WWD

SHUTTERED BY SANDY

BY WWD STAFF

RETAILERS AND FASHION FIRMS felt the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, forcing them to shut down stores Sunday and Monday across a broad geographic swath from North Carolina to New England, and to close showrooms, cancel meetings and delay shipments.

Closures are likely to continue today across many areas as the hurricane’s full impact was not expected to be felt until late evening Monday in New York City and surrounding areas. The New

York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will again be closed today, as will bond markets and all New York transit operations.

The collective impact of the storm is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business alone and will be reflected in November and fourth-quarter sales reports. That does not in-clude estimates of any damage caused by Sandy.

“Store losses for the eastern U.S. from Atlanta to Boston are probably $350 million a day, but could be as high as $500 million a day,” estimated Walter Loeb

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00

PHOTO BY JAMES FALLON

SEE PAGE 4

Saks Fifth Avenue’s New York flagship was boarded up Monday as the storm moved in.

WWD.COM

Clergerie Names Taub Chief Executive

Holt Renfrew Sets New Concept

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 ©2012 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 204, NO. 90. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, October and December, and two additional issues in February, March, April, August, 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.

THE BRIEFING BOXIN TODAY’S WWD

The industry grinds to a halt as Hurricane Sandy wallops the Northeast on Monday and Tuesday. PAGE 1 Holt Renfrew will next year launch hr2, a lower-priced alternative to its luxury stores.. PAGE 2 Shoemaker Robert Clergerie has appointed Eva Taub chief executive officer. PAGE 2 Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are to stand trial in court on Dec. 3. They are charged with omitted and unfaithful earnings declaration. PAGE 3 According to a study by NM Incite, a social-media insights provider and joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey, nearly half of all social-media users — 47 percent — seek customer service through social-media channels. PAGE 3 Innovation and novelty helped drive business at the Los Angeles International Textile Show. PAGE 10 Bangladesh needs to diversify from its export-oriented textiles and apparel sector to a greater focus on design and local branding, Ghulam Hussain, secretary of the ministry of commerce, told a global forum. PAGE 11 Curacao, the 11-unit Los Angeles-based department store chain with more than three decades of experience serving Hispanic shoppers spent the last two years figuring out how to broaden its reach. PAGE 12 The opening of Rag & Bone’s latest West Coast outpost drew the usual pack of cool kids, rock star DJs and Hollywood stars such as Reese Witherspoon and Cameron Diaz. PAGE 13 With Hurricane Sandy expected to bring unprecedented damage to the East Coast, media companies like Condé Nast and Hearst on Monday closed their offices and canceled a number of high-profile events. PAGE 13 Louis Vuitton plans to bring “the art of travel” to life in a new multimedia campaign featuring Arizona Muse slated to break in mid-November. PAGE 15

ON WWD.COM

JEAN COMES TO LANE: James Jean, the former comic book artist, recently held court at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong to launch a special line of accessories and limited-edition items for the retailer. For more, see WWD.com/fashion-news.

2 WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012

James Jean at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong.

By DAVID MOIN

HOLT RENFREW will next year launch hr2, a lower-priced alter-native to its luxury stores.

The Toronto-based retailer said the concept will “fill a void in the Canadian market” and will debut in March with a 30,000-square-foot store in Montreal’s Quartier DIX30 shop-ping center. Another location is planned for Ontario early next year. The company expects to open hr2 stores across the coun-try but did not specify how many.

Officials said hr2 will not carry any of the same merchan-dise sold at Holt Renfrew stores, though the new retail division will be stocked with lower-priced or secondary labels from many of the same designers and brands that supply Holt Renfrew with their top-priced lines.

The executives were firm in stating that Holt Renfrew is in no way retreating from its luxury status and reiterated previously announced plans to expand Holt Renfrew’s square footage by 40 percent by the end of 2015 by enlarging, renovating or relocating existing stores.

However, considering Canada’s relatively small popula-tion of about 34 million, the Holt Renfrew chain, with 10 stores operating, including one outlet, would be hard-pressed to grow its store count and would instead require new growth vehicles, par-ticularly in light of the current in-flux of U.S. retailers. Among the American retailers set to move into Canada beginning next year are Target Corp. and Nordstrom Inc., while J. Crew, Ann Inc. and others have recently set foot in the country and will be adding stores. Hudson’s Bay Co. is also spending big on modernizing, and designer boutiques are slowly fil-tering into urban areas.

Holt Renfrew’s new strategy mirrors those of other luxury chains such as Barneys New York, which more than a decade ago started the Co-Op chain, and Neiman Marcus, which six years ago launched its Cusp con-temporary division.

“Today’s news is an excel-lent testament to our record performance, and further fuels our strong growth trend,” said Holt Renfrew president Mark Derbyshire. “In addition to ex-panding the Holt Renfrew luxury retail space by 40 percent, we’re [pleased] to leverage our 175 years of expertise in Canadian retail, and our deep relationships with the world’s leading brands, to enhance our market reach with

hr2, a unique and compelling new retail concept that just does not exist here today.”

Derbyshire said the merchan-dise assortment and shopping experience at hr2 will be “like no other in the market today” and will include unique product lines sourced especially for hr2 and not available elsewhere in Canada. The division will have its own buying and operations teams, and will offer women’s and men’s wear, accessories, footwear, leather goods and

fashion jewelry. Stores will have their own merchandisers.

Derbyshire said the hr2 stores will be airy and easy to navigate, and will have space for seasonal themes, brand highlights and daily shipments. The stores are being designed by the Janson Goldstein architectural and de-sign firm, which has worked with Holt Renfrew in the past.

Heather Arts has been named vice president of hr2 to lead the division. She joined Holt Renfrew in May as vice president of special projects. Previously, she was a mer-chandising director at Lowe’s Canada, and earlier a senior vice president and general mer-chandise manager at Winners.

“We can deliver this new concept because of the strong and enduring relationships we have with the world’s leading

brands,” Arts said, adding that “the depth and breadth of our brand portfolios is impressive. Not all of it fits within the Holt Renfrew luxury model, and they see this as an ideal opportunity to further extend the market reach of their brands in Canada.

“Canadians can look forward to a strong national presence of our hr2 stores across the coun-try before the end of 2015.”

According to sources, the 175-year-old Holt Renfrew is fast approaching $800 million

in revenues and has budgeted more than $300 million for the Holt Renfrew expansion. No budget was given for hr2.

Holt Renfrew began as a cap and hat shop in 1837 in Quebec City. In 1986, W. Galen Weston and his family acquired the company and triggered a wave of renova-tions, store openings, new de-signer and brand shops, though the current expansion is more ag-gressive in its shorter time frame.

Weston is chairman of the Selfridges Group Ltd., the hold-ing company for Holt, Selfridges in the U.K. and Brown Thomas in Ireland. Selfridges is also ex-panding with a big budget for capital improvements; systemati-cally revamping its Oxford Street flagship, which recently unveiled a new men’s designer area, and will soon open larger halls for men’s shoes and beauty.

By JOELLE DIDERICH

PARIS — French luxury shoemaker Robert Clergerie has appointed Eva Taub chief executive officer to spearhead the relaunch of the brand and its international development, it said Monday.

Taub previously headed the leather division at Christian Dior Couture, where she was in charge of the design, product development, merchandising, marketing, sales and supply chain for handbags, small leather goods and shoes for men and women.

Prior to that, she launched the Isotoner brand in Europe and worked in New York and Hong Kong as a financial adviser for Merrill Lynch. Taub graduated from Stanford University and has

an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.Fung Capital and fashion veteran Jean-Marc

Loubier teamed up to acquire a majority stake in Clergerie from its namesake founder in April 2011. RC Holdings — a new entity held by Fung Brands Ltd., a subsidiary of Fung Capital Ltd., and Loubier — took a 90 percent stake in Financière de Romans, which owns the Clergerie, Fenestrier and Espace brands, with the founder maintaining 10 percent.

Clergerie last year tapped Roland Mouret as creative director as part of its renewal plan. The company has 20 freestanding stores in France, the U.K., Spain, Belgium, Switzerland and the U.S., and it sees significant expansion potential in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

A rendering of an hr2 store.

Hr2 will not carry any of the same merchandise sold at Holt Renfrew,

though it will be stocked with secondary labels from many of the

designers that supply Holt Renfrew.

WWD.COMWWD tuesday, october 30, 2012 3

By KRISTI ELLIS

WASHINGTON — Roberto Azevedo, Brazil’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization, took a public stand here Thursday on farm legislation in Congress, saying it does not go far enough to change U.S. cotton subsidy programs that ran afoul of the World Trade Organization and warning that time is running out on an agreement that forestalled sanctions on U.S. exports to Brazil.

Azevedo, who spoke at a roundta-ble hosted by the Brazil-U.S. Business Council, Council of the Americas and Brazil Industries Coalition, said he met with officials from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and U.S. Department of Agriculture this week to discuss details about how the two coun-tries might find a solution to the 10-year-old WTO case.

The dispute dates back to 2002, when Brazil filed a case at the WTO against the U.S. over certain cotton subsidy programs, alleging the subsidies depressed global cotton prices and put Brazilian farmers at a competitive disadvantage. The WTO sided with Brazil and issued a series of findings between 2005 and 2008. The global trade body subsequently authorized Brazil to impose sanctions against U.S. exports, ruling the U.S. failed to adequately end cotton subsidies. However, the U.S. and Brazil reached an agreement in June 2011 that forestalled the imposition of sanc-tions on U.S. exports until this year, when Congress is set to pass a new farm bill that sets federal farm safety net programs.

