Classic Timberland Boot | Source: Timberland

Timberland to be taken over by VF Corporation in $2bn deal (Independent)
“VF Corporation… said outdoor clothing was among the fastest-growing apparel categories… ‘The Timberland brand is synonymous with high quality outdoor footwear and apparel… the company had been number one on its acquisition hit list for years.”

Clothes: Too much, too cheap (Independent)
“Blame the so-called democratisation of fashion if you will… consumers can ‘get the Marc Jacobs look’ only hours after the designer’s biannual New York show has taken place, and this despite the fact that the prototype… won’t go on sale until almost half a year later.”

Lululemon: Momentum Continues (Financial Post)
“Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s strong showing in the first quarter came despite unfavourable weather in Canada and the United States, lean inventories and a transition in its e-commerce business.”

Fash File: Umit Benan, Pitti Uomo, Rodarte (IHT)
“When Umit Benan won the Who Is On Next’ Pitti Imagine award in Florence two years ago… [the] designer was struggling to make an impact… But now this creative force is being nurtured at Trussardi, where Umit will be named this week both men’s and women’s designer.”

Alexandre Plokhov’s Poetic Elegance (Dazed Digital)
“Back in the early part of the new millennium when Hedi Slimane was making his indelible mark on menswear with his work at Dior Homme, a New York based Russian émigré called Alexandre Plokhov was creating a quiet revolution of his own with his cult label, Cloak… After a spell designing for Versace Homme, Plokhov is back with his own eponymous label.”

Salvatore Ferragamo | Source: Museo Salvatore Ferragamo

Florence Reasserts Craftsmanship (JC Report)
“Gone are the days that glossy surface advertising alone meant stellar profits, and even designers such as Tom Ford, who helped accelerate the previous generation of luxury sales, are now reverting to more authentic brand propositions.”

Mulberry bags huge profits rise (Evening Standard)
“The fashion retailer — which beat Burberry, Pringle of Scotland and Victoria Beckham to win ‘Designer Brand of the Year’ at the British Fashion Awards…posted pre-tax profits of £4.7 million for the six months to the end of September, compared with £1.5 million a year earlier.”

Lululemon customers and investors walk path of devotion (Globe and Mail)
“Amid the high expectations around Lululemon, executives sprint to spot customers’ needs by keeping in close touch with them through free yoga classes and focus groups. They hire staff who are themselves active… and then offering their own feedback on products.”

On the front lines in the vintage clothing war (Toronto Star)
“This war has been fuelled not only by an explosion of vintage stores in the past five years, but also by Toronto’s emergence as a major hub on the vintage-clothing distribution pipeline.”

You Can’t Look Away (Style.com)
“Lady Gaga, James Franco, Anna Dello Russo—the year’s newsmakers seemed to turn every moment of their waking lives into a spectacle, part deadly serious, part put-on. Backstage, too, the players and the moves they made were full of bravado.”

Aldo’s global footprint (Globe and Mail)
“Canadian shoppers are familiar with Aldo shoes. But few realize that this Montreal-based retailer has quietly built an empire that spans 1,500 stores in 55 countries.”

Vera Wang’s Idea of Empire: Marry High, Low, In Between (WSJ)
“Ms. Wang… is pursuing a three-tiered retail strategy of selling through luxury, midpriced and discount stores. A growing number of designers… are trying to deploy similar strategies as economic worries linger.”

Lululemon Grows Fast on a Slim Budget (WSJ)
“Lululemon belongs to an emerging class of retailers focused primarily on designing, making and selling athletic wear to women—and grabbing growing shares of the estimated $15 billion market for women’s fitness attire.”

Tom Ford’s Very Small, Glamorous Show (On the Runway)
“When you’re Tom Ford, and you’ve been away from women’s fashion for six years, more than likely you’ve thought a great deal about your return, perhaps even plotted it down to the last buttonhole.”

Thierry Mugler Appoints New Creative Director (Marie Claire)
“Lady Gaga’s stylist, Nicola Formichetti, has been appointed the new Creative Director of Thierry Mugler… Formichetti was chosen for the role because he represents a new direction in French fashion.”

Andrew Rosen | Source: The High Line Portrait Project

Made in Midtown: Meet Andrew Rosen, Theory (Huffington Post)
“As an inveterate horseman, Andrew Rosen knows the power of bloodlines– and in his, fashion run deep. His grandfather Arthur, a dress-maker, launched Puritan Manufacturing Co. in Boston nearly a century ago. ‘I remember as a young boy running around the factories and the warehouses, playing in-between all the clothes,’ he says.”

