WIDER DABAH CIRCLE DABAH JEWEL TONE E-COMMERCE SERVICE DUO JEWELRY DESIGNER HAIM DABAH FIRM SHOPRUNNER ADDS BAO BAO WAN UNVEILS LAUNCHES HDS RETAIL PARTNERS, FROM A COLOR COSMETICS CAPITAL WITH HIS BERGDORF GOODMAN COLLECTION WITH MAC. SON TO INVEST IN TO TORY BURCH. PAGE 2 PAGE 2 TECH START-UPS. PAGE 3 BRANDS RUSH IN Oil-Rich Kazakhstan’s Growing Luxury World By JOELLE DIDERICH ALMATY, Kazakhstan — High above the smog of Almaty stands the 37-story Esentai Tower, providing unparalleled views of the snowcapped Tien Shan mountain range that borders Kazakhstan’s most pop- ulous city. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2014 ■ $3.00 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY Central Asia’s tallest building, which sits in an WWD area often rocked by earthquakes, refl ects both the ambitions of real estate developer Capital Partners and the country’s thriving market for luxury goods. The tower was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the American architects behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The mixed-use Esentai Park complex has brought an unprecedented level of opulence to the former Soviet city, from the Esentai Mall and its gleaming Louis Vuitton, Prada and Dior stores to the year-old Ritz-Carlton, Almaty hotel, not to mention the luxury condominiums that sold for $15,000 a square meter, rivaling real estate prices in the most coveted neigh- borhoods of Paris. The mall, which celebrated its second anniversary late last month with a glittering party, is about to un- dergo a further upgrade as the battle for the local lux- ury customer heats up against a backdrop of economic uncertainty in neighboring Russia. Powder Coated Capital Partners, which has invested $1 billion in A good classic needn’t be typecast. The trenchcoat is the tower and mall so far, plans to spend an extra $30 million to increase its offer of luxury brands and up- everywhere for spring, but not always in “Casablanca” khaki. grade key elements of the mall, which is anchored by Rebecca Taylor gives the ultimate no-nonsense outerwear a Saks Fifth Avenue store. Spaces that previously housed more accessible la- piece a feminine turn in powder blue, highlighting the power bels, such as Mango and Promod, have been boarded up of pretty. Her linen and cotton trench tops a cotton as the mall prepares to welcome a cache of fresh luxury T-shirt and polyester skirt with a fl irtatious pleated hem. brands. The project also includes a new ground-fl oor jewelry and watch area with its own VIP entrance. “We realized the mall is not big enough to accom- modate two different concepts: luxury and mass SEE PAGE 4 Martin Greenfield: Men’s Wear Maestro By LORNA KOSKI MASTER MEN’S wear maker Martin Greenfield knows better than just about anybody that clothes cre- ate the man, so that’s why it’s not surprising his new autobiography, “Measure of a Man: A Memoir, From Auschwitz Survivor to Presidents’ Tailor,” begins with a view of highly polished men’s footwear. “I could see my picture in the boots,” he recalled. The boots were more elegant than any Greenfi eld had ever seen, and they belonged to Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor infamous for his grotesque, criminal med- ical experiments. Mengele, who was also handsome and impeccably dressed, was about to do a selection on Greenfi eld’s family at Auschwitz. Unlike most of the other high-ranking Nazis, who avoided the duty, Mengele enjoyed doing selections, eagerly seizing the opportunity to choose the subjects he was most interested in and who included identical twins, dwarfs and those with eyes of different colors. Greenfi eld, then called Maximilian Grünfeld, his fa- ther, Joseph, and sister Simcha were sent to the right — which meant life, at least for a time — while his mother, Tzyvia, sister Rivka and baby brother, Sruel Baer, were sent to the left, which meant immediate death. Of course, they had no idea of this at the time. Greenfi eld, now 86, was also in the slave labor camp Buna and in the concentration camps Gleiwitz and Buchenwald. He managed to survive the war, the only member of his immediate family to do so. He last saw his father on his second day at Auschwitz, when Joseph, PHOTO BY THOMAS IANNACCONE; STYLED BY MAYTE ALLENDE MODEL: GIA/ONE MANAGEMENT; HAIR BY MARCEL DAGENAIS USING ORIBE HAIR CARE/ LVA ARTISTS; MAKEUP BY SOPHIE HAIG FOR DIOR BEAUTY/BA-REPS.COM; FASHION ASSISTANT: MILTON DIXON MILTON ASSISTANT: FASHION SOPHIE HAIG FOR DIOR BEAUTY/BA-REPS.COM; MAKEUP BY ARTISTS; DAGENAIS USING ORIBE HAIR CARE/ LVA MARCEL HAIR BY MODEL: GIA/ONE MANAGEMENT; SEE PAGE 8 2 WWD THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2014 WWD.COM ShopRunner Beefs Up Partnerships THE BRIEFING BOX By RACHEL STRUGATZ IN TODAY’S WWD NEW YORK — The service wars in the e-commerce space are heating up. With the holiday shopping season closing in, members-only e-commerce service