WWDHis GirlFor his Facetasm show, Hiromichi Ochiai juxtaposed feminine flounces with mannish suiting for a look that was fun and edgy. Here, Ochiai’s frilly shirt and a ruffled skirt with pin-striped panels. For more from Tokyo, see pages 4 and 5.

DEBATING LESLIE WEXNER

Dept. Stores: ‘Irrelevant’Or Reborn?

By WWD STAFF

LESLIE H. WEXNER has reignited an old industry debate: Are department stores dino-saurs headed for extinction?

“Department stores are irrelevant,” the chair-man and chief executive officer of L Brands Inc. said at his firm’s investor meeting last week. They don’t generate near the traffic of restau-rants and food establishments, or embody “the emotional content” of Apple and other concepts in the mall, Wexner said. “The average Apple store probably draws more traffic to a shopping center than any department store does.”

He’s a hardliner on outlets and the apparel business as well. There’s no room really for either in his specialty empire. Outlets are “easy money and mark the beginning of the end for brands with high emotional content,” he said. Coach Inc. “cut its own throat” by growing its outlet channel, he added. Wexner also took credit for recognizing a decade ago that apparel shopping would shrivel, as other merchandise categories blossomed.

Given his track record for corporate reen-gineering and catapulting Victoria’s Secret Pink and Bath & Body Works, Wexner can’t be ignored, whether one regards him as industry soothsayer or just someone who occasionally sounds off.

His logic isn’t bulletproof. True, department stores aren’t the powerhouses of yesteryear and there are fewer of them and maybe still too many. J.C. Penney and The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. are struggling; Saks Fifth Avenue is bare-ly profitable, and Neiman Marcus is piling on debt. Nevertheless, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Dillard’s Inc. have been on a roll, and retail’s new kingpin, Richard Baker, chairman and ceo of Hudson’s Bay Co., says he’s ready to pour money into all of the department store holdings he’s heaped together — including Saks.

Baker wants to “catapult Saks to the pinna-cle of luxury, and as part of that, we are com-mitting to spend $200 million to renovate our Fifth Avenue flagship and do what it takes to turn it into the most glamorous and luxurious department store in the world,” he said re-cently. He’s also experimenting with Lord & Taylor, testing new locations cautiously to see whether L&T could be an alternative anchor in lifestyle centers.

Belk Inc., too, is moving forward, fortifying flagships, adding stores in Texas, and looking to hit $6 billion in revenues in five years. It’s picked up its marketing game with the theme “Modern. Southern. Style.” and has expanded exclusive offerings, such as Cynthia Cynthia Rowley for women and Made Cam Newton for men. “Our business has grown each of the

SEE PAGE 6

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the Briefing Boxin Today’s WWd

Leslie H. Wexner has reignited an old industry debate: Are department stores dinosaurs headed for extinction? Page 1 Dupont Sorona fits the bill for a modern fiber with its combination of performance and sustainable characteristics. Page 8 Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto talks about the plethora of exhibitions and performances he is staging in Paris. Page 9 Author Tom Wolfe discusses his writing regime and his forthcoming book on the theory of evolution. Page 10 Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi in New York toasted the American version of their cookbook “Ottolenghi” Friday. Page 11

Retail Fares Poorly in Service StudyBy ARNOLD J. KARR

CONSUMERS’ PATIENCE for bad customer service is thin-ning, and no sector is bearing the brunt of this heightened in-tolerance more than retailers.

That’s among the conclu-sions of the ninth annual Global Consumer Pulse Survey conducted by Accenture Inc. and released today.

The study of 12,867 consum-ers in 32 countries and across 10 different business sectors showed a marked increase in consumers switching the companies they do business with because of poor customer service. Among the 1,256 U.S. adults surveyed, 51 percent had switched companies, up from 46 percent in the 2012 study.

Retailers were the biggest losers in the search for better service, with 27 percent of con-sumers ending their relationship with a store in favor of another, up from 23 percent last year and more than twice the second

most likely target sector, cable and satellite providers, who saw their switch percentage drop one point to 11 percent this year.

Switching is defined as ei-ther a partial switch, in which a consumer has added other com-panies to his or her vendors of choice, or a total one, in which the respondent ceased doing business with a previous pro-vider in favor of another.

However, among U.S. re-spondents, retailers also led in the complete switch classi-fication, with 14 percent, just above the 12 percent for land-line phone companies.

Retailers of consumer goods were also most likely to be left behind, although not by as big a margin, in the global portion of the study, with a 28 percent switch rate — partial and total — exceeding all other catego-ries and followed by retail banks and Internet service providers at 20 and 18 percent, respectively. Retailers had a more modest, but still leading, switch rate of 22 percent in mature markets, but

a higher one — 36 percent — in emerging markets. Retail banks had the second highest rate in both kinds of economies with 30 percent in emerging markets and 12 percent in mature ones.

“In a way, this is a good-news, bad-news situation for retailers,” said Robert Wollan, global man-aging director of Accenture’s sales and customer services practice. “It means the greatest risk of losing customers but also the greatest opportunity for re-tailers looking for new business.”

He said much of the trou-ble for retailers can be traced to “problems we could have been talking about in 1990, like being on hold for too long.” But retailers, he noted, were also being subjected to higher expectations as consumers explore the landscape of Web and mobile technologies. The study found that exactly three-quarters of U.S. consumers use online channels to research products and services, while a third of the overall sample use mobile devices to do so.

Penney’s, Martha Revise DealBy ALExANDRA STEIGRAD

and VICKI M. YOUNG

NEW YORK — J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. on Monday took a big stride toward resolv-ing their legal dispute with Macy’s Inc.

The two firms revealed they have revised the partnership agreement covering their licens-ing and design deal that was at the center of the court battle with Macy’s. The lawsuit, which was filed in a New York state court by Macy’s in 2011, claimed that MSLO violated its deal to sell ex-clusive home goods in its stores when it inked a competing agree-ment with Penney’s. In addition to being able to sell Stewart home wares, Penney’s also bought a 16.6 percent stake in the design firm and scooped up a seat on the design firm’s board.

The new agreement essen-tially reverses the bulk of the Penney’s-MSLO deal. Now it features a more focused range of product categories over a shorter period of time, through June 30, 2017, versus the origi-nal deal, which would have ex-pired in 2021.

Neither MSLO nor Penney’s would provide further details of the financial terms of the deal, but they said Penney’s would sell through any unbranded product at issue in the Macy’s case and that it would not manu-facture any more.

Calling the deal a “complete win for Macy’s and a vindica-tion,” Macy’s lawyer Theodore Grossman, of Jones Day, told WWD that the “parties obvi-ously understood they were going to lose.”

Judge Jeffrey Oing, who is presiding over the case, has been mulling over a verdict since the trial ended in August. His verdict may seem more or less irrelevant now, but Grossman noted that damages are still a consider-ation, as Macy’s has “lost money” on the cost of the case, as well as on any sales from the Stewart

deal with Penney’s.Under the new deal, MSLO

will continue to design Martha Stewart branded products for Penney’s in the following cat-egories: window treatments and hardware, lighting, rugs, holiday and celebrations. These catego-ries were not disputed in the Macy’s lawsuit.

MSLO will receive design fees, guaranteed minimum royalties and the 11 million shares of MSLO Class A com-mon stock that Penney’s cur-rently owns. Additionally, Penney’s will no longer have representation on MSLO’s board. Penney’s paid $38.5 mil-lion for the MSLO shares.

“Hopefully this will resolve Macy’s’ original concerns,” an MSLO spokeswoman said, add-ing that “it’s business as usual” between the design company and Macy’s.

As for the revised agreement with Penney’s, MSLO founder and non-executive chairman Stewart said, “We are designing excellent products for 2014, and we look forward to seeing them in stores and online at jcp.com.”

According to Penney’s, the amended contract would actual-ly “save” Penney’s money in the long run, which would be a silver lining for the struggling retailer.

“We are happy to be mov-ing forward and continuing to provide our customers with quality products from the MarthaHome collection, which includes MarthaWindow, one of our best-selling lines of win-dow treatments,” said Penney’s chief executive officer Myron “Mike” Ullman 3rd.

News of the revised agreement came after the equity markets closed the day’s trading session.

