● Activist firm Barington seeks to elect its two nominees to the retailer’s board.

BY VICKI M. YOUNG

Chico’s FAS Inc. has a proxy fight on its hands.

But this time around all it seems activist investor Barington Capital Group wants is a say at the Chico’s FAS Inc. board of directors table. To obtain that goal, it has launched a proxy fight to elect its two nominees to the Chico’s board: Barington’s chief executive officer James A. Mitaro-tonda, 62, and former Macy’s vice chair-man Janet E. Grove, 65.

The retailer’s annual meeting of share-holders was set for June 16 and has since been rescheduled for July 21. Directors David Dyer, former Chico’s ceo, and Verna Gibson will retire when their current terms expire on July 21. The board will continue to consist of nine members, including eight independent directors and the company’s ceo.

Barington isn’t pushing for a

CONTINUED ON PG. 5

Fashion. Beauty. Business.

DAILY EDITION 25 MAY 2016 1

RIRI IN THE SUNRihanna teams with Dior on a sunglass collection. PAGE 6

MANOLO’S MOMENTManolo Blahnik signs a deal with Bluebell Group to expand in Asia. PAGE 3

SLOWER TIMESThe luxury market is expected to grow only moderately over the next four years, according to Bain & Co. and Fondazione Altagamma. PAGE 8

RETAIL

Proxy Fight Seeks Seats On Chico’s Board

Adidas Originals Nineties Gazelle is getting the Stan Smith and Superstar treatment as the company’s latest archival reissue

poised to become a fashion staple. It has big shoes to fill.

For more, see page 6.

Hot on Stan’s Heels

CONTINUED ON PG. 9

● Brands from established, L’Oréal-owned Decléor to indie newcomers like Drunk Elephant are releasing skin-care products that are part of this new craze.

BY RACHEL STRUGATZ

Antipollution is the latest buzzword in skin care.

And much like its buzzy predeces-sors — think BB creams and brightening products — the craze is starting with an Asian market that’s eager to defend their skin against high levels of ozone pollution.

A handful of brands are releasing skin-care products billed as “antipollu-tion” from established, L’Oréal-owned, French skin-care house Decléor to indie newcomers like Drunk Elephant. Manu-facturers are marketing these products to a consumer who’s growing increas-ingly aware of pollution’s adverse affects,

BEAUTY

Antipollution: Beauty’s New Buzzword

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

T H E S C E N T

O F S U C C E S S

C E L E B R A T I N G

AN ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY: Issue: June 7 / Ad Close: May 25 / Materials: May 30

The 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards

25 MAY 2016 3

● He most recently served as executive vice president for Penske Media Corp.

BY ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

Penske Media Corp. has appointed George Grobar chief operating officer of the com-pany. Grobar most recently served as exec-utive vice president for PMC, which owns WWD, Variety, Footwear News, Deadline, Indiewire, TVLine, Hollywood Life, Gold Derby and Variety Latino.

In the new role, Grobar will work with PMC’s business leaders to develop growth strategies, achieve operational and financial plans across the company’s portfolio of titles, integrate the company’s acquisitions and expand its digital footprint.

“George is an accomplished executive with more than 25 years of financial and operational leadership experience,” said Jay Penske, PMC chairman and chief executive

officer, to whom Grobar will report. “Over the last decade, George has been one of the single greatest contributors to PMC’s suc-cess and relentless growth. His knowledge and expertise will undoubtedly continue to be instrumental as we continue to scale the business globally.”

As chief operating officer, Grobar will oversee all PMC sales and operations, and will be responsible for all organizational

plans and budgets compa-nywide. In addition to his new job, Grobar will con-tinue to serve as a director on PMC’s board, as well as on the board of PMC’s joint-venture in India with Zee TV.

“PMC has been rapidly expanding and there are tremendous opportunities

for growth in both our current businesses and ones we will undoubtedly be add-ing,” Grobar said. “PMC is one of the few

companies on the Internet that can boast having profitable brands across our entire portfolio. That is something we are truly proud of, and would not be possible if we did not have such powerful brands as well as truly world-class people throughout the company. Getting the chance to work with this team is rewarding and I look forward to the challenges ahead.”

Grobar joined PMC in 2009 as chief financial officer, and was actively involved in integrating new acquisitions in the company, as well as building the PMC’s joint-venture division in India, which includes India.com and Bollywoodlife.com, The Health Site, Cricket Country and BGR India. He also helped integrate the Variety and Fairchild operations.

