Lady’s Man WWD SEE PAGE 6 A LITTLE BIT OF MERRY Retailers Report Uptick As Holiday Draws Closer SEE PAGE 2 Michael Kors made a strong statement for pre-fall, or “trans-season,” as he dubbed it. The designer worked a casual- chic vibe to terrific effect, focusing on boyish clothes and haberdashery details, luxed up with a touch of sparkle. Here, his cashmere cardigan, bejeweled shirt and pleated pants. For more on the season, see pages 4 and 5. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013 $3.00 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY LOEHMANN’S FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY AND SIGNS A $19 MILLION DEAL TO SELL ALL ITS ASSETS. PAGE 6 PRE-FALL COLLECTIONS 2014 BALMAIN’S BABE RIHANNA WILL STAR IN THE FRENCH LABEL’S SPRING AD CAMPAIGN. PAGE 9 STEPPING UP THIRD TIME THROUGH DON WATROS ON SAKS AND HIS NEW GIG AS PRESIDENT OF HUDSON’S BAY CO. PAGE 12 By LUISA ZARGANI MILAN — Moncler’s first day of trading on the Milan Stock Exchange on Monday wasn’t just another rou- tine day at the market. Fifty models wearing all-black winter looks posed with chairman and chief executive officer Remo Ruffini on the steps of the Milan Bourse shortly after dawn; suspense built as trading was slightly delayed because prices were rising too much and too quickly; countdown to trading evoked that of a moon mission launch through sound and images, and Ruffini was greeted by the audience with a standing ovation as shares shot up almost 44 percent to 14.67 euros, or $20.15 at current exchange, after a few minutes of trading, at 9:13 a.m. “Emotions are the new currency. Together we must help [the brand] travel on the wings of emotion. And it is with the strength of millions of feathers that I thank you,” said Ruffini as a shower of tiny shreds of white paper — similar to feathers — dusted more than 450 guests, including Matteo Marzotto, Lapo Elkann and Franca Sozzani. Fashion theatrics aside, Moncler shares contin- ued their upward trajectory, closing at 14.97 euros, or $20.56, a 46.76 percent gain from their initial offering price of 10.20 euros, or $14.01. And yet Ruffini insisted in the morning that his plan was to ignore these figures. “I will continue to do my job. The listing will allow for transparency, to secure human resources and to be an asset for tal- ented people,” said the executive, who was instru- mental in the relaunch of the French brand, founded in 1952, and who remains Moncler’s main shareholder Moncler Shares Soar PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE By DAVID MOIN IN A HOLIDAY season marked by dire forecasts and some real issues, retailers caught a ray of light last week. Shopping picked up, breaking a deep lull that set in after Black Friday. Consumers are sensing that time for gift shopping is running out with Christmas just eight days away, and cold weather, including unusually low temperatures on the West Coast, has sparked sales of coats, sweaters, gloves and scarves. Retailers on Monday also said that men’s wear, fine jewelry, designer handbags and luxury overall were standouts last week. They sounded the most hope- ful they’ve been all season, with some offering that they’ll make or top their projection numbers, if just barely. Friday and Sunday were the busiest days, par- ticularly in the Northeast. Saturday, typically among the top four of five largest volume days of the year, was hurt by the snowfall. The truncated season, accelerating markdowns since the third quarter impacting profits, some bloat- ed inventories, hard goods outselling apparel, and a string of snow and ice storms have been stirring con- cerns. The key to meeting fourth-quarter plans will be to effectively clear out seasonal goods to make room for fresh resort and spring inventory, which hopefully starts selling at full price after Christmas. The mood brightened a bit last week, with shop- pers more evident in the malls. “It doesn’t appear it will be a disaster,” said Kathryn Bufano, president and chief merchandising officer of Belk Inc., refer- ring to the season overall. “We feel we are going to come in OK and might beat what we thought we’d do initially by a little bit. It was a good week, with some weather issues, though that was nothing major. It moved on. We’re quite happy about this past week and weekend.” At Belk, gift cards, which will help the post- Christmas sales, as well as designer handbags, fine
Transcript
Lady’s Man
WWD
SEE PAGE 6
A LITTLE BIT OF MERRY
Retailers Report UptickAs Holiday Draws Closer
SEE PAGE 2
Michael Kors made a strong statement for pre-fall, or “trans-season,” as he dubbed it. The designer worked a casual-chic vibe to terrific effect, focusing on boyish clothes and haberdashery details, luxed up with a touch of sparkle. Here, his cashmere cardigan, bejeweled shirt and pleated pants. For more on the season, see pages 4 and 5.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013 $3.00 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY
LOEHMANN’S FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY AND
SIGNS A $19 MILLION DEAL TO SELL ALL ITS ASSETS. PAGE 6
PRE-FALLCOLLECTIONS
2014
BALMAIN’S BABERIHANNA WILL
STAR IN THE FRENCH LABEL’S SPRING AD CAMPAIGN.
PAGE 9
STEPPING UP
THIRD TIME THROUGH
DON WATROS
ON SAKS AND
HIS NEW GIG AS
PRESIDENT OF
HUDSON’S BAY CO.
PAGE 12
By LUISA ZARGANI
MILAN — Moncler’s first day of trading on the Milan Stock Exchange on Monday wasn’t just another rou-tine day at the market.
Fifty models wearing all-black winter looks posed with chairman and chief executive officer Remo Ruffini on the steps of the Milan Bourse shortly after dawn; suspense built as trading was slightly delayed because prices were rising too much and too quickly; countdown to trading evoked that of a moon mission launch through sound and images, and Ruffini was greeted by the audience with a standing ovation as shares shot up almost 44 percent to 14.67 euros, or $20.15 at current exchange, after a few minutes of trading, at 9:13 a.m. “Emotions are the new currency. Together we must help [the brand] travel on the wings of emotion. And it is with the strength of millions of feathers that I thank you,” said Ruffini as a shower of tiny shreds of white paper — similar to feathers — dusted more than 450 guests, including Matteo Marzotto, Lapo Elkann and Franca Sozzani.
Fashion theatrics aside, Moncler shares contin-ued their upward trajectory, closing at 14.97 euros, or $20.56, a 46.76 percent gain from their initial offering price of 10.20 euros, or $14.01.
And yet Ruffini insisted in the morning that his plan was to ignore these figures. “I will continue to do my job. The listing will allow for transparency, to secure human resources and to be an asset for tal-ented people,” said the executive, who was instru-mental in the relaunch of the French brand, founded in 1952, and who remains Moncler’s main shareholder
Moncler Shares Soar
PHOTO BY GEORGE CHINSEE
By DAVID MOIN
IN A HOLIDAY season marked by dire forecasts and some real issues, retailers caught a ray of light last week.
Shopping picked up, breaking a deep lull that set in after Black Friday. Consumers are sensing that time for gift shopping is running out with Christmas just eight days away, and cold weather, including unusually low temperatures on the West Coast, has sparked sales of coats, sweaters, gloves and scarves.
Retailers on Monday also said that men’s wear, fine jewelry, designer handbags and luxury overall were standouts last week. They sounded the most hope-ful they’ve been all season, with some offering that they’ll make or top their projection numbers, if just barely. Friday and Sunday were the busiest days, par-ticularly in the Northeast. Saturday, typically among the top four of five largest volume days of the year, was hurt by the snowfall.
The truncated season, accelerating markdowns since the third quarter impacting profits, some bloat-ed inventories, hard goods outselling apparel, and a string of snow and ice storms have been stirring con-cerns. The key to meeting fourth-quarter plans will be to effectively clear out seasonal goods to make room for fresh resort and spring inventory, which hopefully starts selling at full price after Christmas.
The mood brightened a bit last week, with shop-pers more evident in the malls. “It doesn’t appear it will be a disaster,” said Kathryn Bufano, president and chief merchandising officer of Belk Inc., refer-ring to the season overall. “We feel we are going to come in OK and might beat what we thought we’d do initially by a little bit. It was a good week, with some weather issues, though that was nothing major. It moved on. We’re quite happy about this past week and weekend.”
At Belk, gift cards, which will help the post-Christmas sales, as well as designer handbags, fine
THE DEAL to take The Jones Group Inc. private is coming down to the wire.
Stefan L. Kaluzny’s Sycamore Partners is expect-ed to buy the company for about $1.2 billion, or $15 a share. And while the two sides were initially expect-ed to sign the deal Monday, they spent the day mak-ing final tweaks to paperwork for the transaction, a source said. An agreement is still expected this week.
Jones is a big fish for Kaluzny to reel in.The investor established Sycamore in 2011, rais-
ing more than $1 billion that was ultimately put to work, buying a stake in what was then Limited Brands Inc.’s sourcing business and acquiring The Talbots Inc. and Hot Topic Inc.
But a Jones deal would take Sycamore to anoth-er level, adding $3.75 billion in annual sales and 35 brands, including standouts Stuart Weitzman and Kurt Geiger on the higher end.
