Risqué Business

ALL
ABOUT
ELSA
A NEW BIOGRAPHY EXAMINES THE MANY
SIDES OF THE FAMED DESIGNER. PAGE 14
WWD
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014 ■ $3.00 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY
Risqué
Business
In her spring collection, Stella
McCartney took the ultimate in
cozy — a sweater
stretched into
a dress — and
SPRING 2015
gave it a sensual
makeover
with daring,
COLLECTIONS
hip-exposing
cutouts and flirty,
thigh-high slits.
Other designers embraced the
strategic cutout, too. For more,
see pages 4 and 5.
TREND
PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI
SAKS
THEFT RING
FIVE PEOPLE WERE INDICTED
IN AN IDENTITY-THEFT SCHEME
AUTHORITIES SAID WAS
AN INSIDE JOB. PAGE 2
WAL-MART’S WAY
THE RETAIL GIANT IS
LEADING THE CHARGE IN
THE MADE IN AMERICA
RESURGENCE. PAGE 12
COURTING CONTROVERSY
Margiela’s New Man:
Rosso Taps Galliano
By MILES SOCHA
PARIS — When Renzo Rosso acquired Maison Martin
Margiela in 2002, it was described as a wedding of
fashion’s Greta Garbo with Harpo Marx.
On Monday, Rosso surprised the fashion world
again by appointing John Galliano, one of fashion’s
most flamboyant and controversial figures, to take
over the creative direction of Margiela, founded by
an intensely secretive Belgian designer.
The appointment telegraphed Rosso’s daring approach
to the fashion business and raised questions about how
one of the industry’s great romantics might interpret a
house built on avant-garde ideas like deconstruction.
It confirmed widespread market speculation that
Galliano was headed to the Paris-based company, despite recent denials during Milan Fashion Week by
Rosso, whose group, OTB,
controls Margiela via a subRenzo
sidiary called Neuf.
Rosso
“Margiela is ready for
a new charismatic creative soul,” said Rosso,
president of OTB. “John
Galliano is one of the greatest, undisputed talents of
all time — a unique, exceptional couturier for a maison that always challenged
and innovated the world
of fashion. I look forward
to his return to create that
fashion dream that only he
John
can create and wish him to
Galliano
here find his new home.”
Galliano, 53, has been sitting on the sidelines since
being ousted from Christian
Dior and his signature fashion house in 2011. It is understood he will take over
the design leadership of all
Margiela lines, including
couture and the women’s
and men’s ready-to-wear.
He is expected to show his first designs for the
house in January during Paris Couture Week.
The development marks the return of one of contemporary fashion’s most acclaimed talents, absent
from the runways following racist and anti-Semitic
outbursts that precipitated one of the most spectacular flameouts in recent history.
It also represents something of an about-face for
Margiela, whose Belgian founder was often described
as the industry’s invisible man for his Greta Garbolike ways. Following his retirement in 2009, the house
left an anonymous team to carry on his legacy, steadfastly refusing to identify any its members.
Prized for his ultrafeminine, historically inspired
designs, and a particular penchant for bias-cut gowns,
Galliano is hardly an obvious choice for a house known
for cleft-toed boots, deconstructed fashions and allwhite stores.
Yet the British fashion maverick has wide experience designing different kinds of collections, including more casual ranges for women and men under his
now-defunct Galliano second line, known for its newspaper prints, distressed leathers and denim.
Despite the outcry that precipitated Galliano’s
downfall at Dior, early industry reactions to his appointment at Margiela were mainly positive.
“Wow,” said Joan Burstein, founder and owner of
Browns in London, who famously bought the entire
collection Galliano produced upon graduating from
Central Saint Martins in 1984.
“Those who have nothing against [Galliano] will
be happy he’s back in the fashion world, and those
who aren’t happy won’t be happy. Browns wishes him
happiness as well as great success and we will follow
whatever he does with great interest,” Burstein added.
SEE PAGES 6 AND 7
10 WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014
SOURCING HORIZONS
U.S. Textile Firms Back in the Game
making home-furnishing products added
100 jobs to employ 112,800.
As a result of a multiyear commitTHE U.S. TEXTILE industry has gone ment from Wal-Mart and with the supfrom near extinction to a viable alterna- port of SelectUSA — a federal initiative
to promote and facilitate investment in
tive to foreign sourcing.
