MULTIPLE OPTIONS

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GROWTH. PAGE 2

WWDMONDAY, JULY 21, 2014 $3.00 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

PHOTOS BY KYLE ERICKSEN; STYLED BY ROXANNE ROBINSON

By JOELLE DIDERICH

PARIS — In another sign that currency headwinds are creat-ing headaches for luxury firms, Hermès International warned Friday it expects its operating mar-gin to take a hit after foreign ex-change swings again took a chunk out of second-quarter revenues.

The luxury goods sector faces a relatively tough period as or-ganic growth slows from Europe to Japan, analysts say.

Barclays Capital forecast in a recent report that operating

margins would fall between 40 and 280 basis points in the first half due to slower like-for-like sales and the impact of foreign-exchange variations.

Hermès reported sales rose 5.8 percent in the three months ended June 30, with a negative currency impact of 73 million euros, or $100 million, during the period.

When stripping out the impact of exchange-rate variations, this represented an increase of 9.6 per-cent, below market expectations and the 14.7 percent increase reg-istered in the first quarter.

DIGITAL FORUM LONDON

Courting the CustomerMore Crucial Than Ever

Hermès Sounds the AlarmOver Currency Concerns

SEE PAGE 12

Night LightsWhen the lights go down, a little illumination is in order via resort and holiday accessories that shine. Here, Bandolier’s electroplate phone case with snakeskin chain, Melissa Kaye’s 18-karat white gold and white diamond bracelet, Judith Leiber Couture’s crystal and brass minaudière and Elie Saab’s leather pump. L’Agence dress. For more, see pages 4 and 5.

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THE KOOPLES LANDS STATESIDE WITH AMBITIOUS PLANS. PAGE 12

COMING TO AMERICA

ASIAN TOURSTELLA MCCARTNEY WENT ON A WHIRLWIND JOURNEY TO PROMOTE HER BRAND. PAGE 9

By SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — It is the best of times for online shopping, with brands increasingly treating customers as red-carpet guests, tastemakers and experts in the fields of fashion, luxury and beauty — and the worst of times for e-tailers with arrogant, humorless marketing strategies or clunky technology.

“If your Web site sucks, you suck,” said Anthony Citrano, vice president of communications at Verizon Digital Media Services in a speech about Millennials’ be-havior during the second annual WWD Digital Forum London. The event took place July 10 at the Mayfair Hotel.

Citrano said Millennials — a gen-eration that lives in high-definition

and fails to differentiate between the Internet and the “real world” — will perceive a lack of investment in a site or a difficult user experience as a lack of interest in them. “And they’ll shop accordingly.”

It’s not only Millennials who are increasingly demanding. The Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., Clarins and Marks & Spencer are just a few of the companies that are stepping up their direct engagement with younger generations and “ageless” customers — a euphemism for the 50-plus crowd — catering to their needs online and offline.

“It’s not about an advertis-ing campaign that comes twice a year, it’s about a daily conversa-tion, when you engage and mutu-ally exchange information with your consumers,” said Patrick

SEE PAGE 6

WWD.COM2 WWD MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014

TO E-MAIL REPORTERS AND EDITORS AT WWD, THE ADDRESS IS FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME@FAIRCHILDFASHION.COM, USING THE INDIVIDUAL’S NAME. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2014 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 208, NO. 14. MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in March, April, May, June, August, October, November and December, and two additional issues in February and September) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, IA 51593. FOR SUBSCRIPTION, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, IA 51593, call 866-401-7801, or email customer service at wwdPrint@cdsfulfillment.com. Please include both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. For New York Hand Delivery Service address changes or inquiries, please contact Mitchell’s NY at 1-800-662-2275, option 7. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For reprints, please e-mail reprints@condenast.com or call Wright’s Media 877-652-5295. For reuse permissions, please e-mail contentlicensing@condenast.com or call 800-897-8666. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.wwd.com/subscriptions. Occasionally we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 6356, Harlan, IA 51593 or call 866-401-7801. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

CFDA Extends von Furstenberg’s Presidency

Wiseman: VF in Growth ModeBy VICKI M. YOUNG

VF CORP. is eyeing more acquisitions to grow the company, although for now the firm still has strong organic growth prospects for the near future.

Those are the two key takeaways following an in-terview with VF’s Eric C. Wiseman — who is chair-man, president and chief executive officer — on Friday, after the company reported second-quarter results in which profits grew 14 percent and the company beat Wall Street’s estimates by 1 cent.

For the three months ended June 28, net income rose to $157.7 million, or 36 cents a diluted share, from $138.3 million, or 31 cents, a year ago. Total rev-enues rose 8.2 percent to $2.4 billion from $2.22 bil-lion, which included an 8.1 percent net sales increase to $2.37 billion from $2.19 billion. Wall Street analysts on average were expecting 35 cents in earnings per share on a total revenue projection of $2.36 billion.

The company said it saw double-digit revenue growth in its outdoor and action sports, interna-tional and direct-to-consumer businesses. Those businesses grew 16 percent, 14 percent and 18 per-cent, respectively.

For the six months, net income rose 11.3 percent to $454.9 mil-lion, or $1.03 a diluted share, from $408.7 million, or 91 cents, in the year-ago period. Total revenues rose 7.3 percent to $5.18 billion from $4.83 billion, which includes a 7.3 percent gain in net sales to $5.12 billion from $4.78 billion.

Separately, the company said it purchased an additional 2.9 million shares for $173 million under its share repurchase program. It said it doesn’t an-ticipate additional share repurchases in 2014.

In a conference call to Wall Street, Wiseman said, “We’re very pleased with our second quarter and with our year-to-date results. Not just because they’re consistent with our outlook, but also because we’re winning where and how we said we would.”

He added that gross margin at 48.4 percent was in line with expectations and the company is “squarely on track to meet our full-year outlook of 49 percent.”

The company affirmed its full-year 2014 forecast, which has EPS projected at $3.06 a share on an esti-mated revenue gain of 8 percent.

Shares of VF Corp. slipped 1.1 percent to close at $60.95 in Big Board trading Friday.

Wiseman said the company’s guidance to Wall Street a year ago was a 13 percent EPS growth, based on an 8 percent organic growth plus a 2 per-cent growth rate from an acquisition. “We are on track [for] 8 percent organic growth, whether an ac-quisition happens or not,” said Wiseman. He said he was confident the company would hit 13 percent EPS growth without an acquisition, emphasizing that the increase was coming from the expansion of its gross margin rate.

The ceo said there are “several things that might make a company interesting to us.” While outdoor

and action sports have been key acquisition focuses for the company — and Wiseman believes the com-pany could still have a greater global foothold in that space — VF isn’t limiting itself to what it might want to acquire. On the call to Wall Street, company execu-tives noted interest in footwear, due to its Timberland acquisition, and the women’s athletic and yoga space, in which it already owns the Lucy brand.

There’s been rumblings that VF could be a vi-able candidate to acquire Lululemon Athletica, a rumor that Wiseman declined to address.

What the ceo did note was that Timberland in-dicates VF’s ability to do large deals, although he admitted there are “very few $2 billion to $5 bil-lion opportunities.”

The company is looking for brands that “will re-spond to our core competencies.…We want brands that have international opportunities. We like direct-to-consumer opportunities. We like activity-based brands,” Wiseman said.

And while moving the needle suggests bigger deals, Wiseman was quick to point out that a $200 mil-lion acquisition (The North Face), or one that is $300 million (Vans), that over time can grow to $2 billion

in volume “does move the needle.” Both The North Face and Vans are businesses that now do more than $2 billion in annual volume.

Along those numerical lines, Wiseman said future deals don’t have to be big and could be in the $200 million to $800 million range. As an example, the company could easily acquire a firm that is big in

a geographic region such as Asia, with opportuni-ties for global expansion, while it simultaneously acquires another comparable firm located in a dif-ferent geographic area, according to Wiseman.

Which brands become viable acquisitions for VF depends on consumer perception, the ceo said. He ex-plained that the company will spend “tens of millions of dollars” on consumer research on its own brands and those of its competitors. VF will walk away from a deal if it doesn’t like what it hears from its data re-search about an acquisition target, even if it’s already midway through the process, Wiseman said.

Looking ahead, Wiseman said the second quar-ter is indicative of what it expects for the second half, with the U.S. up in the midsingle digits. Its in-ternational business is likely to continue to grow in the double-digit range. “Our international business is more profitable so that good for our sharehold-ers,” Wiseman said.

The company continues to forge ahead on plans to build its Central and South American platform. Instead of having the brands operating as individual silos, there will be a central team to coordinate growth in the region, something that VF has done for its European business as well as it Asian business. That’s a move that Wiseman said will allow VF to focus its at-tention on whatever brands are most relevant in the region and create leverage for its operations there. Completion of the platform is still a few years away.

By MARC KARIMZADEH

NEW YORK — At its recent board meeting, the Council of Fashion Designers of America unanimously voted to extend Diane von Furstenberg’s term as president through 2016, and rati-fied the addition of 30 designers to the membership.