Under last year’s agreement, which averted $800 million in sanctions, the U.S. agreed to make some changes in its cot-ton export and credit guarantee program, and to work with Brazil to establish a $147.3 million fund to provide technical assistance and capacity building for the Brazilian cotton industry. Brazil has iden-tified a list of U.S. exports it would sanc-tion, including raw cotton, woven fabric,

cotton pants and shorts and some jewelry and beauty products. The agreement was understood to hinge on Congress making changes to cotton programs to bring them into compliance with the WTO findings.

The Senate passed a $500 billion farm bill in June, which included provisions in-tended to bring the U.S. into compliance with the WTO decisions. A farm bill in the House stalled after passing the House Agriculture Committee, and Congress later recessed for the Nov. 6 elections. The pros-pects for compromise on the legislation in a lame-duck session are highly uncertain.

Azevedo did not take a position on the Senate bill in June when contacted by WWD, but his strong stance on legisla-tion here Thursday represented a shift in Brazil’s negotiating tactics and raised the stakes on possible retaliation.

“What is on the table are the versions of the House [farm] bill and the Senate bill, and neither of those versions accom-modate or would be acceptable to us,” Azevedo told the group. He later told re-porters that neither bill would bring the U.S. into conformity with its commitments at the WTO.

Azevedo said he was hoping to engage in a detailed discussion with U.S. officials this week but believes the negotiations are one-sided at the moment because of the complexities of having both the U.S. leg-islative and executive branches involved.

“The only concern I have at this point in time about the dynamics of negotia-tions is that they are pretty much a situa-tion of ‘cross your fingers and hope for the best.’ Our experience with ‘cross your fin-gers’ has not been positive,” Azevedo said.

“What we have is an agreement to keep the bilateral understanding [delaying retaliation against U.S. exports] for the short term,” he said. “I would say from Brazil’s side that means by early 2013.”

“We remain committed to the [agree-ment] and look forward to continuing to work with Brazil toward resolution of the issues in the cotton dispute,” a USTR spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

By LISA LOCKWOOD

NEW YORK — When it comes to customer service, consumers are increasingly turn-ing to social-media channels.

According to a study released Thursday by NM Incite, a social-media insights pro-vider and joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey, nearly half of all social-me-dia users — 47 percent — seek customer service through social-media channels.

The online survey of 2,000 social-me-dia users across all ages and genders also revealed:n Thirty percent of social-media users prefer to contact a brand for customer ser-vice through a social channel compared with the phone.n Seventy-one percent of those who experi-ence positive social care (i.e., a quick and effective brand response) are likely to rec-ommend that brand to others, versus 19 per-cent of customers who do not receive any response. (Social care is a system for compa-nies to regularly provide customer service through social-media platforms.).n The majority of Twitter and Facebook users, 83 percent and 71 percent, respective-ly, expect a response from a brand within the same day of posting. More than 50 percent of Twitter social-care users expect a response within two hours of posting, according to a 2011 Oracle global survey.

The survey also showed that a single negative customer experience posted in

public can wipe out the effect of up to five positive customer messages.

The study found that 18- to 24-year-olds are the highest users of social care, with 60 percent of females and 57 percent of males actively seeking customer service through social-media channels. Among social-media users age 65-plus, nearly 30 percent have used social care, confirming wide adoption spanning all age groups. As for frequency, some 51 percent of social-media users engage in social care more than once a month, and almost one in 10 of those individuals use social media for customer service on a daily basis.

“What we’re seeing is that customers are turning to social-media channels for customer service, regardless of whether and where a particular brand is actually equipped to handle customer service over social media,” said Gadi BenMark, senior vice president of NM Incite’s Advisory di-vision. “Today’s customers choose when and where they voice their questions, is-sues and complaints. They don’t care if a company is set up to answer customer questions on Facebook, or if it has an ac-tual Twitter handle for customer service. The implications are enormous for brands that are not implementing effective social care. There is also great upside for those that understand that the lines between marketing and customer service are blur-ring, and take action to organize, oper-ate and manage performance in this new merged world.”

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are to stand trial in court on Dec. 3.

Because they are charged with omitted and unfaithful earnings dec-laration, they are not to go through a preliminary hearing. The designers were originally absolved of the claims by a lower court in April 2011, but the Italian Supreme Court in November overturned that decision.

In February, the court laid out the reasons why it decided to reopen the case, alleging Dolce and Gabbana and several business associates evaded taxes. The Supreme Court said tax avoidance, or tax mitigation, on an earnings declaration is a criminal of-fense under the law. This is a major ruling since tax avoidance — which allows taxpayers to take advantage of certain benefits, such as creating a separate legal entity to which one’s property is donated, for example — previously was not considered a crime.

The designers did not respond to a request for comment at press time Monday.

The investigations began in 2008, initiated by the Guardia di Finanza, an Italian police force under the author-ity of the national minister of econo-my and finance. Both designers were charged with alleged tax evasion to the tune of 416 million euros, or $538.1 million at current exchange, related to the 2004 sale of the Dolce & Gabbana and D&G brands to the designers’ Luxembourg-based holding company, Gado Srl. The Italian tax police report-edly consider Gado essentially a legal entity used to avoid higher corporate taxes in Italy.

A separate criminal probe into sup-posed tax irregularities at the Dolce & Gabbana Group was part of the case

dismissed in April. Those accusations address unpaid taxes of 200 million euros, or $258.7 million.

Giuseppe Bana, lawyer for the de-signers’ accountant Luciano Patelli, told WWD on Monday that he was “ex-tremely optimistic” about the outcome of the trial, but said more details were going to be made available the follow-ing day.

A legal source said the trial will not allow for plea bargaining or the re-quest for shortened or other alterna-tive proceedings.

“I am optimistic and I consider them innocent until proven guilty,” said Armando Branchini, deputy chairman of Milan consultancy InterCorporate. “It is easier to make headlines with an important and world famous name. Yes, it’s true that the fight against tax evasion is more severe now, but this seems a bit excessive.”

The designers have always denied any wrongdoing and in an interview with WWD in December, they ex-pressed clear consciences and a lack of bitterness, albeit disappointment, over their battle with Italian authorities concerning the alleged tax evasion.

In April 2011, deeming there was no foundation for a trial, Judge Simone Luerti dismissed the charges against Dolce and Gabbana and five other defendants, including Dolce’s brother and board member, Alfonso Dolce, and managing director and board member Cristiana Ruella. However, Milan-based prosecutor Laura Pedio appealed to the Supreme Court, which issued its ruling after about six months.

Conviction of national income tax evasion can carry up to a three-year prison sentence, or a fine of up to 1 million euros, or $1.3 million at cur-rent exchange.

By VICKI M. YOUNG

HANESBRANDS REPORTED gains in both third-quarter net income and net sales, due in part to growth in the in-nerwear category.

For the three months ended Sept. 29, net income rose 21 percent to $109.9 million, or $1.09 a diluted share, from $90.8 million, or 91 cents, last year. Net sales rose 2.8 percent to $1.22 billion from $1.19 billion.

The company said innerwear-seg-ment sales rose 3 percent as operat-

ing profits gained 10 percent for the category. Contributing to the growth were product innovations from Hanes ComfortBlend Men’s underwear, Hanes Classics slim-fit and stretch premium underwear T-shirts and Bali and Barely There Smart Size seamless bras.

Outerwear-segment sales rose 5 percent, but operating profits slid 4 percent due to higher cotton costs.

Richard A. Noll, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Cotton inflation is behind us, and we are generating momentum for contin-ued growth.”

Social Media Becoming KeyCustomer Service Outlet

Brazil Says Time Running Out On Cotton Pact With U.S.

Hanesbrands Net, Sales Up

Italian Trial Date Is SetFor Dolce and Gabbana

The designers were originally absolved

of the claims by a lower court in

April 2011, but the Italian Supreme

Court in November overturned that

decision.Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce

w30a003a;6.indd 1 10/29/12 3:37 PM10292012153817

4 WWD tuesday, october 30, 2012

Shuttered by Sandyof Loeb Associates, a consult-ing agency. Loeb also said pre-liminary estimates for lost retail sales at New York City stores could exceed $30 million a day. Most stores, except for a few mom-and-pop shops and bode-gas, were closed Monday because mass transit was shut down, mak-ing it impossible for employees to get to work. Tourists roamed the Manhattan streets looking for anything that was open.

While not a major fashion-buying period, the storm im-pacted last-minute sales of Halloween costumes and candy, particularly at mass chains and drug stores, which tend to load up on those seasonal categories, though these same stores could make up some of the slack with sales of hurricane-related clean-up products, dried foods, water, flashlights, batteries and candles, as well as through online shop-ping across a spectrum of cat-egories. Sears, for example, said tools and generators were flying off the shelves Sunday, while at Kmart, perishable items such as food and water, along with blan-kets, were in strong demand.

Halloween spending this year was seen at $8 billion, up 3 percent from a year ago, ac-cording to a National Retail Federation and BIGinsight sur-vey conducted earlier this year, but that projection may need to be revised due to the storm. Loeb estimated that stores along the Eastern seaboard would lose roughly $10 million connected to Halloween gear and another $10 million in Halloween candy sales at drugstores.

Based on interviews con-ducted by WWD over the last few days, major retailers seem to have heeded advance warn-ings of the magnitude of the storm and reacted in advance by communicating with employees through hotlines and e-mails on store closings and contingencies, and by stocking up with survival supplies for consumers in the path of the huge hurricane.

