Reiss Shola dress, worn by the Duchess of Cambridge | Source: Reiss

Kate Middleton: putting the regal into Reiss (Telegraph)
“‘The Reiss dress was perfectly pitched… Britain has the best high street in the world. No one exemplifies the strength of that better than the Duchess of Cambridge.’”

Knitting pretty (FT)
“As well as giving Pringle a youthful burst of creativity, the Archive Project provides the brand with a reputation for supporting new talent… ‘This makes them appeal to a younger demographic.’”

Ferragamo May Seek Higher IPO Rating Than Prada (Bloomberg)
“[Salvatore Ferragamo] may seek a higher valuation multiple than its bigger rival Prada SpA… [the company] may be valued at as much as 2.25 billion euros ($3.2 billion), or 26 times estimated 2012 profit.”

Phillips-Van Heusen first quarter beats; raises FY view (Reuters)
“Phillips-Van Heusen Corp raised its full-year outlook and posted first-quarter earnings that beat market expectations as revenue more than doubled on strong sales in its Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein businesses.”

How To Sell Luxury To The Chinese (Forbes)
“[A] chat with Lane Crawford’s fashion director Sarah Rutson — a much-photographed street style blog star — on the evolving taste of the Chinese consumer, the brands they favor, and her role in the global fashion community.”

Artist's impression of Westfield London

LONDON, United Kingdom – I didn’t want to like the new $2.7 billion Westfield mall in London. I really didn’t.

For one thing, I’m American. I’ve done my fair share of time in malls. For another, this mall happens to be pretty much in my backyard in London’s Shepherd’s Bush and I had been indoctrinated for months before the opening that it would be a tragedy for local residents. And then there’s the name. The Australian developer has gone around the world gobbling up existing malls, building new ones, and calling them all the same thing: Westfield. Pretty un-inventive.

So, I didn’t go to Westfield for a very long time. But when I finally did make it there recently, I was completely blown away.

… Continue Reading

Top fashion business links for the week of 30 April, 2007:

New York Times – No Store is a Hero to its Valet
Either the New York Times really has it in for Tom Ford (perhaps he spurned and interview request or declined an editors request for a discount?) or there is a real issue with Tom Ford’s new eponymous business. First, Cathy Horyn criticized Ford’s new business for being too niche and too grand (after Ford had provided her with a private tour – you can’t buy this woman’s vote) and today, in its Critical Shopper feature, Horacio Silva pans the store for confusing "exclusionary for exclusive."

Modabot.de – Brave New Internet World – How the Internet is changing the Fashion Universe
Fashion 2.0 is a hot topic. The Business of Fashion recently advocated that big fashion brands should consider the Internet an avenue that they should be cruising down, albeit with necessary caution. Over at Modabot.de, the Berlin-based fashion blog for avantgarde fashionistas, they delve into the topic with vigour, providing a 360 degree view of the fashion blogosphere and some of the new social shopping sites that are bound to change the way consumers shop forever, if not now, then certainly in the years to come.

Style.com – Gathering Moss
Sarah Mower at Style.com provides a witty and always insightful peek into the Kate Moss for Top Shop event this week. This is no small business. Philip Green has managed to make this line a pilot project for expanding Top Shop to other markets, particularly the US. Not only will the line bow at Top Shops around the world, it will also be sold at Colette in Paris, Barney’s in America and 10 Corso Como in Milan. Mr. Green was even on hand to provide some sales assistance himself. Clearly, this is a business he is counting on.

The Daily Telegraph – Farewell to Floaty and Flirty
Is this a harbinger of Chloe’s fast fall, after its fast rise on the fashion scene? At the Daily Telegraph, they have joined the chorus of people questioning the design direction taken by new Chloe’s new Creative Director, Paulo Melim Andersson. One can definitely appreciate a bit of Marni heritage in the collection he showed for A/W 2007, but the question is whether Chloe loyalists are brand faithful or design faithful. As the Telegraph points out, if it is the latter, then there are plenty of other places for girly girls to look for the look that Chloe has become known for over the past 10 years. Clearly, for a large fashion house like Chloe, a change in creative direction like this should be considered carefully as part of a broader strategic exercise. This is no less important to a fashion business than an airline choosing to fly to a new market (did you know Virgin flies to Nairobi?), a cola company changing their age old formulation (New Coke, anyone?), or Colonel Sanders tweaking the KFC recipe (do you like your chicken more crispy?).

Reiss, the London-based fashion retailer, is a on a rollout spree. Not only are they opening their fourth US Store in Los Angles on Robertson Boulevard (the first three are dotted around New York City), they are also opening a new location on Ledbury Rd in London’s Notting Hill, which also happens to be my street.

Reiss’ positioning is unique in the market. They are occupying the less-and-less seen mid-priced space in between Luxury and High-Street fashion. Many companies that have previously occupied this space have either started going upscale (e.g. Diesel, which is now trying to position itself as a luxury brand with a new shop on London’s Bond Street) or they are going closer to high-street (e.g. Benetton, which is moving a bit further down and trying to catch up with the fast fashion business model). This is the result of the fact that many consumers are now opting for branded high fashion at premium prices or ‘disposable’, trend-driven fast-fashion copycats, or even mixing the two up with the now-slightly-overused-but-still-relevant term "high-low", i.e. combinations of a Zara top paired with a Gucci bag and Prada shoes. In between, you have the mid-priced space (which often competes with the diffusion lines of big fashion companies, like "Marc by Marc Jacobs" or "See by Chloe") which is a smaller segment with fewer and fewer players.

What Reiss has done right is that they don’t skimp on quality. For consumers who don’t care about brands, but still want designer fashion of high quality (and for whom, therefore Zara and H&M just won’t cut it), Reiss is a good alternative. Some of my friends swear by Reiss’ off-the-peg suits for daily wear to the office, because the prices and styles are good, and they can save their bespoke stuff for special occasions.

The Gap announced today that Paul Pressler has been pushed out of the organisation as it struggles to find ways to turn the business around. Part of the problems the company is facing is addressed in my previous post: "Mind the Gap?"

I am not surprised by this move as public companies often try to make high-profile leadership changes to signal to the market that they have recognised a problem and are trying to fix it. Whether they actually manage to turn things around, remains to be seen. You can read more about it in today’s WWD – their prognosis for the company’s future is not terribly optimistic.