By ED FINKEL

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — “With few exceptions, all of retail is changing.”

So said Edward S. Lampert, who focused on the transformative power of technology and the shifting re-tail landscape during his fi rst annual meeting as Sears Holdings Corp.’s chief executive offi cer here Wednesday.

The hedge-fund-operator-turned-retailer didn’t skirt tough issues about his company’s fi nancial per-formance and appeared open and at ease as he an-swered questions from reporters and investors.

Asked about J.C. Penney Co. Inc.’s recent challenges, Lampert drew a close comparison with Sears Holdings, which he created by merging the Sears and Kmart chains.

“Like us, they’re in need of a big transformation,” he said of Penney’s. “Do they have differentiated products that are going to drive people there? I don’t know.”

At Kmart, Lampert said, apparel and home goods could help the chain revive sales after declines in other categories, such as music, movies and photo development. Kmart has new lines on tap from Adam Levine and Nicki Minaj developed by the Shop Your Way Brands unit.

The 1,221-store Kmart needs to drive foot traffi c, Lampert said, drawing an analogy to newspapers, which bundle a variety of items — sports, comics, news and weather — that can be found online.

“Those things have become unbundled,” he said. “Their products have become better, but the busi-ness model is predicated upon advertising. That’s the challenge for Kmart: evolving the business model.…

WWDComing Up DaisyNEW YORK — Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan led the star parade at Lincoln Center for the worldwide premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s 3-D adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.” While Prada did her costumes in the movie, Mulligan opted for a strapless red Lanvin tea-length dress for the night, while DiCaprio went for Prada. For more on the premiere and associated events, see pages 4 and 5.

U.S., EU DEMAND ACTION

Pressure Over SafetyGrows on Bangladesh

By MAYU SAINI

BANGLADESH IS FACING growing political pres-sure from the U.S. and Europe to improve labor con-ditions in the textile and apparel industry even as union leaders express worries that job cuts could result from the growing furor over the building col-lapse in Savar, outside Dhaka, that killed more than 400 people.

In Washington, two Democratic lawmakers sitting on House trade and labor committees on Wednesday urged President Barack Obama to convene a meet-ing of American and European retailers and brands, along with Bangladeshi apparel offi cials and labor groups, to develop a concrete action plan to address a range of issues relating to working conditions and worker rights in the Bangladeshi garment sector.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s offi ce is review-ing whether to consider withdrawal, suspension or limitation of Generalized System of Preferences ben-efi ts given to Bangladesh, but a decision is not expect-ed until the end of June, according to a spokeswoman. The GSP program in the U.S. does not provide duty-free benefi ts for apparel, Bangladesh’s largest export.

Representatives of the European Union said Tuesday that they also were considering action to pressure Bangladeshi authorities to improve labor conditions. “The EU is presently considering appropriate action, in-cluding through the Generalised System of Preferences — through which Bangladesh currently receives duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said in a joint statement.

Dipu Moni, foreign minister of Bangladesh, told WWD that the EU statement was “very positive and very constructive.”

“It is very understandable that they have ex-pressed their concerns on the health and safety pro-visions,” Moni said. “But what we want to say is that Bangladesh is trying its best, even within…given lim-itations and constraints, to provide proper safety and

SEE PAGE 8

Lampert Talks Technology

SEE PAGE 7

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013 ■ $3.00 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

PHOTO BY LEXIE MORELAND

STATE OFTHE SUITSALES SLOWED LAST YEAR FROM A BOOM IN 2011, BUT RETAILERS SAY DEMAND IS STILL BUOYANT. PAGE MW4

LIGHT SHOWJAMES TURRELL TALKS ABOUT HIS LATEST ART WORK FOR LOUIS VUITTON IN LAS VEGAS. PAGE 6

2 WWD THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

Wal-Mart Sets Aggressive Digital Plan

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 ©2013 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 205, NO. 90. THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in March, May, June, August, October and December, and two additional issues in February, April, September and November) 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 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give 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 all request for reprints of articles please contact The YGS Group at condenast@theygsgroup.com, or call 800-501-9571. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. 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 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. 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.

ON WWD.COM

THE BRIEFING BOXIN TODAY’S WWD

Edward S. Lampert focused on the transformative power of technology during his first annual meeting as Sears Holdings Corp.’s chief executive officer. PAGE 1 Bangladesh is facing growing political pressure from the U.S. and Europe to improve labor conditions in the textile and apparel industry. PAGE 1 The Jones Group said its sales this year might come in below analyst consensus estimates. PAGE 2 Expansion is the name of the game for many firms presenting at the Next Great Consumer Brands Conference. PAGE 3 Vivienne Westwood and Richard Branson have joined forces, with the irreverent designer creating the new uniforms for Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline. PAGE 3 Artist James Turrell discusses his latest work, “Akhob,” which makes its debut today at the Louis Vuitton CityCenter Maison in Las Vegas. PAGE 6 Tracy Gardner, a former top Gap and J. Crew executive, has joined Delia’s as chief creative officer. PAGE 6 Several media companies this week are presenting at the NewFronts, where media firms showcase their digital video programming to advertisers. PAGE 7 Authentic Brands Group is negotiating with another potential operator for its Hickey Freeman brand. PAGE MW1 The transformation of Berluti to luxury lifestyle label is gathering steam, with a slate of new stores and an arsenal of communication tools. PAGE MW3 Men’s tailored clothing sales came down to earth last year, but clothing executives can take comfort in what appears to be a fairly soft landing. PAGE MW4

Isla Fisher in Prada at the fashion house’s SoHo store. For more, see WWD.com

EYE: A fashionable crowd turned out to Prada’s SoHo store to see an exhibit of the designs Miuccia Prada created or tweaked for Baz Luhrman’s adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.” For more, see WWD.com.

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By EVAN CLARK

THE JONES GROUP INC. pinned disappointing first-quarter results on economic weakness in Europe and the impact of cold weather on sales of spring goods.

The company, which recently undertook an effort to restruc-ture its business, also said sales this year might miss Wall Street projections. The company is look-ing for revenues of $3.8 billion up to $3.95 billion, opening up some downside to the $3.95 billion con-sensus estimate from analysts.

Shares of the company dropped 5.7 percent to $13.20 on Wednesday.

Jones’ first-quarter net earn-ings totaled $500,000, or 1 cent a diluted share, and compared with losses of $1.2 million, or 1 cent, a year earlier.

Adjusted profits of 15 cents a share were less than half the 31 cents earned a year earlier, but in line with projections from the company.

Jones is trimming down to boost profits and last week said it would shutter 120 stores, on top of the 50 that were already planned to go dark. It is also streamlining its wholesale business. All together, the restructuring is expected to boost profitability by about $40 mil-lion annually, with one-time costs of up to $60 million.

Revenues for the quarter

ended April 6 rose 7.8 percent to $1.01 billion from $936 million.

“The cold weather did have a very negative impact on sales of spring merchandise in the first quarter,” said Wesley Card, chief executive officer, on a conference call with analysts. “While cold weather carryover seasonal prod-uct sales such as boots were very strong, new spring items includ-ing fashion apparel and footwear were weaker. Jeanswear, particu-larly long denim, bottoms and ca-

sual pants, sold well and that was evidenced by the strength in that jeanswear segment.”

In Europe, Card pointed both to cold weather and “weakness in economic conditions.”

“In general, we’re maintain-ing our overall conservative ap-proach to planning in the current economic environment and it still remains unclear how consumer discretionary spending’s going to develop in 2013,” Card said. “We certainly can react quickly as and if the environment improves.”

Richard Dickson, president

and ceo of the company’s brand-ed businesses, said the namesake Jones New York brand “has been the greatest challenge to our cor-porate transformation story and recent performance.”

After nailing down “go-to” ele-ments of the line, such as denim and easy care looks, the company tried to go after a more fashion-forward crowd.

“With dramatic improvements to our design capability in place, we sought to improve the per-formance of the fashion compo-nent of the brand by dialing up style and it didn’t work,” Dickson said. “But we learned from it. We learned that fashion only goes so far in this segment right now and that value is fundamental to the brand’s target consumer. We learned that Jones New York is valued for functional fashion and great fit. And most importantly, we have gained valuable under-standing of the fact that Jones New York’s equities as classic American careerwear offer great-er potential than we had imagined as a foundation for innovation and growth, particularly among the brand’s current loyal consumer base, women 45 and older who want to look fashionable.”

Card said the company’s sportswear product issues have been addressed and that perfor-mance would improve in the cat-egory in the back half of this year.

Jones’ Sales Outlook Disappoints

NLRB Makes Rulings Against Target

WAL-MART STORES INC. has long seemed like it was bent on world domination, but it was never the company’s stated policy.

That’s changed now that the retailer is moving swiftly to de-velop its e-commerce business.

“We’re building a global tech-nology platform whose goals are as simple, frankly, as they are audacious,” said Neil Ashe, presi-dent and chief executive officer of the retailer’s Global eCommerce unit. “We want to know what every product in the world is. We want to know who every person in the world is. And we want to have the ability to connect them togeth-er in a transaction.”

Ashe, the former president of CBS Interactive who joined Wal-Mart in January 2012, told investors at the Barclays Retail and Consumer Discretionary Conference in New York that e-commerce was “the next growth engine for Wal-Mart.”

“The history of Wal-Mart, as you know, is one of transforming retail,” Ashe said. “We started in the discount stores. We moved into warehouse clubs, we moved into grocery and now interna-

tional. And at each step along the way we’ve developed capabilities which have allowed us to do things that others can’t do in the market-place.…The abilities that we built in the other waves of retail we’re building at e-commerce now.”

