WWD MILESTONES: COTY AT 100/SECTION II Women’sWWD Wear Daily • The Retailers’ FRIDAYDaily Newspaper • September 3, 2004 • $2.00 Beauty LeNEW YORK — TParisout Hilton, the media’s Paris favorite bad girl, just can’t stay out of the spotlight. Having starred in her own reality TV show and that infamous video, the hotel heiress is stepping into the world of fashion and beauty with a vengeance. No sooner had she launched a signature jewelry line on Amazon.com than she was talking of visions of a fashion empire, including jeans, sweatsuits, shoes and color cosmetics. In the meantime, she also found time to produce her own fragrance, pictured here and called — inevitably — Paris Hilton. For more, see story on page 6. Polet’s Debut for Gucci: CEO Lauds ‘Mini-Boom’ As Profits Climb 33% By Robert Murphy PARIS — Robert Polet has spent the last two months getting a crash course in luxury, Gucci style — and so far, the Dutchman likes what he sees. The former Unilever frozen-foods honcho on Thursday delivered an upbeat assessment of his new job as Gucci Group’s chief executive, praising its brands, business fundamentals and entrepreneurial spirit, but stopping short of providing a strategic plan. He isn’t expected to table that until December. “I’ve been around the world in 60 days,” said a relaxed and charismatic See PPR, Page14 The Economy in the Spotlight: August Comps/10 GOP Wrap-Up/12 PHOTO BY JOHN AQUINO, STYLED BY BRYN KENNY STYLED BY JOHN AQUINO, PHOTO BY 2 WWD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2004 Esprit’s spacious store in the Flatiron district. WWDFRIDAY Beauty GENERAL PPR’s net income shot up 61.5 percent to 191.1 million euros, boosted by 1 luxury goods, but was well shy of expectations of about 360 million euros. Esprit opened a 10,000-square-foot unit at 110 Fifth Avenue on Thursday, 2 marking a return to retailing in the U.S. for the German sportswear brand. BEAUTY: There aren’t many public acts left unexplored for Paris Hilton, and 6 come November the hotel heiress can cross “fragrance launch” off her list. SUZY IS ON VACATION Coty’s Century of Beauty, Section II, appears in this edition. WWD will not be published Monday in observance of Labor Day. Classified Advertisements........................................................................15 To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is [email protected], using the individual’s name. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF FAIRCHILD PUBLICATIONS, INC. COPYRIGHT ©2004 FAIRCHILD PUBLICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 188, NO. 49. WWD (ISSN # 0149-5380) is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional PHOTO BY DAVID TURNER DAVID PHOTO BY issue in January, May, June and November; two additional issues in February, April, September, October and December; and three additional issues in March and August, by Fairchild Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Advance Publications, Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 7 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001. Shared Services provided by Advance Magazine Publishers Inc.: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Steven T. Florio, Vice Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, C.O.O.; John W. Bellando, Executive Vice-President and C.F.O.; Jill Bright, Executive Vice-President_Human Resources; John Buese, Executive Vice-President_ Chief Information Officer; David Orlin, Senior Vice-President_Strategic Sourcing; Robert Bennis, Senior Vice-President_Real Estate; David B. Chemidlin, Senior Vice- President_General Manager, Advance Magazine Group Shared Services Center. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40032712. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 88654-9096-RM0001. Canada post return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3. Esprit Relaunches U.S. Retail POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008. The company recently reorganized its U.S. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WOMEN’S WEAR By David Moin DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008; Call 800-289-0273; or visit www.subnow.com/wd . Four weeks is team so it can increase volume. The brand still is required for change of address. Please give both new and old address as printed on most recent label. First copy of new NEW YORK — Esprit has returned to retailing in widely recognized in the States despite its small subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production the U.S. wholesale volume and the absence of Esprit correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 7 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001. For permissions and reprint requests, please call 212-221-9595 or fax requests to 212-221-9195. Visit us online: www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild The German-based sportswear brand’s roller- stores for three years. magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully coaster ride stateside took a positive turn The new store at 110 Fifth Avenue, which has screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive Thursday with the debut of a 10,000-square-foot 6,800 square feet of selling space, is aiming for 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 LOSS, DAMAGE, OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO UNSOLICITED unit at 110 Fifth Avenue, at 16th Street. sales productivity levels in line with other stores MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND Esprit, intensifying its bid to reestablish itself in the Flatiron district, which Griffith said yield TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART in the U.S., said a lease also has been signed for $700 to $800 per square foot. He wouldn’t give a WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WWD IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE 583 Broadway at Prince Street in Manhattan’s specific volume projection. ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED OVERNIGHT-DELIVERY RETURN ENVELOPE, POSTAGE PREPAID. SoHo, a 8,500-square-foot location on the former The space has a spare, loft-like character, with ex- site of the New Museum. In addition, Esprit has posed brick walls, vaulted ceilings and arched win- picked out space at a Manhattan mall but has not dows that peak at 19 feet. When Emporio Armani oc- completed the deal. cupied the site — an 1899 landmark McKim, Mead “People in this area need to rediscover and White building — much of the original architec- Quote of the Week Esprit,” said Jerome Griffith, executive director ture was hidden and the columns were wrapped in and chief operating officer of the company, which Sheetrock. “We gutted the whole place,” Griffith said. has its main business operations near Düsseldorf Just past the entrance, a column wrapped in “They were great. and financial operations in Hong Kong. Esprit, a mosaic tiling and a steel plate that’s laser cut with 36-year-old brand, is owned by Esprit Holdings the Esprit inscription provide visual impact, as do Mary-Kate was very Ltd., a Hong Kong-based, publicly traded firm. the frosted glass and frosted plexiglass display ta- Esprit is continuing to seek leases in the bles, illuminated from within. dignified about Northeast, generally in the 4,000- to 5,000-square- Now the store is completely open, with sight foot range, Griffith said. He declined to identify lines from front to rear, a stretch of 120 feet for a what happened last the mall site in Manhattan. Already, Esprit signed sense of depth and brand magnitude. The leases for stores opening this fall and through women’s clothes are on the right, representing summer. She didn’t December in New Jersey’s Menlo Park Mall, about two thirds of the assortment, and men’s Freehold Raceway Mall and Bridgewater lines are on the left. There’s an Elixir shop to the even mention the Commons, as well as Palisades Center in West right of the entrance selling smoothies, juices, Nyack, N.Y. An outlet will also open in Woodbury espresso, muffins and other snacks. summer, which was Common in Central Valley, N.Y. The core of the business resides in four compo- “By year three, we hope to go back to the West nents: the Casual and Collection lines for men and very impressive.” Coast,” where Esprit has its roots, Griffith said. women, with jeans, cotton pants, and T-shirts among The brand, founded in San Francisco by Doug and the bestsellers. Price ranges for Collection are — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, commenting on how Suzie Tompkins, grew stale after the breakup of its pants, $79-$129; jackets, $149-$249, and blouses $49- the twins performed Tuesday night at the founders and ownership changes. It has been reposi- $99. The range for Casual is pants $59-$99; jackets, tioned in the U.S., primarily as a better contemporary $99-$149, and blouses, $39-$59. Esprit also offers edc, Republican National Convention. label, from its origins in juniors, and there is only a juniors line, but that’s not a growth priority in the about a $12 million wholesale operation in the U.S. U.S., though it’s big in Europe and the company However, the distribution in Europe and Asia is plans to sell it in SoHo, but not on Fifth Avenue.