Sir Stuart Rose | Source: Guardian

Rose: no growth for retail in 2010 (Independent)
“Sir Stuart Rose has said that the UK retail market will not grow this year, as uncertainty over how the next government will tackle the public deficit hangs over consumer spending.”

Burani Seeks New Adviser to Help Rescue Fashion Group (Bloomberg)
“Burani, which makes clothes under license for Vivienne Westwood, on Jan. 3 said Mediobanca withdrew as an adviser, citing Burani’s failure to set up a 50 million-euro ($72 million) escrow account. It said the same day that Burani is seeking to guarantee ‘ongoing operations.’”

The Influence Of Fashion Bloggers On Retail (PSFK)
“It’s part of this reason that fashion bloggers have begun to take the reigns from traditional media in the fashion industry. While to those inside the new media zeitgeist view this is old news, many inside both the retail and advertising world have been scrabbling to capitalize on Internet fame.”

Zara releases a pointless iPhone app (Econsultancy)
“Fashion retailer Zara released an iPhone app recently, which falls well short of what a retailer could achieve with an iPhone app, in terms of promoting products and providing useful information for users.”

Spain’s Breakout Talent (IHT)
“On first meeting, Josep Font does not seem the sort of designer who would be especially fond of lace-trimmed collars and velvet bows. But Mr. Font’s spirit — nourished by Spanish folk verse and nostalgic Charles Trenet songs — is clearly romantic.”

Introducing the Gap’s new 1969 Denim

VANCOUVER, Canada — Those of you in North America over the past week can’t have missed the media bombardment from the Gap, the ailing San Francisco-based mass fashion retailer, as it announced the launch of its new 1969 premium denim range, with six new fits for women and seven new fits for men.

Huge full-page ads featuring Anja Rubik appeared in the Thursday Styles section of the New York Times, radio spots with voiceovers from Patrick Robinson, the Gap’s head designer, touted the launch of the “best premium jeans in America,” and a Facebook page was launched with even more links to a Twitter page, a Youtube page (see the video from the Gap explaining the new fits above) and even an iPhone application.

The Gap’s new denim was simply everywhere you looked.

For years, the Gap struggled as fast fashion retailers like Zara and H&M gobbled up market share by delivering the latest fashion trends at a fraction of the price, while American Apparel and Uniqlo slowly took away the Gap’s lock on the basics market, by delivering well cut t-shirts, denim and leggings in a panopoly of colours that drew shoppers in again and again. At the same time, the emergence of a premium denim players like Seven for all Mankind, Citizens of Humanity, Nudie and Lucky Brand found an audience traditional Gap customers willing to trade-up for jeans known for their fit and wash, even if it meant spending more than $200 on a pair.

The Gap’s new strategy ostensibly takes the company back to its heritage as a global leader in the denim category. In theory, there does appear to a hole in the market for good, stylish denim in a variety of fits and washes at a good price. While American Apparel may do denim for cheap, it only does one very skinny fit, suited to its hipster audience but not to the diversity of shapes and sizes of people out there. Premium denim players have lost some appeal of late as consumers who traded up look to scale back their spending in recessionary times. And, while H&M and Zara are solid on trends, they have never really delivered good denim.

But is the Gap’s new denim strategy working in practice?

A long line of customers waiting for the fitting rooms snaked through the middle of the Gap’s Pacific Centre store in Vancouver — something I haven’t seen at the Gap in ages. Almost everyone in line had some of the new denim in their hands. The heavy marketing push and huge window advertisements trumpeting the new jeans and the $20 discount had clearly done their job by bringing customers into the store to try the jeans on.

But, how about those fits? They also seemed to be working, in a variety of styles that suit different body types. My sister instantly found a pair of ‘Always Skinnys’ in a gunmetal grey that were a steal at $59.50, after the $20 discount. When we went to pay for her new find, the cashier told me: “Almost every single transaction I have rung up today has included a pair of jeans. People seem to really like the new fits — they are way better than what we had before.”

The response from online critics also point to positive results. Nicole Phelps of Style.com has given the new denim a big thumbs up, declaring: “Patrick Robinson Nails It” while our friend Britt Aboutaleb over at Fashionista.com says that she’ll be going back for more of Gap’s denim as soon as Autumn arrives.

Even financial analysts are showing new interest in the Gap, long seen as a dog stock. Last week, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Betty Chen upgraded the Gap to “Outperform” from “Neutral” and raised her price target to $23 from $18.

Overall, the Gap’s new denim is great. The fits are good. The washes are on-trend. And the multi-faceted marketing strategy and introductory low pricing seems to be working wonders for store traffic and sales productivity. The question now is how the Gap keeps them coming back for more.

My advice would be to regularly introduce the new denim fits in more washes and colours in line with seasonal trends (especially now that people have found a style that works for them) and to rework that other trusty Gap basic that’s lost its way: the khaki.

Imran Amed is Editor of The Business of Fashion

Thom Browne, courtesy of NYMag

Is Thom Browne Going Downe? (Blackbook)
With lavish spending on tailors and elaborate shows, Thom Browne’s business may be amongst the first high-profile independent designers to face financial difficulties as demand for his high-priced shrunken suits wanes.

Breaking into the West is hard to do (IHT)
Due to Indian designers “lack of Western-style business structure and of financial support” their effort to break out of the local market is being hampered.

H&M profits hit by currency turmoil (Drapers)
“H&M saw first quarter profits fall back 12% to SEK 3.5 billion after gross margin was hit by currency fluctuations.”