Shares of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. fell 8.3 percent Monday on the New York Stock Exchange after an analyst slashed the per share price target to $1.

The stock closed at $6.42, but had fallen as low as $6.27 in in-traday trading.

Imperial Capital analyst Mary Ross-Gilbert cut her price

target to $1 from $5 over increas-ing concerns that the retailer may require a financial restruc-turing next year in the form of bankruptcy court protection.

A company spokeswoman said, “When combined with the reported improvements in our business trends, the need for ‘financial restructuring’ is purely speculative and not grounded in fact.”

The company said on Oct. 8 that it has liquidity of more than $2 billion following the $785 mil-lion in net proceeds from its sec-ondary offering and $1.3 billion in existing liquidity.

In Ross-Gilbert’s research note, she said that recent re-ports on credit problems and bankruptcy, even if inaccurate or misleading, are “wearing down vendors and manage-ment” and that, as a result, the Penney’s “board may find that it ultimately has no choice but to seek bankruptcy court protec-tion via a voluntary filing in 2014 if vendors tighten trade credit terms and investors prove un-willing to support $5.8 billion in debt and potential medium- to longer-term financing needs.”

Sources in the credit commu-nity said Penney’s has payment terms of net 60 days, which is causing the factoring community to approve only orders scheduled for shipping now so they don’t get caught with unpaid invoices that are due post holiday. Vendors who are shipping post-holiday orders are doing so based solely on their own internal business decisions to support the retailer, these credit individuals said. Most factors at this point are holding approvals for any post-holiday orders until after the new year because they want to see what kind of holiday season Penney’s has before extending more credit to their clients.

Ullman told WWD last week that the company is current in payments to vendors and that “only 5 percent” of Penney’s ven-dor base is factored. He also em-phasized the support Penney’s is receiving from suppliers.

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Facetasm: Hiromichi Ochiai staged a unisex Facetasm show that worked an edgy mix of creative layering and geometric prints. He opened with a white shirtdress that appeared to be worn under a skirt that resembled a man’s shirt tied around the waist, its sleeves knotted to form a bow.

Other key looks featured honeycomb and hexagon-type patterns, while ruffled skirts came with panels of contrasting pin-striped fabric in front and back. Aprons played a prominent role, making an appearance on both the gals and guys.

Accessories were quirky with bangles shaped like hamburgers and necklaces bedecked with mini boxes of

french fries and soda bottles.

Fleamadonna: Jei Kim said Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” video and California teenage culture from the Seventies and Eighties inspired her Fleamadonna collection. She worked a print of tiny random objects like lips, glasses and cherries into a sequence of garments, while lace featured prominently, particularly in long skirts. Some of Kim’s most interesting looks came when she juxtaposed sporty sweats with more ladylike pieces, layering a boxy sweatshirt, for instance, over a lace blouse or pairing sweatpants with a midriff-bearing shirt. Kooky glasses and floral veils topped off the youthful, fun feel.

Jenny Fax: Sheh Jen-Fang is developing a reputation for runway theatrics and this season was no exception. Her Jenny Fax show, staged in a skate park, offered up plenty of eccentric looks. A baggy black vinyl jumpsuit with a lace collar, several numbers emblazoned with Cabbage Patch Kid faces and feather-trimmed bras were a few of her propositions for spring. A smattering of knitwear consisted of little more than strands of yarn loosely woven around the body, while frilly Lolita dresses, a series of T-shirts with anime/manga characters and a tall hat encasing a head of lettuce added to the festive vibe.

Johan Ku: The Lars von Trier movie “Dancer in the Dark” and its lead character Selma, as played by Björk, inspired Johan Ku this season. Ku said the film, in which Selma daydreams herself into musical fantasies to escape her personal struggles and descent into blindness, prompted him to create 3-D clothes that express the “contrast of fantasy and reality.” There were several sculptural dresses made of shiny plastic draped and wrapped over fabric forms that enveloped the models like cocoons. Other key pieces included a sequence of jackets incorporating collages of plastic shards and small pieces of fabric.

Nozomi Ishiguro: Nozomi Ishiguro

combined his two brands into one show this season. For his higher-end Nozomi Ishiguro Haute Couture brand, the designer worked a stars-and-stripes print resembling worn-out American flags into skirts that hit above the knee in the front but were reduced to a tiny peplum in the back. Dresses and long skirts were covered in swirling ruffles and there were frilly heart-shaped bustier tops.

Ishiguro’s younger-skewed Tambourine brand featured deconstructed T-shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with cartoon prints and sequins and colorful checked shirts made even louder with a large allover flower print.

JNBY: Li Lin’s spring collection

Tokyo Fashion Week: Spring 2014THE SHOWS CAME TO A CLOSE WITH LOOKS DONE IN RUFFLES, ARTY PRINTS AND LOTS OF AVANT-GARDE.

Facetasm Fleamadonna Jenny Fax Johan Ku

FOR MORE REVIEWS AND IMAGES, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

WWD.COM5WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013

at JNBY began with several all-white looks that were relaxed and elegantly casual, with textures ranging from delicate chiffon and featherweight woven cotton to crinkled linen and ivory denim. Tanks, lightweight jackets and dresses fell to the knee or midcalf, some of which paired with slim paper-bag pants.

After a few pieces in botanical printed chiffon, Lin moved into deeper hues, while a handful of bright green looks provided contrast to the largely subdued color palette.

The Dress & Co.: Hideaki Sakaguchi is one of the more commercially minded designers to show during Tokyo Fashion Week, and this season he once again presented a collection for The Dress & Co. of chic, albeit safe, modern classics. Trenchcoats and long vests were paired with slim-fitting capri pants, while short rompers and pantsuits were crafted from lightweight sweatshirt fleece. A few more-adventurous looks included a

baby blue cropped motorcycle jacket and sheer white short-shorts worn over black HotPants.

Christian Dada: Christian Dada designer Masanori Morikawa presented a collection heavy on his signature black with flourishes of embroidery. But the clothes were hardly the big news — it was iconic rock band Kiss that stole the show. The band, in town for a Japan tour, walked the runway in full concert regalia, with Paul Stanley the only member who sported a look from the collection — a gold metallic coat.

As for other looks shown before the tongue-waving antics, there was a selection of jackets with a military vibe for men and vampy short dresses and skirts for women. A couple pieces in gold lamé, including a vest and a pair of wide-leg trousers, punctuated the show.

Alice Auaa: Yasutaka Funakoshi is the designer behind Alice Auaa, one of Japan’s highest

profile Goth brands. This season he showed a somewhat brighter take on the genre, turning out a collection that was mostly white and ivory. Intricate corsetry and ruffles featured prominently while the models’ long, silvery hair and Lucite-heeled footwear with buckles running up over the knee provided extra-dramatic effect. A large metal ring contraption was strapped to the bloomers of one model. Two even more bizarre looks presumably tapped into the show’s “Sleeps in Water” theme: a model in a fish-head mask wearing an inflatable skirt and another one wrapped in strips and bows of what appeared to be seaweed.

Atsushi Nakashima: While it may not have been readily apparent from the clothes, Atsushi Nakashima drew inspiration from Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí for his spring collection. Nakashima said the bright yellow and blue for dresses, high-waisted pants and cropped tops came from Gaudí’s

Park Guell palette, while he channeled Casa Batllo for the kaleidoscope-looking print on silk shirts and dresses.

Theatre Products: Akira Takeuchi and Miwa Fujiwara showed their Theatre Products collection in an intimate Cerulean Tower Hotel suite, with audience members seated on cushy sofas and armchairs. The designers seemed to take inspiration from a Gatsby-era country club, turning out a collection of relaxed yet polished dresses and feminine tops in cotton organdy, stretch georgette and floral jacquard. Colors consisted of muted tones of ivory, beige, blush and black, and accessories — large flower-shaped earrings, tiny shopping bags — added a touch of whimsy.

Yoshio Kubo: Yoshio Kubo’s show opened with a group of senoritas in ruffled dresses spritzing perfume along the runway. Then came the flamenco dancer, clad in all black and tapping, stomping and clapping his way through

the entire show to the accompaniment of a classical guitarist.

