NEWSPAPER 2ND CLASS $2.99 VOLUME 74, NUMBER 46 NOVEMBER 9–15, 2018 THE VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY FOR 73 YEARS MY FAIR LADY Los Angeles designer Ali Rahimi organized a fashion show with evening gowns, cocktail dresses and other silhouettes for a fund-raising event to combat cancer. For more looks, see page 7. ROBERTINO Beverly Center’s INSIDE: Will Dover Street Market SM $500-Million Remodel Where fashion gets down to business Jolt the Arts District Scene? Brings In More Fashion By Andrew Asch Retail Editor By Andrew Asch Retail Editor Once a blighted, sparsely populated warehouse area, downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District has blossomed with chic The wrap-up of a $500-million remodel of the Beverly 4 restaurants, creative office spaces and lofts. Center paved the way to usher in a new slate of high-profile 3 Many expected that the burgeoning neighborhood would boutiques inside the Los Angeles mall, which serves the Fast Retailing and sustainable jeans ... p. 2 have been a natural for boutique retail with an experimental fashion-savvy neighborhoods of West Hollywood and Bev- edge. But fashion retail has experienced successes and failures erly Hills. Centric Brands’ perks to CEO ... p. 2 in the area, bordered by East Los Angeles, downtown’s Little Taking over a spot once occupied by the Hard Rock Cafe Retail sales ... p. 2 Tokyo, Skid Row and the Industrial District. in the 1980s and later Bed Bath and Beyond, the multi- But fashion retail may have received a big vote of con- brand emporium The Webster will open an 11,000-square- FIDM honors costume designer ... p. 8 fidence recently when Dover Street Market opened in a foot flagship at the shopping center in 2020. Sustainable Resources ... p. 9 remodeled warehouse at 606–608 Imperial St. The unique ➥ Beverly Center page 6 www.apparelnews.net ➥ Dover St. Market page 3 INSIDE THIS ISSUE 01,3,6..cover.indd 1 11/8/18 4:59 PM NEWS Hudson Jeans Parent Company Provides Inducement to New CEO and Hires a New CFO Centric Brands, the new name of the operational positions with Burberry, Mexx The grants were not made under the com- Centric Brands is now headquartered in company that now owns the Hudson, Joe’s Europe Holding and Liz Claiborne Inc. pany’s 2016 stock-incentive compensation New York with offices in Los Angeles, Mon- Jeans, Robert Graham and other labels, “We are thrilled to have a seasoned re- plan but are subject to the same terms and treal and Greensboro, N.C. has hired a new chief financial officer and tail executive like Anurup join our team as conditions as the 2016 plan. The company was formed in October af- offered its new chief executive a hefty finan- we begin to build and grow Centric Brands. Centric Brands’ stock, which is listed on ter Differential Brands acquired for $1.2 bil- cial incentive package to remain with the With more than 25 years of experience span- the Nasdaq, was most recently being traded lion a significant part of the Global Brands company over the next three years. ning numerous financial and operational for $5.80 a share. Group’s licensing business in North Amer- Centric Brands, formerly known as the roles at large retail and consumer-branded Thirty percent of the restricted-stock ica. Rabin was the former president of the Los Angeles–based Differential Brands, companies across the globe, Anurup brings units will vest on Dec. 31, 2019, another 30 Global Brands Group North America. has hired Anurup Pruthi as the company’s extensive knowledge and expertise to our percent will vest on Dec. 21, 2020, and the The brands that made up Global Brands’ new chief financial officer. Most recently, executive team,” said Centric Brands Chief remaining 40 percent will vest on Dec. 31, North American licenses included Cal- Pruthi was the chief financial officer at Executive Jason Rabin. 2021, subject to Rabin’s continued employ- vin Klein, Under Armour, Tommy Hil- the childrenswear retailer The Children’s Rabin, who was named chief executive of ment with the company, provided his em- figer, BCBG, Joe’s Jeans, Buffalo Da- Place, which has more than 1,000 stores the new Centric Brands company in October, ployment is not terminated by the company. vid Bitton, Frye, Michael Kors, Kate around the world. was offered a generous financial incentive If Rabin is terminated without cause or Spade, All Saints, Cole Haan, Kenneth Before working at The Children’s Place, package to accept the job, the company an- for good reason, the settlement will take Cole and entertainment properties includ- Pruthi was the chief financial officer of the nounced in a press release. place 30 days after the termination. ing Disney, Marvel and Nickelodeon. retail subsidiary of Reliance Industries, Rabin is being offered 4.1 million