They are Tim Coppens; Carlos Campos; Jonathan Simkhai; Marc Alary; Paige Novick; Johnny Talbot of Talbot Runhof; Edun’s Danielle Sherman; Veronica Beard’s Veronica Miele Beard and Veronica Swanson Beard; Liya Kebede of Lemlem; Kristy Caylor of Maiyet; Whit’s Whitney Pozgay; Linda Balti of Amour Vert; Arielle Shapiro of Ari Dein; Raan Parton and Shea Parton of Apolis; Ashley Pittman; Ben Burkman and Doug Burkman of Burkman Bros.; Selima Design’s Virginie Promeyrat; Clare Vivier; Barbara McReynolds and Gai Gherardi of L.A. Eyeworks; Ernest Sabine of Ernest Alexander; Eva Fehren’s Eva Zuckerman; Jussara Lee; Ulla Johnson; Ruthie Davis; Cynthia Sakai of Vita Fede, and Sharon Khazzam.

The additions bring the CFDA’s membership to 478.

Kenneth Cole will fete the 30 design-ers at his home this fall.

“These designers are not just uniquely talented, but they also represent, through their business-es, an important contribution to the American economy and job cre-ation,” said CFDA chief executive officer Steven Kolb.

Of von Furstenberg, who be-came president of the organization in 2006, Kolb added: “The board’s unanimous decision to ask Diane to stay on as president is a testament to the great growth the CFDA has had under her leadership.

“An additional two years will make it a decade of Diane with the time spent on strengthening the board and organizational development.”

During her tenure, von Furstenberg significantly grew the

CFDA membership, which, at the start of 2006, was at 271. She also upped the organization’s network-ing potential by launching the Business Services Network in 2007, and focused on important indus-try issues such as the need to protect original de-sign and fight counterfeits, and the well-being of models via the Health Initiative, which she rein-forces each fashion week season.

ON WWD.COM

THE BRIEFING BOXIN TODAY’S WWD

From mobile to Milliennials, direct engagement was top of mind at the WWD Digital Forum London. PAGE 1 Hermès International warned Friday it expects its operating margin to take a hit after foreign exchange swings again took a chunk out of second-quarter revenues. PAGE 1 British designer Stella McCartney completed her whirlwind tour of east Asia Thursday night by hosting a cocktail party on the banks of Beijing’s famous Qianhai Lake. PAGE 9 The Judith Ripka jewelry brand has a new licensing partner in KGK Jewellery Manufacturing Ltd. PAGE 9 Michele Sofisti is set to step down as chief executive officer of Sowind Group on Oct. 1 to focus on his duties as ceo of Gucci Watches and Jewelry. PAGE 9 Seth Levine, the new executive chef at Gurney’s Inn in Montauk, N.Y., discusses the cuisine in the four restaurants he oversees at the storied resort. PAGE 10 Britain’s Prince George turns one year old on Tuesday and Kensington Palace has released a photograph to mark the occasion. PAGE 11 The trend of adding buzzy contributing editors appears to be reemerging in the magazine world. PAGE 11 Jil Sander is in the midst of a restructuring, filing away 2013 with a heavier loss than the previous year and working with unions to let go about 50 employees. PAGE 12 Mario Grauso has been promoted to president of Joe Fresh, a new position at the brand. PAGE 12

The scene at the Stella McCartney event in Tokyo. For more, see WWD.com.

FASHION: British designer Stella McCartney completed her whirlwind tour of east Asia Thursday night. For more, see WWD.com.

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4 WWD MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014

Night LightsMetallic accessories add a little mood lighting to an evening out for resort and holiday. — ROXANNE ROBINSON

PHOTOGRAPHED BY KYLE ERICKSEN AT NO. 8, NEW YORK

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Fallon Jewelry’s 14-karat gold-

plated brass and cubic zirconia

necklace and ring, Milly’s suede handbag and Edie Parker’s acrylic clutch.

Akris dress.

Kate Spade New York’s resin and glass clutch and Nicholas Kirkwood’s patent leather and calfskin sandals.

Melissa Kaye’s 18-karat black gold,

white diamond and black diamond ring;

Hayward’s python clutch, and Sergio

Rossi’s satin, crystal and suede sandals.

Grace dress.

Frends’ metal and leather headphones, Pamela Love’s 14-karat rose-gold-plated and onyx choker, Victor Hugo’s ostrich clutch and Badgley Mischka’s leather and metal clutch.

Salvatore Ferragamo’s leather clutch, Lee Savage’s brass clutch, Guess’ stainless steel watch and Gucci’s leather sandals. L’Agence dress.

6 WWD monday, july 21, 2014

Bousquet-Chavanne, executive direc-tor for marketing and international at Marks & Spencer.

He said content is “now an intricate part of the decision-making process.…We made sure that content was an everyday inspiration behind the product that our designers are creating.”

Clarins has adopted a similar strat-egy with its online customers. “We focus on content that tells stories about our consumers’ lifestyles,” said Laurent Malaveille, chief executive officer of Groupe Clarins Switzerland. The brand offers services including online beauty consultations, a rewards scheme and big sampling program, and urges customers to converse online about the quality of the products.

Brands are taking those daily conver-sations and shoring them up with service — and entertainment — in a bid to build trust and capture market share.

Ben Jones, chief technology officer at

the London-based digital agency AKQA, said brands have only five seconds before 33 percent of customers leave, “if you don’t get it right.”

He said marketing today is about re-turning to levels of service seen in the past, when shopkeepers would know cus-tomers’ names and bartenders would re-member their regulars’ drinks.

Jones recalled the first time he vis-ited a renowned golf club with many VIP guests, where, within a few minutes, a locker room attendant had already learned his name, shoe size and the loca-tion of his clubs. Jones said he felt like the most important player in the room.

“In this world of elitism, he democratized the whole space for me, and made me feel so comfortable that I would like to go back again,” Jones told the London audience.

Thanks to a gang of professional num-ber-crunchers armed with Ph.D.’s, the online marketplace Lyst.com is seeking to sift through thousands of online fashion and luxury options in order to offer its

customers the right sort of products. The site works up a “taste profile” for custom-ers based on past and current purchases, and offers them a “personalized prod-uct feed,” much like a personal shopper would do in a department store.

Lyst is also looking to stretch its on-line service to the brick-and-mortar world, by passing on key information about its customers’ preferences and shopping habits to its brick-and-mortar partner stores so they can improve their customer service.

Kate Spade New York, meanwhile, is working on amping up the fun — and lifestyle — element for customers online and in-store.

Mary Beech, Kate Spade New York’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, admitted the brand missed a trick when it opened its first London store, just off Sloane Square, a few years ago.

The unit opened its doors and was stocked with “everything from scented candles to jewelry, to ready-to-wear to

handbags, but no story, no place to go to u n d e r s t a n d how this life-style brand came to life,” said Beech.

The company quickly added a worldofkatespade.com site that had no e-commerce element, but rather of-fered customers information about the brand. Beech said that as the brand enters new markets it planned to lead with digital storytelling.

Spade is also weaving digital threads into its brick-and-mortar stores, such as printing the word “Like?” on a pull-down screen in some changing rooms, allowing selfie-prone shoppers to ask their friends for opinions, and partnering with Perch, which used overhead projectors to beam custom content onto display tables in eight pilot stores.

Here, a taste of what the summit’s speakers had to say about the state of their digital strategies and challenges to date.

Charlotte Burrows, Estée Lauder Cos. WWD’s London bureau chief Samantha Conti sat down with Charlotte Burrows, director of online at the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. U.K. and Ireland, for a Q&A session that touched on the importance of mobile commerce, social media and targeting an “ageless” consumer.

On the importance of social media: “We under-stand that it forms part of the customer journey, and we believe that we have to be there because of that. Whether it’s driving sales or not is a different ques-tion, and that’s not really a priority for us at all. We look at it as brand aware-ness and a place for brands to tell a story. There are stats out there that say a brand is 71 percent more trusted if they interact with their consumers on social channels.”

On purchasing beauty products online: “[With brands] such as MAC, we have about 50 new collections every year that go online every month. There are new collaborations — it might be a lipstick color with Rihanna — and [customers] will buy that online with-out having seen it or touched it. That comes down, we think, to the social channel — people talking about it before they buy.” On mobile commerce: “For us, it’s mobile first, absolutely. It’s a channel that we don’t see going downhill at all. In fiscal 2012, we had about 6 percent of visitors for sales coming through mobile, and that increased in fis-cal 2013 to 38 percent. The two main dif-ferences we notice on mobile over our PC sites are people looking at store locations on their mobiles and they’re looking at videos. [And] we’re seeing people are pur-chasing a little bit more on iPads than they are on iPhones. But the big question for 2014 is working out how to make that jour-ney on mobile a little bit easier for our cus-

tomers. It’s making sure that if a customer wants to purchase on a mobile device, can they get there as quickly as possible and get through to checkout?” On what MAC is teaching other Estée Lauder brands about engagement: “There’s a lot of customer engagement on the new [MAC] products through YouTube. We launch a week earlier online than we do in-store, so there’s a lot of

buzz that gets created around products on-line. We can see a real lift in-store on that. Online is obviously such a big channel for Estée Lauder in general. It’s a place where you can create that buzz, you can get people talking about the products.” On the demographic focus of Estée Lauder’s on-line marketing: “We try and focus on every-one, [but] ‘ageless’ — [customers over 50 are] a big focus for us — they are the fast-est growing group online. We’ve always talked about the Millennials in the social channels, but we need to start looking at what the ageless population and what they’re doing online. But we can see from customer data that more people are pur-chasing in that age group online.”

