1.) The Wristwatch is Dead? A Million Swiss Watchmakers Howl in Protest:
“One day soon the wristwatch will be viewed as quaint and old-fashioned, the same as a pocket watch is seen today . . . This year’s list for the class of 2014 reminds us that these college freshmen were born in 1992, that to them Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess, that Clint Eastwood is a sensitive director, not Dirty Harry, that they have never worried about a Russian missile strike on the U.S., and that Nirvana is on the classic oldies station. The list also reminds us that “they’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day” and that “with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch.”
You know, about two years ago I had the same epiphany, so ditched my watch for a strict reliance on my cellphone as both timepiece and communication device — after all, why burden myself with redundant devices? But I soon realized that I checked the time a lot more than I had anticipated, and hauling my phone out of my pocket or computer bag every time I wanted to check the time was kind of a pain in comparison to simply looking at my wrist.
And once, when the juice on my cellphone ran dry as I was out running errands and skipping from appointment to appointment, I found myself not only out of communication range, but also without the means to keep track of time. After that, I started wearing a watch again.
Until someone invents a cellphone that can generate its own power, I can’t see getting rid of my wristwatch anytime soon. I doubt I’m alone on this, which might be why the Swiss are reporting much better sales numbers lately: Swiss Watch Exports Up 21% In July — “Steel and bimetallic items grew faster than average. Exports to Hong Kong rose 55%, and while demand from the U.S. remained stable, exports to Japan surged 30% . . . ‘Re-stocking is still in full swing and consumer demand seems to have come back, at least in key markets,’ analyst Luca Solca of Bernstein Research said. However, the key months of September and October, which will indicate how Christmas sales could develop, are still to come.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that the increase in watch exports to Japan was a particular surprise, as the Japanese market had been considered “dead in the water“.
2.) Nordstrom Increases Sales with Online Link to In-Store Inventory:
“Say that a shopper was looking at a blue Marc Jacobs handbag at Nordstrom.com. She could see where it was available at nearby stores, and reserve it for pickup the same day. More significant, if the Web warehouse was out of that bag, it did not matter. Inventory from Nordstrom’s 115 regular stores is also included. Maybe there was just one handbag left in the entire company, sitting forlornly in the back of the Roosevelt Field store — it would be displayed online and store employees would ship it to the Web customer . . . ‘If we don’t have it (online), you’re going to go back to Google and say, ‘Who else has it?’’ said (Mr. Nordstrom). ‘We have 115 full-line stores out there — chances are one of them has it.’”
The increase in sales was immediate for Nordstrom. By linking their entire, nationwide in-store inventory with the Nordstrom.com website, they’ve discovered that they’re selling more merchandise at higher price points. Stores that might otherwise have been forced to drastically discount slow-moving items are able, instead, to ship these same items to customers in other parts of the country where the merchandise is more desirable.
Nordstrom has also been the first major high-end retail chain to allow customers to post comments on merchandise, rating and commenting on everything from skin cream and nail polish to denim and handbags. This brings a more real-world, real-time feel to the Nordstrom online shopping experience, encouraging a friendly, social-media interaction between customers that Nordstrom execs hope will increase the appeal of their webstore. They’ve even created a new forum for customers to interact directly with one another regarding beauty tips and style recommendations.
As an example of how important the internet can be to online retailers, and why they shouldn’t be lagging behind in developing user-friendly customer formats: Internet sales soar 60% in China — “Growth is set to continue with Internet sales in China likely to rise more than 35% a year on average over the next few years as more people shop online and more convenient ways of paying for transactions, such as using mobile phones, become available.”
*NOTE 1: A Shanghai official even announced that the population-heavy city outspent the rest of the country on online shopping, which reveals the advantages of building a shopping platform that can take advantage of high-speed urban connectivity whenever and wherever it happens.
Writes Elizabeth Schofield for Fashion Collective: “The face of the internet changes so quickly, and while it’s not integral to be first to market, it is important to know how your luxury brand can be cultivated online. If a brand is truly aware of their audience, and aware of the brand identity, it’s not about the next big platform, it’s about pioneering a new extension of the brand.”
This applies to retail chain brands as well as fashion brands, and Nordstrom appears to be ahead of the curve on knowing their audience.
Saks Fifth Avenue, which does not link its in-store inventory with its online shop, and also doesn’t allow customer interaction or feedback on its website, has announced that it’s closing two more of its locations — in Plano, Texas and Mission Viejo, California. Meanwhile, Nordstrom is celebrating the opening of its new Santa Monica location today (August 27th), with four more locations in the U.S. planned through 2011. It should be noted that Nordstrom Rack locations (their discount store version) are sprouting like weeds, with 25 new Rack stores scheduled to open through 2011.
