Playing Tennis
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BLUEFLY’S NEW BUZZ/2 POST-EMMY COVERAGE/9-17 WWDWomen’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ TUESDAYDaily Newspaper • September 23, 2003 Vol. 186, No. 62 $2.00 Ready-to-Wear/Textiles Lena Olin and Jennifer Garner on the red carpet. Playing Tennis NEW YORK — Sporty, languid and elegant might seem to be contradictory terms, but they all came together in the athletic elements of Ralph Lauren’s spring collection. No one can create a Gatsby moment quite like Lauren, and he proved it with a stunning opening lineup that would have been ideal for Daisy Buchanan. There was a white cabled varsity sweater elongated into a flippy little dress, for example, and a baseball-inspired, pinstriped leather suit. Here, a sequined silk sweater over a little stretch silk tennis dress. For more on New York, see pages 6 and 7; a look at the London shows on page 8. The Countdown to 2005: As U.S. Industry Quakes, China Has Its Own Fears By Constance Haisma-Kwok HONG KONG — The numbers are staggering: Last year, Chinese textile manufacturers produced 5.3 million tons of textiles, nearly one-quarter of the world’s output. For More on Sourcing Horizons, See Pages 19 to 30. China, the world’s largest cotton producer, accounted for 24 percent of the world’s total output of $121 billion. There are currently 70,000 textile and clothing enterprises in China. With Chinese textile exports equaling $7.07 billion in 2002, there’s little wonder See 2005, Page28 PHOTO BY THOMAS IANNACCONE PHOTO BY 2 WWD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2003 WWDTUESDAY Bluefly Appoints President Ready-to-Wear/Textiles By David Moin Melissa Payner- sportswear business called GENERAL Gregor Pivot Rules. FASHION: Reports from the last of the New York runway season as well as NEW YORK — Bluefly might Payner-Gregor was president 6 the opening moments from the London collections. have found a faster path to prof- and ceo of the Spiegel catalog Chinese authorities are growing concerned that many of their enterprises, itability. The Web site has hired until last March when the par- which are undergoing privatization, will be unable to compete post-2005. a top merchant after operating ent Spiegel Inc. filed Chapter 11 1 without one for its entire five- bankruptcy, but the troubles Bluefly has hired a top merchant, Melissa Payner-Gregor, as president, after year history. were pegged to a corporate 2 operating without one for its entire five-year history. On Monday, Melissa Payner- credit crunch, rather than hav- As part of a major restructuring plan, Fila has laid off 550 of its 1,900 Gregor joined as president. It’s ing anything to do with Spiegel a new position at Bluefly, an off- merchandising specifically. 5 employees, representing 29 percent of its global workforce. price Internet retailer of design- She started her career in the Exhibitors at last week’s Première Vision showcased an abundance of er apparel, accessories, shoes training program at the now-de- 31 novelty looks and strong pops of color, lending a renewed enthusiasm. and home merchandise, and one funct I. Magnin, became a of the few survivors of the dot- sweater buyer at Ann Taylor, EYE: Parties on both sides of the pond…Bringing new life to an old bar in com blow-up. Ken Seiff, who then shifted to Henri Bendel, 4 London…A really big shoe. continues as chief executive, where, as a divisional merchan- Post-Emmy Awards coverage appears on pages 9-17. has always served as top mer- dise manager, she developed a chant, though he never had private label collection. Subse- Sourcing Horizons: The Eastern View, a special report, is on pages 19-30. prior retail experience. Before quently, she started up Pastille, a Classified Advertisements ..................................................................38-39 founding Bluefly, Seiff ran a golf Continued on page 35 To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is [email protected], using the individual's name. SUBSCRIPTION RATES U.S. and possessions, Retailer, daily one year, $99; Manufacturer, daily one year, $135. All others U.S., daily one year $195. Canada/Mexico, daily one year, $295. All other foreign (Air Speed), daily one year $595. Please allow 6-8 weeks for service to start. Individual subscription information/Single Copy Sales : (800) 289-0273; outside U.S. (818) 487-4526; new group subscription information 212-630-4196 Versace Names Interim CEO Postmaster: Send address changes to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008. WWD (ISSN #0149-5380) is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional By Amanda Kaiser also was expanded to include 31, 2002, compared with a profit issue every month except July, and two additional issues in April and September and three in August, by Fairchild Luxottica ceo Leonardo Del of $8.3 million, or 7.3 million Publications, Inc. a subsidiary of Advance Publications Inc., 7 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001-8191. WWD is a registered trademark of Fairchild Publications Inc.