CTFA PREVIEW/6 GAP’S REVERSAL OF FASHION/2 Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • February 28, 2003 Vol. 185, No. 42 $2.00 PHOTO BY DAVIDE MAESTRI Be Squared MILAN — Some retailers and reporters flew in to Milan just in time to catch the DSquared show — and they weren’t disappointed. The frisky presentation featured the first full-fledged collection for women by twin designers Dan and Dean Caten. Like the men’s wear they’re known for, it was campy and playful. The clothes — leather aviator jackets, cropped pants and tiny shorts — would be ideal for a real-live Barbie. Here, Eva Herzigova, wearing gold lamé, alights, like the other models, from the pink plane at the end of the DSquared runway. For more on the fall season, see pages 4 and 5. WWDFRIDAY WWD FRIDAY Beauty By Eric Wilson NEW YORK — The future of Calvin Klein’s designer collection business is continuing to quickly evolve since the completion of the company’s sale to Phillips-Van Heusen two weeks ago, with a new production and distribution pact announced Thursday that will transfer its operations to the Italian-based manufacturer Vestimenta SpA. This is the second time in four years that Calvin Klein Inc. has looked to outsource the manufacturing and distribution side of the designer business, while maintaining control over design and marketing from its CKI’s Latest Deal: Inks Collection Licenses With Vestimenta See CKI, Page 14
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CTFA PREVIEW/6 GAP’S REVERSAL OF FASHION/2Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • February 28, 2003 Vol. 185, No. 42 $2.00
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Be SquaredMILAN — Some retailers and reporters flew in to Milanjust in time to catch the DSquared show — and theyweren’t disappointed. The frisky presentation featuredthe first full-fledged collection for women by twindesigners Dan and Dean Caten. Like the men’s wearthey’re known for, it was campy and playful. The clothes— leather aviator jackets, cropped pants and tinyshorts — would be ideal for a real-live Barbie. Here,Eva Herzigova, wearing gold lamé, alights, like the othermodels, from the pink plane at the end of the DSquaredrunway. For more on the fall season, see pages 4 and 5.
WWDFRIDAYWWDFRIDAYBeauty
By Eric WilsonNEW YORK — The future of CalvinKlein’s designer collection businessis continuing to quickly evolve sincethe completion of the company’s saleto Phillips-Van Heusen two weeks
ago, with a new production anddistribution pact announcedThursday that will transfer itsoperations to the Italian-basedmanufacturer Vestimenta SpA.
This is the second time in four years
that Calvin Klein Inc. has looked tooutsource the manufacturing anddistribution side of the designerbusiness, while maintaining controlover design and marketing from its
CKI’s Latest Deal: Inks Collection Licenses With Vestimenta
See CKI, Page 14
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By Kristi Ellis
WASHINGTON — Textiles andapparel are once again beingused as a bargaining chip in for-eign relations.
As the week drew to a closeand a potential war with Iraqseemed closer, domestic textileproducers, importers and retail-ers anxiously awaited the out-come of ongoing talks betweenTurkey and the U.S. over a pro-posed multibillion-dollar eco-nomic aid package to Turkeythat includes textile and appar-el trade breaks.
The Bush administrationhas not disclosed the details ofthe economic package, whichis aimed at compensatingTurkey for losses incurred in apossible war with Iraq, butTurkey’s foreign minister saidlast weekend that textile andapparel quotas are part of thediscussions.
Industry sources, some ofwhom have been briefed byCapitol Hill lawmakers, said the
U.S. offered Turkey duty-freeand quota-free access for tex-tiles and apparel, but only forproducts using U.S. yarn andfabric. In addition, sources saidthe U.S. offered to temporarilywaive a requirement that theU.S. military buy only American-made components for militaryuniforms, footwear and para-chutes, which would enableTurkey to sell apparel to the U.S.for military use.
Turkish and U.S. officialshave been unable to reach anagreement for weeks on a pack-age totaling a reported $5 billionin aid and $10 billion in loansand that has delayed Turkey’svote on whether to allow the de-ployment of U.S. troops andstranded U.S. ships loaded withmilitary equipment off the coastof Turkey.
Turkey’s Parliament onceagain postponed a vote on thedeployment of more than 60,000U.S. combat troops Thursdayand moved the vote to Satur-day.
U.S. and Turkey Deal:Drop Tariffs for Troops
In the fiscal year ended Nov. 24, Levi Strauss & Co. experiencedits sixth consecutive year of sales declines. The number of yearswas incorrect in a story starting on page 1, Feb. 27.
Correction
By Jennifer Weitzman
NEW YORK — If sweaters hadsold as well as bras during thefourth quarter, Limited Brandschief executive Leslie Wexnerwould be a very happy man.
Instead, apparel sales andmargins lagged behind those ofinnerwear dynamo Victoria’sSecret, holding down LimitedBrands’ fourth-quarter bottom-line increases to 8.1 percent.Additionally, chief financial offi-cer Ann Hailey said the companyexpects a 10 to 20 percent declinein earnings per share for the firsthalf of the year, with flat to slight-ly better results in the secondquarter offsetting declines in thefirst, and full-year EPS compar-isons of flat to up 5 percent.
“I wish I could tell you I fore-see a good economic environ-
ment in 2003, but it is clear that2003 will be extremely uncertainwith continued challengesaround consumer sentiment,mall traffic and political instabil-ity,” Hailey told investors on amorning conference call. “Weare, however, watching carefullyfor significant improvement sowe can react quickly to capitalizeon any opportunity.”
The Columbus, Ohio-basedspecialty retailer said Thursdaythat net income for the threemonths ended Feb. 1 grew to$352.9 million, or 66 cents ashare, from $326.5 million, or 75cents, during the final quarter of2001. Dilution attributable to agreater number of shares out-standing was responsible for thedrop in EPS. Excluding the ef-fects of the November 2002 saleof Lerner New York, net income
would have been $357.3 million,0.8 percent above the prior-yearmark of $354.4 million.
Total company sales in-creased 4.5 percent to $2.97 bil-lion, from the prior-year quar-ter’s $2.84 billion, and compara-ble-store sales were flat. At theapparel group, which consists ofExpress and Limited stores,sales slipped 3.9 percent to$806.1 million compared with$839 million, while comparable-store sales abated by 4 percent.
The 1,014-unit Victoria’s Secretwas the only division to have apositive comp, up 5 percent on topof a 10 percent increase last year.Express was down 4 percentwhile both Limited and Bath &Body Works dropped 1 percent.
Gross margins contracted 160basis points to 41.6 percent of
VS Supports Limited Earnings
By Jennifer Weitzman
NEW YORK — Gap Inc. didn’tonly raise its waistlines in thefourth quarter, it lifted its earn-ings as well.
The San Francisco-based spe-cialty retailer, founded in 1969as a purveyor of jeans and othercounter-cultural matter, lateThursday reported its secondstraight increase in quarterlyprofits and a full year of profits.
For the three months endedFeb. 1, improvements throughoutthe business drove up net incometo $248.7 million, or 27 cents a di-luted share, in line with its ownas well as Wall Street estimates.This reversed a year-ago loss of$34.2 million, or 4 cents.
Sales for the quarter in-creased 13.7 percent to $4.65 bil-lion over sales of $4.09 billion.Comparable-store sales in-creased 8 percent, with all divi-
sions in positive terrain: OldNavy, 14 percent; BananaRepublic, 5 percent, and Gap, 4percent. Sales productivity grewby 10 percent to $120 per squarefoot versus $109.
“Results reflect more success-ful product execution and amore focused assortment,”Byron Pollitt, Gap’s new chief fi-nancial officer, said on an after-noon conference call. “We movedtoward a more brand-appropri-ate style and became more nar-row and deep on key items.”
Despite the dismal retail en-vironment, Gap in the fourthquarter experienced higher con-version rates and higher averageunit retails, reflecting cus-tomers’ acceptance of both Gap’sproduct and inventory strategy.
In 2000 and 2001, Gap’s re-liance on the low-rise jeanshelped get it into trouble as thecompany suffered from deep
markdowns and what wouldeventually tumble into 29straight months of same-storesales declines. And it started toreport decreases in earnings,beginning in April 2000, andeven lost money in the third andfourth quarters of 2001.
But as the company hasstrived in recent months toserve “Every Generation” by re-turning to classic, casual cloth-ing, Gap last October managedits first comp increase after a 21/2-year losing streak and themomentum continued into theholidays. The company evenmanaged to increase its regular-priced selling and improve itsmarkdown margin.
Although Gap has a newleader at the helm in PaulPressler, it was Millard “Mickey”Drexler who steered the shipstraight after nearly drowning it
Gap Profitable for Full Year
By Rosemary Feitelberg
NEW YORK — Cerberus, an in-vestment firm here with an $8.5billion fund and a hankering foracquiring middle-market dis-tressed businesses, is said to beclosing in on the purchase of Fila.
Sources said Thursday thecompany initially made a bid lastfall and is now “pretty far downthe road” in terms of wrapping itup. Cerberus executives have re-cently been spotted in Biella,Italy, where Fila is headquar-tered. Some say a deal could becompleted within a few days or amonth. “By June” is the officialword from Fila, which declinedfurther comment.
Executives at Holding diPartecipazioni Industriali, Fila’sparent, declined to elaborate.Fila has been for sale since June2001 and has more than $300 mil-lion in debt. HdP has been sellingits fashion interests to focus moreon its publishing operations.
Fila on the Block:Cerberus SaidClosing In on Deal
GENERALFASHION: DSquared, D&G, Byblos, Mila Schön and Bottega Veneta wereamong the key collections as Milan’s runways kicked into high gear.
Calvin Klein’s designer collection business is evolving quickly, with a newproduction and distribution pact with the Italian manufacturer Vestimenta.
Gap reported for the second straight time a quarterly profit increase in thefinal quarter of 2002 and a full year of profits.
Apparel results lagged behind those of innerwear dynamo Victoria’s Secret,holding down Limited Brands’ 4th-quarter bottom-line rise to 8.1 percent.
“Olympiad of Beauty and Well-Being,” a September 2004 consumer event,hopes to generate purchases and awareness of beauty and well-being.
SUZY: Athina Onasis meets the (potential) in-laws…Movie news…HenryStreet Settlement held its preview party for the Art Show.
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● DIOR’S DIGS: Christian Dior’s Bal Harbour, Fla., store is get-ting a facelift. The company will begin renovating and expand-ing the 2,000-square-foot boutique in the Bal Harbour Shops thissummer. “The growth in business has been phenomenal — wewere fortunate to have adjacent space become available to en-able us to expand,” said Marla Sabo, president and chief operat-ing officer of Christian Dior Inc. The space will increase to 3,000square feet and will reflect the same design concept as the Parisflagship on Avenue Montaigne.
● WOOLLY MATTER: A Senate panel approved a miscellaneoustrade bill Thursday that creates a Wool Trust Fund in theCommerce Department to provide grants to help boost businessfor U.S. wool textile makers. The legislation also contains achange to a 2000 trade bill granting U.S. duty-free breaks toAfrican and Caribbean Basin apparel, stipulating that knit-to-shape apparel using U.S. yarn but produced in the regions aregranted duty-free status.
● ANOTHER BANKRUPTCY BILL: Maybe the fourth time is thecharm. The National Retail Federation on Thursday praisedreintroduction in the House of bankruptcy reform legislation.Three recent attempts — even after House and Senate hearingsand passage — have failed after getting bogged down in last-minute wrangling between the two chambers. Retailers arguethat bankruptcy reform legislation creating a means test for re-paying creditors is needed.
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WWDStock Market Index for February 27Composite: 93.37
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Milan Collections
MILAN — In a world where more things seem uncertain than not —from a possible war to a swift economic recovery — there is onething that’s for sure: the Italians have their work cut out for them.
Particularly as a lot of buzz emanates from Paris, mostmakers and retailers agree that creativity is the only salvation fordesigners in these trying times.
Precollection sales are mixed: Giorgio Armani saw flat saleswhile Prada’s orders spiked 15 percent and Dolce & Gabbana’swere up 10 percent. Meanwhile, retailers are mostly cautious,with some expressing fears about placing large orders andgetting stuck with unsold stock. “It’s a difficult moment, but atthe same time, it’s interesting because you need to be morecreative and not conservative,” said Miuccia Prada.
Roberto Cavalli, whose younger Just Cavalli line makes itsrunway debut this season, stressed that originality and one-of-a-kind-items are needed to lure women back into stores andstimulate impulse buying.
“That way, if she doesn’t buy it now, she won’t see it next season.”
Armando Branchini, vice president of luxury goods consultantIntercorporate, agreed that the challenging economic climateposes a tricky balancing act for designers: get as creative aspossible to capture the attention of retailers, but at the sametime stay wearable to appeal to consumers.
“Given that retailers will be buying less, designers will beconcentrating on making their collections innovative and salableto get a bigger slice of a smaller cake,” he said.
Versace said its precollection orders are showing a “high-single-digit increase” with a particularly strong performance indresses, pants and accessories. Key looks, some of which werepresented at the men’s runway show in January, include a boiledwool and lace inset military coat, wool melange combat pantsand Goth-inspired cocktail dresses.
Donatella Versace said she is staying the course despitedifficult times.
“I am very sensitive to the current global situation, but wemust not let these events disrupt our focus, as it is important for
the business to continue moving forward,” she said.Armani said precollection sales are flat on the year.“Our business seems to be consistent with this time last year
in all respects and in all regions,” said an Armani spokesman. “Itdoes seem that American department stores are slightlyincreasing their precollection orders with us, but we will obviouslywant to see how that continues with the main collection.”
Giorgio Armani stressed the importance of putting the retailerfirst in a tough environment.
“This is a time when you have to be very pragmatic inmanaging the business, ensuring that you are doing all of the mostbasic things well: Offering your customers practical solutions;making sure that deliveries arrive on schedule; providing customerservice of the highest standard,” the designer said.
Prada said precollection sales are up 15 percent on the year. Ona geographic breakdown, sales are up 20 percent in the U.K., up 14percent in the U.S., up 8 percent in Italy and 5 percent in Japan.
“The climate is very positive regarding the Anglo-Saxoncountries,” said a Prada spokesman, who added that the groupshould see a boost in Japanese sales when two new stores open thisyear in the prestigious Ginza and Omotesando districts of Tokyo.
A Dolce & Gabbana spokeswoman, noting the 10 percent rise
Uncertain Winds Blow Over Italy’s Runways
DSquared:Barbie would love the Peptopink jet DSquared designers Dan and DeanCaten parked at the end of their runway onThursday night. Ditto the cheeky, overtlyglamorous stuff of their first full-fledgedcollection. From a metallic gold miniskirtwith motorcycle-jacket trimmings to a hotpink denim jacket, the twin designers, whoshowed a capsule collection of women’slooks alongside their men’s collection lastJune, proved that they like playing dress upjust as much as Mattel’s plasticine princess,maybe even more. But then, Ken has beenwearing their stuff for years.
Since 1996, the Caten brothers havebeen shaking up the world of menswearwith their take on campy chic, and, aftertwo years of working in conjunction withStaff International and Renzo Rosso’sDiesel Group, the time for expansion wasnigh. After all, Madonna and Eve havealready come to the boys for their newfan-gled superstar getups.
