YSL and a Naked Screen (IHT)
“With social networking the subject of the moment, Yves Saint Laurent made a bold decision to link its men’s wear to a new generation…But viewers won’t be getting even a glimpse of the perfectly cut coats, the jackets with a tendency to be rounded up at the base of the spine or even the drop-crotch pants that are a favorite of the designer, Stefano Pilati.”

Ready to Spend, but Not to Boast (NY Times)
“The Wall Street crowd is shaking off what one luxury retailer called its ‘frugal fatigue.’ Unlike earlier spending sprees, however, the consumption will be a lot less conspicuous.”

Fashion label Escada back on the catwalk (DW-World)
“After struggling with declining sales for years, Escada… is back. The Munich-based company recently presented its first collection under its new owner, Megha Mittal.”

Ralph Lauren is 2009 Mobile Marketer of the Year (Mobile Marketer)
“Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. took first place as 2009 Mobile Marketer of the Year… Ralph Lauren serves as a role model for outstanding use of mobile advertising and marketing.”

Heritage: Shake It, Break It or Fake It? (IHT)
“The Paris men’s season, which closed Sunday, was all about handling the heritage. Should you shake it, break it or fake the style of the past?”

Lagerfeld sketch for Chanel from "Paris-Shanghai" | Source: Fashionmagazine

European Luxury Goods Risk Cachet With China Focus (Bloomberg)
“European luxury brands are risking their cachet and alienating Western shoppers by changing designs to appeal to the Chinese market, according to Tyler Brûlé , the London-based design consultant and editor of Monocle magazine.”

Will Fashion’s Biggest Names Kiss the Runway Goodbye? (Time)
“On Dec. 11, Rugby, Ralph Lauren’s collegiate brand, will show its holiday collection in an online fashion show… instead of the company’s spending $1.5 million on an audience of approximately 700 members of the fashion press and department-store buyers, the virtual show will cost less than $50,000 to produce and is expected to attract more than 40 million page views.”

Inditex’s push into Asia offsets domestic slump (FT)
“Inditex, the Spanish clothes retailer, yesterday unveiled a slight drop in profits for the nine months to the end of October, as aggressive expansion into Asia helped offset weakness in the domestic market.”

Mulberry profits boosted by UK retail sales (Drapers)
“Mulberry posted a 16% hike in sales in the first half of the year, boosted by a strong UK retail performance. The luxury clothing and accessories house saw sales climb to to £32.3m during the six months to the end of September 2009.”

Luxury groups think they can survive bonus tax (FT)
“Luxury retailers think that their Christmas sales can withstand the tax on bankers’ bonuses but are worried about the impact of higher income tax next year… The 50 percent bonus tax, announced in the pre-Budget report, will target important customers for luxury shops.”

Alexander McQueen for Puma | Source: Puma

PPR to sell lower-margin retail units (FT)
“PPR, the French retail conglomerate headed by billionaire François-Henri Pinault, plans to dispose of retail businesses that generate 70 per cent of group sales to focus on clothing and accessories brands within its luxury Gucci Group and Puma, the sports wear company.”

Online Luxury Retail Remains Elusive (Business Week)
“There are still some brands that sell absolutely nothing online, save for beauty products. Consider Chanel. While the legendary Parisian fashion house sells cosmetics both on its own site as well as on a few other high-end e-tailers, its current fashion and accessories collections are not for sale online.”

FIPB defers Gucci’s stake buy proposal (Times of India)
“Italian designer goods maker Gucci’s proposal to pick up a majority stake in its Indian franchisee has been deferred by the government after Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion sought further examination.”

Ralph Lauren’s Grand Entrance (WWD)
“After an absence of more than a decade, Ralph Lauren is returning to Greenwich — and making quite an entrance… opening a nearly 19,000-square-foot store with all the ingredients increasingly emblematic of the designer’s retail network.”

What the wealthy give each other for Christmas (Times)
“One area, though, where things are truly booming is personalisation. ‘The term ‘luxury’ is so overused,’ says the bag designer Anya Hindmarch. ‘But I think you can definitely say that something is luxury when it’s completely personalised.’”