Mary Beech, Kate Spade New York“We learned very early on that if you can’t tell your story digitally, you might as well not tell it,” said Mary Beech, Kate Spade New York’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, in her presentation on brand storytell-ing in a digital world.

The demographic of the Kate Spade customer has little to do with how the brand’s story is told. Yes, she’s 25 to 44 years old, has an average household income of more than 60,000 pounds, or $102,600 at current ex-change, is married and college-educated.

Beech stressed that those stats were by no means authentic, aspira-tional or useful, particu-larly when it comes to de-fining brand voice, which Beech said is essential to telling a brand’s story.

“A brand’s voice begins with your brand promise; it begins with your custom-er, and not a ‘stats’ custom-er, but your real customer,” she said, adding that the company “thinks about

[our customer] not as a demographic but as an ageless mind-set.”

To wit, Kate Spade has created a series of statements that are used in-ternally to talk about the customer’s mind-set. They include: “She sings off-key, but with great spirit,” and “she has wallpapered the rental apartment.”

Beech said when Kate Spade launched e-commerce, which accounts for more than 20 percent of sales, the brand committed to content and com-merce. “But the content wasn’t editori-alizing our products, it is true content — dance lessons, or recipes, or great tips for when you visit another place. The lifestyle side of Kate Spade was of equal importance to sales,” she said.

She gave as examples digital maga-zines and a shoppable video of how the brand is combining commerce with con-tent on its site. Beech said the “Days of” travel content campaign, where the brand highlights a new city each month, is driv-ing “huge” repeat traffic on the site.

Illustrating the value of brand story-

telling, Beech said the opening of Kate Spade’s first London store was a “missed opportunity.” The unit opened in London with brick- and-mortar only, and with “everything from scented candles to jew-elry, to ready-to-wear to handbags but no story, no place to go to understand how this lifestyle brand came to life.”

The company quickly added a worldofkatespade.com site that had no e-commerce element, but rather offered customers information about the brand. E-commerce in the U.K. is set to launch

before the end of the year, and Beech said as the brand enters new markets, it would lead with digi-tal storytelling, over and above physical locations.

Beech said social media is “one of the great-est venues for digital story-telling because you’re able to talk to your customer every day, every hour, even every minute.” In the last year, Pinterest delivered a 264 percent increase in traffic and a 100 percent increase in sales to be the second social sales driver after Facebook.

The brand launched a Pinterest product board a few weeks ago, and it already has more than 180,000 follow-ers, but the overall mix is 20 percent commerce pins versus 80 percent pure inspiration.

Camp Kate Spade, a themed pop-up hotel the brand set up in the Hamptons this summer — fashion editors and bloggers were invited to spend the weekend — was listed as a physical con-cept that worked well socially. Over one weekend, the brand received 8.3 million impressions across its social networks as a result.

The physical-social interface was also successful on a store retail level, she said. Individual stores were as-sessed to determine which “voice elements might fit best.” Things like quotes on handbag walls, or “like?” printed inside a cartoonish bubble on a pull-down screen in changing rooms to allow selfie-prone shoppers to ask their friends for their opinions.

“We believe technology is going to drive the future of shopping, so we’re about a pure digital client,” said Beech. She was referring in part to the shoppable storefronts in New York that Kate Spade Saturday set up to target the Millennial consumer, who could have her purchases delivered to her home within an hour. The concept will be extended to Kate Spade New York this year. — JULIA NEEL

Engagement Through StorytellingFrom mobile to Millennials, direct engagement was top-of-mind at the WWD Digital Forum London.

{Continued from page one}

Daniel Sanchez-Grant, LinkedInProfessional life can be that much easier if one learns to curate, connect and execute. Daniel Sanchez-Grant, senior account di-rector of LinkedIn, touted the possibilities the site can offer not only to individuals but organizations that are trawling for new talent, or looking to promote them-selves in alternative ways.

“There is value creation by staying in touch,” he said, adding that a profile page should be a creative and communicative space above anything else. “It’s where you can tell a story, where you can post a profile — not a CV.” He also said members

can use their pages as a publishing plat-form or space for video and photograph-ic content, all in the name of promoting their personal and professional brands.

Things start getting in-teresting, he said, when members have more than 50 connections, and he urged people to join the right groups and to pro-mote their companies and brands. The site has 300 mil-lion members and operates in 20 languages. Some 43 percent of traffic is coming from mobile devices while annual revenues are 1.5 bil-lion pounds, or $2.56 billion at current exchange.

— SAMANTHA CONTI

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WWD.COM7WWD monday, july 21, 2014

Marina Abayev, YouTubeMarina Abayev, YouTube’s content partnerships manager, entertainment, talked about how brands can use their content to attract successful, sustain-able audiences on the video platform. She used a montage of some of YouTube’s biggest forces in fash-ion and beauty, including Michelle Phan, Zoella, Velvetgh0st, Tanya Burr and Pixie Woo.

“Beauty and fashion is a huge category on YouTube,” said Abayev. “There’s a lot of engagement, there’s a lot of fandom. As you can see from the num-ber of subscribers to some of these channels, they rival broadcast television shows on a week-over-week basis.”

YouTube’s in-house development teams analyzed all of the top creators on the platform and tried to pull out common themes within their content. Those key creators added their insights to the analysis, which led to Abayev’s 10 fundamentals.

Shareability was first. Citing the Dove beauty sketch-es campaign as particularly strong examples of share-able content, she explained that viewers share video content when they want to say something about them-selves. “[If it is] smart or informative, [we share] because we want to be perceived as smart or informative, and we share because we want to transfer the emotional connec-tion that we feel to a piece of content to an audience.”

Conversation was another dictum, and Abayev said speaking directly to the audience is “hugely important” for many of the most successful content creators, who break the “fourth wall” through this technique. She said this makes viewers feel like a part of a community, “like a friend.” She ac-knowledged that for some brands, who are used to well-produced, polished, episodic content, this may seem “scary,” but suggest-ed thinking about ways to introduce this approach, citing beauty vlogger Phan as a prime example.

She talked about interactivity as being different from conver-sation by allowing au-dience suggestions to inform content. She referenced U.K. vlogger

Velvetgh0st, and the celebrity makeup tutorials she creates based on her users’ requests. The upside, said Abayev, is that audience members feel flattered — and a part of a brand’s content.

Consistent, strong, recurring elements — wheth-er they be scheduling, tone, format or personality — are also important, as is the value of targeting a specific audience.

On sustainability, she said brands should be asking themselves, “If the audience loves it, can I make more of it?” She said brands should not be in a position where they have a single piece of content into which they’ve sunk their entire budget. If the show is a huge success, they need to be in a position to build on it.

Taking advantage of topical events and trending searches is also important. Abayev said YouTube is the second-biggest search engine after Google, and that ce-lebrity “How-to” videos are a successful way to capitalize on trending searches in a series. She said timeless con-tent — how to tie a tie, for example — was also popular.

Making sure every piece of video content has a context that makes it accessible to new viewers — in order to avoid alienating them — was another key point, especially when that content can be consumed on a social stream, or is suggested by a friend.

“I can’t emphasize enough how hugely important collaboration is on YouTube,” Abayev stressed. “The best way to build your own subscriber base and fans is to partner with someone who already has a fan base, collaborate on content with them, and share audiences with them.”

While still recommending experimentation on the platform, she asked brands to consider authen-ticity as her last fundamental point. “Are you creat-ing content that resonates with your audience, that makes sense, are you being true to your [brand] and the things that you stand for?” — J.N.

William Kim, AllSaintsWilliam Kim, chief executive officer of AllSaints, takes a sometimes contrary ap-proach to fashion retail: His philosophy includes maxims such as “embrace the imperfections,” “be flat” rather than “hier-archical,” and a strategy of expanding into countries that are not necessarily at the top of other fashion brands’ agendas, such as Canada, South Korea and the Netherlands.

“We at AllSaints said…‘Let’s embrace the imperfections. Let’s be open, let’s be honest, let’s find everything that doesn’t work,” he said of the company’s ethos, noting that those imperfections “are all opportunities in our eyes.” Speaking to that idea, Kim asks his employees “to dis-agree…but have positive intent.” “Neutrality is horrible — take a decision, yes or no,” he said. “If you’re wrong, and if you fail, then let’s just not do it again,” he said.

Also central to Kim’s mission at AllSaints, where he joined as ceo in 2012, is shaping the retailer as a thor-oughly digital brand. “What we’re aiming to do is not be a retailer with an amazing digital strategy, but rather a digi-tal brand that happens to have some stores,” said Kim. To that end, in lieu of opening a gleaming flagship on Fifth Avenue, he’d rather “invest [the money] in my coders, and reinvest more money in a platform that we already own.”

Expanding on the value of AllSaints’ coding teams, Kim said their work on the brand’s site meant the retailer’s mo-bile traffic shot up from 2 to 26 percent — 50 percent includ-ing traffic from tablets — all within the space of 45 days.