Several senior officials also said Sandy’s impact on business would have been worse if the storm had made landfall later in the week when business picks up, or in November when holi-day selling really begins. As one senior retail executive observed: “You never like closing stores, but it is better that this is happening at the beginning of the quarter.”

This is the second major storm to hit the East Coast in late October. Last year on the weekend of Oct. 29, retailers were dealing with an historic freaky snowstorm that crippled much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast and forever changed perceptions that big snowstorms couldn’t occur before November. Ice and heavy snow brought down trees and snapped power lines, affecting more than three million people, though many malls and stores reported then that they were able to reopen quickly. Because of last year’s storm, the sales comparisons to this year’s may not be so bad.

BIG RETAIL CLOSINGSSaks Fifth Avenue closed 16 full-line and Off 5th units in New York City and other areas, including the Fifth Avenue flag-ship. “This isn’t fun and games. We made the decision late yes-terday to close the offices as well,” said Stephen I. Sadove, Saks Inc. chairman and chief ex-ecutive officer. “We boarded up the New York store for protec-tion. We will see what happens. The priority is to keep people safe. It’s important to be cau-tious.” Sadove had a conference call with his team scheduled for later in the day to discuss the impact and plans for Tuesday.

“The safety of our associates and our customers are our top concerns as we prepare for the impact of the storm,” said John R. Belk, president and chief op-erating officer of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk Inc. “We’ve been tracking the system since last week and held preparation calls with our stores, division offices and our emergency response team throughout the weekend. Our stores are prepared, our response teams are ready to respond if needed, and we’ve staged emergency supplies at one of our distribution centers.”

Belk’s Kill Devil Hills store on the Outer Banks of North Carolina did close at 6 p.m. Sunday, and reopened on time Monday, and a California, Md., store closed Monday at 2 p.m., while the Westminster, Md., unit was set to close around 4 or 5 p.m., and the Williamsburg and Fredericksburg, Va., stores were considering closing at 5.

At Bergdorf Goodman, “We closed at 5 p.m. Sunday, an hour earlier than our normal closing time, so that associates could get home safely in advance of the transit closures,” said store president Joshua Schulman. “We remain closed today [Monday] and will continue to monitor the situation. We are eager to return to normal but the safety of our associates and clients is our primary concern.”

Neiman Marcus Inc., which includes Bergdorf ’s, also kept seven Neiman Marcus stores closed and was planning to close its Boston store at around 11 a.m. Monday. The East Coast dis-tribution center in New Jersey was closed as well.

On Monday, Macy’s Inc. closed about 130 stores, in-cluding 14 Bloomingdale’s and three Bloomingdale’s outlets, mostly in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The New York of-fices for both Macy’s Inc. and Bloomingdale’s were also closed. “We got out ahead of it fairly early out of concern for the safety of our associates and customers. Decisions about the New York City offices and stores were made Sunday afternoon so people could get home be-fore subways and trains were closed,” said Jim Sluzewski, Macy’s corporate spokesman.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said as of noon on Monday, 58 stores were closed. The breakdown:

{Continued from page one}

The empty streets of Manhattan.

Preparations in SoHo.

{Continued on page 6}

w30a004a(5,6,8,9).indd 1 10/29/12 5:12 PM10292012171357

WWD.COM5WWD tuesday, october 30, 2012

The empty streets of Manhattan.

’’

’’

Store losses for the eastern U.S. from Atlanta to Boston are probably

$350 million a day, but could be as high as $500 million a day.

— Walter loeb, loeb associates

w30a004a(5,6,8,9).indd 2 10/29/12 5:12 PM10292012171358

WWD.COMWWD tuesday, october 30, 20126

14 stores in New Jersey were closed, 13 in Delaware, 29 in Connecticut, and one store each in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The company said about 800 of its stores fall along the Eastern seaboard in the projected path of the storm. Wal-Mart is trying to keep emergency supplies in stock and will remain open as long as it’s considered safe to do so, the retailer said.

In the week before Sandy, Target Corp. sent truckloads of essential products to stores and distribution centers within the storm’s path. “Now that the storm has begun, our focus is on the safety and well-being of our team members,” a spokeswom-an said. “As of this morning, 14 Target stores are closed and we anticipate additional closures today and into Tuesday and Wednesday. In addition, we are working with our distribution centers and vendors to ensure that after the storm, essential items are replenished quickly.”

As of noon on Monday, there were 24 Sears and Kmart stores closed in Delaware, New Jersey and Long Island. “With the storm being 1,000 miles wide, we are closely monitoring road restric-tions, flooding, and power out-ages,” a spokesman said. “We do have generators in the area that we can deploy to select stores in the event of power outages.”

Neal Black, ceo of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, said the cor-porate office and warehouse in Hampstead, Md., were open Monday. However, 49 stores were closed, “all in a band be-tween Washington, D.C., and Providence, with the center and the heaviest quantity of closings in New Jersey.”

He said none of the closed stores had sustained damage as of midday on Monday and “al-though hurricanes are more rare in the Northeast, we have a lot of stores in Florida and Texas so we have a pretty well-rehearsed and proven strategy for awning removal, board-ups and sand-bagging as well as manpower management,” he said.

“We have stores up and down the East Coast that are closed,” said Scott Birnbaum, senior vice president of marketing and e-commerce, although he didn’t yet have a count. All four units in New York City were closed on Monday, including locations in Times Square, on 34th Street, the Manhattan Mall and Fulton Street, Brooklyn.

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. was “monitoring the storm” and would “make decisions on a one-on-one basis depending on conditions,” while Brooks Brothers said all New York City stores and the corporate offices closed early Sunday and re-mained shuttered Monday.

The Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, N.J., Westwood Garden State Plaza, and Tice Corner Marketplace in Woodcliff Lake were among the Jersey malls closed Monday.

FASHION FIRMS REACTKellwood Co., Fifth & Pacific Cos. Inc., The Jones Group, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Elie Tahari and Tommy Hilfiger were among the major fashion firms that kept their offices closed, along with many of the brand stores they operate. Theory, too, closed its stores and offices Monday, “and as of now, tomorrow [Tuesday],”

said Andrew Rosen, ceo of Theory. Li & Fung closed its of-fices Monday as well as today.

“Given the potentially esca-lating weather conditions, fur-ther closures are being evaluat-ed and appropriate actions will be taken as needed to ensure the safety and well-being of our associates and clients,” a Calvin

Klein spokeswoman said.Here’s how some fashion

firms adjusted:n An invite-only breakfast fea-turing a conversation with PPR ceo François-Henri Pinault, scheduled for Wednesday at the French Consulate, was post-poned as Pinault canceled his trip to New York. n Seize sur Vingt, the Manhattan-based label, offered a 30 percent online discount with the code “Sandy.” n The Prabal Gurung for Target event, first set for Oct. 30, was postponed to Nov. 5.n Coach had store closures throughout the Eastern sea-board, but gave no precise count.n The Jones Group closed cer-tain stores across brands includ-ing Nine West, Stuart Weitzman and Brian Atwood, said Scott Bowman, group president, glob-

al retail and international busi-ness development.

Net-a-porter, although it suspended its same-day deliv-ery service in the New York City area, reported it did not experience a surge in e-com-merce sales in affected areas. “Because of our geographically diverse customer base, we have

not seen a dramatic impact to our sales at the moment,” said Net-a-porter managing director Alison Loehnis.

Accessories e-tailer Bauble Bar has seen increased traffic, engagement and an uptick in sales activity coming from the Northeast region since Sunday evening. Vice president of digi-tal marketing at BaubleBar Shilpa Shenoy revealed that paired with a few planned pro-motions, she expects the next few days to bring in strong busi-ness digitally.

Safilo closed all its Solstice Sunglass boutiques in New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island, representing more than 30 stores. The sun-glass maker also had to cancel its Polaroid Eyewear 175th an-niversary party at the Museum of Modern Art. Other social and

industry events canceled be-cause of the storm included the 2012 Annual Whitney Gala and Studio Party at Pier 57, and the “Anna Karenina” New York pre-miere at AMC Lincoln Center and after party at Monkey Bar.

Gemma Redux owner and de-signer Rachel Dooley said she and her team were working from

their homes. “Since the MTA said subways won’t likely reopen until 12 hours after the storm clears, we are expecting to be closed until maybe Wednesday or Thursday,” she offered.

Tourneau closed all New York metro stores but saw no damage to any stores as of early Monday afternoon, said Larry Barkley, senior vice president of retail.

David Yurman confirmed that the company closed its stores on Sunday at 3 p.m. and they remained closed Monday. Jean-Michel Cazabat and Ash stores in New York City closed Sunday at 5 p.m. and will most likely be closed through Tuesday, said Josy Pintrand, director of retail for Ash NYC and Jean-Michel Cazabat NYC.

“Naturally it will have an ef-fect in terms of volume, but our priority is the safety of our em-

ployees,” Pintrand said. Monica Botkier, owner and

designer of the handbag brand bearing her name, said her shipping facility, which is near a flood-prone area, and SoHo offices, were closed Monday and would most likely be closed Tuesday. She noted that because it’s the end of the month, any October holiday-resort ship-ments that have not gone out will be late. “We had more press appointments for spring ’13 scheduled for today and tomor-row, which are now canceled. Also our samples for summer ’13, which we are showing in November market next week, will be delayed. No fun.”

