WWD Feb 5 - Wwrsd.org

DAILY EDITION 5 FEBRUARY 2016 1
Tough Times
Brioni is mulling job cuts as
it struggles with declining
sales. PAGE 3
Fashion. Beauty. Business.
Growing Pains
Nasty Gal became
the latest Internet
darling to
restructure, laying
off 10 percent of
The Show Goes On its workforce on
Tim Coppens, John Elliott
and Billy Reid were among Thursday. PAGE 11
those showing at New
York Fashion Week: Men’s.
PAGES 4 TO 7
Burberry’s
Bold Move
● In what could be a game-changer, men’s and
women’s collections will show together twice
a year — and be available instantaneously
afterward.
BY SAMANTHA CONTI
LONDON — As the industry debates the future of seasonal
fashion, buy-now-wear-now collections and direct-to-consumer
shows, Burberry is short-circuiting the conversation and radically changing the way it does business.
Come September, the $7.54 billion company plans to show
seasonless men’s and women’s wear collections together, on the
runway, twice a year. In addition, it will make all the collections
immediately available online and in-store. Window displays in
its stores and media campaigns will change the moment the curtain comes down on the catwalk.
Burberry’s shift could be the snowflake that begins an
avalanche of change as designers, retailers and fashion organizations debate the overheated fashion system; the future of
shows; social media; the growing move to mobile and e-commerce shopping from brick-and-mortar, and how to energize
a consumer who seems gripped with ennui when it comes to
fashion.
“We have designers, retailers and everybody complaining
about the shows. Something’s not right anymore because of
social media, people are confused,” Diane von Furstenberg,
chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, told
WWD in December. “We have some ideas. Everyone seems to
feel that the shows being consumer-driven is a very good idea.”
The CFDA is awaiting an analysis from Boston Consulting
Group on the viability and logistics of consumer-oriented
fashion weeks. Over the past few months, a host of designers – including Tom Ford, Giles Deacon, Matthew Williamson,
Misha Nonoo, Thakoon Panichgul and Rebecca Minkoff — have
CONTINUED ON PG.12
3
5 FEBRUARY 2016 BUSINESS
Brioni Faces Struggles, Job Cuts Ahead TOP 5
TRENDING
● The company is rationalizing
its workforce at the
manufacturing plant in
Penne, Italy.
BY LUISA ZARGANI
MILAN — Brendan Mullane’s sudden
departure from Brioni as creative director
earlier this week may have signaled larger
turmoil at the Italian men’s wear brand.
The company is rationalizing its workforce at its manufacturing plant in Italy’s
central town of Penne and industry sources
indicate Brioni is seeing a drop in revenues,
mainly at wholesale, due to an increase
in prices that customers are reluctant to
accept.
A Brioni spokesman confirmed the
impending layoffs, saying that “in agreement with the unions a voluntary mobility
procedure was put in place in the end of
2015. Further discussions are scheduled
to take place in the next months with the
specific aim to reach an accurate size of the
production capacity at the factory.”
According to market sources, the company asked for at least 50 employees in
December to agree to voluntary mobility,
and 60 complied. One source said consultancy AlixPartners has identified that 200
jobs could eventually be at stake as part of a
restructuring of the plant’s operations.
“Fixed costs have spiked too much,
the head count is too high also at the
managerial level. A downsize could come
through either a restructuring operation
or a decrease in head count, and the latter
seems more likely,” alleged a source, noting
that the discussion could also lead to a job
security agreement whereby employees
work less hours to help maintain the same
number of workers.
AlixPartners was also called in to analyze
issues at Sergio Rossi before the Italian
footwear brand was sold to European
investment house Investindustrial last
year. Kering controls Brioni and was Sergio
Rossi’s former owner. One source underscored that there is “some confusion and
the intentions are not quite clear” regarding
Brioni.
Kering said it does not comment on
market rumors.
A look from
Brioni’s fall
men’s line.
Asked to explain the reasons behind the
struggles, one industry observer pointed
to three possible missteps. In 2012, Brioni
tapped Mullane — who had worked at
Givenchy, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Burberry
and Alexander McQueen — as creative
director with the aim of adding more fashion to the brand, but this created confusion
in the market. Known for its high-end
tailored suits, Brioni has increasingly been
developing categories such as outerwear
and sportswear, footwear and accessories,
also targeting a younger customer.
“Brendan did not have the time to turn
the brand into a really cutting-edge one,
but the product was no longer about being
tailor-made,” said one analyst.
“Customers and buyers alike don’t
recognize the positioning and prices are
not competitive,” said another observer,
pegging suits at an entry wholesale price of
2,000 euros, or $2,192 at current exchange.
Also, in an increasingly tough business
environment, hiking wholesale prices made
it “no longer interesting” for multibrand
retailers to carry the label, especially in
Europe, the first source said. A Milan-based
analyst said revenues last year dropped by
20 million euros, or $22.2 million at average
exchange rates, to 190 million euros, or
RETAIL
Hackers Nabbed After
Targeting Alibaba’s Taobao
● The attack, which reportedly
took place in June 2015, hit
a database of almost 100
million usernames.
Brioni photograph by Giovanni Giannoni; They Are Wearing by Don Stahl
BY CASEY HALL
SHANGHAI — Hackers have attempted to
access the accounts of millions of users on
Taobao, China’s largest consumer-to-consumer e-commerce marketplace, which is
owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
The hackers obtained a database of
almost 100 million and usernames from
multiple Web sources; more than 20 million
of these usernames were being used for
multiple platforms, including Taobao
accounts.
“They rented AliCloud to do what’s
known as ‘mapping,’ the process of pulling
a bunch of account names and honing
down to a part group that is relevant, in this
case, the Taobao platform. While they were
doing this, they were detected and subsequently reported to the police,” an Alibaba
spokesman told WWD.
In responding to initial reports, Alibaba
was quick to emphasize that the attempt
was a common occurrence in the industry,
and the issue was not specific to the company’s cloud computing arm, AliCloud, as the
culprits could have used any cloud computing service to do the same thing.
“The crooks were pretty dumb to
use AliCloud to do the mapping,” said a
Shanghai-based programmer and expert on
cyber security, who requested anonymity.
“It is very easy to detect the mapping — the
repeated attempts to go to each user’s name
when it all comes from a single place.”
When the hackers tried to access Taobao
user accounts, even if they matched usernames and passwords, they had already
been blocked by Alibaba’s security.
Local authorities have since detained
those responsible for the attempted hack.
Taobao, a site often compared with
eBay, has more than 500 million registered
consumer accounts and commands an 80
percent share of China’s consumer-to-consumer market, according to Alibaba’s own
estimates.
Alibaba has recently signaled its seriousness about expanding its cloud computing
business, known as AliCloud, more aggressively in 2016. Last month China’s tech giant
revealed plans to enlist 1,000 developers to
work on its big-data platform over the next
$211 million, attributable to the struggles at
wholesale, and claimed the firm was operating at a loss with negative earnings before
interest and taxes. One source remarked on
the diminished spending power of Russian
consumers as being relevant in light of the
brand’s successful history in that region.
Lastly, wrong investments in human
resources were also to blame, alleged the
source.
Kering, which was then called PPR,
finalized the acquisition of Brioni in January
2012 at a moment of explosive growth in
the men’s wear business. Brioni appealed
to PPR because of its know-how in tailored
men’s wear, exclusive positioning and international visibility.
PPR chairman and chief executive officer
François-Henri Pinault stated a few months
earlier that a push into accessories and
expansion in the burgeoning Asian market
were key avenues for growth at Brioni.
The Italian brand had initiated a search
for a buyer in 2008 and a need for an
injection of cash became a priority at the
time of the sale, as it was weighed down
by a debt resulting from the company’s
buyout in 2006 of former ceo Umberto
Angeloni for an estimated 80 million euros,
or $104.8 million at average exchange rates
for that year. In his 16 years at the company,
Angeloni was instrumental in building
Brioni. The executive is now chairman,
ceo and majority shareholder of luxury
Italian tailoring brand Raffaele Caruso SpA.
At the time of the PPR acquisition, Brioni
was controlled by the descendants of the
company’s founders — Nazareno Fonticoli,
the master tailor, and Gaetano Savini, the
original fashion coordinator.
Based in Penne, Brioni has for years
dressed fictional character James Bond in
the film franchise, at times replaced by Tom
Ford’s label. Its handmade men’s suits have
been worn by the likes of John Wayne, Clark
Gable, Barack Obama and Matt Damon.
Brioni had tapped Alessandro Dell’Acqua
as creative director of the women’s line in
2010 to raise the women’s division’s profile,
but that operation was shut down in 2011.
In fall 2014, Kering tapped Bottega
Veneta executive Gianluca Flore as Brioni’s
new ceo, succeeding Francesco Pesci who
had been with Brioni for almost 15 years,
and who is now ceo of Peuterey.
Taobao has more than 500 million
registered consumer accounts.
ON WWD.COM
They Are
Wearing: New
York Men’s
Fashion Week,
Fall 2016
● WWD went off the runways
and onto the streets and
sidewalks for the best looks
from New York Fashion
Week: Men’s.
●John Elliott Men¹s RTW,
Fall 2016
● Pre-Fall 2016
Accessories: Part 3
●Greg Lauren Men’s
RTW, Fall 2016
● Tim Coppens Men’s
RTW, Fall 2016
Global Stock Tracker
As of close February 4, 2016
ADVANCERS
Coty Inc.
+15.24%
Avon Products Inc.
+9.54%
Trinity Ltd.
+8.60%
Safilo Group SpA
+3.51%
Iconix Brand Group
+2.94%
DECLINERS
three years.
AliCloud is planning to invest $1 billion to
compete with Amazon.com Inc. in computing services, as well as to keep up with their
own information processing needs, which
continue to grow as China’s e-commerce
market grows. Cloud computing services
have proven to be one of Amazon’s fastest
growing businesses and have become a
huge contributor to the U.S. Web giant’s
profits.