Digital data is also driving where AllSaints is expanding

internationally. Instead of looking at what markets the retailer’s peers were entering, Kim said he and his team consulted Google Analytics. “We realized that the Canadians love us; we’re rock stars there…and then the Dutch, as well — so we opened those markets,” he said. “We didn’t go to your usual mar-kets. If I followed trend we’d be opening in Brazil. But actually we said no — follow your instincts, fol-low the facts,” he said.

Kim’s instincts have also led him to expand AllSaints into South Korea, where, he said: “There’s a revolution going on….The culture’s contemporary, the cinema, the music, every-

thing’s changing and it’s influencing Asia. I associate Seoul with East London, it feels like L.A.,” he said. And digital is also at the forefront of the brand’s entry into that market. Before opening its first stores there, the re-tailer will launch a Korean Web site, has hired in-house customer services and copywriters in the country and is launching there directly rather than through partners.

“Our focus is to do it in a manner that nobody else has done it,” he said. “Now, I don’t know if we’re going to succeed, but I think it’s worth a try. It feels like we’re doing the right thing.”

But Kim noted that amid the rapid pace of evolution at the company, another maxim he adopts is: “It ain’t in-novation if nobody’s using it.”

“We really focus on usage within AllSaints,” he added, noting that the retailer’s technology partner-ship with Google Plus has “revolutionized” the way the company works, adding that AllSaints can partner more closely with its own stores around the world and con-nect to its vendors. — NINA JONES

Laurent Malaveille, Groupe Clarins Groupe Clarins Switzerland likes a challenge.

The family-owned company is aiming to be the world’s number-one prestige skin-care brand. One big move it’s made to achieve that goal was to streamline its digital presence with just one global platform and en-gage directly with the consumer, ac-cording to Laurent Malaveille, the company’s chief executive officer.

It set up online beauty consulta-tions, created a rewards program, suggested gift bundles, proposed exclusive offers and made avail-able more than 100 samples with purchase, something no multibrand brick-and-mortar store could do.

It even urged customers to speak to one another online about the quality and performance of the products they purchased.

The brand set out to make its digital offer as good — and, in many cases, better — than its brick-and-mortar one, and today, clarins.com is the brand’s number-one store.

“We focus on content that tells sto-ries about our consumers’ lifestyles; we have questions and answers; we have beauty week, with the [Clarins] team sharing their top beauty rou-

tines for a vaca-tion, but also for the Chinese New Year.…Asian women have so many beauty secrets to share,” he said.

Malaveille and his team faced challenges as they sought to ex-pand internationally, especially in China, where the Web is pro-tected by the so-called Great China Firewall.

Officially known as the Golden Shield Project, the government-controlled firewall re-stricts the dissemination of infor-mation and impacts e-commerce businesses from abroad, resulting in slower load times and compromised site functionality.

E-commerce is also dominated by a few homegrown Chinese players, the online marketplaces Tmall.com and Taobao.com, which operate much like eBay or Amazon, and can potentially be problematic for luxury brands keen to protect their upscale pricing and image.

“Sales are done through the gray market and through unofficial chan-nels,” said Malaveille, adding that Clarins’ solution was to embrace the

reality rather than fight it.So the brand opened

two online stores, a stand-alone one and a second on Tmall.com, both of which were served by the same back office. Their full-price offer mirrors that of Clarins’ department store partners in China, while the Web site on Tmall looks identical to clarins.com.

“From Day One, we knew that to be relevant to China we needed to have both

properties,” Malaveille said. “So we decided to go there respecting our DNA as a luxury brand, selling our products at full price and with full service. By selling full-price on Tmall.com with rich content, we knew we would…set a good standard in China.”

Clarins launched online in China in September, and Malaveille said the results so far have exceeded the company’s expectations.

“Tmall is going to be our number-one China store this year, and it’s also going to affect the brand per-ception among the online audience,” he said. “And we have pushed down the gray marketers and discounters in the search engine results.” — S.C.

tomers. It’s making sure that if a customer wants to purchase on a mobile device, can they get there as quickly as possible and get through to checkout?” On what MAC is teaching other Estée Lauder brands about engagement: “There’s a lot of customer engagement on the new [MAC] products through YouTube. We launch a week earlier online than we do in-store, so there’s a lot of

buzz that gets created around products on-line. We can see a real lift in-store on that. Online is obviously such a big channel for Estée Lauder in general. It’s a place where you can create that buzz, you can get people talking about the products.” On the demographic focus of Estée Lauder’s on-line marketing: “We try and focus on every-one, [but] ‘ageless’ — [customers over 50 are] a big focus for us — they are the fast-est growing group online. We’ve always talked about the Millennials in the social channels, but we need to start looking at what the ageless population and what they’re doing online. But we can see from customer data that more people are pur-chasing in that age group online.”

Miyon Im, Lyst.comIn a world of overwhelming choice, Lyst.com — an online fashion market-place — is mastering myriad algorithms to cut through the chaos and offer cli-ents tailor-made choices.

“Chris [Morton, Lyst’s chief executive officer and cofounder] was frustrated by how fragmented and unpersonalized e-commerce shopping had become,” said Miyon Im, head of product at the site.

“We have over 12,000 retailers and part-ners on the site, and we offer over 2 billion pounds [$3.4 billion] worth of product,” she said. “When a product goes on sale on a partner site, it goes on sale on Lyst as well. That’s lots of different retailers and categories, and we use that data to create a personalized shopping platform.”

Im said the site has invested heavily in computer-da-ta scientists who are able to crunch information, which Lyst uses to make strategic decisions.

Lyst offers a “personalized product feed,” a recom-mendation algorithm that takes into account customer behavior, as well as past and recent purchases, to create a “taste profile” for everyone consulting on the site.

“I have never clicked on loafers — never bought them before,” Im said, describing her own experience with the personalized product feed. “I have never clicked on white patent leather loafers — or white patent leather anything.” Due to Lyst, she is now the owner of a pair of Zara ones. “I can’t explain it. I love them. And the only

reason I’m not wearing them today is because they’re bunged up from so much use,” she said.

The site also offers a sales alert, telling cus-tomers when the price of a certain item goes down. Lyst also shares data with its affiliates, brands and retail partners.

“We know how many products sell at any given price. We know that when there is a 30 percent sale, there is a huge surge in purchasing, but not enough to make up for the loss in margins,” she said.

Earlier this month, the site started to weave content in with commerce. “We’re creating a platform for consumers as well as partners to bring their brand and voice and taste to the site. We’re putting visually engaging content along-side shoppable product,” she said.

Regarding the rise of mobile, Im said she and her team are seeing a lot of “snacking,” with customers spending short periods of time on their devices, but not really following through on purchases. “They are fin-ishing those activities on their desktop, and we want to support how they act,” she said.

There is much opportunity, Im said, for optimizing the offline experience as well.

Lyst envisions passing on information about its custom-ers shopping habits to brick-and-mortar stores so they can tailor their services to individuals: If a customer likes cer-tain Dior outfits in particular, Lyst envisions calling ahead to ensure that said outfits are already waiting in the dress-ing room, ready to be tried on. — S.C.

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The best way to build your own subscriber base and

fans is to partner with someone who already has a fan base, collaborate on

content with them, and share audiences with them.

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8 WWD monday, july 21, 2014

Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, Marks & SpencerFor Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, executive director of marketing and international at Marks & Spencer, having a “daily conversa-tion” with M&S’ customers is central to the retailer’s revamped digital strategy.

And that conversation is paying off.He said since M&S — which has rev-

enues of around $17.5 billion and is the U.K.’s number-one clothing retailer — re-launched its editorial-driven Web site in February, it has seen a 25 percent uplift in purchases directly related to each piece of editorial content published.

“Content now is an intricate part of the decision-making process [in a purchase],” said Bousquet-Chavanne. “We made sure that content was an everyday inspiration behind the product that our designers are creating.”

The site’s daily publishing schedule is crucial to its appeal, he added. “Trust me, that wasn’t wired in the DNA of Marks & Spencer to go from planning yearly to pub-lishing daily,” he said of the 130-year-old re-tailer. “I wanted to change the conversation: It’s not about an advertising campaign that comes twice a year, it’s about a daily con-versation, when you engage and mutually exchange information with your consumers.”

Bousquet-Chavanne said since the site’s launch in February, the retailer sees 30 percent more online traffic, and its click-through rates on marketing e-mails is up by 40 percent. The executive also said the site’s “curated” approach to the retailer’s myriad product lines is proving popular with con-

sumers, who had previously complained M&S’ online offer was “overwhelming.”

In addition, he acknowledged there had been “great learnings” attached to launch-ing M&S’ site on its own platform and mi-grating away from its original Amazon platform, which he compared to “being handcuffed.”

Alongside M&S’ digital developments, Bousquet-Chavanne pointed out that the retailer has around 800 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.K. alone, which also need to provide consumers “with the best experi-ence possible.”

“You have to transform what’s happen-ing inside the stores to present compelling destinations,” said Bousquet-Chavanne. “I want the experience…to be as exciting as possible, and complimentary to the digital experience we provide.”

Bousquet-Chavanne highlighted the growth of spend on digital advertising, which in the U.K. has surged 58 percent since 2010, to 6.3 billion pounds, or $10.8 billion, in 2013.