On Thursday, the cornball setup hadmodels making their way out of the jet, past apack of cheering groupies and down a pink-carpeted jetway in tarted-up sportswear. Butthe DSquared boys don’t do conventionallysexy. Even their most sultry look comes withan outdoorsy Americana twist, includingoversized anoraks — Lil’ Kim by way of L.L.Bean — shrunken leather aviator jackets,chunky zippered sweaters, teeny shorts withpouch-pocket holster belts and croppedpants galore. Of course, riding breeches alsocame into play, but there wasn’t anythingproper about them. The Catens’ girls wouldrather rev up a Harley, or ride shotgun in an18-wheeler.
But while the DSquared debut leftplenty of room for improvement — hardrock T-shirts were long ago abandoned,even by the H&M set, and models who ges-ture crudely at the end of the runway arenot only annoying, but distracting — theCatens managed to put together a bubbly,rollicking look that is all their own.
D&G:When Domenico Dolce and StefanoGabbana station their DJ right smack in themiddle of the runway, you know they’reready to party. And — surprise, surprise —so are their D&G girls. But then, do thoseparty monsters ever stop? The D&G diva isa club-chick extraordinaire who dresses toprovoke, like those club kids of yore, butwithout any of their freakishness, thanks.Instead, she mixes — and clashes — herclubwear classics to stir up a little fun. Sowhile London’s Princess Julia worked theturntables, mixing up electroclash, thedesigners sent out enough plaid minikilts,tiger-striped tops and stretch PVC gear tooutfit every dancing queen from Berlin(Germany) to Williamsburg (Brooklyn).
Like their record-spinning royal, Dolce
and Gabbana’s fall look hailed from Londonand came with an Eighties-era twist. Printedchiffon blouses, and others in a lavender pin-stripe, gave a nod to Vivienne Westwood’sfabled pirate look, while graphic PVC leg-gings, printed with bold letters, brought tomind the Frankie Goes to Hollywood days.Another major flashback: Naomi Campbellstrolling the runway bare-legged in a hotpink fluffy fur coat.
But then, for the finale, the designerssent out a message that couldn’t have beenmore au courant. Each model wore arainbow-striped tank top printed with theword “pace” — “peace” — across its front tomatch not only their teeny candy-coloredPVC miniskirts, but the thousands of simi-larly striped flags hanging from balconiesall over town.
Byblos:Don’t count Byblos out. Anyone whothinks that the label has languished too longwithout a strong point of view or has slowlyfaded into irrelevancy might want to give itanother look. After all, good things come inthrees. In their second season at the house,the Byblos trio — Greg Myler, StefanoCitron and Federico Piaggi — focused thecollection on three of the most powerfultrends to emerge this season so far:Courrèges construction, a tomboy attitudeand major miniskirts.
Their flirty skirts were cut either stiffand belled or like classic gym shorts,sloping up along the thigh. Attitude camevia boyish cropped jackets and sporty ath-letic mesh, which was spliced into more tai-lored pieces in panels or used as trim. Andthe designers worked a Mod-ish Space-Ageangle throughout, with a crisp cape hereand a clear plastic pullover à la PacoRabanne there. Of course, they also threwin a few Eighties references, just for goodmeasure. But who could blame them?While the other designers who spunthrough the house’s revolving door beforethe current team arrived may have leftthings muddled, this crew seems preparedto take the Byblos label ahead with brio.
Mila Schön:After collaborating with MilaSchön last season, French designer MarcHellmuth took the design reins himself forfall, putting out his first full-fledged collec-tion for the company, which was acquiredby Mariella Burani Fashion Group in 1999.Hellmuth reworked the firm’s staple pieces—structured jackets and tailored coats —updating them with a contemporary twist:vintage-looking leathers, uneven-hemmedskirts and lace-up skinny pants. While someitems, like the opening Persian lamb coatand cropped bordeaux leather jackets,looked great, Hellmuth tried too hard attimes, sending out fussy and frumpy blacklace blouses and dresses.
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in precollection orders, added: “We are still expecting big ordersfrom our customers.”
Giovanni Burani, the chief executive of Mariella BuraniFashion Group, which also owns Mila Schön, said precollectionorders are currently up about 6 to 7 percent on the year. But heforecast that business conditions in 2003 should be even morechallenging than those in 2002.
“There should be a recovery at the beginning of 2004, notbefore,” he said.
Some of Italy’s smaller players are seeing the most growth.Etro said its precollection orders are up 15 to 20 percent, in
line with the company’s expectations. Meanwhile, ErmannoScervino, which upgrades from a presentation to a full-fledgedshow this season, has seen its precollection sales “more thandouble” from those last season.
Maria Vittoria Pagani, Ermanno Scervino’s export manager,said she is optimistic about potential retail interest despiteuncertainty over if or when the U.S. heads to war.
“At the moment I just see booked appointments and peopleplanning to come to the show,” she said.
A couple of Italian retailers expressed fears about placing largeorders and getting stuck with unsold merchandise in empty stores.
Rosi Biffi, who runs six stores, including the Biffi and Bannerboutiques here, said it is too early for her to estimate her budget.But she said the uncertain climate is making her job all the moredifficult.
“There are all of these world problems and we can’t ignorethem,” she said. “People are very hesitant — we can’t smileabout the situation.”
Cristina Gavetti, who handles orders for three multibrandMarisa stores in Milan, said her current budget is down 20 to 30percent on the year. In a defensive move, Gavetti said she isstocking up more on accessories like handbags, belts and jewelry— items considered easier to sell in a tough climate.
“Everything is at a real standstill,” she said. “There are veryfew people in the stores at this time.”
The Americans had a more mixed point of view.Robert Burke, Bergdorf Goodman’s vice president and senior
fashion director, said the store is not sending fewer people thanusual, but its team has tried to consolidate certainappointments.
“We’re not going in with less of a budget,” he said. “We’renot cutting back.”
Burke said he expects to see a more sophisticated Milan this
season and less of the overt sexiness and short skirts thatdominated the spring collections. Trends are likely to reflecthistorical references to the Sixties and Seventies as well as astrong use of leather, shearlings and furs. Among the lines he’seyeing are Versace, which the store is adding this fall after notcarrying the collection for about four years.
“We’ll look to Milan to have a bit of an edge,” he said.“Business is getting better and everyone at the store is in a
good mood and looking forward to the European collections,”said Kal Ruttenstein, senior vice president of fashion directionfor Bloomingdale’s, who noted that his budget has increased toaccount for a new store slated to open in SoHo in October.
Sue Patneaude, vice president of designer apparel atNordstrom, said no one on her team has expressed undueconcern about traveling to Europe and she is looking forward to aset of strong shows.“Our budgets are on the conservative side,but as always, we are receptive to increases when opportunitiespresent themselves,” she said.
But Jeffrey Kalinsky, who operates multibrand stores in NewYork and Atlanta, said his budget at this point is basically flatbecause there is “too much uncertainty to be going into themarket too gung-ho.”
creative director TomasMaier, “functionality and thearticulation of the elbow,knee and foot.” With theheady days of knights andladies in mind, Maier set offon his crusade, segmenting,and thereby softening, bagsand boots alike with seams.He likens a metallic pythonbag to a shield and hissofter-than-soft “cashmeresuede” bags to a peasant’ssimple pouch.
Maier’s collection,however, is hardly for plebes.And bags that will be madein limited editions of 50 —some woven from pheasantfeathers or covered with tinyleather alpine flowers or
made from pierced crocodile — are just the kind of items thatcould spark a good old-fashioned joust. Maintaining theorganic luxe found in the collection’s accessories, Maier alsowhipped up shearling coats; a perfect macintosh, whichseductively laces up the back, and a curvy deerskin suit withdelicately articulated seams.
Meanwhile, Maier’s boots come with armor-like leatherplates bound to their fronts or are ruggedly strapped andbuckled. The versions boasting the biggest buckles of all,however, are also convertible. “Not every day is a big buckleday,” the designer said, demonstrating the trick. “You have tothink of your customer as someone with a brain.”
A Medieval Moment
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By Joanna Ramey
WASHINGTON — Ed Kavanaugh, with a copy of the lat-est Mary Kay biography, “More than a Pink Cadillac,”on his office coffee table, seems a bit nostalgic aboutthe beauty industry and his more than two decades atthe helm of its professional association.
“It’s God, family, Mary Kay,” said Kavanaugh, recall-ing a Mary Kay annual meeting he attended that wasmore like a revival, a memory swathed in her trade-mark pastel pink.
In an interview, Kavanaugh, president and ceo ofthe Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association, saidhe has seen a wave of cosmetics industry innovatorssince joining the association in 1972 and becoming itschief 10 years later. Kavanaugh has watched the indus-try become more global and major players consolidatewhile steering CTFA as it tackles U.S. and foreign gov-ernment cosmetics regulatory schemes that would af-fect labeling, taxing and testing of everything from eye-liner to shampoo.
At 61, Kavanaugh is approach-ing retirement age, but he brushesaside speculation he’s ready tomake his passion of golf a full-timegame. “I’m here for the foresee-able future,” he said, rethinkinghis answer. “I’ll put it this way. Godwilling, I’ll be in Boca next yearand we’ll go from there,” referringto CTFA’s annual meeting in BocaRaton, Fla.,which got under wayThursday.
It seems fitting that Kavanaughisn’t ready to relinquish CTFA’s topjob since this summer he scored hisfirst hole-in-one. The event oc-curred in Sun Valley, Idaho, at adistance of 130 yards. For 15 years,CTFA has been a sponsor of theDanny Thompson Golf Tournamentthere, a fund-raiser for leukemiaresearch and named after theMinnesota Twins infielder whodied of the disease in 1976.
“I wasn’t using my usual swing,”Kavanaugh said of his uphill drivethat sent the ball into the cup. Infact, his style was crimped that dayby a flare-up of his bad back of 10years. Moreover, his golden mo-ment of triumph cost him two moreherniated discs.
But Kavanaugh isn’t complain-ing, or displaying association executive moxie. He istrim and fit, and the bad back is something he tacklesreligiously with 20 minutes of targeted exercise eachmorning, a brace and occasional cortisone injections. Afull head of fluffy white hair and a flawless complexion,Kavanaugh is the picture of a beauty industry chieftainbut he admits to being under no pressure to be beauti-ful. “Probably whatever I was doing I’d look the same.It’s inner driven,” he said.
The CTFA and its $15 million budget continues tooperate in the black — no small feat for an industry as-sociation in this down economy. It’s an unbrokenrecord in Kavanaugh’s tenure during which the organi-zation has grown to 38 employees from 11. He attrib-utes the association’s success to having senior execu-tives only on its board (“Their bottom line is very sim-ple and they don’t interfere on a day-to-day basis,”Kavanaugh said) and a staff of longtime employees,several of whom came from cosmetics-regulating agen-cies like the Food and Drug Administration and theFederal Trade Commission.
Kavanaugh said the association’s sliding dues struc-
ture has contributed to keeping CTFA in the black.Dues are based on member sales and range from $495on sales of $250,000 or less to a cap of $250,000 for com-panies with $1.5 billion or more in sales. Although duesare lost when large companies consolidate, Kavanaughsaid some of the money is recouped as smaller compa-ny sales increase. “Two thirds of our members havesales of less than $1 million,” he said.
While dues go toward such things as industry educa-tion and ingredient safety research, much of the moneyis used to keep tabs on and influence government regu-lation affecting cosmetics.
Although the Bush administration, as a RepublicanWhite House, may be laissez-faire in general towardregulating business, there have yet to be signs at theFood and Drug Administration — with cosmetics over-sight — of a hands-off approach.
The CTFA is hoping the agency will finally answerthe association’s call to allow use of carbon black in cos-metics, which has been banned for years out of safety
fears that Kavanaugh said industrytests have proven unfounded. Theassociation also wants the agencyto quell any lingering concernsabout the safety of alpha hydroxyacid face treatments by issuing arequirement for labels on AHAs torecommend sunscreen use.
In Europe, Kavanaugh said theCTFA, working with its EuropeanUnion counterpart COLIPA, is stillhoping to reshape a new animal-testing ban for consumer productsapproved last year and beingphased in through 2013. As an EUsuccess for CTFA, Kavanaughpoints to a fragrance-allergy regu-lation approved last year that re-jected the idea of warning labels inexchange for fragrances being in-cluded in ingredient lists. In addi-tion, Kavanaugh said a new EUproduct-dating regulation rejectedan original proposal that requiredexpiration dates. Instead, the finalregulation imposes a standard of“period of use after opening.”
On the state level back in theU.S., where local officials are hun-gry for revenue, the CTFA is hop-ing to amend a user fee recentlypassed by the California state as-sembly for companies selling con-sumer products like aerosols that
emit volatile organic compounds. The state, like severalothers, has already forced companies to reduce ozone-killing VOC’s. Now the California Air Resource Boardwants to tax consumer product companies based on thedaily consumption of their VOC-containing products.
“In California the bigger companies selling a lot ofproducts, the user fee is going to be over $500,000 ayear. That doesn’t sound like much, but year after yearit is,” Kavanaugh said.
On the home front, with the economy teetering andterrorism alerts casting uncertainty among consumers,Kavanaugh declines to enter the fray whether the U.S.should lead a war against Iraq, but he is concernedabout the downturn.
“There’s an unease obviously and people are wor-ried,” said Kavanaugh, who hasn’t bought duct tape andplastic per the Bush administration’s initial advice toseal homes against bioterrorism attacks. “This has gotto be settled with Iraq and if you’re going to have con-stant advice to go out and buy tape and plastic sheeting,you know it just creates a mood that certainly isn’t posi-tive for consumers going out and shopping.”
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PARIS — Parfums Givenchy is putting a new face forward. Liv Tyler will be the next “muse” for the LVMH Moët Hennessy
Louis Vuitton-owned firm and will appear in the advertising campaignfor its new women’s scent, due out in September.
Parfums Givenchy’s list of actresses-cum-muses includes AudreyHepburn and, currently, France’s Lou Doillon.
“We have a link with cinema,” said a Parfums Givenchy spokes-woman, who added that the house has also had a long-standing France-U.S. connection.
The spokeswoman said in Tyler there is a spontaneity and “moderncharm,” qualities that are “very Givenchy.”
PARIS — Skin remains in at Yves Saint LaurentParfums.
But, rather than show intermingled male andfemale limbs like the advertising for Nu Eau deParfum, the visual for Nu Eau de Toilette, whichis set to break in late March, has a new face.
It’s French actress Emmanuelle Seigner who’sshown in a passionate — and, yes, naked — embrace.
“The choice of Emmanuelle Seigner was veryclear to me from the start,” said Tom Ford, thecreative director at Gucci Group NV, which ownsYves Saint Laurent Parfums. “When I met her shejust embodied the spirit of Yves Saint Laurent.She is so beautiful and so French. She’s got a verystrong sense of herself and her style.”
Ford further describes Seigner — whose filmsinclude “The Ninth Gate” and “Bitter Moon” andwhose husband is Roman Polanski — as “warm,”“intelligent” and “complex. All of this comesacross when you see her picture,” he said.
The ad campaign, shot by Solve Sundsbo, in-cludes single and double pages, and will debut inFrench magazines on March 31 and then break inMay in U.S. and some other European countries’titles. Outdoor posters have also been slated.
But the visuals won’t replace the original Nuad, which came out in fall 2001. Ford said eachscent merits its own publicity, since “the two fra-grances are very different.
“Nu Eau de Toilette is, in fact, a much lighterfragrance that is more accessible and made for alarger audience,” he added of the scent that willbe launched globally on April 15. “So it needs animage that people can identify with, one thatmakes an emotional statement.”