*NOTE 2: Neiman Marcus appears to be doing better than Saks: Neiman Marcus’ July store sales soar 12.3%
3.) Madonna Doesn’t Own the Trademark to ‘Material Girl’ Clothing Line:
“Late last Thursday, apparel manufacturer L.A. Triumph filed suit against Madonna, claiming that her ‘Material Girl’ line for Macy’s threatens their own ‘Material Girl’ clothing line that they have been selling since 1997 . . . ‘The bottom line is that Madonna had a song and has been known as the ‘Material Girl’ but if she hasn’t sold any products under the name ‘Material Girl,’ she has no trademark in the name,’ says attorney Anne Sterba (of leading intellectual property firm Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck). ‘Madonna has a copyright in the song, but a copyright and a trademark are completely different. L.A. triumph may have priority over her in respect to selling clothes under the ‘Material Girl’ trademark and they could win.’”
However, the attorney mentions that Madonna is often cited as the original Material Girl, and as such may have cause to countersue by claiming that L.A. Triumph has been attempting to profit off of her name and fame (instead of the other way around). L.A. Triumph is asking the court to force Madonna and Macy’s to hand over any and all profits from their ‘Material Girl’ line which was already launched earlier this month.
A (not so great quality) videoclip of Madonna from 1985, performing her “Material Girl” song — the Macy’s clothing line apparently references her lacy, fringy, bowed, gloved and glitter-flecked mid-80′s style (god help us all):
If retro trends were horses, all of us would ride
4.) Fashion’s Night Out Goes Global:
“Created to encourage spending in a sinking economy, last year’s inaugural Fashion’s Night Out delivered a star-studded night to shoppers . . . Its success — a 3.4% increase in that day’s retail traffic nationwide and nearly 50% in Manhattan — made its return a no-brainer . . . To that end, 16 countries have signed on to host a 2010 Fashion’s Night Out, creating a 10-day worldwide event. ‘If you’re a globe-trotter, you could potentially hit every country,’ says Susan Portnoy, the event’s spokesperson.”
Over 1000 locations are taking part in New York alone, with other major cities, from Los Angeles to Miami to Seattle also hosting FNO events. Other countries participating this year are: Australia, Canada, China, the UK, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey.
Numerous brands are rolling out new products on September 10th to coincide with the event and hopefully create more excitement. For example, Chanel is debuting a new nail polish trio on September 10th, Roger Vivier will unveil its first perfume collection, the Brahmin handbag company has created a limited edition tote especially for the event, etc.
Despite the fact that most people came out to windowshop and celebrity-spot rather than purchase anything in 2009, a lot of hype and buzz has gone into creating an even bigger, faster, stronger Fashion’s Night Out for 2010. Expect the buzz to only increase in volume as September 10th draws closer, with news of in-store celebrity appearances, open bars (specialty cocktails at the Armani Ristorante on 5th Avenue), concerts, block parties, autograph signings (Tom Ford will be in his 2nd floor boutique in the Bergdorf Goodman Men’s Store from 8 to 8:30 pm to sign fragrance purchases), auctions and more.
Video clip below of a behind the scenes look at a number of the industry’s biggest names pleading for your dollars:
“Please keep me in the lifestyle to which I’ve grown accustomed. Thanks!”
In related news, I can’t really fault the New York retailers, or the entire fashion industry, really, for loudly tooting on the Buy Something horn this year. Economic news is continuing to progress from bad to worse, with even the once-predictable rah-rah talking heads starting to sound a bit gloomy: “This isn’t a recovery, in any sense that matters . . . We need about 2.5 percent growth just to keep unemployment from rising, and much faster growth to bring it significantly down. Yet growth is currently running somewhere between 1 and 2 percent, with a good chance that it will slow even further in the months ahead.”
Nervous businesses are cautious about hiring, even more nervous funds are pulling out of the stock market and funneling their cash into safe bond investments, analysts are continuing to sound the alarm about China’s massive real estate bubble and how access to easy home credit has been fluffing their luxury and stock markets the same way it did here in the U.S. (there’s also the Canadian housing bubble to contend with, as well), existing home sales hit a fifteen year low in the U.S. and are expected to go lower (which has a drag effect on the entire rest of the economy), and 2nd quarter GDP numbers were revised lower with 3rd quarter numbers predicted to hit the sub-1% level.
Take all of the above into account, and it’s no wonder the fashion-retail industry is desperate to get its hands on your cash before your wallet disappears in a puff of smoke.