Prior to PMC, Grobar spent 13 years at The Walt Disney Co. and eight years in manufacturing and product development at Unisys Corp. His roles at Disney included senior vice president of mobile, vice pres-ident of e-commerce, cfo for Disney direct marketing and Walt Disney Art Classics and director of business operations & control for the consumer products division controllership.

MEDIA

PMC Promotes George Grobar

George Grobar

● 10 Hudson Yards is the first component of the mega project to open.

BY DAVID MOIN

Coach has a giant opening scheduled for next Tuesday — its new headquarters at 10 Hudson Yards.

In 2013, Coach committed to relocating its headquarters to Hudson Yards, becom-ing an impetus for attracting additional office tenants and spurring progress at the megamixed-use development covering 28 acres on Manhattan’s far West Side.

The 1.8 million-square-foot 10 Hudson Yards tower, situated on the south side

of Hudson Yards at the foot of the High Line, becomes the first building to open at Hudson Yards, which sits atop the railroad yards funneling into Penn Station. In effect, Hudson Yards will create a new neighbor-hood in a pocket of the city that’s been largely desolate for decades. It extends from 30th to 33rd Streets, between 10th and 12th Avenues, and from 33rd to 34th Streets, between 10th and 11th Avenues.

According to Related Cos., developer of Hudson Yards, by the end of the year, 10 Hudson Yards will house L’Oréal USA, German software engineering firm SAP, The Boston Consulting Group, VaynerMe-dia, Intersection and Sidewalk Labs, as well as Coach.

Hudson Yards is the largest private real estate development in the nation’s history.

Related says the project is expected to be complete in 2025 and draw more than 125,000 people a day, including those who work there, or visit. Coach will have 7,000 employees at its new headquarters. The fashion firm purchased 738,000 square feet of 10 Hudson Yards, and is believed to be recapitalizing a portion of the space.

In total, Hudson Yards will have 17 million square feet of commercial and residential space, including The Shops and Restaurants at Hudson Yards with 100 shops including New York’s first Neiman Marcus and signature restaurants by chefs Thomas Keller, José Andrés and Costas Spiliadis. Also planned are approximately 4,000 residences; 14 acres of public open space; a public school and a 200-room Equinox luxury hotel.

RETAIL

Progress at Hudson Yards: Coach Sets May 31 for Headquarters Launch

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A Coupla Bright Chicks Sitting Around Talking ● A chat with Norma Kamali

and Donna Karan.

With It ● The big business of being an It Girl.

Glistening in the Desert ● A look ahead at the Las Vegas

Jewelry Shows.

Counterpunch ● The legalese between counterfeits

and knockoffs.

PLUS: ● Report Card ● Social Studies ● Briefs

Global Stock TrackerAs of close May 24, 2016

ADVANCERS

DECLINERS

Dickson Concepts (International) +7.31%

Giordano international Ltd. +4.78%

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group +3.09%

Li Ning Co. Ltd. +2.52%

Hugo Boss AG +2.35%

Elizabeth Arden Inc. -7.77%

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. -4.82%

Revlon Inc. -4.14%

Ascena Retail Group Inc. -3.94%

Yoox Net-a-porter Group -3.68%

OUT THIS WEEK IN

“Fame has become the highest value, more than achievement, more than money even, in a funny way.”

— BOB COLACELLO

● The designer has partnered with the luxury importer Bluebell, which will hold the distribution rights and manage retail development in Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

BY LORELEI MARFIL

LONDON — Manolo Blahnik International Ltd. is expanding its presence in Asia with help from Bluebell Group.

The designer has partnered with the lux-ury importer Bluebell, which will hold the distribution rights and manage retail devel-opment in Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

The brand’s plan for Japan includes its first shops-in-shop this fall. It will be

designed by Nick Leith-Smith Architecture and Design. The plan is to open a Tokyo flagship in 2017. In addition, Bluebell Group will support the 41 doors that already sell the footwear brand in Japan.

The brand plans to set up its first Malay-sia flagship this fall. The 1,022-square-foot store will be located within the Pavilion Mall in Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, in Sin-gapore, the Manolo Blahnik shops-in-shop that’s currently operating at Takashimaya will be run by Bluebell Singapore with refurbishment plans scheduled for the fall.

“Manolo Blahnik is a global brand, but with comparatively small distribution in Japan, Malaysia and Singapore,” said Kristina Blahnik, chief executive officer of Manolo Blahnik International.