In the Nu Eau de Toilette visual, Seigner is en-twined with a partner, whose visage is hidden. “Theway I see the image actually is of a woman’s privatefantasy,” said Ford. “It’s a manifestation of the wayscent makes her feel, as if we’ve zeroed in on hermost intimate thought. After all, fragrance is the mostevocative accessory a woman can put on her skin.”
The Nu Eau de Toilette and Eau de Parfumshare some common characteristics, such as juiceswith orchid notes and incense absolute. Each alsohas cobalt packaging and a rounded bottle.
However, for Nu Eau de Toilette, Firmenich’sJacques Cavallier created a juice that’s “moreflowery, fresher than the Eau de Parfum,” an YvesSaint Laurent Parfums spokesman said. The Eaude Toilette includes top notes of bergamot andcardamom; middle notes of white orchid and jas-mine absolute, and base notes of incense absolute.
Like its juice, Nu Eau de Toilette’s bottle ismeant to be more accessible than Eau deParfum’s. That’s thanks to the edt’s classicalspray bottle, compared with Nu Eau de Parfum’scompact-like spray, the spokesman said.
YSL executives say Nu Eau de Toilette was longin coming. “Basically, it was our plan from the startto begin with an eau de parfum,” the spokesmansaid. “It is the most elitist way to start.” Then, hesaid, Nu Eau de Toilette and its ad were meant towiden the franchise’s reach some 18 months later.
Nu Eau de Toilette’s suggested retail price inthe U.S. will be $78 for a 3.3-oz. spray and $55 for a1.6-oz spray.
— Jennifer Weil
Parfums Givenchy Lures Liv
Nu Still Baring It All
CTFA: The Kavanaugh Way
Liv Tyler
The new Eau de Toilette visual.
“I’ll put it this way. Godwilling, I’ll be in Bocanext year and we’ll gofrom there.”— Ed Kavanaugh, CTFA
The Beauty Report
MADRID — Italian beauty brand Pupa isgearing up to blitz the Spanish market with areenergized game plan that includes aneventual rollout to 1,200 doors and upgradedfirst-year sales projections.
“At one time, we hoped to generate 4 mil-lion to 5 million euros [$4.3 million to $5.3million] at wholesale but we’ve revised thatfigure to 6 million euros [$6.4 million],” saidCelia Crespo, marketing director of PupaCosmeticos España, a division of Italy’sMicys group.
Why the upgrade? “The Spanish customeris savvy; she’s responsive tochange,” continued Crespo. “She is looking for new, inno-vative products and she knowswhat she wants. Each elementin the seasonal collections isre-invented, including colormixes, product formula, pack-aging. We want customers tohave fun.”
Pupa, which means “littledoll” in Italian, has dabbled inthe Spanish market for 18years, she said. “We had a smalldistributor in Spain with limited points of saleand no promotions,” said Crespo. “We waiteduntil the end of his contract before establish-ing a Spanish branch in February 2002.”
By October 2002, Pupa had rolled out itsmakeup, beauty kits and fragrances to 480doors and then added 170 doors by year’send. “So 1,200 doors by 2008 is not an unrea-sonable goal,” Crespo said.
Regional distribution targets self-serviceperfumeries and Spain’s only departmentstore chain, El Corte Inglés, in major citiesand tourist areas such as the Balearic andCanary Islands. “We’ve only just started in ElCorte Inglés with 10 units so far in Madrid;it’s a slow process,” Crespo admitted.
According to a spokeswoman for El CorteInglés’ flagship on Paseo de la Castellanahere, the brand and its “non-conventionalbeauty” tag line is a stand-out performer.“Sales are amazing. Customers are attractedto the products’ innovative packaging and con-tents,” she explained, indicating a grouping ofswirled eye shadows in the shape of a yo-yo.“So far we have all ages [buying the line], in-cluding mothers and their 14-year-old daugh-ters who are just beginning to wear makeup.”
And that’s just the way Pupa principalswant it. “Makeup is our main product focusin Spain,” said Crespo. “We’re aiming for thesame ranking here as we have in Italy —number two [behind Lancôme] — and weplan to get there in about seven years,”Crespo added. Core items include a line of
basics, from foundation and powder to mas-cara, shadow and lipstick, at competitive re-tail price points of $12.93 to $21.56. All fig-ures have been converted from the euro atcurrent exchange rates.
The seasonal collections feature 15 to 20novelty products priced 10 to 15 percentlower than the basic line, said Crespo. Forexample, the winter collection called“Lights” is based on glittery microcrystals fornighttime and party dressing in stark shadesof black, gray, silver, ivory and white. “It’s asophisticated range that creates an effect of
light on the face and body,” shesaid. Average retail price is$11.86. Upcoming spring items,such as Desert BronzingPowder or “sunlight incarcer-ated in a compact,” have a sug-gested retail of $17.25.
Makeup represents 30 per-cent of the product mix, withbeauty kits and fragrancesabout 33 percent each. Thebeauty kits, a 25-year-old com-pany mainstay, include a 59-stockkeeping-unit assortment
with special effects and themes such as make-up in the shape of an ice cream cone, bonbonor teddy bear. Kits retail from $17.25 to $157.37.
This year Pupa plans to introduce a skincare line, “basic products and mainly a com-plementary range for El Corte Inglés. Therewon’t be any advertising,” Crespo said.
In addition, the first Spain-launched fra-grance has just been presented to theSpanish beauty press in Barcelona, coincid-ing with the kickoff of the Catalan capital’sinternational fashion week. Called “J (as injeans) de Pupa,” the new juice has notes ofsteamed rice, watery melon, cotton blos-soms, ginger and vanilla. Packaging featuresa removable aluminum container tucked ina raw-edged denim jeans pocket piped inPupa red. The scent will hit Spanish coun-ters next month at $16.98 and $22.64 for 15ml. and 30 ml., respectively. Crespo declinedto give sales projections. However, industrysources estimated that the fragrance coulddo $500,000 at retail in its first year in Spain.
Spain’s overall marketing budget for thebrand is close to $701,000. “We have a noncon-ventional approach to advertising, which in-cludes posters that look like magazine coversfor countertops and window displays. Therewill be special holiday campaigns and printads in fashion-oriented magazines [no celebri-ty publications] like Elle and Cosmopolitan.We’re constructing an image here. I’m interest-ed in 20-year-olds who will be 25 in five years.”
— Barbara Barker
Pupa: Serious About Spain
NEW YORK — Mother’s Day is two monthsaway and independent and specialty re-tailers have started generating ideas toensure success at point-of-sale. Many willuse themed merchandise displays, giftcertificates and added-value purchase in-centives to ensure a good holiday.
The exterior of the store is used tospark interest for Scarlett Messina, ownerof Scarlett in Philadelphia. Messina dis-plays the store’s special beauty purchaseof the day outside on a chalkboard. Thestore’s windows also support daily pur-chase specials and once inside, cus-tomers will find highlighted merchandiseon several tables. “We’re known to havethe hard-to-find products. We call ourcustomers and tell them what’s in,” notedMessina, adding that exclusivity alsodraws clients in. High levels of service,coupled with sampling, helps nail a sale.
JD’s Cosmetic Essentials in West-port, Conn., also places an emphasis onsampling, and prepares early forMother’s Day. “We start heavy samplingin April so our customer has a favorite
to ask for,” said store owner ElizabethGenel. Her store finds it easier to sellbath and body products than fragrancesfor Mother’s Day, as fragrances dependmore on personal taste. Hence, she of-fers prewrapped gift sets. Offeringssuch as silk makeup bags filled with eyeshadows and lipsticks or a gift certifi-cate are popular. “We invite the mom infor a makeup lesson,” noted Genel.
The Studio at Fred Segal, formerlyknown as Fred Segal Essentials in Santa
Monica, frequently changes the assortmentin the main part of the store. For Mother’sDay, the merchandise will be arranged tocreate a story — such as fragrance dis-played on one table and home spa on an-other — so it can be assembled as a giftwithout making the client search for prod-ucts all over the store. Noted owner RobinCoe-Hutshing. “Our customer is far moreinterested in customizing their gift than ina vacuum-sealed one. It looks like theywent through more trouble.”
Mother’s Day is important for fra-grance and Coe-Hutshing expects a fewbrands to sell well, such as AgentProvocateur, L’Artisan Parfumeur’s newfragrance, Comptoir Sud Pacifique anda new line called Carthusia, an exclu-sive to Fred Segal imported from Capri.
Hoping to create a buzz in her store,Linda Roberts, owner of PrivateEdition in Nashville, is launchingCharismatic from Therapy Systems, abody cream and shower gel of the samescent, the week before the holiday. The“Win Her Heart” gift set will retail for$40 — it normally costs $54. “That’s theone we will be pushing the most,” notedRoberts. “On Friday and Saturday [be-fore the holiday] we will have refresh-ments, to make sure that it is fun to
shop, and cookies for the children.”A major focus at New York-based
Henri Bendel is a Laura Mercier pro-motion. Mercier will make a personalappearance. Also beginning the lastweek in April are the sale of Bendel’straditional brown-and-white-stripedcosmetic and travel bags. “We have anew promotional area, which is a spe-cial table that changes its merchandiseweekly. The bags will have a majorpresence on the first floor,” said TerilTurner, director of marketing for HenriBendel. A customer’s savings increaseswith the number of bags purchased.
Victoria’s Secret Beauty will encour-age trial and lure mall traffic with itsDemo Diva — a sales associate thatstands outside the door — as well aswith window displays that supportMother’s Day offerings. This season’spromotional item will be a shimmeringpowder that comes with a puff for $10 —a $25 value — with a $35 purchase ofany beauty item, said Sherry Baker, ex-ecutive vice president, chief marketingofficer of Victoria’s Secret Beauty. Editor’s Note: Beauty Spot is a periodiccolumn discussing current developmentsat point of sale.
— Kristin Finn
NEW YORK — When it comes to spe-cialty retailing, Edgar Huber is nostranger to the game.
He began his career with L’Oréal in1992 in the active cosmetics division, aprelude to becoming managing direc-tor in Germany of La Roche-Posay, apharmaceutical-oriented line that ex-ists in a pharmacy distribution, whichdepends on highly personalized serv-ice by well-educated people. Productsare sophisticated in that world, wherestores are often family owned.
So it is not much of a leap to findHuber in New York, running one ofL’Oréal’s prize recent acquisitions, Kiehl’s Since 1851. He has been atthe helm as president since succeeding Michelle Taylor last August.
While he has developed a game plan for growth, Huber also has beencareful to respect the heritage of the brand. Listening to him talk, he seemsintent on channeling the uniqueness of Kiehl’s, a brand with an unusual andsometimes quirky product assortment often described in cult-like tones.
“The main priority is to understand Kiehl’s,” Huber said, “how itworks, the history of Kiehl’s and to think about its future. Nothing ismore dangerous than a cosmetics company that is not evolving.” Huber,who was giving his first interview since taking the helm, asserted that“the key challenge is to maintain the spirit.” That includes, he indicat-ed, the special way that Kiehl’s has of talking to its customers and therapport it has maintained with them. Elements of the brand’s uniquepersonality include its high level of service.
Huber sees part of his mission as explaining the Kiehl’s phenomenonto the rest of the world. Progress seems to have been made on that front.As previously noted, a 900-square-foot shop was opened last Septemberin London’s Covent Garden. In Berlin, a shop was opened in Quartier206. Also in Germany, a shop was opened in Ludwig-Beck. Another shopwithin a shop was opened in Milan in Profumo. That move enabledKiehl’s to consolidate an extremely fragmented distribution in Italy byclosing 50 or 60 little perfumeries that were scattered about.
“It takes time,” he noted, saying Kiehl’s East Village flagship didn’t be-come the indie landmark it is in a year. Huber is on the lookout for new storelocations, but he’s in no rush. Kiehl’s has opened three — in Los Angeles,Boston and Philadelphia — since the company was acquired by L’Oréal.
One site that drew Huber’s interest is South Coast Plaza, the mega desti-nation in Southern California. But Huber doesn’t think malls dovetail withthe lifestyles of the brand’s consumers. “Our stores are community stores.”
Similarly, he isn’t in a hurry to expand Kiehl’s distribution outside thefreestanding stores or its 100 department and specialty stores doors. Heseems to prefer steady development, at least for the short term. Judgingfrom industry reports, there’s no need. Huber refused to talk numbers, butsources say Kiehl’s is growing in the low-double digits. The brand’s totalsales volume has been estimated at $50 million to $60 million wholesale.
The organic growth of the brand is mirrored in the evolution of itsproduct line. Kiehl’s is launching three new products. The first, for all hairtypes, consists of two amino acid cleansers, taurates and glutamates,which have cleansing properties when joined with fatty alcohol or fattyacid. Coconut oil was added for softness and shine.
The second is a Solid Grooming Aid for Conditioning and Control,designed to provide medium hold while conditioning, controlling andsmoothing hair. Silk amino acids were added to infuse moisture into thehair shaft while hydrolyzed wheat proteins and starches were added toprovide texture. Kiehl’s also is launching an eye makeup remover.
— Pete Born
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Victoria Secret’spowder and puff.Beauty Spot
Paced Approach for Kiehl’s
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Success is generally the result of having clear object-ives. Since 1874 and 1919 respectively, Haarmann &Reimer (H&R) and Dragoco have promoted a culture of innovation. It is this that has given both companiestheir international standing and led them to make pioneering discoveries in their particular field; the production of fragrances and flavors and the primaryand active ingredients for cosmetics. From now on, H&R and Dragoco will be moving forward together – guided by a common entrepreneurial vision. Before we invite you to look into the future with us,
we would like to say a most sincere thank-you to all of you. To our customers, for the fruitful partnership we have built up together, in some cases over decades. To our partner companies and suppliers, for sharing their wealth of experience. To our whole sector, for providing a stimulating environment to operate in. To our employees we must say a truly heartfelt thank-you:for their commitment, creativity and unerring feeling for quality. And we must thank you all for the successeswe have achieved together! Now it’s time to start something new.
Good-bye and thank-you!
Dragoco Haarmann & Reimer
ORLANDO — With the tween departmentbusting at the seams, mass beauty mar-keters are setting their sights on muchyounger consumers with licenses such asCrayola and Spongebob Squarepants.
They are also taking advantage ofretailers’ wishes to target diverse shop-pers by adding beauty lines for women ofcolor. A final trend spotted at the recentEfficient Promotion Planning Session,held here Feb. 23-27, was a flood of at-home spa items.
Buyers ranging from J.C. Penney Co.and Bed, Bath & Beyond to Target andHappy Harry’s met in 20-minute ses-sions with more than 90 vendors whoshowed off their latest items to try to revup the mass-market beauty business,which saw meager gains last year. Mostretailers were nailing down plans for thefourth-quarter of 2003, includingChristmas, that they hope will be bright-er this year than last.
One avenue is to court a very youngconsumer — children under seven. Thehallways at the Orlando RenaissanceResort brimmed with licensed itemsaimed at children who have “begging”power over parents. For five years,many manufacturers have introducedlines for tweens and teens. With thatmarket saturated, they are looking fornew opportunities.
Schroeder & Tremayne, for example,unwrapped a new line of personal careitems under the Crayola banner. The ini-tial launch includes bubble bath, showergel, soap, shampoo, conditioner, detan-glers and accessories. “The flavorsmatch the best-selling colors,” said AlanRodda, national account manager for thecompany. “All products are safe and thepackages are easy-to-grip.” The Crayolapersonal-care items will ship in July.