© 2003 by Fairchild Publications Inc., MILAN — Versace, which is im- Vecchio. Cacciatori is also ceo of euros, in 2001. a subsidiary of Advance Publications Inc. All rights reserved. plementing an industrial plan to A&G Consulting, the firm that The state of Versace’s business No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, cut costs and trim losses, ap- helped Versace develop and has generated considerable local including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing by the copyright owner. Editorial Reprints: (212) 221-9595 pointed a interim chief executive carry out its new industrial plan. press. In June, Santo Versace, Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and other offices. to carry out that mission. That blueprint, covering president and co-chairman of his Canada Post Returns to: P.O.Box 1632, Windsor, ON N9A 7C9 GST # 88654-9096-RM 0001 Canada Publications Agreement # 40032712 Versace tapped Fabio Mas- everything from advertising and family’s company, threatened to Printed in the U.S.A. simo Cacciatori as interim ceo to manufacturing to retailing and sue weekly magazine Il Mondo All signed articles published in the paper represent solely the individual opinion of the writer and not those of replace Giovanni Galbiati. Gal- licensing, aims to boost efficien- over an article stating that audi- WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY. biati, a longtime Versace employ- cies and return Versace to the tors were concerned with the For Web site access, log on and subscribe to www.WWD.com. ee, resigned in March for what a black. Versace recently cut 15 company’s books and its ability to company spokesman character- jobs in the U.S. to reduce ex- pay back a 100 million euro bond ized as “personal reasons.” penses, and it also has eliminat- that expires in July 2004. It is unclear how long Caccia- ed office space. Versace posted a Versace claims the report was In Brief tori will serve in this position. net loss of $6.6 million, or 5.8 mil- false. Friday, however, it did con- Cacciatori joined Versace’s lion euros, converted at current firm it is seeking a fresh bank board in June, when that body exchange, in the year ended Dec. loan to help pay back the bonds. ● LEVI’S CREDIT DOWNGRADE: Citing what it called the San Francisco jeansmaker’s deteriorating financial position, credit- ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service on Monday lowered its ratings on Levi Strauss & Co. In a research note, Moody’s said the lowered ratings were due to “the rapid decline in the company’s financial flexibility vis-à-vis its recently executed credit agree- Oldham Gets His Name Back ment and weaker-than-anticipated year-to-date results, particu- larly in the areas of sales, working capital needs and cash genera- By Scott Malone Officials at Jones could not be Last fall Jones pulled the tion.” Moody’s lowered its rating on Levi’s senior unsecured notes reached for immediate comment. plug on the Todd Oldham Jeans to “Ca” from “B3,” cut its senior implied credit rating to “Caa1” NEW YORK — Todd Oldham’s Tony Longoria, vice presi- line, as reported. Jones officials from “B2” and assigned an initial “(P)Caa1” rating to the compa- name is his own again. dent at Oldham’s company and said at the time that the four- ny’s proposed $500 senior secured credit facility. The designer said in a state- the designer’s longtime business year-old unit’s small volume was ment late Monday that Jones partner, said the company the reason, though market ● CHAPS’ NEW CHAPTER: Warnaco Group said Monday that its Apparel Group had agreed to would begin looking at opportu- sources suggested the appear- license from Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. to produce Chaps men’s transfer back the rights to use nities to reintroduce apparel ance of a Todd Oldham home sportswear had been extended 10 years, through 2018. In a regu- his name in the apparel, acces- under the designer’s name. furnishings at Target stores also latory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, sories, fragrance and cosmetics “We’re fielding all of our op- led to the line’s mothballing. At Warnaco reported that the amendment to the existing license industries. tions right now,” he said. the time, a source said Jones also expands the range of products to include a jeanswear col- had pitched a mass-priced ver- lection, activewear and swimwear and adds to “the range of ap- sion of the Todd Oldham Jeans proved accounts.” Warnaco will introduce a new trademark and line to Target merchants but logo for Chaps as part of the new agreement.