The Fashion Vote NEW YORK — It’S Not 1954, It’S 2004
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WARNACO TAPS INTIMATE APPAREL TEAM/3 WWDWomen’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’TUESDAY Daily Newspaper • November 2, 2004 • $2.00 Ready-to-Wear/Textiles The Fashion Vote NEW YORK — It’s not 1954, it’s 2004. So why do we think that First Ladies need to dress only in namby- pamby jewel-colored suits? True, we have elected our First Lady’s husband President, and we haven’t voted for her, but that doesn’t mean that the woman in question can’t wear something more exciting. So WWD approached some New York designers and asked them to design new looks for both potential First Ladies. Here, Oscar de la Renta, who has actually dressed both women (along with Hillary Clinton), offers an evening suit for Teresa Heinz Kerry and a gown for Laura Bush. For more designers’ ideas, see pages 4 and 5. 2 WWD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2004 WWW.WWD.COM WWDTUESDAY McCartney Trims U.K. Loss Ready-to-Wear/Textiles GENERAL By Samantha Conti stantial part of the costs — most of which are administrative — Warnaco named two key executive posts in its intimate apparel unit and LONDON — Stella McCartney and generates a small part of the 3 has embarked on a line of high-tech performance underwear. Ltd., the U.K. company that over- revenue,” James McArthur, exec- FASHION: What might the next White House fashion mood be? Designers sees the designer’s trademarks, utive vice president of Gucci 4 sketch something fun for both potential first ladies. licenses and London store, post- Group, said in an interview. ed a loss of 3.9 million pounds, or McArthur, who said the bulk EYE: Peter and Jacqui Getty hosted 400 frightful guests for a Halloween bash $7 million, in the year ended Jan. of the McCartney business comes 7 at their Hollywood home…Cartier dazzles at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts. 31. This compares with a loss of from wholesale sales, noted the RTW: Shrunken jackets and special occasion dresses have been big hits at 4.5 million pounds, or $8.1 mil- bigger picture was far brighter. 8 retail this fall, according to a spot check of retailers. lion, in the previous year. He said he expects the company Sales in the period rose over to reach “solid profitability” TEXTILES: South Korean textile manufacturers are turning to fabrics with five times to 2.5 million pounds, within the next three years. 9 special properties in order to compete in the post-quota world. or $4.5 million, from 434,611 “The 2.5 million-pound turn- Executives from Sean “P. Diddy” Combs to Roger Milliken have helped pounds, or $782,300. The figures over for Stella McCartney Ltd., as 12 produce a groundswell of new voters and predictions of a big turnout today. do not include sales from whole- shown in these accounts, is not sale accounts, or flagships in New indicative of the scale, resonance Classified Advertisements ..................................................................14-15 Yo rk and Los Angeles. Currency Stella or momentum of the brand on a conversions were made at the McCartney consolidated worldwide basis,” To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is current exchange rate. he added. [email protected], using the individual’s name. “The directly operated stores claim of Stella’s recent collection McArthur said the company WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF FAIRCHILD PUBLICATIONS, INC. COPYRIGHT ©2004 as well as the wholesale and li- by buyers and the world’s fash- was on track to achieve total rev- FAIRCHILD PUBLICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 188, NO. 94. WWD (ISSN # 0149-5380) is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional censed businesses are perform- ion press,” said Robert Polet, enues in excess of 30 million issue in January, May, June and November; two additional issues in February, April, September, October and December; and three ing in line or better than our ex- chief executive of Gucci Group. euros, or $38.1 million, for the fis- additional issues in March and August, by Fairchild Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Advance Publications, Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 7 pectations and we are further “The U.K. is just one part of cal year ending Jan. 31, 2005. That 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, encouraged with the critical ac- the puzzle and it absorbs a sub- would represent a 50 percent in- Executive Vice-President_Human Resources; John Buese, Executive Vice-President_ Chief Information Officer; David Orlin, Senior crease in overall sales last year, Vice-President_Strategic Sourcing; Robert Bennis, Senior Vice-President_Real Estate; David B. Chemidlin, Senior Vice- which were 20 million euros, or 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 $25.4 million, in the year ended No. 88654-9096-RM0001. Canada post return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3. Jan. 31, 2004. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008. “The overall news is actually FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008; Call 800-289-0273; or visit www.subnow.com/wd . Four weeks is great. The business has gone required for change of address. Please give both new and old address as printed on most recent label. First copy of new from zero to 30 million euros in subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production revenue in two and a half years. 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 It has developed into a substan- magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully tial business in a short period of screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive time. And we manage it in a very 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 STRETCH JERSEY disciplined way. MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND All of the Stella McCartney Ltd. TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART figures will be deposited with WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED Companies House, the central TO DO SO BY WWD IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE NY: 212-868-4188 LA: 213-627-9055 www.britanniamills.net ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED OVERNIGHT-DELIVERY RETURN ENVELOPE, POSTAGE PREPAID. registry for U.K. businesses, today. Specify TAC on your Tech Packs In Brief ● DEAL COMPLETE: Christopher & Banks Corp. said Monday after the stock market closed that it has completed the acquisition of 21 Acorn stores from Gilmore Brothers Inc. for $7 million in cash. The & see the Savings! Acorn stores, located in nine states, sell women’s apparel, jewelry and accessories under private and branded labels. “Acorn pro- vides us a differentiated yet complementary retail concept, which will enhance our strategic growth plans by allowing us to reach a more upscale customer demographic,” said Bill Prange, chief ex- ecutive officer of Christopher & Banks, in a statement. The compa- ny first said it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Acorn on Sept. 28. At that time, management anticipated the acquisition would add $3.5 million in revenues in the fourth quarter and be di- lutive to fourth-quarter earnings by 1 cent a share. Minneapolis- based Christopher & Banks currently operates 463 Christopher & Banks and 150 C.J. Banks women’s specialty stores. ● THREADGILL JOINS TROPICAL: Ronald Threadgill has joined Tropical Sportswear International as senior vice president of global logistics, with responsibility for planning, purchasing and sourcing. He takes over many of the duties previously handled by Frank Maccarrone, who left Tropical as executive vice president and chief operating officer last month. Threadgill comes to Tropical from Levi Strauss & Co., where his last post was direc- tor of sourcing for the launch of Levi Strauss Signature and di- rector of manufacturing operations for Levi’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. ● WELLMAN’S POLY PRICING: Wellman Inc. plans to raise by 6 cents the price of a pound of its polyester staple fiber products — used in apparel, home furnishings and other goods — by Jan. 2. The rise will come in two waves, with a 3 cent price bump applied to Nov. 28 shipments and another 3 cent upswing for the petrole- um-based fiber kicking in for the new year. “Polyester raw materi- al costs continue to rise on a monthly basis, setting new record highs,” Joe Tucker, vice president of the fibers and recycled prod- ucts group, said in a statement. “The industry has also experi- enced sharp increases in energy costs.