America’s Favorite Foreign Retailers (Forbes)
In terms of market share, foreign retailers are closing in on American stores.

Turning a Page (Newsweek)
“In response to tough times, the fashion business discovers inclusiveness.”

Rathore Jodhpurat A/W 09 at Wills Fashion Week

Sustainability is back in fashion (IHT)
As the industry redefines the meaning of luxury, “Sustainability” and “Responsibility” have become the new buzz words.

Ted Baker profits fall (Drapers)
Ted Baker saw pre-tax profit fall 19.5% to £17.8 million for the 53 weeks ended January 31.

In Fashion, Some Like It Haute (WSJ)
“Economic crisis doesn’t mean the end of luxury. But while many brands have been battered, those that show grace under fire should be coveted investments.”

Inditex sales rise 12% (Drapers)
Sales are up at Inditex for the fiscal year 2009 and sales are trending ahead by 9% in February.

Stella McCartney on ecology, luxury and life (IHT)
Stella McCartney sits down with Suzy Menkes and lets us in on her label’s eco conscious stance.

Manish Arora A/W 09, courtesy of Coutorture

Indian designers make their mark with craft (IHT)
During Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, designers are making a mark through artisanship.

Nike realigns global footprint (Just Style)
Sporting goods giant Nike last week unveiled plans to reorganise its namesake brand into six regions with reduced management in a bid to make its operations more efficient and trim costs.

Tiffany’s Reports Sales Declines (Seeking Alpha)
“Tiffany’s has exceeded earnings expectations five of the last six quarters, which seems to suggest that analysts underestimate Tiffany’s ability to sell in a tough consumer spending market. However, the declines in sales are serious and a real cause for concern.”

H&M and Zara top Retail Best Brands list (H&M)
According to an Interbrand report, H&M & Zara are in the top 5 of most valued retail brands.

Inflation surprises and jumps to 3.2% (FT)
“Inflation as measured by the consumer price index rose to 3.2 per cent in the year to last month, up from 3 per cent in January.”

Daniel Silver and Steven Cox of Duckie Brown; Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava; Andrew Buckler; Sophie Buhai, courtesy of the New York Times

The Make or Break Season (New York Times)
“The age of the young designer, however, may be coming to an end.”

Zara’s Inditex latest to join the stampede to open India stores (The Spectator)
Zara, the Spanish fast fashion chain, will open in India.

Monique Lhuillier’s New Lower-Priced Gowns (WSJ)
Responding to the requests of retailers, Monique Lhuillier will now offer evening gowns that will retail around $2,500.

Lauder to Cut Jobs, Restructure (WWD)
“The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. plans to reduce its payroll by 2,000 employees – 6 percent of the workforce.” (Subscription required)

Zara owner Inditex posts strong sales (Drapers)
Despite the volatile market conditions, Inditex has posted a net sales increase of 11 percent this year.

So it’s official. As of the first quarter of 2008, Inditex, the phenomenally successful Spanish fast-fashion conglomerate and parent company of Zara, has officially overtaken The Gap to become the world’s biggest fashion retailer. In the meantime, the once venerable Gap is still tweaking its product around the edges, struggling to find a formula that works.

Zara stores have been popping up on high streets and in malls around the world, registering  a whopping €6.3b in sales in 2007, making it larger than Louis Vuitton. Perhaps more surprisingly, the performance of Inditex’s smaller brands like Bershka and Massimo Dutti has also been strong, registering revenues of €925m and €696m respectively, in 2007, making Bershka’s business larger than that of Christian Dior Couture and Massimo Dutti’s greater than that of Bottega Veneta.

Over at The Gap, however, the news is completely different. Only Banana Republic continues to perform well, while the flagship Gap brand, and its cheaper offshoot Old Navy, continue to struggle. Over the weekend, London’s Sunday Telegraph revealed that the Gap planned to dismantle its London design team in favour of a New York-based team headed up by Patrick Robinson, who was tapped to design The Gap’s North American collections last year.

Bill Chandler, Vice President, Corporate Communications told The Telegraph “As the North American product has been accepted more widely in the past year and a half it makes business sense and allows us to be more cost-effective while giving the styling that our customers desire. There will be a handful of designers in New York focused on making adjustments to our North American designs for our European customers.”

While the argument that having one design team is more efficient for the global business holds some water, it is still a puzzling move. The one bright spot for The Gap in recent seasons has been the strength of its European collections, designed by a team based in London. One of the worst-kept secrets in the Industry was that the European collections were designed with input from influential fashion insiders, including Phoebe Philo and Balenciaga’s Marie-Anne Sauve.

What were the results of this injection of Euro-cool? During recent fashion weeks, fashionistas from the USA flocked to Zara stores while in Europe to snap up the stylish clothes on offer — something that has been missing from The Gap for years now. The Gap store on London’s Oxford Street was positively buzzing on a recent visit. Just when they were getting things right in Europe, Gap’s management has pulled the plug.

Only time will tell if Robinson can bring the same relaxed sense of cool to his collections, and whether collections designed in New York, and tweaked for European tastes, will have the same in-store impact. I think The Gap may have been penny-wise, pound-foolish with regards to this decision, in an economic climate where only the best product, offering the best value, will continue to sell well.

So for now, my money’s still on Zara. But, with the future of fast-fashion now also in question, as consumers are starting to think about the impact of disposable fashion such as that produced by Zara, the next disruptive model may very well come from a brand that addresses this concern, as well as the ever-evolving expectations of the global fashion customer.