It’s been given a fresh start by a con- the U.S. — Richelieu Group, a Canadian
fluence of events — rising labor costs legwear company, is investing $24 milin China, new buying patterns brought lion to retool a plant in Hildebran, N.C.,
about by the Great Recession, innovation into a state-of-the-art facility that will rein production machinery, more-competi- shore production and create 200 to 400
tive energy costs and Wal-Mart’s Made in new jobs. The new facility will manufacture socks to be sold in the U.S., Canada,
America push.
About 650 textile plants closed in Mexico and South Korea.
The rebirth in U.S.the U.S. between 1997
made apparel and texand 2009, according to
tiles is often called Made
the National Council of
in the Americas, since
Textile Organizations,
duty-free pacts such as
costing hundreds of
the North American and
thousands of American
Central American Free
jobs. Now, these shiftTrade Agreements, and
ing trade winds have
several bilateral FTAs,
resulted in a rebirth.
have stimulated busiSome 65 textile-related These stories are part of an
ness. Exports of all texprojects in the U.S. with ongoing series that will appear
tile products were nearly
an investment value in periodically in WWD.
$17.9 billion in 2013,
excess of $1.39 billion,
including 32 projects worth $999 million with nearly two-thirds going to Western
in Georgia and North Carolina alone, are Hemisphere free-trade partners.
David Sasso, vice president of internain the works, according to NCTO.
This includes a surge in foreign direct tional sales at Buhler Quality Yarns, said,
investment, with at least eight foreign “For us, domestic sales are growing but
companies committing to $700 million in slowly, mainly because the L.A. market is
new U.S. textile facilities and equipment flat, but our export business continues to
projected to provide about 1,900 new be strong, notably in South America and
jobs in North Carolina, South Carolina, the CAFTA countries.”
Sasso said Buhler’s exports to China
Georgia and Louisiana. The U.S. Labor
Department reported that mills making have grown in the past year, and the comapparel fabrics and yarns added 500 jobs pany is also seeing a increase in shipto employ 117,200 in August, while mills ments to Vietnam. He said that’s one
By ARTHUR FRIEDMAN
reason Buhler is not concerned about
the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement
being negotiated. The domestic textile
industry has been lobbying for a yarnforward rule of origin, but Sasso said,
“You have to find out who the players are
in that country and how you can develop
a business with them. If you can offer
something different that they can’t get in
their own market, then you can take advantage of the opportunity.”
He said Wal-Mart’s commitment to
Made in America has definitely been
spurring business and Buhler is prepared to be part of it.
David Roshan, president of Laguna
Fabrics in Los Angeles, which along with
Buhler was part of a contingent of 10
U.S. mills participating in the Texworld
USA summer show, said, “Our business is
great and has been for the past year. We
sell mostly to the contemporary market
in Los Angeles, but also a lot to Mexico
and Central America. We get a lot of inquiries from brands and retailers who
say, ‘We want Made in America.’’’
Made in America was inherent to the
brand DNA for Ramblers Way Farm,
’’
AMERICA
Tom Chappell in his
office in Maine.
’’
We have to come to full grip that making
a product in America costs more money
than to make it elsewhere and that’s the
price of improving your neighborhood, your
community and your country.
— TOM CHAPPELL, RAMBLERS WAY FARM
founded by Tom Chappell, the creator of
Tom’s of Maine toothpaste and deodorant. The firm’s luxury apparel is vertically manufactured in the U.S. — from
Rambouillet sheep and pima cotton fabric to the fabric mill and sewing facilities.
“It was an essential decision that
if sustainability was to be our core
value, it had to be Made in America,”
Chappell said. “You can’t buy fabric
made in China and expect to be boasting
about sustainability. To me, the only way
you could have strategic flexibility and
ensure that you’re grounded in the elements that you want, is to have control of
the fabric and garment construction.”
Chappell said since the company’s
marketing is aimed at independent specialty stores, the Made in USA philosophy has been an easy sell.
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WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014 11
WWD.COM
“They’re looking for Made in America
product,” he said. “They want to be able
to tell their customer that they have it.
When you go to more-corporate companies, they care less about Made in
America and sustainability. They’re looking for price points and bottom line. But
the groundswell is coming from consumers, and they are influencing the independent boutiques, and we’re in 500 of
them across the country.”
The educated consumer makes the
connection between where and what
they buy and how it impacts their lives,
Chappell noted.
“The notion of local, which began with
food, is spread to those consumers,” he
said. “I introduced natural toothpaste in
1970 and look what’s happened to natural
today. I think the same thing is going to happen to sustainable and Made in America
products. It’s going to ultimately be pervasive. I don’t think trying to solve problems
in Bangladesh with better regulatory oversight is the solution. We have to come to full
grip that making a product in America costs
more money than to make it elsewhere and
that’s the price of improving your neighborhood, your community and your country. As
it swells, the margins and prices will come
down, just like it did in natural.”
