Receptionist/Gal/Guy FridayManufacturer of Women’s Sportswearseeks energetic self motivated personwho wants to learn the business fromthe inside. Person should possess goodinterpersonal skills, be organized anddependable. Besides answering phonesand greeting people, person will helpwith sales and design dept’s as well.
SWEATER TD $70-90K1st Sample to Prod’n. Runway [email protected] or 212-947-3400
Sweater Tech Designer Branded womenswear manufacturerseeks sweater tech designer with min2 yrs import exp. Must be able to flatsketch, have technical knowledge ofsweater yarns, stitches, and graphing.Background in contemporary market abig plus.
Fax resume to 212-382-0237.
Tech DesignerSecaucus co. seeks Tech Designer full-fashion sweaters; cut & sew knits.Must have complete knwldg sweaters,yarns, stitches. Must be exp’d inspecing, fittings, grading, comn w/vendors. Excel, & Illustrator exp. amust. 5 yrs exp. Salary commensuratewith exp. FULL TIME.
Fax Dir Tech Design: 201-866-0387
Technical DesignerA well est’d women’s apparel importerseeks a candidate w/3-5 yrs experience.Must be knowledgeable in patternmaking,garment construction, fittings, specs &be able to communicate detailed com-ments to overseas & domestic factories.Must be computer literate in Excel. Pls fax resume attn: SC (212) 302-3872
Acct. Exec position available for estab-lished international clothing designer.Minimum 2 years experience in designerwholesale market preferred. Musthave excellent written and verbal com-munication skills, proficiency with Exceland Word, willingness to travel, andstrong fashion sense.Fax resume to: 212-428-6709
BRIDAL SALESEXECUTIVE
We are seeking a highly motivated,energetic sales professional with aluxury bridal or designer backgroundto join our wholesale Bridal division. Successful candidates must have astrong working knowledge of sales/operations as it pertains to retail storesand have 3-5 years of selling experi-ence. Strong computer skills (MicrosoftOffice Suite) a must. Extensive travelrequired.
Email resume with subject header“Bridal Sales” to:
Or Fax: 646 723 2240*flag brand of interest please*
Check out brand info @:WWW.SURFDIVA.COM
WWW.PHYLCOUTURE.COMWWW.YOGAFORCE.COM
Sales Assistants / Clericals SUNNY LEIGH
Division of F.Y.C. Apparel GroupWe are looking for dynamic individualswho must possess analytical skills andhave strong computer knowledge inExcel and Word. You must have twoyears experience in the women’ssportswear market. You must be ableto take initiative in solving problems,be detail oriented and handle multipletasks in a very fast paced environment.Please email/fax resumes to Melanie at:
We are seeking a seasoned SalesConsultant to join our flagship salon.Strong emphasis on our RTW linealong with our fine jewelry and acces-sories. Attention to detail and superiorcustomer service is a must. Successfulcandidate must have at least 5 years inluxury sales, excellent communicationskills and good computer knowledge.Must work Saturdays. Excellentbenefits, salary plus commission.
Updated contemporary missy line lookingfor a hard working, energetic person towork with specialty and major stores.Must be free to travel markets across the US. Fax cover letter & resume: 212-730-7872
Sales!! Great CompanyGreat Sales!!!
Hot junior sweaters and knits needvibrant Sales Executive for greatopportunity. Salary commensurate w/contacts and experience. Fax resume:
212-382-2549
SALES MGR/BRAND MANAGER/$$$ JR. DENIM COLLECTION
Great oppty for Brand Mgr of Jr. Div.w/ $30-$50Mil projections. This is a highprofile Celebrity’s Jr. Collection (hangingw/ XOXO, Rampage, DKNY etc). Youmust have current JR. Sportswear exprselling to Dept. & Speciality stores.E-mail resume: [email protected](Fax) 917-591-2521 (Tel) 212-532-5313
SALESPERSON WTD.Active Junior Sweater & Knit Top Co.seeks aggressive, hard working candi-
date. Must have a min. of 5 yrs. exp.Please fax resume in confidence to:
Sara Smith @ (212) 827-0306
Showroom SalesEst’d. Jr. Dress Mfr. seeks a motivatedSales Rep for our New York Showroom.Ideal candidate must be able to workwith existing Major & Specialty Storeaccounts, as well as bring in new busi-ness. Must be able to multi-task and workindependently in a fast paced environ-ment. Please Fax or E-amil resumes to:212-768-3711 / [email protected]
V.P. of SalesEst’d importer is looking for a SalesExecutive/V.P. of Sales with experiencein national sales and in business devel-opment with key retail, mail order, andcatalog accounts. Should be willing totravel extensively within the U.S. Shouldalso know market trends and industryneeds, as well as be able to bring onboard, and later manage, key sales repsnation wide. Fax resume to: 732-205-0447
FOOTWEAR SALESCA based shoe mfr. seeks IndependentSales Rep. Exp. in ladies contemporary