Crayola will be pitted against a host ofcharacters, including Betty Spaghetty, Dorathe Explorer, Spongebob Squarepants andStrawberry Shortcake, as well as productsbased on popular candy brands.
The Betty Spaghetty doll now has herown beauty products from MountaintopFashions. Targeted at children four to12, the beauty products retail between$2.99 and $3.99 and can be merchan-dised in toys or beauty. The items will beavailable for back-to-school and includecosmetics, bath-and-body and hair-and-nail assortments.
MZB Personal Care, soaking up suc-cess with Spongebob, has extended theline, and also enlarged its offerings ofDora the Explorer. Now it is creatingitems based on Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Japaneseanimation hit. Yu-Gi-Oh! offers a way toengage more boys in personal care,according to Debbie Baker, president ofMZB Personal Care.
Making a comeback is StrawberryShortcake, an icon from two decadesago, with a new television show andhome videos. The delectable characterhas been updated for contemporary chil-dren and will be heavily supported atchains such as Wal-Mart, Toys “R” Usand Target. Target, in fact, already hasapparel and cosmetics bearing Straw-berry Shortcake and her friends. Town-ley has the cosmetics license forStrawberry Shortcake and presentedretailers with a display bringing togetherits Powerpuff Girls, Hello Kitty andStrawberry Shortcake products.
Beyond character licensing, suppli-ers are sweetening the beauty businesswith licensed candy cosmetics. Lotta Luvhas the rights to well-known names suchas Hershey’s, Bubble Yum and S’Mores.Added Extras tempted customers withbeauty items based on Popsicle, Mike &Ike and Bazooka. There are also season-al candy promotions being added suchas Peeps for Easter, according toMichael Kaplan, vice president forAdded Extras. Also for youngsters, Buy
Rite has FaceGraces, beauty appliquésin a book form — complete with a storyline for preteens.
While retailers look to plump up saleswith items for children, they are alsoadding more products to pamper women.The showrooms were filled with sugarand salt rubs, manicure kits, body butters,soufflés, facials and aromatherapy items.
The at-home spa category hasbecome a bright spot in a lacklustermarket. With more and more shopperslooking for pampering items outside ofsalons, many of the marketers at EPPSwere showing a high quality of spa-inspired products. Sunny Marketing, forexample, touted its collection of itemsunder the Earth Therapeutics logo.According to Henry Kang, president, theproducts are among the top producersat J.C. Penney. Penney’s recently endedits partnership with Avon to sell theBeComing beauty line in favor of addingmore footage to the bath-and-body aswell as accessories categories.
Alida Stevens, president of Sinclair &Valentine, whose business now is aboutone-third private label, said: “We allhave fantasies about taking time to go toa spa, but most of us don’t.”
Another upscale bath line vying forattention was from The Organic BathCo. The company uses natural ingredi-ents such as organically grown whitetea, coconut and grapefruit. One unique
item in the room was flower petals thatfoam in the bath. Unlike many smallbath-and-body companies that do notadvertise, The Organic Bath Co. has ear-marked $1.5 million to initiate an adver-tising campaign.
To differentiate themselves from theflorals and natural ingredients, @mos-phere showed its Infusions line thatincludes scents that are a bit different,such as Sugar & Spice or Mint Tea. “Wedon’t have your typical raspberries,”said Allan Lever, vice president-branddeveloper. “We are seeing the mass mar-ket become more sophisticated and look-ing for things like tea tree oil.”
Village Naturals said its value offer-ings enabled it to buck the downwardtrend and improve its sales 12 percentlast year. In addition to new promotionalscents, it will unveil a collection to treatcold and flu symptoms called Therapy.
New Dana presented the final prod-ucts for its spa-and-nail care collectioncalled Frills. “What’s really cute are thekits which sell for $14.99 for about threeapplications. We’re getting great reac-tion to Frills,” said Celeste Ward, vicepresident of sales for Barrington SalesAssociated, which handles New Dana.
American Sales’ Kristen Heinz wasimpressed with Naterra International’sSkin Milk line. “It is nice and clean look-ing,” she said. Chris McClain, president ofNaterra, showed line extensions, includ-
ing Milk Wipes priced less than $5 for a 30count and a new Nut Butter and MangoShea Butter aimed at the ethnic market.With retailers such as Walgreens experi-menting with store formats aimed at par-ticular market demographics such asAfrican-American shoppers, manufactur-ers are once again eyeing lines of beautyproducts for women of color. DiamondCosmetics is introducing a collectioncalled Jazz, with each item priced at$2.49. Cosmetic 2000 unveiled its linecalled Uptown Colors. Also Jordanaexpanded its Milani line of cosmetics toinclude women of Hispanic heritage.
With value a consumer mantra, buy-ers were on the prowl for imported sets.“We can work with buyers to create a setat the price point and margin they want,”said Mickey Davidow, account executivefor Atico.
Meanwhile, the nail category contin-ues to grow, especially in drug chains thatdevote footage to specialty items such asartificial nails. American International,which acquired the Five Second NailGlue company, brought a manicurist to theshow who applied a new gel nail productthat the company will introduce.According to David Woolf, executive vicepresident, the initial purchase includes aspecial ultraviolet light needed to “set”the gel. The starter kit will retail for about$35. Also new from American is Brow Wow
The Beauty Report
Clockwise from upper left: Vicki McLendon and Ann Tall, Intercon; Cindy Robinson and Tere Ramos, Eckerd; Rite Aid’s Judy Wray withTom McCarthy of MZB; Way Cool lip gloss from Buy Rite; Girls [Eye] Q kits; Jordan Heikenfeld and Chris McClain of Naterra; Celeste Ward and Lauren Steckbeck for New Dana. Center: bag from Living Things.
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EPPS Overflows With Youth
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Dear customers and partners,
Pioneering spirit is the driving force behind great dis-coveries. The merger of H&R and Dragoco will create a leading global player in the fragrance and flavoringindustry. Symrise is our new name. It stands for the creative symbiosis of two long-established companiesand the up-and-coming entity arising from it. For the synergy between entrepeneurial vigor and a creativeinquiring spirit. For working together with our customersand partners in a fresh, new way. Symrise intends to use its core competencies, in partner-ship with you, to delve into unexplored territory and discover new worlds and opportunities. One vital threadrunning through this process will be the focus on brands.We offer our customers comprehensive support in developing, establishing and maintaining successful brands – through our high-quality fragrances and
flavors, our dedicated expertise and a host of ideas. This goal is reflected in our new tagline “creating brands. supporting brands.” Symrise is committed to becoming your most valuedpartner. Initiative and commitment, sincerity and trustare forces of nature in a world where we intend to triumph. We would be delighted if you would join us.
Horst-Otto GerberdingChief Executive Officer
Hello and welcome!
www.symrise.com
Cover Girl Cosmeticshas introduced
Multiplying Mascara and thecompletely redesigned line of Eye EnhancersPressed Eye Powders. Multiplying Mascara features an exclusive, breakthrough technologythat gives the appearance of twice as many lasheswhile Eye Enhancers now includes new shimmering shades, an upgraded formula and goof-proof color combinations.
MULTIPLYING MADE EASYCover Girl continues to increase its presence in the mascara category with the introduction of newMultiplying Mascara. The look of twice the lashes is made possible by the exclusive LashDuplication Complex technology. Upon application, the complex inhibits contact betweenlashes by separating them to prevent clumping.The Advanced Liquid Crystal formula works inconjunction with the Lash Duplication Complexby coating individual lashes from root to tip for
enhanced definition.Multiplying Mascara is available in Black x2, SoftBlack and Black Brown. “The launch of MultiplyingMascara is part of CoverGirl’s ongoing commitment
to introducing technologicallyadvanced beauty products that address consumers’top needs,” says Anne Martin, Manager,Global Cosmetics Marketing, Procter &Gamble Cosmetics. “Seventy percent ofwomen wear mascara because they aren’tsatisfied with their bare lashes. They want amascara that provides a ‘full’ lash look, and
Multiplying Mascara is specifically designed to achieve this.”
ALL EYES AHEADThe line of Cover Girl Eye Enhancers eye shadows has been completely upgraded toinclude new shades featuring three distinctive finishes, sparkle, shimmer and matte.Additionally, the new advanced silky sheer formula contains softer, finer micro-sized powder particles for effortless blending andapplication. Ranging from light to dark acrossall color families, the line of Eye Enhancers now consists of 28 1-kits, 8 3-kits and 12 4-kitsfor a total combination of 100 shades.
MARKETING SUPPORT Cover Girl will support the launch ofMultiplying Mascara with national print andbroadcast advertising and synergistic in-storemerchandising featuring Cover Girl AngelaLindvall. Support for the redesigned Eye
Enhancers line will include printadvertising in key consumer magazines featuring Cover Girl model Kiara. Multiplying Mascaraand Professional Eye Enhancers willship to retail outlets nationwidebeginning in January ’03.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Marina Maher CommunicationsWWD Advertorial
New Cover Girl Multiplying Mascaraand EyeEnhancers areEye-Openers
The Beauty Report
Wow, a 14-stockkeeping-unit collection ofeyebrow treatments and accessories suchas brow mascara. And, the Fran Wilsoncompany showed Instant Brows, an at-home kit. Cosmetics brushes, sponges andother implements also abounded, includ-ing presentations of a revised line fromUpstage, while A.J. Sirius showed its newSicara accessories line, which is extend-ing into bags.
And Sirius was not alone. Cosmeticscases and color kits were prevalent, withLiving Things, Intercon MerchandisingSource and GBW, among others, looking togain an edge in the market. Intercon’s newpresident and chief operating officer,Vicki McClendon, formerly of Sears,showed a new makeup kit collection tar-geted at tweens called Girls [Eye] Q. Asnoted by Richard Lynch, vice president ofsales at Living Things, sales of cosmeticscases have shifted from seasonal to year-round. “Our sales are 75 percent basic and25 percent promotional,” said Lynch.
Marti Bentley, category manager forDuane Reade, was happy to see somefragrance innovations. “We like the fra-grances from Revelations including thenew one called Loving,” said Bentley.
First American Brands showed licensedscents like one with Chevrolet, that comesin a tire package and is paired with a modelcar; Coty marketers presented its newCeline Dion fragrance, which will ship tomass stores beginning August, and NewDana revealed its fourth-quarter gift setswith new package designs. Also, JeanPhilippe Tri-Star is relaunching Tatiana.
Retailers also cited items as diverseas a new liquid-to-powder foundationfrom L’Oréal and a novelty hair accessorycalled Undee Banz, [it looks like a men’s
underwear band], as potential hits. Show scuttlebutt has shifted from the
troubles of Revlon — which talked up itsincreased marketing plans for this year —to the expanding dominance of Wal-Mart inmass beauty. Attendees remarked that Wal-Mart typically accounts for 20 to 40 percentof a brand’s sales, if not more. Competitiveretailers are starting to tell start-up vendorsthat if their line is in Wal-Mart, they won’ttake it — because they can’t compete onprice. It’s said that Wal-Mart is also investi-gating doing more direct sourcing for somebeauty categories, cutting out smaller sup-pliers. Wal-Mart buyers did not attend theshow. Although a former Target buyer,Maggie Parish, reappeared as head of herown company —Customized Strategies, abrand development firm in Minneapolis.
When they weren’t meeting about newitems, retailers and suppliers took advan-tage of a night out at the House of Blues.Retailers always applaud the casualambience of the EPPS show. To liven upthe meeting-weary gang, jello shots wereserved on the bus ride to the club.
However, EPPS is far from a party.Many on the buying and selling side said agreat deal of work is accomplished duringthe show. Barry Bickel, sales managerNorth American Cosmetics for Procter &Gamble, praised the meeting for its effi-cient format. To make it even more effi-cient, some retailers carried about scan-ners where, with the swipe of a wand, theycould get all product information thatthey could download into computers backat the office. Charlie Bowlus, president ofECRM, parent of the EPPS show, said,“We are fine-tuning the scanners,” for thebalance of ECRM’s shows for the year.
— Faye Brookman and Laura Klepacki
ACTORS WELCOME: Estée Lauder will offer spa services toBest Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominees forthe Academy Awards for the second consecutive year.
Lauder, however, has added a whole new demographic to its treatment slate this year —nominees for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Male and female nominees will beable to book appointments for services either at the Estée Lauder Spa suite in the FourSeasons Beverly Hills, or in their homes, from March 19 to 23.
DREAM CREAM: Los Angeles skin care guru Sonya Dakar is unveiling her latest product,Cellular Patch Cream, today, but her private clients, including Kirsten Dunst, BrittanyMurphy, Drew Barrymore and Jewel have been fans of the $150-an-ounce cream for ayear now. The twist: Cell Patch is an antiaging product, yet these starlets are all in their20s. “More and more girls are starting early,” said Dakar. Of course, Dakar’sthirtysomething loyals Debra Messing and Gwyneth Paltrow also love it. The creamcontains marine and yeast extracts, which work to penetrate up to six layers of the skin,thereby promoting collagen production and cell turnover without the use of harsh acids.The cream will be available in Dakar’s Los Angeles skin clinic as well as Fred SegalEssentials in Santa Monica, Calif., Haven and Acqua Beauty Bar in New York, Salon1800 in Chicago as well as seven other cities.
SUNDARI SOLD: Sundari, the Ayurvedic skin care brand launched in 1999 by ChristyTurlington, Ayla Hussain and Cavan Mahony, has been sold for an undisclosed sum, asreported Thursday. India-based Marico Industries Ltd., which produces oils for consumerproducts, closed a deal to acquire 70.5 percent of Sundari on Tuesday night. Hussainwill remain as chief executive officer of Sundari LLC, while Mahony has left the company.Turlington has relinquished management responsibilities but will remain on the firm’sadvisory board. Hussain sees Marico’s oil-production capabilities as a boon for Sundari,which uses essential oils in numerous treatment products. Marico had total sales of$142 million in fiscal 2002.
JUST ADD WATER: John Waters will act as toastmaster at a benefit for the Epic TheaterCenter, honoring Hairspray producer Margot Lyon. Estée Lauder and Lush, a Britishhandmade cosmetics company, are ponying up some of the graft for the March 10 event.Lush is currently scouting locations for its second U.S. store in New York, Los Angelesand Boston.
LONGS MAKES CUTS: Following news that fourth-quarter profits slumped 66 percent,Longs Drug Stores said it would slash 170 jobs. Longs, which operates more than 450drugstores and is based in Walnut Creek, Calif., posted profits of $6.4 million, or 17cents a share for the quarter ended Jan. 30, down from $21.8 million or 58 cents ashare a year ago. As reported, Longs announced its dismal fourth-quarter profit outlooklast week. Shortly afterward, Longs’ chief operating officer, Terry Burnside, resigned.Longs’ quarterly sales fell 3.3 percent to $1.17 billion from $1.21 billion; comp-storesales rose 1.2 percent. Longs’ shares closed at $15.51 Wednesday on the New YorkStock Exchange, down 4 cents.
EPPS for the At-Home Spa
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TOP NOTESContinued from page 10
By Andrea M.G. Nagel
NEW YORK — If Suzanne Grayson had her way,every woman in the world would habitually wearmakeup, or at the very least, lipstick.
And she means business. Grayson is looking toget consumers pumped up about wearing morecosmetics by spearheading the beauty industry’sfirst consumer trade show.
