JAPAN’S GROWING WEB/3 LIZ TO EXIT VIETNAM/5 Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • January 2, 2007 • $2.00 WWDTUESDAY ▲ Lily Allen at the Chanel show Ready-to-Wear/Textiles in October. For more on the Frock Around dress-loving singer, see page 8. The Clock Stores are preparing to roll out spring merchandise, and retailers have placed their bets on the key item of the season: the dress. Around the country, sales fl oors will be stocked with them in all shapes and styles, such as Oscar de la Renta’s printed cotton matelassé Empire number, $2,550, at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, shown here. For more, see pages 6 and 7. Tough Love on Trade: New Congress’ Stance Stirs Industry to Adapt By Kristi Ellis WASHINGTON — STYLED BY CAROLINE ANGEL; LILY ALLEN COURTESY OF CHANEL ALLEN COURTESY CAROLINE ANGEL; LILY STYLED BY Congress returns this week under the control of Democrats for the first time in 12 years and its new agenda is expected to reshape the fashion industry’s business and sourcing strategies. The Democrats’ new goals for trade policy will drive some of the action on Capitol Hill early on and industry executives are closely watching which philosophy will prevail: free trade, which places an emphasis on lowering barriers for imports and increasing market access for U.S. exports, or fair trade, which focuses on protecting workers’ See Congress, Page10 PHOTO BY TALAYA CENTENO; MODEL: KARLA DEVINE/NEXT; HAIR BY KATY YUNG; MAKEUP BY MICHELLE COURSEY AT ARTISTSBYTIMOTHYPRIANO.COM; MICHELLE COURSEY AT YUNG; MAKEUP BY KATY HAIR BY CENTENO; MODEL: KARLA DEVINE/NEXT; TALAYA PHOTO BY 2 WWD, TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2007 WWD.COM Ecco Domani to Name Winners WWDTUESDAY By Marc Karimzadeh Erin Sans’ Ready-to-Wear/Textiles Fetherston Alessandro NEW YORK — Ecco DeVito Do mani is expected FASHION and Lika Dresses have been gaining momentum for several seasons, and with to name six emerging Volkova. designers or labels as 6 spring lines about to hit the stores, retailers expect the category to soar. recipients of its annual Fashion Foundation awards today. GENERAL This year’s winners TEXTILES: Congress returns this week under the control of Democrats are Erin Fetherston, 1 and its agenda is expected to reshape business and sourcing strategies. Naum by Waleed Khair- Ecco Domani is expected to name six emerging designers or labels as zada and Julia Jentzsch, 2 recipients of its annual Fashion Foundation awards today. Sans by Lika Volkova and Alessandro DeVito, Driven by the outlook for strong growth in Internet retailing, including via Angel Chang and Tom 3 cell phones, Japanese stores are strengthening their online operations. Scott for women’s wear EYE: There are few things that rankle Skye Gyngell as much as a blackberry and Patrik Ervell for GIOVANNI GIANNONI JOHN AQUINO; FETHERSTON BY PHOTO BY NAUM 4 imported from Peru, a farmed salmon or a dinner made in four minutes. men’s wear. Each will receive $25,000 to- Major trading powers are expected to put more pressure on China to ward putting on a run- 11 open its lucrative market as part of the troubled global trade talks. way show during next RTW: To showcase her own bridal line and her gowns for Badgley month’s fashion week. 12 Mischka Bridal, Anne Barge is opening a new retail space in Atlanta. The six designers were selected from Classifi ed Advertisements.............................................................14-15 more than 100 appli- To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is fi rstname. cants nationwide and [email protected], using the individual’s name. had to fulfill several requirements to sub- WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2007 FAIRCHILD FASHION GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. mit their bids. These VOLUME 193, NO. 1. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one included being in busi- additional issue in January and November, two additional issues in March, May, June, August and December, and three ness for no more than additional issues in February, April, September and October) by Fairchild Fashion Group, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by five years, having at Condé Nast Publications: S. I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, President/CEO; John W. Bellando, Executive least one retail account, Vice President/COO; Debi Chirichella Sabino, Senior Vice President/CFO; Jill Bright, Executive Vice President/Human Resources. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offi ces. Canada Post Publications Mail references and look Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return books or photographs of undeliverable Canadian addresses to: P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6 POSTMASTER: their designs. The panel SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615–5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE of judges then whittled INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit the list down to 25 semi- www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. First copy of new fi nalists before select- subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions and reprint requests, ing the fi nal six. This is the sixth year wine com- please call 212-630-4274 or fax requests to 212-630-4280. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other pany Ecco Domani has sponsored the awards. Fairchild magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list In women’s wear, the judges were Julie Gilhart, available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA Barneys New York’s vice president of fashion mer- 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, chandising; Nicole Fischelis, Macy’s vice president OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, and women’s fashion director; Sally Singer, Vogue’s BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED Naum’s Julia Jentzsch and Waleed Khairzada. MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR fashion news and features director; Marylou CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR Luther, editor at International Fashion Syndicate; DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED Kim Hastreiter, editor in chief and publisher of Paper Magazine, and MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. Ruth Finley, publisher of The Fashion Calendar. For men’s wear, they were Jay Bell, men’s wear buyer at Barneys; Madeline Weeks, GQ’s fash- TUESDAY: New York Fall Apparel Market (through Jan. 12). ion director, and Armand Limnander, senior editor of T, The New York Times Style Magazine. FRIDAY: The U.S. Labor Department releases the Decem- “The success of [Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation] is undeniably ber employment report. due to the outstanding judging panel and their remarkable ability to identify the future stars of fashion,” David Bowman, marketing direc- SATURDAY: Designers & Agents, New York (through Jan. 8). tor for Ecco Domani wines, said in a statement. “We are proud to have Nouveau Collective, New York (through Jan. 9). seen so many past EDFF alumni go on to successful, lucrative fashion careers. We congratulate this year’s winners, who join this elite group SUNDAY: Accessorie Circuit, Intermezzo Collections, of fashion visionaries.” Children’s Club, AccessoriesTheShow, Moda Manhattan Past recipients of the award include Rodarte designers Laura and and Fame, New York (through Jan. 9). COMING THIS WEEK Kate Mulleavy, Thakoon Panichgul, Doo-Ri Chung, Derek Lam, Proenza Angel Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Zac Posen and Chang Brian Reyes. In Brief ● AMERICAN INVASION: American Apparel is planning a British offensive. The Los Angeles-based company, which already has Speedo in Licensing Deal With Mitsui & Co. three London stores, is planning three more U.K. openings by the end of this year. The company would not confi rm locations, By Samantha Conti age all licensing activity and will coordinate all but said Mayfair, Camden and Covent Garden were neighbor- marketing efforts in the Japanese market. hoods being short-listed within London, as well as the cities of LONDON — Speedo has formed a new strate- Speedo said in a statement that, as part of the Manchester and Birmingham. It added that spaces of 3,500 to gic alliance in Japan with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. The deal, Goldwin Inc. has been granted the exclu- 4,000 square feet were being scouted, and that it was also con- London-based sports and swimwear company sive licensing and distribution rights for the core sidering an opening in Ireland. “Nothing is signed yet,” said a has granted the master license for Speedo to the Speedo product categories of swimwear, apparel spokeswoman for the brand. “American Apparel is such a suc- Japanese company in a deal beginning June 1. and equipment. cess in London already, it would be a shame not to expand.