With annual revenues of $469.2 billion, Wal-Mart does just about everything it does in a big way. The company is trying to use its scale to get a leg up as people’s shopping habits change with Internet con-nectivity. That means taking advan-tage of the cost efficiency that size brings, but also taking something that was developed for, say, Brazil and using it in the U.S. Wal-Mart is building its own technology to sup-port its e-commerce efforts.

As Wal-Mart strides and tries to lead in a new era, Ashe said it has to first excel at the fun-damentals of e-commerce. That means getting customers, holding on to them, selling them things they want and keeping the prom-ises that are made to shoppers. “If we say we’re going to deliver this widget to you tomorrow at your door or later today at our store, we’re going to deliver on that promise,” he explained.

Ashe said the company is going to continue to look to in-novate in new areas, tap into its trove of data on consumers and stay attuned the mobile part of the market — half of the firm’s customers have smartphones.

Wal-Mart appears to be test-ing a little bit of everything in the digital realm. Shoppers can check themselves out with their own iPhones in about 200 Wal-Mart stores. Additionally, the company has tried out same-day delivery and is setting up lockers where online shoppers can pick up their packages

Ashe said when he joined Wal-Mart there was a lot of talk about “omnichannel.”

“Are we omnichannel? Are we multichannel? Are we metachan-nel?” he asked. “I think that’s ex-actly the wrong question.”

Ashe said the omnichannel discussion looks at the consumer through the eyes of the retailer and not through the shopper’s own eyes.

“At the end of the day, what re-ally matters is that the customer controls that experience,” Ashe said. “We have to choose to live in her world.” — E.C.

WASHINGTON — The National Labor Relations Board has or-dered a new union election at a Target Corp. store in Valley Stream, N.Y., which officials of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union have been trying to organize.

In addition to the new elec-tion, the NLRB issued a sweep-ing decision that will affect all of Target’s 250,000 employees at 1,700 stores nationwide, accord-ing to the UFCW.

The NLRB has ordered Target to modify all of its existing and future employee handbooks and

remove wording that the NLRB found violated federal labor law.

“This is an overwhelming vic-tory for Target workers not just in the Valley Stream Target but throughout the United States,” said Bruce W. Both, president of UFCW Local 1500. “It is especially satisfying that the decision be an-nounced as workers around the world today are celebrating May Day and sending the message that working men and women will fight every day, for as long as it takes until irresponsible corporations like Target respect our nation’s laws, the laws of other nations and

the rights of their workers to form and join a union.”

The NLRB ruling upheld an administrative law judge’s deci-sion in May 2012, that Target was maintaining a no-union solicita-tion policy, threatened employees with closure of the Valley Stream store if they voted for a union, con-ducted coercive employee interro-gations and appeared to conduct illegal surveillance of employees.

Target has the right to file a petition to review the NLRB deci-sion with a U.S. Court of Appeals if it does not agree to comply with the decision. — KRISTI ELLIS

5.7%DECLINE IN JONES GROUP

STOCK PRICE ON WEDNESDAY.

WWD.COM

By LARA FARRAR

SHANGHAI — Chinese e-com-merce giant Alibaba’s recent acquisition of a minority stake in microblogging service Weibo could forge a new model for so-cial commerce in the country, the world’s second-largest online shopping market behind the U.S.

Alibaba, which owns Taobao.com and Tmall.com, two of China’s largest e-commerce Web sites, said earlier this week that it is buying an 18 percent stake in Sina Corp.’s Weibo, consid-ered China’s answer to Twitter, for $586 million in stock. Alibaba has the option to raise its stake to 30 percent.

Analysts point out that on-line shopping in China is a far more social experience than in the U.S., which could bode well for an Alibaba-Weibo alliance. Consumers share information about products on online fo-rums and frequently interact with customer service represen-tatives when making purchases. Many purchasing decisions are made based on word-of-mouth recommendations from users and key opinion leaders online.

Franklin Yao, chief execu-tive officer of SmithStreet, a Shanghai-based consultancy,

said what is missing from e-commerce in China is the ability for consumers to have an online shopping experience that feels like shopping in brick-and-mor-tar retail with friends. This deal could start to change that state of play, he explained.

Adding Weibo to Taobao cre-ates an experience that is closer to the offline experience, Yao said. “A lot of the big topics on Weibo are about shopping. From a grand-strategy point of view, if you can integrate these sides to-gether, then you can create this compelling experience for the user,” he said.

Sina Weibo has also become a key space in China’s virtual universe for brands to launch online marketing campaigns and communicate with con-sumers about new products and promotions.

Lac Tran, head of marketing and strategy for Web2Asia, an e-commerce solutions provid-er, said integrating Sina Weibo with Alibaba’s shopping plat-forms could create a multichan-nel experience for consumers, merging both offline and online shopping experiences whereby shoppers in brick-and-mor-tar stores can use the mobile Internet to access and share in-formation on Sina Weibo about

products, which would trans-late into purchases either on-line or in-store.

“They can close the loop between online and offline,” Tran said. “It will be really, re-ally interesting. It is that offline-online integration that will be improved.”

The deal has garnered sub-stantial attention because of the massive influence both sites already have with China’s more

than 560 million internet users. Sina Weibo has more than 500 million users, 46 million of whom are active daily, while Taobao, Alibaba’s consumer-to-consumer online shopping plat-form, also has 500 million regis-tered users, and Tmall.com, the business-to-consumer portal, is now home to 70,000 brands for sale via 50,000 merchants. Alibaba is rumored to be plan-ning an IPO, but a spokeswoman said the company has not set a timeline for an offer.

According SmithStreet’s Yao, mobile e-commerce in China is “virtually nonexis-tent.” Yet many Chinese con-sumers use their smartphones to essentially window-shop dur-ing free time. “They will then go home and then make the purchase,” Yao said. “It is sur-prising to us how prevalent that action is. There could be some-thing for potential platform in-tegration between e-commerce and social networking.”

Alibaba and Weibo said the collaboration is expected to generate $380 million in ad-vertising and social commerce services revenue for Weibo over the next three years. Similar to Twitter in the U.S., Sina has been struggling to find way to monetize its platform.

Analysts said presumably Alibaba would leverage Sina Weibo’s user base to advertise sales and promotions on its e-commerce sites. Last November, a promotional event on Tmall and Taobao generated more than $3 billion in sales within 24 hours.

“Perhaps running campaigns that integrate traditional ad-vertising with a word-of-mouth campaign can be executed more easily,” said Torsten Stocker, head of consumer goods and re-tail at Monitor Deloitte in Hong

Kong. “Maybe they can run more sophisticated campaigns.”

This is not Alibaba’s first foray into the world of social media. Last year the company beta-launched Fa Xian, a social shopping platform that enabled consumers to share product in-formation and make purchases on Tmall and Taobao. The focus of that site has since shifted to offering product and shopping recommendations, with social networking features no longer prominent. Web2Asia’s Tran said Alibaba has “never done that well in the social area.”

Many observers said that the deal is a move to solidify both companies’ position in the so-cial e-commerce space, which is still developing in China. And that the deal is a reaction to the growing popularity of WeChat, a free mobile messaging service owned by rival Internet giant Tencent Holdings, which also owns several e-commerce plat-forms, including 51buy.com and Paipai.com, which, according to McKinsey, is the third-larg-est online marketplace behind Taobao and Tmall.

Similar to Whatsapp, an mo-bile application popular in the West, WeChat allows users to chat and share media content via their mobile phones. It also has special features that enable users to find people nearby with similar interests.

By VICKI M. YOUNG

NEW YORK — Fashion retailer Kitson is seeking investors and strategic partners; so, too, is streetwear e-tailer Karmaloop.

The two firms presented Wednesday at the third annual Next Great Consumer Brands Conference, copre-sented by boutique investment bank-ing firm Consensus Advisors and The Nasdaq OMX Group, at Nasdaq’s MarketSite location in Times Square.

Other firms presenting included Xcel Brands/Isaac Mizrahi, men’s custom cloth-ier J. Hilburn, fragrance and personal care firm Thymes and kids retailer Ruum, formerly the 77 Kids operation acquired by the founders of The Children’s Place from American Eagle Outfitters Inc.

Christopher Lee, Kitson’s chief ex-ecutive officer, told attendees, “We need capital to grow exponentially.”

Kitson is currently a 25-unit chain. There are 13 stores in Southern California; five in South Korea; five in Japan, and one in Taiwan. One store operated under license with Hudson News Co. is at Los Angeles International

Airport. A second airport store will open this summer at the Tom Bradley International Terminal, also at LAX.

Kitson stores range in size from 2,000 square feet to 7,300 square feet. Sales average $1,000 a square foot, Lee said. Brands such as True Religion and Hudson Jeans were launched at Kitson before being picked up by Barneys New York and Nordstrom. If a brand has good sell-throughs, Kitson will push for greater exclusivity of merchandise in its stores, or even make an investment in the branded firm. Lee added that the goal of the company is to “go public or be taken by a public firm.” The company has an-nual volume of $30 million.

Lee said after his presentation that since the retail model has been proven, it’s now the right time to strategically ex-pand the business. Hence, the desire for more capital and/or strategic partners.

First up is the expansion of its retail presence, Lee said. Plans include new stores in San Diego, Las Vegas and San Francisco, to be followed by a store pres-ence in the A-malls in the U.S. Kitson also plans to expand its Kitson private label merchandise to capture better

margins, and has created company-owned fashion brands that it will expand through licensing. “God Save LA and LA Cabana are the two most popular among our customers,” Lee said. Both brands are in the apparel categories, and LA Cabana also is in accessories.

Also prowling for funding is Karmaloop.

Vinny Nesi, chief revenue officer, said he wants to raise half a billion dollars over 36 months. Karmaloop, launched 12 years ago, targets the verge consumer, whose sweet spot is between ages 18 and 25 years old.