The company’s businesses, which also include Jones New York and Nine West, have overall seen lackluster profitability. Activist investor James Mitarotonda, head of Barington Capital Group, has needled the firm to boost results.
Citi was hired to explore strategic options, shep-herding what has proved to be a long process. And one in which Sycamore, advised by Guggenheim Securities, played many parts — first looking to acquire the ap-parel business and then switching its interest to the footwear division before settling on the whole company.
The deal, should it ultimately go through, will bring to a close an era on Seventh Avenue where Jones, along with Liz Claiborne Inc. and Kellwood Co., once ruled over their particular piece of the department store wholesale business. Claiborne, which was renamed Fifth & Pacific Cos. Inc., agreed to sell off Lucky Brand last week, leaving it with just the Kate Spade brand. Kellwood Co. spun off Vince, its most promising business, in an initial public offering last month.
after the IPO with a 32 percent stake. “I’ve always only worked on quality rather than numbers, keeping our solid roots, never betraying the brand, nor the final consumer. The difference now is that I will talk with hundreds of people, and not only three shareholders.” Moncler’s selling partners are ECIP M., controlled by Eurazeo SA; CEP III, con-trolled by The Carlyle Group, and Brand Partners 2, controlled by Progressio Investimenti.
The public listing is sending a positive signal as Italy strives to emerge from an economic mael-strom, according to Ruffini. “This can be done also in a moment of economic sadness, it’s a sign of hope,” he said.
Ruffini was pleased with the “mix of investors” drawn by the listing as he noted that they were equally divided in the U.S., Asia and Europe.
There are also “great fash-ion names,” he said, without elaborating.
A source with knowledge of the situation cited investors from Salvatore Ferragamo, Ermenegildo Zegna and Loro Piana, in addition to Bernard Arnault and Renzo Rosso and “all the main sovereign funds, from Qatar to Singapore and Abu Dhabi.”
Raffaele Jerusalmi, ceo of the Italian Bourse, said Moncler was unique as it counted more than 750 different investors. “There is no public company that counts such a high number of different investors, and this is not because it’s part of a spe-cial sector or niche, but because of Ruffini’s skills in developing a company that grows at an in-credible pace,” he said. “He is an example of Italian entrepre-neurial talent. The Bourse is a starting point, not an arrival one, and it’s not by chance that Ruffini has remained a shareholder.” Jerusalmi said institutional in-vestors had oversubscribed 31 times the number of shares of-fered. The company is float-ing 26.7 percent of its share capital, or 30.7 percent with the Greenshoe option.
Stefano Corneliani, director of luxury and consumer goods at Intermonte Corporate Finance, was not surprised by Moncler’s performance. “I was banking shares would be valued at least 13 euros, it’s a fair and reasonable value and it was to be expected.
Moncler’s IPO is so successful because of its whole package: It’s a successful brand with a retail business model with fan-tastic margins; Ruffini is an ex-ceptional entrepreneur with a spectacular track record that has tapped a group of absolute qual-ity executives, and the company does not have leverage debt,” said Corneliani, noting that Moncler has an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amorti-zation margin above 30 percent. Also, he said Moncler is arguably the only company that “had the luxury” to choose its investors. “There has been an extreme se-lection of investors and when you have a quality investor base it’s a great start. This is an exceptional company that could eventually be-come an acquisition target from big luxury groups.”
Asked if the fact that Moncler mainly relies on a single prod-uct, the down jacket, could be an issue, Corneliani said that “any company stems from one single product, and rarely does it become strong in all catego-ries. In any case, there is poten-tial to expand.”
Moncler shelved an IPO in 2011, and Marco De Benedetti, head of The Carlyle Group, said the brand since then “has con-solidated its presence” and has stronger prospects on the mar-ket. “In June 2011 I convinced Remo to postpone the IPO and I know it was an enormous disap-pointment, but we adhered to our motto: Run, but not too quickly. We were not ready yet, Remo was stimulated to restart with his team and more determined, and today he reaps the rewards,” said
De Benedetti.“Starting tomorrow, you should
not look at the price of the shares, once a month is enough, and never think of analysts or the market when making a decision” was his advice to Ruffini. Also, De Benedetti denied that Moncler’s success was tied to the moment. “There have been other compa-nies that have had to cancel their IPO recently,” he said, citing Italian logistics firm Savino Del Bene as an example.
Vincenzo Longo, market strategist at IG Group, said that Moncler’s market capitalization “at this price would total around 3.6 billion euros [$5 billion], simi-lar to the value associated with Tod’s and not far from that of Ferragamo (4.7 billion euros).”
While “a clearer scenario on the shares’ prospects” will take
shape in a few weeks, as “there may have also been some pure speculative trading” affecting Monday’s performance, Longo said growth potential is significant, especially if the company would succeed in expanding in areas such as Asia and North America and differentiate its product.
Moncler’s global net profit last year reached 82.4 million euros, or $105.4 million, compared with 55.9 million euros, or $73.8 mil-lion, in 2010. The company has grown 32 percent in the past three years, reaching sales of 489 million euros, or $626 million. At the end of 2012, net debt was 229 million euros, or $293.1 mil-lion, from 270 million, or $375.3 million, in 2011. Dollar amounts were converted from the euro at average exchange for the periods to which they refer.
on WWD.CoM
the Briefing Boxin Today’s WWd
Retailers got a lift last week when shopper traffic picked up breaking a deep lull that set in after Black Friday. PAGE 1 Moncler’s first day of trading on the Milan Stock Exchange on Monday wasn’t just another routine day at the market. PAGE 1 Carrefour said Monday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with real estate investment firm Klépierre to buy 127 shopping malls in France, Spain and Italy. PAGE 6 Sourcing executives hope to expand investment and business in the Asia-Pacific region and the European Union. PAGE 7 Kevin Burke, who has headed the American Apparel & Footwear Association for 12 years, is stepping down from the trade and lobbying group next month. PAGE 7 J. Christopher Burch, the founder of C. Wonder, has acquired a stake in Solid & Striped, a contemporary swimwear brand launched last year by Isaac Ross. PAGE 8 Hennes & Mauritz AB said sales including value-added tax in the fiscal fourth quarter rose to 42.59 billion Swedish kronor, or $6.5 billion. PAGE 8 Rihanna is taking her love of Balmain to the next level by appearing in the French label’s spring ad campaign. PAGE 9 Sharon Stone got flashes popping at amfAR’s Inspiration Gala held Thursday at Hollywood’s Milk Studios. PAGE 10 Gaby Aghion on Monday in Paris was recognized as a pioneering French fashion figure and decorated as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. PAGE 11 Don Watros, currently chief operating officer of Hudson’s Bay Co., will step up to president of the firm on Feb. 1. PAGE 12
Alec Baldwin and Gemma
Arterton in the 2014 Zeiss
Art Calendar. For more, see
page 9 and WWD.com.
EYE: Photographer Mary McCartney has shot the fifth edition of the Zeiss Art Calendar with Alec Baldwin and Gemma Arterton. For more, see WWD.com.
Phot
o by
Mar
y M
ccar
tney
ClarifiCation
Amazon.com’s gross trading volume last year was estimated at $95 billion. This was unclear in a story on page 17, Monday.
Raffaele Jerusalmi and Remo Ruffini with models at the Milan Bourse.
By LUISA ZARGANI
MILAN — Moncler’s first day of trading on the Milan Stock Exchange on Monday wasn’t just another rou-tine day at the market.
Fifty models wearing all-black winter looks posed with chairman and chief executive officer Remo Ruffini on the steps of the Milan Bourse shortly after dawn; suspense built as trading was slightly delayed because prices were rising too much and too quickly; countdown to trading evoked that of a moon mission launch through sound and images, and Ruffini was greeted by the audience with a standing ovation as shares shot up almost 44 percent to 14.67 euros, or $20.15 at current exchange, after a few minutes of trading, at 9:13 a.m. “Emotions are the new currency. Together we must help [the brand] travel on the wings of emotion. And it is with the strength of millions of feathers that I thank you,” said Ruffini as a shower of tiny shreds of white paper — similar to feathers — dusted more than 450 guests, including Matteo Marzotto, Lapo Elkann and Franca Sozzani.
Fashion theatrics aside, Moncler shares contin-ued their upward trajectory, closing at 14.97 euros, or $20.56, a 46.76 percent gain from their initial offering price of 10.20 euros, or $14.01.
And yet Ruffini insisted in the morning that his plan was to ignore these figures. “I will continue to do my job. The listing will allow for transparency, to secure human resources and to be an asset for tal-ented people,” said the executive, who was instru-mental in the relaunch of the French brand, founded in 1952, and who remains Moncler’s main shareholder
Moncler Shares Soar
SEE PAGE 12
{Continued from page one}
Phot
o by
Dav
iDe
Mae
stri
w17a002a;14.indd 2 12/16/13 7:40 PM12162013194131
wwd.com/summitsondemand
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titans of industry inform, inspire, and offer valuable insight for navigating the ever-changing business landscape.
