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eDAILY EDITION 10 AUGUST 2016 1

Fashion. Beauty. Business.

Waving the FlagSen. Kirsten Gillibrand toured the Manufacture New York site to promote her bill that would help create industry jobs in Brooklyn. PAGE 6

Mango Goes MegaThe Spanish retailer is aiming to increase its number of megastores, opening 63 last year alone. PAGE 3

For resort, designers offer the little white dress in fanciful versions that exude a dreamy femininity. Case in point: Roberto Cavalli’s voluminous interpretation in cotton, worn over a Mara Hoffman velvet bra. Chiara Ferragni boots; BreeLayne choker; Vionnet ring. For more, see pages 4 and 5.

CONTINUED ON PG. 11

● The first comp increase in three years comes as Stuart Weitzman hands the design reins to Giovanni Morelli and will become chairman of the brand.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

NEW YORK — Coach Inc. is focused on growing the halo around the Coach brand as it also eyes potential acquisitions.

The company is pulling back on its dis-tribution to the department store channel, about 25 percent of its North American locations, a move that will help the acces-sories firm keep the consumer focused on its modern luxury concept globally and at full price.

“For the guidance that we have given for the upcoming year, that will impact

ACCESSORIES

Coach Net,Comps Up,BeatingEstimates

● The Prada flagship, slated to open in November, will be on three floors, while Bucherer is to open a 7,535-square-foot space.

BY LAURE GUILBAULT

It will be a busy fall for Illum.The Copenhagen department store

revealed Tuesday the opening of a new Prada flagship, a Bucherer space and an Eataly floor before the end of the year. The openings are part of the major transformation that the store has undergone since 2014, following its acquisition by Italy’s La Rinascente.

The Prada flagship, which is slated to open in November, will be on three floors, with entrances on both the street side and the interior of Illum. It will be the first Prada store in Denmark.

“The entire Copenhagen has been holding its breath for the reveal of the plans [for the space],” Jeanette Aaen, Illum’s managing director, told WWD. “It’s a fantastic location, vis-à-vis the Louis Vuitton store and on the major square of Copenhagen, Amagertorv,

FASHION

Illum to OpenPrada, BuchererIn Copenhagen

CONTINUED ON PG. 10

Way Up, But DownPandora shares fell despite double-digit increases in both profits and sales. PAGE 3

FASHION

Pure Romance

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10 AUGUST 2016 3

● Revenues totaled 4.33 billion Danish kronor, or $657 million, in the three months ended June 30, below analysts’ estimates.

BY JOELLE DIDERICH

When does a company get punished for reporting double-digit growth in profits and sales? When even those strong numbers don’t meet analysts’ forecasts. Just ask Pandora.

The Copenhagen-based jewelry firm, best known for its affordable charm bracelets, said net profit rose 34.2 percent to 1.22 billion kronor, or $185 million, in the second quarter ended June 30.

But the company’s shares fell as much as 6.8 percent on Tuesday after the results were lower than expected. The shares recovered some ground to close down 4.2 percent at 830 kronor, or $476.70 at current exchange, on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

Pandora posted sales of 4.33 billion Danish kro-nor, or $657 million, in the quarter, up 20 percent year-on-year. This was below the median estimate of 4.52 billion kronor, or $686 million, from analysts polled by FactSet. In local currency terms, revenues rose 25 percent during the period.

Markets have become accustomed to excep-tional performances from the company, whose share value has multiplied by four times since it went public in 2010. In the second quarter of 2015, sales grew 41.4 percent in reported terms.

Pandora maintained its 2016 guidance, though it signaled challenging conditions in countries like Brazil and Russia, and a worse-than-expected performance in Canada. In local currency terms, second-quarter sales were up 51 percent in Asia-Pa-cific, 32 percent in the EMEA region and 10 percent in the Americas.

“Overall, 25 percent growth in the quarter in local currencies is something that we feel very good about,” Anders Colding Friis, chief executive

officer of Pandora, said in a conference call. He reiterated earlier comments that revenues will grow at a more moderate pace as the brand gets bigger.

“It’s not like we’re totally resilient and I don’t think we’ve ever been, but clearly as we become bigger in some of these markets, we will also see a little bit more impact,” he said, adding: “We’re getting to a point where clearly the percentage growth is going to be smaller.”

The group is forecasting full-year revenue above 20 billion kronor and an EBITDA margin of more than 38 percent. It raised its guidance for capital expenditure to around 1.2 billion kronor, versus 1.0 billion kronor previously, to fund projects includ-ing IT and production expansion in Thailand.

The company said growth in the second quarter was driven by higher volumes, with expansion accounting for two-thirds of the progression. It opened 68 concept stores during the three-month period, for a total of 1,920 concept stores.

Pandora now expects to add more than 300 concept stores in 2016, instead of the originally projected 275. It revealed that revenues from its e-commerce sites, available in 14 countries, accounted for 4 percent of group sales in the second quarter, up from around 2.5 percent a year earlier.

Friis said it would launch online sales in China and Canada in the second half and was not worried about e-commerce significantly hurting business at bricks-and-mortar stores.

“Can there potentially be a little bit of impact

and cannibalization here and there? Yes of course, and that is also logical, but basically we believe the two channels work well together, so the total will be bigger as we have both available for the consumer,” he said.

Sales in the United States rose 11 percent in local currency terms, with revenues from charms flat due to a tough comparison with the second quarter of 2015, which saw the launch of Pandora’s Disney collection. Revenues in Canada fell 5 percent, while the Caribbean posted a double-digit sales decrease.

In EMEA, the United Kingdom — which accounts for a quarter of the region’s sales — registered a 7 percent sales rise. Friis said there had been no impact so far from Britain’s decision to leave the European Union in the June 23 referendum.

“If we look at the beginning of this quarter, we are still good. We haven’t seen any material impact. But I think that it is worth expecting that there will be some turbulence in the U.K. going forward,” he added. Revenues rose around 40 percent in Italy, and 70 percent in France and Germany.

Sales in Asia-Pacific were boosted by China, which posted a 200 percent jump in revenues without taking into account the positive impact of Pandora’s takeover of local distribution. It now expects to open around 40 concept stores annu-ally in China in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Pandora said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin rose to 37.2 percent from 36.4 percent a year ago, mainly due to an improved gross margin, which benefited from factors including more favorable raw material prices and an increase in revenue from directly owned stores.

But the rising price of gold and silver means it expects raw materials to have a negative impact of 1 percent on the gross margin in 2017 and 2 percent in 2018.

Friis said that starting in the third quarter, Pandora would implement price changes to align the pricing structure across its three main regions. “The goal is not to have the same prices in all markets but rather that the ranking of our products, price-wise, is similar across all markets,” he explained.

He added that there should be no impact on average prices, since the initiative included both price increases as well as decreases.

BUSINESS

Pandora Shares Fall Despite 34.2% Rise in Profits

● The Barcelona-based retailer’s sustainability report also offers a glimpse into other areas of the company.

BY SHARON EDELSON

Fast fashion isn’t fast enough for Mango.

With today’s consumers demanding instant gratification, the Spanish retailer wants its fashion to respond more quickly to trends and reach stores in less time. Mango believes the vehicle for that is megastores.

The Spanish retailer, which introduced its first megastore in 2013, opened 63 last year alone and plans to continue its aggressive strategy for the remainder of 2016 and beyond. This and other nug-gets of information were contained in Mango’s 2015 sustainability report, released Tuesday.

Mango isn’t the first fast-fashion retailer to put its stores on steroids. H&M in 2015 unveiled a 65,000-square-foot flagship in Manhattan’s Herald Square and Zara’s location on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street has 43,000 square feet of space.

Mango’s megastores range from 8,611 square feet to about 32,300 square feet. One of its largest units is the 27,000-square-foot store on the Boulevard Las Ramblas in Barcelona.

In addition to physical stores, Mango has expanded the reach of its online store with markets such as South America, Asia and Africa launched last year. Online sales totaled 234 million euros, or

$259.8 million, a 27 percent increase over 2014.“[Consumers] know what they want and they

want it now,” Daniel Lopez, vice chairman of Mango, said in a letter preceding the report. “This has given rise to the megastore concept, larger and more luminous stores with a renewed image.”