“The customer is brand loyal.…There are 6.5 million on our e-mail list and four million are very active,” Nesi said. About 70 percent of its customers are male and 30 percent female. The firm ships $400,000 of merchandise each day. Karmaloop inked a distribution deal with Xiu.com in China last year, but wants to expand into Japan and Russia. It makes money on shipping charges, and that enables the firm to break even, Nesi said, noting that it also imposes logistical charges on ven-dors to train them to comply. That form of chargeback also adds to the bottom line.

Robert D’Loren is ceo and chairman at Xcel Brands, which owns the Isaac Mizrahi brand. The company isn’t seek-ing any funding immediately. That could change once it completes its current stage of building out the business.

Isaac Mizrahi New York has 45 li-censees and is in 120 product categories. Positioned between Michael Kors, Anne Klein and Vince, the company is still building out its reach, both in product categories and in the direct-to-consumer channel. The first Isaac Mizrahi store will open this summer in Southampton as a pop-up site, a potential precursor to a series of store sites down the road.

In the interactive channel, Isaac Mizrahi Live sells exclusively to QVC, and the selling metric is $7,000 to $12,000 in sales a minute when on air.

3WWD THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

Kitson Seeking Capital for Growth

500MNUMBER OF REGISTERED USERS ON SINA WEIBO.

By MARC KARIMZADEH

NEW YORK — Talk about a match made in British heaven. Vivienne Westwood and Richard Branson — both known to buck the norm in their own ways— have joined forces, with the irreverent designer creating the new uniforms for Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline.

Westwood, who first made a fashion splash during the punk era, designed men’s and women’s uniforms that combine her Forties couture proclivities with Savile Row touches. Don’t expect Westwood’s uniforms to be as theatrical as her typical runway fare, though. The designer went for a functional pieces — these are clothes for work after all — with just the right amount of whimsical detail. For the female cabin

crew, for instance, a red suit, nipped at the waist and curved at the hip, features strategically placed

bust pleats as well as a dart and double pleat in the back. The male counterpart’s burgundy three-piece suit has gray, shadowlike details under the lapels and pockets.

There’s also a focus on using sustainable ma-terials, which both Westwood and Branson are passionate about. “I am always trying to find fab-

rics that are more friendly to the environment,” Westwood said. “Working with Virgin Atlantic, they managed to research into this and find more eco fabrics.”

Virgin Atlantic is developing each look with Closed Loop Recycling to allow for maximum sustain-ability from the suits — many of which feature recy-

cled polyester made from used plastic bottles — to bags for the ground staff, which are being made via the Ethical Africa Programme along with the

International Trade Centre. These are being pro-duced in Nairobi’s Kibera slum from materials like recycled roadside banners and brass.

Once fully launched next year, the uniforms will be sported by more than 7,500 of Virgin Atlantic’s airline staff, from pilots to cabin crew, Clubhouse staff and Virgin Holidays employees. The uni-forms will start rolling out for a trial period in July, so that cabin crew and ground staff can pro-vide feedback to allow for design changes before the official launch.

“Virgin Atlantic has a distinct spirit and, from a design perspective, we continually try to challenge the norm and stand out from the crowd,” Branson said. “When we were choosing the designer for this project, we wanted to work with a group of people who share our spirit of adventure, who believe in challenging the sta-tus quo and creating something truly memorable.”

Vivienne Westwood Takes Flight With Richard Branson on Virgin Atlantic

China E-commerce Landscape Altered by Deal

The new look for Virgin Atlantic’s female cabin crew.

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Westwood’s new Virgin Atlantic

uniform for men.

4 WWD THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

Jazz at Lincoln CenterTHE “BLACK CARPET” premiere of director Baz Luhrmann’s 3-D adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” on Wednesday night drew the film’s stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan to New York’s Lincoln Center, along with a slew of other celebrities.

Mulligan, in a strapless red Lanvin tea-length design, said she opted against wearing a flapper dress for the premiere. “I wanted to do something different.”

She said period staples are hard to wear, “if you have hips and an arse.” Mulligan was looking forward to the after party at The Plaza: “Zelda and Scott [Fitzgerald] used to go to The Plaza, get drunk and jump in the fountain.” She said she wasn’t sure if she and DiCaprio would replicate that scene.

Her costar, however, was.“I don’t think we’ll do

that unless she initiates it,” DiCaprio, dressed in a blue Prada suit, said with a laugh. “I’m not a big fashionista. Somebody just handed me this suit and I put it on.”

Screaming hordes of fans, iPhones at the ready, squealed as the cast arrived at the worldwide debut. Surprisingly, the biggest cheers of the night were for Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, who had a massive cheering section, complete with posters and chants of his name. That led castmate Isla Fisher, dressed in a Dolce & Gabbana floral and crocheted dress, to exclaim: “I want them.”

Many of the carpet walkers wore Brooks Brothers, who outfitted the film’s male stars in their Jazz Age-best, including Callan McAuliffe and Luhrmann. — JEAN E. PALMIERI

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ON TUESDAY NIGHT, Baz Luhrmann stood above the single-story canyon dip in the floor plan of Prada’s New York store in SoHo and took stock of the swanky cocktail party around him. A fashionable crowd had come to see an exhibit of the designs Miuccia Prada created or tweaked for the director’s much-awaited adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” working with its costume designer, and Luhrmann’s wife, Catherine Martin. It was early still, and those on hand were mainly fashion editors and favored Prada customers. A few wore flapper-type dresses. Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Isla Fisher — Luhrmann’s Daisy, Myrtle and Nick, respectively — would arrive later, as would a few famous rubberneckers such as Katy Perry, Florence Welch and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

It has been some time since a big studio production has so acutely piqued the interest of the fashion world, and Luhrmann’s schedule has been busy lately. The various companies that had a hand in outfitting his players up to the highest Fitzgeraldian standards — Tiffany & Co., Brooks Brothers and Prada — have touted their involvement in

the film with panels and parties and promotions in the run-up to Wednesday’s big red-carpet New York premiere, where Warner Bros. would flex its own considerable marketing muscle.

“Just give the child, as it goes off to school, a chance to survive is what this is all about,” Luhrmann said of the onslaught. “Now, it’s fun and it’s not unpleasant, but it’s like you just can’t get to enough countries and say enough things and try and get the film a chance to be seen.”

And besides, what better way to promote “The Great Gatsby” than with a party or 12?

“We were good with parties before ‘Gatsby,’” Luhrmann exclaimed, turning to an entourage of young-ish men in suits. “I used to have a party division that that man there used to run. Who ran the party division? I can’t remember... No wonder we got into horrible trouble with that and went horribly wrong.”

Luhrmann turned back around and collected himself.

“I think I’ve always had a penchant for a good party,” he concluded. “After all, to quote a song from the film, ‘A little party never killed no one.’”

Down the stairs, Fisher was admiring the exhibit, a collection of sequined dresses and feathered headbands.

“My character is obviously not wealthy,” she explained of Myrtle Wilson, the garage owner’s wife who carries on with Gatsby’s rival. “She’s trapped by her status in the Valley of the Ashes. So these gorgeous clothes that you see on display, I never got to wear.”

Prada had sent her a blush pink silk crepe dress for the evening.

“I never saw anyone from these parties,” she continued. “But I imagine if I would have been in the right Egg, I would have felt jealous.”

Around 7:30, Mulligan arrived wearing a black lace coatdress with her mother, Nano, in tow. She posed for pictures with Prada and then headed toward a makeshift VIP booth on the store’s balcony.

“There were these huge party scenes, but Prada had dressed so many people and now to see so

many designs brought together is amazing,” the actress said of seeing the full run of show. And had filming those party scenes prepared her for this?

“Oh, well, it was fake Champagne... mainly,” she smiled. — MATTHEW LYNCH

Opulence on Display Carey Mulligan in Prada.

Katy Perry in Prada.

Miuccia Prada and Baz Luhrmann

Isla Fisher in Prada.

Tobey Maguire

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Baz Luhrmann in Brooks Brothers

with Catherine Martin.

Jay-Z

GARDNER TO DELIA’S: Tracy Gardner, a former top Gap and J. Crew executive, has joined Delia’s Inc. as chief creative officer.

Gardner has also been appointed to Delia’s board and could become the multichannel retail company’s next chief executive officer, succeeding Walter Killough, who has agreed to serve as ceo at least through Aug. 2. Originally, he was expected to leave the company

sooner but is staying through a transition period.

Delia’s said Gardner will be focused on the branding, merchandising and creative functional areas while Killough will continue to provide oversight on operations, finance and other areas of the business during the transition. The search was conducted by Kirk Palmer & Associates.

For the past year, Gardner was a creative adviser to Gap Inc. — DAVID MOIN

SILK ROAD: The Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue are deepening their ties to the Chinese fashion market with a new “Americans in China” program, which is underwritten by Silas Chou. It kicks off June 21 with Proenza Schouler, Rag & Bone and Marchesa staging their fall runway shows at the Dynasty City Wall Relics Park at the Great Wall of China.

The previous day, the designers (all of whom are expected to be on hand except for Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman, who recently gave birth) will be feted at a cocktail reception hosted by U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, followed by a dinner in their honor hosted by Angelica Cheung, Vogue China’s editor in chief.

Last year, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund launched an initiative to encourage exchange between emerging designers in China and the U.S. — MARC KARIMZADEH

TOMMY’S CROWD: Nicki Minaj; Zooey Deschanel; Debbie Harry; Lily Aldridge; screenwriter Jamie Linden; music publicist Jason Weinberg; musician Marky Ramone with wife Marion; actress Thalia Mottola and music executive Tommy Mottola, and Kings of Leon lead vocalist Caleb Followill will all be seated at Tommy Hilfiger’s table Monday night at the Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Don’t expect to see them dressed in punk, though. They’ll all be outfitted in Tommy Hilfiger. — LISA LOCKWOOD

LAS VEGAS, a city known for lights (the neon, blinking and staying-up-until-dawn varieties), is where fans of artist James Turrell will find his latest work, “Akhob,” which debuts today at the Louis Vuitton CityCenter Maison.