5.) Despite 49% Investment from LVMH, Clothing Line Edun Reports 90% Drop in Profit:
“EDUN APPAREL, the Fairtrade clothing brand founded by Ali Hewson (wife of Bono, lead singer of rock band U2), made a loss of $8.7 million in 2009, an increase of 90 per cent on the losses recorded the previous year.”
And it’s not like 2008 was a hot year for Edun (“nude” spelled backwards — yes, I know) to begin with. Which just goes to show that Good Intentions + Rock Star Cred doesn’t always = Succe$$.
Though why a clothing line, founded by the wife of the lead singer of one of the most successful rock bands of all time, needs outside investment is beyond me. I guess it’s always easier to flush OPM down the drain than it is your own?
Speaking of bad investments, LVMH is now rumored to be considering a stake in the Rodarte brand, the uber high-end, experimental women’s clothing line that’s never turned a profit and is barely known outside the giddy, rarefied world of New York Fashion Weeks and insider style blogs.
Though Rodarte might potentially gain a bit more exposure after designing a number of costumes for Natalie Portman’s character in the new Black Swan movie; however, considering that it’s a film about ballet, I don’t expect a flurry of mainstream attention. Movie preview (and Rodarte designs!) below:
Help! My designers are trying to sabotage my career!
6.) INDUSTRY QUICK HITS:
A.) Dolce & Gabbana are dropped from noted retailer Selfridges after an argument over store display space, while the Luxo website is reporting that the brand will dramatically scale back its D&G (diffusion line) presence in Japan: “They blamed the decision to halt the distribution of the D&G ready-to-wear lines, leather accessories and shoe collections in Japan on the scarcity of available locations for its boutiques and the widespread availability of counterfeit products. The decision to regroup in Japan comes in the wake of Versace and French Connection UK leaving the market entirely within the last year.”
Now seems like a terrible time to start quibbling with department stores over display space, don’t you think?
Speaking of bad moves from top brands: Prada engages in quite possibly the worst PR move ever as its Japan unit countersues female employee, Rina Bovrisse, who’s suing over claims of harrassment and discrimination — “‘Prada Japan’s countersuit infringes on human rights, as it threatens victims from telling the truth about what happened and scares women who want to speak out bravely,’ Bovrisse said in an e-mail.”
Is this how Prada wishes to portray its brand across the world? From Dolce & Gabbana coming across as snitty little divas, Chanel flexing its corporate muscle to stomp the life out of a small, artisan supplier, and Prada starting to look like a bullying misogynist in Miuccia’s clothing, I kind of have to wonder just what’s going on in luxury-fashion heads these days.
B.) Levi’s announced it would give away a free pair of their new CurveID jeans to the first thousand Manhattanites who showed up with a clothing donation — thousands upon thousands show up: “By the time we arrived to scope out the scene, the group had reached capacity—a line wrapped around the perimeter of (Bryant) park, and was closed to new arrivals (some of whom turned pretty nasty). Early birds started queuing up at 6am, we were told, having heard about the chance at a free pair of new blues by various channels, including the Levi’s Facebook page, Daily Candy and a promotional email from Self magazine.”
CurveID is a new range of Levis jeans for women that allegedly accommodates numerous curvy body styles. An explanatory PR video clip is below:
Because creating clothing that might fit your customer is a groundbreaking idea?
C.) Chloe gets a new CEO: no sooner did Ralph Toledano get the boot than Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont announced that Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye was the new head man at the brand. He takes over September 1st.
Ralph Toledano ran Chloe for the last ten years: “Although Chloe remained profitable in the last fiscal year, which ended March 31, it has struggled to return to its heyday in the early- to mid-naughties. Toledano, under increasing pressure to strengthen the brand, is understood to have been pushed out by his new boss, Marty Wikstrom, who was named CEO of Richemont’s fashion and accessories businesses in May 2009.”
Hannah MacGibbon is still head designer. Video clip below of Chloe’s Fall 2010 runway show, considered one of their best in years:
Just as Phoebe Philo as Phoebe Philo
One couldn’t help but notice the references to the Spring 2010 Celine collection designed by Phoebe Philo — who used to design for Chloe:
The real Phoebe Philo
D.) Good news! You CAN take it with you: “Au Yeung Pin Chi in Hong Kong makes and sells burnable paper effigies in the shapes of Gucci purses, Wayfarers, and designer sneakers, as part of a Chinese custom of incinerating paper symbols of items in order to “deliver” them to the deceased . . . Yeung posits that perhaps Making paper effigies of trend items makes death seem less frightening.”
Nope, sorry, still frightened by death. But maybe that’s just a guy thing?