Executives at major inner-wear companies including The Warnaco Group, Wacoal America, Komar Co., The Carole Hochman Design Group, Natori Co. and Richard Leeds International could not be reached Monday, though a spokeswoman for Maidenform Inc. said corporate offices in New York as well as

facilities in New Jersey were closed. “We’ve been told the com-pany will take every precaution. Pending the storm, the company will determine whether we will be closed for more days,” said the spokeswoman. Regarding the Nov. 5 to 9 market week, she said, “Not sure.”

BEAUTYManhattan offices of beauty manufacturers closed Monday and stores switched gears. Instead of selling nail polish and fragrance, drugstores and discounters are trying to keep up with demand for water and batteries. On the more glamor-ous side, two marquee char-ity events — the Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s annual luncheon and scientific sym-posium, scheduled for today, and tonight’s Avon Foundation Awards Gala — have both been canceled. Kate Hudson had been scheduled to present an award at the BCRF luncheon.

On the retail front, Sephora said all of its Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Long Island and New York City freestanding stores were closed. Some upstate New York locations remained open as of Monday.

MAC Cosmetics said 125 of its locations have been affected.

Most of the major chains con-tacted Monday morning said they were keeping stores open, except in the case of mandated evacua-tions. The only Duane Reade store closings were in lower

{Continued from page 5}

{Continued on page 7}

’’’’

This isn’t fun and games...We boarded up the New York store for protection.

We will see what happens. The

priority is to keep people safe.

— steve sadove,

saks inc.

w30a004a(5,6,8,9).indd 3 10/29/12 5:12 PM10292012171358

WWD tuesday, october 30, 20128

Manhattan’s Evacuation Zone A at press time, said Calvin Peter, spokesman for the chain.

CVS/Pharmacy, Walgreens and Rite Aid all said stores were open with the exception of man-datory closings. A Rite Aid store in the Princeton, N.J., area was open for business Monday morn-ing, despite being battered by rain and wind. In the window, there was an impromptu sign proclaiming that last-minute supplies were in stock.

Manufacturers were forced to cancel events, too. Kiss Products delayed a press event to herald its new nail products in Manhattan until November.

The list of companies that closed their New York offices Monday, while telling employ-ees to work from home, in-

{Continued from page 6}

Photos by Getty, Corbis, thomas iannaCCone and Kyle eriCKsen

w30a004a(5,6,8,9);5.indd 4 10/29/12 5:20 PM10292012172115

WWD.COMWWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012 9

cluded the Estée Lauder Cos., Revlon, Avon Products Inc., the beauty division of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Clarins, Procter & Gamble and Shiseido, which decided to close for both Monday and Tuesday. At L’Oréal USA, employees were told to work from home and use their discretion in deciding if they needed to go into the office, a L’Oréal spokeswoman said. Revlon,Shiseido and P&G also closed their back offices in New Jersey, while Clarins closed its facility in Orangeburg, N.Y.

OBAMA BREAKS FROM CAMPAIGN AND ACTS ON STORM In Washington, President Obama declared emergencies in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania and

Washington, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it could take weeks to deter-mine the damage by Hurricane Sandy. President Obama, who returned to Washington from Florida on Monday morning, can-celed his campaign appearances and gave a statement from the White House press briefing room.

“This is going to be a big storm. It’s going to be a difficult storm,” Obama said. “The great thing about America is when we go through tough times like this we all pull together. We look out for our friends, for our neigh-bors and we set aside whatever issues we may have otherwise to make sure we respond appro-priately and with swiftness and that’s exactly what I anticipate is going to happen here.”

He said transportation will be

tied up for a long time. “Probably the most significant impact for a lot of people in addition to flood-ing is going to be getting the power back on,” Obama said. “We anticipate there are going to be a lot of trees down, a lot of water. Despite the fact that power companies are working very closely with their various state and local officials to make

sure they are bringing as many assets as possible and getting those ready for the storm, the fact is that a lot of these emer-gency crews are not going to be able to get into position to start restoring power until some of these winds have died down.”

The hurricane barreling up the Eastern seaboard did not stop the U.S. Supreme Court —the only nonemergency branch of the federal government that was open on Monday — from holding session. The High Court heard oral arguments in a copy-right case that has significant im-plications in the debate over dis-counters and off-price retailers buying authentic products from middlemen abroad and selling them at lower prices in the U.S. versus a manufacturer’s right to control the distribution and re-

sale of its copyrighted products. The case, Supap Kirtsaeng

vs. John Wiley & Sons Inc., in-volves a Thai mathematics doc-toral student attending Cornell University who purchased text-books produced in Thailand at reduced prices and resold them in the U.S. The publisher of the books, John Wiley & Sons, sued Kirtsaeng for violating the com-pany’s copyrights and the lower courts ruled in favor of the pub-lisher, ordering Kirstaeng to pay hundreds of thousands of dol-lars for the books he resold. It is considered by legal experts to be one of the most important business and consumer cases in the Court’s term and could affect companies such as Costco Inc. and Wal-Mart, as well as consum-ers reselling products on online marketplaces like eBay Inc.

THEY ARE WEARING®

Our stores are prepared, our re-sponse teams are ready if needed...

— JOHN R. BELK, BELK INC.

© 2012 CIT Group Inc. CIT and the CIT logo are registered service marks of CIT Group Inc.

[ree-teyl-it-iks]Definition: The in-depth knowledge and analytical understanding of the retail industry that enables CIT to create customized financing solutions.

RetailyticsTM

Visit cit.com/retail Burt Feinberg, Managing Director, 212-771-1744

ASSET-BASED LENDING t CASH FLOW LENDING

DEBTOR-IN-POSSESSION FINANCING t ACQUISITION FINANCING

CIT has been part of the fabric of the retail

industry for decades, providing the financing our

clients need to grow. Leveraging deep industry

expertise, we develop comprehensive,

customized solutions for all stages of the retail

business cycle, from financing for working capital,

growth capital and acquisitions to debt

refinancing, recapitalizations and restructurings.

10 WWD tuesday, october 30, 2012

By Khanh T.L. Tran

LOS anGELES — Innovation and novelty helped drive business at the Los angeles International Textile Show, where ven-dors and attendees continued to contend with the issue of balancing price, deliv-ery and quality.

at the three-day show that ended Wednesday at the California Market Center here, more than 250 exhibitors from France, Italy, Korea, India, the U.S. and other countries presented not only their newest offerings for fall 2013, but also stock for spring to appeal to de-signers who prefer to order fabrics and manufacture clothing as late as possible. no matter which season was targeted, designers were keen on finding novel and innovative textiles. Sometimes price wasn’t a concern if the product exceeded expectations.

Many attendees were drawn to a pressed wool fashioned from recy-cled wool, alpaca and nylon that were dyed in brown ombré. Made by Italy’s Euromaglia, the pressed wool cost $29 a meter. Even more expensive but just as popular was sequined fabric from India’s Sofiatex that changed color in the light; it cost $68 a yard before duties and ship-ping fees. new York’s Ermani Group garnered interest for wool bouclé whose prices started at $20 a yard. novelty was also a selling point in trims such as studs, embellished Peter Pan collars and ani-mal prints from Canada’s Pacific Imports, which charged 35 cents to $30 a piece.

Technology helped ChungWoo Textile Co. from Korea pull off a debut as one of the 14 booths in the Korea Pavilion. already working with clients such as BCBG Max azria and Forever 21, ChungWoo highlighted its pre bio-washed spandex that is soft to the touch and can be dyed in any color. Priced between $3 and $4 a yard, the material requires a minimum of 1,000 yards.

Jh Textile Inc., also from Korea, at-tracted customers with its fake fur that emulated ermine and other lavish skins at a cost of $5 to $12 a yard. The most popular styles epitomized texture and novelty, such as bonded fabrics and rounded welts on white fur. Even as de-signers expressed that price was a prima-ry concern, Jh president Kerry Gil said it’s impossible to lower prices without compromising quality. “We use special yarn,” he said. “The piling is 6 millime-ters to 15 millimeters.”

In addition to the Korea Pavilion, the trade expo hosted 28 booths as part of the Lenzing-sponsored group, 24 booths in the European section and 13 L.a.-

based mills. The bulk of the attendees represented the local industry’s strength in high-end and contemporary design, including Kevan hall, Erik hart, Jasmin Shokrian and Britain’s Jigsaw, which has started to make some clothes in L.a.

acknowledging that textile and appar-el manufacturing often go hand in hand, show organizers are trying to expand the textile venue into a sourcing fair. Bharat Silks did double duty for its premiere at the show by selling its digital prints and novelty jacquards for $9 to $20 a yard and promoting its full-package manufactur-ing facility in India that charges $15 and higher to produce each garment.

Growing interest in U.S. production has created buzz for local textile mills. Yet even with the attention, the last re-maining domestic manufacturers must constantly evolve and innovate. Design Knit Inc., which has been manufacturing knits in L.a. for 28 years, piled on novel

details, including Lurex stripes on linen-cotton slub and chevron patterns on plis-sé, twill and jacquard, for its fabrics that sell for between $2.50 and $20 a yard. It also promoted knits that customers can mix and match for cut-and-sew sweaters.

“People want the versatility,” said Pat Tabassi, Design Knit’s product develop-ment and marketing manager, adding that the company is also compiling a list of local cut-and-sew factories to recommend to cus-tomers who want to make clothes in L.a.