Bain & Co. estimates China’s online retail
market will grow to 10 trillion yuan, or $1.5
billion, by 2020.
Ralph Lauren Corp.
-22.16%
Kohl’s Corp.
-18.80%
L Brands Inc.
-6.93%
Nordstrom Inc.
-6.13%
Kose Corp.
-5.12%
4
5 FEBRUARY 2016
The Reviews
Tim Coppens
Each season, Tim Coppens has been
slowly moving beyond his athletic roots
and toward more traditional references.
However, his obsession with the young
continues.
“I feel more comfortable about what
I do,” he said, “less contrived and
constricted.”
For his fall collection, Coppens showed
this spirit by taking references from Eighties, Nineties and Aughts youth culture and
interpreting them in tartan plaid bomber
jackets, printed hooded sweatshirts and
pajama shirts with pixilated graphics of
spaceship video games.
An elegant array of military topcoats
- the showstoppers - along with utilitarian jackets and peacoats offered a more
sophisticated and retail-friendly side.
The women’s effort was equally
strong, with A-line, bonded leather skirts
styled with bombers worn over hoodies.
Although the Tim Coppens girl is youthful,
the pieces appealed to a sophisticated
customer who’s looking for special items.
Coppens also showed his business-savvy by revealing that several of
the pieces in the show would immediately be available for sale on his Web site.
With this collection, Coppens vaulted
near the top of the leader board of New
York Fashion Week: Men’s.
— Jean E. Palmieri
John Elliott
John Elliott is experimenting with his
dark side. Although the collection started
with a few monochromatic white looks, it
quickly turned more somber.
“We’ve told the story about movement
and athletics, but this is about friction
and the uncertainty that exists at night,”
he said backstage before the show.
Fall
Collections
2016
Tim Coppens
John Elliott
The largest chapter in Elliott’s new
story came through the use of a novelty
wool bonded with aluminum that worked
best in heavyweight bombers, pants and
shorts. Other protective elements felt
more familiar, including his traditional
layering techniques, military references
and relaxed silhouettes.
A good example was a parachute jacket
worn over a shearling hoodie and an
elongated distressed T-shirt. Another
standout was a leather patchwork poncho paired with aluminum shorts and
textured tights with a chunky scarf.
Elliott said he had three goals for
the collection. “If I can come up with a
challenging concept, create different silhouettes and put them in unique fabrics,
then I’ll be able to sleep at night.”
Sleep tight, John Elliott. — J.E.P.
5
5 FEBRUARY 2016 Billy Reid
Orley
After several seasons of intricate textile
development, Billy Reid simplified things
for fall, turning out a relaxed elegant
collection.
“I wanted things to be uncomplicated
luxury,” he said backstage before his show.
“We develop so many textiles, sometimes
we let the art overshadow the message.”
Reid’s sense for volume and proportion
remained, as evidenced by lightly constructed topcoats with a flowy sense of
movement.
A boxy suit with wide-leg pants reinforced the slouchy message and felt
trend-right.
Some new things this season were a few
technical pieces such as a fully waterproof
trench, worn inside out, and a “butter soft”
nylon rain jacket.
The neutral color palette felt rich and
helped reinforce the luxe message.
Less is more when it comes to Billy Reid,
and concentrating on the soft silhouette and
sophisticated volumes was a
winning combination. — Jean E. Palmieri
Orley is no longer just a sweater brand. The
team, which is made up of brothers Alex and
Matthew Orley and Matthew’s wife Samantha, still consider knitwear the foundation
of their line, but for their fall collection,
they layered on new elements that gave the
line some breadth, just in time for their first
seated runway show.
There are the tailored, pleated and
printed knits, which added a dose of adult
to the brand’s youthful aesthetic. Alex said
their guy (and girl) is stronger this season,
but they haven’t veered too far from their
androgynous roots, which were on full
display at their previous spring presentation.
Backstage before the show, Alex said one of
Orley’s tenets is to combat machismo.
The men wore shrunken sweaters with
subtle peplums and knit polos covered in
a floral print. These looks were offset with
punky Chelsea boots. Other grunge undertones came through in a deconstructed,
hand-knit sweater.
One of the most impressive pieces was a
navy mohair jacket that appeared as if it
were shearling.
Orley’s nascent women’s lineup was also
shown. Alex said the category is growing
rapidly — it’s sold at Barneys New York and
Ikram in Chicago and its sales are comparable
to men’s wear.
Women’s-wise, the show started relatively
cautiously with what could be best described
as boyish looks for girls as a counterpart
to the girlish stuff for guys. But there was
zesty development that will delight novelty
knitwear enthusiasts and anyone who just
likes pretty sweater dressing in shades of
berry, pink and blue. Fuzzy mohair jackets
looked remarkably like luxe shearlings. A pair
of wallpaper-ish printed dresses layered over
contrast pleated skirts — all knits — made for
strong but not overwhelming optical interest.
A pink ribbed cashmere vest over a matching,
slinky skirt was a cozy crowd-pleaser.
The Orley family has already proved
adept at manipulating knits and bringing
some excitement to the category, but this
season they showed their ability to produce a
grown-up, retail-friendly wardrobe
that speaks to their original sensibilities.
— Aria Hughes and Jessica Iredale
Fall
Collections
2016
Billy Reid
Orley
Calvin Klein
Collection
Eveningwear
Calvin Klein
Collection
Eveningwear
Capsule
With awards season in full swing, designers know the red carpet is the ultimate
runway show, and Calvin Klein’s Italo
Zucchelli is ready to seize the opportunity.
He showed a capsule collection of modern
eveningwear that was designed to “coexist”
with his mainline collection, shown last
month in Milan.
The mainly black offering was embellished with gold and silver panels on lapels,
pockets and plackets that appeared on tuxedo blazers and sharply tailored topcoats.
Although the collection was elegant, it
was toned down by pairing the evening
blazers with skintight long johns and the
introduction of gold- and silver-coated
denim.
“Hopefully you’ll see it in the stores and
on the red carpet,” Zucchelli said.
— J.E.P.
6
Timo Weiland
One can trust the team at Timo Weiland
(Donna Kang, Timo Weiland and Alan
Eckstein) to make cool clothes for a creative class of consumers, but this season
they raised the bar.
Backstage before the show, Eckstein
cited the brand’s usual points of reference — New York City and music from the
Sixties — but emphasized a turn to more
tailored pieces. Wide leg and narrow
trousers were styled with matching blazers, which were worn over zip-up sweaters with chevron. Bomber jackets came
in a gingham velvet and wool tweed. A
European influence was felt with the
playful berets and woven T-shirts. These
pieces came in an energizing color
5 FEBRUARY 2016
palette — mashed-up cherry red with
maroon and cobalt with kelly green.
What really elevated the line was the
outerwear, which ranged from a plaid
peacoat, which closed the show, to a
wool car coat.
Similar to the men’s offering, the women’s looks were more refined than usual,
with fluid wide-leg pants, tailored coats
and a wrap skirt worn as a top.
It was a concise, grown-up collection
for the brand and a welcome move
forward.
— Aria Hughes
Eidos
Eidos pushed the sportswear envelope
for fall. “The vibe is more casual and
slouchy,” said designer Antonio Ciongoli
during the brand’s presentation in SoHo.
In his ongoing search for effortless
elegance, Ciongoli drew from mid-Thirties men’s wear silhouettes for many
of his pieces. Clear examples included
high-waisted pleated pants with a built-in
military belt and a belted trench with no
buttons.
Other military elements made an
appearance in the lineup of the brand, a
division of Isaia, in World War II Japanese paratrooper pants and a vintage
French military pullover paired with
drawstring pants.
The collection was mostly consistent
but a flannel pin-stripe suit seemed a bit
out of place. It also would have benefited
from a wider exploration of the
Fall
Collections
2016
Timo Weiland
Eidos
theme and a deeper variety within the
classifications. — Alex Badia
Hickey Freeman
In a marked departure from the layered, streetwear-inspired aesthetic that
was so prevalent at New York Fashion
Week: Men’s, Hickey Freeman showcased
a collection of updated — and superluxurious — tailored clothing.
Chief creative officer Arnold Brant Silverstone took over a townhouse in SoHo
to create the world of Hickey Freeman.
The collection was broken down into
three sections, all with distinct, yet
complementary sensibilities. Highlands
was Silverstone’s take on the Scottish
countryside, but interpreted in a New
York way. There were suits in exploded
plaids and houndstooth, tuxedos in forest green, and dinner jackets in paisley
jacquard. “It’s an English look but for
today’s customer,” Silverstone said,
pointing to the fuller pleated pants in the
suits.
The Strand was the brand’s Wall
Street-skewed grouping, with reinvented
business suits in a range of new blues,
accessorized with the same forest green.
“We’re opening a new store at Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan in a few
weeks,” Silverstone revealed.
The final section, Greenwich was
“where the sky’s the limit,” he said. The
grouping included a cashmere overcoat
with a vicuna collar; a Yangir cashmere topcoat with cashmere joggers; a
cotton-cashmere corduroy suit, and “a
jogging suit in cashmere, if you want to
jog in cashmere,” he said with a chuckle.
All in all, Silverstone delivered an
elegant and elevated take on a venerable
American brand. — Jean E. Palmieri
Hickey
Freeman
7
5 FEBRUARY 2016 Craft Atlantic
Craft Atlantic can always be counted on
to showcase a clean and minimal brand
DNA, and this season was no exception.
For fall, Luis Fernandez presented a collection that centered around classic men’s
wear staples but with his usual tech spin
play on fabrication and construction.
Clear examples were a storm system
jacquard wool bomber jacket, a waterproof plaid M-65 jacket with a Prince of
Wales inset and pinstripe knit joggers
with Japanese ribbing on the waist.
While the nature of the offering was
simplistic, Fernandez knows how please
the man who is always on the go.