Kubo took a random turn with numerous variations of nautical stripes with a fresh Mediterranean feel, but he then returned to his inspiration, working some very literal takes with a bull-fighting vignette print on baseball jackets and more tailored jackets and shorts.

Beautiful People: After turning out a Sixties-inspired collection last season, Hidenori Kumakiri seemed to look to the Seventies for spring. He staged his Beautiful People show in Yoyogi Village, a retail and restaurant complex. Models walked a winding outdoor runway in pairs or trios, clad in leopard print A-line minidresses, slim-cut pantsuits (for both men and women) and coordinating denim items. Paired with floppy hats and sunglasses, the looks called to mind modern versions of Lauren Hutton or Margaux Hemingway.

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last several years,” chairman and ceo Tim Belk told WWD. “We are continuing to invest in our brand and believe the future is bright.”

Overseas operators also are stepping up their expan-sion games. Lane Crawford and Galeries Lafayette both opened stores in China in the last month — in Shanghai and Beijing, respectively. Andrew Keith, president of Lane Crawford and Joyce boutique, said at the Shanghai store opening that “the appetite for multibrand [retailing] has grown” in China.

Other retailers and brand chiefs defended their formats in the wake of Wexner’s dour apprais-al. Here’s what they had to say.

Terry Lundgren, chairman, ceo and president of Macy’s Inc.: “Note that our sales have grown by more than $1.2 billion in each of the past three years. If you look back

over the past 10 years, our com-pany’s sales and earnings have more than doubled, and market capitalization has tripled. Macy’s is very proud of its track record of strong growth that has allowed us to gain market share and continuously improve in a very competitive industry,” he said, choosing to let his company’s performance speak for itself, rather than get back at Wexner.

Lundgren countered Wexner’s department stores as “irrelevant” comment by stating that Macy’s has “an enduring culture of growth.” He also said Macy’s em-ploys 176,000 people, added 5,000 full-time jobs this year and is hir-ing an additional 83,000 workers this holiday season. “That’s exact-ly what our country needs. We are making a significant contribution to GDP [gross domestic product].”

Millard “Mickey” Drexler, chair-man and ceo, J. Crew Group Inc.: “I have known Les a long time. He’s a pioneer in the specialty store business. He’s a great mer-chant. When Les talks, I listen.

Regarding department stores, the only comment I would make is that when I first met Les years ago, he made his feelings clearly known. He was saying the same things he said Wednesday and not more kindly. My decision to leave the department store busi-ness and take a job at Ann Taylor was, I suspect, based in large part on his strong opinions.

“Regarding the outlet busi-ness, as I interpret it, there must be integrity in the business and in the pricing of goods and if one can find the same brands and same goods in many different chan-nels — online, outlet centers or department stores — it absolutely hurts the integrity of your busi-ness. I do think there is an oppor-tunity for outlet-store businesses that have different goods and are not just changing a stitch here or there. It’s a different business and should be treated as such. When the outlet business becomes the chief profit driver, the growth ve-hicle in the business, it’s the tail wagging the dog then, and what Les is saying is very valid.”

Philippe Houzé, executive chairman, Galeries Lafayette Group: “To me, the traditional department store is dead. You see, I am ready to go a step further than Mr. Wexner. I don’t know him personally, but I rather admire him for his per-sonal achievements. The tradi-tional department store is dead, long live the multispecialist life-style concept store! If a depart-

ment store is not a chameleon that had adopted all of its preda-tors’ strong points, then indeed it is in serious trouble.”

Saks and Neiman’s, both re-cently sold, “are not companies on the brink of extinction. In fact, today’s department store, or concept store, has to be click and brick, it has to be a perma-nent lifestyle theater, it must know how to combine events, culture, art, gastronomy and de-signers’ creativity. To quote an old slogan we have remained

faithful to: There should always be something happening. And if a store has managed to nurture that, then it has reinvented itself and it will captivate its custom-ers. If you talk in terms of catego-ries, then you are still on the old model of the department store. I think you have to forget that no-tion. That’s why I prefer to talk about a multispecialist lifestyle concept store. I think you have to forget the department store in the sense of a store organized by categories. That is dead and buried. On the other hand, look at the fabulous job that world-class department stores like Selfridges, Saks and Nordstrom are doing. They no longer have anything to do with traditional department stores. People call them that because they are not sure how to classify them, but Colette in Paris looks quite pale in comparison with these stores. They are super-Colettes.”

Mike “Myron” Ullman 3rd, ceo, J.C. Penney Co. Inc.: “People are look-ing for newness and new ideas and like the social experience and convenience of having a lot of ideas in one place. A depart-ment store is not a thing. It’s an environment. Les Wexner has created exciting environments, but I just believe that when done well, department store environ-ments are as relevant as ever.”

Allen Questrom, former chairman and ceo of Federated Department Stores Co., Neiman Marcus Inc., J.C. Penney and Barneys New York: “What do you call a department store? Wal-Mart has many departments, and you can make many choices. Penney’s is a department store, and Neiman Marcus is a depart-ment store. In the 1920s, they sold major appliances. Those times have changed, and it’s been modified. I don’t find that Macy’s is irrelevant. Their business has been good. I don’t think depart-ment stores are irrelevant. There are too many of them but they’ve been saying department stores

are irrelevant since I’ve been in the business. They were in a dom-inant position in the 1950s and 1960s. Maybe not as much now.

“I think Les is right” about outlets. “If you are a Coach, Ralph Lauren or Saks Fifth Avenue, maybe these outlets have the same product or they sell different products for their stores. If it’s truly an outlet store and they’re selling the same line, it besmirches the name on the door if it’s the first line. People start to see the name differently.”

On apparel’s significance: “Right now, there isn’t a lot going on in fashion that’s new and dif-ferent. People are buying jewelry and shoes and looking for ways to make themselves look different and new. People are buying new cars now because they haven’t bought a new car in the last 10 years and there are all these new gadgets. The great thing about American department stores is the ability to have people come up and create new ideas. Ready-to-wear is undergoing a fallow period. Two or three years ago, everybody was buying colored jeans. Now women are going back to being more dressy and guys are wearing ties. I don’t think apparel is irrelevant. Maybe it is less im-portant today, but maybe that’s because there’s nothing new. I think there are going to be some new trends for spring.”

John King, ceo of House of Fraser: “Department stores, like all other

retail stalwarts, must change with the times — this doesn’t mean that they become any less relevant. At House of Fraser, we believe that offering a truly mul-tichannel shopping experience is the key. We’re committed to investing and evolving our offer-ing across all platforms and dif-ferentiating our proposition to deliver the best customer service in the market. Securing the best national and international brands for our customers and investing in our exclusive house brand portfolio such as Biba will ensure ongoing relevance.”

Helen David, Harrods general mer-chandising manager: “As a globally recognized brand and one of the most iconic shopping destina-tions in London, our buying teams constantly seek exclusivity and a reason to buy — with both leading designers and labels. Our strategy continues to be focused on creat-ing an exceptional shopping ex-perience with beautifully crafted collections and constant newness all under one roof….We look at

our customer and our market and we aim to meet and exceed the ex-pectations of our customers daily through exclusive previews, trunk shows and client events which cannot be found elsewhere.”

Paolo de Cesare, ceo, Printemps:“We are not interest in entering this debate. If anyone has doubts concerning the relevance of de-partment stores, I invite them to visit Printemps in Paris. The store enjoys traffic of 40,000 to 50,000 customers a day and sales of over $1 billion — quite an achievement for a 148-year-old retailer.”

Kenneth Cole, chairman and chief cre-ative officer, Kenneth Cole Productions Inc.: “The retail landscape is con-tinuing to change at rates that could not have easily been antici-pated in time enough to prepare for where it is at the moment. I don’t believe that department stores are any less relevant today

than brick-and-mortar retail is as a whole. Outlet stores aren’t ‘brand killers’ when they are al-lowed to distinguish themselves from their full-price alternatives, and I don’t believe that apparel has necessarily become less sig-nificant. People don’t buy apparel, I believe they buy clothes that fill lifestyle needs, and will buy them in apparel stores or anywhere else that best facilitates easy and reli-able service.”