Megastores feature Mango’s entire range of products, including the men’s, women’s and kids’ collections and accessories.

“In the last year, we have made significant efforts to improve the positioning of our brand, consolidat-ing the collection in all our lines and opening new megastores, which we remain committed to this year,” said chairman Isak Andic. “The development of more efficient processes, improvements to the service we offer our franchisees and strengthening our communication have also been key among our projects during 2015.”

With 2015 sales of 2.32 billion euros or $2.58 billion at current exchange, Mango has a presence in 109 countries. Of 2,730 stores, 1,138 are compa-ny-owned and 1,592 are franchised units. Foreign markets account for 81 percent of sales.

Europe accounted for 972,136 euros, or $1.08 bil-lion in sales; Spain, 454,796 euros, or $505 million, and the rest of the world, 902,111 euros, or $1 billion. Company-owned stores contributed 1.69 billion euros, or $1.87 billion, and franchisees, 633 million euros, or $704 million.

Mango creates more than 6,500 styles per season and produces more than 142 million items per year in 885 factories. The retailer said it has adopted the G4 Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.

While China had the most factories used by Mango — 241 — the retailer noted that 25 percent of total units originated in places in close proximity to Spain such as other countries in Europe, Morocco and Turkey.

Some 396 audits were carried out last year at factories, with breaches in proportion to the number

of factories: 77 in China, 73 in Turkey, 27 in Pakistan and 22 in Vietnam. Health and safety was the most frequently breached areas at 37.95 percent, followed by working hours, 30.17 percent and remuneration, 29.28 percent. Environmental offenses, child labor and freedom of association fell precipitously to 7.49 percent, 1.11 percent and 0.14 percent, respectively.

Sustainability initiatives in stores include Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs) in all new units and using lower maintenance and longer lasting building materials. Sixty percent of shopping bags are now made of recycled paper.

Mango, which in 2012 signed on to the Green-peace Detox initiative, said its progress was posi-tively evaluated by the organization. Last year, the retailer collected water samples from suppliers in Bangladesh, Turkey and China. Mango will next ana-lyze the water of factories in India and South Korea.

Mango was awarded the ZeroCO2 label for pro-duction and logistics by the Ecology and Develop-ment Foundation, which updates equivalent CO2 emissions based on the Kyoto “warming potential” of greenhouse gases.

In terms of waste generated by Mango, cardboard took the lead with 70.7 percent; wood, 14.6 percent; benign matter, 10.8 percent, and recoverable mix-tures, 3.3 percent.

The retailer last year launched organic cotton collections in its core Mango and Mango Baby lines and plans to extend the use of the fiber to all its lines in the coming seasons. An in-store clothing recycling product for consumers will be rolled out as a pilot this year in Spain.

Mango has 16,623 employees. Starting salaries in Spain last year were 52.5 percent higher than the government’s wage agreement. The compa-ny’s diverse work force includes more than 60 nationalities at its headquarters. About 58 percent of management and middle-management positions are occupied by women.

RETAIL

Mango Goes Mega With Bigger Stores

On Target ● Target CEO Brian Cornell has already

had a dramatic impact and there’s more

ahead.

The Heat in Vegas ● The hottest fashions, trends and

things to know for the Vegas

trade shows.

Innovation the UA Way ● Inside Under Armour’s growth plans

and state-of-the-art Lighthouse.

PLUS: ● Think Tank ● Report Card ● Social Studies

Global Stock TrackerAs of close August 9, 2016

ADVANCERS

DECLINERS

Trinity Ltd. +10.71%

Sears Holdings Corp. +6.74%

Debenhams Plc +5.01%

Marks and Spencer Group plc +2.79%

H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB +2.74%

The Gap Inc. -6.28%

Express Inc. -4.89%

Tailored Brands Inc. -4.83%

Ascena Retail Group Inc. -4.72%

Kohl’s Corp. -4.24%

OUT THIS WEEK IN

“Experience still matters and human interaction still counts.”

— BRIAN CORNELL

A visual from the Pandora Spring 2016 campaign.

4 10 AUGUST 2016

● Resort’s best dresses are beautiful blank slates — with a little something extra.BY MAYTE ALLENDE

FASHION

Pure Romance

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Ermanno Scervino’s cotton dress and Cedric Charlier’s

leather bra top (worn throughout). Chiara

Ferragni boots (worn throughout); BreeLayne

choker (worn throughout); Vionnet

ring (worn throughout).

Rochas’ cotton and silk dress

and Loup Charmant’s

cotton dress.

Prabal Gurung’s long open-sleeved eyelet dress with white grosgrain trim and poplin-covered buttons and Loup Charmont’s cotton dress.

10 AUGUST 2016 5

Pure Romance CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

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Kisuii’s cotton zigzag lace dress.

Huishan Zhang’s cotton dress.

6 10 AUGUST 2016

● The Democratic senator visited Brooklyn to tout her initiative that designates local regions as manufacturing communities.

BY ARTHUR FRIEDMAN

NEW YORK — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) toured the Manufacture New York facil-ity in Brooklyn on Tuesday and discussed the Made in America Manufacturing Communi-ties Act, legislation she has introduced aimed at creating apparel and textile manufacturing jobs in the borough.

The proposed measure would help grow the apparel, textile and wearable tech man-ufacturing industry in Brooklyn by creating a permanent program that designates local regions as “Manufacturing Communities.” The designation would put these areas in the front of the line to receive federal economic development funding specifically for the purpose of investing in manufacturing.

“I know people outside of Brooklyn might not think of Brooklyn as a manufacturing hub, but in fact we have one of the most diverse and talented workforces in the coun-try,” Gillibrand told a collected group of local dignitaries, business people and designers and manufacturers that are part of Manufac-ture New York. “So it’s perfectly suited for a manufacturing boom. This factory right here can be a model for businesses all across the country. This factory shows us that Brooklyn is an ideal place to open up a manufacturing business.”

Gillibrand explained the Made in America Manufacturing Communities Act would be a continuation and expansion of a domestic

manufacturing program that President Obama created that designated regions throughout the country as manufacturing hubs.

“We all know that Brooklyn has the diver-sity and talent to earn this honor, and I’m going to work hard in Washington to make sure it gets that designation,” she said. “What this program does is unlock millions of dollars in federal funds for manufacturing initiatives for this region. It’s a great program, but right now it’s not permanent, so when President Obama leaves office, the program ends. We can’t let that happen, so we have to make sure we reauthorize this program for permanent authorization.”

In an interview afterward, Gillibrand said she has bipartisan sponsorship in the House and Senate and hopes to have the legislation passed in the lame duck session of Congress

that follows the presidential election.“Who wouldn’t support legislation that is

a serious and meaningful investment, that creates jobs and allows us to revitalize com-munities?” she added.

Bob Bland, founder and chief executive officer of Manufacture New York, said the manufacturing sector in the city has stabilized and is beginning to grow again after decades of decline. Bland said manufacturing jobs have fallen from nearly one million at their peak to 57,178 jobs in 2000 and 15,657 jobs in 2014, but still accounts for 30 percent of manufacturing jobs in the city.

Bland said the mission of Manufacture New York is to reawaken and rebuild America’s fashion industry, foster the next wave of busi-nesses and create a transparent, sustainable global supply chain.

About two years ago, Manufacture New

York moved to Liberty View Industrial Plaza in Sunset Park and partnered with the City of New York, the Mayor’s Office and New York City Economic Development Corp. through a $3.5 million grant to create the Manufacturing Innovation Center for Apparel, Textiles & Wearable Technology.

“The Obama administration has worked diligently to establish a national network of manufacturing innovation institutes, one which we are proud to be a part of, the Revo-lutionary Fibers and Textiles Manufacturing Innovation Institute,” Bland said. “Manufac-ture New York would greatly benefit from the bill Sen. Gillibrand is proposing. Fashion design and manufacturing jobs are more than just jobs. They’re inclusive pathways to meaningful careers and potential for business ownership, regardless of previous educational background or socioeconomic status.”