— Luis Campuzano
Devon Halfnight
Leflufy
In Antwerp, it’s about maximalism,
and now I feel the urge to refine it,” said
designer Devon Halfnight LeFlufy, who
showcased a “gender-fluid” collection that
included a twisted deconstructed take on
everyday wardrobe essentials.
Leflufy incorporated into his designs
recycled patchwork leather, an abstract
circuit board jacquard print ensemble,
meshlike elongated shirts created from
wires and crocheted iPhone cables.
In what feels like a less hard approach
from his presentation last season,
Leflufy’s view seemed more like a happy
medium between retro and futuristic.
— L.C.
Rochambeau
The Rochambeau fall collection took
inspiration from the Nineties. Filled with
oversize outerwear in epic proportions,
designers Laurence Chandler and Joshua
Cooper offered military ponchos, varsity
fleeces and puffer vests with wide-leg
shorts paired with socks and Nike Air
Force One sneakers.
Fortunately the brand shied away
from its previous gloomy goth pieces
and rejoiced in rich and vibrant colors of
cream, navy, orange and brown. Blends
of corduroy, nylon with velour tied into
the retro theme.
“We felt the layering and bigger fits
from the film ‘Juice’ featuring Tupac
Shakur was the story we wanted to tell,”
Chandler said.
Highlights included a hooded orange
anorak with an embellished elbow patch,
and an elongated turtleneck paired with
a front patch pullover that exemplified
the oversize layered effect.
While its roots in streetwear remain
evident, Rochambeau continues to elevate its offering by adding a new dimension and modernizing the trends of the
past with modern fabrics.
— Frederick Marfil
Kenneth Ning
Departing from his colorful and outrageous prints of last season, designer
Kenneth Ning focused on a dark palette
this time around.
Titled “Revenge,” Ning’s line offered
graphic capes, long mac coats with black
and metal grommets, and burgundy
bomber jackets, perhaps as a revolt
against the traditional men’s wear tailoring. Jacquard wool and rayon fabrics
were found throughout and some jackets
had raw edges which, according to Ning,
were purposely left that way.
“My biggest clients are from Japan and
they love to take risks,” said Ning, who
has previously designed for Calvin Klein
and Michael Kors.
While the collection is wearable for
the eccentric, several pieces — such as
the jackets with metal grommets and
oversize zippers — looked too conceptual
and unfinished.
— F.M.
Ricardo Seco
Ricardo Seco
New York City-based designer Ricardo
Seco continued to channel his Mexican
heritage for his fall collection.
Entering its ninth season, the collection, entitled “Time,” showcased black
turtlenecks disrupted by an array of
vibrant patterns and fluorescent pops
of color that broke up the monotonous
aesthetic.
“The serape is a 500-year-old traditional garb that I chose to focus on this
season,” Seco said.
The focus garment may be of ancient
origin, but the collection still managed to
speak to the downtown consumer while
maintaining a fiery beat. — F.M.
Kenneth Ning
Fall
Collections
2016
Craft Atlantic
Devon Halfnight Leflufy
Rochambeau
9
5 FEBRUARY 2016 THE MARKETS
Ralph Lauren Eyes
Change as Shares Fall
●
Stefan Larsson will disclose
his multiyear growth strategy
for the company in the spring.
BY VICKI M. YOUNG
If 2015 was a year of transition, 2016 is a
year of change at Ralph Lauren Corp.
President and chief executive officer
Stefan Larsson, in a conference call to
Wall Street analysts after the company
posted mixed third-quarter results, said
he’s working with the team in conducting an inclusive review of the company’s
operations. He said the assessment and
the company’s multiyear growth strategy
will be completed in the coming weeks
and months, and he would share those
findings with Wall Street in late spring.
While the development of the growth
strategy is good news, it did nothing to
mitigate investors’ reaction either to
third-quarter results or to the company’s
cut in fiscal 2016 guidance. The company
beat on profit forecasts, but missed on
the revenue front. Investors sent shares of
Ralph Lauren down 22.2 percent to close
at $89.95 in trading on the Big Board.
The company adjusted guidance for
fiscal 2016. It expects consolidated net revenues to be up 1 percent in constant currency and down 3 percent on a reported
basis. The prior forecast estimated flat net
revenues on a reported basis and up 3 to 5
percent in constant currency.
For the fourth quarter, the company
guided consolidated net revenues to be
flat to down 2 percent on a reported basis.
For the three months ended Dec. 26, net
income fell 39.1 percent to $131 million, or
$1.54 a diluted share, from $215 million,
The Ralph Lauren store at
South Coast Plaza.
or $2.41, a year ago. On an adjusted basis,
excluding certain charges such as restructuring costs, net income was $193 million,
or $2.27 a diluted share. Wall Street was
expecting earnings per share of $2.13.
Net revenues slipped 4.3 percent to
$1.95 billion from $2.03 billion. Wall Street
was expecting revenues of $2.03 billion.
By category, wholesale net sales fell 6.1
percent to $786 million, while retail net
sales dropped 3.1 percent to $1.11 billion.
Consolidated comparable store sales fell
7 percent, and were down 5 percent on a
constant currency basis. Like other fashion companies, warmer temperatures in
the U.S. hurt sales of cold weather apparel
and accessories, such as outerwear and
boots.
Macro trends going into the fourth
quarter include strong sales of denim
and the ath-leisure categories, according
to Christopher H. Peterson, president of
global brands, in a telephone interview.
He also said the company plans to reduce
the inventory buy at the wholesale and
retail channels. Peterson said that is
part of a “broad strategy” the company
is embarking on for fiscal-year 2017 to
reduce the amount of product being sold
on promotion “as a way to strengthen the
brand.” He also said “[o]ur retail partners
are very much in sync” with the company’s strategy.
Ralph Lauren, executive chairman
and chief creative officer, referred to
2015 as the “year of transition.” He also
said: “While our recent results have been
disappointing, I am greatly encouraged by
the changes that are already taking place
since the appointment of Stefan Larsson
as our new ceo. He has my full support as
he conducts his comprehensive review of
our business and takes the lead to move us
forward.”
Larsson, who began in November, spoke
to analysts about his first 90 days on the
job.
“I have done a lot of travels. I have been
to London, Paris, Geneva, Frankfurt,
Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and
all over the U.S., including our distribution
center in North Carolina.…In many of
these meetings, I received direct feedback
from team members and customers,”
Larsson said.
The ceo said the goal of the traveling
and meetings was to learn as much as
possible about the brand and the environment it competes in. He explained that the
review goes beyond the cost savings plans
initiated before he joined the company,
and covered “value creators in the business from brand, product, marketing, to
supply chain distribution, geographies, as
well as customers and competitors.”
Larsson, who described the performance of the business as “very disappointing” and said the “challenges we are facing
did not materialize overnight,” provided
analysts with insight on the kind of deep
dive his team is eyeing in the overall
review.
He said for each brand, it starts with
an analysis on how to build authenticity, evolve the brand in a way that its
DNA stands out and how to balance the
assortment. The team is also looking at
how to shorten the lead times as they
relate to supply chain and inventory
management. One key question that needs
to be answered, he said, is “relating to
the increasingly disruptive environment
we are in. How do we strengthen the
brand and develop the business model
fast enough to succeed in an increasingly
disruptive world?”
Larsson also told analysts there are two
main components to the “plan framework.” The first involves strengthening
the customer component, which includes
product offerings, marketing and the
shopping experience. The other is “to
radically strengthen the underlying business engines. These engines will include
developing a systematic, repeatable way
to creating a stronger assortment and [a]
more demand-driven supply chain and a
holistic global expansion strategy.”
The ceo concluded: “It is complex work
that will take time. We will show you the
pacing through the plan we will present
in late spring and we will show progress
every year.”
RETAIL
J&M Davidson Opens
New London Flagship
●
Marking its 30th year, British
brand J&M Davidson has
opened a new flagship on
Mount Street in London’s
Mayfair.
BY JULIA NEEL
LONDON — Marking its 30-year anniversary,
British brand J&M Davidson has opened a
flagship on Mount Street here.
“We are overwhelmed to be returning to
the place where it all began for us decades
ago,” said John Davidson, who founded the
brand in 1985 with his wife Monique. “Many
don’t realize we actually used to create
pieces in Mayfair above the Medici Gallery in
the Eighties. We fell in love with this building
as soon as we saw it — its charm seemed to
mirror what we try to create in our pieces,
so it’s a natural home for us to be.”
The couple were inspired by Edwardian
themes and the works of John Singer Sargent
for the store, which sits over two floors
and across 850 square feet. Bouquets of
light pink roses are dotted throughout the
pale-carpeted space, the focus of which is
an impressive, cantilevered staircase with
treads cast in solid terrazzo marble and a
leather-wrapped handrail that leads to the
basement floor.
The Davidsons worked with Universal
Design Studio, a London-based architecture
and interior design practice, on the fit-out,
and tapped Nicholas Chandor to source
bespoke pieces of furniture. Handbags,
accessories, ready-to-wear collections, shoes
and small leather goods are all stocked,
and there are some exclusive Mount Street
product offerings.
At the store’s party to mark its opening,
Daisy Lowe and Harriet Verney took turns
on the DJ decks, while guests including Zara
Martin, Zafar Rushdie, Jasmine Hemsley
and Bip Ling had wallets monogrammed in
gilded letters.
This is the brand’s third stand-alone store,
with a headquarters-cum-shop on Golborne Road in Notting Hill and a flagship in
Aoyama, Japan, where J&M Davidson has its
strongest following. The new store coincides
with a new direction for the label — but
don’t call it a relaunch.
“I wouldn’t say we are relaunching the
brand, more refreshing it,” explained John
Davidson. “While we are a timeless brand,
we know it’s key to innovate, especially at
a time when markets are so dominated by
technology and influencer marketing. [The
year] 2015 saw us celebrate our 30th year in
business, so it seemed a really natural time
to reassess and to start to spend more time
and focus back in the U.K., following lots of
The interior of the J&M
Davidson store.
international work, particularly in Japan.”
