The Inside: Top Pantone ChoicesPg. 12 COACH ENTERS RUSSIA/3 BCBG EYES BEAUTY/13 WWD WWDWomen’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’THURSDAY Daily Newspaper • January 31, 2008 • $2.00 List Sportswear Horse Play Frida Giannini is taking Gucci on an edgy ride for pre-fall, delivering a sporty collection full of linear shapes and soft textures. The mood of the clothes, Giannini says, is “about an equestrian beauty blended with luxury and a savoir-faire attitude.” Here, a wool coat with leather trim, cashmere and wool turtleneck and wool and Lycra spandex riding pants. On and Off the Mark: Wal-Mart Finding Way With Target in Sights By Sharon Edelson s Target losing its cool and Wal-Mart Ifinding its way at last? For years Wal-Mart Stores Inc. struggled to find the right apparel formula as its competitor, Target Corp., solidified its reputation as the go-to discounter for affordable style. But the apparel fortunes of Target and Wal- Mart seem to have taken dramatically different turns of late. Wal-Mart has tweaked its George collection to give it more currency and is selectively expanding its fast- fashion line, Metro 7. The company is also zeroing in on the under $10 price See Wal-Mart, Page14 PHOTO BY KHEPRI STUDIO PHOTO BY WWD.COM WWDTHURSDAY Sportswear FASHION Summer dresses strike a fl oral pose, from a tropical motif to a playful 6 fruit and fl ower print, and should keep things cool as the heat rises. GENERAL Wal-Mart is counting on apparel to boost its bottom line, as it restructures 1 the division, tweaks its George line and selectively expands Metro 7. The value of counterfeit goods seized at U.S. ports increased 27 percent 3 to $200 million in 2007, with apparel and footwear the top commodities. EYE: It’s unclear whether Matthew Mellon’s 44th birthday dinner in New 4 York on Monday night was for business or pleasure. BEAT: A day in the life of Shopbop.com buyers Eric Crandall and Kate 9 Ciepluch as they shop for summer goodies for the e-commerce site. Max Azria, chairman, ceo and designer of BCBG Max Azria, said his $2 13 billion company is set to launch fragrances and go public. Classifi ed Advertisements.............................................................19 To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is fi rstname. [email protected], using the individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2008 FAIRCHILD FASHION GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 195, NO. 22. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in January, October and December, two additional issues in March, April, May, June, August and November, and three additional issues in February and September) 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 Condé Nast Publications: S. I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, President/CEO; John W. Bellando, Executive 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 Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6 POSTMASTER: 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 INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289- 0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. First copy of new 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, please call 212-630-4274 or fax requests to 212-630-4280. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list 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 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. In Brief ● ARCANDOR NET FALLS: In its short 2007 financial year, spanning the first nine months of 2007, taxes and write-offs for divisions it no longer owns drastically reduced net profits 96 percent for Arcandor AG, while unadjusted earnings be- fore interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization improved 15.1 percent. In final figures released Wednesday, net profits for Arcandor, the renamed holding company of the former KarstadtQuelle AG, fell to 16.3 million euros, or $21.9 million at average exchange, from 479 million euros, or $644 million, in the prior year, while EBITDA climbed to 1.2 billion euros, or $1.57 billion, from 1 billion euros, or $1.37 billion. Adjusted group sales for the nine months rose 72 percent to 14.3 billion euros, or $19.2 billion. Arcandor confirmed its earnings and revenues forecast for fiscal 2008-09, calling for sales of 23 bil- lion euros, or $34 billion, EBITDA of 1.3 billion euros, or $1.9 billion, and in a first-ever EBIT forecast, operative earnings of 850 million euros, or $1.3 billion. ● SELECTIVE EYEWEAR TAPS PRESIDENT: Selective Eyewear Elements, which operates the SEE eyewear chain, based in Southfield, Mich., has named David Desjardins as president. Desjardins will report to chief executive officer Richard Golden, who also had held the president’s title, and will be re- sponsible for overseeing field and internal operations for the company. Most recently, Desjardins was chief stores officer for Delia’s Inc. There are 20 SEE stores nationwide and the com- pany plans to open 100 units in the next five years. ● GANT SUSPENDED: Gant shares were suspended from trad- ing Wednesday in Stockholm pending a statement from the stock exchange. Swiss retailer Maus Frères last month mount- ed a hostile takeover bid for the Swedish sportswear company. Both Maus and Gant declined to comment. Maus is now the big- gest single shareholder in Gant with over 35 percent. ● CURRIE TO TAHARI: Elie Tahari Ltd. tapped Scott Currie as vice president of communications, effective Feb. 18. He will join from Susan Magrino Agency, where he worked for the past seven years, most recently as executive vice president. At Tahari, Currie will be in charge of the communications efforts for the Elie Tahari collection, including women’s wear, men’s wear and accessories. He also will oversee the personal pub- lic relations for Elie and Rory Tahari, who are the company’s chairman and vice chairman and creative director, respectively. Currie will report to both Elie and Rory Tahari. WWD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2008 3 WWD.COM Rate Cut Does Little to Calm Investors Josie’s Natorious Rtw By Jeanine Poggi mark federal funds rate to 3 percent, its second cut in two weeks. By Karyn Monget all Street lost midday gains Wednesday, as inves- In a release, the Fed said, “Today’s policy ac- Wtors worried that a half-point cut in interest rates tion, combined with those taken earlier, should lamour, easy separates, color and luxe fabrics are the hall- would not be enough to fix an economic downturn. help to promote moderate growth over time and to Gmarks of Josie Natori’s first full ready-to-wear collection, The Dow Jones Industrial Average momentarily mitigate the risks to economic activity. However, Natorious. spiked 0.6 percent after the Federal Reserve an- downside risks to growth remain.” The designer and chief executive offi cer of the Natori Co. began nouncement, but lost 0.3 percent for the day, clos- Retailers and investors also are looking for a previewing key items of the 80-piece collection for major retail- ing at 12,440.96, while the S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent boost from an economic stimulus package being ers this week at the Natori showrooms on Madison Avenue in to 1,355.56. crafted in Washington that contains tax rebates Manhattan. According to industry sources, Saks Fifth Avenue and After a short-lived rally retail shares sank, with aimed at putting money in consumers’ hands by Nordstorm will be among the fi rst stores to carry the rtw. the S&P Retail Index losing 1.1 percent to 405.46. June. The Senate Finance Committee passed a The fall preview precedes a fashion week launch on Monday High-end department store Nordstrom Inc. $161.3 billion package Wednesday that is broader with a presentation at the Bryant Park Hotel. dropped 3.8 percent to $36.73. Gap Inc. shed 3 than a plan backed by President Bush and passed “What challenges me is to have a solution to dressing that is percent to $18.32.