Gillibrand said her bill would help create apparel and textile manufacturing jobs in Brooklyn by creating a permanent program to competitively award regions with the “Manufacturing Community” designation. The designation would give those communi-ties preferred consideration when applying for up to $1.3 billion in currently available federal economic development funding for manufacturing.

The proposal would be coordinated by the Commerce Department and bring together the resources of multiple federal departments and agencies involved in economic develop-ment to better leverage federal programs and resources behind locally driven manufactur-ing strategies.

The legislation awards a designated com-munity preferential consideration across 11 federal agencies, reducing current burdens faced by communities and small manufac-turers in navigating and accessing federal support.

In order to earn the designation, commu-nities have to demonstrate the significance of manufacturing already present in their region and develop strategies to use the designation in making investments in workforce training and retraining, advanced research, infra-structure and site development, supply chain support, trade and international investment and operational improvement and capital access.

BUSINESS

Sen. Gillibrand Pushes Manufacturing Bill

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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at

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Brooklyn.

● Seventeen retailers are accused of selling “faux fur” goods that were actually made with real fur.

BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

With Tuesday’s filing with the Federal Trade Commission, the Humane Society of the U.S. is trying to end what it claims is an industrywide problem of false advertising and mislabeling of products as containing faux fur that actually are made with real fur.

Through an enforcement petition, the group has asked the FTC to take action against 17 retailers including Amazon, Neiman Marcus, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Rue La La and others. Combined, these companies sold 37 different styles of apparel and accessories from 32 brands that were advertised or labeled as “faux fur,” even though they were allegedly made with fur from raccoons, dogs, rabbits and coyotes.

In what is its largest collection of misrepre-sentations, the Humane Society cited alleged violations that occurred between December 2011 and December 2015. The other 12 retail-ers referenced in the filings were A-List/Kit-son, Barneys New York, Belk, Bluefly, Century 21, Eminent/Revolve, Gilt, Mia Belle Baby, Ross Stores, Searle and Stein Mart. Executives at the majority of these stores did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. A Neiman’s spokeswoman declined comment, as did Barneys executives.

A Nordstrom spokeswoman said, “We’ve always worked hard to be as accurate and clear as possible with our online copy for the thousands of products we sell. We’re disappointed that we missed the mark in these instances. In the several years since these products were sold on our sites, we’ve continued to enhance our processes to ensure that we provide correct information to our customers and now have implemented spe-cific measures to prevent similar issues from

occurring in the future.”Canada Goose declined comment. In its

case, Kitson misidentified on its site a chil-dren’s jacket that had a coyote trim hood. The actual label on the garment noted that and the Humane Society did as well.

Still, Pierre Grzybowski, research and enforcement manager of the Humane Soci-ety’s Fur-Free Campaign, said, “Consumers would be horrified to know they have been duped into purchasing animal fur when they thought they were buying a humane alternative. The FTC must crack down on this industrywide problem of misrepresentation that the HSUS has been uncovering and docu-menting year-after-year for a decade.”

In a phone interview Tuesday, he claimed to have purchased all of the items that were described and photographed in the “graphi-cal summary” submitted to the FTC with the enforcement petition. An Ellen Tracy mid-length down coat with a detachable hood that was allegedly available on Amazon on Dec. 7, 2015, and a $712 Acquaverde faux fur coat that was sold on Revolveclothing.com on Nov. 11, 2015, are among those listed as allegedly mislabeled. Grzybowski insisted that all of the items included in the graph were sold as faux fur.

Executives at Ellen Tracy and Acquaverde did not respond to requests for comment.

Another item that was mentioned was an Elie Tahari men’s Steve jacket with a faux-fur trimmed hood allegedly sold on Barneys’ Warehouse site in June 2014.

The Humane Society claimed that Neiman’s and Eminent/Revolve are already under 20-year cease-and-desist orders from the FTC following a Humane Society petition that identified similar violations in 2011.

While the likelihood that any of the items referenced were still available through the aforementined retailers is close to nil, Grzybowski said each retailer can “turn over the documentation history for these items” to the FTC. The sale of outerwear, footwear, key chains, handbags and cardigans labeled as containing “faux fur” that includes animal fur is a violation of the Fur Products Labeling Act, The Federal Trade Commission Act and, in some cases, a violation of outstanding cease-and-desist orders already issued by the agency, according to the Humane Society. Violations can carry penalties of up to one year in prison and/or fines of up to $40,000, the group said.

This latest submission is the fourth multi-retail one since 2007, Grzybowski said. The Humane Society previously sought FTC action on the problem in March 2007, April 2008, November 2011, July 2014 and April 2015.

“Hopefully, the FTC will look at the breadth and depth of each violation and will decide to put a much-needed stop to all this,” he said. “The only thing that is going to end the sale of faux fur that is actually fur is if the FTC starts handing out $40,000 fines or even a jail sentence. Clearly, what is in place is not working.”

RETAIL

Humane Society to FTC: Penalize Stores for False Fur Advertising

10 AUGUST 2016 7

● The company is on track to ring up $150 million in revenues over the next 12 months.

BY RACHEL BROWN

Memebox is a beauty meteor picking up steam.

The start-up that’s capitalized on the Korean beauty craze to grow its brands 670 percent year-over-year has raised $65.95 million in Series C funding from Formation 8, Goodwater Capital and Pejman Mar Ven-tures. Led by Formation 8, the latest round brings San Francisco-based Memebox’s total funding close to $100 million.

Launched in 2012, Memebox is attempt-ing to differentiate itself from legacy beauty firms by leveraging data to spot and seize upon trends early to drive sales, rapidly bringing products manufactured in Korea to market, and fueling interest via engaging social-media outreach, and celeb-rity and influencer tie-ins. Over the next 12 months, the company is on track to ring up $150 million in revenues, a 280 percent jump from the same period a year ago.

“Memebox has redefined how beauty companies operate in order to respond to the needs of today’s mobile and prod-uct-conscious consumers,” said Brian Koo, founder and chief executive officer of Formation 8. “It represents the future of the digitally powered consumer brand rev-olution. Businesses like Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker and Memebox all benefit from the ability to use data and technology that offline incumbents cannot.”

The funding is intended to help Meme-box further take advantage of its existing strengths in addition to allowing it to branch out in new directions. Arnold Hur, president of Memebox USA, detailed the money is being put toward building

Memebox’s e-commerce capabilities, key partnerships, and its own brands and stores. While 75 percent of its online sales come from its mobile platform, Memebox has extended offline with a store in Seoul currently registering $1,000 in sales per square foot, and to department stores and drugstores in Korea.

Memebox is planning to increase its retail presence both by opening its own stores and through wholesaling to other companies’ stores. Hyungseok Dino Ha, cofounder and ceo of Memebox, explained the company is bridging the digital-physical divide in its retail design by constructing makeup booths and seating areas to encourage conversations between shoppers and in-store beauty authorities. “We’ve proven that we can generate even more sales on mobile or online when customers enjoy their experiences at our off-line stores,” he said.

In the last year, Memebox introduced four beauty brands — Pony Effect; I’m

Meme; mask purveyor Bonvivant, and skin-care specialist Nooni — and anticipates it will release two additional brands this year. Hur said Memebox’s color cosmetics lines — Pony Effect is Memebox’s fast-est-growing color cosmetics line in the U.S. — are larger than Memebox’s skin-care lines, but he underscored skin-care brands are selling briskly as well.

Production speed, partnerships and trend-right items play pivotal roles in the success of Memebox’s products. Pony Effect is a partnership between Memebox and South Korean beauty influencer Pony. As a measure of the brand’s popularity, Memebox said 20,000 units of Pony Effect’s new eyeshadow were purchased in 45 minutes. Memebox has also partnered with Song Joong-Ki, a South Korean actor and star of the drama “Descendants of the Sun,” and sponsored the Korean televi-sion series “Uncontrollably Fond.” Hur revealed Memebox can execute a product from idea to unveiling in as little as two

months, compared to 18 months to two years for traditional beauty companies. “What we have done operationally is cre-ate a business to take on trends when they start,” he said.

