BARNEYS DOWN TO THE WIRE/3 TESCO’S APPAREL PUSH/10 WWDWomen’s Wear Daily •WEDNESDAY The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • November 3, 2004 • $2.00 Sportswear Lap of Luxury LOS ANGELES — Understated luxury speaks volumes this spring, as breezy silhouettes in pale hues get a touch of luxe metallic details to add to the air of poolside chic. Here, for example, Abaeté’s cotton gauze caftan and Maxstudio.com’s cotton and silk voile tunic. For more, see pages 8 and 9. Jumping Into the Pool: Jessica Simpson Joins Fashion’s Celeb Wave By Lisa Lockwood INEAGENCY.COM; STYLED BY MONICA SCHWEIGER STYLED BY INEAGENCY.COM; NEW YORK — Clearly it doesn’t matter whether Chicken of the Sea is chicken or tuna — for Jessica Simpson, it’s all Y JUANITA LYON/CELEST Y JUANITA leading to a lifestyle brand. Simpson, the multiplatinum singer and reality TV star, as well as a fixture at the recent round of runway shows here, has signed a multilevel master licensing deal with Andrew Kirpalani, chairman of JS Brand Management, a newly formed ASKEY/M MANAGEMENT; HAIR AND MAKEUP B ASKEY/M MANAGEMENT; company to develop, market and distribute various categories under the Jessica Simpson and Sweet Kisses brand names. See Jessica, Page19 T THE PARKER PALM SPRINGS; MODEL: ROSIE O’L PALM T THE PARKER PHOTO BY JEREMY GOLDBERG A PHOTO BY 2 WWD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2004 WWW.WWD.COM WWDWEDNESDAY Sportswear Wal-Mart’s China Growth Under Way GENERAL Pop star Jessica Simpson has signed a multitiered licensing deal with JS NEW YORK — As requirements “We do not see ourselves, and 1 Brand Management for a slew of fashion and beauty categories for foreign retailers doing busi- have no immediate plans, to ness in China are expected to move away from a partnership As requirements for foreign retailers doing business in China are expected loosen next month, Wal-Mart structure,” Reuters quoted Wal- 2 to loosen next month, Wal-Mart looks to open 10 stores there next year. Stores Inc. is poised to expand Mart chief executive officer, Lee A new player has emerged as a potential bidder for Barneys New York, its presence there. Scott, as saying. 3 WWD has learned. The company expects to open “Wal-Mart evolved by starting at least 10 stores in China in 2005, in smaller cities and moving into SUZY: Halloween Hijinks around the world… Man on a ‘Mission’…Bad according to an initial Reuters the larger cities. China’s been a 6 Material Girl another time around? report filed early Tuesday follow- little bit of the reverse of that,” FASHION: Poolside looks that are perfect for lounging around in style ing the opening of Wal-Mart’s said Joe Hatfield, ceo of Wal- this spring. 40th store in that country. The Mart Asia, at a news conference 8 Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer in Beijing. “We visited many previously said it plans to oper- provincial cities over the last Classified Advertisements ..................................................................15-19 ate 43 stores in China by the end three to four months in prepara- To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is of this year. tion for approval from Beijing.” [email protected], using the individual's name. In December, Beijing will According to its Web site, Wal- give foreign retailers greater ac- Mart entered China in August 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. next year and have a total of 23 VOLUME 188, NO. 95. WWD (ISSN # 0149-5380) is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional units by the end of the year, ac- issue in January, May, June and November; two additional issues in February, April, September, October and December; and three cording to Reuters. additional issues in March and August, by Fairchild Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Advance Publications, Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 7 Wal-Mart evolved by starting in West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001. Shared Services provided by Advance Magazine Publishers Inc.: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Metro AG said in an Oct. 29 Steven T. Florio, Vice Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, C.O.O.; John W. Bellando, Executive Vice-President and C.F.O.; Jill Bright, “ press release discussing third- Executive Vice-President_Human Resources; John Buese, Executive Vice-President_ Chief Information Officer; David Orlin, Senior smaller cities and moving into the larger quarter results that it plans to 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 spend 1.8 billion euros in over- additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40032712. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration cities. China’s been a little bit of the all international expansion in No. 88654-9096-RM0001. Canada post return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3. the fourth quarter. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. 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To subscribe to other Fairchild cess to China’s retail sector by 1996 when it opened a super- press ahead” with its internation- magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully cutting geographic and joint center and Sam’s Club in alization strategy in the future. screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive venture requirements along Shenzhen. The company now has And France’s Carrefour SA 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 with minimum turnover and 34 supercenters, three Sam’s said last week it would expand its MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND asset criteria. Clubs and two Neighborhood presence in China by adding TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART Wal-Mart will likely continue Markets and employs more than about 20 hypermarkets in the 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 to partner with Chinese firms, 20,000 associates in the country. country as well as expand its ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED OVERNIGHT-DELIVERY RETURN ENVELOPE, POSTAGE PREPAID. however, as it looks for opportu- Globally, Wal-Mart operates Champion supermarket business. nities in the outskirts of China’s more than 5,000 stores. The retailer expects to operate 10 bigger cities. According to Meanwhile, another interna- to 15 Champion-branded stores in Reuters, the company has in- tional retailer, Germany-based China by 2005. The company has vested 1.6 billion yuan, or rough- Metro AG, said Monday it will 53 stores in China already. ly $193 million, in China. open 10 more stores in China — Meredith Derby In Brief ● NO LUCK: If Fin.part thought that switching auditors would help it get its accounts approved, the financially troubled compa- ny was wrong. Fin.part said that auditing firm Mazars & Guérard was unable to “express a judgment” on the company’s balance Antidumping Cases in WTO Brazilian Salvo sheet for the six months ended June 30. Earlier this year, Fin.part switched auditing firms after KPMG failed to certify Fin.part’s accounts three times in a row. As reported, Fin.part, In Cotton War which owns Cerruti and Frette, has defaulted on its bonds and is Target Textiles and Apparel seeking about 80 million euros, or $102.05 million at current ex- GENEVA — Brazil on Tuesday change, from banks to carry out a restructuring plan. Fin.part By John Zarocostas managing apparel imports. filed a counter-appeal in the on- said it is finalizing deals to rent out and possibly eventually sell The U.S. launched two inves- going World Trade Organization assets at Frette and sportswear company Pepper Industries. It GENEVA — Nine of the 101 an- tigations into imports of South spat over the U.S.’s payments to said it is in talks to strike a similar deal for Cerruti. Fin.part said tidumping cases brought be- Korean and Taiwanese poly- its cotton growers. its net financial debt stood at 341.13 million euros, or $435.15 mil- fore the World Trade Organ- ester staple fiber. In September, the WTO ruled lion, at the end of September. ization during the first half of World trade in textiles and that more than $2 billion in out- the year concerned textiles apparel is worth more than $320 lay by the U.S.