This reinvigoration is owed to an investment from Yagi Tsusho, a Japanese marketing and merchandising company that
imports and exports fashion and accessories, as well as food, fabrics and yarns. For
a decade, the Davidsons have worked with
the company, which was originally the sole
importer and distributor of J&M Davidson in
Japan and made a considerable contribution
to the brand’s growth in the Japanese market at the Aoyama flagship and the department store concession business.
When John and Monique Davidson
met on a Spanish beach in 1969, John was
working as a photographer in Brighton and
Monique had been a designer in Paris. Their
brand was born when Monique picked
up a studded dog collar in a market and
remarked that it would look good as a belt.
They tracked down the factory and started
making belts in bridle leather. Handbags and
wallets followed, and rtw was launched in
1994.
After 40 years of marriage, they still work
together every day and show no signs of
slowing down. Quite the opposite — they
have their sights set on further flagship
openings across the globe. “Our ambition,
like any passionate designer, is to launch
more stand-alone stores,” said John Davidson. “Given Monique’s background, launching in Paris would feel a natural lead-on.
We’ve also had really positive feedback from
the States and Hong Kong, so watch
this space.”
10 5 FEBRUARY 2016
BEAUTY
Beauty Firms in Transition
See Stocks Jump
● While some of the top
companies are in flux, they’re
also making moves and
keeping bottom lines afloat.
BY WWD STAFF
Quarterly results from some of the top
beauty companies revealed a sector that is in
transition.
At Coty Inc., the company’s second-quarter results were hamstrung by hefty
expenses due to acquisitions-related restructuring costs, but top- and bottom-line results
were better than Wall Street estimates. For
Elizabeth Arden Inc., currency headwinds
continued to impact business, but the company’s work on transforming itself is paying
off as it narrowed its loss in the second quarter. Meanwhile, at Sally Beauty Holdings,
initiatives aimed at bolstering gross margins
and strengthening same-store sales buoyed
its bottom line.
Traders celebrated the results with shares
of Coty finishing the day with a 15.2 percent
gain to $28.36 while Sally Beauty closed
up 13.1 percent to $30.13. Elizabeth Arden’s
results were after market, but shares finished
up 1.5 percent at the bell to $8.02.
For the second quarter ended Dec.
31, Coty reported a 29 percent dive in
net income as the firm swallowed higher
expenses. Revenues dropped 4 percent
to $1.2 billion, a 4 percent decrease. Gross
profits came in at $742.8 million for the
quarter, down from $750.7 million in 2014.
On an adjusted basis, net income attributable to Coty fell 17 percent to $135.8 million,
and adjusted earnings per share were 38
cents for the quarter, and 98 cents for the
six-month period.
Results reflect the cost of the deal spree
Coty has undertaken and the organizational restructuring those acquisitions have
spurred. For the six-month period, Coty
incurred $72.7 million in restructuring
costs, mostly from its acquisition integration
program and $64.9 million in acquisition-related costs. Of those charges, $1.1 million was
related specifically to the acquisition of cosmetics brand Bourjois, which the company
added in April.
Coty is working to rationalize non-strategic product lines and businesses, something
Chloé Eau de Parfum
it will continue to do after it closes the deal
for 41 beauty brands from Procter & Gamble,
said Bart Becht, the company’s chairman
and interim chief executive officer. That
process includes removing lines from certain
channels. Selling nail polish line OPI in hardware stores, for example, “is probably not
the smartest thing we could do,” Becht said.
The business has been involved in a
handful of deals — inking a licensing agreement with Tiffany & Co. and making other
acquisitions. Aside from the Bourjois and
P&G deals, Coty added digital marketing
firm Beamly and closed a $1 billion deal for
beauty brands from Brazil-based Hypermarcas on Feb. 1. The Hypermarcas transaction gives Coty infrastructure, including
manufacturing, logistics and management
capabilities that it didn’t have in the region,
Becht said.
The P&G transaction is slated to close in
the latter half of 2016, and has received U.S.
regulatory approval. The deal still requires
approval from European regulators. Coty
was originally slated to buy 43 brands, but
Dolce & Gabbana fragrances and Christina
Aguilera Perfumes did not consent to the
transaction. Becht declined to provide
further insight into the P&G brands, but said
the company would file paperwork with the
Securities and Exchange Commission that
would give a clear picture of the businesses
in mid-April.
Color cosmetics had net revenues of
$374.8 million, a 10 percent increase from
$340.5 million in the year-ago period.
Coty’s fragrance net revenues were $627
million, down 9 percent from $691.7 million
year-over-year. Skin and body care was also
down, bringing in $208.7 million in net
revenues from $227.4 million in the year-ago
period, an 8 percent decline.
Growth in color cosmetics revenue was
offset by revenue declines in fragrance.
Color cosmetics net revenues were up,
driven by Sally Hansen and Rimmel. In
skin and body care, the company reported
growth for Adidas and Philosophy, but the
category was pulled down by lower net
revenues from Playboy.
At Elizabeth Arden Inc., net sales for the
second quarter fell 5.2 percent to $316.2 million from $333.6 million in the same period
last year as the loss narrowed to $5.6 million,
or 19 cents per share, from $56.8 million, or
$1.90. At constant currency, sales dropped 1
percent. And the adjusted earnings per share
came in at 10 cents.
Management said in the quarterly report
that results are “in line with the company’s
internal plans, and its business transformation initiatives continue to drive down costs
and improve efficiencies.”
The company also said it was ahead of
plan in “achieving its cash flow budget.”
Regarding efforts to cut costs, management
said it was on track to “achieve or exceed
the high-end of its previously communicated
estimate of approximately $47 million to $50
million of annualized savings.”
By region, Elizabeth Arden’s net sales rose
9 percent in Europe and 18 percent in China.
The company said it was restructuring the
leadership team in China “to improve the
capability in this priority market. The company’s joint ventures in Southeast Asia and
the Middle East are also now fully operational and focused on accelerating sales.”
The company noted that sales of Elizabeth
Arden-branded products rose 3 percent,
“with growth driven by higher fragrance
and skin-care sales,” increasing by 8 percent
and 2 percent, respectively. Non-Elizabeth
Arden branded fragrances fell by 4 percent
while net sales of the designer fragrances
increased by 7 percent “during the period
behind strong momentum in the John Varvatos fragrance brand and growth in Juicy
Couture fragrances, but were offset by lower
sales of celebrity fragrances.”
For Sally Beauty Holdings, first-quarter
net sales rose 3.5 percent to $998 million
from $964.5 million — which beat the
FactSet estimate of $990 million. Net income
dropped 23.1 percent to $42.2 million, or
28 cents a share, from $54.9 million, or 35
cents, in the same period last year. On an
adjusted basis, earnings rose 16.4 percent to
$65.9 million from $56.6 million in the prior
year. Earnings per share were better than the
FactSet estimate of 36 cents.
“We are off to a solid start for fiscal year
2016,” stated Chris Brickman, president and
chief executive officer. “We drove same-store
sales improvement in our Sally business,
and our BSG business continued to grow
sales and gain channel share. In addition,
implementation of our pricing and margin
improvement initiatives resulted in gross
profit margin expansion consistent with our
previously stated guidance.”
Consolidated gross profit for the fiscal
2016 first quarter was $494 million, an
increase of 4.3 percent over last year’s gross
profit of $473 million for the same period.
Sales growth was driven by same-store
sales growth and net new store openings.
First quarter same-store sales growth of 3.9
percent easily topped last year’s growth of
2.3 percent. Sally Beauty took selective price
increases in certain parts of the country and
fewer discounts in this quarter versus the
last quarter.
The store count increased by 106 over the
fiscal 2015 first quarter for a total store count
of 3,711.
RETAIL
Study: Online Ratings and Reviews Matter
● Two analysis centers offered
ratings and consumer reviews
to gauge their influence on
purchase decisions.
BY SHARON EDELSON
Are online and mobile consumers swayed
by a multiple stars and glowing product
reviews?
PowerReviews and Northwestern
University’s Medill IMC Spiegel Digital and
Database Research Center studied ratings
and reviews to better understand their
influence on purchase probability. First
and foremost, the study concluded that
ratings and reviews are one of the top factors impacting purchase decisions, second
only to price.
When it comes to ratings, star power
only goes so far. A rating between 1 and
about 3 stars has little effect on the sale.
When the star rating surpasses 3, the
likelihood of purchase rises. Consumers
are more likely to purchase a product
with a 4-star rating than one with 3 stars.
But, propensity to purchase peaks with
an average rating of between 4.2 and 4.5
stars. After 4.5 stars, the likelihood of purchase dips. It seems that consumers don’t
trust a perfect 5 rating, believing that it’s
simply too good to be true.
Northwestern’s researchers analyzed
data from multiple e-commerce websites,
including 22 product categories with a
total of 111,460 stockkeeping units.
While is seems counterintuitive, negative reviews can have a positive impact
because they help establish trust and
authenticity, the study said. “Consumers
understand that a product can’t be all
things to all people, and they appreciate
negative reviews as an important element in their decision-making process,”
the study said. “Previous PowerReviews research found that 82 percent of
shoppers specifically seek out negative
reviews.”
The ideal number of reviews varies.
The Northwestern research team found
that the ideal number of reviews depends
on the length of the reviews themselves.
When reviews are shorter, more reviews
carry more weight. However, when
reviews are longer, the number of reviews
is less impactful.
A review of Columbia women’s Glacier
fleece jacket on Amazon.com is short and
to the point. “Perfect lightweight fleece
top, I have four of them now and wear
them ALL the time in the winter. You can
layer them when it’s colder, but for everyday they can’t be beat.”
The study offered four recommendations for retailers looking to generate
results with ratings and recommendations.
Allowing negative reviews to live on a Web
site isn’t a purchase-killer. Rather, negative
reviews lend authenticity to the content
and help build trust with consumers.