The third of three works commissioned by the house, “Akhob” treats viewers to an elevated exploration of light and color and its interaction with space. “We have a lot of misconceptions about light. Usually we are illuminating things instead of looking at the light itself. But I like this quality of the light being the revelation,” said Turrell, who was in Las Vegas two days prior to show the work to a small group of local customers assembled for an in-store dinner in his honor.

Given the ample amount of space in the desert city, it’s fitting that Las Vegas is the permanent home of Turrell’s largest “ganzfeld effect” project to date, at 77 feet long, 33 feet high and 44 feet wide. The term refers to the phenomenon of visual perception most often studied by staring at an unstructured uniform field of color.

But it’s an overly simplified phrase for what awaits viewers at the by-appointment-only installation. Open Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and limited to six viewers at a time, the work is an immersive event, the antithesis of a fly-by visit to a crowded museum.

Accessed via an elevator to the fourth floor of the Maison, the installation begins in a dim, dark wood-paneled reception area, where guests perch on a tan leather couch to hear a short background lecture on the work from a trained Vuitton staffer. “Akhob” is a word from the Amarna Period in Egypt meaning “pure water.” From there they are led into a pure white “pyramid chamber” where they don white booties to protect the pristine surfaces, and ascend stairs into two colorfully lit chambers to experience a 24-minute light show of sorts. As the colors change, viewers literally lose themselves in the silent, light-filled void. To prevent anyone from stumbling into walls or pitching over a precipitous drop at the far end of the space (an alarm will sound if anyone gets within 18 inches of the edge), two white-suited art students stand at attention, also offering a hand up

and down the polished stairs.Settled back into a velvet chair in a

VIP salon of the store, Turrell gives an appreciative eye to the airy space, which opened in 2009. “There’s so much unused space here it’s bizarre,” he said. “Because [architect Daniel] Libeskind makes these shapes that collide and come together at odd angles, it gives you some really interesting spaces above the stores.”

Turrell said he had a vision for “Akhob” after seeing the CityCenter space three years ago. “I make things totally impossible and exceedingly expensive, and then I come to some reality,” he laughed. “It’s difficult for people to visualize from my drawings what it’s going to be, so I often find myself talking them into things that they go along with, and when they see what’s been made they are surprised.”

Turrell’s first work for Vuitton, “First Blush, Oct. 2005,” was a modular light-based sculpture projected on a flat screen in its Champs-Elysées flagship in Paris. His second, “Traveling Light,” for the house’s 2006 Icons exhibit at its Espace Culturel, reinterpreted a Vuitton wardrobe trunk into a traveling light box that was photographed on its journeys to other Turrell works. Known also for his use of natural light in his 80-plus “skyspace” works, Turrell uses LED lights for his artificial light works.

“Art inspires luxury, as luxury inspires art. This is why we have rich relationships with artists all over the world, be it curating exhibitions in our Espaces or more collaborative work with artists related to our products. These artists often become friends; it was the same with James Turrell. Having had the chance to collaborate with him in the past, we nurtured this relationship into the beautiful piece at CityCenter,” said Valérie Chapoulaud- Floquet, president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton North America.

Turrell, who turns 70 on Monday, was raised in Los Angeles as a Quaker but understood the relationship between fashion and art from an early age.

“My aunt was Frances Hodges, who in the Fifties was the editor of Seventeen and later one of the creators of Mademoiselle. She was my Auntie Mame; she loved culture. She was a Quaker, but she became a milliner against all Quaker

logic — they feel that fashion and art are vanities — because she loved fashion. It’s something that I’ve always really enjoyed. Art is different in that respect because we don’t have to put out a line, except you are known for a certain kind of work, so it’s kind of like a line.”

Turrell and his third wife, Kyung-Lim Lee, also an artist, are based on a 155-square-mile ranch in Arizona and also maintain a New York residence and studio on Gramercy Park.

What does a man who deals in intangibles like light and space make of being commissioned by one of the world’s largest fashion houses? “It does [seem strange] but you have to remember that Mr. [Bernard] Arnault is quite an art collector,” Turrell said of the chairman and ceo of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. “I have made things for Calvin Klein and other designers, and it’s interesting to see the way each person approaches it.”

As for the notion of exclusivity in his art, Turrell said, “This is designed to be a more private and intimate experience because someone is needed in there [with viewers] taking care they don’t just pitch into the space,” he said, referring to the ledge at the end of the double chamber, which he deemed necessary to achieve the proper lighting. “Most of my pieces, frankly, are made for one. I try to be an ideal viewer, but after I do a large exhibition I’m so fried from putting it together — it’s like doing a runway show — that I don’t even see it myself. So I often realize that other people are probably seeing it more than I am.”

He added that he likes to be a “full-service artist” by working in more inclusive art forms; his projects have included collaborations with Karl Lagerfeld and Philip Glass on opera and dance productions, respectively. (Lagerfeld has said that Turrell is his favorite artist.)

This summer, almost five decades of Turrell’s work will be celebrated with three concurrent shows at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (which will have six works, including a new project that will transform its entire rotunda), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (a 14-work retrospective) and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (eight works).

“It is hard to represent 48 years with 28 works,” he said. “With a retrospective you usually have about 50 to 60 items, but my work hogs a lot of space.”

Given it will take three major museums to house just a fraction of his work, has the moment finally come when he feels like he’s made it?

“Well, that never happens. I don’t know if artists are all greedy, but it never seems like you’ve made it. That’s the strange little conundrum. You get this postpartum letdown after an opening where you think, ‘Well, that’s kind of it.’ You leave to do new work and the show takes on a life of its own. So there is a little disconnect between the audience,” he noted.

While he has works in

25 countries and 21 states in the U.S., most art has a far smaller viewership than other events. “On most Sundays in most cities, you will get 60,000 to 100,000 people showing up for football, and if an art museum gets 100 to 150 people, they are happy. That’s in a whole year. It’s a totally different thing. The same is true of fashion. But it does have its influence.”

While Turrell’s art is far from a commodity like fashion (taking home an extinct volcano, a sky space or an artificially lit void isn’t exactly easy), he thinks the public’s desire to possess beautiful things has damaged rather than enhanced the art world.

“One of the biggest disconnects between the artist and public is the public is often looking for something they like or something they might like to own,” he said. “And the last thing on any artist’s mind is trying to reaffirm or enforce your sense of taste. In fact, they even might like to challenge it in some way. But times change. You once had artists as preeminent, then dealers, and right now it’s collectors. They want a trade show, what we call an art fair, where they can see everything, compare it and take it home, so it limits the ambition of art. And that’s been a very destructive influence.”

Turrell’s ambition is far from limited, as is evident in “Roden Crater,” his ongoing creation (begun in 1979) of a naked-eye observatory built into an extinct volcano he purchased in Flagstaff, Ariz. Turrell noted, “I would like it to be finished, but I’ve always liked the idea of the journey, too. It’s one of the reasons we love travel and spend quite a bit on it. That’s why I have works in Tasmania and Norway and Jerusalem and Japan, because these are places you will make the trek. You really have to submit to it.”

Drawing one last comparison to fashion, he observed, “Fashion requires submission, too. I’ve watched Daphne Guinness get up there and wear some of the most spectacular, painful and dangerous-looking shoes for designers. I’ve also seen her fall, but she’s such a good sport about it. And I think, ‘Wow, there really are people who will do that and spend that money and submit for that experience.’ Sometimes you can’t even get the models to do it. But she does it full-on, and that’s what you want.”

— MARCY MEDINA

6 WWD THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

Turrell’s Lightness of Being

James Turrell

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FASHION SCOOPS

WWD.COM7WWD THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

Ovitz Halts Fall ProductionSears Puts Focus on Shop Your Way

DIGITAL DAYS: “How can a publishing company like Condé Nast be successful in digital video?” Fred Santarpia asked.

Santarpia is the chief digital officer of Condé Nast Entertainment, and his division set out to answer that question Wednesday afternoon with a 30-minute-plus presentation to advertisers as part of the NewFronts, where media companies showcase their digital video programming to advertisers much the same way television networks present at the annual Upfronts.

By the end of the year, three more Condé brands than previously revealed will have their own digital video channels — Teen Vogue, epicurious.com and style.com, part of Fairchild Fashion Media, owner of WWD.

Video channels revolving around GQ and Glamour went live in early March, and Vogue and Wired will launch next, on May 8 and May 15, respectively. Vanity Fair’s channel will make its premiere in June.

Several media companies — AOL, Microsoft, Disney, Google — are presenting at the NewFronts this week, though The Wall Street Journal, which presented Monday, and Condé are the only print-based publishers to do so.

The Journal’s series make use of the paper’s staff — one of them, WSJ Sports, will feature occasional updates from columnist Jason Gay while Washington bureau chief Gerald Seib and David Wessel, of the column Capital, get their own buddy show, “Seib & Wessel,” parsing political news.

Condé’s presentation was the

most prominent outreach and pitch to the larger ad community since the entertainment division was created in 2011 following significant financial investment in hires and development to get it off the ground.

The first two channels, GQ and Glamour, had the backing of sponsors Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Mondelez International, and Unilever. Lou Cona, newly named president and chief revenue officer of the Condé Media Group, said sponsors bought on the digital video network as part of their existing relationship with the publisher and before they had gotten a preview of any of CNE’s programming. They bought what’s called “a share of voice,” Cona said, or in other words, a percentage of the overall inventory available across a particular channel. Now that it’s been a little more than a year, CNE had a proper slate of programming that includes some 30 video Web series, including some that are scripted, to show other advertisers.