4 WWD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013
Vera Wang: Taking a cue from her own wardrobe, Vera Wang’s pre-fall collection combined elements of men’s wear sportiness with dark femininity. Some of the looks were hybrids of the two — for example, a sleek parka embroidered elaborately at the collar and side panels. Others delivered straight brooding romance, as in the black gown cut in a deep V at the back and worn with a dramatic fur scarf.
The pieces ranged from a delicate, sequined tulle tunic to a tough leather biker jacket, yet everything was united by luxurious details, whether mink sleeves on a black silk jacket or the hand-painted print on a skirt.
Michael Kors: “We banished the phrase pre-fall,” Michael Kors said at his terrific presentation. “Considering that in September it’s still warm, ‘pre-something’ that doesn’t actually happen until November makes no sense to me. It’s trans-season.”
Whether “pre” or “trans,” Kors took it on with sartorial savvy. Riffing on a man’s closet, he worked a boyish vibe with haberdashery details for clothes that were casual and chic or, as he put it, “sexy and slouchy at once.” He opened with a strong combination — blue shirt, gray pants, tailored camel coat worn over the model’s shoulders — and played on that motif throughout. A robelike cashgora coat was worn over a black top and red trousers — a look that could call to mind any one of the women Kors cited as his “all-time favorite” tomboys: C.Z. Guest, Alexa Chung, Jane Birkin and Slim Keith.
Evening, too, captured an understated sensibility, although deceivingly so. His black shift dress was cut like a T-shirt, the most basic of basics, yet came entirely beaded in a black paisley motif.
Yeohlee: “The intersection of patterns and plains,” along with the work of designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld, influenced Yeohlee Teng’s pre-fall collection. She combined linear details with fluid silhouettes — a black-and-cream blouse, for example, worn with oversize shibori checked pants — and added an occasional equestrian reference, such as jodhpur pants.
Reem Acra: “For pre-fall, we look at what the stores are asking us for,” said Reem Acra. So jewel-toned cocktail dresses and embroidered ballgowns it was. Standouts included a strapless royal-blue, knee-length number framed in mesh and black-lace embroidery, and a fancier emerald green version in a column shape with lace cap sleeves.
Helmut Lang: It was all about layers at Helmut Lang, as Nicole and Michael Colovos focused on essential wardrobe pieces — chunky cotton knits; structured sweatshirts and tanks, and coated linen blazers — that could be piled on or stripped off as the interim season changes. Some of the more directional looks worked with the illusion of layering, such as a shift dress cut to look like three items.
Honor: Giovanna Randall played up men’s wear in her Honor collection, showing neatly tailored coats and cropped pants, which were a nice counterpoint to her traditionally romantic side. For that, she featured organza gowns printed with abstract dragonfly wings.
Rebecca Taylor: For her sweet yet moody collection, Rebecca Taylor concentrated on a floral print. She patched it together in panels for a pleated midi dress, while her favored biker jacket was also done in the print, here rendered on a matelassé fabric. Basics with a twist rounded things out, such as a T-shirt trimmed with lace and a sweatshirt with Whipstitching at its seams.
Milly: Michelle Smith said she wanted her collection to be “really feminine with just a hint of darkness.” The requisite soft pinks and pretty laces were there, as well as a beautiful black fil coupe decorated with bits of feathers that she used for everything from an elegant evening coat to a full midi skirt. A key shape throughout, the midi skirt was paired with more
casual fare including a knitted fur sweatshirt.
Nili Lotan: The leather moto jacket was an important piece in Nili Lotan’s collection. She offered it, along with a similar bomber style, in black and white. The jackets were shown over silk tops and slipdresses, as well as relaxed pants and T-shirts.
Vera Wang Michael Kors Yeohlee
Pre-Fall 2014
WWD.COM5WWD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013
“This is how I dress and how the women around me dress,” said Lotan. “Cool, effortless, comfortable.”
Trussardi: Creative director Gaia Trussardi delivered a lineup of young and relaxed clothes. Many were worked in interesting pattern plays and, in keeping with the company’s core business, there was a
strong leather component. One great look paired a black leather double-breasted blazer and leggings with an eelskin plissé skirt.
Escada: Creative director Daniel Wingate looked to the works of James Turrell and how he captured light and color, thus a bright palette and color-blocked combinations were key to this
Escada collection. Some of the best looks included a navy-and-red fox coat with leather sleeves, a short dress in a navy-and-pink print and a leopard-print pantsuit.
Naeem Khan: With awards season on his mind, Naeem Khan focused on red-carpet glamour for pre-fall. A long-sleeve, black illusion cocktail dress featured
intricate allover beading, while an embroidered cashmere sweater was paired with a teal pair of pants under a matching ball skirt.
House of Holland: Henry Holland summoned up the idea of “posh girls at boarding school” as the touchstone for his first pre-fall collection, working his cheeky aesthetic
throughout. A jacquard minidress was woven with a Lurex pattern of school crests, an oversize varsity jacket was monogrammed with sequined letters and striped fake fur blazers were done in the same fuzzy fabric used to make Steiff teddy bears.
Reem Acra Helmut Lang
Honor Rebecca Taylor
Milly
Naeem KhanEscadaTrussardiNili Lotan House of Holland
PHOT
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EORG
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INSE
E, K
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ERIC
KSEN
AND
THO
MAS
IANN
ACCO
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FOR MORE PRE-FALL COVERAGE, SEE
WWD.com/runway.
6 WWD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013
jewelry, watches and fragrances were most strong. Bufano also cited men’s wear: “It doesn’t matter if it’s Levi’s denim or dressed-up clothing, better men’s is very strong.”
Michael Gould, chairman and chief executive officer of Bloomingdale’s, also sounded a note of optimism. “Coats and all the cold weather categories have been ter-rific. This is the first cold December we’ve had in three years. Fine jewelry has been terrific. Luxury has been outstanding.”
“I felt good about the weekend, in spite of the weather,” said one senior retail executive running stores on both sides of the continent, who requested anonymity. “It was only a messy day in the Northeast, and I think people were smart. A lot of them were out shopping on Friday. People felt they had to get out early. We’ll see what happens.”
Ken Giddon, president of Rothmans, said his New York City-based men’s special-ty stores have been strong. “I keep reading how bad it is and how customers are bar-gaining with stores. We’re not seeing that,” he said. “Maybe we’re in a New York City bubble, but our business has been good.”
Giddon said the snowstorm caused business on Saturday to “take a hit, espe-cially in our suburban store, but Sunday made up for it.” Rothmans also has a store in Scarsdale, N.Y.
Top sellers include scarves and hats from Chelsey, a snood from Echo (a cross between a scarf and a hood) and sport coats from Canali. An in-store event with Citizens of Humanity was also successful, he said.
“It’s not across the board — it’s kind of item-y,” Giddon said. “But great items are selling.”
Greg Selkoe, ceo of the online
streetwear retailer Karmaloop, wel-comed last week’s snow. “The more the weather is bad, the better it is for us — as long as the power doesn’t go off and people don’t lose their Internet.”
Selkoe said that while last week was the slowest of the season online so far, overall business has been quite strong, with sales up 45 percent on Black Friday and 25 percent on Cyber Monday. “But when all is said and done, we should be up 20 to 25 percent,” he said.
Although Selkoe was anxious going into the holiday, with many teen retailers struggling, Karmaloop has held its own. Outerwear and sneakers are among the most popular categories this holiday sea-son, he said, and the company’s new push toward women’s wear is gaining momentum.
And while Karmaloop can only guar-antee delivery by Christmas if orders are in by Friday, Selkoe is anticipating a big surge on Christmas Day itself and the days
following. “Most of our customers are 18 to 25 and they get money and gift cards for Christmas,” he said. “So while other stores are closed on Christmas, we’re open and we’ll be running a number of events.”
Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, said the brick-and-mortar business was “crushed” on Saturday, from Wisconsin to Maine, south to the Mason-Dixon line. “In the most affected areas, same-store transaction velocity showed declines varying from 10 to 70 percent,” he said. He also said there were excessive pro-motions, most noticeably in apparel, with the great majority at 40 to 50 percent off.
On the positive side, Johnson said about two-thirds of the country had “fair to good” business last week through Sunday, experi-encing a “normal mid-December seasonal rebound” after the post-Thanksgiving lull. He also indicated that it takes at least 10 inches of snow to shut down Manhattan retailing, which stood up against the bad weather while the outlying suburbs saw sparse business on Saturday. Johnson rates the season “subpar.”
Another bad sign for retailers came from America’s Research Group, which reported that 48.3 percent of the nation’s shoppers are 90 to 100 percent done with their holiday gift shopping, compared with 45.2 percent this time last year. Of parents with children, 60.2 percent say they’ve fin-ished shopping for the year, versus 52.6 percent last year. ARG said the statistics are based on 1,000 telephone interviews conducted from Friday to Sunday.