Lululemon rides out recession in quality fashion (The Globe and Mail)
“Christine Day could have followed the path of other high-end retailers in the recession. They slashed prices and scaled back offerings as consumers pulled back their spending. Instead, the chief executive officer of yoga wear purveyor Lululemon Athletica Inc. took a contrarian approach – and now it’s paying off.”

Alexander McQueen launches men’s underwear range (Telegraph)
“There has been mounting speculation over the future of the Alexander McQueen brand. It’s comforting news then, that business appears to be continuing as usual: the label has just launched its first men’s underwear collection for autumn/winter 2010.”

India’s Fashion Is Its Own Victim (WSJ)
“Fashion weeks are supposed to be trade events where fashion editors and department store buyers are the most-sought after, front-row guests. In India, for some reason, most of the front row is reserved for Bollywood actresses, retired models and socialites.”

Osman Yousefzada is the rising star of fashion (Evening Standard)
“When news broke last month that Sarah Brown had commissioned four new outfits from Yousefzada, it was confirmation that the Afghan-British designer is being taken very seriously.”

Vancouver Olympics Red Mittens | Source: Hudson's Bay Company

VANCOUVER, Canada — Every two years that global extravaganza called the Olympic Games alternates between summer and winter sports. Next in line is Vancouver which will host the XXI Olympic Winter Games between 12-28 February 2010, costing the city in excess of $1.5 billion.

Over the weekend, Tyler Brûlé reckoned in the Financial Times that Canada is wasting an opportunity to re-brand itself to the world, using the Olympics as a communications platform like Sydney and Barcelona successfully did. Would-be Canadian Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff, on the other hand, seemed to have read Mr. Brûlé’s mind, writing in a New York Times Magazine article the day before that Canada is not looking to put its own brand at the centre of these Olympics as that would be un-Canadian.

But like it or not, this is the first truly social media Olympics. A digital footprint of these games will be left for eternity on countless Facebook pages and Twitter streams. It is the first time that athletes, hailing from more than 80 countries, will be tweeting their experiences from the sidelines while spectators share their experiences in real-time, uploading photos and videos, documenting every Olympic second for their friends and family back at home.

Possibly the biggest marketing tool Vancouver has for these Olympics, therefore, is to simply show its guests — the thousands of athletes and tourists who will descend on the city — a great time. Real people will be the biggest ambassadors and communicators for this Olympic games, not reporters or television anchors.

And, despite the presence of rules for on how social media can be used, communication will be tough to control. Tweets will spread like wildfire. Doping scandals will be reported instantaneously. News will get out fast, whether the city or the Olympics organisers want it to. Indeed, CNN reported this weekend that athletes are already confused about what they can and cannot say on Twitter and Facebook.

Vancouver Granville Street | Source: John Bollwitt's Flickr Photostream

So what will Vancouver have in store for its guests? On a visit there at the end of last year I noticed that Granville Street, the historically seedy street previously flush with dodgy movie theatres, pinball arcades, and sex shops had been transformed into a neon-lit boulevard, the newly christened entertainment district where people will gather to celebrate each night of the 16 day event.

In David Lam Park, international consumer and electronics brands such as Coke, Samsung, Acer and Panasonic will exploit social media to create buzz about their Olympics sponsorships with high-profile, experiential pavilions, bolstered with digital technology. At the Coca-Cola Pavilion, for example, visitors will have the chance to pose with the Olympic Torch and share it immediately on their Facebook pages. iCoke.ca, a bespoke website designed to spread the Coca-Cola Olympics experience using social media tools

Of course, fashion brands have also been making the most of the Olympics branding opportunity. After losing their bid to be the official clothing outfitter for the games, clever Vancouver-based yoga-wear brand Lululemon produced their own collection entitled “Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 & 2011 Edition,” drawing ire from Olympics organisers and attracting much PR buzz for their bold move against one of the most highly-protected brands in the world.

For their part, the official clothing sponsor, the historic Hudson’s Bay Company, isn’t doing so badly either. In a sign that value is still the most powerful word in today’s fashion economy, the unsurpassed fashion it-item of these Olympics is a pair of red wool HBC mittens, offered at the reasonable price of $10. More than two million pairs were expected to be sold by the close of the games, and shortages and sell-outs have been widely reported in the months leading up. They are the hottest ticket in town, and accessible to almost everyone.

You can be sure they will make many appearances on all those Facebook pages.

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of the Business of Fashion.

A video from CTV News describes the HBC Olympics mittens frenzy

A snippet of the Lululemon mantra

Lululemon Weathering the Tough Retail Season (Seeking Alpha)
Lululemon, the Canadian yoga wear retailer sees its shares jump by 9 percent.