Unitex, a knitting mill based in Vernon, Calif., believes the economy must improve before it sees a surge in production. Because it makes everything outside of L.a., its production schedule runs between three and four weeks with a 1,000-yard minimum. Top sellers at the show defined texture and novelty, such as jacquard knitted in geometric patterns and double-face stripes.

“Once we get some stability with the economy, you’ll definitely see more Made in USa [products],” said Michael Tanios, Unitex’s manager of production and fab-ric development. “It could be next year. It could be affected by the [U.S. presiden-tial] election.”

For designers, maintaining a com-petitive edge while staying innovative with fabrics and designs is a top con-cern. Jodi Benavidez, designer of a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based women’s contempo-rary loungewear line called Brokedown that is carried by Saks Fifth avenue and specialty stores, juggled an eye for fast-changing trends with a budget limited to less than $20 a yard as she shopped the textile expo.

“The biggest challenge is staying ahead of the game without having mass marketers knock you off,” she said.

textiles

The Fiber Price SheeTThe lasT Tuesday of every monTh, WWd publishes The currenT, monTh-ago andyear-ago fiber prices. prices lisTed reflecT The cosT of one pound of fiber

or, in The case of crude oil, one barrel.

Priceon Priceon PriceonFiber 10/29/12 09/24/12 10/24/11

coTTon 69.2 cenTs 70.1 cenTs 97.3 cenTs

Wool $4.83 $4.55 $5.05

polyesTer sTaple 85.5 cenTs 85.5 cenTs 97.5 cenTs

polyesTer filamenT 75 cenTs 75 cenTs 86 cenTs

augusT synTheTic ppi 121.9 122.2 120.7

crude oil $86.28 $92.89 $87.40

*The wool price is based on The average price for The week ended ocT. 26 of 11 differenT Thicknesses of fiber, ranging from 18 microns To 30 microns, according To The woolmark co. informaTion on coTTon and polyesTer pricing is provided by The consulTing firm dewiTT & co. The synTheTic-fiber producer index, or ppi, is compiled by The bureau of labor sTaTisTics and reflecTs The overall change in all synTheTic-fiber prices. iT is noT a price in dollars buT a measuremenT of how prices have changed since 1982, which had a ppi of 100. oil prices reflecT lasT week’s closing price on The new york mercanTile exchange of fuTure conTracTs for lighT, sweeT crude oil To be delivered nexT monTh.

By aLESSanDra TUrra

MILan — Confirming the crisis in the Italian textile sec-tor, which registered a 15.3 percent drop in production during the first half, yarn manufacturers showing at the Filo trade show said business is still difficult.

Despite the worrisome scenario, Filo organizers said they were satisfied with the results of the fair, which ended Oct 11.

“During the two days of the show, we registered a very proactive mood, confirmed by Filo’s closing numbers,” said Filo manager Paolo Monfermoso, highlighting that the number of exhibitors in-creased to more than 80 this season from 72 the previous show. “as usual, we also reg-istered the presence of high-qualified buyers, with a very clear vision.”

Marco Dotto, Botto Poala marketing sales area direc-tor, said, “The overall situa-tion is pretty difficult, even if the higher segment of the market is still doing well and it seems that luxury companies haven’t been hit by the crisis. The middle segment is the one suffering more from both the general slowdown in Europe and the competition coming from Far East-based compa-nies.”

at Filo, Botto Poala presented a wide, summery col-lection of linen and silk yarns with varied finishings, from fluid and shiny to more rustic effects. To complete its offer, the company showcased the “Black Tie” range, consisting of light wool yarns featuring different twisting for an el-egant, sleek look.

“We have recently attended a trade show in Shanghai to understand how that kind of market could perceive our products,” said Laura Mauri, commercial manager at Filatura Pettinata Luisa 1966 Srl. “Even if it’s hard, as a

Firms Spin a Tough Yarn at Filo

Report Spotlights Bangladesh Needs

Juggling Act for Firms in L.A.

2.5x7 (right)

By JOhn ZarOCOSTaS

GEnEVa — Bangladesh needs to diver-sify from its export-oriented textiles and apparel sector to a greater focus on de-sign and local branding to help the indus-try move to a higher value chain, Ghulam hussain, secretary of the ministry of com-merce, told a global forum.

The poor South asian nation also attaches “great importance” to tak-ing advantage of market access oppor-tunities, hussain told a two-day World Trade Organization review session of Bangladesh’s trade regime.

robust growth in exports of textiles and apparel, which in the year through June accounted for 87 percent of the na-tion’s total merchandise exports of $24.2 billion, up from $22.8 billion the prior year, has helped the country post an an-nual growth rate of more than 6 percent in the last few years, said a WTO report on Bangladesh. In apparel, which accounted for a 79.2 percent share of total exports, the biggest categories were T-shirts and vests; trousers, overalls and shorts, and jerseys, pullovers and cardigans.

The European Union was the top desti-nation for Bangladesh’s merchandise ex-ports with a 52.5 percent share, followed by the U.S. with 21 percent and Canada with 4.1 percent.

Michael Punke, U.S. ambassador to the WTO, told delegates that bilateral goods trade is increasing “at an annual rate of 20 percent.”

“We see this most clearly in the strong partnerships created by Bangladeshi ap-parel producers and many leading U.S. re-tailers, meeting the growing demands of the U.S. market for such apparel,” Punke said.

The WTO notes that exports from Bangladesh have been spurred by duty-free access to the European Union, China, Canada, australia and norway, but added that the U.S. does not provide the same preferential access terms.

“at present, 96 percent of Bangladesh’s

The Los Angeles International Textile Show highlighted more than 250 exhibitors.

w30a010a(11);13.indd 1 10/29/12 3:41 PM10292012154203

WWD.COM11WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012

By ALESSANDRA TURRA

MILAN — Confirming the crisis in the Italian textile sec-tor, which registered a 15.3 percent drop in production during the first half, yarn manufacturers showing at the Filo trade show said business is still difficult.

Despite the worrisome scenario, Filo organizers said they were satisfied with the results of the fair, which ended Oct 11.

“During the two days of the show, we registered a very proactive mood, confirmed by Filo’s closing numbers,” said Filo manager Paolo Monfermoso, highlighting that the number of exhibitors in-creased to more than 80 this season from 72 the previous show. “As usual, we also reg-istered the presence of high-qualified buyers, with a very clear vision.”

Marco Dotto, Botto Poala marketing sales area direc-tor, said, “The overall situa-tion is pretty difficult, even if the higher segment of the market is still doing well and it seems that luxury companies haven’t been hit by the crisis. The middle segment is the one suffering more from both the general slowdown in Europe and the competition coming from Far East-based compa-nies.”

At Filo, Botto Poala presented a wide, summery col-lection of linen and silk yarns with varied finishings, from fluid and shiny to more rustic effects. To complete its offer, the company showcased the “Black Tie” range, consisting of light wool yarns featuring different twisting for an el-egant, sleek look.

“We have recently attended a trade show in Shanghai to understand how that kind of market could perceive our products,” said Laura Mauri, commercial manager at Filatura Pettinata Luisa 1966 Srl. “Even if it’s hard, as a

niche company we could focus on very specific yarns that Chinese mills don’t produce. This is not a great period. Last season was difficult and even if textile companies are currently showing a bigger attention to our products, I don’t know how much this interest will turn into effec-tive purchases.”

For spring 2014, the company, located in the Biella area, focused on natural fibers for high-end linen, cot-ton and silk yarns. To attract buyers’ attention, Filatura Pettinata Luisa 1966 also introduced printed cotton yarns featuring geometric motifs in a vivid color palette, rang-ing from a bold combination of turquoise, purple and lilac, to a more soft gray and pale pink mix.

“The processing tech-nique to obtain this kind of yarn is extremely difficult and accounts for 80 per-cent of the final cost of the product, which is around 96 euros [$125 at current ex-change] per kilo,” Luisa said.

“The market is still suf-fering and there is a huge competition on low prices, but we didn’t revise our price list to get more or-ders,” said Fil-3 sales man-ager Rossella Magnolfi.

The Prato, Tuscany-based company presented its inno-

vative “cleaned” linen, produced with a special machine that removes the fibers’ imperfections, making the yarn clean and smooth.

Worsted wool spinner Italfil also focused on special fin-ishing, showcasing its “treated wool” — coarse wool yarns are treated with a process to remove flakes from fibers. Fabrics made with these special yarns must be subjected to an additional treatment to stabilize the products.

“Italy is performing badly, while Northern Europe is holding up,” said the Biella-based company’s sales officer Federico Gabbi. “The crisis in Italy has forced families to reduce their budgets and cut those expenses that are not extremely necessary, such as those for garments.”

Firms Spin a Tough Yarn at Filo Naturally Advanced Gets S.C. Grant

Report Spotlights Bangladesh Needs

Juggling Act for Firms in L.A.

By JOHN ZAROCOSTAS

GENEVA — Bangladesh needs to diver-sify from its export-oriented textiles and apparel sector to a greater focus on de-sign and local branding to help the indus-try move to a higher value chain, Ghulam Hussain, secretary of the ministry of com-merce, told a global forum.

The poor South Asian nation also attaches “great importance” to tak-ing advantage of market access oppor-tunities, Hussain told a two-day World Trade Organization review session of Bangladesh’s trade regime.

Robust growth in exports of textiles and apparel, which in the year through June accounted for 87 percent of the na-tion’s total merchandise exports of $24.2 billion, up from $22.8 billion the prior year, has helped the country post an an-nual growth rate of more than 6 percent in the last few years, said a WTO report on Bangladesh. In apparel, which accounted for a 79.2 percent share of total exports, the biggest categories were T-shirts and vests; trousers, overalls and shorts, and jerseys, pullovers and cardigans.