Dawn Ostroff, CNE president, told advertisers the network will “one day look like today’s cable channels.” Sitting before her at the event hall 583 Park Avenue were Condé’s best-known editors and publishers, including Anna Wintour, Graydon Carter and Cindi Leive, as well as Condé president Bob Sauerberg.

GQ and Glamour launched with a handful of series each and will introduce new ones later this year, including, on Glamour, “Style to Kill,” a competition series that pits stylists against one another, and “The Single Life,” a scripted series whose title sums up its premise. New series from GQ include a “Trend Report” and “Casualties of the Gridiron,” a documentary series about professional athletes’ injuries.

Pursuing a model that TV executives will recognize, digital channels are trying to mint new digital stars. Condé’s entries include editors like Hamish Bowles, Vogue’s international editor at large, who’ll be hosting the Web series, “Vintage Bowles” — it follows the editor as he trawls for vintage clothing — and Glamour’s Leive, who’ll have a camera crew with her for “Fashion Week Ride-Along.” Vogue’s digital channel, to debut shortly after the Costume Institute Gala on Monday, will in all feature ten non-scripted Web series, including behind the scenes footage of events like the Met Ball; a cooking series with the model Elettra Wiedemann; a documentary-style chronicle of designers competing for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund — it is called “The Fund” — and “Vogue Jeanius,” a series on denim trends. Programming on Wired includes “Codefellas,” an animated scripted series and “The Window,” about engineering stories. Carter teased Vanity’s Fair’s channel in a video message, but did not reveal any details.

Santarpia and Ostroff did not spell out specific audience figures for the two video channels up. So what would advertisers get out of their media buys? Santarpia promised wide distribution for the Web series — in addition to YouTube, Condé announced new syndication deals with AOL, Yahoo, Twitter, Grab Media and Daily Motion. Santarpia also said that CNE is investing money in marketing the new channels.

“We’re matching our investment in production dollar for dollar with direct paid marketing to build adoption and audience for our channels,” he said.

Cona said the initial four sponsors have commitments through the end of the year, and more sponsors may step

up as the other channels come online. Sales will continue to be handled by his media group for the foreseeable future, although individual publishers are involved in closing the deals, he said.

— ERIK MAZA

PENNEY’S PITCH: J.C. Penney has wised up and tuned into its customers, at least according to the chain’s latest ad, which appeared Wednesday. The campaign acknowledges mistakes were made, encourages consumers who may have abandoned the store to come back, and says, “It’s no secret, recently J.C. Penney changed. Some changes you liked and some you didn’t, but what matters from mistakes is what we learn. We learned a very simple thing, to listen to you. To hear what you need, to make your life more beautiful.”

A Penney’s spokeswoman said the spot will run for just a few days this week as a precursor to a Mother’s Day campaign. “In addition to broadcast, the spots can be viewed online through our social media channels to encourage more customer dialogue,” she said.

Last year, Penney’s lost many shoppers and a huge chunk of revenues after it dropped coupons and big sales in favor of everyday low prices, but now Penney’s is re-phasing in price promoting and coupons.

With a touch of nostalgia, the Penney’s video starts off with two old J.C. Penney storefronts, and continues with modern scenes of young women presumably in Penney’s clothes, as well as young couples and kids. The ad concludes with the voice over, “Come back to J.C. Penney. We heard you. Now, we’d love to see you.” There is a 15-second version and a 30-second version of the same spot. — DAVID MOIN

MEMO PAD

What we need to figure out is, Is there a separate identity for Kmart that allows it to thrive?”

Apparel is at the core of that identity, Lampert said.

As for apparel at the 798-door Sears, the ceo noted, “It’s always been a challenge. Our produc-tivity is still very, very low. That business is in need of further evolution and transformation.” He was considerably more optimistic about the Lands’ End business, saying, “I feel like there’s a solid plan.”

Lampert acknowledged Sears Holdings still has a ways to travel. “We know the level of prof-itability is well below where it needs to be,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. What you’re seeing here is giving us hope. When members see it, it will help to build the business.”

Last year, the company posted net losses of $930 million as revenues fell 4.1 percent to $39.85 billion.

“I feel like we’ve made a lot of improvements in the services we provide,” Lampert added. “But we can’t keep going on without generating sufficient profit.… I want both names [Sears and Kmart] to be viable, and I want both names to mean something positive to people.”

Lampert is clearly steering the company to-ward a more digital future.

Online and mobile sales are still a “relatively small” portion of the company’s business — but grew 17 percent last year. “In 2013, we’re ready to really emphasize our integrated retail capa-bilities,” Lampert said. “How people are shop-ping is changing, and we want to have a brand identity around how people are shopping.”

That brand identity is a dedicated Web site built upon the company’s Shop Your Way rewards pro-gram, which provides access to special deals on the company’s array of 65 million stockkeeping units. Shop Your Way members drive 60 percent of the company’s revenues, a spokesman said. The program will become much more visible in store this year, and Sears plan to hone its search engines so online shop-pers can actually find those millions of sku’s.

“There’s having the products, and then there’s having people know you have the prod-ucts,” Lampert said. “If 3 million products mat-ter a lot, we want those prioritized.”

The company is bringing its offering of free shipping to consumers’ attention with an apparel-oriented ad campaign that’s drawn some contro-versy for its scatological double entendre, in which people of various age groups — from a young boy to a grandmotherly figure — talk enthusiastically

about how they plan to “ship my pants.”“We need to break through,” Lampert said. “We

need to break the stereotypes of Sears and Kmart. We’re not trying to offend anybody; we’re trying to break out. We have an opportunity as a retailer to deliver both services and a wider array of products.”

Sears has reduced its typical shipping times for online orders from four to five days to one to two days for almost the entire country, leveraging its network of stores by using 13 Sears stores and eight Kmart stores as shipping centers, Lampert said. “Doing this is not easy,” he said. “It shows how com-panies are going to compete in the 21st century.”

Sears also has begun to offer products of third-party retailers on its Web sites, which he noted is “not how Wal-Mart and Target do business. We want to partner with them. We have a chance, to-gether, to be very, very competitive.” That might mean selling products that compete with Sears or Kmart’s own, but that “gives you something to measure against. Competition makes you better,” he said. “I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from how tech businesses operate: Competitors seem to be doing business with each other at the same time.”

To provide Shop Your Way member services on mobile devices, the company is rolling out the Member Assist application — available in 360 stores, with 40 more slated to come online this year — through which members can instant-message questions about products that might be in stock, get answers and come into the store to purchase them, or be directed to the right spot online, Lampert said. The app allows the user to find the closest store and someone in the appro-priate department before asking their question.

“We want to use our associates to do more than just wait for people to come into these stores and get served,” he said. “Of course, this means a lot of training for our associates and the willingness to have a continuous relationship between members and associates.… If we can give more information about what we carry on-line, we think this will be a game changer.”

Sales associates are becoming more comfortable as time goes on, and the company has begun push-ing past initial paranoia that the real purpose of creating the app was to make consumers more com-fortable with online shopping, so that more stores can close, Lampert said. “When you’ve been closing stores…there’s a trust issue,” he said. “Is this some-thing that will take my job away from me?” But now, associates at stores that don’t have Member Assist want it: “Why aren’t we getting it? It’s not fair.”

{Continued from page one}By LISA LOCKWOOD

KIMBERLY OVITZ, who has been in the ready-to-wear busi-ness since 2009, is taking a time-out from producing apparel.

“We are in the process of ex-ploring new opportunities for the label and will not be fulfill-ing orders for the fall line at this time. We will be working on a number of col-laborations and ini-tiatives, including a new collection with Shapeways, which we hope to roll out soon,” said Ovitz in a statement. Ovitz was unavailable for fur-ther comment.

The designer, who had a showroom in New York, sold to such retailers as Saks Fifth Avenue, Owen, Shopbop, Curve, Madison and Elyse Walker, as well as on her own Web site, kimberlyovitz.com.

Ovitz’s fall col-lection, which she showed during New York Fashion Week, received positive reviews. In what was described as a continuation into her dark and moody journey, the collection contained many asymmetrical dresses that have become her signature, as well as a range of separates. “It was romantic with an edge, sure to please her following,” wrote WWD. Ovitz also collaborated on her first jewelry line. Most of the pieces were created via 3-D printing technology from struc-tured, lightweight nylon and produced through a partnership

with 3-D printing marketplace Shapeways. The line comprised a collar, ear cuffs, rings and bracelets. She created an alter-native take on contemporary jewelry, such as a bracelet that wraps around the wrist and con-nects to the hand with a ring.

In an interview in January in-troducing the jewelry line, Ovitz said she liked the quick produc-tion turnaround time —two to

three weeks — to make the jewelry. “It’s revolutionizing the immediacy of fashion. I want to in-fuse technology into what I do. It’s the fu-ture,” said Ovitz, not-ing she planned to make accessories a permanent category of her four-year-old business.

Sources said she will likely return to the rtw business in a season or two. Her Web site will remain active, and she will continue to produce the jewelry. Sources also noted that Ovitz is negotiating sev-eral partnerships for a makeup line and handbag collection.

Phillip Salem, owner of the New

York specialty boutique Owen, said he didn’t know why Ovitz wasn’t shipping fall. He said he recently received an e-mail about it. “The collection is doing really well here. We special or-dered because we sold out of a dress,” he said. He said he wrote his pre-fall and fall orders and then found out that they weren’t producing it. “She’s the defini-tion of city chic, but with that tough edge to it,” said Salem.