Scheduled for mid-September 2004 atManhattan’s Jacob K. Javits Center is Grayson’s“Olympiad of Beauty and Well-Being.” The three-day event looks to generate purchases and aware-ness of beauty and well-being products to womenand teens in a festival-like atmosphere.
Through demonstrations, seminars, makeoversand sampling events, the show will focus on fourareas of well-being: beauty and personal care;nutrition and health; fitness andweight management, and personalgrowth.
“This is not just a makeover show,”Grayson explained. “This is an educa-tion-driven event.”
Grayson’s idea has so far garneredpositive feedback from the beautyindustry.
According to Grayson, Chanel,Clinique, Clarins, Estée Lauder,Prescriptives and Origins are likelyexhibitors for next year’s show.Retailers such as Macy’s are alsoslated to participate by providingthe products to be sold at the show,since most companies don’t selldirectly to consumers.
Grayson, an industry consultantwho helped found the first cosmeticstrade show, Cosmo-Expo, in 1973, con-tinues to pound the pavement in search ofexhibitors, sponsors and seminar leaders for herlatest endeavor. In addition to pitching beauty man-ufacturers as possible exhibitors, Grayson is visit-ing the offices of magazine editors and self-helpgurus to pique their interest in teaching some of theexhibition’s 75-plus classes. “I want to bring maga-zine editorials to life,” Grayson said, explainingthat consumers can only get so much from a maga-zine how-to makeover.
An advisory board to keep the show’s missionin-line is also in the works. So far, Sandy Cataldo,senior vice president of emerging markets for Bath& Body Works, and Ellen Abramowitz, publisher ofSeventeen magazine, have signed on, Grayson said.
Grayson expects between 200 and 300 cosmet-ics, hair care and well-being companies to exhibittheir wares at the show next year for an estimatedcrowd of 60,000 women and teens. Companies arebeing sold exhibition space on the basis of $35 afoot, with the average booth measuring 20-by-30feet. Each exhibitor is free to demonstrate thecompany’s message any way it sees fit, whichcould take the form of a lecture, demonstrations,sampling and makeovers.
Grayson, who said she’s such a slave to beautytrends that she confessed to wearing false eyelasheseven when she worked from home decades ago,firmly believes that a person’s day revolves aroundhow they look.
“If you look good you will have a good day. Ifyou look in the mirror and feel lousy, you’ll have a
lousy day,” Grayson said. While Grayson’s views might make a feminist
squirm, her message hits home for manufacturers.Jean Hoehn Zimmerman, executive vice presidentof sales and marketing, beauté and fragrance, forChanel, said Grayson’s idea is brilliant and thatthe consumer exhibition is a much-needed mar-keting tool for the beauty industry.
“I think it’s a fantastic idea. We need more ideasdirected to the consumer these days. I don’t know ofany other concept this big or dramatic. The con-sumer seems to be always hungry for how-to’s andwhat-to’s and more information,” Zimmerman said.
Indeed, Grayson is looking to create some excite-ment within an industry that in certain categories— such as fragrance — has faced sales challengesover the past few years. But in her opinion, manu-facturers are partly to blame for lackluster sales.
“The industry does not do enough to build[product] trial,” Grayson said.
A management company to handle the produc-tion of the show has yet to be signed, but Graysonsaid she is currently in negotiations with one chiefcontender. The show will cost approximately $1million to produce, Grayson said.
While the management firm will take on theresponsibility of selling show floor space, Graysonwill retain show advertising and marketingresponsibilities. Grayson said it’s too early todivulge an advertising budget, but she is lookingforward to calling on The New York Times,American Express and New York magazine forshow sponsorships.
Marketing materials, Grayson said, will promoteshow pre-registration to keep attendance as organ-ized as possible. The price to attend the show forone day will be $15 for pre-registrants, and $25 atthe door. Classes will start at $10. There will be spe-cial pricing packages for multiple classes.
Grayson expects the Olympiad of Beauty andWell-Being to differ from other shows currentlyoffered. There’s Rite Aid’s Health & Beauty Expoand Southern Shows’ regional fairs to consider.But neither offer seminars, retail opportunitiesnor caters specifically to a female customer. Plus,Grayson added, the Olympiad will give mass beau-ty companies the opportunity to reach their con-sumers in a totally different way. She plans to meetwith several mass companies in the coming weeks.
“I feel like I am on a crusade,” Grayson said.
A Show for the MassesHBA Report WW
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NEW YORK — Diamond Products is on a roll. After last year’s suc-cessful launch of Dippity-do Sport, the Tampa, Fla.-based compa-ny is launching another spinoff of the $10 million hair gel brand.
Hitting shelves in April is Dippity-do Techno-Style, a five-item line of styling products targeting teens. Packaged inbright orange containers, Dippity-do Techno-Style consists ofRadical Jelly gel, 3D Styling Mousse, Stretch Putty, ShinePomade and Texture and Waves gel. According to Bo Young,senior vice president of marketing for Dippity-do, retailershave purchased stockkeeping units relative to their hold fac-tor, following consumer trend purchases of Dippity-do Sport.“Highest-hold products are the bestsellers,” Young confirmed.
The company plans to promote the newest Dippity-do lineduring ESPN’s Summer X Games, to be held in Los Angelesin August. Promotions will include on-site sampling to the350,000-person audience, as well as TV spots. Dippity-do isthe sole hair care sponsor for the Summer X Games.
Diamond Products’ chief executive, Thayer Smith, ex-plained that compared to Dippity-do Sport, Techno is more ofa lifestyle brand than a beauty brand, and will be promotedaccordingly. “It’s more for the Avril Lavignes than the BritneySpears,” Smith said, referring to Techno’s cutting-edge image.“Techno is about expressing one’s individuality.”
Techno will be merchandised alongside Sport in the haircare section of stores. Young expects some cannibalization ofSport, which he said will mostly be attributed to the trial ofTechno. Techno will retail for 10 to 20 percent more thanSport, at prices between $2.99 and $4.99.
Pete Columbia, formerly of Andrew Jergens, has joinedDiamond Products as senior vice president of sales, in charge ofthe company’s hair care portfolio, including White Rain, Te Tao,Toni, Rave, Adorn, Dry Look and Dippity-do. Columbia esti-mates Techno could generate up to $2 million in first-year sales.
— A.M.G.N.
A sketch of what the first beauty consumer trade show could resemble.
Dippity-do Creates an Edge
NEW YORK — Shares of Wella continued to jump this week,especially Thursday, when word circulated that Procter &Gamble made an offer to buy the German hair care and cos-metics firm for approximately $86 a share, nearly 23 percentmore than its current share price. Speculation bolstered Wellashares as much as 17 percent during intraday trading, but thestock settled at $70.10, up $.06 a share, a 10.2 percent increase.All dollar figures are calculated from the euro at currentexchange rates. As reported in these pages on Wednesday,Wella’s majority shareholders, the Ströher family, are recon-sidering the sale of the company. Other reported biddersinclude Unilever and L’Oréal. Last October, Wella reportedlyturned down an informal $5.7 billion from Henkel, on thegrounds that the bid was too low. Wella’s current market valuenears $4 billion.
Wella Sale on Again?
Dippity-do Techno Style
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headquarters in New York.A former licensing deal with the Mariella Burani
Fashion Group, which once operated under the nameSelene SpA, had initially been conceived in 1999 as ameans to improve the collection’s quality of constructionand its European presence, but Klein bought back thatlicense two years later during a campaign to regain cen-tralized control of many of the company’s brands.
“The whole key to this is that we are forming a strategicpartnership with someone who specializes in a very specif-ic business,” said Tom Murry, president andchief operating officer of CKI. “We’ve done apretty good job at production since bringingboth the men’s and women’s businesses in-house. The quality and the execution in-house is good, but there’s no way we can dothe kind of job that Vestimenta can do.”
The new agreement, which should be for-malized by mid-March, was described by thecompanies as a long-term strategic partner-ship to manufacture and distribute theCalvin Klein women’s and men’s designerapparel collections on a worldwide basis,and the partners have also broached thesubject of a similar arrangement for theproduction of Calvin Klein accessories.
The women’s and men’s designer lines aresaid to have sales in the $40 million to $50 mil-lion range, and act as a foundation for morethan $3 billion in sales of licensed products.
The partnership would officially begin onJan. 1, 2004, but prior to that, Vestimenta is ex-pected to manufacture Klein’s fall collection,which was shown in New York on Feb. 14.
The terms of the arrangement made clearthat CKI would retain all responsibilities fordesign, marketing, advertising and public re-lations, as well as control over distribution,with management of the partnership to beoverseen by Murry, and Vestimenta graduallytaking over more responsibilities during thecoming year.
A second phase planned for the fourthquarter of 2003 calls for a supply agreement withVestimenta, meaning that the Italian company will handleall product development, as well as manufacturing, Murrysaid. CKI also plans to manage sales through the spring 2004collections, but as of January 2004, Vestimenta will take re-sponsibility for all functions except design and marketing.
“Design will stay in house and we will continue toproduce and fund two major fashion shows for women’sand two for men’s each year,” Murry said.
Klein, who turned over creative control to PVH withthe sale of the company, said in a statement: “This strate-gic partnership, with Vestimenta’s diversified structureand consistent ability to produce the finest in both softand tailored clothing that Italy offers, will help usachieve our global strategy.”
Murry would not quantify the impact on CKI person-nel in New York as a result of the deal, other than to con-firm that some support functions will transfer over timeto Vestimenta’s facilities in Milan or to new factories builtexclusively for the production of Calvin Klein products.
“As far as the sales and merchandising organization,they remain intact and on our payroll through the end ofthis year,” Murry said. “Over the next few weeks,Vestimenta’s management will evaluate their long-termstrategy as it relates to that personnel.”
Although the deal comes on the heels of the comple-
tion of the sale of CKI to PVH, Murry said it would havelikely come to fruition regardless of the change in owner-ship. Giovanni Bassetti, chairman of Vestimenta, addedfrom Milan that the companies had been talking even be-fore PVH took control of Calvin Klein earlier this year.
“This was an incredible opportunity for us,” Bassettisaid. “Calvin Klein is one of the most known labels in theworld and we believe that there is great potential to growthe brand,” noting that there remains an enormous potentialto develop the collection businesses in Europe and Asia.
Burani had similarly hoped to build the Calvin Kleincollections in Europe, but was never able tosuccessfully establish its presence there.
“We have had a lot of licensees and part-ners over the years and some work andsome don’t,” Murry said. “There has to be aphilosophical alignment between the twocompanies, particularly in the designerbusiness, because the quality has to be thetop available in the world. Some of the li-censees in the past were unable to deliverthat level of quality for various reasons.”
Vestimenta has a strong reputation withAmerican retailers with its signature labeland its history with Giorgio Armani’sBorgonuovo collection, as well as the recentintroduction of the women’s collectionbeing produced for Emanuel Ungaro.
“For sure, it’s going to be a core businessfor Vestimenta,” said Ron Frasch, chairmanof Bergdorf Goodman, and a former licensingpartner of Calvin Klein during his tenure atGFT. “It’s a brilliant move from a manufactur-ing point of view.”
Murry said there is also a long-term op-portunity for opening additional freestand-ing Calvin Klein stores with Vestimenta inEurope and Asia.
“In those markets, specifically, Calvin Klein’sshare is modest compared to its high namerecognition,” Bassetti added. “Obviously, wewant to increase distribution there, but we alsowant to further develop the brand in the U.S.”
While the impending deal covers onlyready-to-wear, Bassetti said that the two companies werealso discussing Calvin Klein’s accessories collection andthat a similar license for accessories could follow.
“We’re both very open to future developments,”Bassetti said, adding that a joint venture, similar to theone Vestimenta shares with Giorgio Armani, could alsoone day develop with Calvin Klein.
Vestimenta, the longtime licensee of Giorgio Armani,formed Borgo21 with the designer in 2001 for the produc-tion of Armani’s signature women’s and men’s collections.Armani controls 60 percent of the entity and Vestimentathe remainder.
“There’s always a possibility for a similar project tocome about with Calvin Klein,” Bassetti said. “Of course,we want to secure the first couple years of the licensingagreement.”
The Calvin Klein license is the latest in a series ofmoves taken by Vestimenta to transform its image and beefup its bottom line. In January, Vestimenta signed a licens-ing agreement to produce Trussardi’s men’s wear collec-tion and last year tapped up-and-coming Italian designerNicola del Verme to modernize the image of the venerableItalian tailored clothing label. Vestimenta also producesthe Emanuel Ungaro women’s collection and controls a 50percent stake in the men’s wear label Piombo.— With contributions from Courtney Colavita, Milan
Continued from page one
CKI Sews Up Deal With Vestimenta
NEW YORK — Calvin Klein is going back to the beach.After blanketing Panama City Beach, Fla., a year
ago with images and marketing plugs for its CKCalvin Klein products, the company is doubling itsefforts for 2003 with a multibrand campaign target-ed at 500,000 college students heading to the resortfor spring break festivities next month.
Following an impressive reaction to the grassrootsmarketing program last year, as well as the popularityof underwear model Travis Fimmel — who made per-sonal appearances on the designer’s behalf — thecompany has expanded the branding program to in-clude its own beach compound, an e-mail campaignand CK products placed in students’ hotel rooms.
“Last year’s spring break promotion was verywell-attended and the response to our brandingevents and activities surpassed expectations,” saidKim Vernon, senior vice president of global adver-tising and communications. “This year’s challengewas to expand on the interaction with the target byadding branding and promotion, which we haveachieved with stronger retail tie-ins, the unprece-dented in-room branding, overall hotel connectionand the e-mail communication post-spring break.CK brand products will be unavoidable, but inte-grated into a fun and value-added format.”
Starting Monday through March 29, Calvin Kleinwill host music, beach and night-club activitiesthroughout Panama City Beach, which is the mosthighly attended spring break destination in NorthAmerica. A CK Beach Oasis will also be createdwith thatched-roof huts and palm trees, as well asCK branded beach furniture, where students can“relax, recover and recline” with body spritzers, amassage therapist and sound-canceling head-phones. Promotions such as Calvin Klein-sponsoredcontests (think a quick-change race between twostudents to change into each others’ swimsuits) anda CK Jeans VIP room at the Spinnaker night clubwill also be anniversaried.
CRK Advertising, Calvin Klein’s in-house agency,has also created mirror decals, travel kits featuringthe Crave fragrance and CK-branded doorknobhangers (reading “crashed,” “do not disturb,” “mak-ing waves,” or “at the beach”) that will be placed inthe 383 guest rooms of the Sun Spree Resort.
As a follow-up, CK staff will be collecting stu-dent’s e-mail addresses for a post-spring-break pro-motion tied to department stores across the U.S.The promotion, coordinated with the Boston-basedyouth marketing firm Mr. Youth, will include place-ments for CK Calvin Klein Jeans, Calvin KleinUnderwear, Crave and CK One fragrances, CKswimwear, eyewear, watches and socks, and CalvinKlein women’s accessories.
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TRADING SIDES: Boy George, ablaze in metallic blue face paintand a colorful bottlecap-laden poorboy cap, grooved in the frontrow of the D&G runway show Thursday in Milan. Domenico Dolceand Stefano Gabbana made the kitschy hat especially for the popmusic icon, who plans to take his London musical, “Tabu,” toBroadway within the next few months. A usual fixture and DJ atVersace shows, Boy George played down the fact he was jumpingship for D&G. “I don’t see this at all as an act of a traitor,” BoyGeorge said. “Darling, it’s only fashion — it’s only clothes.”