The European Union was the top desti-nation for Bangladesh’s merchandise ex-ports with a 52.5 percent share, followed by the U.S. with 21 percent and Canada with 4.1 percent.

Michael Punke, U.S. ambassador to the WTO, told delegates that bilateral goods trade is increasing “at an annual rate of 20 percent.”

“We see this most clearly in the strong partnerships created by Bangladeshi ap-parel producers and many leading U.S. re-tailers, meeting the growing demands of the U.S. market for such apparel,” Punke said.

The WTO notes that exports from Bangladesh have been spurred by duty-free access to the European Union, China, Canada, Australia and Norway, but added that the U.S. does not provide the same preferential access terms.

“At present, 96 percent of Bangladesh’s

exports to the United States consist of ready-made garments and textile products, which are bought by retail groups such as Wal-Mart, Gap and Target,” the WTO said.

It added that although Bangladesh can apply for preferential tariffs under the U.S. General System of Preferences, “currently only 0.62 percent of the country’s goods exported “to the U.S. qualify under the [GSP] system.”

As a result, import duties on Bangladesh exports to the U.S. “amount to more than $500 million per year.”

The report said, “As a reputable low-cost producer of garments, Bangladesh has gained market share in recent years. This trend is expected to continue over the medium term.”

Trade analysts attribute the success of the garments sector in part to trade policies that boosted “credit flows and the availabil-ity [through bonded warehouse facilities] of inputs at world prices for garment exports.” Other factors cited for the favorable outlook include labor costs the WTO estimates “are 50 percent below the nearest competitor and only about one-third of those of China.”

“The country’s textile sector stands to be the main beneficiary of labor shortag-es, rising wages and capacity constraints in China,” it said.

In addition, production capacity “has continued to expand and there are signs that Japanese retailers, which hitherto mostly sourced from China and Vietnam, are starting to source more of their tex-tiles and garments from Bangladesh.”

On the production side, the report said, foreign investors are showing interest “in large-scale relocation of labor intensive in-dustries, particularly garments and related textile manufacturing.” In the previous year, textiles and apparel accounted for a 28.9 percent share of foreign direct investment inflows, up from 17.3 percent the year before.

The WTO said Bangladesh boasts 5,000 garment factories, employing 3.6 million people, mainly women, while by compari-son, Indonesia has 2,450 garment factories, Vietnam has 2,000 and Cambodia just 260.

NATURALLY ADVANCED Technologies Inc., which produces and markets Crailar flax fiber, has been granted $263,500 in incentives from Florence County, S.C., to be used for its manufac-turing and production in the region.

NAT is opening a facility in the 143,500-square-foot former Delta Mills Cypress plant on Old River Road in Pamplico, S.C. Commissioning of the assembled equipment will commence Dec. 17. An initial $8 million invest-ment creating 25 jobs is part of the company’s plans there. Flax, grown as a winter crop in Florence and surrounding counties, will be pro-cessed out of the new facility beginning Dec. 28.

“The region has been exemplary to deal with from state to county and we are thankful to Florence for honoring its commitment to devel-oping the business in South Carolina,” said Ken Barker, chief executive officer of NAT.

The company has received all containers of manufacturing equipment and its engineering team is making quick progress at the facility.

Many statewide and regional economic de-velopment officials voiced their support, includ-ing South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt and Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers, Barker noted.

NAT, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Crailar Fiber Technologies Inc., has devel-oped proprietary technologies for production of bast fibers, cellulose pulp and their result-ing by-products in collaboration with Canada’s National Research Council. Its renewable and environmentally sustainable biomass resources from flax, hemp and other bast fibers offer cost-effective and environmentally sustainable pro-cessing and production, along with increased performance characteristics for use in textile, industrial, energy, medical and composite mate-rial applications.

— ARTHUR FRIEDMAN

A look from Botto Poala.

PANTONE® and other Pantone trademarks are the property of Pantone LLC. Clariant is a registered trademark of Clariant Internat ional Ltd. and has a strategic par tnership with Pantone. Pantone LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated. © Pantone LLC, 2012. All rights reserved.

FASHION+HOMEpantone.com/colorfullcolor

Now with 2,100 shades to choose from

WWD.COM12 WWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012

By RACHEL BROWN

SAY “HELLO” OR “hola” to Curacao, the 11-unit Los Angeles-based department store chain with more than three decades of experience serving Hispanic shoppers spent the last two years figuring out how to broaden its reach. The result is the “La” has been dropped, store signage has gone bilingual, the primary lan-guage for store staff has been switched to English from Spanish and the retailer, a formidable advertiser on Spanish-language television in the U.S. with a $17 million annual ad budget, has started running English commer-cials for the first time.

Just as many American re-tailers were waking up to the importance of the burgeoning Hispanic population, Curacao realized that population was changing. According to presi-dent of the retail group Rick Hutton, about 35 percent of new Curacao customers this year were born in the U.S., compared to a scant 9 percent in 1995 — and recent immigrants as a per-centage of the total shopping its stores is due to fall with im-migration from Mexico slowing to a standstill and the compara-tively high birth rate of U.S. Hispanics replacing it as the main population growth driver. “There has been a pretty signifi-cant shift,” said Hutton.

Curacao has been a long-time retail haven for first-generation immigrants who favored its credit cards (over half of the applicants for Curacao’s credit cards have limited or no credit), reliance on Spanish and program that ships merchandise to people in Mexico and Central America. But Hutton said the retailer was missing out on some 60 percent of residents in the five miles surrounding its stores who are not Hispanic. Curacao senses an opportunity to siphon non-Hispanic customers from their traditional shopping

stomping grounds such as Kmart, Sears, J.C. Penney and Best Buy.

“Previously, we had lim-ited ourselves to a very small percentage of the population around the stores where we were located,” said Hutton, who noted that less than 15 percent of residents near its stores are recent immigrants who identify culturally with their home coun-try and for whom Spanish is the language of choice. “Clearly, we were limiting ourselves in terms of our potential.” Speaking about ads in English to communicate with non-Hispanic customers as well as second- and third-gen-eration Hispanic consumers, he added, “We are focusing on great products, great service and not just speaking in Spanish.”

Of course, Curacao didn’t want to push away its current, loyal shoppers in search of a fresh crop of customers. Hutton stressed its rebranding has been carefully or-chestrated to appeal to both old and new shoppers alike. “The en-tire focus that we have had in this repositioning is first service our core customer. That is why the em-phasis is becoming a better retailer serving the Hispanic community,” he said. “We have been extremely sensitive to building a better expe-rience for our existing customer base. We believe that by doing that we will draw other customers in.”

In focus groups about the dropping of the “La” in the name, for example, he recalled, Curacao’s decision was validated by comments from regular cus-tomers that the “‘La’ makes it too Hispanic. We are not interested in shopping in a Hispanic store. We are interested in the prod-ucts and services that we want.” Still, Curacao hasn’t abandoned successful long-standing practic-es. Although English is now the first language store staff uses, they provide service in Spanish after a customer initiates con-versation in Spanish. In 750,000 monthly direct-mail pieces, English has been added, but it follows Spanish.

Hutton reported that Curacao’s efforts are hav-

ing the desired effect. In its Tucson, Ariz., store that opened in September, he noticed that 60 percent of transactions are made in cash or credit cards that aren’t Curacao’s, an indi-cation the retailer is enticing shoppers beyond its core cus-tomers. In California, 90 per-cent of Curacao’s sales occur on its credit card, which is held by more than two million people. The core customers, however, Hutton said, “continue to tell us they would love to stay with us. They don’t expect to graduate to…somewhere else.”

As it is implementing re-branding, Curacao has been up-grading stores. Units that have been open for at least five years have all been remodeled at a

cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars for each store. Hutton singled out a refresh of the cosmetics areas, which mostly have black-and-white floors and bright countertops. To suit the updated look, Curacao has been striking deals to bring in more branded merchandise. In sunglasses, Hutton said the company has entered into a di-rect relationship with Luxottica that has led to Coach, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana becoming a part of the sunglass merchan-dise mix to help push sunglass sales up more than 60 percent.

“I have over 6.5 million cus-tomers that walk into our stores everyday, and they are looking for newness. They are looking for brands. They are starting to look at us as a destination for beau-ty products and fashion,” said Hutton. Although 60 percent of Curacao’s sales are from electron-ics and it doesn’t carry apparel, he pointed out that cosmetics and jewelry have been among its fast-est-growing categories, increasing 16 percent and 24 percent over last year, respectively. Curacao plans to introduce handbags soon.

Overall, Hutton said Curacao has registered comparable-store sales increases in the high single digits this year. He wouldn’t dis-cuss the sales figures for the com-pany as a whole, but it is estimat-ed to generate in excess of $400 million a year. Curacao’s largest volume store in Los Angeles pulls in $55 million in annual sales. Hutton, who expressed optimism about the outlook for holiday, has seen signs the economy is improv-ing. “Our customers have certain-ly been impacted as much as any-body. We have a large percentage of our customer base where the primary earner is in construction, which has been hit, but, clearly, in the last year, there has been some stabilization,” he said.