Barbara Kahn, Patty and Jay H. Baker Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School: “I have to give Wexner credit — he’s getting a whirlwind of publicity. He must know something. Wexner has cre-ated fun in the store. That’s what it’s always been about. Some re-tailers, such as J.C. Penney, that are stuck in the middle, are nei-ther here nor there, while Macy’s has been doing very well. They understand the omnichannel experience. I do agree with Les Wexner that the retail landscape is changing and you have to adapt. Those that don’t change will be

People were really surprised that I would be so insulting to department stores but they did become irrelevant. So the average Apple store probably draws more traffic

to a shopping center than any department store does. And it’s probably healthier traffic in terms of its age, and what that traffic would mean in terms of opportunity for us.

— LESLIE H. WEXNER, AT THE L BRANDS INVESTOR MEETING, ON DEPARTMENT STORES

Allen Questrom

Terry Lundgren

6 WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013

The Great Department {Continued from page one}

Millard “Mickey” Drexler

Myron Ullman 3rd

WWD.COM

dinosaurs.” With outlets, “You have to be supercareful. You’re always walking a tight rope if you don’t discriminate between value-priced merchandise and your top line. Coach was treading too close. I think Coach has damaged its brand to some degree.”

Mindy Grossman, chief executive officer of HSN Inc.: “Brands are ad-dicted to outlet store strategies to satisfy external expectations of growth. It is brand dilutive. Apparel will always be relevant but customers’ desire today to define themselves as individuals extends to many more categories — including technology.

“This debate is moot. The stan-dard definitions of retail are anti-quated. The question is not wheth-er any particular ‘destination’ is relevant or not. It is about what a relevant experience needs to be

to engage and inspire customers. That ‘destination’ could be physi-cal, digital or even virtual.

“The future of retail comes down to one word — experience: using the insights you have on your customer and their behavior to create meaning and relation-ships, engaging them in new and different ways, providing a cul-ture of generosity and giving them a reason to interface with your brand every day…and finally, hav-ing the ultimate trust to engender ongoing loyalty through service, transparency and community.

“We have to lose old ver-nacular and redefine our busi-ness models in what we call a ‘boundary-less’ retail world where there are no artificial barriers, driven by innovation and collaboration and leverag-ing the power of technology to create a seamless experience for customers.”

Anita Bhappu, associate profes-

sor, program chair of retailing at the University of Arizona: “Currently the model is threatened.” However, “I see a lot of poten-tial in reconceiving the space. Space can be repurposed for dining and other activities that draw the consumer into the store. You can’t do that with the online marketplace.

“I think the whole idea of dis-counts and promotions is trou-bling. There’s always been that tension. Am I willing to sell it at a lower price? I would have to agree that heavy promotion and discounting erodes the brand’s value.” At stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, where you pay market price and get the experi-ence, and Saks Off 5th, “I think there’s an overlap, but not really

a big one. They are two distinct brands.” On apparel, “I would tend to agree with [Wexner]. It’s not that it’s not as important, but it’s not as important to other things we sell today.”

Paul Charron, industry consultant and

former Liz Claiborne Inc. chairman: “I’ll stick up for the department stores. A number of department stores have lost relevance because they failed to evolve and listen to the consumer and drive the virtues of customer service through ev-erything they do. To suggest that somebody like Nordstrom is irrel-evant is preposterous. To suggest Neiman Marcus for luxury brands is irrelevant is preposterous. There is no question that main-stream department stores have done things that are disrespectful to long-term branded values, with their constant promotions.”

However, “department stores have been very good to a lot of brands. The returns you can get at a well-managed department store business are not incon-sequential, in operating profit percentage and return on in-vested capital. The bottom line [for brands] is you don’t have to spend all that money on inven-tory and store leases.

“I think for a number of peo-ple, their outlet operations tend to have the effect of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Outlets are a proven venue, which the consumer likes. I think it’s about 4 to 5 percent of all retail sales. Les [Wexner] may not like it, but it’s a legiti-mate channel. Many brands have overdone outlet stores. If that’s all they do, then it’s a brand killer. But companies like Ralph Lauren and PVH are wonder-ful brand managers. VF does a wonderful job in managing their brands. For a brand to sell through department stores and their own specialty retail stores is masterful, you get the best of both worlds. For some people, who I would argue are less-than-satisfactory brand managers, they do use the outlets, which degrades the brand image. An outlet strategy for a contempo-rary brand today is an intelli-gent response. An outlet strategy is certainly appropriate.”

Max Azria, chairman and ceo, BCBG Max Azria Group: “Based on what Mr. Wexner said, one would be-lieve he was 30 years old, not 76. The retail business is about a multitude of details and each de-partment store has a unique mes-sage and mission. Like the rest of the industry, department stores

are constantly working to prog-ress and meet the needs of their consumer. They will always have the advantage of offering the mar-ket a multitude of brands.”

Bud Konheim, ceo of Nicole Miller Ltd.: “My retail hall of fame is Les Wexner and Mickey Drexler, and probably some others who have no problem saying what’s on their mind. Things rise and fall. I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘irrelevant.’ The scene is changing. The hot things are H&M, Forever 21 and Zara. Then you have the Internet on the rise. It looks like it’s sup-plying everyone’s increases. I think if you got Leslie Wexner on the phone [for a follow-up] he would hedge and say ‘becom-ing irrelevant.’ It’s Darwin, it’s not Leslie Wexner. You have to give the guy credit for being a

groundbreaker. He’s thought-ful and he’s got credibility. He had tremendous retail success, which was built on innovation. I agree with the idea that outlets are killing brands. Familiarity breeds contempt. If Hermès was in every outlet, it wouldn’t be special anymore. Les says ex-treme things to make a point. If Leslie Wexner says something, you have to pay attention. He’s on the mark most of the time.”

Ariel Chaus, ceo of Bernard Chaus Inc.: “With all due respect to Mr. Wexner, I disagree. I think the department store channels still have a lot of viability. You’re seeing them trying to adapt to the changing retail environment and how they’re trying to mod-ernize their stores. I think all things considered, they’re doing a good job. When you look at top management at key retailers, I have a lot of faith in them.

“I think you have to be cogni-zant of the off-price channel. We like to run a very clean distribu-tion. And we are very protective of all of our brands in the off-price channel. I think when you look at women’s ready-to-wear, I still think it’s the core of every brand, and it’s the largest volume of most retailers today, and it’s still what’s drawing her into the mall and into the retailer. Although it’s been difficult for several years and probably underperforming, you’re seeing it start to pick up, such as at stores like Nordstrom. I think it’s about speed to market, offering her newness, being more relevant and being more updat-ed. Apparel is still really impor-tant and will get her in the door. Look at the way this company has been growing. We’re launch-

ing new brands and our existing brands are growing double dig-its, and we see a lot of opportuni-ty. As far as I’m concerned, I see a lot of growth and opportunity.”

Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and ceo, Saks Inc.: “Department stores are certainly not the dominant play-ers they were 50 years ago, but they are certainly not irrelevant. It all starts with the consumer, who wants to shop anywhere, anytime they want. There is still a role for brick-and-mortar, but the future is largely going to be om-nichannel. It’s not a matter of one

or another. Sometimes the con-sumer wants the experience of the department store. She wants to touch and feel the product. There was a time when people were saying that no one would shop the department store any-more. That hasn’t proven to be the case. There is also a role for out-lets. Sometimes consumers want brands and a deal at the same time,” and the value they provide.

Stephen Ruzow, industry consultant: “There are lot of people who re-ally enjoy the department store shopping experience. It’s a great place to be seen and to see people. It’s a great place to go for lunch….Where else can you see so many brands under one roof? If you’re not a brand devotee, you want to see what’s new and what’s excit-ing. People like to see more than one brand at a time. Department stores have done an incredible job in e-commerce. They make it very easy to buy and return things, and people enjoy the shopping experi-ence.…Outlets are ‘easy money.’ I think there are brands who wouldn’t have certain customers if they did not have outlet stores. There are customers who shop exclusively at outlet stores. There are Saks Off 5th customers who have never been in a Saks Fifth Avenue in their lives, and Coach outlet shoppers who haven’t been in a full-price Coach store.” Do you want that customer? “If you ask Ralph Lauren, you sure do. It’s a hugely profitable part of ev-eryone’s business. Your flagship stores aren’t making money, your outlet stores are cash cows.”