Blahnik said that the British company is eager to build its business in those regions and additional territories with Bluebell’s

assistance. “I have trust in their guidance and experience, and appreciate their com-pany family values that resonate with our own,” she added.

Manolo Blahnik currently has 290 points of sale in 33 countries, and 11 stand-alone stores, including two in Hong Kong and one in Seoul.

ACCESSORIES

Manolo Blahnik Expands in Asia

Manolo Blahnik

4 25 MAY 2016

The Reviews Jil Sander Resort 2017Rodolfo Paglialunga delivered a most modern wardrobe for Jil Sander resort: minimalist looks rendered sophisticated via graphic silhouettes, luxury fabrics and a detail here and there. He dealt mainly in the basics: double-faced cashmere robe coats, knitted sweaters with delicate bows at the sleeves and leather pleated skirts with contrasting lacquered trim. There was a certain genderless approach in the fluid dark suits and the relaxed, baggy pants matched with oversized crispy cotton poplin shirts, as well as in a generously cut cotton canvas trench.

Despite the overall emphasis on staples, Paglialunga injected a few glamorous touches, embroidering both a sheer white skirt and sleeveless tunic dress with a cascade of silver sequins — painted white for an offbeat, arty effect. — ALESSANDRA TURRA

Escada

Tomas Maier Resort 2017The Tomas Maier lifestyle is a nice one, indeed. Based on the premise of stylishly uncomplicated clothes that serve a purpose — suiting the chic-yet-comfortable both in the city and at the beach — the collection always has a bit of the new, but it is mostly about continuity. “At least 30 percent of the materials I carry over,” said Maier. “Men like to find things they like again and women do, too.”

To that end, for resort the men’s and women’s lineups featured neat utility wear, such as piped trenches, waterproof rain coats and bombers in garment-dyed nylon that anchored colorful, sporty ensembles of jackets, sporty shorts and easy shirts. Clothes that work for day and evening is a constant Maier focus, and a taffeta jumpsuit and duchesse dresses with athletic zippers were fresh and plausible ideas for casualwear that can actually be dressed up.

What was new was the Nordic influence in the bright primary and sec-ondary colors and furry shoes — slides and clogs — that gave the looks a bit of buy-now-wear-now whimsy. Another nifty novelty: a pink terry wrap dress with a palm tree motif and a pocket for your room key, intended for poolside/post-shower transitioning.. — J.I.

Escada Resort 2017Working under the influence of David Hockney’s Los Angeles pool paintings, Escada creative director Daniel Wingate delivered a breezy, bright interpretation of the brand’s signature polish. The most obvious connection to Hockney was the fresh, peppy palette of bay and pool blues and Melrose pink worked on blazers and shorts and jackets cut with breathing room. But Wingate also alluded to cool California waves with simple ruffles trimming necklines and caped sleeves, but mainly in the black or white dresses included in the collection.

The Escada archive is a consistent resource for Wingate — displayed this time in looks derived from the green high-collared, low-cut back gown Kim Basinger wore to the 1998 Academy Awards, when she won Best Support-ing Actress Oscar for “L.A. Confidential.” — JESSICA IREDALE

Jil Sander Tomas Maier

with recent additions to the category includ-ing Dr. Jart’s Every Sun Day SPF 30 UV Sun Fluid, REN’s Flash Defence Antipollution Mist and Clarins’ UV Plus Antipollution Sunscreen Multiprotection Tint SPF 50. In June, Tula will debut its Urban Defense Hydrating Mist and in July, Elizabeth Arden will release its Prevage City Smart + DNA Enzyme Complex + Antipollution + Antioxidants Broad Spectrum SPF 50 Hydrating Shield, the latest iteration in the brand’s Prevage range.

“People are beginning to see the effects of pollution on their skin, and many are taking note from Asia, where in many places it’s highly industrialized and polluted. They want to have healthy skin and will take the extra time to apply products targeting antipollu-tion,” said Dr. Sung Jae Jung, Dr. Jart’s lead dermatologist who is based in Seoul, Korea.

He stated that pollution levels are dras-tically higher in Asia, and it’s become a necessity to formulate skin-care products to address its detrimental effects on skin.

Dr. Jung is clear that this doesn’t just apply to those who live in urban areas or places with manufacturing factories. It affects every-one to a different degree, as there are various levels of ozone pollution (or what’s become knows as “ground-level ozone”) that includes a mix of sunlight and chemicals emitted into the environment, spanning exhaust fumes from vehicles, industrial smoke and second-hand smoke.