Among those who have not finished their holiday shopping yet, 22.2 percent said it was because they’re not seeing big enough discounts. Last year, only 15.9 per-cent said they were holding back in antici-pation of bigger discounts. Often, they’re
awaiting 60 to 70 percent off, rather than the 40 to 50 percent currently widespread.
“With more Americans finished with their Christmas shopping, retailers need to pull out all the stops next weekend or they will experience negative sales lev-els for their stores for this Christmas sea-son,” said Britt Beemer, chairman and ceo of America’s Research Group.
He also believes online Christmas shopping has slowed, with 40.1 percent of shoppers buying gifts online this year, versus 41.9 percent last year.
Taubman Centers Inc., which owns, manages and/or leases 28 shopping cen-ters, said stores surveyed were flat to up midsingle digits last week and last Saturday, and that promotions are still consistent with plans. That could mean there is a window of opportunity to step up promotions if need be.
Among Taubman’s properties, Beverly Center in Los Angeles and MacArthur Center in Norfolk, Va., said stores were flat Saturday, on average, while stores at The Gardens on El Paseo in Palm Desert, Calif., were generally up over last year. The Mall at Partridge Creek, in Clinton Township, Mich., was strong until Saturday, when the snow hit, push-ing stores down in the single digits.
Earlier last week, The Mall at Green Hills in Nashville saw icy conditions, which hurt traffic and sales. The situation turned around on Thursday, and Saturday was an “exceptionally” strong day, Taubman said.
At The Shops at Willow Bend, in Plano, Tex., “Saturday was so strong that many stores surveyed were able to make up from the ice storm that took place ear-lier in the week.”
— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM JEAN E. PALMIERI
By JOELLE DIDERICH
PARIS — Carrefour said Monday it had signed a memo-randum of understanding with real estate investment firm Klépierre to buy 127 shopping malls in France, Spain and Italy for a total of 2 billion euros, or $2.7 bil-lion at current exchange, as part of a plan to boost its European hypermarket business.
The world’s second-largest retailer behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would create a company encompassing a total of 172 shopping malls adjoining its hypermarkets.
It will own a 42 per-cent stake in the ven-ture, paying 100 million euros, or $136 million, in cash and contributing 45 malls in France worth 700 million euros, or $952 million, to the new company. Unidentified institutional investors are to hold the remain-ing 58 percent.
“With over 800,000 square meters of retail space, assets of 2.7 billion euros and a value-creating renovation and extension plan, the company will rank among the leading European shopping mall companies,” Carrefour stated.
The company will be financed through 1.8 billion euros, or $2.45 billion, in equity and 900 million euros, or $1.2 billion, in debt.
Carrefour plans to spend 100 million euros a year over five years on renovating and extending those sites with the strongest potential for growth, a spokeswoman for the group said.
The deal will bring Carrefour greater control of the sites around its hypermarkets as it battles to lure back customers against growing competition from specialists and online retailers.
The 172 malls — 57 in France, 63 in Spain and seven in Italy — have a combined gross annual rental income of around 180 million euros, or $245 million.
The transaction will be submitted for consultation to employee representative bodies and should close in the first half of 2014, pending final agreement between the par-ties and the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities.
Carrefour, Klépierre Strike Deal for Malls
’’
’’
[Saturday] was only a messy day in the
Northeast, and I think people were smart. A lot of them were out shopping on Friday.
— MICHAEL GOULD, BLOOMINGDALE’S
127 THE NUMBER OF SHOPPING
MALLS CARREFOUR WILL BUY IN FRANCE, SPAIN AND ITALY.
By VICKI M. YOUNG
LOEHMANN’S HOLDINGS INC. is hoping the third time’s a charm as it enters bankruptcy court proceed-ings again.
The discounter of designer goods signed a deal to sell all its assets for $19 million to a consortium of firms known for their acumen in asset disposi-tions. The firms are Tiger Capital Group, A&G Realty Partners and SB Capital Group.
The cash-strapped Loehmann’s couldn’t wait until after the holiday season — the original plan — to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection. The vol-untary petition in a Manhattan bankruptcy court was filed late Sunday. It represents the third time that the company has been in bankruptcy court proceedings.
The petition listed assets of between $50 million and $100 million and liabilities of between $100 mil-lion and $500 million. Among the top unsecured trade creditors listed and what they are owed include: Urban Outfitters Inc., New York, $351,633.57; Juicy Couture, Old Bridge, N.J., $252,909.19; Spanx Inc., Atlanta, $240,276.89; Adriano Goldschmied Inc., South Gate, Calif., $214,351.20, and Circa, New York, $191,997.97.
The retailer is owned and operated by hedge fund Whippoorwill Associates. Istithmar Retail Holdings
owns a minority stake, having helped to finance its exit from bankruptcy in 2011. The discounter filed its second tour of bankruptcy court in 2010. Founded by Frieda Loehmann in 1921, the retailer had its first tour of bankruptcy proceedings in 1999, and exited the fol-lowing year.
Loehmann’s currently operates 39 stores across 11 states. Its chief executive officer, Steven Newman, has left the company.
Michael Appel, Loehmann’s chairman, said, “During this period, it will be business as usual.... Both in our stores and online, we will continue to provide our cus-tomers with their favorite fashions at great prices.”
Geoffrey A. Richards, the head of the U.S. Special Situations and Restructuring Group at Canaccord Genuity Inc. and Loehmann’s financial adviser, said in a court document that the discounter had been marketed to potential buyers, and the agreement inked with the consortium as the “stalking horse” bid-der is the best deal to date.
A bankruptcy court auction is set for Dec. 30 where other bidders can come in and make their offers for the entire company or for components of the busi-ness. If the split up of the assets is deemed to bring in the most value to the bankrupt estate, then the Loehmann’s nameplate could be the latest to enter the retail graveyard.
Loehmann’s Sells Off Its Assets
{Continued from page one}
By LUISA ZARGANI
MILAN — Versace has narrowed down a short list of investors that includes global private equity firm CCMP, Investcorp and Blackstone, according to mar-ket sources.
“No final decision will be made before January,” said one source. The short list was cut down from a total of six offers, said another source.
As reported, the Milan-based firm is looking to sell a 20 percent holding by the end of the year to finance future growth. Siblings Santo and Donatella Versace, who hold a 30 and 20 percent stake, re-spectively, and Donatella’s daughter, Allegra
Versace Beck, who owns 50 percent, want to main-tain control over the company. Versace had no com-ment on Monday.
Rumors about a possible sale emerged last year when Versace tapped Goldman Sachs and Banca IMI to evaluate growth opportunities.
New York-based fund Blackstone emerged as an interested party in October. CCMP adviser Bob Singer sits on the Versace board and is a Gucci alum — as is Versace’s chief executive officer Gian Giacomo Ferraris. Bahrain-based Investcorp has also been rumored to be looking at the dossier.
According to sources, Permira, Italian fund Clessidra, Paris-based Ardian and the IQ Made in Italy joint venture are no longer in the running.
List of Potential Versace Investors Shortens
Business Picks Up for Retailers as Holiday Draws Near
WWD.COM7WWD Tuesday, december 17, 2013
Kevin Burke Leaving as AAFA Chief
textiles
Trade Pacts Carry Potential and PitfallsBy KRISTI ELLIS
WASHINGTON — Sourcing executives are hoping to expand investment and business in the Asia-Pacific region and the European Union, as negoti-ations over two megaregional trade deals progress and the World Trade Organization tries to regain footing following a global trade accord on a scaled-down package of market-opening measures.
U.S. and EU trade negotiators are meeting here this week for the third round of talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership accord that would have implications for U.S. im-ports and exports of apparel, textiles, cosmet-ics, footwear and accessories. Negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries, said to be in the final phase, promise to provide significant sourcing op-portunities for U.S. apparel importers and textile producers, with both sides arguing for different rules to help boost business.
Trade observers applauded the trade facilitation deal reached in Bali this month by the 159 member countries of the WTO, but argued that the deal, while providing an estimated $1 trillion to the global econ-omy, signals a changing role for the global trade body.
“These regional agreements [such as TPP and T-TIP] are where the action is in terms of trade liberalization,” said Phillip Swagel, professor of international economic policy at the University of Maryland. “It’s hard to see the WTO going from a trade facilitation measure to a really big [tariff-cut-ting] agreement. It will remain important, but the av-enue for further trade liberalization will diminish.”
The TPP is seen as providing the biggest sourc-ing opportunities for the industry, while the T-TIP is seen as giving companies better export opportu-nities and more regulatory cohesion.
The U.S. is negotiating TPP with Vietnam, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore. Most trade experts argue that the Obama administration cannot successfully close negotiations on TPP until the President is granted trade promotion authority. Under TPA, Congress can only vote up or down on trade pacts negotiated by the executive branch.
Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said, “I don’t think [U.S. Trade Representative Michael] Froman can really come to a compromise on hard issues such as a textile rule of origin until he gets TPA. There will be too many textile and apparel people looking over his shoulder…and as we have seen, it is pretty hard to put forward an offer which will satisfy Vietnam and not create a huge backlash in Washington until TPA is enacted.”