Kathy Gersch, consultant, Kotter International, and former Nordstrom Inc. executive: “There was always

some discussion at Nordstrom about cannibalization, whether dot-com and Nordstrom Rack would affect the Nordstrom stores. But they moved on from that. From a brand perspective, the consumer understands the difference between Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack. It’s not confusing to the customer. There are some customers that overlap [shop both] and there are some that shop one or the other. With Nordstrom and the Rack, con-sumers are not expecting the same experience. With Coach, there are much more complex branding concerns. People shopping the outlet are expect-ing to see the same product as in a Coach store. It’s a different product but the problem is per-ception. There’s also a risk with wholesale accounts. The outlets might have an impact on where they are able to wholesale.”

Robert Burke, president and ceo, Robert Burke Associates: “That’s a blanket statement, saying that department stores are irrelevant today. It’s not true as there is plen-ty of growth in some regions of the

U.S. Online sales are only about 7 percent. Sales are still mostly coming from brick-and-mortar.”

Walter Loeb, consultant: “I feel Wexner made some very good points. Department stores, how-ever, will be around since they are the only place where a cus-tomer can get a coordinated out-fit and see the latest fashions. Macy’s, Dillard’s and Belk are morphing into more fashionable stores. J.C. Penney and Kohl’s cater to the budget customer and Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom are fashion-aware leaders in the industry. Saks and Lord & Taylor have to be redefined. At one point Wexner wanted to get into the de-partment store business. Carter Hawley Hale was his target.

“Outlet centers are different businesses now. It is less about being a clearance center for the former season’s merchandise and more about becoming regu-lar-price selling for the budget-level consumer.”

David Lamer, founder of CORE Brand Advisors: “The truth for many brands is that one of every two people walking down the street bought her outfit through the discount channel, either an outlet center or an off-price re-tailer. You can also be sure that the other person absolutely did not pay full-price for her out-fit as well. This effort to race to the bottom cannot sustain itself. Other industries like the airlines and grocery stores have learned that racing to the bottom doesn’t work and have either taken ca-pacity out of its industry, like United Airlines, or have found ways to draw premium prices to its products, like Whole Foods.”

Stephen I. Sadove

7WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013

Store Debate

Outlets typically mark the beginning of the end…I read a lot and think a lot about retail history. I can’t find an exception. I think the outlet business is a

terrific business but don’t delude yourself. Whether you’re Gap or Nordstrom, you are cutting off your own water. It’s really hard to have a dual identity.

— LESLIE H. WEXNER ON RETAIL OUTLETS

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WWD.COMWWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 201388

By ARTHUR FRIEDMAN

DUPONT SORONA, fitting the bill for a modern fiber with its combination of performance and sustainable characteristics, is also leading the company back as a player in a sector the firm aban-doned when it sold its Invista unit to Koch Industries in 2004.

Kathryn Lee, global market-ing manager for Dupont Sorona, said, “Apparel is definitely core to the Sorona business.”

She noted the fiber is part of the Industrial BioSciences busi-ness unit at Dupont. The unit generates annual revenues of about $1.2 billion and is “poised for continued growth,” Lee said. While Dupont doesn’t break out volume for its businesses such as fibers within the IB unit, Lee said sales into apparel, including Sorona and other products such as enzymes that go into textile manufacturing, are about 5 per-cent of that. This would mean Sorona and other textile prod-ucts have grown to have sales ap-proaching $60 million in the four years since its inception.

While fibers are now just a small fraction of the chemical gi-ant’s volume, which hit $34.8 bil-lion in 2012, Lee said, “The entire IB division, including Sorona,” which is also sold in the home goods and industrial sectors, “is considered a growth area.”

Ellen Kullman, Dupont’s chairman and chief executive officer, speaking in August at a Credit Suisse Chemical & Ag Science Conference, said, “Dupont is at the vanguard in

industrial biotechnology. If you examine Dupont’s 25,000 pat-ents and 21,000 patents pending that apply to all of our business-es, you’ll see the rising number of them that involve industrial biotechnology. The breadth of our discoveries in industrial biotechnology reflect Dupont’s integrated science at work. We are at the forefront of poten-tially transformative new busi-ness growth resulting from the integration of biological science into the materials world.”

Among the three products Kullman cited as examples: “Sorona polymer for carpets and apparel, the historic first commercial demonstration that microorganisms can be metabol-ically engineered into cell fac-tories and turn renewable feed-stocks into industrial materials at a large scale. It was made pos-sible only by integrating Dupont science across different compe-tencies and different markets.”

Dupont exited the textile fiber business in 2004 by sell-ing the $6.3 billion Invista unit, which had a significant presence in the polyester, nylon and span-dex markets with brands such as Lycra, Coolmax and Teflon.

In 2009, Sorona was desig-nated by the Federal Trade Commission as a “triexta” fiber, a new generic classification along with other fibers made with PTT, or polytrimethylene terephthalate polymers. Lee noted that PTTs like Sorona, which replace a petrochemical-based ingredient with one made with a renewably sourced ingre-dient — corn-derived glucose — requires 30 percent less energy and reduces greenhouse gas

emissions 63 percent compared with the production of an equal amount of nylon.

“We serve the market through an aligned global value chain, so we have partners at the fiber and yarn producer level, at the fabric mill level, and we also do pull-through and end-user marketing at the brand house and retailer level,” Lee said. “Our transactional cus-tomer is going to be much more upstream, but I think all of the points along the value chain are key stakeholder straps and areas that our global team looks to touch and feel and get in front of with the key messages about Sorona and the benefits that it provides.”

Lee described those benefits as a “unique combination of the performance along with the sus-tainability benefits.”

“One without the other in today’s world is not sufficient,” she said. “From a performance perspective in apparel, Sorona lends a lot of great qualities in regard to strength and recovery that lends itself to things like denim, for example. The shape retention of Sorona lends itself to products such as outerwear and trenchcoats. The softness, which is one of the things peo-ple take notice of, makes it ter-rific for casualwear in wovens and knits, and allows for really easy wear for men’s or women’s apparel. There’s also the func-tional benefits for the care of garments made of Sorona be-cause of its UV resistance, color fastness and chlorine resistance — all those things are fantastic from a functional perspective. Then you add in the fact that it’s renewably sourced. From our interaction with brands and designers around the world, sustainability is part of the consideration when looking at which fabric to use.”

Sorona has generally been seen as a nylon replacement

fiber and has sold well in tra-ditional nylon products such as swimwear, but it has also taken the place of polyester filament in areas such as insulation or fiberfill, since it can be tightly packed and has warmth reten-tion characteristics. Sorona is also being used as blends with cotton and merino wool, adding its qualities to those materials.

Lee said in bringing Sorona to the market as the first textile fiber since the company left the field, especially as a branded product, “having Dupont behind it had meaning.”

“We seem to still have a lot of value in the marketplace and that’s something we’re very proud of,” she said. “There is

definitely a long history of in-novation in this space. How we go about innovating for the fu-ture is sparked by some of the Dupont corporate positioning focusing on collaborative part-nerships and bringing new so-lutions to the market. We have things in the pipeline we’re doing that fall under the um-brella of fibers and fabrics.”

Lee noted that Sorona and the IB unit also follow a Dupont “global macro value” to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Dupont created the synthetic-fiber business when it introduced nylon at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and added to the operation with the invention of polyester and acrylic. It was also a pioneer and leader in market-ing branded fibers, and Sorona is following a similar path.

“One of the keys to our suc-cess is communicating and re-inforcing the fact that Sorona offers a different set of benefits and qualities that might not be found in other fibers,” Lee said about the purpose of its ad-vertising. “The marketing that we do, some of it is visible and some of it is not so apparent. The WWD insert we did during [New York] fashion week, lit-erally with fabric swatches of Sorona attached, put it into the hands of the customer and the entire fashion community. We’re looking into similar marketing.”

In addition, Sorona is show-cased at trade shows and in-dustry events, such as last month’s Expofil and Première Vision shows in Paris, and this month’s Shanghai Intertextile fair and China Sourcing Fair in Hong Kong, where Sorona and Dupont Teflon fabric protec-tor hosted the Dupont Textile Collaboratory pavilion. In less visible ways, Sorona is a mem-ber of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and has participated in other venues focusing on sus-tainability in the field.