CAFE SOCIETY: When Chloé takes over Café de Flore in Parisnext Thursday for its 50th anniversary party, the Left Banklandmark will have something new on the menu: entertainment.Word has it that pop goddess Kylie Minogue, a fan of Chloécreative director Phoebe Philo, will be on hand for a surprisemusical performance.
FACE OFF: Never mind Milan Fashion Week. Modeling agenciesin the U.S. and abroad are scrambling to get their top girlsinvited to Lancôme’s launch of its new skin care line,Résolution, Monday night at the Plaza Athénee Hotel. Sourcessay that Lancôme’s senior vice president and general manager,
Dalia Chammas, who’s throwing the dinner and party with thehouse’s current spokeswomen Mena Suvari and Devon Aoki, islooking to sign a new face to a lucrative contract. But the modelswill face some stiff competition for face time with the cosmeticsguru from expected guests, including Lauren Bush and asmattering of hometown socialites. Headed to the bash areEleanor Lembo, Marisa Brown, Hilary Dick, Blaine Trump, SerenaBoardman and her sister, Samantha, who just wrapped her first adcampaign as one of the faces of Chanel’s fragrance Allure.
AMERICA’S MOST-WANTED MODELS: When the U.S. armed forcesaren’t training for Operation Enduring Freedom, they’ve got onething on their minds: fashion models.
According to an e-mail that was dispatched from“confidential whereabouts,” a team of military operativesdeployed overseas for possible combat has come up with aninteresting parlor game to keep themselves occupied in theinterim. Through a satellite feed, the soldiers have beenwatching 24-hour-a-day Fashion TV, and “we have all chosen amodel from one of the many shows and the first person toreceive an e-mail from their model is the winner.”
One soldier was able to identify his favorite, Ana BeatrizBarros from Women Model Management, by contacting CarmenMarc Valvo’s Seventh Avenue offices on Wednesday. Anautographed picture is in the works, although its eventualdestination will have to be classified.
NEW RINGY-DINGHIES: Ernestine, Lily Tomlin’s nasal-pitchedoperator character from the variety show Laugh-In, lives again,most recently on television and radio ads for WebEx’s onlineconferencing software. What’s changed is her wardrobe. Tomlinpaid a visit to Los Angeles designer Peter Cohen, known forminimalist styles, at his boutique off La Brea Avenue to updatethe character’s puffed-sleeve shirt. “She came by six to eighttimes — she was fastidious and very concerned about thedetails,” Cohen said. A Cohen fan for six months, Tomlinselected a burnt orange bias-cut, four-ply silk dress and ivorypiqué jacket for her spotlight. “The combination was off — youwouldn’t normally pair them together,” said Cohen, noting thathis designer tie-in isn’t exactly a coup others crave. “Somepeople may not think it’s flattering, but it’s another feather inmy hat.”
A SCENIC SIGNING: Steven Cojocaru is going on display atBarneys. On March 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Peoplemagazine fashion scribe will sit in the window at the MadisonAvenue store and sign copies of his new tome, “Red CarpetDiaries: Confessions of a Glamour Boy.”
“He connects fashion to regular people, he’s not an elitist,”said Simon Doonan, Barneys’ creative director. “Plus, we’reputting him in the window where everyone can see him. He’s araving exhibitionist, but he can also make fun of himself, sothis is the perfect venue for him.”
Fashion Scoops
A lookfrom
CalvinKlein’s fallcollection.
Calvin Brands the BeachA rendering of the CK Beach Oasis.
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By Luisa Zargani
MILAN — After nearly a half-century, the founders ofKrizia have started to look at the next generation.
It’s not quite retirement time for Mariuccia Mandelliand Aldo Pinto, mind you, but a succession plan hasbeen set in motion at the venerable house.
“I love my job, and I feel there is still so much to do— although I know many expect me to quit any day,”said Mandelli, referring to the fact that she has beenrunning her company with her husband, Aldo, who ischairman, since 1954.
A lack of energy is not a problem for Mandelli. Anhour with the designer can be a dizzying ride, as she ef-fortlessly jumps from topics as diverse as fashion toworld politics; art to travel, and design to wine tasting.
“Believe me, my real job is to keep up with her,”quips her stepson, Andrea Pinto, who, after 12 yearsworking at Mila Schön and Nina Ricci, returned toKrizia last July as general manager of the company.“Her energy is boundless.”
Andrea, Aldo’s son, is one part of the future for thehouse. On the creative side, however, after brief stints ofAlber Elbaz and John Paul Knott at Krizia — a topicMandelli declined to discuss — the designer has foundsomeone she believes could replace her — not todayand not tomorrow, but eventually: Hamish Morrow.
“He is extremely talented, we have a perfect under-standing and he is a very sweet person,” said Mandelli.Morrow, a young, avant-garde English designer, also hashis own collection, which he shows in London. Morrowstarted collaborating with Mandelli at the end of lastyear. Krizia’s show will be Saturday at 4 p.m.
At the same time, Mandelli appointed Irish designerJohn Connor as artistic director of Krizia’s licenses.Connor has been working with Mandelli for seven years.
“He’s grown and I want him to have more responsibili-ties,” she said.
Over the years, Mandelli’s soft, deconstructed tailor-ing, pleated dresses and sweaters spiked with leopardand tiger motifs have become some of Krizia’s hallmarks.A hands-on designer and manager, Mandelli is known forher attention to detail and high expectations of her staff.
“I like to follow the company as much as I can, but it’snot true that I want to be at the center of it all. That’s whyAndrea is here, and some of the attention will shift tohim,” said Mandelli in her studio here, surrounded byframed paintings by Andy Warhol, Giacomo Balla andTonino Guerra, wearing silver rings she designed.
The younger Pinto’s responsibilities includestrengthening and renovating the company’s stores; de-veloping new markets like China and Russia; reinforc-ing the commercial structure, and organizing Krizia’smanufacturing plant in Sesto Ulteriano, outside Milan.
“I’m really happy to be back, and I found the compa-ny has grown exponentially in the years I was away,”said Pinto. The house’s sales have grown nearly 30 per-cent during the past two seasons.
Pinto said he is in talks with a licensee to launch amen’s sportswear line that will bow for spring 2004, butdid not provide further details.
In addition to renovating its network of 18 storesaround the world, excluding Japan, the company plans toopen boutiques in Beijing, Shanghai, Moscow, SaintPetersburg and Seoul this year and next. After extensiverenovations, the flagship here will reopen March 1, theevening of the designer’s fall runway presentation. “Iwanted more light, more visibility and a direct access onthe street,” said Mandelli, who first opened the boutique20 years ago on Via Spiga.
Mandelli, who first showed in China in 1997, said theworld’s most populous nation has “tremendous poten-
tial — it could become [our] new Japan.”Japan is Krizia’s largest market, with 30 brand stores,
managed by Sanki, and 400 multibrand clients. The com-pany also has two licenses in Japan with Sanyo, for theproduction and distribution of the K of Krizia for menand women and Evex by Krizia lines in 147 brand stores.Wholesale revenues for these licenses amount to $78 mil-lion. Last year, group sales in Japan were $158 million.
For 2002, company wholesale revenues amounted to$240 million, including licenses. Krizia lists 38 licenses,including jeans with Sportswear International and a plus-size line with Miroglio. In 2000, the designer launchedKrizia Top, a full-range collection also aimed at a high-end customer and an alternative to the Krizia line.
Not content with a full-time job, Mandelli alwaysmakes time to attract writers and artists at SpazioKrizia, her meeting point for cultural activities, and tomanage her hotel in Barbuda — the K Club.
Krizia Looks to Next Generation
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Mariuccia Mandelli and Andrea Pinto
By Greg Lindsay
NEW YORK — It was tough to be a billionaire in theworlds of luxury, design and media in 2002.
Twenty three of the wealthiest members of thoseindustries collectively shed $4 billion from theirnet worths last year, according to the reporters ofForbes, which today publishes its annual list of theglobe’s billionaires. The biggest loser in this con-stellation was Nike chief executive officer PhilKnight, who watched $1.5 billion of his fortune dis-appear (he still has $4.2 billion left). Swatch ownerNicolas Hayek was a distant second in the loserstakes, shedding $800 million, or a third of his networth. The Limited’s Leslie Wexner also sufferedlast year, losing $500 million as his worth slumpedto $2.1 billion.
The biggest winner was Inditex founderAmancio Ortega, who gained a cool $1.2 billion to$10.3 billion on the back of his just-in-time inven-tory approach to fashion retailing at such chainsas Zara. Its American archrival, Gap, has strug-gled (although it appears to be finally turningaround), but catering to the mass market still paidfor principal shareholders Donald and DorisFisher, who each saw a $100 million bump in theirrespective $1.6 billion fortunes.
The only other fashion families to flourish didso at the high end of the fashion spectrum —Miuccia Prada, Giorgio Armani and Chanel own-ers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer all added totheir fortunes, albeit in small amounts. Pradagained $300 million in 2002, for a total of $1.4 bil-lion (which includes the net worth of her hus-band, Prada ceo Patrizio Bertelli); Armani gainedjust $100 million to $1.7 billion, and theWertheimers added $300 million to their now-$4.5billion fortune. But at least they prospered —Ralph Lauren lost $200 million of his fortune,which fell to $1.9 billion, while Luciano Benettonsaw his wealth fall $300 million to $4.6 billion
(maybe that’s why the family is scaling back onfashion to go into highway operations).
“It’s a reflection of how difficult it is to stay ontop in the fashion business,” said Forbes execu-tive editor Paul Maidment. “It’s hard for anyoneto keep winning year after year.”
Bernard Arnault and François Pinault can at-test to that. The disappearing profits of LVMHMoët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and the GucciGroup, majority owned by Pinault’s Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, carried over to their princi-pals: each watched $300 million worth of their re-spective holdings dissipate in the stock market.But the Forbes list at least gives Arnault those all-important bragging rights over his rival: Arnault,with $6.7 billion remaining, is still worth morethan twice Pinault’s $2.8 billion.
But Arnault better be slightly cautious in hisboasts: he’s worth less than half that of L’Oréal’sLiliane Bettencourt, who, with $14.5 billion, re-mains the wealthiest person in this fashionableworld (not counting Wal-Mart’s Walton family, ofwhom five members are each worth $16.5 billion).Bettencourt still lost $400 million last year, worsethan either of the Lauders, Leonard and Ronald.They lost $300 million and $200 million, respec-tively, leaving them with $2.6 billion and $2.2 bil-lion each.
As for the fashionable media that covers thisworld, 2002 was still a good year for a few moguls,even if it wasn’t so hot for their companies.Advance Publications’ S. I. Newhouse Jr. and hisbrother, Donald, watched their net worths surge$2.7 billion each, to $7.7 billion apiece (Advanceowns WWD parent Fairchild Publications); NewYork’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg added $400 mil-lion to his now $4.8 billion fortune, and OprahWinfrey, whose success in magazine form has cer-tainly enriched the Hearst family’s trust, breaksonto the list for the first time with $1 billion — thesame fortune exactly as William Hearst 3rd.
Media/Advertising
SEVENTEEN’S SAGA: The processof selling Primedia’s Seventeenis grinding along, although theprospect apparently hasgenerated about as much buzz
from shoppers as a juniors’ sale at Sears. Sources said Primedia’s initialrequest for offers will likely stir up bids in the $100 million range, whenPrimedia was originally hoping for three times that, although it is now saidto be adjusting to a possibly lower price. While the gap may seeminsurmountable, at least a few publishers remain interested — Hachette isdefinitely in, according to an executive there, and Condé Nast is stillconsidered the front-runner by industry observers, but its executives havevery serious concerns about Seventeen’s ad sales.
“The company has always wanted category leaders but the process [ofacclimating a title to Condé Nast’s corporate culture] can be painfulbecause the rate plans are by and large nonnegotiable,” said a sourcewithin the company. “If there’s a feeling that it’s got a lot of junkadvertising, it can drag the price down.”
Another, higher level source was even more dubious. “It makes nosense for us. We could run it alongside Teen Vogue or fold Teen Vogue intoit but neither is an attractive proposition.”
A new owner will have to beef up the budget for copy editors as well. Inthe “Oops” department, Seventeen’s March cover and story insidetrumpets Kristen Kreuk, a star of the TV show Smallville. Problem is hername is actually spelled “Kristin.” All the copy desk needed for a spellcheck was a Neutrogena ad featuring the properly spelled Kreuk that ran inthe same issue.
But clearly there are lots of changes going on in Primedia teen land.The remains of its Youth Entertainment Group — the nine teenyboppermagazines (including Tiger Beat) Primedia bought for $35 million in1998, some of which have since been closed after huge losses — werevery quietly sold back to Scott Laufer, whose Bop had been part of theoriginal sale. Laufer said the group had lost about 75 percent of its valuesince Primedia assembled it, and that he’d been able to buy it with moneyhe had left over from the original sale. Talk about spin.
Condé Nast is a unit of Advance Publications, which also owns WWD.— Greg Lindsay and Jacob Bernstein
THE INFLUENTIALS: Kurt Andersen has committed to a regular magazine gigagain, and it will have nothing to do with lads or Mr. Big. Andersen hassigned onto the Traveling Wilburys-like supergroup forming around TheInfluence, an art and culture quarterly spearheaded by former Voguedesign director and A&R Media principal Raul Martinez. Launching in “latespring,” according to Martinez, The Influence will feature emerging artistsand each issue will revolve around a handful of topics. (Imagining a post-apocalyptic city is one of the first issue’s cheerfully topical themes.)Andersen, who’s currently working on his second novel (which is due at thepublisher this fall), has signed up to play the roll of “narrator.”
His thoughts on each issue’s contents, and those of co-host, curator andauthor Louise Neri, will run through the magazine like an over-educated newscrawl. Martinez has also recruited Jan-Willem Dikkers, the creator of thesimilarly thinky Issue magazine, to edit and manage The Influence. Andreaders should expect cameos at regular intervals from their high-poweredfriends, like frequent Martinez collaborator Steven Meisel.
But in this era of trimmed-down expectations, The Influence is goingreally niche: only 20,000 copies per issue, only 100 pages of edit, and “Ithink if we got two ad pages, we’d been really happy,” Martinez said.Petitioning A&R Media clients like Versace, Valentino and SalvatoreFerragamo might help, but Martinez called that a conflict of interest and“a touchy subject.”
As for Andersen, he’s back because it’s both an odd and low-maintenance project. “I talked to The [New York] Times Magazine, butbasically I turned down interesting magazine ideas for the duration of thisbook,” he said. “This is a discrete project that could be interesting for acouple of months. It’s like a great date instead of getting married.”
— G.L.
ADDING SUPPORT: Warnaco Inc. has selected Ziccardi Partners FriersonMee, a $100 million advertising agency with offices in New York andParis, to create a new marketing and ad campaign for the company’score foundations brands: Warner’s, Olga and the newly renamed Bodyby Nancy Ganz line of shapers. The shapewear was formerly known asBodyslimmers by Nancy Ganz. Tom Wyatt, president of Warnaco’sIntimate Apparel Group, said the move is part of a repositioningstrategy of the brands. Wyatt would not give an annual ad budget, butsaid the company would spend “significantly more” than the $3million to $4 million initially projected last fall. Warnaco hadconducted its marketing and advertising in-house.