Bernard Arnault, Francois Pinault and Ralph Lauren, courtesy of Forbes

Fashion’s Billionaires (Forbes)
“If hemlines suggest whether the stock market goes up or down, most economic indicators say it’s likely we’ll be looking at longer skirts for the foreseeable future. But even if the economy doesn’t show us more leg for a while, the fortunes of fashion billionaires–who decide what we wear, where we buy it and what bag and shoes goes with it–should remain relatively flush.”

As Fashion Exports Drop, Hong Kong Refocuses on Design (Voice of America)
“Hong Kong’s Fashion Week features the usual parade of models on catwalks showing the latest designs, many of which end up in stores worldwide a year later. But as the global economic crisis lingers, exports of Hong Kong fashions are down more than 75 percent for January through April, from a year ago.”

CIT, Clients Scramble to Secure Lifelines (WSJ)
“Worries about the fate of CIT Group Inc. cascaded through the retail and manufacturing industries on Thursday, as companies stopped shipments and businesses worried about cash being tied up at the lender should it file for bankruptcy-court protection.”

Kellwood Extends Deadline For Debt Exchange Offer To Fri (WSJ)
“Kellwood Co. said it was unable to renegotiate and extend its bond issue that matured Wednesday and its board extended the deadline for acceptance of a proposed debt exchange until midnight Friday.”

Uniqlo visual merchandising

LONDON, United Kingdom — “Men’s and women’s polo t-shirts in 25 colours from £12.99!” Ads announcing this Uniqlo promotion have been plastered alongside London buses this month, as well as being featured front-and-centre in Uniqlo shops everywhere. Same-store sales rose 18.3 percent in May 2009 over last year for the Japanese retailer, and the company’s stock hit five-year record highs.

Over at American Apparel, which uses a similar merchandising approach, total retail sales increased 16.5 percent to $78 million for the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008. It would seem that both American Apparel and Uniqlo have managed to accurately address the mood of the market, hitting a sweet spot in an otherwise suffering sector. Although many factors play into these high street success stories, it is worth having a closer look at the merchandising strategy shared by both, offering a functional item in a variety of colours and encouraging the purchase of multiple units.

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Hermès store in London, courtesy of 2cvtv.com

Hermès shows resistance in luxury downturn (The Globe and Mail)
“We have seen a slowdown in sales growth since October but we are still growing,” says Hermès finance director Mireille Maury.

Bally to Launch E-Commerce (WWD)
Bally, the Swiss luxury brand joins in on the e-commerce game. (Subscription required)

Polo Ralph Lauren’s Net Falls 6.6% (WSJ)
Ralph Lauren Q3 earnings fell 6.6%, and plans to cut back on their fiscal outlook this year were reviewed.

LVMH says January “not bad,” no 2009 outlook (Reuters)
LVMH Chief Executive Bernard Arnault said on Thursday January was ‘not a bad month’ with sales rising.

It’s been a milestone year for Ralph Lauren, who has been celebrating 40 years of WASP-inspired fashion, which he has successfully taken all over the world. This should be no surprise, as it’s not like Lauren has been quiet about it.

Along with a gala event held during fashion week in Central Park in New York, he has had wall-to-wall coverage of his anniversary in almost every fashion magazine on the planet from the ultra-mainstream to the uber-edgy.  I must have seen at least 10 multi-page spreads, celebrating Lauren and his contribution to fashion.

To his credit, Ralph Lauren has had something genuinely impressive to celebrate. How many other American designers (or any designer, for that matter) can boast of a multi-billion dollar empire built from scratch without the help of a major luxury group? The only other one that comes to mind is Armani.

In any case, it must have been extremely disappointing then for the company to release a surprise profit warning, stating:

Given the current macroeconomic challenges in the U.S., the Company thought is was prudent to recalibrate expectations for the back half of this fiscal year with a more cautious view on sales and margins for its domestic operations.

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