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SWEET HEART

ON A RECENT DAY in Paris, the Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto was at the Boucheron boutique on Place Vendôme considering the plethora of exhibitions and performances he is staging in the French capital as part of its Autumn Festival.

“I decided this is a particular year for me: I called it the Paris Invasion Program,” Sugimoto says, maybe only half joking.

To wit: Boucheron has transformed its luminous flagship into a black-walled art gallery to showcase a series of imposing black-and-white prints of nighttime seascapes from Sugimoto’s “Revolution” series, which are being exhibited until Friday alongside its latest high-jewelry collection, Hôtel de la Lumière. Across town, the “Accelerated Buddha” exhibition at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, which runs until Jan. 26, displays a selection of the artist’s vast collection of antique statues and objects alongside a video installation. Meanwhile, the Théâtre de la Ville put on Sugimoto’s production of the Japanese bunraku puppet theater play “Sonezaki Shinju” (“The Love Suicides at Sonezaki”) from Oct. 10 to Oct. 19, following performances in Madrid and Rome. To cap it all, a set of 27 Sugimoto prints is one of the star lots at a contemporary photography auction due to be held at Christie’s Paris on Nov. 16.

The works on show in Paris reveal a more romantic and

spiritual facet of the 65-year-old contemporary art star, known for his rigorous and conceptual approach to black-and-white photography. The “Revolution” series is based on images he shot in remote locations ranging from Newfoundland to Egypt. But the artist has flipped the pictures from horizontal to vertical and spliced off a portion of the negative to create an elongated format.

“Once it’s turned vertically from the horizontal position, I felt all of a sudden like I was off the ground, and I felt like an astronaut looking at the Earth from the point of view of somewhere in space. So this is a new discovery, to see seascapes from outer space,” Sugimoto explains as he provides a tour of the exhibition.

François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of Kering, the conglomerate that owns Boucheron, hosted an opening event with his wife Salma Hayek, welcoming guests including French actress Carole Bouquet. Boucheron chief executive officer Pierre Bouissou said there was no commercial angle to the house’s collaboration with the photographer, part of its ongoing “Boucheron – Artiste et Artisan du Rêve” program of supporting fine arts.

Sugimoto reveals that the moody images, which were made using exposure times of up to three hours, were inspired by 19th century German

Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich — a fact he wasn’t comfortable acknowledging when he shot them in the Eighties and Nineties.

“When I was young and starting to promote myself, it would have had a negative effect to show my German Romantic side. I wanted to be seen more as a conceptual artist or a minimal artist, so I intentionally hid my Romantic side. But now I’m kind of established, so I can confess,” he says.

The “Accelerated Buddha” video, meanwhile, is a dizzying experience in which 48 photographs of Buddha statues taken in a temple in Kyoto are projected on three screens at increasing speed, until they submerge the viewer in a sensory blur. Sugimoto says he was trying to imagine what believers in Pure Land Buddhism might experience in their dying moments, explaining

that, according to tradition, their fingers are tied by strings to a painting or image of Amida Buddha to guarantee rebirth in the Pure Land, or paradise.

“Nobody has ever seen a dying scene in moving images, I think. This is the world premiere of how we feel when we die,

believe it or not. If it’s wrong, I’ll give you your money back — but you’ll already be dead,” he says.

If Sugimoto tends to deflect serious questions with ironic humor, his fascination with the concept of Pure Land stems from a fairly bleak perception of humanity. Death, he muses, might come as a relief, as it does to the star-crossed lovers in “Sonezaki Shinju,” who dream of an afterlife where they can be together.

“It can be peaceful. Maybe you just wake up from the actual world to get into another world that might feel not like dying, but like waking up to find out, well, I was dead, now I’m alive to this stage,” he says, adding that he believes the planet is spinning out of control.

“We are in this late capitalism stage where we have to seek five, six percent growth every

year, otherwise the world collapses, so it’s like riding a bicycle — when you stop, you fall. So this is the system. Naturally, we cannot grow forever, so I have a strong feeling that this will be ending soon. Soon means 50 years, 100 years, 10 years — you never know. But

one thing’s for sure: We can’t keep expanding forever.”

It might seem like a paradox, then, that he has contributed to the galloping inflation of art world prices, with his work selling for up to $1.9 million at auction — but Sugimoto shrugs off his market valuation.

“The auction record is nothing to do with me. I never got rewarded from this million-dollar prize. It sold for maybe less than one-tenth of the price a few years earlier. But I appreciate that people pay that much money for my art and I definitely made a few people happy — happier than me, maybe,” he says.

In the spirit of giving back, the artist uses a portion of the revenues from the sale of his works to finance theater productions through his Odawara Art Foundation. It also receives the support of companies including Hermès, Costume National, Shiseido and Boucheron, who all underwrote the “Sonezaki Shinju” production.

Last year, Sugimoto created limited-edition silk scarves for Hermès, and he recently designed a café inside the Oak Omotesando complex in Tokyo, which houses Emporio Armani and Coach stores. But he is wary of being associated too closely with the fashion world.

“I don’t want to be hired by one particular company, like Murakami, so I want to be equally friendly to major houses so that I can be neutral,” he says, referring to his fellow countryman Takashi Murakami’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton.

Sugimoto’s growing activities in fields such as architecture and the performing arts reflects some disenchantment with photography as a means of self-expression.

“I’ve been doing these photography shows, and once

the prints are made and hung, they stay for a long time. In the theater, every night it’s the same performance, yet every night is different,” he says. “That feels superior to being fixed to a material.”

He says much of the power of bunraku, for example, stems from the concept of “ma,” according to which beauty lies in imperfection.

“The puppeteer and the string players and the singers, they don’t look at each other at all. The three different mediums, they try to play individually in a uniform way, but not perfectly uniform — they are all slightly a touch off each other. That makes the night’s performance, whether it’s great or so-so,” he explains.

— JOELLE DIDERICH

Dark Matter

eye

WWDSTYLE

Hiroshi Sugimoto

The Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibition at the Boucheron store in Paris.

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This is the world premiere of how we feel when we die, believe it or not. If it’s wrong, I’ll give you your money back — but you’ll already be dead.

— HIROSHI SUGIMOTO

FOR MORE PHOTOS, SEE

WWD.com/eye.

By LISA LOCKWOOD

KNOWN FOR reconstruct-ing vintage clothing pieces, Dr. Romanelli is partnering with Coca-Cola to create fashion in-spired by the soft drink brand’s famous iconography.

Sourced from flea markets and vintage stores around the world, the collection includes a total of 200 pieces of “Coca-Cola by DRx,” including signature bomber and biker jackets, vests, and cut-and-sew T-shirts. It is a unisex line.

Each of the pieces is a custom-ized item stitched together from multiple Coca-Cola garments, in-cluding vintage clothing, delivery jackets, workwear, uniforms and pants. The retro finds span a peri-od from the Sixties to the Nineties.

“It’s a healthy combination of hiring sourcing experts to scav-enge areas around the world, going to swap meets in Southern California and looking online,” said Darren Romanelli, the founder and designer behind Dr. Romanelli. He’s been working on the Coca-Cola collection, which is produced entirely in Los Angeles, for nearly a year. Romanelli will collect the vintage pieces, sit with them for awhile, combine several in a garment, add new leather and vintage satin linings and source new zippers and snaps. “I take a lot of pride in craftsman-ship,” said Romanelli. Every hangtag is made of a bottle open-er, as well as a Polaroid of the items that inspired the design.

He also designs a 10-year-old bespoke streetwear brand under the label Dr. Romanelli, where he reconstructs vintage pieces into new, contemporary silhou-ettes. He sells to specialty stores and works with private clients, including athletes and musicians.