Over the next five years, Curacao intends to expand to 25 stores. Hutton believes there’s room for additional stores in Curacao’s existing markets of Arizona and California, where the retailer has yet to enter the Northern California and San Diego regions. Outside its ex-isting markets, Texas, Illinois and Nevada are possibilities. Curacao stores average 100,000 square feet and are stand-alone units as well as in malls. “There has been a tremendous level of receptivity today to have [retail real estate] discussions whereas six or seven or eight years ago there was less receptivity,” said Hutton. “Mall owners are look-ing for retailers such as Curacao that drive tremendous traffic. In the malls that we have been in, if we are not the draw, we are one of the [leading] draws. It seems to bring life to the entire mall.”

Curacao Looks to Broaden Reach

Curacao operates 11 units.

A look at the selling floor.

Bold, beautiful and full of sparkle: Fall/Winter 2013/2014 is going for the glamour. Inspired by the elegant sophistication of a new generation of royalty, and capturing the spirit of the Viennese Waltz, styles are trending towards modern, crystal-sprinkled interpretations of designs that invoke the spirit of balls, galas and opera culture.

Through extensive research, SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS has identified the trend inspirations for the seasons ahead—including Reflections on Beauty, a glamour-focused style that invokes refinement and allure.

Inspired by fairytale romance, jewelry design is brought to life with imaginative botanicals in delicate shades of Crystal Ivory Pearl, Rose Peach, Crystal Luminous Green and Vintage Rose. New Innovations like Crystal Blue Shade and Light Turquoise offer an opulent, luxurious feel. In fashion, this inspiration results in ultra-feminine, beaded creations sparkling with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS.

The symmetrical faceting of the Pendant, Flat Back Hotfix and No Hotfix, and Sew-On Stone is beautifully suited to subtle, sensual vintage and floral looks.

In addition, three other categories define the inspiration of the years ahead: Reflections on Tradition, a classic take on the Tyrolean way of life; Reflections on Darkness, a celebration of drama that is mirrored in Vienna’s Baroque and Gothic architecture; and Reflections on Progress, a look that mirrors Austria’s healthy outdoor life through a sports-meets-streetwear theme.

Demonstrating its forethought, innovation, and value to its partners, SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS maintains its leadership position in the industry.

To find out more about SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, log on to WWW.SWAROVSKI-ELEMENTS.COM.

Advertisement

StyleELEMENTS OF

FALL/WINTER 2013/2014:

FOCUS ON GLAMOUR

BECHARMED PEARLS FROM THE FALL/WINTER 2013/2014 INNOVATIONS

Reflections on beauty is a glamour-focused style that invokes

refinement and allure.

PHOTO BY DONATO SARDELLA

MEMO PAD

WWDSTYLE

Bone’s BrigadeLOS ANGELES -- The opening of Rag & Bone’s latest West Coast outpost drew the usual pack of cool kids, rock star DJs and a pair of Hollywood stars in Reese Witherspoon and Cameron Diaz. For more, see page 14.

MEDIA WORLD CLOSURES: With Hurricane Sandy expected to bring unprecedented damage to the East Coast, media companies like Condé Nast and Hearst on Monday closed their offices and canceled a number of high-profile events.

Condé Nast president Bob Sauerberg was set to open the MediaNext conference with a keynote address at the Marriott Marquis in New York. The conference was scheduled through Wednesday, but it has now been moved to early January. WWD was due to hold its annual CEO Summit at The Plaza hotel on Monday and Tuesday, but postponed the event until later in the year. Hearst’s shelter titles — Elle Decor, Veranda and House Beautiful — moved their annual interior design showcase from Tuesday to Nov. 12. And Hearst Magazines president Michael Clinton canceled a benefit dinner for his charity, Circle of Generosity, that was scheduled for Tuesday night.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal closed their offices for nonessential personnel, but had teams of reporters covering the storm from the field — the Times’ main online report, which was updated throughout the day, alone had 27 bylines by the afternoon.

The two dailies, along with several others on the East Coast, like the Boston Globe and the Baltimore Sun, anticipated disruptions to deliveries and tore down their paywalls either entirely or for storm coverage.

Times reporters, filing from as far away as North Carolina, went into storm coverage mode with a bit of good news. After 20 months of negotiations, the Newspaper Guild said Sunday night it had reached a tentative agreement for a new contract with Times management. — ERIK MAZA

NOW FOR SALE: Readers asked for it, so fashion blogger Garance Doré is obliging: She’ll begin selling prints and posters of some fashion illustrations on her Web site in about two weeks. “I receive, like, 10 e-mails a day asking where they can buy the illustrations so I think it will be an interesting venture,” Doré said during an appearance at Neiman Marcus NorthPark Center in Dallas.

Doré plans to offer about a dozen of the digital drawings as posters and limited-edition art prints. “We want to do an exhibition in New York for the launch so people can see how the illustrations are presented and how good they look when they are printed.” The posters will start at $35. “I wanted something you can buy for a present and not be too crazy,” she said.

Doré styled and narrated a fashion show Thursday evening at Neiman’s that attracted about 150 people. — HOLLY HABER

BULL MARKET: El Toro Blanco is rewriting mexican cuisine cliches. Page 14.

WWD.COMWWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 201214

JOHN MCDONALD AND JOSH CAPON want to take the theme park out of Mexican dining.

At their new restaurant, El Toro Blanco, which opened earlier this month, don’t expect to see a maria-chi band, fluorescent stucco walls, pinatas or even large mounds of rice and refried beans served as side dishes.

Those conceptual clichés that typically plague Mexican restaurants are what McDonald, who co-owns the restaurant with Capon, means by “theme park.”

At El Toro Blanco, the star is the food, and the food is “fresh, well-priced, focused” and seafood-centric, ac-cording to Capon, who overseas the menu.

“We’re trying to give customers something more updat-ed,” Capon says, referring to the emphasis on the ingredi-ents rather than appetite fillers like chips and guacamole.

That’s somewhat of a departure from other moder-ately priced Mexican restaurants in the city, chimes in

McDonald, who helped launch Dos Caminos.

“We didn’t want this place to feel like any of the other Mexican restaurants, and that’s not a criticism,” he says, looking around the 2,500-square-foot space in the West Village. “Visually, it shouldn’t look or feel like anything that you’ve seen for Mexican food.”

The restaurant, which is decorated with vintage Spanish posters, velvet matador paintings, tangerine-accented lamps and wooden chairs made in the Sixties, has a retro-vibe that might not be typically Mexican, but it’s certainly evocative of a laid-back fish shack that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

“We’re not trying to be haute cuisine,” McDonald notes. “The market has grown for serious dining but that doesn’t

mean serious in the sense of being classical.”The duo, who are behind B&B Winepub

and Lure Fishbar, are well-versed in casual dining fit for foodies. “I consider myself a very talented chef, but one

thing that I pride myself on is that I don’t take myself too seriously, and I don’t take food too seriously,” Capon says. “You can go to Per Se and have the best meal of your life, but did you have a blast? No disrespect to what they do, because it’s very special, but it’s just not what we do.”

— ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

El Toro Blanco257 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, New York212-645-0193; eltoroblanco.tumblr.com.

Bull MarketEl Toro Blanco’s main dining area and Josh Capon and John McDonald.

RAG & BONE threw a party Friday to celebrate its new store in Los Angeles, not that much of the action was happening inside the store.

Instead, during the warm night, Hollywood heavyweights (Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz and Emma Roberts) collided with fashion’s elite (Cameron Silver, James Perse, Steven Kolb and Anna Wintour, there with daughter and party cohost Bee Shaffer) and enough hipsters to make Silver Lake jealous. One guest even dared to ask, “At what point is a tie too skinny to wear?”

On the carpet-covered parking lot behind the store, where the white wine was flowing, Karen O and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs spun tunes and a photo flipbook operation tested the limits of the Facebook generation’s self-portrait skills. When all that is gone, Marcus Wainwright was confident Rag & Bone would still be a draw.

“L.A.’s our second biggest market outside of New York, and they get what we do,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a different climate, but the sensibility is similar.”

Diaz had no doubt Rag & Bone’s L.A. flagship would do well. “Are you kidding? This is California. This is where jeans thrive. Jeans are going to be walking into the Rag & Bone store to buy jeans,” she declared.

Witherspoon chose a blue knee-length Rag & Bone dress for the party because she explained, “I just had a baby, so I’m happy for things that flatter.” She’s been doing her part to make the store successful. Already photographed out and about in L.A. with a Rag & Bone shopping bag, she enthused, “I wear the booties all the time. They are the best.”

— RACHEL BROWN

The R&B Crowd eye

Meritt Elliott and Emily Current Mandy Moore Cameron Silver PH

OTOS

BY

DONA

TO S

ARDE

LLA

PHOT

OS B

Y JO

HN A

QUIN

O

WWD.COMWWD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012 15

BON VOYAGE: Louis Vuitton plans to bring “the art of travel” to life in a new multi-media campaign slated to break in mid-November, WWD has learned. Featuring model Arizona Muse, the campaign was shot at the Louvre Museum in Paris in September by photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. Entitled “l’Invitation au voyage,” or “Invitation to Travel” in English, the campaign is to be rendered in print, film and digital versions.

In recent years, Vuitton has ramped up the profile of such “institutional” advertising — which reinforces its travel heritage and artisanal roots — as a complement to its fashion spots. These include its popular “core values” campaign that has featured personalities including Sean Connery, Angelina Jolie and Mikhail Gorbachev, and arty and dreamy cinema and television ads that ran in 2008 titled, “Where will life take you?” — MILES SOCHA

GREATEST HITS: New York-based denim and clothing brand R13 is giving Eighties rock band Journey a resurgence on a new line of T-shirts. “We were really inspired by vintage photos of girls rocking concert Ts and wanted to do a ‘luxurified’ version for R13, but the idea of faking concert graphics didn’t really appeal to us,” said a spokesperson for the label, whose design team prefers to remain anonymous. “We remembered that Journey’s [album] covers were one of our favorites.”