A fall look from Kimberly

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support of ILO to better implement the programs for worker welfare.

In her May Day speech, Hasina said those protestors who went on a ram-page in mills and factories recently would be arrested after checking video footage. She called upon the workers “not to be misguided with false propa-ganda and involve in any destructive activities as those are suicidal for the country’s economy.”

BGMEA president Atiqul Islam also appealed to workers to return to work on Thursday. The time to respond to global buyers and “resume production

for the betterment of the sector and to make timely shipment of the products” was at hand, he said.

But in Washington, legislators have begun to pressure the Obama adminis-tration over Bangladesh’s labor condi-tions. Reps. George Miller (D., Calif.) and Sander Levin (D., Mich.) sent a let-ter to the President calling for action.

“The mounting death toll in Bangladesh’s garment industry, with the collapse last week of the Rana Plaza, underscores the clear need for immediate action to address the crisis in working conditions and worker rights in that country,” Miller and Levin said in their letter. “This most recent trag-edy repeats what has become a serious and disturbing pattern in Bangladesh — labor and workplace laws are flouted and workers’ safety and rights denied in the pursuit of lucrative export op-portunities primarily to Europe and the United States. And workers, most of them young women and mothers, are left to pay the terrible consequences with their lives.”

The lawmakers noted that European and American retailers purchase two-thirds of Bangladeshi garment production.

“We urge your administration to lead an effort, together with the European Union, to bring together key European and American retailers that have sourced from Bangladesh to adopt a common re-sponse leading to a universal standard guaranteeing basic workplace safety and fundamental worker rights, whether gar-ments are produced by direct contract-ing or subcontracting,” the lawmakers wrote. “That response must also include effective monitoring. We would note that there are already some proposals — for example, the Building and Fire Safety Agreement being advanced by a number of leading nongovernmental organiza-tions and unions — that address some of these key elements.”

In a separate action on Wednesday, Miller and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) sent letters to three chief executive officers whose labels were said to be found in the Rana Plaza rubble, press-ing them to provide compensation to the hundreds of victims and their fami-lies and to commit to a binding agree-ment to improve working conditions in Bangladesh’s garment industry.

The House lawmakers, turning up the pressure on both retailers and ap-parel brands, sent the letters to Jane T. Elfers, ceo of Children’s Place; Ari Hoffman, ceo of Benetton USA, and Isak Andic, head of Spanish brand Mango,

which is carried in major U.S. retail outlets such as J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

Miller and Schakowsky said docu-ments received by the Committee on Education and the Workforce show that their labels were produced in some of the five apparel factories operating in the Rana Plaza building.

“As major brands pursue the lowest costs for their garments, substandard buildings and working conditions re-main unabated, and the government of Bangladesh appears unprepared to ad-equately address the root cause of these tragedies as it promotes its growing ready-to-wear (rtw) garment industry,” they wrote in the letters.

They pressed the company heads to provide compensation immediately, support a thorough investigation into the causes of the building collapse and sign the binding Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement.

Some companies already are react-ing to the tragedy, with both Primark of the U.K. and Joe Fresh of Canada prom-ising to compensate victims of the col-lapse. Britain’s Matalan on Wednesday also promised to compensate victims, even though it did not currently source from any of the factories in Rana Plaza. Matalan said it sourced from New Wave until February.

After attending the Montara Circle think tank in Amsterdam, CaliLu found-ers Cali Norton and Lucille McGovern decided to join other like-minded retail-ers such as AllSaints Spitalfields in a partnership with Not for Sale, a human rights organization. CaliLu created the Freedom top. A portion of sales will go to Not for Sale. “In light of the recent Bangladeshi factory fire making these abhorrent conditions known to those with the purchasing power, CaliLu feels that now more than ever, in this global age, fashion must rally around fair-trade solutions,” the company said.

Joe Fresh has canceled a cocktail re-ception on May 9 to celebrate its spon-sorship of Frame at Frieze New York. “It didn’t seem like the right time for a cocktail party,” a spokeswoman said. “We’re trying to be really sensitive” to the tragic events in Bangladesh. The spokeswoman said the company is mak-ing announcements today with regard to its efforts in Bangladesh.

Loblaw Cos., Canada’s largest food retailer, said it will soon announce more actions in the wake of the build-ing collapse in Bangladesh. Loblaw sells Joe Fresh apparel in its stores. “We have taken action to address the situation including the announcement of a fund to provide relief to the victims of this tragedy,” chairman Galen Weston said during a Wednesday first-quarter fi-nancial results conference call. “There is more we will do and we will make that public over the next few days.”

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of the IndustriALL Global Union, said at a meeting hosted by the German Agency for Development Cooperation, on Monday in Eschborn, Germany, unions and a group of about 30 international brands and retailers, including H&M, Gap and Wal-Mart, agreed to finalize an agree-ment on fire and building safety to make Bangladesh’s garment sector sustainable.

“At the moment, each brand is try-ing to do something and sometimes it’s nothing more than window dressing,” Raina said. “If we want to get anything serious, it has to take place in a coordi-nated way, and that is what we are trying to do. What we are doing at the moment is trying to finalize the exact text and get signatures…so that companies will know by May 15 who are in and who are not.”

He added, “We…would like to see the International Labor Organization in the central coordinating role.”

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM KRISTI ELLIS, SHARON EDELSON

AND JOHN ZAROCOSTAS

health provisions, and to also improve the labor conditions. Given [ready-made gar-ments] is our largest export product, and the EU is our largest destination, it is un-derstandable that they would express con-cerns at the recent tragedies.”

Others expressed concern, as well. “As the largest trading partner, this could lead to far more pressure for our garment workers, who could find themselves out of a job,” Rahman Masur, who is a lawyer and an activist, told WWD, reacting to the EU’s statement.

Bangladesh’s apparel exports to the EU amounted to $11.37 billion in June 2012 compared with $4.53 billion to the U.S. Bangladesh exports 60 percent of its garments to EU markets, and 23 per-cent to the U.S., according to figures from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers Employers Association.

Government officials said that what the apparel industry needed at this time was support rather than threats from retailers and other countries. “Instead of cancel-ing orders, foreign buyers would help the workers more by working with their part-ners to ensure stronger compliance,” said an official, who requested anonymity since the government is not speaking about the matter officially at this time.

Wednesday was a solemn day in Savar, marking a week since the tragic collapse of the eight-story building, Rana Plaza, in Savar that housed five apparel facto-ries. These included New Wave Style, New Wave Bottoms, Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac and Ether Tex.

Another 19 bodies were recovered from the debris on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 407, according to police

officials. The 32 unclaimed bodies kept at the mortuaries of Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital (Midfort Hospital) were also buried on Wednesday with several hundred people in attendance.

All this came as May Day was marked in the city, with an estimated 20,000 work-ers shouting slogans, asking for the death penalty for Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana, for justice and for better conditions for garment workers.

A four-member delegation of the International Labour Organization led by Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, deputy director

general for field operations and partnership, arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday. While ap-preciating the quick rescue operation at Savar, Gilbert told the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that he “hoped that the victims will get full and prompt compensation.”

Hasina said that her government has been working with labor policies to heighten workers’ interests and sought the

WWD thursday, may 2, 20138

’’

’’Pressure Builds for Action in Bangladesh{Continued from page one}

The mounting death toll in Bangladesh’s garment industry…underscores the clear

need for immediate action to address the crisis in working conditions and

worker rights in that country.— Reps. GeoRGe MilleR and sandeR levin

w02a008a;9.indd 8 5/1/13 7:37 PM05012013193814

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RATING THE ROCK “Pain & Gain” star Dwayne Johnson faces some style issues due to his unique physique. Page MW3

May 2, 2013

PLUS:Berluti sets

new stores, ad campaign to raise profile.

Page MW3

MAN OF THE WEEK

EYEING PRODUCTION CAPACITY

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

AUTHENTIC BRANDS GROUP is negotiat-ing with another potential operator for its Hickey Freeman brand.

According to market sources, the licens-ing company, which purchased the high-end men’s wear label as part of its acquisition of HMX Group for $72.3 million at the end of last year, is in discussions with Samuelsohn to one day operate its factory in Rochester, N.Y.

Samuelsohn, a Montreal-based tailored clothing manufacturer founded in 1923, was purchased in early 2010 by Grano Retail Investments. The company produces pri-vate label suits for Paul Stuart and Harry Rosen and sells its own Samuelsohn-label goods to 250 upscale specialty stores in the U.S. and Canada. The brand is currently at overcapacity at its Canadian manufacturing facilities and is looking for a spot to expand production. The Rochester plant has avail-able production capacity and its workers are covered by the same union.

James “Jamie” Salter, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Authentic Brands, told WWD Wednesday: “We are po-tentially looking to merge Rochester with another factory for more production. It’s very far from a done deal but if it happens, it will secure the jobs even further there. I need that plant to go 24/7.”

He stressed that Authentic has no plans to sell the Hickey Freeman brand to Samuelsohn or anyone else. “Hickey will remain with ABG as the owner of the trade-mark,” Salter said.

Under the terms of the deal to purchase the assets of HMX, Doug Williams, former ceo of the now defunct company, formed a new business, W Diamond Group Corp., and obtained a 40-year license to handle the day-to-day operations of the brands, which include Hart Schaffner Marx, Bobby Jones, Christopher Blue, Exclusively Misook and Jag Jeans in addition to Hickey. W Diamond pays royalties to Authentic Brands.

Asked if the ultimate plan is to move the Hickey license to Samuelsohn, Salter said: “We won’t confirm or deny anything. We’re exploring all options. We just want to make sure the Rochester plant is filled to capacity to secure jobs, which is the mandate that ABG and W Diamond have had from Day One.”