Romanelli said he’s been fas-cinated with Coca-Cola ever since it was the title sponsor of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“Darren has a passion and af-finity for the brand,” said Kate

Dwyer, head of global licensing for the Coca-Cola Co., who was introduced to Romanelli through a mutual friend. The collection will launch today in stores such as Opening Ceremony in New York, Los Angeles and London; Colette in Paris; Fruition in Las Vegas; Unknwn in Miami; NoMad in Toronto; United Arrows in Tokyo, and Juice in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Each store received about eight to 10 pieces of the one-of-a-kind items, and a heavier shipment of the T-shirts. The one-of-a-kind items retail for between $450 and $1,650, and traditional cut-and-sew T-shirts (some in tie-dye) range from $35 to $50.

According to Dwyer, Coca-Cola generates about $1 billion in re-tail sales through its merchandise, and 50 percent is sourced through fashion. That’s grown from 25 per-cent five years ago. The company started producing Coca-Cola fash-ion in the Thirties and Forties and had a sportswear line in the mid-Eighties designed by Tommy Hilfiger for Murjani International. Today, under various licensed deals, the brand’s apparel offer-ings include tops, bottoms, leg-gings, jackets and hats and is the largest revenue producer, followed by footwear, including flip-flops and athletic shoes. Other Coca-Cola products include recycled glass bottles, jewelry, key chains, toys, retro tins and furniture.

For spring, Coca-Cola also forged partnerships with Marc Jacobs and Ashish in London.

Dwyer declined to reveal sales projections for the Coca-Cola by DRx collection. “It’s about build-ing brand love instead of driving revenue per se,” she said. The collection will be introduced this evening at New York’s New Museum, which will feature a pop-up gallery of Coca-Cola memorabilia, such as Yo-yos, caps, T-shirts, pins and original soda bottles from the 1800s, along with the new vintage collection. Romanelli will also be screen-printing T-shirts at the event.

10 WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013

Coca-Cola, Dr. Romanelli Team for Retro Collection

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DANCING WITH WOLVES: Thursday night’s National Design Awards crowd gave Tom Wolfe a rousing round of applause for loquaciously honoring Lifetime Achievement award winner James Wines. But the prized architect said his longtime friend needed some nudging. Wines said, “In order to coerce him to do this tonight, I told him, ‘If you don’t do it, the Cooper-Hewitt is going to get Kim Kardashian or Lindsay Lohan. Tom got really nervous and said, ‘OK, OK, I’ll do it, I’ll do it. It takes so long to bring them up to speed.’”

To be fair, the 82-year-old Wolfe is still putting pen to paper decades after “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” Dressed in one of his signature white suits, the author said next year he will release a nonfiction book that traces the story of the theory of evolution from 1858 to 2013. “Right now it’s funny and

serious at the same time. With the inquisition that is taking place at the university level, there is so much space between the intelligent design people and the scientists,” he said. “There is a connecting thread which I won’t divulge.”

Regarding his writing regime, Wolfe said, “Before I was married, I used to start writing at 2 p.m. and I would write for however long it took me to get my quota. At that time, it was 10 triple-space pages — about 1,500 words. But now after having children you can’t count on sleeping until noon, so I work in the morning to try to get it done by three or so.

“The only way to get it done, I think, is a quota system. You can spend days dancing around — at your desk — and it doesn’t necessarily do you any good. When you think of, my god, Dickens, he used to start at nine and write until about one and then he would have lunch and go exercise. He would go horseback riding and go speed

walking, He would walk at three miles, at four miles an hour. That is fast. Dropped dead at 58 but nevertheless, he was on the right track.”

Credited with coining such phrases as “the right stuff,” “radical chic,” “the Me Decade” and “good ol’ boy,” Wolfe offered a different take on hipster: “Hipster is such an old word. It goes way back to the Forties, I believe. Then when the Sixties came that same world was people who were taking LSD, psilocybin and whatever it was. People who took LSD were called acid heads, but they couldn’t handle being called acid heads. So Newsweek, I’m not kidding you, invented the word hippie. They were trying to make it sound similar to hipster. They were trying to make a nice soft name. I don’t know if you ever saw the comic strip called “The Shmoo,” a cuddly little animal [from] “Li’l Abner,” so hippie is like a little Shmoo.”

— ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

MEMO PAD

By ARNOLD J. KARR

VF CORP. is banking on a big fourth quarter.The Greensboro, N.C.-based apparel giant on

Monday reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, raised its quarterly dividend and, with its shares hitting an all-time high, enacted a four-for-one stock split in December.

The company also added $30 million to its marketing budget for the fourth quarter, on top of the $10 million added in the just-completed quarter, which will lift its advertising and promotion budget for the year to about 6 percent of its projected revenues, or about $690 million of anticipated revenues of $11.5 billion. In fiscal 2012, A&P approximated 5.3 percent of VF’s $10.77 billion in revenues, or about $570 million.

Eric Wiseman, the firm’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, told WWD that 80 percent of the $40 million second-half increase would be allocated to the company’s outdoor and action sports coalition, which accounts for nearly $3 of every $5 VF takes in, and 70 percent of it to marketing expenditures outside the U.S.

“Coming so late in the year, the increase is really directed at media buying,” he said. “It’s nearly all consumer-facing spend, and our biggest investment is behind The North Face brand in China. There’s a growing outdoor industry in the country and there’s still incredibly low awareness of the brand there. We’re still very small compared to our potential there.”

VF has had regional media buys in China for The North Face in the past, but in the fourth quarter will have its first national television campaign for the brand.

The ceo added that the boost in marketing was instituted because of continuing improvements in gross margin, which grew to 47.6 percent of revenues in the quarter from 46.7 percent in the year-ago period, and the “appropriately conservative” approach the firm has taken to expenses in general. In the third quarter, cost of goods sold rose 3 percent, to $1.73 billion, while selling, general and administrative expenses were up 6 percent to $989.4 million. Year-on-year inventory levels were down 0.4 percent to $1.75 billion.

“We can spend an additional $40 million this year and still deliver our planned 13 percent growth in [earnings per share] for the year while addressing our biggest challenge and opportunity. At a time when consumers aren’t shopping in a robust way, we can increase our voice,” said Wiseman.

In the three months ended Sept. 28, VF generated net income of $433.8 million, 13.8 percent above the $381.3 million, or $3.42, registered in the 2012 period. Adjusted EPS of $3.91 beat analysts’ consensus estimate of $3.78 by 13 cents.

Revenues moved ahead 4.7 percent to $3.3 billion from $3.15 billion a year ago, paced by a 6.5

percent advance by the outdoor and action sports coalition to $1.97 billion. Jeanswear revenues rose 4 percent to $747.2 million, while the sportswear and contemporary coalitions were each up less than 1 percent to $155.2 million and $105 million, respectively. The strongest bottom-line gains came from sportswear, with operating income ahead 29.7 percent to $24 million, and jeanswear up 20.5 percent to $158.3 million. Profits at the contemporary unit contracted 29.6 percent to $9.5 million.

VF said that contemporary is expected to perform better in the fourth quarter and that Seven For All Mankind’s business in Europe

was up 10 percent during the quarter despite what the firm described as a “challenging business environment” for the contemporary market in general.

Wiseman described Timberland, acquired in September 2011, as “well ahead of the assumptions we made from an earnings contribution standpoint. We’ve reduced the size of the footprint in some channels of distribution and reduced the size of the product line. We’re focusing

on the core product categories and on doing fewer things but doing them better. We’re making a lot more money. What we haven’t accomplished yet is achieving the revenue potential that’s there.”

Revenues have been hurt by problems unique to Timberland’s distribution outside the U.S. “Italy is its biggest market in Europe and by far the toughest market in Europe,” he said. “In Asia, the biggest market is Japan, but we got hit there on [unfavorable] currency conversion.”

Retail traffic has picked up since the end of the government shutdown, Wiseman said, but he wasn’t certain whether the end of the political impasse, the arrival of colder weather or other factors had sparked the improvement.

VF raised its quarterly dividend to $1.05 a share, from 87 cents, and declared a four-to-one stock split, effective Dec. 20 for shareholders of record Dec. 10. After hitting an all-time high of $214.40 in intraday trading, shares ended the day at $211.23, up $6.93, or 3.4 percent.

For the first nine months of the year, earnings rose 12.1 percent to $842.5 million, or $7.55 a diluted share, as revenues moved ahead 3.6 percent to $8.04 billion.

VF Boosting Ad Spend for Q4

Darren Romanelli and Kate Dwyer

Some looks from the Coca-Cola by DRx collection.