He said, for example, when Rambler’s
Way started nearly five years ago, it sold
a Henley wool shirt for $60 wholesale
and now it’s able to sell it for $45.
Chappell said there have been challenges, including finding the right people
to produce the clothes.
“We have to be very patient and very
creative in training sewers because it
can be like finding a needle in a haystack,” Chappell added. “We have had
to find cut-and-sew operations in places
like Allentown, Pa., and Manhattan to
help reinforce the manufacturing requirements. But there’s no wavering in
our commitment to sustainability and
Made in America, and we’ve been able to
make it work and be successful.”
While all agree that U.S. apparel and
textile manufacturing will never be what it
once was a generation ago, the re-shoring
that began a few years ago with niche products is paving a broader path. In a recent
survey of 29 of the largest U.S. apparel retailers, brands, textile firms, and importers
and wholesalers, 55 percent said they plan
to increase their production in the U.S. in
the next two years, and 77 percent said they
already source products in the country.
While International Textile Group has
global production and distribution, the core of the company
is in the U.S. and the revival of
Made in America manufacturing has played into its strength.
“If you look at us overall,
including our government
contract business with our
Raeford division, which is the
single provider of worsted wool
military dress uniforms for the
U.S. military, we’ve always
had Made in USA as an important part of our business,”
said chief executive officer
Ken Kunberger. “There’s been
quite a resurgence in denim,
too, with more production moving back into this hemisphere.”
Cone Denim’s historic White
Oak Mill facility in Greensboro,
N.C., last year installed additional American Draper X3
looms in response to the growing demand for Made in the
USA selvage denim.
“We’ve had a multitude of
customers drive that Made in
America concept over the last
couple of years with White Oak
and co-branding White Oak
into the mix,” Kunberger said.
ITG’s Burlington Industries
division introduced “Just U.S.,”
a collection of fine worsted
wool fabrics woven and finished in the U.S., for fall 2015.
Peter Baumann, senior
vice president of merchandising for Burlington Men’s Wear,
ners and knitters. Unifi Inc. expanded its
four-year-old Repreve Recycling Center in
Yadkinville, N.C., this year, with annual capacity growing to 72 million pounds from
42 million pounds. The expansion created
10 new jobs, and is part of a $15 million investment in the Repreve facility.
Roger Berrier, president and chief operating officer of Unifi, in a conference
call discussing the company’s year-end
results, said, “There’s been much talk
over the past few years about brands and
retailers placing more programs into
the region, and over the last six to nine
months, we’ve started to see the conversation turn into reality. Rising cost from
China combined with infrastructure
growth in the CAFTA region have given
brands and retailers the confidence
An American Draper X3 loom at Cone Denim’s White Oak Mill in Greensboro, N.C.
$1.39B
VALUE OF U.S. TEXTILE-RELATED
INVESTMENTS.
From Burlington Industries’
new Just U.S. Collection.
said, “Burlington’s new collection of fine
worsted fabrics opens up exciting opportunities for Made in America better
apparel. Fine worsted fabrics are a pillar to creating contemporary classic styling, but more recently these fabrics have
not been produced in the United States.
With our new Just U.S. worsteds, made
in Cordova and Raeford, N.C., designers
A look from Ramblers Way Farm.
and brands can now reconnect the heritage of classic men’s dress with modern
constructions and colorways for performance and year-round comfort.”
An NCTO report showed the domestic
textile industry has increased productivity 24 percent over the last 10 years. An
important part of that has come through
greater automation, especially among spin-
needed to place more apparel production into the region, which in turn is
helping them maximize cash flow as they
enjoyed the benefits of lower-volume
commitments and quicker turn times.”
One company that has arisen out of
the revival is Makers Row, which connects small businesses and U.S.-based
manufacturers through a comprehensive
database and networking opportunities.
Cofounder Matthew Burnett said the New
York-based company has 5,000 manufacturers, material suppliers and pattern
makers registered connected to 40,000
brands trying to produce in the U.S.
“Not everybody is shifting everything back here, it’s not going to be that
quick,” Burnett said. “A lot of them are
just testing the waters, but…once these
people start to develop their businesses,
they find that the cost of labor is balanced by the cost of shipping and the
shipping time.…The turnaround time is
the main reason they’re looking for domestic manufacturing and they’re able
to produce a lot smaller quantities at a
time, so it’s a lot safer for them. We want
to help create opportunities for these
American manufacturers to find these
brands and for these brands to find
these American manufacturers.”