Besides, the vast majority of consumers
actively seek out negative reviews, the
study said.
While reviews are considered to be
most important for big-ticket items such as
appliances and automobiles, Northwestern and PowerReviews looked at high- and
low-priced products in the same category
and concluded that star ratings had more
influence on expensive products. Since
there’s inherently a higher risk associated
with buying a high-priced item, reviews
can help consumers overcome that risk.
The study found that reviews are
relevant for new or relatively unknown
brands, which could sample their product
and solicit reviews.
Finally, retailers should actively solicit
reviews. With 80 percent of reviews coming from post-purchase emails, retailers
should send consumers an e-mail asking
them to review their purchase.
11
5 FEBRUARY 2016 RETAIL
Nasty Gal Hit
By Layoffs
● The L.A.-based company
expected to undergo a
company-wide restructuring.
BY RACHEL STRUGATZ
Life’s getting real for Nasty Gal and
the other digital darlings that have built
devoted customer bases online, but are
starting to feel some serious growing
pains — and increasing pressure to turn
a profit.
The Los Angeles-based Nasty Gal laid
off 10 percent of its staff Thursday as
part of a company-wide restructuring.
The firm has raised $65 million to date,
including $16 million in Series C funding in March, led by former Apple Inc.
and J.C. Penney Co. Inc. executive Ron
Johnson.
“Today we had to lay off 19 employees
as part of a strategic restructuring,” said
Sheree Waterson, Nasty Gal chief executive officer. “While this was a difficult
decision to make, it is necessary and
will allow us to continue to evolve as a
company.”
In an internal e-mail, Waterson said
the focus going forward would be on
improving operations, brand building
and strengthening the core business.
“The market in which we operate is
changing, both in retail broadly and
apparel specifically,” Waterson said in
the e-mail. “We have seen other tech and
apparel brands make similar types of
business decisions recently. It is imperative for us to be nimble and think strategically about the future of our brand.”
Last month, beauty box subscription
service Birchbox cut 15 percent of its
staff. And late last year, Rent the Runway
came under the spotlight for changes in
its executive team.
An employee at Nasty Gal told WWD
under the condition of anonymity that
the company’s layoffs were more course
correction than big corporate shift.
“It’s really not a massive [change],
but it’s obviously significant,” this
person said, noting that there have been
“components of the business that have
been turned on less strategically” such
as Nasty Gal’s transition from wholesale operation to one that also has an
in-house collection.
The source said the goal is to build
the brand and “create an operationally
sound, profitable business.”
The 10-year-old company had at least
three rounds of layoffs in 2014, the largest round taking place in August, when it
was reported that about 20 people of the
approximately 280-person staff were let
go. At the time, the company was preparing to open its first retail flagship, which
bowed on Melrose Avenue.
Amoruso stepped down as ceo in
January 2015 and passed the reins on to
Waterson, a former Lululemon Athletica
Inc. executive.
Nasty Gal — like Birchbox, Rent the
Runway and Bonobos and other digital-first fashion players — is maturing as
a business and now searching for just
the right configuration as layers physical
stores onto its e-commerce base.
Rent the Runway has also been
branching out and feeling some strains,
seeing management turnover as it sought
to grow beyond the special occasion
business and poured energy and funds
into building a service people use
everyday.
The competition is also bearing down.
Valerie Davis, senior vice president
of paid media at digital marketing and
branding agency PM Digital, said these
companies have led with innovation,
and now other “market disruptors” have
entered each of these categories.
“They spent without necessarily
having an eye for profitability, in order
to increase penetration and build up
their customer base, which was the
ultimate goal at that time,” Davis said.
“Except now, the market has softened,
and paired with other market disruptors,
it’s ‘slowed the faucet’, and now these
companies need to turn a profit.”
For Davis, the issue is less of a business model change and more that companies are facing increasingly competitive climates with a lot of innovation.
And a bigger focus on bricks and
mortar.
Katia Beauchamp, Birchbox’s
cofounder and ceo, brought on a group
of seasoned retail executives to help
expand the company’s physical presence. The beauty firm laid off 50 employees last week and stopped its service in
Canada. The service has more than one
million members.
A New-York based venture capitalist
blamed Birchbox spending much of the
money it raised on customer acquisition
and paid channels — when ultimately,
the brand doesn’t have a customer with a
great lifetime value.
“Price points are low and it’s someone
sampling [items] — it’s a lot of churn. My
guess is that they were overpaying for
their customer,” this person said.
Bonobos hasn’t cut its staff, but saw
some C-suite turnover last year when
founder Andy Dunn retook his role as
ceo less than three months after naming
Francine Della Badia to the top spot.
Bonobos also spun off its women’s brand
Ayr in December to become a standalone
company.
Dunn on Thursday said Bonobos is
“almost profitable” and that the brand’s
full price business was up 75 percent last
year.
“Our stores are profitable as a channel
and doing great. We beat our [bottom
line] goal for 2105 by $2 million,” Dunn
said.
As for the decoupling of Ayr, Dunn
said the women’s line needs a laser focus
on building a stand-alone business and
its own set of investors. “We don’t want
to take from our balance sheet to give to
Ayr,” he said.
Profit pressures appear to have finally
come to bear on the digital first crowd.
BUSINESS
Kohl’s Cuts EPS Outlook
● Results were impacted
by a heavily promotional
environment.
BY ARTHUR ZACZKIEWICZ
After Kohl’s Corp. said fourth-quarter
comparable sales rose 0.4 percent with
fiscal 2015 comparable sales rising 0.7
percent, the retailer reduced fiscal 2015
earnings-per-share guidance as sales and
margins came in lower than expected.
The company said it now expects 2015
EPS to range between $3.40 and $3.45.
Carving out “debt extinguishment losses
recorded in prior quarters,” the fiscal
EPS is pegged to range between $3.95
and $4, which is “down from its previously stated guidance of toward the lowend of $4.40 to $4.60 per diluted share,”
the retailer said.
The retailer noted that footwear
and home goods were top performers.
Accessories performed the weakest.
Regionally, sales were best in the West
while the mid-Atlantic and South Central
regions “were the most difficult,” the
retailer said.
“The change in guidance is a result of
lower than planned sales for the quarter
and significantly lower than planned
gross margin,” the company said, adding
that gross margins were “affected by
the origin and timing of the sales in
addition to the competitive promotional
environment which resulted in higher
than expected markdowns on both yearround and seasonal merchandise.”
For the fourth quarter, total sales
gained 0.8 percent while total 2015 sales
rose 1 percent.
Kevin Mansell, chairman, chief executive officer and president, said while
“we experienced our fifth consecutive
quarter of positive comparable-sales
increases, sales were very volatile and
less than planned in the fourth quarter.
We experienced a very strong holiday
selling season from the week of Thanksgiving through Christmas. These results
were offset by a very slow start to the
quarter in early November and a weaker-than-expected January as soft demand
for cold-weather goods led to lower
store traffic in these more discretionary
shopping periods.”
Kohl’s fell short of Wall Street’s
expectations with a 19.8 percent
decline in third-quarter profits.
That said, Mansell noted a strong
performance online, with the retailer’s digital business as online channel
generating orders and sales that “grew
approximately 30 percent during the
quarter. Our ability to provide both
ship-from-store and buy online, pickup
in-store capabilities in all stores really
resonated with our customer.”
BUSINESS
Feds Seize
$39.3M in
Bogus Sports
Products
● Officials nabbed millions of
dollars in counterfeit athletic
goods in the past year and
led a weeklong effort in San
Francisco in the run-up to the
Super Bowl on Sunday.
BY KRISTI ELLIS
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities said
Thursday they have snagged $39.3 million
worth of counterfeit sports merchandise
in the past year, including $400,000 in
the past week alone leading up to Super
Bowl 50 in San Francisco on Sunday.
Sarah R. Saldaña, director of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
revealed the details at a press conference
in San Francisco, noting that the yearlong
effort, dubbed “Operation Team Player,”
led to the seizure of nearly 450,000
counterfeit sports-related items.
“Intellectual property theft is a serious
crime,” Saldaña said. “The increased
enforcement actions conducted over the
past year not only protected consumers,
but led to information investigators
can use to shut down major counterfeit
distribution networks overseas and within
our borders.”
Operation Team Player, which also
resulted in 41 criminal arrests and 35
convictions during the year, began at the
conclusion of last year’s Super Bowl. The
effort was developed by ICE’s Homeland
Security Investigations’ National
Intellectual Property Rights Coordination
Center, which led coordinated efforts
with major sports leagues to target
contraband.
“The NFL’s ongoing partnership with
ICE and the IPR Center has resulted in a
significant crackdown on the illegal sale of
counterfeit merchandise and tickets,” said
National Football League counsel Dolores
DiBella. “This collaboration protects all
fans, including those participating in
Super Bowl 50 festivities, who seek an
authentic NFL experience.”
In the past week, HSI special agents
joined forces with industry, Customs
and Border Protection and local law
enforcement in the San Francisco Bay
Area to crack down on flea markets, retail
outlets and street vendors selling bogus
Super Bowl-related goods. They seized
fake jerseys, hats, cell phone accessories
and thousands of other bogus items
valued at about $400,000, according to
an IPR Center spokesman.
The spokesman said about 63 percent
of all counterfeit goods seized are
imported to the U.S. from China.
“Counterfeit products flood the
supply chain with fake and potentially
dangerous items while stealing from the
rightful owners of trademarks,” said
CBP commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske.
“Working closely with our federal
government partners and U.S. business,
CBP identifies counterfeit products at the
border before they enter the stream of
commerce to protect U.S. businesses.”
David Hirschmann, president and chief
executive officer of the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce’s Global Intellectual
Property Center, said, “Criminals selling
counterfeit goods often use big events like
the Super Bowl to trick consumers into
buying high-priced, low-quality fakes. Not
only do these criminal networks rip-off
consumers, they have real consequences
on the American economy.”