Dr. Jart’s latest product is a sun fluid that double blocks UV rays and fine dust. By mirroring the characteristics found in magnets that repel one another, the formula is designed to have the same electric charge as fine dust and ozone pollution in order to create a protective layer on the skin.

The threat posed by pollution is real, and experts are clear that using ingredients designed to target, address and defend the skin against environmental aggressors isn’t a fleeting trend in skin care. Whether these products have been on the market for years (SkinCeuticals or Drunk Elephant’s antioxi-dant formulas, for example) or they’re being developed specifically for this purpose, com-panies have decided it’s a growing category.

“A study in China that looked at women

in a rural area and women in an urban area found that the ones in the urban area age 10 times faster — and these are actual facts,” said Dr. Leslie Gerstman, a board-certified physi-cian who specializes in aesthetic medicine.

She explained exactly what pollution does to one’s skin: it depletes Vitamin E, cholesterol and squalene, a natural antioxi-dant found in one’s sebum. It also causes a surge in free radicals, which causes collagen breakdown, as well as a decrease in the skin’s pH balance, making skin more acidic. The sun and UV rays are still the most prominent pollutants — and the biggest cause of skin damage, accelerated aging and skin cancer.

“Products that defend against pollution do already exist, and brands don’t have to change their labels to say that it’s an antipollu-tion product,” Dr. Gerstman said of formulas already on the market that are infused with antioxidants, natural oils, pH balancing ingre-dients, and most importantly, sunscreen.

But the influx of products labeled as “antipollution” can be beneficial to beauty brands from a marketing standpoint and help bring awareness to customers. The issue is fast becoming top of mind for brands and consumers alike, according to executives, and products promoted to specifically address these environmental factors could be an instant selling point — and ultimately result in a lift in sales.

This is the hope of Decléor, which has created two new product extensions that fall under its best-selling Hydra Floral line and given them an “antipollution” spin.

“To create a stronger formula and fight the side effects that pollution creates like inflam-mation and lack of radiance, we improved the existing formula — which was already rich

with Neroli and other essential oils — with a few new ingredients,” said Jaklin Idris, Decléor’s national director of education, adding that the main purpose of essential oils, which have been the cornerstone of the brand’s formulas for over 40 years, is to stimulate cellular rejuvenation.

An Antipollution Hydrating Gel Cream and an Antipollution Hydrating Active Lotion are infused with Moringa Oleifera extract, or Centella Asiatica, a naturally occurring ingredient highly rich in antioxidants with anti-inflammatory properties; hyaluronic acid to promote skin healing and stimulate colla-gen creation and plant glycerin to hydrate.

But for SkinCeuticals, whose best-selling CE Ferulic and Phloretin CF serums already contain a host of antipollution fighting ingre-dients such an antioxidants and Vitamin C, the company has more of an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach.

According to Leslie Harris, global general manager of SkinCeuticals, a study conducted in partnership with ozone researcher Profes-sor Giuseppe Valacchi from the University of Ferrara, Italy, showed that SkinCeuticals’ existing range of antioxidants protect skin from pollution-induced damage. Fluores-cence tests showed that testers using the products had healthier collagen levels, thus preventing ozone damage.

This was the third phase in a multiyear study that looked at ozone pollution in cells, according to Harris.

“We were looking at it in cells, in vitro, and then moved to reconstructed models to further prove the concept,” she said. “Then we moved into people to see what it does to the skin. What really is the impact?”

Harris said the company has been looking to antioxidants for environmental protection for 15 years — and they are well aware of the power of the formulations. But an increase in pollution, climate change and a public that’s more cognizant about the impact of climate change has resulted in a desire to preserve the skin — which Harris called “your first line of defense.”

“Pollution is part of a larger field of atmospheric aging. It’s no longer just the sun that’s our enemy. It’s now more and more components of the atmosphere that our skin needs protection from,” Harris said.

She explained: Damage happens when ozone interacts with fatty acids that are naturally occurring in the skin. When ozone hits the skin it oxidizes the fats and lipids, and antioxidants — because they neutralize free radicals and prevent oxidation on the surface — can intercept the damage before it

even happens.Like SkinCeuticals, Elizabeth Arden also

conducted in vitro research that looked at the effects of pollution while developing its City Smart formula.