Since the purchase was finalized in December 2012, Authentic Brands has been working to stabilize the brands. Its busi-ness model is one of a licensor. So far, it has moved the dress shirts and neckwear license from W Diamond to PVH Corp. and sources said an announcement is expected this week on the disposition of Christopher Blue and Jag and a new licensee for Bobby Jones. That would leave W Diamond with Hickey,

Samuelsohn In Talks Over Hickey FactoryCanadian firm said looking at Rochester.

{Continued on page MW3}

VARSITY BLUESRichie Cunningham would look right at home on the streets of New York today. The varsity bomber jacket, an American classic for guys since the Fifties, has made a big fashion comeback for fall. The traditional contrasting leather sleeves and pocket details, retro graphic patches and ribbing at the collar, waist and sleeves are still relevant, but the silhouettes have been updated for the slim-obsessed man of today. For more, see page MW2.

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Shades of Grey by Micah Cohen’s wool and poly jacket, A.P.C.’s cotton sweater, Alexander Olch’s cotton shirt and Gant Rugger’s wool pants.

Men’s Week

Subhead

MW2 WWD THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

FOREVER YOUNGThe varsity bomber jacket lies at the epicenter of the athletic trend that is filling runways and defining cool street style. This American classic perfectly showcases the youthful sensibility so essential for fashion and pop culture today. — ALEX BADIA

Tim Coppens’ cotton and leather jacket, A.P.C.’s cotton sweater and Mark McNairy New Amsterdam’s wool pants.

Shipley & Halmos’ leather and wool jacket, Umit Benan’s wool sweater and Gant by Michael Bastian’s wool pants.

Opening Ceremony’s wool and leather jacket, Lacoste Live’s cotton sweater, A.P.C.’s cotton shirt and J. Crew’s wool pants.

Maison Kitsuné’s wool and leather jacket, Carven’s cotton and wool sweater, Joseph Abboud’s cotton shirt and Trussardi’s wool pants.

Band of Outsiders’ wool jacket, Saturdays Surf NYC’s cotton sweater, Maison Kitsuné’s cotton shirt and Seize Sur Vingt’s wool pants.

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PHOTOS BY DANIEL GARRIGA

Men’s Week WWD THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013 MW3

Johnson, aka “The Rock,” is in the number-one movie “Pain & Gain,” in which he plays a Nineties-era steroid-filled bodybuilder opposite Mark Wahlberg. Johnson still seemed to be in character for his red-carpet appearance. A well-executed, made-to-measure black suit would minimize his heft but not his persona.

HSM and Misook. Sources believe that, even-tually, the business will be pared down to just the core operations, which are Hickey and HSM. If Hickey goes to Samuelsohn and Misook is licensed to another operator, HSM would be the remaining asset.

Salter declined to comment on the specif-ics of his long-term plan, saying only: “Now that the business has been stabilized, we’re going to be making sure the brands are in the right place with the right partners.”

In addition to HMX, Authentic Brands in January purchased Judith Leiber, Adrienne Vittadini and Taryn Rose from the Schottenstein Luxury Group for an undisclosed sum. It also has the licenses for Marilyn Monroe, Prince, Tapout, Sportcraft and Silverstar.

Authentic Brands operates in partnership

with Leonard Green & Partners and its mis-sion statement is to “build a global portfolio of world-renowned brands.”

Samuelsohn’s high-end men’s wear is carried in Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Harry Rosen. To cele-brate its 90th anniversary, the company intro-duced a super-high-end line for spring called 1923 Black Label, designed by Arnold Brant Silverstone, president of marketing, sales and design. Black Label will retail for $1,795 to $2,495, while the core Samuelsohn collec-tion opens at $1,095 and goes up to $1,595.

In a recent interview, Silverstone said the company’s business with Nordstrom has risen 50 percent over the past two years and 2012 was the company’s biggest volume year with double-digit growth. Projections for 2013 are for a 20 percent increase over that.

Dwayne Johnson: C+by MILES SOCHA

PARIS — The transformation of Berluti from cult cobbler to luxury lifestyle label is gathering steam, with a slate of new stores and an arsenal of communication tools.

Next week, the French brand, part of luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is slated open a 3,700-square-foot boutique at the IFC Mall in Shanghai, billed as the first in China to showcase the entire Berluti product offering, spanning leather bags, small leather goods, shoes and ready-to-wear.

The sumptuous unit, with a whiskey-hued facade and walls padded with Venezia leather, is to be equipped with a “patina bar” — a nod to the brand’s un-usual footwear finishes and polishing ceremonies — and a private lounge for by-appointment fittings for suits or shoes.

The Shanghai unit is among almost 20 new locations or refurbished units pro-grammed to open in 2013.

Antoine Arnault, Berluti’s chief ex-ecutive officer, is also putting advertising firepower behind the heritage brand, hav-ing tapped British actor Jeremy Irons and young royal Pierre Casiraghi to star in the fall campaign, as reported.

Founded in 1895, Berluti has been part of the LVMH group since 1993, with Arnault assuming the management helm in 2011 following a stint as communica-tions director at Louis Vuitton.

The executive is banking on leverag-ing Berluti’s following for its elite shoes — and the design prowess of handpicked artistic director Alessandro Sartori — to make it the men’s wear powerhouse at the family-controlled group.

“The [ad] campaign will help give [Berluti] a significant push and bring it to another level in terms of notoriety and vis-ibility, especially in new markets like the

U.S.,” Arnault told WWD.The spots, the first in Berluti’s history

to feature footwear and fashion, are slated to break in Le Figaro this weekend before rolling out to a range of newspapers, week-lies, supplements and magazines in France, China, the U.K., America and Japan.

Arnault declined to pinpoint budgets but offered, “We have invested proportion-ally to the size of an up-and-coming busi-ness — that is to say, enough to raise its profile.”

Berluti also plans to unveil a revamped Web site during men’s fashion week here in June.

Arnault said enlarged stores — de-signed to showcase Berluti’s push into rtw and its expanded range of accesso-ries — are key communication vehicles for the brand.

In total, 10 new doors are planned this year, along with at least half a dozen refur-bished locations. The Shanghai location will be followed by the reopening in June of Berluti’s Conduit Street store in London — billed as the first Maison Berluti and located only steps away from Savile Row. To follow are new units in Miami’s Design

District this summer; Rue de Sèvres here in September in the former flagship loca-tion of Arnys, and Madison Avenue in New York this fall.

Arnault also promised a strong cre-ative statement with its window displays, “all with a sleek and masculine feel.” He said windows worldwide would showcase the new direction in the second half of the year.

Unveiling the new ad campaign exclu-sively, Arnault said its broad theme is the passing of tradition, with Irons, pictured thumbing a newspaper on a velvet sofa in a private club in London, citing Peter Sellers as a key influence on his career.

Casiraghi, pictured in an unfinished building in Monaco, a hard hat propped on his thigh, chose Belgian race car driv-er Jacky Ickx as the source of his cultur-al initiation.

The campaign’s tag line — “initiated by,” or in French, “parrainé par” — is “there to suggest how they discovered Berluti as the brand has been around since 1895. I myself was introduced to it by my father,” Arnault said, referring to Bernard Arnault, the founder, chair-man and ceo of the world’s biggest luxury goods player. The business titan gave his son a pair of chocolate brown Berluti boots for his 16th birthday.

According to the younger Arnault, the ads reflect that men’s style is highly personal.

“You can belong to the same circle of people with like-minded elegance and have your very own take on it, unconven-tional or perfectly classic. Jeremy Irons

and Pierre Casiraghi both reflect this dif-ference,” he explained.

Arnault has stated ambitions to double the number of Berluti boutiques around the globe in three to four years. “The re-sponse is good in all markets,” he report-ed, adding, “and the best is yet to come.”

Berluti Steps on the Gas

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although it’s a perfectly executed bald head, his look is too

close to L.L. Cool J for comfort. Let it grow for a softer and

more elegant look.

a lower V-neck would take the

attention away from his bull’s neck and

provide a peek at his well-defined pecs.

If you opt for a rougher, sexier look,

go all the way.

The gunmetal motorcycle jacket

has good, beaten-up appeal, however, a

more-fitted silhouette with paneling would

be slenderizing and look less boxy. slim-straight is the right fit, and the

subtle wash and 3-D whiskering feel very contemporary. Ultraskinny solid dark denim, although humorous, wouldn’t be right for him.

The black motorcycle boot is the only choice for the tough

rider look. But at 6 feet 5 inches, he doesn’t need

more height.Perfect amount of stacking. It looks effortless but not sloppy.

Man ofTHE WEEK

a view of the shanghai IFC store.

aDVe

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Jeremy Irons in the Berluti campaign.

Pierre Casiraghi in the Berluti campaign.

{Continued from page MW1}

Samuelson Said in Freeman Factory Talks

w02a011a;10.indd 3 5/1/13 8:11 PM05012013201204

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Men’s WeekMW4 WWD thursday, may 2, 2013

by ARNOLD J. KARR and JEAN E. PALMIERI

MEN’s tAILORED cLOthINg sales came down to earth last year from a lofty high in 2011, but clothing executives can take comfort in what appears to be a fairly soft landing.

After a 23.7 percent gain in 2011 to $4.61 billion, the category abruptly changed direc-tion last year, with overall sales declining 6.6 percent to $4.3 billion. Even the previously red-hot suit classification decelerated to a 1.2 percent increase, to $2.48 billion, after narrowly missing a 30 percent jump in the previous year, according to figures from the NPD group Inc.

More recent figures have been slightly better, suggesting the market is essentially coming back to reality. the growth spurt came after decades of difficulty and resulted from young men buying into the slimmer-fit suit as their elders refreshed their ward-robes accordingly in a tight job market.