12 5 FEBRUARY 2016
Burberry’s Bold Move
decided to put the focus on the social media
savvy end-consumer who refuses to wait six
months for her clothes to land in store.
The British Fashion Council, meanwhile,
is ramping up its program of consumer-facing shows known as London Fashion
Weekend.
Burberry is by far the biggest name to
take the leap, and its decision could accelerate proposed changes to runway show and
delivery patterns.
Christopher Bailey, the company’s chief
creative and chief executive officer, said
the move is all about the end consumer.
“The changes we are making will allow us
to build a closer connection between the
experience that we create with our runway
shows and the moment when people can
physically explore the collections for themselves,” he said.
“Our shows have been evolving to close
this gap for some time. From live-streams,
to ordering straight from the runway, to live
social media campaigns, this is the latest
step in a creative process that will continue
to evolve,” he added, referring to the myriad digital initiatives that Burberry has been
spearheading over the years.
In an interview with WWD, Bailey said
the decision had been evolving naturally.
“We began live-streaming in 2008-09 and
ever since then we’ve been talking directly
to a customer about the collections, about
the mood, about the music, about the
fashion and about the event. But then we’ve
also been saying to the customer, ‘You have
to fit into the traditional sector thing,’ and
it just didn’t feel right and it hasn’t felt right
since the beginning.
“I told the teams that we can’t expect
a customer to understand our timings
because, I mean, it’s silly, which is why we
did runway made-to-order collections. You
can’t talk to a customer and say, ‘We’re
really excited, we’re going to stimulate you
and inspire you, but you can’t touch it or
feel it for another six months.’ In fashion
we talk about ‘a moment,’ and what feels
right for the moment. And I’ve always battled with that because the moment is when
you’re showing it, but then you’ve got to
kind of say is it the right moment five or six
months down the line? I just struggled with
it. So it’s just trying to say to the customers:
‘You’re really important to us. We’re serving you and we need to change our ways
rather than expect you to do these things.’”
Bailey also addressed the global nature of
Burberry and how his teams have to design
for every season: “We’re a global company.
When we stream that show, we’re not just
streaming it to people who live in spring/
summer climates; we’re doing it for all
different climates. So I guess we’re trying
to look both creatively and pragmatically
at this.”
Burberry, like other big fashion and
luxury brands, is also searching for ways
to counteract slowing sales growth. Add
to that consistently deteriorating sales in
the high-margin markets of Hong Kong and
Macau and the repeated devaluation of the
once mighty yuan as China seeks to boost
exports and prod economic growth.
In January, Burberry admitted in a
third-quarter trading statement that its
results fell short of internal expectations,
with revenues flat at reported rates and up
one percent underlying.
Sales in the October-to-December period
were 603 million pounds, or $917 million,
in what Bailey called “a tougher environment than expected” for the sector as a
whole.
Burberry said its latest move will “significantly shorten the traditional gap between
the runway show and retail availability.”
Asked about the logistics of switching to
a buy-now-wear-now business and about
the impact the move will have on wholesale
and retail partners, Bailey said the process
will take time.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“We do not have the answers to everything today. It is certainly new behavior
for us, and it will mean that we want to
build stronger collaborative partnerships
with our wholesale partners because it
absolutely is a different way of working.
We will be doing things where we invite
those partners to see the collection, and
that will have to be embargoed. It will just
mean a different way of working. But what
I love about it is our partners can work with
it, they can see it, we can create special
packages for them, we can then start saying
‘OK, do we do a special event for your customers where they watch the show live, and
then they can shop immediately.’ So then
it starts to open up actually a whole new,
really exciting world.”
He added that Burberry’s twice-yearly
pre-collections will be integrated into the
runway event. “Pre will become part of the
show, and it will also become part of an earlier delivery. We’re just thinking more about
what will we have in the store in September,
what will we have in the store in October. It
will be more of a capsule, creative capsule
approach than just two collections per
season,” he said.
Burberry’s decision comes on the heels
of another strategic shift: In November, the
company revealed plans to fold its various
collections under the single Burberry label.
The change was aimed at presenting a cohesive brand experience to the end customer
and offering them a simpler way to shop.
Although the company will no longer
stage men’s wear runway shows, Burberry
said it plans to work with London Collections: Men to create “new ways of playing a
significant part in these key moments in the
men’s fashion calendar.”
While Burberry may be the biggest and
most influential label to herald a new era
in showing and selling, it’s certainly not
the first to do so — and it won’t be the last.
The question now is how thick and fast the
changes will come.
Indeed, the British Fashion Council
welcomed Burberry’s decision, and also
hinted that more change is afoot: ‘The
BFC executive board has been talking for
some time about fashion shows better
connecting to consumers and being a direct
driver for retail sales. Burberry is a truly
innovative brand and this strategic move
shows brilliant leadership from Christopher
Bailey and his team in driving this agenda
forward. A number of British brands will
move to a similar model over the next few
seasons,” said British Fashion Council ceo
Caroline Rush.
Retailers are embracing the move to
more in-season, consumer-focused fashion
— and agitating for more change.
“Customers don’t see fashion through the
lens of fall or spring, and the whole idea of
a season is becoming antiquated,” said Ken
Downing, senior vice president and fashion
director at Neiman Marcus, told WWD,
adding there is a major problem nowadays
with customer fatigue.
“You cannot hold a customer’s attention
for six months. They are following every
move in fashion, which means that by the
time a collection arrives in store they are
over it. Technology has changed everything. Customers are living in the here and
the now, but we as an industry are working
with a business model that is 40-50 years
old,” he said.
To wit, some of London’s retailers are
increasingly tailoring their offer to the
different seasons.
“Increasingly, our customers are looking
for ‘buy-now-wear-now’ items and we have
to respond to that,” said Jason Broderick,
Harrods’ director of men’s wear, sports and
fine watches.
Scott Tepper, fashion buying and merchandising director at Liberty, said the store
has been seeing “a very distinct change in
our customers’ shopping patterns” and
“You can’t talk to a customer and say, ‘We’re
really excited, we’re going to stimulate you and
inspire you, but you can’t touch it or feel it for
another six months.’”
— Christopher Bailey, Burberry
therefore decided to take some calculated
risks for the early spring buys to reflect
them.
“It’s no longer viable to offer the customer nothing but lightweight fabrications
in December, January and February. We’ve
learned there is a substantial customer
block that wants newness in everything
from overcoats to chunky knits to coldweather accessories when the weather
warrants them — and not before — but he’s
bored by carryover fall styles,” Tepper said.
Liberty expects the strategy to lift early
fall sales by as much as 30 percent, he said,
and has raised its open-to-buy accordingly
for brands that have adjusted to the “new
reality” of the seasonal shift.
Last month, during London Collections:
Men, Selfridges unveiled a special Canada
Goose pop-up collection on its men’s wear
floor at a time when shoppers can actually
use a winter coat rather than, say, a spring
wool suit. The pop-up ran until the end of
January.
As reported last month, one of the big
reasons Giles Deacon decided to leave the
London ready-to-wear catwalk behind and
show his couture collection in Paris was to
accommodate his end-consumer.
He told WWD last month: “With couture,
it means I get to show fall in July, with delivery in September. My clients will be getting
their pieces in season.”
He also plans to interface with customers more on screen between the seasonal
catwalk collections. “Today, it’s all about
going to the customer, rather than waiting
for footfall in a shop.”
Other London names including Marios
Schwab and Matthew Williamson have quit
the schedule altogether, opting to work in a
different way, with one-on-one showroom
appointments and in-season deliveries.
Tom Ford revealed late last year that he
plans to show both his fall 2016 women’s
wear and men’s wear collections in “small,
intimate presentations” in New York,
during New York Fashion Week, on Feb. 18.
“Right now, I think that a certain fluidity
is necessary in regards to how we communicate with the consumer, and I have
experimented with different formats
recently. The most important thing to me
with a presentation is that it communicates
the message of the season and the point of
view of the collection,” he said.
Meanwhile, London men’s wear brand
Ada + Nik went “trans-seasonal” during its
sales campaign at Paris Fashion Week in
January.
“On our Web site, we noticed people
were buying puffer jackets in the middle of
summer and tank tops in the middle of winter,” said Nik Thakkar, a creative consultant
and brand strategist who designs the line
with couturier Ada Zanditon. “Seasons just
don’t work any more and we experienced
that first hand.”
Later this month the BFC plans to expand
its longstanding consumer-facing showcase,
which will take place on Feb. 25, two days
after the end of London Fashion Week.
London Fashion Weekend will be held at
the Saatchi Gallery near Sloane Square, and
will feature Emilia Wickstead, Holly Fulton,
Mary Katrantzou and Temperley London.
The BFC plans to showcase one designer
a day, with the runway show repeated
about two to four times throughout the
day. The audience reach is likely to exceed
16,000. The designers also sell directly to
consumers during the event.
“There is no doubt in future seasons
these lines will blur even more as designers opt to do in-season shows. However,
we need to ensure those businesses that
rely on platforms such as fashion weeks to
reach new wholesale partners and media
continue to have the opportunity to do so,”
Rush said.
The biannual, four-day consumer event,
held at the Saatchi Gallery, will host runway
shows, designer talks, shopping galleries
and trends presentations. The shopping
area will see 150 brands on sale, including
Fyodor Golan, J. JS Lee, Linda Farrow,
Mawi, Paper London, Pringle of Scotland
and Osman.
Photograph by JAB Productions/WWD
Christopher Bailey
13
5 FEBRUARY 2016 RETAIL
Bigger Is Still
Better at Wal-Mart
● Wal-Mart said it will close its
102-unit Express chain, one of
the company’s smallest retail
formats, signaling a possible
hiatus from urban retail.
BY SHARON EDELSON
Size always matters at Wal-Mart.
The demise of Wal-Mart Express, a
102-unit chain of smaller stores with an
average footprint of 15,000 square feet,
doesn’t point to an abject failure, but
rather a realization that Wal-Mart doesn’t
“do small,” observers said.