ShopRunner is substantially bulking up its retail partnerships. The four-year-old company has added 15 new brands — Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus Last Call, Narciso Rodriguez, Rebecca Taylor, Eddie Bauer, NEUWIRTH Tory Burch and The Limited among them — to the existing 150 partners it works with. IRENE Call it an Amazon Prime for the rest of the Web. FOR Brands can take advantage of ShopRunner’s benefits — like free two-day shipping, two-click checkout and ShopRunner has added 15 new brands for the holiday season. IMAGES free return shipping — and in turn, offer this to their customers. The hope is that a better customer-ser- ShopRunner not only surpassed aggressive cus- vice experience will lure shoppers in and keep them tomer acquisition goals, but these consumers came coming back. Starting this month, ShopRunner’s two back multiple times — and purchased repeatedly. KEENAN/GETTY million members will have access to these services At a time when everyone is fighting for the wal- when shopping on Shoprunner.com, the correspond- let share of an increasingly knowledgeable con- STEFANIE ing mobile app or any of its partner sites. Retailers sumer online, ShopRunner is perhaps in a better Irene Neuwirth at her boutique opening. BY pay ShopRunner a revenue share for the orders that position than most. For more, see page 7 and WWD.com. ShopRunner members make. That percentage varies For one thing, the four-year-old venture has PHOTO depending on the category and partner. deep pockets: Alibaba pumped $200 million into Upon its launch in October 2010, there were ShopRunner last year, and other investors include already 15 partner sites, including Calvin Klein American Express and Kynetic. In addition to bank- Central Asia’s tallest building, the Esentai Tower, reflects both Underwear, Ecko, Bare Necessities, Toys ‘R’ Us. ing on an elevated level of service to win consumers the ambitions of real estate developer Capital Partners and the GNC and Sports Authority. over, it’s also leveraged a deal with Alibaba-owned country’s thriving market for luxury goods. PAGE 1 Scott Thompson, ShopRunner chief executive offi- Alipay ePass to facilitate Chinese consumers buying cer, said the service is proving to be a powerful custom- from its partner e-commerce sites in the U.S. Men’s wear maker Martin Greenfield knows better than just er-acquisition channel for brands that participate. He Payment systems have been front and center in about anybody that clothes create the man. PAGE 1 explained that before signing a contract, ShopRunner recent weeks — from the release of ApplePay to matches its member files with those of the potential PayPal being spun off from eBay into a stand-alone For Haim Dabah, a pioneer in apparel manufacturing and partner to see if there is any overlap in active custom- entity — and ShopRunner’s relationship with ePass brand building, technology is his next frontier. PAGE 3 ers. Typically, there is less than 5 percent overlap, gives it access to Alibaba’s payment arm that has which means that there is ample opportunity — or a 95 hundreds of millions of users. percent chance — that the customer ShopRunner will Thompson confirmed that the company will use H&M today opens a flagship at 77 Boulevard Saint- introduce to one’s site is an entirely new one. ePass’ core payment and logistics services, but also Germain near Boulevard Saint-Michel, which it hopes will “That becomes interesting because then you will continue to increase ShopRunner’s own market- become a top revenue driver in France. PAGE 3 know if we’re good at marketing to our members,” ing efforts — it maintains a team in Shanghai — on Thompson told WWD on Wednesday. “That baseline and off Alibaba’s platforms to grow larger customer Jewelry designer Irene Neuwirth has built a mini empire is very important for measuring the return on your bases in China. on her colorful baubles, which have earned a cult following investment here. It’s hard to measure ROI on market- “When someone comes [to an American Web over the last decade. PAGE 6 ing spend — and almost impossible on advertising.” site] from China — none of their personal informa- He explains the firm created this baseline be- tion conforms to the U.S. checkout experience,” To celebrate its 130th anniversary, Hanro of Switzerland cause it establishes a more scientific way to mea- Thompson said, adding that ShopRunner takes the will unveil a commemorative exhibition and capsule sure results. “It’s a telling step for us because the information about an individual, translates it, and collection in its Meatpacking District store. PAGE 6 proof is in the data,” Thompson said. allows the payment to happen where it wouldn’t be Ask Neiman Marcus, which is now adding possible otherwise, down to translating currency Le Bon Marché has unveiled its new men’s floor, spread its Web properties for Last Call and Bergdorf and the exact, final cost.