The multipurpose product, which will retail for $68, was created with an Antipol-lution Shield Technology that filters out 98 percent of UVB rays and a patent-pending Antipollution Complex that contains Ideben-one, billed as the most powerful antioxidant (and hero product of the Prevage collection). The 11-year-old Prevage range launched after it was found that environmental damage — from sun to pollution to oxidative stress — is the number-one cause of skin aging.

Lavinia Popescu, head of research and development at Elizabeth Arden, said an Urban Dust study was conducted to show exactly how City Smart protects against pollution in four global cities: Los Angeles, New York, Mumbai and Beijing. Urban Dust, she explained, is a time-integrated sample comprised of harmful nano-sized pollution particles that mirror the type of pollution found in major cities. Through in vitro testing, the viability of cells exposed to Urban Dust improved by five times when protected with City Smart. The control group, which con-tained 3-D skin cells that weren’t exposed to City Smart, started to die within 30 minutes of being exposed to the highly concentrated Urban Dust. The cells that were exposed to the product didn’t start to lose their viability until two-and-a-half-hours passed.

“Our skin is exposed to a lot more now. You may not be in New York, but if you’re in Tokyo or Shanghai or Sydney, you still face pollution and cigarette smoke and things that living in a city brings. Every product should protect the skin against pollution,” said Nico-las Travis, founder of Singapore-based brand Alliance of Skin, which will launch in the U.S. next month.

Less than being a trend, developing a prod-uct containing antioxidants was a necessity — which is how his 1A All Day Mask came to fruition. The $99 mask forms a breathable, antipollution shield that is designed to pre-vent particles like cigarette smoke, smog and heavy metals from acid rain from doing any damage to the skin, according to Travis.

Designed to be as concentrated as a mask but absorb like a moisturizer, the product contains caffeine, 11 antioxidants, honey, phospholipids and aloe.

“If you’re outside and there is pollution, your skin will use the 11 antioxidants to fight that. The antioxidants will kick in,” Travis said.

25 MAY 2016 5

Antipollution: Beauty’s New Buzzword CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Products targeting antipollution.

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● The singer designed frames based on La Forge from “Star Trek.”

BY JESSICA IREDALE

Dior’s search for a creative director contin-ues, but in the meantime, there’s one major name designing for the house: Rihanna. The singer has created a range of futuristic sun-glasses in collaboration with Dior as part of her brand ambassadorship. The name of the collection is simply “Rihanna.”

The sunglasses will be sold exclusively at Dior stores beginning in early June, though Rihanna has been teasing the shades on her Instagram account. There is one frame avail-able in six variations — the silver, pink, blue, green and red styles will retail for $840, while a deluxe 24-karat gold-plated version will sell for $1,950.

This is the second collaborative project between Rihanna and Dior. A year ago, Steven Klein photographed Rihanna in “Secret Garden IV,” a campaign and short film shot inside Versailles features her in Dior sunglasses, carrying the brand’s bags and wearing looks from the Esprit Dior collection shown in Tokyo in December 2014. “We are very pleased to partner for the second time with Rihanna,” said Dior chief executive officer Sidney Toledano. “She is an artist, an entertainer, an entrepreneur, a

philanthropist, and a style icon for today’s generation.”

She has also ramped up her fashion quotient considerably in the last year, intro-ducing her first full Fenty Puma by Rihanna collection during New York Fashion Week in February, and signing a three-year deal as contributing creative director of Stance socks last July.

The sunglasses are her first design project

with Dior, a privilege never before granted to one of its house ambassadors, who include Charlize Theron, Marion Cotillard, Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lawrence. In Octo-ber, Rihanna visited Dior’s headquarters on Avenue Montaigne to meet with the eyewear design team going over vintage frames, ulti-mately picking a style from 2000 as the key reference. In a statement provided by Dior, Rihanna named La Forge from “Star Trek” as her inspiration for the frames. “I’ve always

been obsessed with his eyewear, and when I got to Dior and saw all the materials I could play with, it all just came together,” she said.

In terms of the design process, she said, “The process was pretty seamless. I spent a day at Dior with their eyewear design team. I started by looking through all the archives to see what they’ve done in the past, then got acquainted with all the new materials. I literally sat there and drew and drew until I was happy with the design, and the team illustrated it for me right then and there. We picked materials and colors that same day, and after that it was a matter of weeks before I saw the first prototype.”

