High-top sneakers by Raf Simons

Designer Raf Simons Forges Ahead (WWD)
Raf Simons reveals plans for his eponymous label as well as a number of other design based ventures. (Subscription required)

Clothing prices fall 4.9% in March (Drapers)
“Prices fell 4.9% in the clothing and footwear sector during March, according to the British Retail Consortium Nielsen Shop Price Index.”

Esprit in free fall after CEO replaced (Forbes)
“Esprit sank more than 7 percent on Wednesday after the world’s No.6 fashion brand announced it was replacing its long-time chief executive.”

Lower Rent Costs May Boost N.Y. Retail (WWD)
“As store vacancies rise and rents fall in Manhattan, some eager retailers appear ready to pounce on the spoils.” (Subscription required)

Parlux Signs Deal With Jay-Z’s Iconic Fragrances (WSJ)
“Parlux Fragrances Inc. signed an agreement with licensing company Iconic Fragrances LLC, in which rap icon Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is principal, that will bring to market perfume labels for singers Rihanna and Kanye West.”

ZURICH, Switzerland – The Swiss Textiles Award is not the richest fashion design prize available — the 300,000 euro prize from Mango takes that category. But, over the past 5 years it has emerged as perhaps the most influential award of its kind, and the only one to operate with a global remit.

In 2003, a little-known Belgian designer named Raf Simons won the prize and went on to wow fashion critics, who were now playing close attention to his work. Cathy Horyn had this to say of his Simons’ men’s 2005 Spring/Summer collection, shown in Paris in July 2004:

What Mr. Simons did in an instant was to render the day, and most of the previous one of the spring men’s collections, obsolete. In 18 years of reporting on fashion, the last 5 at this post, I have stood up from only a handful of shows with a conviction that everything had been transformed.

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