The first television campaign in China for The North Face will air in the fourth quarter.

Eric Wiseman

WWD.COM

ON THE MOVE: After getting a boost in financing from Norwest Venture Partners last December, Los Angeles-based contemporary brand Bailey44 has been expanding its wholesale channels, while launching its first e-commerce site. The site was built by Sweden Unlimited, which has done Web sites for such brands as Alexander Wang, Michael Kors and Marchesa. Among some of the features are a handwritten thank you note included in every order. “We want to keep the experience personalized, and as the site grows we plan to scale this to create a personal styling aspect to our customer service model,” said Ruthy Grode, cofounder and chief executive officer of Bailey44. The e-commerce site will also offer exclusive products. “Longer term, our goal is to create a Bailey44 online community for further engagement with our customers.”

All of Bailey44’s merchandise, which is shipped from Vernon, Calif., is manufactured in Los Angeles. The site offers free U.S. shipping.

Joining Bailey44 is Chana Taft as chief marketing officer. Earlier she headed up marketing and e-commerce at True Religion Brand Jeans and Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent. Natalie Haddox-Davis joined in January as director of e-commerce. — LISA LOCKWOOD

WINDING DOWN: Cocosa, the luxury off-price flash-sale site, will be closed by the Al Fayed Group, which is owned by Mohamed Al Fayed. A statement released Monday said that the closure is the next step in simplifying the group’s portfolio of businesses and that it would be “conducting an orderly wind-down of the Cocosa business in the months ahead.”

The owners said they deemed the ongoing costs of building the brand to

leadership to be too high to warrant continued investment. “Cocosa is stable, is expressly not being placed in administration and the owners have fully committed to funding the wind-down of the business,” the statement read. The Cocosa close follows Al Fayed’s divestment of the Fulham Football Club to Shahid Khan in July, and the sale of Harrods to Qatar Holding in 2010.

In July, Al Fayed wrote on his personal Web site that it was time for him “to retire and spend time playing football [soccer] with my grandchildren.” — JULIA NEEL

UP AND DOWN THE COAST: Cruciani unveiled its Cruciani C accessories flagship in New York’s Time Warner Center, before hopping down to South Florida, where founder Luca Caprai donated 600,000 of its signature macramé lace bracelets to support Miami Children’s Hospital. A limited-edition style with the hospital’s logo in navy is among bracelets that are expected to raise $11 million.

Launched in 2011, the accessories collection quickly created a cult following for bracelets featuring cutesy themes like hearts, butterflies and four-leaf clovers that have sold more than 12 million units. The New York store carries them along with handbags, scarves and small leather goods, whereas a Palm Beach, Fla., flagship that opened last year offers the whole Cruciani line of men’s and women’s cashmere knits, silk blouses and accessories.

“The stores are designed differently, too,” said Caprai, who describes Cruciani C as young and fresh. “Palm Beach is elegant and warm, and New York has mirrors and colored lights shining on product.”

The company has 22 stores and 20 wholesale accounts including Barneys New York. Caprai’s plans to expand to 400 points of sale by 2015 include a Miami location next year. — R.K.

EXCLUSIVE TASTE: “This is exciting, isn’t it?” Yotam Ottolenghi said Friday night at the Tasting Table test kitchen in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. The chef, along with his partner Sami Tamimi, had gathered friends and eager patrons (reportedly the event sold out online in less than 10 minutes) to toast the American version of the pair’s cookbook “Ottolenghi,” published last month by Ten Speed Press.

Guests spilled into the airy space. Towards the back, a passel of sous chefs kept their head down chopping away in the expansive open kitchen. Trays of cauliflower fritters and sweet potato galette kept guests happy while they waited for the London-based chefs to sign their books.

“Our other cookbook, ‘Jerusalem,’ is really about the food we cooked in the past,” Ottolenghi said. “This is the food we’re cooking at the moment. The food we serve at our restaurants today. This is our future.” — TAYLOR HARRIS

TRASH TALK: A mix of undergraduates and eco-fanatics filled the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center in New York last week to hear acting assistant dean Sass Brown discuss her latest book, “Refashioned: Cutting-Edge Clothing from Upcycled Materials.” A follow-up to 2010’s “Eco Fashion,” the new installment features 46 international designers who work with recycled materials to “reimagine the idea of luxury fashion.”

In her opening remarks, Brown explained the inspiration behind her latest endeavor. “I write about design as important as ecology because I don’t believe producing more ugly, boring clothing is a sustainable goal,” she said, striking a round of applause from the audience. The bulk of Brown’s presentation focused on highlighting sustainable designers, all of whom are featured in “Refashioned.”

Of the designers featured in the presentation, repurposed materials ranged from the somewhat expected (scraps from the Garment District; off-cuts from Italian mills) to the truly absurd (cow nipples; human hair). “It’s mostly donated hair,” Brown explained. — LAUREN McCARTHY

HOME AGAIN: New York-based Argentine designer Gustavo Cadile returned to his alma mater’s city of Miami last week to pick up Fashion Group International’s Fashion Achievement Award, while premiering his spring collection of signature gowns and cocktail dresses.

“It’s sentimental since I began my fashion career volunteering at local fashion shows as a student at Miami

International University of Art & Design,” said Cadile, who recently dressed Anjelica Huston and Alison Pill for the Golden Globes.

Launched in 2007, the label was renamed Memeka after the designer’s mother and is carried at specialty stores such as Mark Ingram Atelier in New

York, Gus Mayer in Nashville and Barbara Katz in Boca Raton, Fla. — REBECCA KLEINMAN

FASHION ON THE FLY: Elyse Walker hosted her ninth annual Pink Party and fashion show Friday night at Santa Monica Airport with help from Oscar winner Anne Hathaway. “When they told me that Annie would like to help with the event this year, I said, ‘Sure, who’s Annie?’” said Walker, whose celebrity clientele includes past hosts Michelle Pfeiffer and Jennifer Garner. Turns out Hathaway has a good

friend who was treated at the Women’s Cancer Center at Cedars Sinai, for which the event raised $1.7 million. “Elyse is a tireless champion,” said Hathaway. “She’s…what’s the Yiddish word for a female mensch?” she asked her husband Adam Shulman. “She’s a mensch-ette.”

Among those who came out for the runway show featuring fall looks from Chloé, Valentino, Lanvin, Matthew Williamson, J.Mendel (who dressed Hathaway), and Barbara Bui were Jessica Capshaw, Kate Beckinsale, Usher, Poppy Montgomery, Maria Bello, Paz Vega, Frances Fisher, Francesca Eastwood and designers Ken Kaufman and Isaac Franco, whose designs closed the show. — MARCY MEDINA

IPO FEVER: Bonmarché intends to apply for a public offering to trade its common stock on London’s Alternative Investment Market. The women’s value retailer sells its branded apparel through its 264 stores, Web site, catalogue and via a television shopping channel. The company has a database of 6.5 million customers, Bonmarché said. The public offering is expected to occur next month, with about 40 percent of its shares to be traded publicly.

The offering comes nearly two years after Bonmarché was acquired in January 2012 by Sun European Partners, while the company was immersed in the U.K. version of a pre-packaged bankruptcy. Sun European is the European adviser of U.S. private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, based in Boca Raton, Fla. Bonmarché was part of The Peacock Group and is not related to the Le Bon Marché department store in Paris, which is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. — VICKI M. YOUNG

FRIGHT NIGHT: In the land of Gothic mansions, voodoo and vampire-filled Anne Rice novels, all that’s spooky and supernatural comes alive in New

Orleans on Halloween. Which is why H&M chose the date to open its first store there, a 32,000-square-foot flagship in the historic French Quarter. The unit is in the Marketplace at Jax building, built in 1870 and located two blocks from Jackson Square, the historical center and cultural heart of the French Quarter. The store will be the first in the U.S. to carry a full home collection department.

Beginning Oct. 30, H&M will invite shoppers across the U.S. to enter a “Best Halloween” costume contest. Five winners will be chosen on Nov. 1 and will receive H&M gift cards. — SHARON EDELSON

11WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013

FASHION SCOOPS

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Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Gustavo Cadile on the runway in Miami last week.

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