Strong dollar makes for weak results (Just-Style)
The rising dollar is adversely affecting European retailers.

Consumer Spending on the Upswing (Seeking Alpha)
“US consumers continued the increased spending pattern that began in January 2009 into February 2009, spending slightly more in February than they the previous month.”

Opening Ceremony To Expand In Japan With Onward (WWD, Subscription Only)
Opening Ceremony, the downtown emporium of cool in New York City, will open its first store in Japan.

Authorities in Canada’s Competition Bureau have instructed Lululemon to remove from its labels the claims that the seaweed content in its VitaSea line would reduce stress and provide anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hydrating and detoxifying benefits to people wearing the garments. Acting Deputy Commissioner, Andrea Rosen, said:

Those claims have to be scientific and they have to be provable. The onus is on the advertiser, not the government, to prove that the tests are adequate prior to making the claims.

Yesterday, in the wake of a Lululemon investor relations breakdown about the seaweed content and the health benefit claims, the Business of Fashion advised Lululemon, especially now that it is a high-profile public company, to back up all of its product claims with clear evidence. Earlier this week when Chip Wilson, the company’s Founder, Chairman and Chief Product Designer, was told of the results from the New York Times’ test of the VitaSea product, he said:

If you actually put it on and wear it, it is different from cotton. That’s my only test of it.

Sounds like they also need to take our advice to more carefully manage their Corporate Communications and PR. There is an ongoing and raging debate about this, and other LULU issues linked to this incident, over at Google Finance.

Over the past year, Canadian yogawear brand and erstwhile stock market darling Lululemon Athletica has often been cited as proof of the market opportunity in new-age fashion concepts which pick up on psychographic and attitudinal shifts — i.e. that people are looking for more from their clothing than just functional and aesthetic utility. Some people, it is argued, want healthy, ethically conscious, and environmentally friendly feel-good benefits as well. Lululemon was delivering this in spades, while also benefiting from a lifestyle craze centred around Yoga, building a business of close to $150m in revenues.

However, the news all over the North American press this week was dramatically different. The New York Times published a damning article suggesting that Lululemon’s claims about the seaweed content in one of its clothing lines were patently false.  Through its seaweed content, the VitaSea line claims to reduce stress and provide anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hydrating and detoxifying benefits to its wearers, but the New York Times’ test showed no evidence of seaweed in Lululemon’s clothing.

This  sent Lululemon’s stock price on a rollercoaster ride. Previously, Lululemon had been enjoying stellar stock performance, reaching $60 a share after an IPO price of $25 in July. Yesterday the stock closed at $41.50.

Meanwhile, market analysts continued to debate the potential long-term impact of the conflicting reports. Blackmont’s Deborah Grey said that the false claims could be catastrophic:

If Lululemon’s claim proves to be false, we believe this controversy could challenge its strong brand image, authenticity and loyal cult following, which could expose it to pricing risk, forcing it to incur marketing costs to restore its brand, and could put its aggressive retail expansion efforts at risk

On the other hand, analysts at RBC Capital Markets believe that the primary reason for the cult brand’s success is the fit of its clothes, not its fabric content (the VitaSea line makes up only 3% of sales):

We believe the attraction for customers shopping at Lululemon is the fit and comfort, and most importantly, how they look in their clothes. The garments’ form-flattering silhouettes will continue to drive customers, more so than any one particular fabric enhancement.

For a brand that has had a halo around it since its humble beginnings in Vancouver, this is a reality check of sorts. Moving into the public markets means being answerable to consumers and investors alike. Proving hard-to-quantify new-age benefits requires impeccable investor relations and corporate communications, especially because these concepts are new to analysts and it’s still not clear what is the driving forces for the brand’s success. Are the feel good benefits crucial to its success or are they just proverbial nice-to-have cherries on top.

Even if further tests prove that the company’s claims about VitaSea are accurate, Lululemon can no longer pretend to be the innocent little company it used to be. All of the claims it makes about any of its products must be thoroughly tested and it must also have contingency plans and a PR and communications machine in place to deal with crises as they arise. The standards and explanations for its claims must be clearly set out so the company, consumers and investors are using the same measuring stick. Lululemon has been caught a little bit behind the 8-ball on this.

Another reality of the public markets is profiteering. A final twist to all of this is that it was a private investor that paid for the first test which questioned the claims of the VitaSea product and it was he who spurred the New York Times to do their own test and publish the results. This investor was hoping that the test results would send Lululemon’s stock into a free-fall, enabling him to short-sell the stock and make a nice bundle of cash. Mission accomplished.

5 day stock chart courtesy of Morningstar.com. Images courtesy of Lululemon.com