In the U.S., Memebox’s brands account for 25 to 30 percent of the company’s business. “In terms of a revenue split, it’s a natural course that we will earn more from our own brands. We can do retail distribu-tion with our own brands, and we consider ourselves a brand company,” said Hur with the caveat that Memebox’s e-commerce platform welcomes third-party beauty brands, and offers a wide assortment of Korean brands big and small. He stressed, “We have an open platform. The customer is shown whatever the best product is. If it is our product, then it is our product. If it is not our product, we need to make our products better. We love working with great brands, and we want to work with more great brands.”

Memebox has been adept at drawing customers to its platform for its own brands and third-party brands. The com-pany has attracted roughly 70 million Face-book views this year from videos, including ones spotlighting Elizavecca’s Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask, Etude House’s Bubble Tea Sleeping Pack and Pony Effect’s Ulti-mate Prep Primer. Memebox has in excess of four million social-media followers glob-ally and notably two million followers on the Chinese social-media network Weibo.

Memebox’s advertising approach is quantitatively and qualitatively different from most beauty brands. Hur estimated most beauty brands run two to three online ads at once. In contrast, Memebox has as many as 300 ads at the ready to optimize. And the tone of Memebox’s ads is a break from the polished tone of customary beauty ads. “We stop thinking like a marketing person with a marketing message,” he said. “It’s about thinking like users on Facebook.”

BEAUTY

Digital Beauty Start-up Memebox Reels in $65.95M

Memebox’s store in Seoul.

● The company cut its full-year targets as a strong yen hurt its international performance.

BY KELLY WETHERILLE

TOKYO — Shiseido said Tuesday that its first-half net profit grew by more than four times on one-off gains linked to the sale of intellectual property rights in connec-tion with the Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance business and the sale of land at a former factory.

The company did see an improvement on the operating profit level but sales were basically flat. Meanwhile, the company cut its full-year earnings and sales targets as a strong yen cut into its international

performance.The company’s net income for the six

months ended June 30 totaled 24.5 billion yen, or $219.48 million at average exchange rates for the period. Last year, Shiseido changed its fiscal year-end from March 31 to Dec. 31, so it provided adjusted figures as comps. Net profit came in at 5.4 billion yen, or $44.20 million.

First-half operating income grew 32.1 percent year-on-year to 19.94 billion yen, or $178.68 million. The company said it saw higher margins thanks to a better product mix, higher sales of prestige prod-ucts and cost-cutting.

Shiseido’s first-half net sales inched up just 0.4 percent to 412.28 billion yen, or $3.69 billion.

Japan’s largest cosmetics company saw its sales grow in Japan, China and the

travel retail sector, but contract in other regions including Asia-Pacific, the Ameri-cas, and Europe and the Middle East. The travel retail business posted particularly strong growth, at 41.5 percent to total 12.02 billion yen, or $107.65 million. In both Japan and China, prestige brands such as Clé de Peau Beauté, Shiseido and Ipsa performed well, the company said.

Sales in the Americas rose 1.7 percent on a local currency basis but declined 5.8 percent year on year in yen terms to 72.4 billion yen, or $643.65 million.

Sales in Europe and the Middle East were substantially impacted by the loss of Jean Paul Gaultier sales after the termina-tion of the licensing agreement last year. Sales in that segment declined 11 percent on a local currency basis, or 18.2 percent in yen terms. They totaled 39 billion yen,

or $346.72 million.Shiseido lowered both its profit and

sales guidance for the year ending Dec. 31. It now sees net income growing 1.8 percent to 30 billion yen, or $266.71 million at current exchange rates. This is down from its previous forecast of 34.5 billion yen, or $306.71 million.

The company now expects its operating profit to contract by 32.3 percent based on adjusted figures, coming in to match net profit at 30 billion yen, or $266.71 million. The company previously forecasted a yearly operating profit of 38 billion yen, or $337.83 million.

It is projecting its yearly net sales will decline by 1.8 percent to 848 billion yen, or $7.54 billion. Its previous guidance saw sales coming in at 872 billion yen, or $7.75 billion.

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● TLondon’s Lower Sloane Street, where the eyewear brand’s maiden Europe store Is set to bow, has attracted Delpozo and Red Valentino, among other labels.

BY SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — Oliver Peoples’ first European stand-alone store is set to open on one of the hottest new retail stretches in London, lower Sloane Street.

The Los Angeles-based eyewear brand joins stores including Delpozo, Red Valentino and Boutique 1 on the part of the street nearest to Sloane Square, which has just been redeveloped. Located at 151 Sloane Street the new store will sit near Chloé, Cartier, Tiffany & Co. and Hackett.

The small space, which spans about 650 square feet, will stock optical lenses and sun-glasses, and have opticians and an eye doctor on site.

David Schulte, the firm’s chief executive officer, said London has always been an important market for the brand, which has been selling in the U.K. via a network of wholesale clients for 30 years. He said the new store was a long time com-ing: It was just a question of finding the right-size store and neighborhood.

“We would have loved to have been here five years ago. I think the real estate in London is one of the toughest cities right now in the world,” he said, adding that the store interiors reflect his vision of the city.

“We wanted to take advantage of the history of London. I had been going for years, and am obviously a huge fan of the club culture that exists

in the city, whether it’s Annabel’s or Loulou’s or all that cool stuff that’s going on over there,” said Schulte in a telephone interview. “So we tried to play off a little bit of a darker tone than we normally would. There is gray suede on the walls and oak floors and we’ve wrapped the cabinets in leather. It’s very beautiful and rich. I can’t stand when I’m flying all over the world and I go to dif-ferent stores and it’s always the same thing. So we really try hard to give people a sort of city-centric experience,” he said.

Los Angeles-based architects Marmol Radziner built the store, which also has original teak and leather furniture, rosewood casework and authentic optometry stools.

In addition to the seasonal collections, the store will sell Oliver Peoples x Byredo and Oliver Peoples The Row, plus a selection of exclusive custom frames and original Oliver Peoples vintage styles.

While Schulte declined to give first-year sales projections, he said it would be an “A-plus store. It needs to be a flagship for us. We took a lot of time to find it, and we think London is an incredi-ble city for commerce.”

Asked whether Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has disrupted the opening plans — or given him pause about investing here — Schulte said it has not.

“We’re small enough not to get too caught up in geo-political things. It’s obviously big news for the city, but it wasn’t something that made us nervous. London is one of the great cities of the world and it will continue to thrive no matter what happens. The London real estate market is very hot right now, whether it’s Sloane Street or Mount Street or parts of the East End. So we’re thrilled to finally be able to put a flag in the ground.”

The brand had already been selling through a network of high-end opticians and at stores such as Dover Street Market, Matchesfashion.com and Browns, although the focus remains on the optical offer.

“We are really trying to position Oliver Peoples as the most exclusive eyewear brand in the world,” Schulte said.

The brand has stand-alone stores in New York; Los Angeles, Malibu, San Diego and Costa Mesa, Calif; Chicago, and Tokyo. The location of the next European store is anyone’s guess.

“It’s a real estate question,” said Schulte. “We do have an absolute strategic goal to have a store in key cities around the world, and of course in Paris, Milan and Berlin. For us to be positioned as the most exclusive eyewear brand in the world — which is our goal — we need retail, we need that visibility, and we need to give all of our customers an experience at the highest level.”

ACCESSORIES

Oliver Peoples Opens First Europe Store in London

● The firm is looking to expand its fast-fashion platform to other retailers.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

Brand management firm Xcel Brands Inc. reported second-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates for both earnings per share and revenues.

For the three months ended June 30, the company said the net loss was $90,000, or 0 cents, against net income of $2.1 million, or 14 cents, in the year-ago period. On an adjusted basis for certain cash and noncash items, the company ended the quarter with net income of $2.1 million, or 11 cents a diluted share, compared with $1.1 million, or 7 cents, a year ago. Total revenues grew 45 percent to $9.1 million from $6.3 million.

Wall Street was expecting EPS of 8 cents on revenues of $8.7 million.

For the six months, the loss was $135,000, or 1 cent a diluted share, on a 36.3 percent climb in revenues to $17.4 million.