The U.S. has proposed a yarn-forward rule of
origin that requires apparel be made of fabric and yarns supplied by the U.S. or other TPP partner countries to qualify for duty-free benefits when shipped back to the U.S. Importers are lobbying for a more flexible rule that would allow them to use yarns and fabrics from any country, but domestic textile makers claim they need a yarn-forward rule to compete.
“If you look at a situation like Vietnam, most of the textile inputs come in from locations other than Vietnam and other than TPP countries,” said Stephen Lamar, executive vice president at the American Apparel & Footwear Association. “The issue people have with yarn forward is that it cre-ates such a narrow window for the supply chain and very few products can pass through that window [to receive duty-free treatment]. As a result, companies shy away from using the trade agreement.”
Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the National Council of Textile Organizations, said, “For the most part, it is our market that is a sig-nificant aspect of this deal. But Mexico, Central America and the Andean countries also have a lot at stake because if Vietnam increases its market share in the U.S., that’s going to come at the ex-pense of somebody else. Our goal is to keep it from coming at the expense of the Western Hemisphere.”
Sourcing executives said Vietnam, the second-larg-est apparel supplier to the U.S., is already attracting new investment in advance of TPP being finalized.
Bill Jasper, president and chief executive of-ficer of U.S. yarn manufacturer Unifi Inc., said while the majority of the investment is from major Asian producers, including South Korea, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, he also noted that there has been new investment in the U.S. in cotton spinning facilities that could benefit from export opportunities to the TPP region.
“I think it’s fair to say we are exploring export and investment opportunities in Vietnam and with other TPP countries,” Jasper said.
As negotiators meet here this week for the third round of talks on the proposed U.S.-EU pact, retailers and brands are interested in seeing the two sides streamline regulations, remove burden-some technical barriers and eliminate redundan-cies in several areas.
“The deal with the EU is really interesting be-cause while we obviously still have very high duties and want to eliminate duties, a large part of what everyone in business is talking about with Europe is dealing with some regulatory barriers,” said Julia Hughes, president of the U.S. Fashion Industry Association. “In that sense, while we are not saying there will be more product made in the U.S. or in Europe [as a result of a trade deal], it is an oppor-tunity to work on eliminating regulatory barriers to trade, which can be extremely costly.”
WASHINGTON — Kevin Burke, who has headed the American Apparel & Footwear Association for 12 years, ushering the group through the poli-cies of two presidents, the enactment of several free-trade agreements and a change in the global sourcing paradigm that has sparked a mini revival in domestic manufacturing, is stepping down from the trade and lobbying group next month.
Burke, president and chief executive officer of AAFA, is leaving on Jan. 21 to become president and ceo of the Airports Council International-North America.
AAFA said it will begin the process of identifying a new president and ceo “as quickly as possible.”
“For the past several years, I have had the won-derful opportunity to serve a very dynamic indus-try as its top spokesperson in Washington,” said Burke. “The key lessons I’ve learned during my years at AAFA are that the U.S. apparel and foot-wear industry is always moving forward and that the industry must maintain its global perspective to remain competitive.”
Philip C. Williamson, AAFA’s chairman, who is also president, ceo and chairman of Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co., said, “Our industry has changed significantly since Kevin came to AAFA in 2001. He brought a much-needed global vision to AAFA and traveled the world meeting with in-dustry stakeholders to keep American workers competitive in the global market.”
AAFA highlighted Burke’s leadership in increas-ing the group’s membership base to more than 530 corporate members representing 1,500 brands and
expanding it to include a stronger retail presence. More than 25 percent of AAFA’s membership is re-lated to retail, while the remaining 75 percent is comprised of manufacturers and wholesalers.
While he notched several policy successes in Washington, Burke was also tasked with navigating his members though darker times for the global ap-parel industry, particularly in the wake of two ap-parel factory tragedies in Bangladesh, in November 2012 and this April, that together claimed the lives of more than 1,240 workers and called the industry’s supply chain practices into question.
AAFA signed on to the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety in July with five other trade asso-ciations, along with major companies such as VF Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Gap Inc. The initiative is aimed at improving factory and building safety in Bangladesh.
Burke also helped engineer a new brand cam-paign in 2011 known as “We Wear” to increase AAFA’s visibility and voice in Washington. The program featured themes such as how the ap-parel and footwear industries foster jobs in the U.S., their economic impact, the importance of global markets, intellectual property rights pro-tection, sustainability, responsibility, innovation and readiness.
“Oftentimes, when we go to Capitol Hill, mem-bers of Congress tell us we are all importers and that we don’t manufacture here,” Burke said at the time of the launch. “We tell them that we do manufacture here and we have a larger impact on the economy than they think.” — K.E.
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Textile and Accessory top-end collections for
womenswear and menswear
11.12.13 february 2014portello fieramilanocity
SPRING/SUMMER2015
By DAVID LIPKE
J. ChrIstoPhEr BurCh, the founder of C. Wonder, has ac-quired a stake in solid & striped, a contemporary swimwear brand launched last year by Isaac ross. As the name suggests, the young label focuses on classic solid and striped swim styles in trim fits, with a corresponding resort-ori-ented sportswear line launch-ing next fall. the New York-based company started with men’s and is expanding into women’s this spring.
“I always invest in people and concepts. [ross] is smart and talented and has a clear idea of what he wants to do. he understands the culture and the customer,” said Burch of his in-vestment. “the apparel industry is one of the toughest industries around — it’s very difficult to succeed in — but I think Isaac has the qualities to do so.”
solid & striped is currently stocked in around 40 stores, with key accounts including scoop, ron herman, Fivestory, tenet, Atrium, Confederacy and unis. hotel shops are a key segment of the business, including those in the Beverly hills hotel; the Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.; the standard in Miami, and the Four seasons in Maui, hawaii.
the solid & striped e-com-
merce site is the brand’s single largest shop.
“the idea is to create a re-sort brand that is timeless and classic,” said ross, 27. “I’m excited to partner with Christopher because he’s a great mentor. he empowers you to do what you’re good at.”
Both parties declined to di-vulge the size of Burch’s invest-ment beyond characterizing it as a “significant minority stake.” With the Burch investment, which was
finalized on Monday, ross is aim-ing to grow distribution, expand internationally and improve the company’s e-commerce site.
solid & striped men’s swim-wear sells for $130 to $150; the women’s sells as separates, with tops and bottoms priced at $70 to $80.
the sportswear component will launch in stores next fall, with retailers getting their first look in February at the Project show in Las Vegas. For men, there will be a small cap-sule line of woven shirts, knits, sweatshirts, shorts and t-shirts. the women’s designs include knits, a French terry pullover,
a romper, a beach dress and shorts.
on the women’s assortments, ross is collaborating with Morgan Curtis, who is the daughter of designer Jill stuart and is the designer of her own lingerie label called Morgan Lane. ross and Curtis were friends and classmates as undergraduates at Cornell university.
ross originally launched solid & striped out of his home in Los Angeles. “It was a one-man show. Now I have three full-time employees,” said ross, who worked at the William Morris Endeavor talent agency and the M&C saatchi advertising agency prior to founding his company. Earlier this fall, he opened a de-sign and showroom space in New York’s Garment District.
ross sources his fabrics from Italy, France and spain, and
manufactures in a swimwear factory in Casablanca, Morocco.
Burch said he planned to remain hands-off from the op-erations of solid & striped but would be available for big-pic-ture strategy.
the stake in solid & striped is the latest in a broad and di-verse portfolio of brands held by Burch Creative Capital, Burch’s investment vehicle. BCC, which is 100 percent held by Burch, has majority ownership of C. Wonder, Monika Chiang, the office prod-ucts brand Poppin, wireless charging innovator Powermat, the Indonesian island resort of Nihiwatu and the new fashion label trademark, which was founded by two of Burch’s daugh-ters, Alexandra and Louisa.
the Monika Chiang busi-ness is in the midst of a restruc-turing, having closed its Los Angeles flagship in october, and is refocusing the product assort-ments away from apparel and toward shoes and accessories. the Monika Chiang store in New York remains open.
other BCC investments in-clude more than 30 minority stakes in fashion-focused com-panies like Vaunte and Bib & tuck; technology and electron-ics makers such as Jawbone and Gunnar, and enterprise and en-ergy companies like Joule and PCh International.
Burch retains a stake in tory Burch, the fast-growing fashion brand he cofounded with his ex-wife. A fashion brand conceived with the publicist Kelly Cutrone, called Electric Love Army, has long been on the drawing board, and Burch said he expects it to launch in the next nine to 12 months.
WWD.COMWWD Tuesday, december 17, 20138
Chris Burch Takes Stake in Solid & Striped
H&M Sales Rise 13% in 4th Quarter
Isaac Ross
A look from Solid & Striped.