Express’ shuttering was part of last
week’s announcement that Wal-Mart will
close 269 stores worldwide. One of the
smallest store formats, Express was seen
as a vehicle for entering dense urban markets when the pilot was revealed in 2011.
Express’ closure doesn’t necessarily mean
that the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant
is giving up on urban retail.
Many Express stores are in rural
markets, with the exception of units in
Chicago. A spokesman said the economics
of operating in cities has been difficult
for Wal-Mart to rationalize. “We have two
SuperCenters in Washington, D.C.,” he
said. “Having said that, I noticed that we
made the decision to not move forward
with two additional locations in Washington, D.C., that were planned. The
decision not to open those stores was part
of an overall portfolio review. We look at
costs and where it makes sense for us to
be. Unlike some retailers, we don’t raise
our prices based on costs in a particular
market. Obviously, it’s a factor in how we
approach locations.”
“Wal-Mart has made no secret that
Express stores were set apart and so
different than Neighborhood Markets that
they didn’t have any synergies,” said Carol
Spieckerman, president of Spieckerman
Retail. “They had to decide how far they
were going to go with a concept that was
terminally unique. Wal-Mart is realizing
that it can accomplish many of the same
goals it had with Express without necessarily doing it through physical locations or a
small, medium, large strategy.”
Wal-Mart’s relationship with cities has
been fraught at times. At one time, the
retailer planned to open six SuperCenters
in Washington, D.C. It spent millions of
dollars on a public relations campaign in
New York in 2006 when it was actively
seeking locations in the five boroughs. But
Wal-Mart has been met with resistance in
several cities, including New York. While
the retailer has said New Yorkers spend
$200 million at Wal-Mart stores outside the
city, it has yet to open a store there.
Wal-Mart has been aggressive about creating synergies between its online business
and Neighborhood Market locations. The
spokesman said buy-online, pick-up-instore has been rolled out to the entire fleet
of Neighborhood Markets.
The retailer is locating Neighborhood
Markets in close proximity to existing
SuperCenters — often across the street — in
an effort to capture shoppers’ fill-in trips.
Customers visit SuperCenters for more
extensive shopping trips. Wal-Mart in the
past had a strategy of cannibalizing its own
stores by building SuperCenters very close
to one another, believing it was better to
lose sales to one of its own stores than a
competitor’s.
A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart’s global
e-commerce group said the company’s
delivery options now include buy-online,
pick-up-the-same-day, with more than
70,000 items on offer. A locker system is
being tested at select stores.
Spieckerman said Wal-Mart was smart
to exit the Express business. “Small-format
retail is becoming a much more crowded
place,” she said, noting the thousands
of dollar stores and drug stores and
small-format units that Target is rolling
out. In addition, Kohl’s is introducing
35,000-square-foot units and 25,000- to
30,000-square-foot Off-Aisle clearance
stores, while European retailer Aldi is
expanding in the U.S. and its fellow European discount chain Lidl is set to open
stores in the U.S. by 2018.
FASHION
Ciara, Tori Kelly and Allison Williams Team With Keds
● In its 100th year, Keds is
celebrating with American
manufacturing, new
advertising and a collective of
multitalented women.
BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG
Ciara, Tori Kelly and Allison Williams
will play up their multidimensional lifestyles beyond Keds’ spring advertising.
Part of the newly formed Keds Collective, a cadre of women that includes
Jamie Chung, Billie Whitehouse and
others, their involvement is experiential.
Williams, for example, has also directed
two short videos for Keds’ site and will
host the Feb. 10 “100 Years of Keds” event
being held with Refinery 29. Ciara will
perform at the West Chelsea event and
she is also said to be crafting customized
Keds for the brand’s collaboration with
Topshop, due in stores late next month.
Hong Kong-based stylist and blogger Tina
Leung and i-D magazine’s Julia Sarr-jamois
are also expected to do the same for Keds.
To get a better handle on today’s customers, Keds quizzed 5,000 women in
eight countries for qualitative research.
Keds chief executive officer Chris Lindner
said this spring’s ad campaign, created
by Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, is “in the millions.” The company is
spotlighting women who work in a variety
of fields, and ramping up its e-commerce
with D.I.Y. Keds and other initiatives.
Tapping Wearable Experiments founder
Billie Whitehouse for the Keds Collective
seems to encapsulate both of those objectives. After being named chief marketing
officer in August, Emily Culp lined up
Whitehouse, who will help Keds reimagine some products, though wearables are
not planned at this point, according to
Lindner.
Owned by Wolverine World Wide, Keds
plans to start making American-made
goods for the first time since 1983 by using
its parent company’s manufacturing facility in Big Rapids, Mich. In May, Keds will
introduce Made in the USA goods — “product that is 100 percent down to the aglet,
eyelet, box tissue, stuffers, etc.,” Lindner
said. Today there are 100 staffers in Keds’
corporate office in Lexington, Mass., outside of Boston and about 35 more around
the globe in Wolverine’s offices.
At its peak, the company sold 25
million pairs internationally each year.
Founded in 1916 as an offshoot of the U.S.
Rubber Co., Keds sneakers were worn
by American icons like Marilyn Monroe,
Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Jacqueline Onassis and Yoko Ono, who wore
a pair on her wedding day. “It wasn’t as
though the brand was providing endorsement agreements with these women back
in the day. It was just inherent in what
they did and what they wore,” Lindner
said.
In the last few years, Keds has seen a
compound growth rate in the midteens in
North America, Lindner said. Its Asia-Pacific business has more than quadrupled
due to key countries like Korea, Japan
and now China is “coming on board as
a major part of the company’s growth
story.” Taylor Swift, who partnered with
the company in 2012 and remains a brand
ambassador through this year, has helped
rejuvenate interest. Keds’ alliance with
Kate Spade is also going forward. And
the brand has teamed with Malhia Kent,
a European mill with historic ties to Coco
Chanel, for textiles that will be introduced
in April.
With retail distribution lined up in
Topshop, Colette and Galleries Lafayette,
Keds is counting on the European market
for additional growth, and Latin America.
Brazil is particularly strong, where the
company has 35 style selections in multiple stores, maintains production there
and has not seen any immediate impact
from the Zika virus, according to Lindner.
Allison
Williams teams
up with Keds
for Centennial
14 5 FEBRUARY 2016
Sarah Gadon Lives the JFK Era in ‘11.22.63’
The Canadian actress and face of Armani Cosmetics plays a Fifties college student and a Sixties career woman.
Sarah Gadon
Sarah Gadon knows a little
something about being a
time traveler. The Canadian
actress, 28, stars opposite
James Franco in Hulu’s
“11.22.63,” a miniseries adaptation of the Stephen King bestseller about a modern-day
man who journeys back
decades to try to prevent the
assassination of John F. Kennedy. At Sundance this year,
her buzzy in-competition film
“Indignation,” an adaptation of
Philip Roth’s Fifties-set novel,
premiered to strong reviews.
WWD sat down with the actress recently to discuss past,
present and future.
WWD: What drew you to
playing a character in the
Sixties?
Sarah Gadon: There’s
always something very seductive about doing a period
piece, because we have all of
the nostalgia from the present
for that period. Kevin Macdonald, who directed the pilot
episode, really created this
level of restraint so that we
weren’t “French kissing” the
period. Everything about how
I dress and how I wore my hair
was real. I wore a girdle. That
is not a joy, to be wearing that
kind of clothing. A lot of the
references from Tippi Hedren
to Kim Novak are very much
in that Hitchcock world of
tailored suits.
WWD: Did you come in
with much knowledge about
the JFK era?
SG: I grew up in Toronto, so
this was not a part of my country’s history in the same way
as it would have been taught
in school to an American girl.
Kennedy’s assassination was
a real, true loss of innocence.
In a lot of ways, for me, Sadie
was a real representation of
that time of innocence, and
her awakening, her discovery,
really represents that kind of
evolution in American history.
WWD: You’ve also got
“Indignation,” which got a lot
of buzz at Sundance.
SG: People are really excited about it because it’s James
Schamus’ directorial debut.
James has worn many hats in
the industry and has touched
many people’s careers in a
positive way, so I think people
are curious to see what he
has coming. For me, being a
big Philip Roth fan, seeing his
writing adapted for the screen
is really powerful. I think that
Logan Lerman, who plays the
main character in the film,
delivers the performance of
a career.
WWD: Were the period
clothes there more glamorous?
SG: The Fifties is so much
more innocent, I think, than the
Sixties. I was playing a college
student so there was just so
much plaid.
WWD: As far as your
personal fashion, what sort
of style do you go for?
SG: I feel like I have these
very different personas. I have
my “Toronto film student”
[look]: I wear a lot of Acne; I’m
wearing my Common Projects
running shoes. Then you step
into the world of being an actress and you have to kind of
amp up your style. I’m wearing
Roland Mouret today; I think
he cuts beautifully for the
feminine figure. I also started
working with Armani Cosmetics as the face of their brand.
I think that Mr. Armani is an
incredible designer and I love
his tailoring. I also love Erdem,
Sonia Rykiel, Isabel Marant.
WWD: And you have other
career ambitions in the
industry as well?
SG: I studied film in school
and I love film so much. I
watch movies all time, so
when I have a night off, I got a
projector for my house. I love
the French New Wave. I love
Italian Neorealism. I really like
British Kitchen Sink Realism
as well…Crazy about Catherine Deneuve [then], and crazy
about her now.
— SCOTT HUVER
Sarah Gadon
and James
Franco in a still
from “11.22.63.”
Logan Lerman and Sarah Gadon in
a scene from “Indignation.”
VPL RTW
Fall 2015
Victoria Bartlett is leaving VPL, the collection
she founded in 2003, based on the concept of
fusing undergarments and fashion pieces. The
cheekily named VPL stands for “Visible Panty
Line.” When Bartlett, a former stylist, launched
the collection she was working with Jeffrey
Costello. In 2006, Kikka Hanazawa came on as a
business partner. She will continue to run VPL.