Robert D’Loren, chairman and chief executive officer, said the company launched its IMNYC Isaac Mizrahi, H Halston and Highline Collective brands at Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay department

stores during the quarter. He added that the com-pany is also seeing growth in its interactive tele-vision business at QVC. The company is focused on expanding its department store distribution, and continues to invest in its quick-time-response platform.

The quick-time-response platform is aimed at shortening the lead times in production. Xcel had the idea of helping retailers manage inventory in the current market environment that favors fast fashion, and inked a deal with Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay nearly a year ago for them to be the exclusive retail partners for the program in the U.S. and Canada. That program includes the manufacture and design of four Xcel brands: IMNYC Isaac Mizrahi; H Halston; C. Wonder Ltd. and Highline, the private label brand targeting the Millennial consumer that was created just for the platform. With the exception of C. Wonder, the other three were already in the stores for spring.

C. Wonder will be available either later this year or for spring 2017.

In a conference call to Wall Street analysts, D’Loren said the company is planning on offering the fast-fashion program to other retailers. He also said the company is working with QVC on intro-ducing home and beauty brands for the interactive channel, with the expectation that those plans will be finalized in 2017.

D’Loren also said that the new quick-response capability broadens the types of businesses that it can now consider for an acquisition. Firms that are primarily supply-chain oriented now could be an acquisition opportunity for Xcel provided the business model can be converted to the new platform, he said.

Shares of Xcel Brands fell 5.1 percent to close at $4.98 in Nasdaq trading. The company reported results after the equity markets ended their trading sessions for the day.

THE MARKETS

Xcel’s Q2 Beats Wall Street Estimates

● The fashion director of men’s wear, sports and watches’ departure has been confirmed a week after Helen David’s promotion.BY SAMANTHA CONTI WITH CONTRIBUTIONS

FROM JEAN E. PALMIERI

LONDON — A week after promoting Helen David to chief merchant, Harrods has confirmed that

Jason Broderick, fashion direc-tor of men’s wear, sports and watches, has left the company.

Harrods declined to com-ment further about Broderick, or who might succeed him.

Broderick was promoted to his role in 2013 following the departure of former chief merchant Marigay McKee, who exited to become pres-

ident of Saks Fifth Avenue. David was promoted alongside him to the position of fashion director of women’s wear, accessories, fine jewelry and children’s wear. Both positions were new ones, and both Broderick and David became members of the store’s senior merchant team.

Broderick, who joined Harrods in 1998, had previously been general merchandise manager of men’s wear, sports and watches.

When Broderick was promoted, Harrods said he had played a “pivotal” role in the growth of the men’s business, overseeing the development of the Lower Ground International Designer Gallery and Fashion Lab, Ground Floor Tailoring department and Sports Floor on the fifth floor.

During his career, Broderick had worked closely with McKee when she was Harrods’ chief mer-chant, and there were market rumblings that he would join her at Saks. She left Saks after a stormy tenure of only about a year and set up her own consultancy.

But even before McKee moved to the U.S. the stylish Irishman who began his career as a classical dancer had long been in the sights of many Amer-ican department stores. But his loyalties remained to Harrods and to London.

Broderick did not return requests for comment on Tuesday.

Over the past year, he oversaw a variety of projects, including Harrods Man Cover to Cover, a storewide takeover that included all departments, ranging from luxury and tailoring to contemporary and active.

As part of the takeover, the October issue of the biannual Harrods Man Magazine had 12 covers, created by Tom Ford, Burberry, Gucci, Valentino, Prada, Hennessy, Louis Vuitton, Ermenegildo Zegna, Corneliani, Paul Smith, Giorgio Armani and Brioni.

At the time, Broderick told WWD the men’s wear category had “evolved beyond comprehen-sion and the drive from our customers to embrace this new world has led us to further expand our footprint of men’s wear in the store.”

Under his watch Harrods launched a Denim Gallery and a Contemporary floor and further extended its designer room, where it opened some of the largest shops worldwide for Givenchy, Valen-tino and Philipp Plein. The space also housed what was then Balmain’s first shops-in-shop.

Broderick also embraced buy-now-wear-now trends, noting that Harrods’ visual merchandising and mannequin styling were changed on a daily basis to reflect the new shopping patterns.

On Aug. 1, Harrods revealed David’s promotion to chief merchant, a role that had been vacant since McKee left.

BUSINESS

Jason Broderick Exits Harrods

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Inside the new Oliver Peoples store in London.

Accessories from H by Halston for QVC.

Jason Broderick

10 10 AUGUST 2016

● Continued weakness in the watch category and promotional activity at outlet stores had a negative impact.

BY DEBRA BORCHARDT

Fossil Group Inc. reported that sales dropped in the second quarter and that it expects more of the same for the rest of the year. However, Fossil managed to beat analysts’ estimates for both earn-ings and sales, causing the stock to rise in after-hours trading.

Net income for the quarter dropped to $6 million, or 13 cents a diluted share, from $54.6 million, or $1.12 a share, a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share totaled 12 cents and beat the FactSet estimate for earnings of 9 cents a share. That helped push the stock up more

than 8 percent, to $32.86, after the close.

Net sales for the three months ending July 2 fell to $685.4 million from $740 million a year earlier. This also beat the FactSet estimate for sales of $672 million. Fossil saw increases in leather and jewelry sales, but the declines in watches was too much to offset the gains.

“Our financial results for the quarter, while below last year, were very much in line with our expectations from both a top- and bottom-line perspective,” said chief executive officer Kosta Kart-sotis. “In fact, despite an overall decline in sales, there are several areas of the business that performed well, though they are being masked by continued weakness in the traditional watch cat-egory, particularly among our licensed brands.”

Fossil said that it expects the impact

of the acquisition of the wearable tech company Misfit to be dilutive to its 2016 results along with foreign currency headwinds.

Gross margins also dropped, from 55.3 percent one year ago to 51.9 per-cent this past quarter. The decline was blamed on promotional activity at the outlet stores and the negative impact from foreign currencies.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, Fossil is projecting net sales to decrease in the range of 2 percent to 6 percent. Diluted earnings are forecast to be in the range of 15 to 40 cents a share. This is much lower than the FactSet estimate of 67 cents a share.

For fiscal year 2016, Fossil is forecast-ing net sales to decline in the range of 1.5 percent, to 5 percent, and diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.80 to $2.65. The Capital IQ estimate is for earnings of $2.03.

RETAIL

Fossil’s Sales Drop, but Manages To Beat Earnings Estimates

1 percent of total sales growth, or $40 million to $50 million,” said Victor Luis, chief executive officer of Coach, in a telephone interview.

Earlier in the day, the company posted fourth-quarter results in which earnings per share beat Wall Street’s estimate by 4 cents, even though the firm did slightly miss the consensus estimate for revenues in the period. Also significant was the 2 percent growth in comparable-store sales, the first time comps have increased since the third quarter of 2013, suggesting the turn-around story at the company has been taking hold.

Still, investors sent shares of Coach down 2.2 percent to close at $40.52 in Big Board trading Tuesday. More than 10.1 million shares changed hands, compared with a three-month average trading volume of 3.7 million shares. Some of the trading can be attributed to shorting of the stock, as well as investor reaction to the company’s perceived lackluster guidance for fiscal 2017.

For the three months ended July 2, net income was $81.5 million, or 29 cents a diluted share, versus net income of $11.7 million, or 4 cents, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, net income was $126 million, or 45 cents a diluted share. Net sales rose 15 percent to $1.15 billion from $1 billion. Wall Street was expect-ing EPS of 41 cents on total revenues of

$1.17 billion.By segment, North American sales

rose 9 percent to $606 million, which included $44 million due to an addi-tional week of sales in the fiscal year. North American direct sales rose 10 percent. Comparable-store sales rose 2 percent in the quarter. The company said point-of-sales at North American department stores declined at a mid-teen rate compared with a year ago, while net sales into department stores decreased in the high-single digits. The company said that decline reflected the firm’s strategic actions in the channel.

International sales rose 15 percent to $450 million, which included $32 mil-lion due to the additional week of sales. Greater China sales were up 5 percent, offsetting continued weakness in Hong Kong and Macau. In Japan, sales rose 7 percent. Sales in Europe, a smaller component of overseas operations, grew at a double-digit pace.