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By JoELLE DIDErICh
PArIs — hennes & Mauritz AB said sales including value-added tax in the fiscal fourth quarter rose to 42.59 billion swedish kro-nor, or $6.5 billion, a 13 percent gain in local currency terms.
the swedish high-street re-tailer, which will publish full-year results on Jan. 30, said sales in comparable units for the period of sept. 1 to Nov. 30 were up 3 percent. All dollar rates are calculated at aver-age exchange for the period to which they refer.
h&M also reported that same-store sales rose 10 percent in November after a 1 percent increase the previous month. total revenues in local curren-cies were up 21 percent, the strongest monthly increase in 20
months, after rising 11 percent in october.
the retailer said sales in November were boosted by cold weather across many of its key markets, and calendar effects.
though h&M reported ris-ing sales and profits in the third quarter, some analysts have expressed reservations about whether it can durably improve its margins in the face of strong competition from low-cost re-tailers like Primark and the pressure of ongoing investments in e-commerce and its other brands, like & other stories.
Nils Vinge, head of investor relations at h&M, was conser-vative in his assessment of the November sales data.
“Lots of things went our way in November, but I think it’s im-portant to stress — just like we do if it’s a weak month — that
it is just a monthly number and you should always see the sales over a season,” he said. “We’re never fully happy. We can al-ways do better.”
Among the contributors to the monthly sales rise was the successful launch of the Isabel Marant line for the fast-fashion giant, which went on sale Nov. 14 in more than 250 h&M locations and online. the capsule collec-tion sold out in many markets on the first day, according to Vinge.
“We believe that the collec-tions this year are even better than last year, and the customer seems to agree — that’s great. And Isabel Marant was a huge success, absolutely, but in the total of numbers, of course, that plays a minor role,” he said.
the store count stood at 3,132 on Nov. 30 versus 2,776 stores on Nov. 30, 2012.
MONSTER MASH: Frequent Balmain wearer Rihanna is taking her love of the French label to the next level by appearing in its spring ad campaign, WWD has learned.
Slated to break in a range of January fashion titles, the ads were shot in New York by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.
“In front of the camera, she makes you feel like she is the only girl in the world,” said Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing, characterizing his casting coup as a dream come true.
“When the woman that inspires you wears your creations, your vision feels complete,” he added, describing the “icon” of his generation as uncompromising, fresh and modern.
Even with her hair obscuring part of her face, the pop diva — who appears with Eminem on the chart topping single “The
Monster” — is unmistakable with her riveting gaze and signature tattoos.
Atelier Franck Durand took care of creative direction for the campaign, with styling by Mel Ottenberg. — MILES SOCHA
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: High fashion is going Down Under. The Art Gallery of South Australia said it would showcase more than 100 iconic couture outfits in an exhibition titled “Fashion Icons,” slated to open in Adelaide on Oct. 25 and run through Feb. 1, 2015.
All of the dresses are to be drawn from the archives of Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, with its chief curator of fashion and textiles, Pamela Golbin, heading up the showcase and industrial designer Christian Biecher creating the look of the show.
The chronological exhibition is to trace the evolution of French couture from 1947, when Christian Dior’s “New Look” ignited a splendor in the Fifties that yielded to futurism in the Sixties, emancipation in the Seventies, excess in the Eighties and minimalism in the Nineties. Designs from Cristóbal Balenciaga, Gabrielle Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent are among those to be showcased. — M.S.
WWDSTYLEMEMO PAD
Snap ChatPhotographer and pop god progeny Mary McCartney
discusses shooting her latest pair of famous faces: Gemma Arterton and Alec Baldwin.
For more, see page 10.
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SHARON STONE got flashes popping at amfAR’s fourth annual Inspiration Gala held on Thursday night at Hollywood’s Milk Studios. As a rowdy mob of red-carpet photographers cried out, the actress suddenly stopped posing and asked the pack to quiet down. Her request was miraculously met with a moment of silence, followed by a spontaneous speech. “We
couldn’t do this without you, and I’d like to say thank you to you guys,” the longtime AIDS activist told her captivated audience as they erupted into applause.
And so began the evening, which was presented by MAC Cosmetics’ Viva Glam campaign, and attracted the likes of Zoe Saldana, Vanessa Hudgens and Kelly Osbourne, who each stood out among a sea of black suits and
bow ties. Meanwhile, Chelsea Handler played emcee. “I hosted this event last year and I was sure that they wouldn’t ask me back and then they did.…So I’m going to try and make this the last time,” she deadpanned. “We’re going to celebrate some people who are making a difference, raise a little money for the cause and drink — because nobody is going to bid on a signed Elton John kidney stone when they’re sober.”
Other guests included amfAR chairman Kenneth Cole,
John Demsey, Lily Tomlin, Laura Prepon, Lydia Hearst with boyfriend Kevin Connolly and Alessandra Ambrosio — who watched on as Aileen Getty, Hugo Boss’ Ward Simmons
and Mark Brashear and Goldie Hawn were honored for their philanthropic efforts.
“One of the greatest things in my life has been finding happiness in giving back,” said Hawn, who made it a family
affair with partner Kurt Russell and son Oliver Hudson by her side. “When I was a little girl, my mother used to
say…‘Honey, when you grow up, I want you to give 10 cents to every dollar for people in need.’ It was instilled in a young time in my life that part of being human was the ability to feel compassion and to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”
Seventies icon Grace Jones performed her
greatest hits including “Pull Up to the Bumper”
and “La Vie en Rose” — though the evening truly hit a crescendo when the relentless Stone led a live auction that included tickets and backstage
access to Donatella Versace’s upcoming February fashion show in Milan. “Would you like to make out with me?” purred Stone, attempting to coax shy bidders. “Are you a good kisser?” The tactic paid off — and quite literally. Her efforts helped push the evening’s total to $3.5 million raised for the foundation’s AIDS research programs. — LINDZI SCHARF
PHOTOGRAPHER Mary McCartney has shot the fifth edition of the Zeiss Art Calendar, which she did with Alec Baldwin and Gemma Arterton posing together at New York landmarks. Called “Moments in the City,” it is being distributed to clients of Zeiss, which makes a variety of camera lenses, this month.
“I had just worked with Gemma Arterton on another project, and she’s full of life and really bubbly; really good fun,” says McCartney, who cast the two performers in their roles. “Alec
is very New York. He’s very New York, and she’s very British.
“You don’t know exactly what their relationship is, or connect them too much as a couple,” she adds of the duo they portray in the photos, which were shot using black-and-white film, rather than digitally. “It leaves a little bit more to the imagination.” Her aim, she explains, is to have the calendar shots look “like stills from a film.” Arterton is known for her roles in such movies as the James Bond thriller “Quantum of Solace” from 2008 and “Clash of the Titans” from 2010, along with the 2008 miniseries “Tess of the d’Urbervilles.”
McCartney is a daughter of Sir Paul McCartney and his first wife, the late Linda Eastman McCartney. Linda was an accomplished photographer, known for her portraits of music gods and goddesses — among them Jimi Hendrix, Grace Slick, Janis Joplin, The Animals and The Doors — and intimate shots of her immediate family. She was also the first woman to shoot a cover for Rolling Stone magazine. Her daughter’s portrait subjects have included Ralph Fiennes; Jude Law; Tony and Cherie Blair’s fourth child, Leo; her younger sister, designer Stella McCartney, and artist Sam Taylor-Wood, whom she shot disguised as Frida Kahlo for a show at the The Lowry in Manchester, England, earlier this year.
“She was really talented, but when we were kids, we were kind of dismissive about it,” says Mary of her mother’s work. When Mary was older, however, her mother “inspired me,” she explains. “It was going through her contacts when I was a picture editor that made me want to be a photographer.”
Her mother, who died of breast cancer at age 56 in 1998, lived long enough to see her second daughter, born in 1969, take up her profession. “She used to phone me and check how the pictures had gone,” Mary recalls. “She’d ask, ‘Have you got your contact sheets yet?’” The photos she took of Linda three weeks before she died are among her best-known, and Mary became a breast cancer activist.
Settings for the Zeiss calendar include The High Line, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tudor City, the Empire State Building and the Lexington Candy Shop Luncheonette, which was founded in 1925 at 83rd and Lexington Avenue. The last was one of her mother’s haunts. “That’s the diner opposite where she lived, and where she liked to go before she married my dad,” McCartney says.
Of her own work, she says, “Basically, I’m always shooting. I love always shooting. I have quite a large archive. The weakness is that I’ve only done one book so far in my career — which is ridiculous.” And not entirely true. In 2010, Mary put together “From Where I Stand,” a compilation of photos from her archives. She has also published a limited-edition coffee-table book for a project in which she teamed with the cell
phone maker Vertu and the cleft-palate charity Smile Train, and a vegetarian cookbook called “Food,” both in 2012. In 2001, she made a film called “Wingspan” about her father’s second successful band, Wings, which he put together after the Beatles broke up, and which also featured her mother. Mary and her siblings had grown up touring with the band. Her first public photography show, which ran in 2004, was called “Off Pointe: A Photographic Study of The Royal Ballet After Hours.” She currently runs the photo department at her father’s holding company, MPL Communications.