Similarly, the executive said over the last 18 months, M&S’ marketing spend has shifted from about 10 percent digital to now more than 21 percent digital. “Not having digital at the core of culture and capabilities is not an option,” said Bousquet-Chavanne.

“The transformation when you’re large is obviously a bit more painful than when you just start,” he said. “[But] I think it’s important you put your digital home into place, and you really learn from it…and I think you’ll have a great outcome that posi-tions you well as a brand or retailer for the future.” — NINA JONES

Martin Bartle, Agent ProvocateurNumbers can (and do) lie.

Regularly.That’s according to Martin Bartle,

the London-based e-commerce veteran, luxury marketing and on-line retail consultant, and director, global communications and e-com-merce, at the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur.

Bartle focused on the minefield involved in analyzing e-commerce numbers in a talk called “Bad Maths: The Curse of E-commerce.” It should be a simple equation, he said: “How much traffic do you have? What’s the conversion rate? What are the sales?” If a brand can make those three numbers work, then why can business often be so challenging?

He stressed the im-portance of counterin-tuitive thinking when analyzing the results of an e-commerce op-eration, and pointed to Simpson’s Paradox, in which a trend that ap-pears in different groups of data actually disap-pears when those groups are combined.

Bartle kicked off with a non-digital example. “When you are looking for a heart surgeon in this country,” he said, you want to find the one with the highest death rate. “Why? Because the best doctors in the country treat the worst cases. So you want to go to the doctor with the worst results.”

He pointed to the disparity be-tween the large amount of traffic that Agent Provocateur regularly gets — and the actual shopping done on the site. Conclusion? There are lots of people staring goggle-eyed at images of lingerie-clad ladies who have zero interest in shopping.

Bartle talked about the work he did for a brand called Nude Skincare.

“Their conversion rate was low com-pared with the large amount of traffic, so [the principals] assumed there was a problem with the site.” The answer? It turns out that many curious types like to trawl for the word “nude” on-line, and Nude Skincare pops up as a top site.

Like Agent Provocateur, Nude, a natural skin-care brand, was attract-ing many a voyeur, so it was no wonder conversion rates were comparatively low. “Conversion rates need to be put in context,” he said. “And you need to overlay your numbers with comment.”

Bartle also tackled shopping-basket abandonment rates: “70 to 80 percent abandon-ment rates are com-mon. Why?” People are window-shopping, he said, or the site times out, or they’re working with multiple devices, or they’re browsing by day and then shopping at night.

Bartle, who served in the past as head of mar-keting at Net-a-porter.com, also addressed order values. “There is nothing average about an order value. When I

was working at Net-a-porter, the AOV was 450 pounds [$770]. What that re-ally meant was people were either spending 200 pounds [$342] or less, or 600-plus [$1,026-plus] pounds.”

Bartle stressed that a look of a site need not be fixed in stone, and that online strategies can change to suit to the moment or shoppers’ tempera-ment in a certain season or moment.

“We have a very ugly homepage during the sale period,” he admitted, referring to Agent Provocateur. Why curate the site when there are only a few sizes available for each model? In the case of the sales periods, peo-ple need to shop by size, he said.

— SAMANTHA CONTI

Ben Jones, AKQA“Cohesion, if done right, is completely unforgettable,” said Ben Jones, chief tech-nology officer at the London-based digital agency AKQA, adding that brands should be moving into a world where they can “truly add to people’s lives” rather than simply flog them merchandise they don’t necessarily need.

“If you can give something back to a consumer, something of value, they will love you for-ever and they will become not a consumer, but a champion,” he said.

When it comes to Web sites in particular, Jones said brands have only five seconds before 33 percent of customers leave “if you don’t get it right.” To get it right, he suggested simplification and service.

Speaking of the paralysis of choice, he said that his job in the world of digital and data is to take the overwhelming choice away from consumers. “It’s the investment in algo-rithms and the people that can create those kind of insights from the data…which is im-portant today.”

He added that marketing today is about returning to levels of service seen in the past, when storekeepers would know customers’ names and bartenders would know their regulars’ drinks. Jones recalled his own visit to a renowned golf club, where — within a few minutes — a locker room atten-dant had already learned his name, shoe size and the loca-

tion of his clubs, making Jones feel like the most important player in the room.

“In this world of elitism, he democratized the whole space for me and made me feel so comfortable that I would like to go back again,” he said.

Jones also stressed the importance of naïveté in the creative process: “It’s about being a deliberate beginner,” he said, adding that the col-laboration between colleagues with different skill sets was also crucial.

Addiction to failure is an-other key to success: “What are you going to do to be un-forgettable? When will you have the balls to experiment? What can you do to be truly cohesive in your organization to create the things that other brands will do, and start-ups will create? Are you honestly addicted to failure?” — J.N.

Anthony Citrano, Verizon Digital Media Services There is more than one way into the complex heart — and mind — of the Millennial customer.

The elusive demographic — born in the early Eighties to the early Aughts — are the first genera-tion of true digital natives — they don’t differen-tiate between “the Internet and the real world” — and they are approaching their prime earning years, said Anthony Citrano, vice president of com-munications at Verizon Digital Media Services.

They’re also loyal — to a point — as well as intense and passionate, and they are inclined to trust deeply people whom they’ve never met. They expect brands to fit into their lives and are ultra-mobile, using smartphones and tablets frequently, tex-ting while they watch tele-vision and simultaneously consulting their iPads.

Citrano said while it’s necessary to build mobile sites accordingly for this kind of behavior, brands should not try to put their entire Web sites onto mo-bile. What they do want is curation: Millennials live in high-definition and ex-pect to be able to watch what they want, when they want. “They expect it to be perfect and beautiful,” said Citrano, adding that while it’s “very hard” to deliver that level of qual-ity all the time, the expectation remains.

Indeed, he noted that he had found it difficult to find designers that stream their catwalk shows in HD, even well after the show has taken place.

Trust is another big theme in Millennials’ lives, as is impatience. “They trust people that you and I have never heard of,” he said. “Their set of in-fluencers is very specific and highly distributed, so they have a curated set of people that they trust about shoes, makeup, cars.”

And they have very little patience: “They re-

ally will not wait, whether it’s for a site, video, or image to load. For a customer service represen-tative to e-mail them back…they really expect al-most an instant response,” he said.

Citrano encouraged brands to “be human.…If you don’t care about them, they won’t care about you. Put the product in the context of their lives.” They prefer a personal touch when shopping, de-spite shopping frequently online, and appreciate human touches in service.

“Stop talking about yourself; talk about them, with them,” he recommended. “Engage them, show them videos, bring other story lines into

your digital experience.”He said it was a mistake to be

constantly talking about product without engagement, and treat-ing social media like “broad-cast media,” and woe betide the brand that has a slow-to-load or frustrating-to-use Web site.

“If your Web site sucks, you suck,” he said, explaining that Millennials will perceive a lack of investment in a site with a smooth user experience as a lack of interest in them. “And they’ll shop accordingly.”

He also stressed the impor-tance they put on curating their lives. “They’re social shoppers, and a huge part of their lives is publicly curating, showing off what they love,” he said.

“They’re proud of their taste, and they show it off digitally on Pinterest, on Tumblr. They’ve built networks of people who they follow religiously to see what they’re pinning.”

It’s a generation that also wants to be entertained, so Citrano suggested that brands weave more stories about themselves. “Don’t be too uptight — be fun, be funny,” he said. “Have a damn sense of humor.”

On rebooting advertising, he noted that this crowd will click on ads mostly by accident, so he advised building content they’re interested in en-gaging with. “Traditional ‘click-through’ advertis-ing: it doesn’t work.” — JULIA NEEL

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WWD.COM9WWD MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014

By HANNAH GARDNER and KELLY WETHERILLE

BRITISH DESIGNER Stella McCartney completed her whirl-wind tour of east Asia Friday night by hosting a cocktail party in a Qing dynasty courtyard on the banks of Beijing’s famous Qianhai Lake.

McCartney’s trip to China was intended to boost aware-ness of her brand at a time when Chinese luxury shoppers are keen to try more niche, less os-tentatious, labels.

“Our plan for China is to de-velop here and have a stronger re-lationship with the women of this county,” McCartney told WWD.

She feels her clothes bags and shoes, none of which use fur or leather, appeal to the increasing numbers of Chinese, especially amongst the wealthy, who are worried about the environment.

“There is a side of the Chinese market that wants more sustainability, more ethi-cal practice,” she said.

As well as showing her spring ready-to-wear collection, McCartney used the Beijing event to preview her spring lingerie and kids lines, and her collection for Adidas, which was modeled by a group of spinners and yoga and aerobics practitioners.

The Adidas collection had a retro, Eighties feel to it and made heavy use of pale gray, orange, co-

balt blue and cherry red.The children’s clothes in-

cluded a rah-rah-skirt dress made of cream netting embla-zoned with rainbow-colored dots and a little red jacket reminiscent of that worn by her father, Paul McCartney, on the cover of the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album.

The label is opening two shops in China this year and is looking to open more in Beijing, Shanghai and other cit-ies in the coming years,

said Frederick Lukoff, chief ex-ecutive officer.

“At the moment we are focus-ing on first-tier cities. I don’t think we have exhausted our po-tential in Beijing, for example,” he said.