Dior’s eyewear designer Mathieu Jamin noted that this was the first time he and his team had worked with a celebrity in a design capacity, but he was impressed with Rihanna’s level of involvement. “She chose all the materials,” Jamin said. “We had a lot of different samples with different effect of metals. She chose all the lenses and took time to match all the colors together to see if it was right on her face. It was really important to her.”

Jamin said the resulting frames are “really strong and something we don’t have in the collection, so it’s unique.”

There is no official campaign to accompany the launch, although Jean-Baptiste Mondino shot Rihanna modeling the frames for a series of in-house editorial images. Dior could not confirm if any further design projects with Rihanna are forthcoming.

FASHION

Rihanna, Dior Collaborate on Sunglasses

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Frames from Dior’s Rihanna sunglasses.

A post of Rihanna in the shades on her Instagram.

Rihanna wearing frames from her Dior sunglass collaboration.

● The Nineties-era reissue follows the footsteps of the Stan Smith and Superstar.

BY JESSICA IREDALE

After the successful relaunches of the Stan Smith and Superstar sneakers, Adidas Origi-nals has zeroed in on a new archive sneaker that will be its main franchise for 2016. After nearly two decades off the market, the 1991 version of the Adidas Gazelle, known for its colorful suede upper, leather serrated three-stripes and heel-tab, will be back in stores beginning June 1.

“The Gazelle is part of youth culture,” said Nic Galway, vice president of design for Adidas Originals. “It’s been adopted by many different generations, and it’s quite different from the Stan Smith or the Superstar, which people always think about in the white color-ways. The Gazelle was always about color and suede. We wanted to bring that back. It’s a shoe everyone can wear. It’s very democratic. You can always feel well dressed in it, but it brings a different feeling than the Stan or the Superstar.”

The Nineties Gazelle reissue will be avail-able in Adidas’ own stores worldwide and at Urban Outfitters, in-store and online, in the U.S. The starting price point is $80. Colors will vary from market to market, but over the course of the fall 2016 season, 53 colors will be introduced.

Like the Stan Smith and the Superstar, as well as fellow Originals styles such as the

Rod Laver and Adilette Slide, the Gazelle has a long history. It originated in 1966 in two colors — a red indoor sports shoe and a blue training shoe, both made from kangaroo suede. A third gold colorway called the Mex-icana was introduced for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The original design was a very slim cut with a transparent her-ringbone sole, and became the basic training shoe that was part of all Adidas team kits for professional athletes until the Eighties. U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz was accused of product placement by the Soviet team during the 1972 Munich Olympics after he waved to the crowd with his blue Gazelles during a medal ceremony.

Between the Sixties and the Nineties, the Gazelle received many design tweaks and updates, including expanded colors, but the 1991 version is notable for its chunkier design, as well as embossed Trefoil tongue and

outsole with a scaled-down hexagon profile.“The original was incredibly sleek and

slim,” Galway said. “By the Nineties, the fashion changed and people were looking for a bulkier silhouette. To the untrained eye, it’s not obvious, but the sneaker community really looks into this and sees the different proportions.” The Nineties iteration became an emblem of Brit Pop fashion and music culture, worn by Kate Moss, Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Jay Kay of Jamiroquai.

Various Gazelle versions have been in circulation under the Adidas Originals fashion subcategory, which was created in 2001, but the Nineties style has been out of production since the late Nineties. As Adidas seeks to capitalize on its Original category, which is focused on fashion/lifestyle shoes rather than performance and includes current styles such as the Yeezy and NMD, it is continually reviewing its archive. The recent reissues

of the Stan Smith in late 2013 through 2014, and the Superstar in 2015 continue to be top sellers. Adidas sold about 15 million pairs of Superstars in 2015. Galway’s job is to identity a sneaker he thinks is poised for a major comeback.

The Gazelle, with its array of colors and suede, offers a fresh archival look. “We really feel it fits what’s going on right now, this kind of unisex moment that’s happening in fashion,” Galway said. “Many of the sneakers were the forerunners to that.” To that end, the Gazelle, which is a unisex design, will be offered in the full range of women’s and men’s sizes.