The Zeiss calendar was shot in a single day to accommodate Baldwin’s schedule. The actor, of course, is no stranger to controversy, and he ignited a new one in mid-November when he allegedly lashed out at a paparazzo with anti-gay slurs. This incident and some subsequent impolitic remarks — along with low ratings — caused MSNBC, which produced his TV talk show “Up Late,” to suspend him, then drop his program. The actor has already secured a new TV gig, and will be hosting TCM’s “Private Screenings” series beginning Jan. 6.
Asked about this, McCartney responds, “I haven’t actually looked it up online, so I don’t really feel like I can comment on it. Alec is a really interesting person; so bright and complicated. He’s very passionate, and I kind of like the way he hasn’t changed himself. He’s not kind of ‘media cleaned,’ saying all the right things, and he’s New York. I think he just doesn’t take it well where you are well-known and living in the city [and being stalked by photographers]. Don’t you feel that you would kind of hope that if someone knows that it upsets him that they would kind of back off a little bit?”
— LORNA KOSKI
Calendar Year
Gemma Arterton and Alec Baldwin
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Ana Beatriz Barros and Alessandra AmbrosioDo Gooders
Zoe Saldana
Sharon Stone and Kenneth Cole
WWD.COM11WWD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013
GIRL POWER: At 92, Gaby Aghion is still a Chloé gal: dressed in face-flattering peach silk and as feisty as ever.
On Monday in Paris, she was recognized as a pioneering French fashion figure and decorated as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, with French culture and communications minister Aurélie Filippetti pinning the red medal on her dark coat.
“Thanks to you, fashion
became accessible,” Filippetti said, recounting how the Egyptian-born designer knocked couture off its “elitist” pedestal and created elegant, audacious fashions for modern women when she launched the
label back in 1952.She also invented a unique
business model, inviting a range of high-profile designers, including Karl Lagerfeld, Maxime de la Falaise and Gérard Pipart, to interpret her “fresh, graceful” approach to style, Filippetti added.
Chambre Syndicale chief Didier Grumbach, art director Marc Ascoli and a host of Chloé brass turned out to applaud Aghion, who beamed from her wheelchair set next to the podium.
“We regularly have lunch together at her apartment. She speaks to me like a teenager would,” said Chloé chief executive officer Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye. “She’s sassy and she’s claimed it.”
Clare Waight Keller, the English designer who is now at the creative helm of the 61-year-old brand controlled by luxury group Richemont, was among the first to dive in and congratulate Aghion with a tight hug.
“She’s an amazing, dynamic woman,” Waight Keller said. “She’s a great spirit and energy for the company.” — MILES SOCHA
ORA’S NEW UNDERTAKING: Looks like songstress Rita Ora, recently cast as Mia Grey in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” has another gig: the face of the new DKNY fragrance franchise. While Aramis and Designer Fragrances — the Estée Lauder
Cos. Inc. division that holds the scent license — declined to confirm, sources said Ora, spotted shooting on Seventh Avenue Monday morning, is the spokeswoman for a to-be-named women’s scent, possibly due out in fall 2014. Ora also appears in DKNY’s spring ready-to-wear campaign. — JULIE NAUGHTON
MODEL MOVE: Pacific Global Management Group, or PGM, has acquired modeling agency Women Management’s Paris and New York branches from Arca Fashion SpA. PGM, which bought a controlling stake in Elite World in 2011, also owns the Italian luxury lingerie brand La Perla and the China-based entertainment label Gold Typhoon.
The move is part of a strategy to strengthen Elite World’s presence in North America and expand its international scope, keeping the Elite and Women brands separate but uniting them in structure. Terms of the deal, which excluded Women’s Milan branch, were not disclosed.
Earlier this year, Elite World opened The Society Management, an exclusive boutique agency in New York with names such as Adriana Lima, Catherine McNeil and Grace Jones on the roster. The addition of Women’s New York branch significantly bolsters Elite’s coverage of the U.S. market.
PGM and Elite World chief executive officer Stefania Valenti said PGM had been eyeing Women for a while, because its market positioning and
industry reputation were in line with Elite’s. In addition, Women is financially healthy: Its New York branch will close out 2013 with profits up 7 percent on-year, while the French office’s numbers are up 5 to 6 percent, Valenti said. — CYNTHIA MARTENS
NEW CITIZEN: In a move designed to highlight a new commitment to the women’s market, Citizen Watch Co. has tapped singer Kelly Clarkson as its latest brand ambassador.
“In the coming year, Citizen will focus on the women’s market with fashion-forward styling and breakthrough technological innovations to meet the needs of modern women’s lives,” said Jeffrey Cohen, president of Citizen. “We feel that Kelly Clarkson ideally reflects the values of our brand. We admire how she continually builds on her talent to reach new heights in her music and performances, as well as her inspirational and accessible style. Also, as one of our key goals is to celebrate women’s’ lives — we feel that our customers will warmly relate to Kelly as she embraces her new roles as a wife and mother-to-be.”
Broadcast and print advertising featuring Clarkson will start running in the spring.
Clarkson joins New York Giant Eli Manning, tennis player Victoria Azarenka and race car driver Matt Kenseth as Citizen brand ambassadors. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
FASHION SCOOPS
By LISA LOCKWOOD
JUDI HOFER, former chief executive of-ficer of May Merchandising Co. and May Department Stores International, died Saturday at her Southwest Portland, Ore., home. She was 73.
Hofer had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for several years and had recently been diagnosed with cancer, according to Kim Albert, guardian and ex-ecutor for Hofer’s estate.
Original ly from Hillsboro, Ore., where she grew up on a family farm, Hofer received her B.A. in business administra-tion from Portland State University. She began her retail career at 15 when she became a stock girl at Meier & Frank. Throughout college, she worked in sales, modeling and as a teen fashion di-rector there. In 1961, after she graduated college, she joined Meier & Frank full time as an executive trainee. She held numer-ous merchandising posts at Meier & Frank and Famous-Barr until 1981, when she was named president and ceo of Meier & Frank and became May’s first female ceo of a division.
She went on to become president and ceo of the former May Co., California di-vision, in 1983, Famous-Barr in 1986 and MMC/MDSI in 2000. She also served as a member of May’s senior management committee. She retired from May Co. in July 2002 and returned to Oregon.
Thomas Kingsbury, ceo of Burlington Stores Inc., who was previously president and ceo of Filene’s/Kaufmann’s and a long-
time May Department Stores Co. executive, said, “Judi was a great mentor to many of us at May Co. She had many fans through-out May. She was an extremely talented merchant who instilled in all of us how im-portant it is to think like a customer.
“She was my boss at Famous-Barr,” said John Henderson, an industry consul-tant. “She was very talented, very creative and very aggressive. She was a pioneer in women advancing in the industry.” He said she created the word “event-izing.”
“When we would have a sale, she would make it into an event. She’d invite Miss America or a marching band to a coat sale and we’d wind up doing a huge amount of business,” he said.
Hofer was very active in the community and with charitable causes, including the National 4-H board, and as a board member of City of Hope Medical Center, Oregon State University and the Portland Art Museum. She also served on the board of Viad Corp., Moneygram International Inc. ,
Ashworth Inc. and Payless Shoesource Inc.Her passion since childhood was collect-
ing dolls and related accessories. Many of them were acquired in her travels through-out the world. Her collection has been published in Fortune magazine and Arts & Antiques, among other publications. She auctioned off most of her dolls in 2004 to benefit Legacy Emanuel Children’s Hospital and Oasis Intergenerational Tutoring.
Hofer is survived by four siblings — Jim Hofer, Jane Drevescraft, Geraldine Hofer and Nathan Cook.
Services were not set at press time.
OBITUARY
Judi Hofer, Former May Exec
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Judi Hofer in 1981.
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WWD.COMWWD TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 201312
By KARYN MONGET
HUE IS GROWING its retail initiative on two fronts: the U.S. and China.
The trendy legwear brand, which specializes in fashion tights, leggings and socks, opened a 210-square-foot, high-tech shop-in-shop on the mezzanine level of Macy’s Herald Square in November, and plans to roll out three additional “Huetiques” in the U.S. in 2014. The brand cur-
rently maintains 40 in-store shops and 130 soft shops nationwide, said Julia Townsend, executive vice president and general man-ager at parent company Kayser-Roth Corp.
“The new shop design embod-ies the Hue culture of color — the heartbeat of the Hue brand — and represents a benchmark for Hue shop-in-shops on a global basis,” said Townsend, noting that the in-store shop at the Macy’s flagship in New York is being supported by outdoor
advertising on buses and kiosks throughout Manhattan.
The new shop design was created to enhance a shopping experience that is “fashion-forward, energetic and rooted in Hue’s New York City heritage.”