— Karyn Monget
OUT OF IN STYLE: In Style managing editor Charla Lawhon has gotten totake, in some small measure, the kind of revenge that Anna Wintour canonly dream about. While her former assistant Lauren Weisberger wiselychose to quit before unleashing “The Devil Wears Prada” on the world,Fashionista author Lynn Messina was still freelancing at In Style’s officeswhen an item announcing the book appeared in Memo Pad. Messina isn’tworking there any more. She said Lawhon had a conversation with her bossat the magazine’s copydesk shortly after the item appeared last month,and suddnely Messina’s assignment for the last two weeks of January haddisappeared. That's to be expected in a post-Weisberger world — no editorneeds hopeful spies underfoot — but Messina had notified her superiorslong before about the contents of her novel. “I’m sure they don’t know whoI am,” Messina said. “That’s the joke. Charla doesn’t know who I am.”A spokesman for In Style said that Messina’s role and its abrupt endingwas like that of any freelancer’s there, “they come and they go,” he said.He also said Messina has been offered work since.
— G.L.
Billionaires, Slightly Less So
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MEMO PAD
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Continued from page 2with tight leather pants andbelly-baring shirts.
Nevertheless, while Drexlermay not be around, Pressler ex-pressed pride in the company’ssolid performance and said by fo-cusing on executing well in thefourth quarter, the comp andearnings results reflect that effort.
“We focused on the funda-mentals of the business andbegan the process of getting thecompany back to earningsgrowth,” Pressler said, addingimproved product design, amore balanced assortment ofbrand-appropriate merchan-dise and customer servicedrove the results.
Nevertheless, Pressler saidhe recognizes there is work todo. “The early achievement isonly a down payment on thelarger commitment to share-holders, customers, employeesand their families,” he said. “Weneed to earn the right to grow.”
The results support Gap’s 16percent increase in marketing
expense during the fourth quar-ter, to $134 million, and its 17percent boost for the year, to$496 million.
While Gap may have lost sightof who its customers are,
Pressler said he is committed togetting market data and listeningto consumers to gain insights intoto their emotional connection toGap as an American brand.
“Our strength is our ability tointerpret fashion into an appro-priate brand, but we need tosupport it with research to vali-date and influence a strategy,”Pressler said.
Gap said it generated con-sumer data through store visitsand shop-alongs as well as on-
line surveys, in-store forums,Gallup polls and informationfrom its 120,000 store employees.
“The customer experiencewill drive the way we run all as-pects of our business,” Pressler
asserted. For the full year, Gap report-
ed earnings of $477.5 million, or54 cents a diluted share, com-pared with a loss in the prioryear of $7.8 million, or 1 cent.Sales for the 12 months inchedup 4.4 percent to $14.45 billion,versus sales of $13.85 billion lastyear, but decreased 3 percent ona comp basis. Old Navy was up 1percent, while Gap and BRwere both down, 7 percent and 1percent, respectively.
Gap’s Reversal of FashionContinued from page 2sales due to increased mark-downs at the apparel group andlower margins at BBW, due to ahigher percentage of lower-mar-gin gift set sales. Selling, gener-al and administrative expensesincreased by 70 basis points to21.8 percent of sales.
Even with a somber outlook,investors, who’d driven Limited’sstock to a 52-week low of $10.88,as recently as Tuesday sentshares up 14 cents, or 1.3 per-cent, to close at $11.26 in NewYork Stock Exchange trading.
Grace Nichols, VS’ presidentand chief executive of VS stores,said on the call: “In the quarter,the performance was driven byregular and sale-price merchan-dise, including the post-Christmasand January sales period.”
She singled out the Very Sexysub-brand’s strong holiday per-formance, both in innerwearand fragrances.
To continue the momentum,Nichols said the focus will be oncore sub-brands with new prod-ucts introduced each month,supported with television andprint advertising and targetedcustomer relationship market-ing. For spring, total direct mailcirculation spending will in-crease nearly 20 percent overlast year to $15.5 million.
Contrasting VS’ merry holi-day, Express president and chiefexecutive Michael Weiss said allresults were disappointing, par-ticularly on the women’s side.
“In women’s, we were unableto make up for the drop insweater volume, but saw solidperformance in knit tops andbottoms, driven by velour tracksuits, and we did well in dressesand woven tops.”
The knit top, the cornerstoneof the women’s spring businesslast year, is showing early signsof continued growth, Weiss said.
Weiss said the move toExpress Men’s, previously knownas Structure, is achieving its ini-tial objectives, including a re-duction in operating losses andbetter sales momentum.
Company executives said theprimary focus for 2003 will be tooptimize the productivity of ex-isting real estate rather thanfinding new locations. “Thecomposition in real estate is ashift with a reduction in newstores and increases for recon-struction,” Hailey said, addingthat capital spending in 2003 is
budgeted at $400 million, 70 per-cent of which is going directly tothe stores. “We believe it is im-perative to have store designswhich are a current reflection ofeach brand’s positioning, de-signs which keep the brands in-teresting and vital for cus-tomers, designs which evolvethe brand and keep it fresh.”
Over the next 10 years, thecompany has developed specificplans for stores in the top 160malls, which represent a dispro-portionate share of sales andprofits. Total square footage ofthe newly designed stores willnot increase.
In 2003, LB plans to repositionabout 100 stores in 60 malls, rep-resenting about 20 percent of thestores to be revitalized as part ofthe plan. Plans include an expan-
sion and remodeling ofVS to look more like its25,000-square-foot, two-level flagship in NewYork’s Herald Square;roughly doubling the av-erage square footage ofB&BW to 4,000 from 2,000square feet; decreasingthe total square footage ofExpress as it shifts todual-gender stores, andthe downsizing of Limitedstores to 5,600 sellingsquare feet, from 8,000.
The 1,031-unit Expressunit plans to double thenumber of dual-genderstores this year to 112stores, as well as convert-ing the signs on the re-maining Express men’sstandalone stores. Thecompany is encouragedthat the 49 dual-genderExpress stores are gener-
ating positive comps and double-digit increases in productivity.
Last October, as reported,CEO Wexner foreshadowed thenew real estate direction by in-dicating that he’s learned “not topursue the goddess of growth.”
The 1,639-unit B&BW chainalso recently announced a seriesof management changes underNeil Fiske, who, as reported, wasnamed ceo of the unit this month.Mike Stromberg is responsiblefor core B&BW, Beth Kaplan forflagship stores and ChristianeMichaels for home fragrances.Nils Peyron has joined the firmas chief marketing officer.
B&BW has begun a review ofits processes so operations bet-ter fit the new direction of thebrand, called “The 21st CenturyApothecary of Well-Being,” andeliminate redundancies, ensureinternal consistency and maxi-mize the effectiveness and inno-vation of products, LeonardSchlesinger, chief operating offi-cer of Limited Brands, said.
For the 12 months, net incomesank 3.3 percent to $501.7 million,or 96 cents a diluted share, ver-sus income of $518.9 million, or$1.19, in 2001. Adjusting to elimi-nate the effects of the Lerner andLane Bryant divestitures and therecombination with IntimateBrands, net income rose 28.2 per-cent to $528.2 million, or 99 cents,from $411.9 million, or 78 cents.Net sales for the year were $8.44billion, up fractionally from $8.42billion a year earlier. Excludingthe adjustment, sales increased6.5 percent from $7.93 billion ayear earlier. Comps rose 3 per-cent for the year.
As Net Rises, LimitedPredicts Tough Half
Continued from page 2HdP management is looking for cash, and is
not interested in a buyer that would file for bank-ruptcy and leave HdP financially responsible, onesource said.
Cerberus, which is the name of a three-head-ed dog in Greek mythology, is known to seek outbargains in companies with weak balancesheets, but fairly solid operations and/or strongmarket positions. Executives at Cerberus de-clined to comment.
Meanwhile, Nike and Continental Partners aresaid to be on the sidelines, should Cerberus’ bid berejected. This month, Nike’s estimated $429 millionoffer was shot down since negotiations withCerberus were too far along and Nike’s due dili-gence would take some time.
A Nike spokeswoman said Thursday the com-pany does not comment on rumors or speculation.
Industry sources questioned why Nike would beinterested in Fila, a $900 million brand that haslost money every year since 1998. Some suggestedNike wanted a down-market brand to sell to massmerchants just as Starter sells to Wal-Mart. Otherssaid Nike founder Phil Knight is frustrated by howAdidas and Puma have made inroads with design-er-oriented customized products for style-con-scious customers, and is looking for a label withwhich to do more fashion-oriented looks. Therewas also speculation that Knight wanted the brandto eliminate it, and that possibility was rumored to
have concerned HdP management.Nike’s bid did nothing for Wall Streeters, who
were worried the acquisition would distract thesports apparel and footwear giant from its corebusiness, one source said. “The Street would notappreciate that much,” he said. “It makes moresense for someone to do a Converse-type deal.Converse’s owners market it as a separate entityand never get involved with the infrastructure.”
Continental Partners, which bid on Fila in thesummer of 2001 and had an exclusivity agreementat one point, reportedly remains interested. SteveWynn, former chief executive officer of Adidas, issaid to be part of Continental Partners’ manage-ment team.
Executives at Continental Partners could notbe reached for comment.
Fila’s Italian management is concernedCerberus would sell pieces of the company and li-censes, shut down European operations and main-tain its U.S. office in Sparks, Md., sources said.Certain members of Fila’s board are supposedlyupset about the prospect of the brand losing itsItalian heritage and expect Cerberus to eliminateany Italian presence within a year, they said.
Jon Epstein, president and chief executive offi-cer of Fila USA is said to be in good favor withCerberus and is expected to maintain his role atthe company. Epstein could not be reached tocomment.
HdP executives are apparently turning up theheat to get the Cerberus deal done. “There’s a fairamount of pressure from HdP to get somethingdone,” one source said.
— With contributions fromAmanda Kaiser, Milan
Cerberus Close to Fila Finish Line?
Victoria’s Secret bolstered Limited.
Cerberus is said to be close to buying Fila. Here, KimClijsters, a Fila-sponsored athlete.
“We focused on the fundamentals of thebusiness and began the process of gettingthe company back to earnings growth.”— Paul Pressler, Gap Inc.
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Fila’s Italian management isconcerned Cerberus would sellpieces of the company andlicenses, shut down Europeanoperations and maintain itsU.S. office in Sparks, Md.,sources said.
PARIS — With everything from knives and sofas torestaurants in his repertoire, French industrialdesigner Patrick Jouin is fast making a name forhimself, despite the fact that he works in the shad-ow of two giants: his mentor Philippe Starck andone of his biggest clients, celebrity chef AlainDucasse.
Jouin, who at 35 has the look of a serious stu-dent, stopped working with Starck in 1998 and setup his own agency. His designs are as eclectic asthose of his mentor, but perhaps not as sleek.They can be rustic, like his Moroccantagine dishes, and he likes to mix ornateideas with modern, high tech elements.
“Today in design, we are interestedin introducing humanity, sensuality,things we like to touch,” Jouin said. “Adesigner’s work belongs to a differenttime frame. If his work is well done, it ismeant to last longer than one season. It’sdangerous for designers to be too trendy.”
Over the past 10 years, Jouin has created con-sumer products such as sleek black speakers forThomson, plastic folding chairs and molded sofas.But his notoriety has risen quickly since 1999,when he began working with Ducasse.
Having just finished the Spoon Byblos eateryin Saint-Tropez, France, Jouin is now shuttlingback and forth to New York, working on the Mix,Ducasse’s second restaurant there, due to open inMay. The next stop on his culinary itinerary isGstaad, Switzerland, where he is working on an-
other restaurant. Ducasse said he will call it SnowSpoon. There, Jouin was asked to create a con-temporary ambiance, while maintaining elementsof a 17th-century Swiss chalet.
“Patrick is just so right about everything,”Ducasse said. “He knows how to create the linkbetween what existed before and adapt it totoday’s world.”
The bar at the Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris, amagnet for celebrities and fashion folk, is a per-
fect example of this mix, with its futuristic icecube bar set against the 19th-century panel-
ing.“His attention to people’s needs and
the harmony with their environment isomnipresent in his work,” Ducasse said.
Like many up-and-coming contempo-rary designers in France, Jouin is a dis-
creet presence compared to a superstarlike Starck.
“Starck has educated all of France on the de-sign idea,” he said, noting the products he de-signed for French mail-order catalogs La Redouteand 3 Suisses: stools, tables or beds.
Still, the fashion world is quickly learningabout Jouin’s talent. The Fashion & TextilesMuseum in Paris tapped him to design its nextmajor exhibit, “Trop,” devoted to jewelry and or-namentation in fashion.
Jouin noted that designing furniture meansworking closely with the body and considering howfabrics and shapes interact with it, not unlike fash-ion design. So, could a fashion launch be far away?
“One day, the opportunity might arise,” he said.“A line of shoes maybe?”
— Chantal Goupil
GOTHAM’S SWISS INVASION:Switzerland wants New York City torealize there’s more to its design worldthan snow-capped ski chalets and fireengine red pocket knives.
Despite sounding like a study insemantics, “Traditionally Progressive,” isa new art exhibition that celebrates themodernist slant of Switzerland’s ever-functional approach to design. Withhundreds of valleys surrounded bymountains, the country is steeped in localtraditions and arts, and crafts passed onfrom one generation to the next.
TriBeCa’s Totem Gallery is mounting anew show tonight featuring a mishmash ofeveryday Swiss objects, including Velcro,Swatch watches, Toblerone chocolate, miniLogitech cameras and Le Corbusier tubularsteel furniture. The monthlong show is partof the Swisspeaks Festival, a citywide eventplaying up the country’s arts.
“Switzerland gets pigeon-holed for being about precision, banking andwatchmaking. But there’s a lot more contemporary design going on, aswell,” said Edwin Chong, partner at Totem. “What’s most interesting is theSwiss take a rational, functional approach to design, but it’s driven by thewhole history of their design. They have a tradition of being progressiveand that makes them modernist to some extent.”
Another show, “The Swiss Section,” will feature Swiss architecture byemerging and well-established names like Bernard Tschumi. It bowsMarch 19 at the Van Alen Institute, a not-for-profit organization thatfocuses on design workshops, at 30 West 22nd Street.
DRESSING UP THE NORTON: The Norton Museum of Art in West PalmBeach, the Sunshine State’s largest art institution, has spruced up withthe installation of a Dale Chihuly Persian Glass Ceiling and the opening ofthe 45,000-square-foot Gail and Melvin Nessel Wing.
Indoors, the setting is equally grand with the opening of a newexhibition, “Picturing French Style: 300 Years of Art and Fashion.” AChanel cocktail suit once owned by Marlene Dietrich, a 1949 ChristianDior ball gown, and the work of 18th century painters like NicholasLancret and Jean-Baptiste a Greuze are some of the pieces that reflectthe evolution of and occasional eccentricity of French couture. Nextmonth, Hermès will demonstrate the art of silk scarf printing in themuseum’s west courtyard.
STARCK ATTACK: Trust Philippe Starck to throw acurve to the classic museum exhibit. The majorretrospective about him that opened this week at thePompidou Center in Paris has not one object orpiece of furniture on display. Instead, Starck hasdisplayed his work via film projections, with a videostream of him making funny faces and offeringcommentary. And he has a lot to talk about: Hisdesign universe spans household items at Target,hotels, furniture and buildings. Theautobiographical spectacle runs through May 12.