restrict- For the performance stock units, each Differential Brands, which used to own based in India, and the chief executive of the ed-stock units with respect to the company’s 33.33 percent will vest on Dec. 31 in 2019, Joe’s Jeans before it sold the label, had a Future Group business consulting and ser- stock, $.10 par value and 500,000 perfor- 2020, and 2021. In the case of termination, handful of labels that included SWIMS, vices company. mance stock units with respect to the com- any PSUs not issued will become vested on Robert Graham and Hudson. He has had senior executive financial and mon stock. the date his employment ends. —Deborah Belgum J Brand Parent Company Brings New Sustainable Wash Process to Denim The Japanese parent company of Los a better environment for workers, the Fast Innovation Center. “We will utilize the tech- Uniqlo and J Brand will be produced with Angeles –based J Brand and Japanese brand Retailing Group has also introduced lasers as nical capabilities and economies of scale of this method. Uniqlo has developed a new nanobubbles- a replacement for the hand-scraping process the Fast Retailing Group to contribute to the By 2020, the company would like to re- and-ozone-based wash process for its denim traditionally used to distress denim. realization of a sustainable society.” duce its water consumption by 977.4 million brands that will reduce water consumption “We believe that jeans manufactured not Used for the 2018 Fall/Winter J Brand gallons of water during its production of 40 by up to 99 percent. only with a focus on design and comfort but sustainable capsule collection and Uniqlo’s million jeans, which will rely on the new The Fast Retailing Group announced its also under conditions that are environmental- regular-fit men’s jeans, the technology will technology. The company has also replaced most recent advancement in manufacturing ly friendly and protect the rights of the work- be applied to approximately 33 percent of the industry-standard pumice stone with an was discovered by its research-and-develop- ers involved in the production process are tru- Fast Retailing’s annual production in 2019, artificial alternative to reduce pollution. ment team, based at the FR Jeans Innova- ly good products and that pursing such jeans which means 10 million pairs of jeans from —Dorothy Crouch tion Center facility in Los Angeles. production will lead to a brighter future,” said Expanding its ethical initiatives to include Masaaki Matsubara, director of the FR Jeans RETAIL SALES Halloween Does Not Spook Nor Excite Retail Sales in October Halloween was forecast to be robust for forecasted its shares would dip $0.17 for the retailers, but October sales did not go be- third quarter, which included a $20 million yond okay, according to Jeff Van Sinderen, pretax charge for closing its Henri Bendel a retail analyst for B.Riley FBR. division. “We believe that traffic was generally on Mall-based action sports retailer Zumiez the soft side at bricks-and-mortar in Octo- Inc. saw its same-store sales in October inch ber,” Van Sinderen said. “There were some up 1.6 percent. Its net sales for the month positive comps, albeit not all were especially robust.” But soft October sales were October Retail Sales nothing to be anxious over. “Re- $Sales % Change Same-store tail has pretty much been in the (in millions) from yr. ago sales % change typical seasonal doldrums in re- The Buckle $64.50 -2.5% -1.0% cent weeks, before the holiday L Brands Inc. $860.50 +8.0% +4.0% kicks in,” he said. Zumiez Inc. $61.90 +0.6% +1.6% Van Sinderen forecast that Cato Corp. $62.10 0.0% -1.0% retail sales would start increas- Information from company reports ing as Black Friday approaches, the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is the traditional start of the holiday were $61.9 million compared with $61.5 shopping season. million in October 2017. Van Sinderen, however, said there was Value retailer Cato Corp.’s October no significant Halloween boost. “It fell on a same-store sales dipped 1 percent with net Wednesday, which is sort of meh,” he said. sales of $62.1 million. John Cato, the retail- “When it [Halloween] falls on a weekend, it er’s chairman, blamed extreme weather for typically gets an outsize boost.” the decline. “October same-store sales were But business was decent at the stores. Ken below our expectations,” he said. “However, Perkins, president of the market-research same-store sales in October had a slight neg- company Retail Metrics Inc., noted in his ative impact from Hurricane Michael, caus- monthly report that the stock market was in ing business disruption and closed stores.” turmoil in October, but that was offset by In October, mall retailer The Buckle Inc., 250,000 new jobs being added to the U.S.