Asked about the marketing initiative surrounding the reissue of the Gazelle, a rep-resentative for Adidas noted that the strategy will rely on grassroots, social-media driven communication to start; a more formalized campaign will hit later in the year. There were no details yet but, for example, in September 2013, Adidas teamed with specialty retailers to offer a premium limited-edition version of the Stan Smith, and personalized sneakers for a small group of “influencers.” In December of that year, the company launched a mul-tiplatform campaign by Lloyd & Co. for the Stan Smith. The sneaker went further up the fashion food chain when Raf Simons began designing Stan Smiths as part of his ongoing collaboration with Adidas. There will be a Stan Smith-inspired style in the fall 2016 Y-3 collection as well. The Superstar campaign launched with a 90-second film directed by Karim Huu Do that featured David Beckham, Pharrell Williams, Rita Ora and Damian Lillard.

There are plans to distribute the Gazelle across different tiers, including Consortium, which is an elevated version of Originals styles. These have been carried by retailers including Dover Street Market, Barneys New York and Colette. Asked what the expecta-tions are for the Nineties reissue, Galway said, “It’s the biggest one since Stan Smith. We test the shoes from the archive, and I would say this is one of the big ones.”

FASHION

Adidas Originals Relaunches the Gazelle

Adidas Originals reissues its Nineties-era Gazelle.

25 MAY 2016 7

● The model succeeds Miranda Kerr.

BY MISTY WHITE SIDELL

Karlie Kloss’ face will soon rise up on another billboard. The model has been named Swarovski’s new face. Kloss succeeds the firm’s former spokesmodel and her fellow Victoria Secret Angel alum, Miranda Kerr.

Swarovski’s chief executive officer for consumer goods Robert Buchbauer said the company’s decision to sign Kloss is strategic and is tied to the brand’s recent objectives to ramp up its North American presence and increase its fashion quotient.

“We wanted to bring our brand to the next level but also the next generation — we thought that Karlie would be a perfect match. She represents a certain openness and a certain mind-set — a new philosophy, if you will. She is very fashionable and very beautiful, which is key when you talk about the next generation of consumer — specifi-cally, powerful women who should become our long-term customer. On top of that, we’ve decided to put more emphasis on the North American market and who would be better than Karlie?” Buchbauer said.

Her Swarovski contract includes exclusivity clauses for the jewelry and watch markets. The partnership will see Kloss fronting the label for the next two years.

Kloss, having just returned to New York from the Cannes Film Festival, said of

Swarovski: “It’s such a global presence, you see [their ads] in the subway, also all through-out Europe — I’ve been doing a world tour lately and at every airport and every country I’ve been I’ve seen it somewhere. In Cannes as well — it’s been very exciting to play ‘I Spy’ and spot the ads.

“They are a brand that does bridge the gap [between fashion and commerce], the scope of what they do its pretty extreme. In the time I’ve spent working with them I’ve met differ-ent family members from different aspects of the business — one part of the business is loose stones, another is stone-cutting, another

part is the actual design and the product, another part is working with high-fashion brands,” the admittedly “curious” Kloss told WWD of what she’s recently gleaned from the Austrian firm — the headquarters for which she plans to soon visit.

She will appear in outdoor, television, print and digital campaigns for Swarovski — the initial round for which see her wearing jewelry, watches and sunglasses laden with the brand’s crystals. Print ads will begin appearing in the September issues of national magazines.

Buchbauer said with Kloss’ help, Swarovski

“would like to see double-digit growth in the North American market in the next two years.”

“Big cities offer much more potential for market penetration,” he said. “In the next few years we want to concentrate on our fashion sense in the five or six biggest cities in the U.S.

“We are trying to put a lot of emphasis on the designs and are also working on our language internally and externally — we are going to work with Jean Paul Gaultier and focus our efforts [on style].” In February, it was revealed that Gaultier had designed a stone called “Kaputt” for the brand.

As for Kloss, the 23-year-old said she has been “procrastinating on my summer plans. I am going to take some time in August to be with family and friends, but as of right now I’ve been focusing on my Code with Klossy summer camp.”

The scholarship day camp program is new this year and will instruct girls aged 13 to 18 in New York, St. Louis and Los Angeles how to code. They will learn a curriculum formu-lated by The Flatiron School — a developers’ program based in New York.

When camp is over, the U.S. will be a mere three months shy of a presidential election — the likely Republican candidate for which is tied to Kloss by way of her boyfriend, Joshua Kushner. His brother, Jared, is married to Ivanka Trump — making Donald Trump his father-in-law.

When asked if this association in any way rattling, Kloss preferred to play it safe. “I stay out of politics,” she said.

ACCESSORIES

Karlie Kloss Named New Spokesmodel for Swarovski

● Sarah Jessica Parker and Donna Karan are among the four honorees.