After some research, the team got in touch with Jim Welch — Journey’s former art director, responsible for a generous lot of the band’s cover album art and merchandise during its heyday — and worked with him for three months via e-mail to get the graphics right.

Welch told WWD the project was “a pleasure because of the confidence they placed in my ability to reinvent and deliver something of value and relevance.” The shirts, which come in sleeveless and three-quarter-length versions and range from $195 to $245, hit Net-a-Porter, Hirschleifers and more retailers next spring. — KRISTI GARCED

ARTISTIC TENDENCIES: James Jean, a former comic book artist who rose to fashion world prominence for his whimsical fairy-tale-themed illustrations for Prada, recently held court at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong to launch a special line of accessories and limited-edition items for the retailer.

The Taiwanese-American illustrator spent three days working on a live art installation for the store to coincide with the commercial launch of his special OVM-branded products, which went on sale Friday. The store hosted an opening cocktail that evening.

The artist was given free rein over the retailer’s project space Blitz, a freestanding glass box that sits in the Canton Road store. Jean adorned the room with white sketches of butterflies, foliage and whimsical creatures. “I want people to feel like they entered a different dimension or world, this surreal, dream-like space,” he said.

OVM, the artist’s quirky jewelry and accessories line, have put him in the spotlight. He launched the collection online last year.

“I was always looking to translate my art into three dimensions, but in a media that not many people were doing. I thought that jewelry was an interesting challenge,” said Jean.

Lane Crawford is the first retail space to carry his full OVM collection of accessories, which includes the most recent series of jewelry made from porcelain.

Jean also designed a limited-edition line of scarves, pouches and iPhone veils exclusively for Lane Crawford.

The collection’s colorful scarves feature a nude nymphlike character with impossibly long, wavelike tresses. Prices range from 250 Hong Kong dollars to 36,600 Hong Kong dollars, or $32 to $4,722.

Jean said he was impressed with the style of the Hong Kong women he encountered on his trip. “They are very sophisticated in a way. They aren’t afraid to combine different things together. Where I’m from people tend to be a little more conservative,” he explained. “Here, they are fearless.”

DISAPPOINTED: The label Made in Italy elicits pride from Milan to Palermo, and many Italian fashion and design leaders have long hoped for greater recognition of locally made products. It is not surprising then, that reacting to the European Commission’s dismissal of proposals to require explicit “made in” labels for all products coming into the EU, Michele Tronconi, president of fashion industry association Sistema Moda Italia, said he was “profoundly disappointed” by the decision.

“It affects me even more, because it couldn’t arrive at a worse time, with the textile and fashion industry struggling every day to get out from under the economic crisis and the decline in European consumption,” Tronconi said.

He lambasted the EU Commission for paying little attention to European workers, and for “promoting opaqueness and masochism instead of transparency and efficient regulations.”

The EU Commission’s decision came after years of convoluted discussion over appropriate regulation measures for imports. — CYNTHIA MARTENS

HONORING MATHRANI: Sandeep Mathrani, who 35 years ago emigrated by himself from India to Philadelphia at age 16 and has since lived the American dream, was honored by the American Jewish Committee’s Human Relations Award at a dinner last Monday drawing 1,100 real estate executives and retailers and raising more than $3.6 million for the organization.

“This must be like a bar mitzvah,” Mathrani, the chief executive officer of General Growth Properties, told the crowd before recounting how he got into real estate by buying a Nissan Sentra and selling it to get an apartment that he sold a year later at a profit, and how he was lucky to be mentored by two real estate giants, Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner, and Steven Ross of Vornado Realty Trust. “Ten percent of life is what you want to do,” Mathrani said. “Ninety percent is what you have to do. Surround yourself with people who have your best interests at heart.”

“He has an extraordinary ability to make deals,” said Ratner, who credited Mathrani with building Forest City’s retail business. “He’s smart, intense and a whiz with numbers. He has an openness to new ideas and believes the ups and downs of life are all teaching moments. I’ve seen him grow from a young man with dreams and ambitions to a thoughtful leader who motivates people.”

Roth described Mathrani’s career in three phases: development activities while at Forest City, acquisition to grow Vornado’s portfolio, and currently “curating” the portfolio at General Growth. But Roth added, “The secret sauce has always been lease, lease, lease.…He’s a business warrior wrapped in a very calm, peaceful veneer. He loves complexity but is always in control.”

— DAVID MOIN

SPONSOR NIGHT: Salvatore Ferragamo is setting foot in French cinema. The

Italian fashion brand, famous for its design shoes, is the main sponsor of the 30th edition of Florence’s French Film Festival, held Nov. 1 to 4 this year at the France Odeon theater on Piazza Strozzi. The festival will showcase recent French films in the original, and French ambassador to Italy Alain Le Roy will attend the opening.

“We’re very proud to be able to contribute to the creation of this important event, which has become an important reference point for the city’s culture and a star among its annual exhibitions,” said Ferruccio Ferragamo, president of the Salvatore Ferragamo Group. “From the beginning, Salvatore Ferragamo has had a very close relationship with the world of cinema, so much so that it became famous in the Twenties for the shoes my father made in Hollywood for the budding film industry.”

Early silver-screen Ferragamo fans included Mary Pickford, Joan Crawford and Rudolph Valentino, while in the Fifties and Sixties the brand counted Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Anna Magnani and Lauren Bacall among its clients.

More recently, Meryl Streep, Madonna and Nicole Kidman have worn Ferragamo footwear on screen. The company is currently hosting a Marilyn Monroe exhibit at its Museo Ferragamo in Florence. — C.M.

THINKING PINK: Bringing the storied fashion brand Schiaparelli back to life is taking more time than expected. At a luncheon in Paris on Thursday in honor of curator Dilys Blum, Schiaparelli spokeswoman Farida Khelfa said the first collection would probably be shown in “June or July” next year rather than January, as previously revealed. That’s because Schiaparelli’s owner, Italian business titan Diego Della Valle, has yet to select a designer for the project. “We hope soon,” Khelfa said, flashing a big smile.

Editors peppered Blum with questions about the late designer, Elsa, known for her use of shocking

pink and designs heavily influenced by Surrealist art. Asked why Schiaparelli stopped designing in 1954, Blum replied dryly: “She went bankrupt.” Blum also noted that the designer had multiple licensing deals, splashing her name on everything from mattresses to shower curtains.

“She’s the living memory of Schiaparelli,” Khelfa enthused, having just viewed an interview Schiaparelli accorded American television newscaster Charles Collingwood in the Sixties that Blum had unearthed.

Senior curator of costume and textiles at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Blum said her next project is a Patrick Kelly exhibition slated for 2014. She said the museum would show complete runway looks and videos of the ebullient American designer, who died in 1990 at age 35.

— M.S.

HATCHING FASHION: With the official release of her latest book “The Style Mentors” set for Nov. 1, Elyssa Dimant has no shortage of things to do. And yet Tuesday she helped launch Hatch magazine [set up as a tablet app.] As head of content at The Science Project, she edited the magazine that is fully shoppable for readers. (The Science Project, a digital agency that specializes in e-commerce and retail digital installation, created Lady Gaga’s tweet-powered windows at Barneys New York.)

But back to the book. Francisco Costa, Harold Koda, and Lori Goldstein have given the Harper Collins tome their seal of approval. But Dimant hopes readers will reap the rewards. “The Style Mentors” homes in on eight timeless fashion looks, highlights the celebrities and socialites who embody them and then presents must-have items and style tips. Rihanna, Jean Seberg, Tory Burch, Daphne Guinness and Clémence Poésy are among the mentors singled out in Dimant’s book.

— R.F.

FASHION SCOOPS

COMMERCIALREAL ESTATE

SpacesFor more career opportunities log on to WWDCareers.com.

(800) 423-3314, or email fpclassified@fairchildpub.com

Showrooms & LoftsBWAY 7TH AVE SIDE STREETS

Great ’New’ Office Space AvailADAMS & CO. 212-679-5500

PATTERNS, SAMPLES,PRODUCTIONS

Full service shop to the trade.Fine fast work. 212-869-2699

FABRIC SOURCING & DEVELOPMENTWomen’s outerwear company lookingfor an experience fabric sourcing anddevelopment person. will work closelywith design team, must have goodcommunication skills, excellent follow-up, Placing and tracking all samplingfabrics, Liaising with mills and build-ing /maintaining strong relationships,responsible for lab dip, sampling yard-age color and quality approvals, alsomaintain fabric resource library. Email

Deirdre@thelevygroupinc.com

Seeking a dynamic Sales Coordinatorfor its Wholesale Division in NYC.Must be creative, organized and a self-starter! Fashion, sales and customerservice experience required. Whole-sale experience is a big plus. Great op-portunity and growth potential for theright candidate! Please send CV to

hr@wantagencyinc.com

For more infomation contact Pamela Firestone at 212.630.3935 or pamela_firestone@fairchildfashion.com

YEARinfAshionALL OF THE STYLE, SCANDAL, CELEBRITY AND BUSINESS OF 2012. PLUS EDITORS REVEAL THE WWD NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR.

ISSUE DATE: DEC. 10 CLOSE DATE: NOV. 26