For the year, net income rose 14.4 per-cent to $460.5 million on a 7.2 percent

sales gain to $4.49 billion.Luis described the year as an “inflec-

tion” period for the firm. “There’s still more work ahead of us. This is not about feeling hubris, not about arriving, but about the direction [we are headed] in which we feel good about.”

He noted that about 40 percent of sales are now in handbags above the $400 price tag: “Consumers are under-standing the value of Stuart [Vever’s] designs,” the ceo said, referring to the firm’s creative director.

As for pulling back on distribution at the department store channel, the bane of the mass-market consumer base and what has traditionally been the bulk of Coach’s sales, Luis said the firm’s department store partners understood the strategy. “We have great belief in the department store channel and its importance….It’s not about where we are pulling back, but about adding more in the tier-one department stores and specialty stores,” he said.

Luis explained that the pullback also meant fewer dollars for markdown allowances, and in the stores that Coach will remain in, the brand will invest in renovating its shop-in-shops, adding shop managers and in marketing dollars.

The change is just for the Coach brand, and does not impact Stuart Weitzman, which isn’t as widely dis-tributed. For the quarter, Coach said net sales at Weitzman were $84 million, representing an outpacing of the firm’s original projections.

Earlier in the day, the footwear brand indicated a major generational and stra-tegic shift as it named Giovanni Morelli creative director, succeeding founder Stuart Weitzman on May 5, 2017, when Weitzman will take the reins as chair-man. Morelli will report to Wendy Kahn, who is slated to become ceo and brand president on Sept. 13.

The accessories firm paid $575 million last year to acquire the luxury footwear company. Coach has said it’s keeping an

eye out for other brands it might want to acquire, and Luis reiterated that it will do a deal only when it makes sense for the company.

The fact that Coach spent $575 million for Weitzman doesn’t mean it needs to do a deal just as big. “One doesn’t impact the other….Each acquisition has to stand on its own merits. Weitzman obviously was a terrific one for us, and it continues to be a growth story, which is what it was intended to be,” Luis said, noting the learnings the firm has acquired on the footwear front.

Luis said Coach has been looking at the potential of some “unique assets” in the firm’s core footwear, handbag and outerwear categories. And if Weitzman is any indication of what Coach might be looking for, the next deal would be for a unique brand, with a strong position-ing where the franchise can be grown globally, Luis said. Coach prefers brands with a clean distribution footprint around the world.

Luis gave the impression that Coach isn’t in any rush when it comes to its next acquisition, nor does it seem there’s any pressure to get a deal done.

“I want to be clear about our invest-ment strategy, and that is investments in our current business. We will be selec-tive and very opportunistic on oppor-tunities to make value accretive acqui-sitions. We will look to where we can as a company help drive value,” the ceo said, noting Coach’s proven experience in growing brands here and abroad.

“Our strategy is not to look for fix-er-uppers. We are focused on brands that can drive growth for Coach Inc., with stable management teams and where there are opportunities to grow,” Luis emphasized.

For fiscal-year 2017, the company guided revenues on a non-GAAP basis to increase by low-to-midsingle digits, and initiated an operating margin forecast of between 18.5 percent to 19 percent for the year.

Coach Net,Comps Up,BeatingEstimates CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Coach’s Western Rivets Rouge bag in pebble leather.

A Fossil watch.

10 AUGUST 2016 11

which is the center of all the shopping envi-ronment here. We’re extremely happy that Prada will be the new tenant.”

While the ground floor will be dedicated to accessories, the first and second floors will stock the Italian house’s men’s and women’s fashions, respectively.

Also in November, Bucherer is to open a 7,535-square-foot space, which will be located on Illum’s ground floor, next to the accessories department. It will include luxury watches and jewelry, with such brands as its premium Swiss watch brand Carl F. Buch-erer, as well as Tag Heuer, Omega, Chopard, Pomellato, plus local jewelers Georg Jensen and Ole Lynggaard. In addition, there will be shops-in-shop for Rolex and Cartier.

“It’s a major shift, as we didn’t have a lux-ury watches and jewelry department. That’s why it was important to team up with a spe-cialist who has knowledge for dealing with all these exclusive brands,” said Aaen, referring to the Swiss company, which is a watch and jewelry retailer as well as a manufacturer.

The latest arrivals come after the revamp-ing of Illum’s women’s department, which was completed last fall. Brands such as Céline, Valentino, Salvatore Ferragamo, Balenciaga, Tod’s and Saint Laurent opened stores within the department store, while Chloé, Marni, Proenza Schouler, Loewe, Alexander Wang and Alexander McQueen also opened smaller

branded shops there.“We have invested more than $70 million

into rebuilding, renovating and creating a luxury environment for the brands, and, on top of that, the brands invested a lot of money into the project,” said Aaen. “It was part of the acquisition strategy of La Rinascente and Central Retail Corp. [the Thailand-based

group that took control of the Italian depart-ment store chain in May 2011] to create a fash-ion temple and to introduce all these luxury brands in the Nordic market because a lot of them didn’t have a presence,” the executive continued, noting that the store caters to a lot of tourists from other Nordic countries.

A remodeling of the store’s beauty space is in the pipeline for early next year.

The transformation has been happening in steps. As reported, Illum also created a food atrium on its top floor, called Illum Rooftop, which includes seven restaurants, a coffee shop and a terrace overlooking Christians-borg Palace and central Copenhagen. Bar Jacobsen, a modern beer bistro that opened this past week is the latest restaurant to open on the roof.

There’s more to come: Eataly is to open its first shop in Denmark this fall, on the store’s lower ground floor, in the former space of the Irma supermarket. The 21,528-square-foot space will boast five restaurants and a grocery shop. In addition to the selection of Italian food and drinks, Eataly will offer a selection of local Danish delicacies.

“Eataly is just opening two stores this year: a second location in Manhattan and a store at Illum,” the executive said, predicting that the investment that was put into Illum Rooftop and Eataly will significantly increase footfall. “We have a lot of connoisseurs and foodies in Copenhagen,” she said, noting that the city counts no less than 16 Michelin-starred restaurants.

Illum to OpenPrada, BuchererIn Copenhagen CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

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● The social media platform is the latest to encourage candid, live content.

BY MAGHAN MCDOWELL

Twitter is making a bigger claim on the “authentic,” “in-the-moment” approach that has been trending on social sites such as Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.

The micro-blogging platform said it would begin allowing brands and other high-profile users to share Moments, which are a grouping of tweets, images and videos.

Moments are created using a special tool within Twitter that allows users to string together different elements and arrange tweets. Not all brands have access, but in the coming weeks, “thousands more” creators will be getting access, and eventually all users will be able to create and share Moments.

Twitter introduced the new feature in October 2015 as a way for the casual user to make more sense of the platform and to see highlights from the day’s events. The first Moments, which are accessible through a “lightning” icon in the platform, were curated by an in-house team in addition to some news outlets such as BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times and Vogue.

“Moments have been created by our cura-tion team and a select group of publishing partners, but it’s always been our goal to open up this creative canvas to more people,” said Twitter product manager Gaby Peña. “People come to Twitter to see, experience and com-ment about what’s happening as it unfolds.

“The stories and voices aren’t always expressed through a single tweet,” Peña said. “Moments allow people to capture and experience richer stories reflecting the diver-sity of tweets that, together, make Twitter so powerful.”

Some of the first brands to have access to Moments include Nike and Allure.

Allure’s Michelle Lee, for example, com-piled a number of images and videos that took viewers through a day in the life of the editor in chief, from her morning beauty rou-tine to a meeting over wine in the evening.

Nike compiled a number of baby pictures shared on athletes’ personal Twitter accounts, in addition to a video from a corresponding ad campaign.

Twitter’s curated Moments are accessible even to those who do not have an account, but a brand’s Moments are viewable only to account-holders. On the desktop site, a brand’s Moments live in a separate tab and are viewable on one page in a scrollable, chronological feed. On the Mobile app, a brand’s Moment is accessible through the brand’s Twitter feed, and a user can scroll left or right through all the images and videos.