However, he pointed out that the brand was not focusing just on China.

“As a young brand, we are trying to grow everywhere,” he said. “Our expansion in China is part of our global growth.”

Hence the two other stops on McCartney’s east Asia tour — Hong Kong and Japan.

On Thursday, McCartney gave a talk at Aoyama Gakuin University, which she said was an education-al experience for her as well.

“It was very interesting in that I’m starting to have an under-standing that women feel that they maybe have a lot of work to do in this part of the world to just have a voice, and so it was inter-esting to be able to speak and be part of that and to hopefully in-spire the next generation of busi-ness fashion people,” she said.

That same evening, the de-signer hosted a rooftop garden party at Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills complex. Models decked out in the designer’s resort collection took part in hula-hooping, cro-quet and mock fishing in a small pond in the garden. Guests dined on fish and chips and shaved ice, drank cold beer and listened to the three-piece band that played throughout the party.

In between these commit-ments, McCartney also had a chance to check out her new store space, which is due to open in February in Tokyo’s Aoyama district. As reported, the brand is relocating its exist-ing shop in the area.

“It’s so exciting, but it’s funny for me because when I first came to Tokyo when I was a kid and I knew I wanted to be a fashion designer, I went to stores on that strip, and now it is just crazy for me to think that I’m going to have my own store in such a fan-tastic location,” she said.

ACCESSORIES

Judith Ripka Gets New Licensing Deal

Sofisti Stepping Down as Sowind CEO

McCartney Visits Asia to Give Brand a Boost

Looks from Stella McCartney’s ready-to-wear and Adidas spring lines.

PARIS — Michele Sofisti is set to step down as chief executive officer of Sowind Group on Oct. 1 to focus on his duties as ceo of Gucci Watches and Jewelry, as part of a wider reorganization of Kering’s luxury watches and jewelry division, the French group said on Friday.

“The group has decided to put in place a renewed organization in which each company will be managed by a dedicated ceo,” Kering said, adding that a new ceo for Sowind Group would be appointed.

Sofisti joined Gucci Group Watches as strategic adviser in 2009 and was pro-moted to ceo in 2010. Since taking over at Sowind Group in 2011, he has set about modernizing the group’s production ca-pacities and repositioning the Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard brands.

Last year, Girard-Perregaux won the Aiguille d’Or, the top award at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, with its Constant Escapement L.M. timepiece.

— JOELLE DIDERICH

By VICKI M. YOUNG

THE JUDITH RIPKA jewelry brand has a new licensing partner.

Xcel Brands Inc., which acquired the Ripka intellectual property assets in April, has signed a licensing agreement with KGK Jewellery Manufacturing Ltd. to take over the operation’s wholesale component. That includes manufacturing, selling and distributing jewelry under the Ripka label. Distribution will include luxury re-tailers for the high-end Judith Ripka Ltd. line, and better department stores for the Judith Ripka Collection. Specialty fine-jewelry retailers sell both Ripka lines.

The wholesale operating business had been run by members of Ripka’s family under license from Xcel.

The licensing deal does not include Ripka’s line for QVC, which continues to be designed and produced by Xcel.

Ripka, chief design officer for her namesake brand, said, “I look forward to designing jewelry that will continue to be made by the best craftsmen, using the finest materials and workmanship that my customers have come to expect.”

Robert D’Loren, chairman and chief executive officer of Xcel, said his firm and

KGK are also joint venture partners for the operation of Ripka’s e-commerce business. While KGK will supply the product, Xcel will provide the marketing for the site.

“We need to now step up what we do with paid advertising, such as with Facebook, search optimization and affili-ate sites — all the things you do to drive traffic via social media,” D’Loren said.

D’Loren said his licensing deals typi-cally run for an initial three years, fol-lowed by two three-year option periods.

As for other components of the Ripka business since acquiring the IP assets, D’Loren said the Xcel is operating five free-standing stores. The plans are to keep the location on Madison Avenue in Manhattan and the one in East Hills on Long Island’s North Shore, not far from the Americana Manhasset. The other three locations will likely be shuttered. D’Loren isn’t ruling out the possibility of replacing those sites with new freestanding stores down the road.

Sanjay Kothari, KGK Group vice chair-man, said, “At KGK, our aim is to make and sell the finest jewelry possible with the best in class manufacturing and the finest, rarest of gemstones. We are currently undergoing a vertical integration, getting closer to con-sumers with our retail ventures and closer to our supply chain by acquiring mines.”

FOR MORE IMAGES, SEE

WWD.com/fashion-news.

Stella McCartney at the rooftop garden party at Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills complex.

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IT’S A PARTICULARLY hyperactive hour for Gurney’s Inn in Montauk, N.Y. It’s 5 p.m. on July 3 and the resort and spa is hosting four events tonight. Two begin imminently: a 250-person wedding with the bride set to walk down the aisle in 30 minutes and Shark Attack, the infamous midsummer bash thrown by Ben Watts that inevitably dilutes into a blur of slurry socials and rosé. That starts in an hour.

From the Inn’s deck — a sleek stretch of reclaimed wood with stunning panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean — the beach below looks to be dotted with scurrying ants. Milk Studios workers are darting around the sand setting up for Shark Attack, blowing up various inflatables and lugging cases of wine. A cadre of security personnel is barreling down the four flights of stairs to the beach to do a walk-through of the premises. Giddy bridesmaids quickly click across the deck’s lower level. A gaggle of Millennials sporting eyelets and topknots — early Shark Attack arrivals, no doubt — flutter by the deck’s bar upstairs. Unbothered hotel guests sit on plush lounge chairs and nurse their cocktails, taking in the view and salty breeze.

“I’m so sorry,” Seth Levine blurts out as a door from the dining room swings open. “We hit the most insane traffic,” he says jogging over. Levine is the new executive chef at the storied resort. The property was purchased for $25 million last year by developers George Filopoulos and Lloyd Goldman and has been in the process of refurbishment ever since. “It definitely needed a makeover,” Levine chuckles heartily, plopping down on a lounge chair.

Levine now handles all the cuisine at Gurney’s four restaurants: The Seawater Grill, Ocean Café, The Beach Club and The Market. He got the job after he happened to

be sitting across from Jennifer Oz LeRoy, Gurney’s newly appointed food and beverage director and daughter of Warner LeRoy, at a dinner at Stella Keitel’s house.

Levine always seems to be in the right place at the right time. His culinary career was launched after similarly serendipitous circumstances. As the story goes, he had been working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for Goldman Sachs for seven years, a trajectory he chose out of practicality after graduating

from culinary school at Lorenzo de Medici in Florence. Once the market took a nosedive in 2008, Levine decided to quit his job. The very day he left, so he says, Levine was walking home and saw a line snaking out the door of one of his neighborhood boîtes. The line was auditions for Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” cooking challenge show. Out of sheer impulse, Levine got on. “Everyone on

line was in a chef coat and I show up in a Brioni suit and pink tie, looking like your regular Wall Street guy.” Three weeks later Levine was filming the show in Los Angeles.

It proved to be a steep learning curve. “I’d cooked privately forever, but I’d never worked in a restaurant before. I didn’t know the terminology that Gordon Ramsay was using and I’m pretending I do. He’s like, ‘Fire this entrée!’ and I’m like, ‘There’s a fire in here?’” Levine was put up for elimination in the first episode. He skated by, getting booted five episodes in. But the show consecrated Levine into the orbit of chef-turned-reality-star pseudo-fame, a relatively new phenomenon at the time. Beloved for his goofy personality, Levine was memorable to viewers and, consequently, to investors. After the show, he went on to open 11 spots (eight restaurants and three quick-food concepts) —

most notably Sons of Essex in Manhattan and Georgica in Wainscott, N.Y. There is a running thread throughout his ventures: a focus on seasonality, local sourcing and quirky presentation (at Sons of Essex, a fried chicken meal comes on a silver TV dinner tray). “I love plating in a playful manner. It’s more of an interactive experience for the diner,” Levine smiles. “I like doing some Willy Wonka tricks.”

The menu at Gurney’s is in that same wheelhouse with much of the menu utilizing a degree of molecular gastronomy. For instance, their burrata dish at The Seawater Grill is a play on the classic with heirloom tomatoes skirting a heap of fresh burrata and four seasonings strewn across the far side of the plate for the diner to choose from. There’s a microbasil, a crystallized

basil, a balsamic powder and a balsamic “pearl,” a molecular gastronomy technique to create a tiny bead out of the vinegar that bursts in the diner’s mouth. “We let our customers play with their food,” Levine says. Another exquisite plating is the fluke crudo, also at The Seawater Grill. The fish is cleanly sliced and folded between slivers of watermelon radish, hot pink in color and subtle in flavor. Crystallized fennel, crispy shallot and beet flower petals are scattered over the plate. It’s finished with a grapefruit oil drizzle. “The overall feel of the menu is what I call whimsical, modern American,” Levine says.