FIELD WORK: Courvoisier is enjoying the fruitsof its recent fashion exposure by changingits look. The cognac maker, which was theofficial spirit sponsor of Mercedes-BenzFashion Week, providing a boozey whiffaround the Bryant Park tents this month,recruited Patricia Field and DavidDalrymple of House of Field to design aseries of limited edition decanters for itsVS and VSOP brands. The bottles aredecorated with a gold animal print andantique renderings of Courvoisier’ssignature CV and Napoleon logos, whichwill hit national markets next month.
The Vallauris Tagine dish
On The Drawing Board
A Swiss tourism poster.
Design
The Jouin of Cooking
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Editor’s Note: Design is a monthly feature in WWDcovering all aspects of design, from architecture to con-sumer products, store design to visual merchandising.
Norton Museum’s new Dale Chihuly glass ceiling.
House of Field’s take on Courvoisier.
The Spoon Byblos in St. Tropez.
The Cute Cut sofa
The Nutella knife
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DESIGNERBridge Knitwear brand seeking exp’dnovelty sweater designer in New York.Min 10 yrs exp in knitwear. Creative& strong sweater tech. backgroundreq’d. Email resume & salary history
DESIGNERLarge private label girls’ importer isseeking a designer for a new brandeddivision. Must have junior flare/back-ground or strong 7/16 Brand/Designerbackground. Fax resumes, in strict con-fidence, to Mr. Scott at: 212-967-7494
DESIGNER - SWEATER/NYCApparel design co. seeks sweater de-signer. Must have 2 yrs. exp. as sweat-er designer or 4 yrs. exp. as asst./assoc.sweater designer. Fluency in Chineseor Korean lang. req’d. Fax res. to Hamp-shire Designers, Inc. at 212-840-5670.
FIT MODEL - Plus SizeJones New York IntimatesDivision of Madison Maidens Inc.
Prior experience preferred, but notrequired. Stead work on freelance basis,approx. 1-2 hours weekly. Email specs,contact info to: [email protected], with SubjectHeader: Fit Model - Plus Size
Help Desk Support/Administrative Assist
Leading childrenswear mfr searchingfor a Help Desk Support/Admin Asst.Will report directly to the DivisionHead and is resp for all admin dutiesas they relate to the Division Head.Will monitor, support & troubleshoothelp desk requests in connection w/computer operations & telecommunica-tions. Indiv must have excellentcommunication skills & min 3 yrs exp inHelp Desk Support. Strong working knowlin PC Networking, Word & Excel req’d.Email resume: [email protected] or
fax: 212-643-2826. No calls please. EOE.
Import Asst Seeking Import Asst for the AcctsReceivable and Collection. 2-4 yrsexperience handling chargebacks,ensuring timely accts pymnts.Experience w/ warehouse, & imprtbroker. Import knowledge a plus.Must be detail orientated. Must havecomputer skills * Word & Excel. Plsfax resume w/ salary history to:212-643-8017 attn: Nancy
Import/Logistics CoordMust have 2+ yrs experience in fashionindustry, import/export, ocean shipping &customs. Must be detail-oriented &fluent in Chinese and English.
Fax resume & cover letter to:212-564-2996 attn: Calvin/Michelle
JUNIOR LINEBUILDER - STYLIST
Women’s/Children’s footwear mfrseeks individual for NYC showroom.
* 5 years industry experience* Must possess fast & articulate illustration sketching, Cad, Photoshop.* footwear experience preferred* assisting w/major sales presentations & follow up req’d* e-mail overseas offices and work w/Account Managers* possible travel to Europe and AsiaGreat benefits, casual work environment,40lk and medical coverage Please e-mail
Production AssistantMajor apparel co. seeks a detail orientedMandarin speaking person to workclosely with Far East factories. Min. 3years experience, Highly motivatedand organized. Good communicationskills and follow up. Computer literate.Read & write Chinese fluently. PleaseFax or E-mail resume to Allen at:212-764-9332 / [email protected]
PRODUCTIONPATTERNMAKER
Eveningwear firm seeks very exp’dindividual to join our team.
Please fax resume to (212) 391-8753
Spa Manager For TRACIE MARTYN SALON
Enthusiastic, career minded individual forfront desk. Great opportunity to join agrowing company with amazing clientele.Excellent phone manner and sales skillsrequired. Saturdays a must.
Fax 212-206-8399
STORE MANAGER $80K2 yrs. hi- end fashion & mgmt. exp.Email: [email protected] Call:212-481-4080
ACCOUNTREPRESENTATIVE
Established NYC based ladies apparelcompany seeking service representa-tive to manage the East Coast territo-ry. Responsibilities include productknowledge, reviewing regional buysfor regional specific needs, monitoringsell-thru’s, driving sales. Qualifications- 5+ years experience in women’s appa-rel servicing department stores. Onlyqualified candidates will be consid-ered.
Please fax resume to (212) 736-9171.
SALES - N.Y.CBridge Ladies Sweater/Knitwear Col-lection seeking experienced sales pro-fessional with contacts in major depart-ment & specialty stores. Must havemin 7 yrs related sales exp., sweaterknowledge, strong organizational & de-tail skills. Email resumes & salary his-tory to: [email protected]
SALES - N.Y.CWell-known Better Ladies Sweater lineis seeking sales professional with con-tacts and account experience with ma-jor department stores and specialtystores. Min. 3 yrs related sales experi-ence, sweater & private label knowl-edge a plus. Email resumes & salaryhistory to: [email protected]
SALESPERSON WANTED!Ladies Jr/Missy Sportswear Co.Seeking self-motivated, energetic salesperson should have 5 years exp insales offering major account list. Greatopportunity. Fax resume: 212-278-8697
SALES PROLarge children’s outerwear mfg. seeksenergetic, extremely organized selfstarter to work in fast-paced environ-ment. Must be highly motivated teamplayer with min. 5 years sales exp. andhave current contacts with major deptstores. Great opportunity! Pls. faxresume: (718) 318-2026
ROAD REPS WANTEDIdeal sweater line to coordinate w/sportswear seeks independent salesreps in Midwest, West and Mid-Atlantic. Must have specialty store fol-lowing. Please fax: 914-741-0817
Showroom SalesBetter contemporary women sportswearmfr. is seeking a sales professional forour NY Showroom. Must have contactsw/ dept. stores & specialty stores.Some travel required.
***APPAREL EMPLOYERS ***Do you need exp’d DESIGNERS, PRODUC-
TION, ACCOUNTING, TECHNICAL etc. staff?CALL 973-564-9236 Jaral Fashion Agcy.
NY based, bilingual (Mandarin) jewelry/technical designer for FT/PT. Very cre-ative mind w/excellent technical designskills & senior level Web Design/Develop-ment skills. [email protected]
Product ManagementSeeking employment. Extensive inter-national sourcing and product coordi-nation skills. Experienced in children’s/men’s/ women’s finished garments andpiece goods. Contact (908) 216-1992/(732) 577-6984 or at [email protected]
NEW YORK — Anthony D’Ono-frio, former chief supply chainofficer of Kmart Corp., hasagreed to hand over documentssought by Kmart’s lawyers inconnection with the bankruptdiscounter’s stewardship review,leading Kmart to drop its re-quest that the former executivebe found in contempt of court.
D’Onofrio also said he wouldappear in a question-and-an-swer session here with Kmartlawyers, who are trying to wrapup the retailer’s stewardship re-view. D’Onofrio, who left Kmartlast March, was the recipient ofa $2.5 million retention loanfrom Kmart.
The retailer said in court pa-pers that D’Onofrio was a “criti-cal player” in the events that ledto the company’s Chapter 11 fil-ing on Jan. 22, 2002.
As reported, two former Kmartmerchandisers, Enio Montini Jr.,and Joseph Hofmeister, were in-dicted on Wednesday.
— Vicki M. Young
Kmart SettlesWith Ex-ExecNEW YORK — Jay Baker, who
retired as Kohl’s president in2000 after building it into a pow-erhouse, sees a lack of talentand glamour in retailing, andhe’s doing something about it.
Baker is donating $10 millionto the Wharton School of theUniversity of Pennsylvania tocreate a retail studies program,called the Jay H. Baker Re-tailing Initiative.
“Retailing has the reputationof not being a sexy kind of busi-ness. It really doesn’t get the topstudents coming out of college.But a lot of it has been ourfault,” said Baker, a 1956 gradu-ate of Wharton. “We have notdone a good job of selling it.”Quite an indictment for a retail-er. “People can earn a very goodliving in retailing, but you haveto pay your dues.”
Baker, who remains a mem-ber of the Kohl’s board, saidthe timing is right for a retailinitiative because other fieldsthat business students haveopted for over retail, such as in-vestment banking, consulting,
accounting, and technology,have cut back dramatically andlost some appeal, so studentscould be more open to other op-portunities.
While many schools offercourses in retailing, Baker said,only two business schools, at theUniversity of Florida and theUniversity of California at SantaClara, offer retailing degreeprograms, and at Wharton, thereis currently just one retailingundergraduate course.
With Baker’s help, next fallWharton will have an MBAcourse in retailing, taught byProf. Stephen Hoch, chairmanof the marketing department.“We hope one day to have a re-tail and marketing school,”Baker said, where undergradu-ates and graduates can major orminor in retailing.
He’s begun to form an adviso-ry board, seeking guest lecturers,wants to create scholarships, andwill encourage companies tooffer internships with an eye tohiring these students.
— David Moin
Baker’s $10M BequestWASHINGTON — Labor SecretaryElaine Chao continued to deflectcriticism on Thursday that theBush administration is against or-ganized labor, as her office de-fended her comments made theday before about the need formore union financial disclosure.
A Chao spokeswoman wasn’textending apologies and said,“[The] Secretary thought she hada very frank and productive dis-cussion yesterday with unionmembers and she feels the de-partment has an excellent record[enforcing wage and workplacesafety laws].
“The Secretary feels verystrongly that union membersshould have the right to knowhow their money should bespent,” the spokeswoman added.
Chao’s offending words cameWednesday after delivering re-marks to the AFL-CIO’s execu-tive committee meeting in Holly-wood, Fla. She was asked about aBush administration proposal toraise the level of union financialdisclosure required by law since1954. Unions are protesting thechanges, claiming compliance
will be excessively expensive andserve to tip off management andpolitical opponents to their lob-bying and organizing strategies.
According to union membersin attendance at the closed-doorsession, Chao’s response includ-ed a recitation from a prepareddocument about past union-re-lated financial crimes. Her ex-planation went beyond her ear-lier calls for more transparencyin how union funds are spent.
In the process, she appears tohave further alienated her audi-ence that is already critical of theWhite House on a host of labor is-sues, from trade to repeal ofworkplace repetitive motion in-jury standards.
“I’ve never seen a governmentofficial, republican or democrat,come into a union meeting andtalk like that,” said BruceRaynor, president of UNITE andan AFL-CIO executive commit-tee member. “The Bush adminis-tration has taken a calculatedturn to the right and it is their at-tempt to attack their opposition,the labor unions.”
— Joanna Ramey
Chao-Labor Furor Heats Up
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003 Like Mother, Like Daughter ● Zeta-Jones’ Not-So-Private Life ● Cage’s New Catch?
Less than a month after Athina Onassisturned 18 and inherited her first billiondollars, she is demonstrating the kind ofindependence her maternal ancestors werefamous for. She has been spending a lot less
time in school and in herpenthouse in Brussels, whichsome have compared to a gildedcage with armed guards, and a lotmore time with her Brazilian lover,Olympic showjumper AlvaroAlfonso de Miranda Neto. To makeher father, Thierry Roussel, evenmore nervous, she is in Brazil thisweek meeting her boyfriend’sfamily. His parents threw a big fatBrazilian birthday party in honor ofhis 30th in São Paulo last weekend,where Athina met his childhoodfriends and — how about this? —his three-year-old daughter,Viviana, by his estranged wife,Sibele Dorsa, a Brazilian modeland actress.
Athina and Alvaro are going toRio for Carnivale this weekend andwill be staying with friends at anisland paradise in the Atlantic offIpanema. Love, your magic spell iseverywhere.
●Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt
will try to kill each other next year.This is not a psychic prediction buthot casting news. The two boxoffice champions will pair for the first time in a moviecalled “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” in which they will play acouple at war with each other. It’s not a totally newcinematic concept, but in this case they are undercoverassassins, each hired to liquidate the other. Nicole willreportedly get $15 million and Brad an undisclosed
amount. The story has beendescribed as “The War of theRoses” meets “True Lies.” Noscrewball comedy here.
●Talk about dramatic marriage
problems. Catherine Zeta-Jonesand Michael Douglas, this era’sElizabeth Taylor and RichardBurton (sort of), are said to betossing Noel Coward’s whips ateach other in Wales, Bermuda andon the way to various awardsceremonies. Backstage gossip hasthem being offered $3 million tostar in a London production of“Private Lives” to open in thespring of 2004. That wouldprobably put them on Broadway in2005, just in time for the 75thanniversary of the play’s premiereperformance starring Noel Cowardand Gertrude Lawrence. Elizabethand Richard did this exact turn onBroadway in 1983. How time flieswhen you’re having a good time inthe theater.
●Valentina Pedroni, the wife of
Elizabeth Hurley’s latest catch, is in New York licking herwounds. She’s saying she and Hurley were friends untilshe saw pictures of her holding hands at a Christian Diorfashion show in Paris with her husband, Arun Nayar, lastmonth. Now she’s seeing pictures of them kissing inLondon and is ruing the day she introduced Hurley to him
in St. Moritz last winter. Is the moral of this story neverintroduce your husband to a supermodel?
●Nicolas Cage was whispering over dinner in London
with Angelina Jolie but try as they might, no oneoverheard exactly what they were saying. Some guessedthey might be comparing war stories from their respectivemarriages. Who doesn’t remember that Cage’s marriageto Lisa Marie last year lasted less than four months? Andwe all know about Angelina.
●Henry Street Settlement held its preview party for the
Art Show at the Seventh Regiment Armory last week andthey all swept in to check out works by Vincent van Gogh,Frida Kahlo, Lucien Freud, Alexander Calder and othersof that brush and stroke. Among the 2,000 guests wereDeeda Blair, looking over the Matisse drawing up forsilent auction; Laura Slatkin; Howard Slatkin; Anne Bass;Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis; Muffie Potter Aston andDr. Sherrell Aston, who said they were off to Aspen totake advantage of all the new powder; Evelyn and LeonardLauder; Ronald Lauder; Pilar Crespi; Marcia and RichardMishaan, who took home a Robert Indiana numerical, andDale Burch, the chairman of the night, who is thrilled toreport that $750,000 was raised.
Many of the same troops will be marching to theArmory next week for the Wendy International AntiquesShow to benefit Kids of NYU on March 6. The chairmen ofthe show are Vera Wang, Alice Tisch, Julie Minskoff andIan Cohn, and the design committee includes suchdecorating icons as Albert Hadley, Mario Buatta, BunnyWilliams, Joanne de Guardiola, Charlotte Moss and JamieDrake, who will be among the throngs wandering throughthe European garden setting as they check out the art andfurniture from as long ago as the 16th century in Italy,France and Argentina.
●Deborah Norville is the mistress of ceremonies at the
School of American Ballet’s dinner and awards ceremonyat the New York State Theater on Monday. Everyone willbe there — Gov. and Mrs. Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg,Anne Bass, Duane Hampton, the Tony Randalls andWendy Wasserstein will all be there in black tie watchingLarry Herbert, chairman and ceo of Pantone, receive theSchool of American Ballet’s award for corporateleadership, and Violette Verdi, the legendary ballerina,receive hers for artistic achievement.