Twitter Moments are comparable to Instagram’s new Stories feature, Snapchat’s ephemeral ethos and Facebook Live, which all encourage candid, real-time content.

VaynerMedia chief creative officer Steve Babcock acknowledged this trend in a Twitter post sharing the news. “At VaynerMedia, we’re all about marketing for the year we live in and testing new products,” Babcock said.

He said the new ability to make Moments “provides our brand partners with a great opportunity to seamlessly integrate into how real-time culture is being consumed today.”

Instagram stories, for example, let users share content that disappears after 24 hours. This new feature, introduced earlier this month, encourages more regular sharing and viewing, and alleviates the pressure among Instagram users to sharing only the perfect moments. Almost immediately, fashion, beauty and media brands gravitated to the feature, which is displayed prominently on the top of the Instagram app’s home screen.

Coach quickly posted a live tour of its new headquarters and the reaction, said Andre Cohen, who is the company’s president of North America and global marketing, was “fantastic,” with views that were 125 percent higher than the best-performing Snapchat story.

“We love real-time content’s disruptive storytelling nature,” Cohen said. “Content feels more real and less filtered. Our objective is to share important brand moments with personality and authenticity. These moments can include events, runway shows or a prod-uct launch.

“As every brand and influencer has higher follower counts and engagement on Insta-gram and Twitter versus Snapchat, it will be interesting to witness a potential significant content shift toward Instagram or potentially even Twitter,” he added.

Benefit Cosmetics, in beginning to use Instagram stories, polled consumers about what they’d most like to see, said Claudia

Allwood, who is senior director of U.S. digital marketing. She said the beauty brand dove deeper into storytelling in coordination with its permanent Instagram posts, including more behind-the-scenes coverage of its San Francisco headquarters.

Benefit created its first Instagram story on the day the feature became available and received more than 50,000 views within the first hour. The brand drives engagement by having consumers comment with emojis or answer a question the brand has provided.

“We have found that our consumer is more heavily engaged on both Instagram and Snapchat, so we have prioritized our real-time efforts to those channels,” Allwood said. She said “irreverent storytelling and snackable tutorials,” including “first reveals,” influencer takeovers and lifestyle stories perform the strongest on Snapchat and allow Benefit to be more casual in its communication.

Allwood said Benefit, which has not yet created a Twitter Moment, primarily uses Twitter as a customer service portal and a communication tool with fans. And that could be a cue to Twitter to encourage brands to jazz up its usage.

In July, Twitter chief marketing officer Les-lie Berland said people who don’t regularly use Twitter said they didn’t know what it was for and thought they had to tweet every day. To that end, it is increasingly positioning itself as more of a news source than a social network, and created a marketing campaign of videos and digital ads that convey the message that Twitter is a place to “see what’s happening” with “all the live commentary that makes Twitter unique.”

And today’s expansion of Moments is another move by Twitter, after Jack Dorsey was reinstated as ceo less than a year ago, to become more user-friendly and to be seen as a live news source.

Dorsey in April said live content, espe-cially videos, would be an ongoing focus. “Twitter has always been the best place to see what’s happening now,” he said. “During these events is really when Twitter shines for marketers; these live audiences and the connection that marketers can have to them are rare in the online ad space and so we stand out from the rest of the market around these events.”

MEDIA

Twitter’s Moments EncouragesReal-Time Sharing From Brands

A rendering of the Prada

flagship at Illum.

Allure shared A day in the life of Michelle Lee in a Twitter Moment.

PREVIEWISSUE: 09.07 AD CLOSE: 08.24 MATERIALS: 08.29

An Advertising Opportunity

NYFW

Front Row Fashion Kicked Into High Gear

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT PAMELA FIRESTONE, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER AT 212 256 8103 OR PFIRESTONE@WWD.COM

“These days nobody wants to appear flashy. They want to appear creative…I wish they wanted to appear flashy,” says Marcy Blum from her Fifth Av-enue office, rummaging through her Chanel tote.

Weeks of newspapers and designer shoes are piled high on the velvet couch beside her desk; a cabinet of curiosities towers nearby with archives of invitations, awards and even a bottle of Dom Perignon. In her line of work, one never knows when you’ll need to pop the bubbly.

Blum is celebrating her 30th year in the event-planning industry. An influential eye in all things events, her long career has been marked by dreaming up soirees — especially high-profile weddings — for clientele like former New York

City Mayor Ed Koch, the Rockefeller family, LeBron James, former Oscar de la Renta PR girl Erika Bearman and Billy Joel. It’s one thing to get a celebrity retweet or share a dinner hotspot, but it’s another to work with them for 12 months to plan the biggest day of their lives.

After studying at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and the Culinary Institute of America, Blum launched Marcy Blum Associates in 1986. Her first notable client was New York’s own Rockefeller family, for whom she planned weddings for both grand-daughters. Soon after she was answering calls from Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, a couple she affectionately refers to as her “poster children for a happily married couple.”

It’s safe to assume

Bacon and Sedgwick were satisfied custom-ers; inside her office, a handwritten note reads, “Thanks for making our perfect day perfect. Could you possibly move in with us and plan the rest of our lives? All our love, Kyra and Kevin Bacon.”

One way or another, Blum works to make every dollar count; after all, she did write the textbook on accessible wedding planning (that would be two editions of “Wedding Planning for Dummies”). “I think everybody has a budget,” she says. “People, no matter who they are, are consistently shocked by how much a big wedding costs.”

No matter the price tag, Blum works to ensure her clients have (almost) as much fun planning the big day as

they do celebrating it. “It’s not the end justifies the means,” she says. “I want the process to be fun too. I want people to look back on the year they planned their wedding and go, ‘That was a really good time. We learned something about hosting and also that was a fun experience.’ It wasn’t like, ‘That was hell but the party was great.’ That’s not what I want.”

Such an approach has earned her many friend-ships born out of client relationships. Blum even accompanies her brides dress shopping, equipped with subject knowledge garnered from attending international bridal week.

“Sometimes I’ll look at someone and go, ‘Oh my god, I just saw the dress on the runway.’ I know ex-actly what’s good for you, and I’ll suggest it,” she says. “But usually that’s

one of the fun parts for the bride, so they want to take their time shop-ping.” Her current favorite bridal brands to scout for clients include Oscar de la Renta and Reem Acra. “There are a lot of really wonderful designers paying attention to bridal now, which didn’t used to be the case,” she says.

Blum has separated herself from the pack by never overlooking a detail. For LeBron James’ 2013 wedding to Savannah Brinson, she managed to keep the affair off Instagram by coat-checking guests’ cell phones upon arrival. It’s that mix of the per-sonal and professional that allows her to suc-cessfully earn the trust of her clients. “I think those of us who are ‘artists’ certainly have had to become more business-like, and the people who are completely business-like have had to become more artistic,” she says. “We all meet somewhere in the middle.”

When one asks a woman who makes plans for a living what the future holds, there are expectations what the answer might be. But in-stead Blum gives a laugh, glances at her endless inbox and says, “Trying to stay alive long enough.”

In reality, there are far too many celebrations ahead for her to hang up her party hat now. — ASHLEY BISCAN

Marcy Blum Fetes 30 Years of Wining, Dining and Party-PlanningThe celebrity event organizer has worked for the likes of LeBron James and the Rockefeller family.

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A&F’s New LookA new re-branded prototype Abercrombie & Fitch store will be unveiled in early 2017 at the Polaris Fashion Place in Ohio. The center, in Central Ohio, has more than 150 retail, dining and entertainment choices.

The company said the concept store will showcase a new direction for Abercrombie, featuring a new store aesthetic and updated mer-chandise selections.

Fran Horowitz, president and chief merchandising officer for the com-pany, said, “We are looking forward to launching our first A&F prototype in Polaris, a great fashion destina-tion right in our backyard, which will allow us to receive customer feed-back firsthand.” She added that with the “strong performance” the com-pany is seeing with its new Hollister prototype, the updated Abercrombie store will highlight how the company is “evolving the brand.”