Down below by the water is The Beach Club, a smaller, grab-and-go style eatery. Easy-to-eat bites are doled out from an inviting beachside shack, painstakingly furnished to exude a rustic, shabby chic

vibe. “We have a lot of things on skewers, things you can eat at the beach,” Levine says. Levine even partnered with Desserts That Matter and DF Mavens to produce custom vegan and nonvegan flavors of gelato and sorbet — sea salt caramel, grapefruit Campari and balsamic panna cotta are among the offerings. “Those

have been a huge hit,” he says. And for those looking for a

new take on happy hour, the shack has liquor-infused ice pops in Champagne and peach bellini flavors. “And they really have booze in them! They’re great,” Levine says. “People are

licking them and like, ‘I didn’t drink a thing. I don’t know why I feel tipsy…’” — TAYLOR HARRIS

Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa290 Old Montauk HighwayMontauk, N.Y.631-668-2345Open dailyGurneysinn.com

YOU KNOW those vacations that are so perfect and so relaxing that even weeks afterward — when you’re sitting at your desk at work — all you dream about is, “When will I return?” Well, I’m recently back from Provincetown and I’m already planning my next trip. Provincetown — P-town for short — is at the very tip of Cape Cod. Originally a fishing town, it’s since become a charming haven filled with quaint shingled cottages, beautiful beaches and lovely little shops.

The mode of transportation is bikes — I especially loved the ride to Race Point Beach, while Herring Cove Beach is a bit closer. And the food? New England’s finest seafood is everywhere you turn! Victor’s shrimp and oysters, the Cod Bánh Mì at Canteen and the Lobster Roll at Mac’s were among my favorites.

Then, because you can’t exist on seafood alone, there’s every kind of baked good at Relish. I love strolling down Commercial Street — sometimes the people-watching is just as good as all the shops and ice cream stores. And what I noticed right away about P-town — people say ‘Hi’ on the street. I’m definitely looking forward to my next P-town ‘hello.’ XO, PETER SOM

Weekend at Gurney’s

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Seth Levine

A selection of dishes from The

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The deck at Gurney’s Inn.

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WWD.COM11WWD monday, july 21, 2014

THE CONTRIBUTORS: The trend of adding buzzy contributing editors appears to be reemerging in the magazine world.

Not only is it a way to bring in new readers, but it’s also less expensive than hiring a slew of new staffers. Time Inc.’s Travel + Leisure and Hearst’s Marie Claire are prime examples of publications that are adding influential contributors to their mastheads.

Celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson will join T+L as food and culture contributor. He will report between four and six bylined stories a year for both the magazine and its Web site. The pub will also tap the chef to appear in videos for its site, and it will introduce a feature called “The B-Sides” on lesser-known neighborhoods in familiar cities. His first story will make its debut in T+L’s October issue.

At Marie Claire, the magazine has tapped transgendered author Janet Mock as a new contributor.

“I will get to write about celebrity, pop culture, beauty and fashion, as well as political issues, feminism and women and gender,” said Mock, who touted her unique voice as a fit for the magazine’s social commentary.

The former people.com journalist got on Marie Claire’s radar when she told her story in the magazine in 2011. Mock will join a small stable of contributing editors, including recent additions Alyssa Mastromonaco, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and Audrey Gelman, political and media relations strategist.

Bringing a more intellectual angle to the women’s glossy is a point of differentiation for Marie Claire, said editor in chief Anne Fulenwider.

“I’m really looking to expand the Marie Claire family. We have a never-ending need for content. We are becoming rapidly a 24-7 shop here,” Fulenwider told WWD.

— ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

WEATHER GIRL: Elie Tahari took a new approach to communicating his message for fall, which marks his four decades in business. Inspired by the season’s collection, which was called “The Perfect Storm,” he worked with photographer Steven Klein for the first time. The campaign features Hilary Rhoda against the backdrop of four dramatic climates: waves, lightning, rolling clouds and a red sky.

Though the ads will appear in print and online, the full eight images will make their debut in quite a novel — and suitable — way: on the Weather Channel. On Aug. 11, during the network’s “AMHQ” morning show, Sam Champion will be reporting live from the roof of Tahari’s design center on New York’s Fifth Avenue with a fashion show of a selection of fall looks, “come rain or shine,” according to the fashion house. The designer plans to simultaneously release the photos on his Web site,

elietahari.com, as well as through several social media channels via the hashtag #theperfectstorm.

“It’s truly the perfect storm and having the opportunity to work with Steven Klein for our [fall] campaign is one of the highlights in my career,” Tahari said. — MARC KARIMZADEH

MeMo padFashion scoops THE ONE SHOW: Britain’s Prince George turns one year old on Tuesday and Kensington Palace has released a photograph to mark the occasion. The photo of the prince was shot during a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the “Sensational Butterflies” exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London earlier this month. The duchess is a patron of the museum.

The birthday boy is dressed in Petit Bateau short, striped overalls and a navy blue short-sleeve shirt and is pictured walking by himself — his arms proudly outstretched — at the outdoor exhibition. — LORELEI MARFIL

BILL READY TO SPILL: A vodka soda wound up being the tipping point for Bill Cunningham to agree to a Q&A this fall with Fern Mallis at 92Y in Manhattan.

After trying off and on for two years to sway the famously shy street photographer, Mallis said she had lost all hope when he penned a letter to politely decline.

But an accidentally spilled drink at this year’s CFDA Awards wound up being all she needed. Fresh off a flight from India and wearing a saffron chiffon caftanlike frock she had bought there, Mallis wound up wearing her cocktail after Cunningham bumped her glass while taking notes.

“Poor Bill was horrified and so apoplectic in his apology. I told him, ‘It’s OK. It’s clear. It will dry. If it had been red wine, I would have killed you,’” Mallis said.

Once she convinced Cunningham that he needn’t worry about buying her a new dress or picking up the dry cleaner’s bill, she suggested a sit-down at the 92Y. The cycling shutterbug agreed to pedal over Sept. 3 for his interview. — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

AMERICAN APPAREL LOAN RESTRUCTURE: Per a regulatory filing on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, New York-based hedge fund Standard General has purchased the rights to the $10 million loan American Apparel Inc. entered into last year with Lion Capital.

Standard General said it did so to “resolve any disputes over any alleged events of default under the credit agreement.”

The purchase is part of an agreement between Standard General and American Apparel earlier this month in which the hedge fund said it would give the retailer up to $25 million in funding, provide for a reconstituted board and give founder Dov Charney the temporary title of strategic consultant.

Charney was removed from his position as chief executive officer until there is a resolution of an internal probe regarding certain

matters from financial to sexual improprieties, a move that triggered Lion Capital to call for an early repayment of its loan. Charney and the company are in arbitration proceedings over his ouster.

— VICKI M. YOUNG

PALERMO PAIRS UP: On the heels of her recent nuptials to Johannes Huebl, Olivia Palermo is coupling up with another man: Edgardo Osorio of Aquazzura.

Palermo has collaborated on a capsule collection of

six shoe styles for the Florence-based luxury footwear label. Called Aquazzura x Olivia Palermo, the collection launches for fall in September with 12 global retailers, including Lane Crawford, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tsum and Holt Renfrew. Net-a-porter has the online exclusive.

“Olivia basically has been our unofficial ambassador,” said Osorio.

“She’s always wearing the shoes. We’re friends and we were talking more than a year ago about a small capsule that would be Olivia’s eye and aesthetic but with the Aquazzura style.”

There are over-the-knee boots, bejeweled sandals inspired by a vintage necklace Palermo owns, gladiators, suede and snake pumps and a suede bootie.

Prices range from $600 to $1,625, which are meant to be relatively reasonable. “Everything is so expensive

these days and you still want to have things that you can find and have quality and the design aesthetic and be happy,” said Palermo. — JESSICA IREDALE

BONJOUR, PARIS: Diane von Furstenberg is bringing her anniversary celebration to Paris.

The designer will take over a main entrance and 12 windows at the Galeries Lafayette flagship on Boulevard Haussmann from Sept. 3 to 30 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of

her signature wrap dress. She is expected to attend a special event there in late September to coincide with Paris Fashion Week.

Von Furstenberg will present a capsule collection of 12 wrap dresses in six

heritage prints to be sold on the third floor, with prices starting at 413 euros, or $559 at current exchange. A selection of bags and small leather goods will also be available as part of

the French retailer’s autumn theme “Pop’timisme.”

The designer has created a limited-edition Amelia dress and 440 Mini bags in a signature leopard print exclusively for Galeries Lafayette. Von Furstenberg will also feature in an advertising campaign shot by Jean-Paul Goude, set to break Aug. 25.

The Galeries Lafayette event follows on from the “Journey of a Dress” retrospective held in Los Angeles earlier this year.

— JOELLE DIDERICH

Prince George in Petit Bateau.

Hilary Rhoda in an Elie Tahari ad, shot by Steven Klein.

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WWD.com.

A sketch of an Aquazzura x Olivia Palermo shoe.

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By Marcy Medina

LOS anGeLeS — The Kooples’ first U.S. flagship, at 100 South robertson Boulevard here, opened Friday, heralding the buzzy French contemporary brand’s retail rollout in the U.S.

The 3,100-square-foot store is the brand’s 10th dual-brand location combining the signa-ture line and The Kooples Sport, a concept that made its debut with the London store on Old Brompton road last year.