Bartlett declined to comment beyond a
company-approved statement stating that she
will “pursue new fashion endeavors and design
projects. As VPL’s designer and creative director,
she was responsible for design and development of VPL.”
— JESSICA IREDALE
SEEING STARS
Christian Louboutin will make his Moda
Operandi debut in celebration of the e-tailer’s
fifth anniversary. The French shoe designer is
the first in a series of createurs to celebrate
the site’s birthday with a limited-edition range
of styles.
Louboutin has designed two celestial-inspired
shoes that will launch Friday. A heavily embellished mule will sell for $2,200 and a pointed
flat will retail for $2,000. Both styles come in a
limited production run of 45 units.
Shoppers can choose to have their zodiac
sign represented on the shoes, and will also
have the option to monogram the shoes with
their initials or date of birth, which will be handstitched at Louboutin’s atelier.
The limited-edition collection is the first time
Louboutin has sold his goods on Moda Operandi.
— MISTY WHITE SIDELL
CHINA CAPSULE
Uma Wang, one of China’s designers of the moment, has completed an eight-piece exclusive
capsule collection for Lane Crawford.
The Hong Kong-based retailer said Wang
tapped “deep into her Chinese heritage to find
inspiration in the bold indigo color that characterizes the clothes worn by Chinese tribes” to
turn out eight styles.
Pieces include a poplin dress with a gathered
waist, a patchwork linen-silk dress and a floral
print silk blend coat. Prices range from 4,500
Hong Kong dollars, or $577, to 10, 200 Hong
Kong dollars, or $1,308. The collection will be
available around Feb. 24 at Lane Crawford’s
Hong Kong IFC and Shanghai Times Square
locations as well as on the retailer’s Web site.
“Fabric is everything to me,” said Wang.
“When I discover a fabric, I can immediately
envisage the shape of the dress in it. It’s the
easiest way to transform my passion and creativity into something unique and novel.”
— AMANDA KAISER
The Uma Wang
capsule collection.
Gadon photographs by Dan Doperalski and Ben Mark Holzberg
EXITING VPL
Christian Louboutin for
Moda Operandi
16 5 FEBRUARY 2016
NOT SO THRILLED
Anna Wintour may have put Kim Kardashian on
the cover of Vogue, but that doesn’t mean she’s
a fan of the whole family. The Condé Nast artistic
director wasn’t too pleased with Architectural Digest’s March newsstand cover featuring Kourtney
and Khloé Karsashian, insiders told WWD.
The sources said the styling of the sisters
wasn’t up to snuff for Wintour, who has been
spending a lot of time on AD’s floor at Condé
headquarters at One World Trade Center. The
artistic director, who doubles as Vogue editor in
chief, has been working “very closely” with AD
editor in chief Margaret Russell to improve the look
of the magazine.
The latest cover, which didn’t go out to subscribers — they got a Kardashian-less one featuring
Kourtney’s office — elicited some “tense” moments
between the two editors, sources said. But it
wasn’t just Wintour who found the newsstand
cover disagreeable — Instagram fans of AD were
vocal about their dislike of the choice as well.
“Sell outs…here I thought AD had some standards…down the gutter,” a user commented. “I
feel like I can see more of their body parts than
interior on this pic,” another wrote. “Unfollow @
archdigest you’ve been going down hill for a while…
btw horrible style…really dated and cheap looking,”
offered another.
Not all the comments were negative. In fact,
many noted the large social media followings of
the Kardashian sisters, while several touted how
great the issue turned out. “Why so much negativity people?! These ladies have beautiful homes that
they worked hard on and are proud of,” said a fan
in defense.
The cover image, which resides on AD’s
Instagram page, has garnered about 7,000 likes —
thousands more than any other cover image the
magazine has posted. A spokeswoman said that
on Tuesday, the day the issue landed, the title saw
its biggest traffic day ever on its Web site as well
as a large jump in the number of Facebook fans
and Instagram followers.
WWD reached out to AD to get clarification
on whether the Kardashian cover was Russell’s
decision, and why she decided to put the sisters on
the newsstand cover only. Russell did not comment, but an AD spokeswoman said, “Designed
by AD100 talent Martyn Lawrence Bullard, both
Kardashian projects are unique and worthy of the
spotlight in our annual ‘Celebrities at Home’ issue.
Margaret Russell chose to do two covers, a celebrity-driven one for newsstand to introduce the
magazine to new readers, and another featuring
a beautiful interior for our subscribers to enjoy.
Longtime readers tell us they display their issues
like coffee table books—and Kourtney’s office, with
mid-Century French furnishings and exquisite art,
is a perfect AD cover.”
Although the Kardashians aren’t known for raking in massive sales on the newsstand, the family
knows how to bring digital buzz. For its part, AD is
focusing more on the Web, as it is in the process of
building a robust digital team led by digital director
Erica Duecy, who joined Condé last summer.
While it is too early to see how the March issue
is performing on the newsstand, AD, like its rivals
in the magazine space, could benefit from a sales
bump there. According to The Alliance for Audited
Media, total single-copy sales totaled 61,973 in the
first half of last year, down 3.3 percent from the
year-ago period. The small decline is an anomaly
in an industry that is suffering double-digit sales
Architectural Digest’s
Instagrammed March Cover.
drops on an annual basis. Still, from 2009 to 2013,
AD’s newsstand sales had steadily hovered above
70,000. — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD
MORE SPACE
HL Group is expanding. The marketing and communications firm has taken office space at 530
Seventh Avenue, an office tower in the Garment
District, which will be home to its recently formed
fashion operations group. The New York headquarters for the company are in Union Square; HL also
operates offices in Los Angeles.
Victoria’s Secret Angels in “Score More”
online campaign for the Super Bowl.
RETAIL
Fashion, Beauty Gear
Up for Super Bowl
●
A few new brands along
with retailers are advertising
during the game for the first
time ever.
BY ARIA HUGHES
Fashion and beauty brands along with
retailers are tapping into the Super Bowl’s
massive marketing machine.
Amazon, Marmot and the Camuto Group
have secured their first 30-second TV spots
during the event, which begins this Sunday
on CBS at 6:30 p.m. EST, while Axe will
make a return during the broadcast.
While it is pushing hard into fashion,
Amazon instead will promote its Echo
wireless speaker and voice command
device, which is named Alexa, during the
Super Bowl with a commercial featuring
Alec Baldwin and Missy Elliot. So far it has
released a few 30-second teasers showing
Baldwin getting prepared for a Super Bowl
party with help from Alexa. They are tagging the campaign the #BaldwinBowl.
“Echo has had an amazing reception
from customers over the past year — they
love it. We thought the Super Bowl was
a great chance to tell even more people
about what Echo and Alexa can do, and
have some fun while doing it,” said Neil
Lindsay, vice president of Amazon Devices.
Marmot, an outdoor apparel brand
based in California, is also making its
Super Bowl debut this season. The brand
has partnered with Goodby Silverstein &
Partners on a 30-second spot that shows
a man enjoying the outdoors with the
brand’s mascot, a Marmot.
“Marmot’s parent company Jarden
Corp. has supported key Marmot brand
and company growth initiatives for
numerous years, and the Super Bowl is
one more great opportunity for Marmot
to reach new consumers,” said Tom Fritz,
vice president of marketing at Marmot.
“Marmot has grown substantially over the
The fashion operations group will be overseen
by vice president Laura O’Hare. HL represents
various lifestyle, fashion, travel and hospitality,
beauty, home and interior design clients. The
second New York office will allow the company to
offer clients sampling and trafficking services for
apparel, accessories, runway and front-of-house
operations.
In December, HL Group beefed up its fashion
focus by adding Kimberly Flaster as senior vice
president of fashion. She handles all fashion-related businesses with oversight for client services
and development of growth strategies.
— LEIGH NORDSTROM
last decade, and the company has reached
a critical mass and is at a point where this
type of marketing program makes sense
to take the company to a new level of
growth.”
According to Fritz, Marmot has been
able to do well despite the odd weather
and the Super Bowl commercial will mark
the beginning of a robust marketing plan
for the remainder of the year.
Axe, which advertised during the Super
Bowl in 2014, has purchased a 30-second spot that will show its “Find Your
Magic,” campaign, a new direction for the
brand that shows various depictions of
masculinity.
Matthew McCarthy, senior director of
Axe and men’s grooming for Unilever, said,
“The Super Bowl is a great place to feature
the brand’s new point of view because
the scale allows us to bring more men
and women into the conversation around
individuality and inclusivity.”
Camuto Group will air its first Super
Bowl commercial — and first TV commercial ever — on Sunday during pre-game
coverage on CBS. The ad, which will run
between 5:55 p.m. and 6:05 p.m., will
precede the Super Bowl kickoff.
The 30-second spot, which was created
by agency and production company Swell,
along with Camuto Group’s in-house global
marketing team, features a Brindle Boxer
dog who wants to help his owner select a
pair of shoes to complete her outfit. The
dog rifles through a walk-in-closet filled
with Vince Camuto shoes and offers his
suggestion for the perfect shoe. The brand
is running teasers on social media platforms leading up to the event.
Victoria’s Secret will not air a TV spot
during the game, but it did release an
online video titled “Score More,” which
debuted on Tuesday night during the CBS
Super Bowl commercial special. The ad
features Victoria’s Secret Angels Adriana
Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Elsa Hosk,
Jasmine Tookes and Taylor Hill.
The Angels, who are dressed up in
football helmets and jerseys, are at a near
loss against their rival team, The Devils,
but defeat their opponents after a pep talk
from their coach, who is played by TV personality Erin Andrews. The video ends by
reminding viewers that “This Valentine’s
Day…score more at Victoria’s Secret!”
Dove Men + Care and Skechers advertised last year during the event but won’t
be participating this Sunday.