Horowitz was the brand president for Hollister when the company began testing its new format in May 2015. The company began rolling out a retrofit of 15 stores last year. Horowitz — who was elevated to president and chief merchandising officer in December for the entire company — is now overseeing the test of the new Abercrombie proto-type as well. — VICKI M. YOUNG

Alfaro Goes OnlineVictor Alfaro has launched an e-commerce channel with Farfetch, utilizing the monobrand branch of the company’s platform. It’s a service Farfetch rolled out about a year ago, not to be confused with Black & White, the wing that Far-fetch introduced in September to fully operate a brand’s e-commerce, initially including Christopher Kane and Manolo Blahnik.

For Alfaro, who does not oper-ate his own e-commerce, Farfetch powers much of the back end that a small designer can’t support. “It’s the same platform we use for

boutiques but with brands,” said Gabrielle de Papp, Farfetch’s senior vice president of brand and busi-ness development in North America. “We photograph [merchandise], we handle operations, we handle check out and shipping.”

Customers can shop directly through Farfetch. If they go to Alfa-ro’s web site victoralfaro.com and click “shop,” they’ll be redirected to Alfaro’s page on Farfetch. “Everyone talks about e-commerce,” Alfaro said. “We’re such a young brand, I have to do things that fit right. Farfetch is really set up to handle all issues with why I couldn’t launch my own e-commerce. The logistics of

it are so complex and really expen-sive.”

Farfetch takes a commission for the service but Alfaro said it’s a fraction of what it would cost him to run his own e-commerce. Being in Farfetch’s search gives him visibility to its global audience. He also con-trols the buy and the pricing. Far-fetch doesn’t buy the merchandise, rather Alfaro places an order for himself. He launched last week with pre-fall and had seven sales in the first day. “It’s a real game-changer for small brands that don’t have the infrastructure set up for a big e-com-merce operation,” Alfaro said. — JESSICA IREDALE

Country DuoThe first half of the phrase, “a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll,” will be emphasized at Bloomingdale’s this fall when the retailer’s propri-etary Aqua brand launches a cap-sule collection with Country Music Award-winning duo Maddie & Tae.

The Aqua x Maddie & Tae col-lection captures singers’ Maddie Marlow and Taylor Dye’s sense of adventure and positive girl-empow-erment message.

Included in the capsule are items with the combination of textures, col-ors and silhouettes that character-ize Marlow and Dye’s offbeat style such as sequined, embroidered and velvet lace trim dresses priced from $128 to $130; a reversible multicolor rabbit and coyote fur anorak, $498; floral embroidered bomber jacket, $98; plush velvet blazers, $148; leather pants, $328, and skirt, $148; distressed denim pieces, $78, and lace trim and flounce tank tops, $78 and $38, round out the collection.

The complete capsule collection

next week will launch in all Blooming-dale’s stores and bloomingdales.com Maddie & Tae will kick off a Bloomingdale’s tour with fashion presentations on Sept. 10 in Chi-cago and Sept. 24 at the Chestnut Hill, Mass. location. In addition to a fashion presentation, Maddie & Tae on Sept. 15 will perform an acoustic set at Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship. — SHARON EDELSON

Fashion Scoops

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Aqua x Maddie & Tae’s embroidered dress.

Victor Alfaro’s brand page on Farfetch.

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MusingJuun.J is paying homage to his muses in his fall advertising campaign.

The Korean men’s designer, who was featured at Pitti Uomo in January, will feature K-Pop stars and friends G-Drag-on and Taeyang of the group Big Bang in his ads for the season.

Both entertainers, who are huge stars in their home country, have appeared in the designer’s fashion shows in the past.

Juun.J’s fall collection was titled “Less,” and featured pieces that blurred the lines of gender, age and genre. Its featured item was a rider jacket, which was offered in a variety of lengths and patterns. The stars wear variations of the jacket in the ads.

The moody black-and-white ads were shot by Hong Jang-hyun in Seoul in March and will be showcased on social media, where the entertainers have millions of followers, according to Juun.J. — JEAN E. PALMIERI

Gemma RisingDavid Webb is amping up its advertis-

ing for fall with a campaign featuring Gemma Ward, Tali Lennox, Cora Emman-uel and Alisa Ahmann.

The jewelry house’s images were photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

Set to run in September issues of national magazines and across David Webb digital channels, the campaign is meant to modernize the brand’s designs — all of which were conceived by Webb himself, before his death in 1975.

David Webb co-owner Mark Emanuel said: “We’re thrilled to debut our latest campaign, shot by the brilliant Inez and Vinoodh. They’ve beautifully articulated what we believe in — women with strong and empowered personalities alongside jewelry that is both meticulously crafted and designed with a bold sensibility in mind.

“David Webb believed women should be assertive in their style. The photo-graphs by Inez and Vinoodh, and the wonderful personalities of our models, are in line with that mentality, but in a way that is relevant to today’s modern woman.” — MISTY WHITE SIDELL

Bridging the GapJ.Lindeberg has tapped a roster of diverse faces for its fall campaign.

Inspired by the brand’s bridge logo, “The Bridge Series” is a concept that fo-cuses on notable names from a range of categories such as fashion and sports, including actor and designer Waris Ah-luwalia, photographer Chris Colls, model Alexandra Agoston, artist and model David Alexander Flinn, and model and golfer Alexander Lundqvist.

Photographed by the brand’s creative director, Johan Lindeberg, the black-and-white portraits were shot in various loca-tions, including Switzerland, Sweden and the U.S., with some shot in Lindeberg’s house in Williamsburg, as well as at the Bridge Golf Club in Long Island. Lindeberg who has returned to the label, will design the upcoming fall 2017 collection.

“The first thing Stefan [Engstrom] and I talked about when he asked me to rejoin my namesake brand after nine-and-a-half years apart was to reinforce the voice of the brand. I wanted to show the diversity of the brand in The Bridge Se-ries — with people I know and who inspire us. It’s an important time in the world, and I believe in a brand having a voice,” said Lindeberg.

The campaign will run on the brand’s web site and on social media channels. — LORELEI MARFIL

Memo Pad

10 AUGUST 2016 15

● The e-tailer, which helps U.S. brands interested in selling overseas, continues with brick-and-mortar expansion.

BY KARI HAMANAKA

LOS ANGELES — Multibrand e-tailer Moonbasa has identified 15 locations it plans to open this year as a partnership struck with the U.S. Department of Com-merce’s International Trade Administra-tion kicks into gear.

The company, which provides an online platform for U.S. fashion brands interested in selling in China, focuses on working with small- to mid-size com-panies that do not yet have an interna-tional business in a bid to create a niche

for itself amid larger competitors such as Tmall. Brands pay to be on the site in exchange for help from the company with regulatory compliance, logistics, customer service and the actual build of their online presence.

The 15 Moonbasa stores will be located in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Zhejiang and Dongguan. They will be a mix of compa-ny-owned, joint venture and franchised operations.

The company, which launched its U.S. business in April of last year under what it pegged a U.S. mall for domestic brands, counts 25 domestic lines online currently. Those brands include Band of Gypsies, Halo, Ocean Current, Janet Chung and Taylor & Sage.

The company earlier this year said it formed a partnership with the Inter-national Trade Administration to help

bolster its profile among exporters via marketing efforts from the two. A new promotion seeks to sweeten the deal for brands that join the platform with a discounted annual fee along

with the opportunity to participate in a three-day pop-up at the company’s flagship in Shanghai. The store, totaling 15,000 square feet, opened last year. It represented a new store concept and direction for future Moonbasa brick-and-mortar with a heavy focus on digital integration. The door carries a small selection of the brands available online with touchscreens and employ-ees armed with iPads to help customers browse the full breadth of merchandise in the web store. Customers also have the option of browsing Moonbasa online from their homes and then picking items up in store.

RETAIL

Moonbasa Identifies 15 China Store Locations

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E-tailer Moonbasa’s U.S.

mall aims to be an export vehicle for domestic brands

interested in selling in China.

A look from Juun.J’s fall

campaign.

Gemma Ward for the David

Webb fall campaign.

Waris Ahluwalia in the J.Lindeberg

fall campaign, photographed by Johan Lindeberg.