In August, Hue opened its first freestanding store in Shanghai at the Cloud Nine shopping mall. The 661-square-foot unit also embodies the brand’s new re-tail format of matte-and-shine textures and colors, laminated tiles, acrylic accents on fixtures,
a video wall and images of Hue’s embossed flower symbol, as well as the brand’s iconic checker-board pattern. There’s also a mannequin holding an illuminat-ed ticker tape reader board remi-niscent of the New York Stock Exchange that says something fun and whimsical like “Wear red leg-gings today.”
Townsend described the up-dated look as “simple, clean and contemporary, but also interac-tive and engaging…a concept that’s fashion-forward, energetic and rooted in Hue’s New York City heritage.
“We went to great trouble to make sure each material and tex-ture was special, modern and un-usual. There are 12 black 3-D cyl-inders on the video wall and inside each is a separate video screen with different brand images and colors. The images are not neces-sarily product images, but they are images that reinforce our brand DNA of color,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Townsend said the company is embarking on an aggressive retail rollout in China, where Kayser-Roth has 10 shop environments at depart-ment stores in metropolitan
areas such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Chengdu. As reported, Kayser-Roth has a joint part-nership with retail powerhouse E-Land Group China to launch Hue products. E-Land Fashion China operates more than 5,000 shops in Mainland China with 42 top brands, including part-nerships with Kate Spade, New Balance, Berghaus, Nike Golf, Guess Jeans and Wrangler.
Regarding the profile of the Chinese consumer who buys leg-wear, Townsend said she is young, sophisticated and fashion savvy,
“The Chinese consumer has absolutely been responding to the Hue brand, and we’re learn-ing a lot about her. She seems to have an appetite for colors that are bolder, and she responds even more to color than con-sumers in the U.S. I think it’s be-cause she’s somewhat a younger consumer, 18 to 25 versus 20 to 40 years old,” said Townsend.
She added that 2014 will be a pivotal year for Hue in China.
“We plan to open 35 more shop-in-shops and stores in shopping malls in China, and we’ll be opening a store in Hong Kong in May,” she said.
By DAVID MOIN
DON WATROS, the secret weap-on behind Richard Baker’s bur-geoning $7.5 billion Hudson’s Bay Co. retail conglomerate, is about to become more visible.
Watros, currently chief op-erating officer, will step up to president of HBC on Feb. 1, re-flecting his deepening involve-ment in the operations and the instrumental role he’s played in the Toronto-based retailer’s business integrations, its ini-tial public offering and buying spree — Saks Fifth Avenue in November, Hudson’s Bay in 2008 and Lord & Taylor in 2006.
Watros has been a close right-hand man to Baker, the chair-man and chief executive officer of HBC. Unlike Baker, Watros has stayed out of the limelight, working behind the scenes on ac-quisition processes, operations, streamlinings and centralizing back-of-the-house functions.
“Richard and I have long been working on Saks and study-ing it for years,” Watros told WWD. “I have been intimately involved with all of the transac-tions, from start to finish.”
“We are very tight, organized and very aligned,” Baker added, in a separate interview.
The promotion of Watros, and the fact that he and Baker are the sole occupants of the newly formed HBC office of the chair-man, clearly establishes him as second-in-command, continuing to report to Baker, and suggests greater visibility going forward, internally and externally.
Executives from the store divisions will report to both Watros and Baker.
For Watros, the Saks deal is particularly gratifying, giving him another opportunity to make his mark on the luxury store. He once served as Saks’ chief admin-istrative officer, but left in a cloud when the store was immersed in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into markdown allowances and over-charging vendors. Watros was vindicated of any wrongdoing
and has re-established his career working with Baker. Asked how it felt to return to Saks, Watros only said, “It’s surprising. Things haven’t changed much.”
In an exclusive interview, Watros gave a glimpse into what’s soon to occur at Saks. He also addressed the unset-tling prospect of layoffs and integrations of Saks functions into HBC. “We are at the begin-ning of integrating Saks,” Watros said. “It’s a lengthy process. It will take three years to fully integrate. Systems are the most complicated pieces. Underneath the hood, we have been working on synergies, with Bain [consult-ing] to put together an integra-
tion plan. We will continue to do that, and we will continue to make our shared services and back-of-house more efficient.”
Addressing the question of layoffs, Watros said, “There will be waves, but there’s really a focus on the next wave to try to get as much done so we can calm down as much of the orga-nization as we can.”
In one piece of the streamlin-ing, the Saks’ distribution center in Maryland will be “repurposed” in January and certain operations will shift to the Lord & Taylor dis-tribution center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. That will lead to departures, as well as efficiencies in trucking. Roughly 300 people work at the Maryland center. Approximately 900 people work at Saks head-quarters in New York.
Watros said it was premature to say how many layoffs in total will occur. “We are still working with Bain trying to figure out how to put everything together,” he said.
Several senior-level Saks ex-ecutives have already left, includ-ing Ron Frasch, the president, who was replaced by Marigay McKee from Harrods, and Stephen I. Sadove, the chairman and ceo, who was not replaced. Among those also moving on were Robert Wallstrom, executive vice president and president of Saks Off 5th; Denise Incandela, ex-ecutive vice president and chief marketing officer, and Terron Schaefer, executive vice presi-dent and chief creative officer.
HBC has a stated goal to save $100 million annually in three years through Saks integrations, though not entirely through per-sonnel cuts. “Increased buying
power is a big number that we anticipate,” Watros said.
Last week, HBC reported a $124.2 million loss in its third quarter ended Nov. 2, compared with a loss of $14.4 million a year ago. The company said the bottom line was impacted by costs relat-ed to the $2.9 billion purchase of Saks, as well as the promotional environment affecting margins. Asked if those Saks purchase costs will also be reflected in the fourth-quarter results, Watros said, “There will be probably be more in the fourth quarter, as it relates to the acquisition. There are all these onetime costs.” He cited severances and consulting fees, among other things.
According to Baker, HBC is “in the midst of a transforma-tional period.” In large part, that’s due to the Saks deal, as well as other strategies to grow the overall business, such as de-veloping shop formats and brand partnerships to remake selling space inside Hudson’s Bay and
Lord & Taylor and advancing un-derdeveloped online businesses at those two divisions.
Baker previously said he plans to pump $200 million into the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship in Manhattan. There is specula-tion that the main floor could be renovated, and a lower floor cre-ated, to expand handbags, jew-elry, cosmetics and fragrance.
Watros also noted the com-pany is working to fill two key spots: finding a coo to succeed him, and a new president for the Saks Off 5th outlet chain.
Watros will help smooth the process of integrating Saks into the portfolio. He said that he’s been very involved in “identify-ing synergies.” Watros worked on the formation of HBC shared ser-vices group, which by early 2009 centralized back-of-the-house functions including finance, infor-mation technology, supply chain, logistics and store operations. He was appointed HBC’s coo in April 2009. Prior to that, he worked with Baker at NRDC Equity Partners, the entity that purchased Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay, as well as Fortunoff ’s, which was liqui-dated about a year after it was purchased. Earlier, Watros held management positions at May Department Stores Co., where he started his retail career as a mer-chandise planning divisional at Hecht’s in Washington D.C. After the May Co., he joined Saks’ cor-porate finance division.
HBC’s retail division presi-dents — McKee at Saks Fifth Avenue and Liz Rodbell for Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay — re-port to both Watros and Baker. All corporate executive vice presidents, including the chief operating, chief administrative and chief financial officers, also report to both Baker and Watros.
“Our larger portfolio of retail properties required us to codify our structure,” Baker said, ex-plaining why the chairman’s of-fice was formed. “We think this is a very effective structure, in order to give Marigay and the Saks team, and Liz and the department store group team, maximum autonomy while having the support they need to run successful business-es. Don is an excellent operator. Being an operator of department stores is a very valuable skill.”
Bonnie Brooks, who seems to have lowered her profile at HBC, is shifting on Feb. 1 from presi-dent of the Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay department stores to vice chairman, relinquishing her day-to-day responsibilities to serve as an adviser to the office of the chairman and the board.
At Saks, there could be more executive-level changes after McKee moves in officially on Jan. 6. “She will assess the tal-ent at that point,” Watros said.
Baker also hinted that some high-level placements could be seen, saying, “Saks is going to be run as a stand-alone operating company. We will have all the positions there required to run a luxury department store.”
One possibility is to hire a new chief creative officer, a crit-ical slot for a luxury store like Saks, which relies heavily on image and advertising.
Asked about how he will in-teract with the division heads, Watros said he would be in-volved in a lot of the operational issues — logistics, supply chain, systems, human resources, com-pensation — while leaving the merchandising and marketing to McKee and Rodbell. Baker re-mains very involved in strategy, including the possibility of fur-ther acquisitions and real estate.
Hue Stretching Out in U.S., China
Watros Promoted to President of Hudson’s Bay Co.
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We are at the beginning of integrating Saks. It’s a lengthy process. It will take three years to fully integrate.
— DON WATROS, HUDSON’S BAY CO.
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Don Watros
A rendering of Hue’s new shop format at Macy’s Herald Square.