Since launching the The Kooples Sport line in 2012, the brand has opened 20 Sport-only stores in addition to its 115 The Kooples stores (for a total of 145 retail boutiques worldwide in-cluding the latest U.S. stores). The company has 350 points of sale worldwide, with direct op-erations in 13 countries and total distribution in 28 countries.

The Los angeles store com-bines the signature all-black

look of The Kooples stores with the all-white look of The Kooples Sport stores, with clean, luxe italian marble walls floors and shelves and vintage furniture unique to each store.

Highly visible from the traf-ficked corner of robertson Boulevard and alden drive, the clear glass facade and entryway show off the jumbo screens in-side playing the black-and-white brand videos. inside, a long, nar-row layout with men’s on one side and women’s on the other gives way to an alcove dedicated to The Kooples Sport and a seating area featuring a PK65 low table by Poul Kjaerholm, a pair of FK710

Skater chairs by Preben Fabricius and Jørgen Kastholm and a Jacques charpentier leather sofa.

The meticulous details aren’t surprising to anyone familiar with the brand. Founded in 2008 in France by elicha scions Laurent, alexandre and raphael (the family behind comptoirs de cotonniers) on the concept

of blending French style with Savile row tailoring (its suit-ing is made in partnership with norton & Sons) for women and men, the business has seen rapid growth first in France, then Western europe. now it’s ready to tackle the U.S.

“it’s a strong concept and we know americans like con-cepts. We can see from the data on the tax refunds [european valued-added tax rebates] that some of our first customers were americans and we see couples often coming into stores to shop together,” said chief executive officer nicolas dreyfus.

He calls the U.S. strategy “step-by-step. “We wanted to open both coasts at the same time, with the latest collections.” The entire store is stocked with fall 2014 merchandise, comprising apparel, shoes, bags and watches, which are all produced in house in europe. retail prices range from $95 for a T-shirt to $900 for a men’s suit. The company deliv-

ers six collections per year, with about 1,000 stockkeeping units per season across both lines.

The new york flagship, on 14th Street in the Meatpacking district between the apple Store and Hugo Boss, will open in mid-august and a second new york location on Mercer Street in SoHo (the former Phillip Lim

space) will open in Oct. 1. a sec-ondary california store on San Francisco’s Fillmore Street opened June 28. Other markets eyed are Miami and chicago. The brand launched with 20 stores in France, followed by 40 in the U.K., it’s second largest market, then Western europe. currently, wholesale represents about 20 percent of the business, including accounts in Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth avenue and nordstrom, as well as asia.

dreyfus said he expects U.S. sales to total $100 million in the next three to four years, or about 25 percent of the company’s total business. its fiscal year end-ing aug. 31 is expected to tally global sales of $245 million, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization between $40 million and $42 mil-lion. Global overall growth for next year is expected to be 20 percent with the advent of the U.S. stores, or an estimated $300 million in sales.

The Kooples Opens L.A. Flagship

Currency Headwinds Hit Hermès Revenues

Mario Grauso Promoted at Joe Fresh

Sander Posts Loss, Looks to Layoffs

2.5x7 (right)

By LUiSa ZarGani

MiLan — Jil Sander is in the midst of a restructuring, filing away 2013 with a heavier loss compared with the previous year and working with unions here to let go about 50 employees.

Based in Milan, the Jil Sander Group reported a loss of 14.6 mil-lion euros, or $19.2 million, in the 12 months ended nov. 30, 2013. This compares with 4.7 million euros, or $6 million, in the same peri-od in 2012, according to the annual financial report deposited at the chamber of commerce here. revenues totaled 102.5 million euros, or $135.3 million, down 2 percent compared with the previous year.

chief executive officer alessandro cremonesi told WWd the performance was to be attributed to “increased costs of the development of the collections in the previous years.” He said the company is “negotiating” with unions to shed 50 employees. He specified that these individuals are not part of the design, commercial or development offices, and that the timing of the operation is being discussed. at the end of november, the group counted 359 employees.

However, cremonesi said he was “very confident” in the path of the brand under the creative direction of former Vionnet designer rodolfo Paglialunga, who was tapped in april. His first collection will bow for spring in Milan during fashion week. “We are very happy with the evolution of the label and convinced his work and his design development will be very positive,” said cremonesi.

The financial report stated that the company has embarked on a thorough “operation of rationalization,” with the goal to “entirely rebalance its economic and financial management.” The turnaround is “reasonably” expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

as reported in april, cremonesi said priorities include the devel-opment of the brand’s accessories category and of its retail network.

in October, for personal reasons, Jil Sander stepped down from the company she founded in 1968. She had returned for the third time to her namesake brand in February 2012, after raf Simons’ seven-year tenure.

The maker of Kelly bags and silk scarves said due to the neg-ative foreign-exchange effect, operating margin for the first half of 2014 should be slightly lower than the 33.1 percent recorded during the same period last year, and closer to the historic high of 32.4 percent reached for 2013 as a whole.

Luca Solca, managing director and sector head of global luxury goods at exane BnP Paribas, predicted a 50-basis-point contrac-tion in first-half operating margin, adding that the consensus es-timate called for a drop of 30 basis points in the full-year margin.

Hermès chief executive officer axel dumas warned analysts earlier this year to expect a drop in profit in 2014 in light of the strong currency headwinds, which already wiped 40 million euros, or $54.8 million, from its books in the first quarter.

The sales slowdown in the second quarter followed a 10.1 percent progression in the first quarter, and was due mainly to a deceleration in the americas and Japan.

at constant exchange rates, turnover in Japan edged up 1.6 percent following a 21.7 percent jump in the first quarter, when consumers anticipated purchases ahead of a rise in sales tax on april 1. Sales in asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, rose 16.8 percent in the second quarter.

The americas advanced 7.9 percent, down from a 17.9 per-cent rise in the first three months of the year, while europe reg-istered 6 percent sales growth.

The company’s revenues in the second quarter totaled 963.4 million euros, or $1.32 billion, up from 910.4 million euros, or $1.19 billion, during the same period a year earlier. all dollar rates are calculated at average exchange for the periods to which they refer.

Sales of ready-to-wear and fashion accessories were up 12.9 percent at constant exchange rates in the second quarter, and other Hermès sectors — spanning jewelry to tableware — jumped 18.9 percent. Silk and textiles posted a 9 percent rise.

Leather goods and saddlery, including the iconic Birkin bag, registered a 10 percent increase in the quarter, while sales of perfumes rose by 10.5 percent, supported by the launches of the Jour d’Hermès absolu and Terre d’Hermès eau Très Fraîche fragrances.

Watch revenues dropped 12 percent as demand in china re-mained weak in the wake of a government anticorruption drive that has impacted sales of expensive gifts.

among sector peers expected to report sales in the next weeks are Kering, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Swatch Group, whose ceo nick Hayek has warned that foreign-exchange swings could dent the group’s revenues by up to 500 million Swiss francs, or $557 million at current exchange, in 2014.

{Continued from page one}

By daVid MOin

MariO GraUSO has been pro-moted to president of Joe Fresh, a new position at the brand, which is owned by Loblaw cos. Ltd.

in his new role, Grauso over-sees business strategy, opera-tions, marketing, merchandis-ing, international development, sourcing and design functions.

Previously, he was chief oper-ating officer, overseeing the daily operations of the business, as well as new strategic partnerships and international development.

Grauso continues to report to Joe Mimran, president of Joseph Mimran & associates and cre-ative director of Joe Fresh.

The promotion is part of a company-wide management reorganization at Loblaw. as part of the changes, executive chairman Galen Weston Jr. has assumed the additional role of president of Loblaw, where he is now responsible for execution

of the company’s overall strategy and business performance. He takes on the role from Vicente Trius, who is exiting the compa-ny to return to his native Brazil.

“Since joining Joe Fresh in September 2013, Mario Grauso has managed the successful growth of Joe Fresh, in partner-ship with Joe Mimran,” Weston said. “Over the past 10 months, the brand has opened stores in South Korea and Saudi arabia, with an extensive international rollout plan in place. Joe Fresh continues to solidify its U.S. presence and will launch e-commerce there next month. Mario is a proven leader in the fashion industry and i look for-ward to his continued guidance of Joe Fresh as it expands into a compelling global presence in specialty retail.”

Weston is the son of canadian billionaire W. Galen Weston. The Weston family has controlling in-terests in Loblaw cos. Ltd. parent company George Weston Ltd., and

the Selfridges Group, which op-erates Holt renfrew in canada, Brown Thomas in ireland and Selfridges in the U.K.

Since May, Joe Fresh and its partners have opened stores in Seoul; the Sahara Mall in riyadh, Saudi arabia, and the Mall of dhahran in dhahran, Saudi arabia. a unit in the Mall of arabia in Jeddah, Saudi arabia, is scheduled to open later this month. Joe Fresh, with its over-seas partners, plans to open more than 140 stores in 23 countries over the next five years.

Prior to joining Joe Fresh, Grauso was president of Vera Wang Group, and president of Puig Fashion, the parent com-pany of carolina Herrera, nina ricci and Paco rabanne.

in north america, Joe Fresh is available online as well as in-side Loblaws in canada and J.c. Penney in the U.S. There are also 16 Joe Fresh stores in canada, and six freestanding stores in new york.

The seating area inside the store.

Bags on display at the new flagship.

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