In the 12 months ended in February, tai-lored clothing sales declined 3.2 percent to $4.51 billion, despite 5 percent growth in suits to $2.6 billion, and 8.9 percent growth in suit separates to $671.6 million. Possibly the victim of the growth in separates, sport coats were down 20.8 percent to $1.24 billion.

the overall numbers are in comparison to figures from 2011, which not only helped produce 4.2 percent growth in men’s apparel sales overall — a figure that shrank to 1.4 percent last year — but were also an historic near-hiatus in what has been a downward trend in suits for the better part of a half-century. Even with last year’s comparatively weak performance, tailored clothing and suit sales for the past 12 months are higher by margins of 20.5 and 34.7 percent, respec-tively, than they were for the 12 months ended in February 2011.

“this is a classic example of ‘be careful what you wish for because you just might get it,’” observed Marshal cohen, a former buyer who serves as chief industry analyst at NPD. “Last year’s feast became this year’s famine and the numbers from 2011 looked great until they had to be ‘anniversaried’ last year.”

Even during its heyday, the men’s cloth-ing business was characterized by slow turn, large investments in inventory and infre-quent fashion changes.

“there’s no question that younger people really picked up on the new, slimmer look in clothing, and there was some carryover with older men as well,” cohen said. “But once you buy some suits to dress up your act, you’re not going to need a lot more and you’re not going to be buying it on a replace-ment basis.”

“tailored clothing is a shell of what it was a long time ago,” observed Madison Riley, managing director of Kurt salmon, himself a former department store tailored clothing buyer. “What happens today is that fashion cycles come around and young men will buy into the shorter jackets and slim-mer silhouette. But once you’ve got it in your closet, it’s not something you’re going to re-plenish the way you would a sport shirt.”

Riley, who grew up in retail wearing suits to work, notes that the tailored business today essentially revolves around special oc-casions — weddings, funerals, graduations and job interviews — and suits, worn with or without a tie — are hardly the workplace necessities they once were.

Retailers and manufacturers in the trenches have a different experience.

tailored clothing sales have continued their upward trend this spring at Brooks Brothers, according to Lou Amendola, ex-ecutive vice president of merchandising. “We had an increase in tailored clothing sales in fall ’12 but we were up against a decrease the year before. so we’re opposite the trend.”

Brooks had shifted some of its inventory dollars out of clothing and into sportswear, he explained, “and we’re seeing sportswear has been flat and clothing up with better sell-throughs.” Amendola added that young-er guys continue to want to look more formal at work and are seeking the slimmer, more

modern silhouettes. “there’s a whole gener-ation who didn’t buy tailored clothing before buying tailored clothing,” he said.

this trend is not translating to neckwear. “there’s a trend of not wearing ties,” he said.

What has been good is the made-to-order as well as blazers’ businesses; sport coats have been a bit slower. “the younger genera-tion is buying tailored clothing and the tra-ditional sport coat is more for an older guy,” he said. “so the fancy sport coat business is not as good.”

there’s also a difference between the moderate customer and the better customer. “If you bought three or four suits from Jos. A. Bank, you’re not buying more any time soon,” said Amendola. “that’s not the cycle of the clothing business; suits stay in your closet for a couple of seasons.”

Jos. A. Bank clothiers Inc., which became notorious within the men’s wear industry over the holiday season for its eye-popping promotions — as extreme as buy-one-get-seven-free — reported last month that its net income for the fourth quarter dropped 35.7 percent as a result of poor reaction to its hol-iday promotions of cold-weather sportswear and accessories. however, the company said that suits experienced modest overall gains last year, driven by “a meaningful shift in our business to tailored-fit and slim-fit prod-ucts compared to traditional-fit products.”

Neal Black, chief executive officer, said at the time: “Right now, we’re in a suit cycle....Our opportunity is to turn over their wardrobes and replace what’s hanging in their closets with updated fits.”

the Men’s Wearhouse Inc. in March re-ported a larger-than-expected loss of $3.4 million in the fourth quarter as traffic during the holiday season was soft. however, ceo Doug Ewert said that investments in mer-chandise and marketing to target a young-er customer met with a strong response. “[We] saw both new and existing customers respond enthusiastically to our offerings

in modern and slim-fit clothing,” he said. Modern clothing now accounts for half of the business, he said, while slim-fit is 30 percent and is projected to increase to 40 percent this year.

Wayne Drummond, senior vice presi-dent and general merchandise manager of men’s for hudson’s Bay co. and Lord & taylor, said his stores have in suits “seen a nice, steady, but modest growth for the last couple of years.” the trend is continuing this year. “We’re seeing healthy single-digit increases at Lord & taylor and the same thing at hudson’s Bay.” In fact, the response to tailored clothing has been so strong that the company is in the midst of rolling out the classification to all doors within hudson’s Bay within the next year or so. Drummond said that prior to spring, only a third of hudson’s Bay’s stores had carried tailored clothing, but that number was doubled for this season. “We’re confident that clothing is gaining momentum,” he said. clothing is al-ready carried in all Lord & taylor doors and is seen as a core business.

At both retail chains, Drummond said it’s the “newness in fit and silhouette” that is driving sales. “We’re seeing a whole life-style change in terms of fit,” he said. “And casual Fridays have a whole new meaning today. Men are looking for tailored and clean looks.”

Wally Naymon, owner of Kilgore trout, a men’s specialty store in cleveland, said his tailored clothing business has experienced huge increases since 2010 — 2012 was “off the charts, and that’s still the case today.” he said the most action is coming from trunk

shows where made-to-measure suits are driving the business. “Everybody wants all the options available and they’re willing to pay for the benefits of picking the linings, vents, shoulders, fabric.”

Naymon said there is a “finite number of people wearing clothing today.” the ones that are, he added, “want to look current. And the young guys want to dress up. thank god for Justin timberlake.”

he also pointed to the recent National Football League draft and all the young play-ers wearing fitted clothing. “they’re dressing way cooler and they’re modern and contem-porary,” Naymon said.

customers want to emulate what they see sports and entertainment celebrities wear-ing, and if they have the money “they’re stepping up to made-to-measure,” he said. But they’re also embracing more moderately priced off-the-rack suits for $1,000 to $1,400.

Even so, Naymon can’t guess when the trend will run its course. “Everything ends, there are cycles to everything and I can’t imagine it’ll last much longer, but who knows,” he said.

Most vendors too are seeing a continu-ation of the strong suit business of the past couple of years.

Ronny Wurtzburger, president of Peerless clothing, said the reason the sales numbers for suits have dipped is because suit sepa-

rates have grown to represent a larger per-centage of sales. “separates have increased to 60 to 70 percent of the clothing business and stores like Kohl’s only sell separates. so when you put both numbers together, we’re way ahead.”

Anthony sapienza, ceo of JA Apparel corp., which markets the Joseph Abboud brand, said, “the replacement suit/mid-price buyer needed new clothes in 2011. he hadn’t bought any during the recession, so I think the spike was because of that. But as the economy improved, the better business got stronger.” he said sales with the compa-ny’s high-end accounts such as Nordstrom and saks Fifth Avenue are “up significant-ly,” indicating that the customer is “feeling more confident.”

he believes that, by contrast, the moder-ate customer is still jittery, and “has what he needs. If he went out and bought two-for-one or four-for-one, he has more suits than he needs.”

he continued, “Our business is tracking nicely and we continue to promote Made in America, which has a good ring to it and reso-nates with customers.” color and new models are also driving sales. “Men are more liberal in their aesthetic today and young guys are not afraid to move beyond gray and blue,” said sapienza, adding the company’s made-to-measure business has also been good.

As a result, sapienza is expecting the suit business to continue to be strong for a little while longer. “It won’t be forever, but there should be another two years of growth,” he said. “We think the momentum will continue and it will be combined with the growth in our economy. this has a lot of staying power, particularly with the younger guys. And that’s good news for us.”

For Wesley howard, president of the Lanier clothes division of Oxford Industries Inc., driving strong business boils down to one thing — if the product is desirable, it will sell. “Mediocre product is not selling,” he said. “And you’re either doing well or you’re gone.”

howard has seen a shift from nested suits to suit separates at some mainline stores and that is driving sales for retailers. “the customer doesn’t default to a traditional suit,” he said, noting they opt instead for wearing a jacket with jeans or other unre-lated pants.

On the other hand, he’s also noticed that some better stores that traditionally carry large suit inventories have begun shifting some of their dollars into sportswear. “It’s more anecdotal at this point, but there seem to be fewer suit units per store at the upper-moderate level,” said howard.

sport coats continue to hold their own as well, he said, driven primarily by more soft-ly constructed models. “they’re performing better than in years past.”

Overall, howard believes there’s “still life in the [tailored clothing] product catego-ry, but you have to adapt. the days of hang-ing mediocre product on a four-way for any length of time are over,” he said.

Arnold Brant silverstone, president of samuelsohn, said the company experienced “huge growth” last year, but sales slowed a bit at the beginning of 2013 as cool weather impacted retail business. “But two weeks ago was good and last week was amazing,” he added. sport coats have been strong as well as suits, which are selling best in the slimmer silhouettes. “Our traditional fit has slowed,” silverstone said, “and we also have an extreme fit, but that’s a small part of the business. Most of the business is mainstream and slim fit.” suits in performance fabrics have also been a highlight, he said.

Doug Williams, ceo of the W Diamond group, which operates the former hMX brands, has not seen a slowdown in business. “We’re seeing very good business,” he said. “hickey Freeman is up in the high double-digits and hart shaffner Marx in the mid-double-digits at retail.”

Williams also believes that the category has more life in it. “the key to it is newness and execution,” he said. “It’s still an excel-lent business.”

Tailored Clothing Takes a Breather

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Slim suits from Boss Black and Billy Reid.

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