BY KRISTI GARCED

“Do you wanna talk about [how I feel] showing up at a black-tie event in a mint suit?” Andy Cohen said as he walked into Pier Sixty on Monday night for the Parsons School of Design’s 68th annual benefit and fashion show. “Humiliated.”

Cohen, the executive producer of Bra-vo’s “Watch What Happens Live” — and the evening’s master of ceremonies — later joked that he thought the event’s “creative black-tie” dress code was “creative Kentucky Derby.” In addition to playing host, he was on hand to support his best friend Sarah Jessica Parker, one of the event’s four honorees alongside Donna Karan, Beth DeWoody and Arianna Huffington, all of them highlighted for their work in performance, design and social change, respectively. “Every time I get to hang out with SJP is a special occasion,” he said. “[Tonight’s honorees] are each exceptional game-changers in their respective fields….They’re [wickedly] smart and fiercely com-mitted to being awesome human beings.”

This year marked the first time that Par-sons, which is part of The New School, joined forces with the College of Performing Arts on its annual benefit, which raises money for student scholarships. The collaboration was reflected in the mammoth scale of the event — which drew a mix of celebrities, designers and fashion executives including Matthew Broderick, Rupert Friend, Steven Kolb, Wes

Gordon, Chris Benz, Mel Ottenberg, Paul Andrew, Jennifer Fisher and Yeohlee Teng — as well in the live musical performances by, among others, jazz musician Linda Briceño. During the cocktail hour, most guests could be found drinking and taking sunset selfies out on the waterfront pier.

As dinner got under way, Joel Towers, Par-sons’ executive dean, issued special thanks to two heavy-hitters in the room: Henry Arn-hold, a member of The New School’s board of trustees, and Kay Unger, chairman of the board of governors at Parsons, both of whom donated gifts of $7 million each to the uni-versity. Later, 25-year-old Isabella Huffington stepped up the podium to present an award to her mother, praising the media mogul’s

resilience, strength and perseverance. “When my mom [Arianna] launched The Huffing-ton Post in 2005, a media critic at the time compared it to the movie equivalent of ‘Gigli,’ ‘Ishtar’ and ‘Heaven’s Gate’ all rolled into one. Now, those were all a bit before my time, but I’m assuming that wasn’t a compliment.”

In her thank-you speech, Parsons alum — and noted draper — Donna Karan admitted that she flunked draping as an undergrad. “I had to go to summer school,” she said. “I’m a little obsessed with showing Parsons that they taught me how to drape.” Karan also referred to herself as an early adopter of the cold-shoulder trend, giving a shout to WWD in the process: “I’m honored that after Women’s Wear Daily killed me on the cold

shoulder many years ago, that it has finally hit the fashion trends,” said the designer, whose belted black halter jumpsuit showed off her very own.

Parker, meanwhile, accepted her award wearing a translucent studded Valentino gown as the “Sex and the City” theme song played in the background. The actress, intro-duced by her friend and tailor Lars Norden-sten, will accompany three bidders — who paid $10,000 a pop — to Bloomingdale’s on a shoe shopping spree to benefit Parsons.

The runway show kicked off after 9:30 p.m., showcasing an array of gender-bend-ing, forward-thinking men’s and women’s looks from 30 graduates of the Parsons BFA Fashion Design program. Running just under a half-hour, it was not without several stand-outs: Women’s Designers of the Year awards went to Angela Luna and Jackson Wieder-hoeft, while Ming Peng took home Menswear Designer of the Year. Laurent Claquin, head of Kering Americas, awarded Ya Jun Lin and Tif-fany Huang the winners of the fifth Empow-ering Imagination competition, and Song Seoyoon was named VFiles Academy prize winner by VFiles founder Julie Anne Quay.

FASHION

Parsons Honors Four Women at Benefit Show

Karlie Kloss for Swarovski.

A design by Natasha Alia. A design by Han Wen.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Donna Karan, Beth DeWoody, and Arianna Huffington.

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8 25 MAY 2016

● A new study by Starcom MediaVest Group and YouGov says the key for brands is to act now.

BY KATE WHITEHEAD

Asia has hit brands hard, especially those in the luxury sector. With expectations that the economic woes will continue for another one or two years, the situation looks challenging. A new report offers not just a glimmer of hope, but some concrete suggestions for how to weather the storm.

The key message from the lead research-ers of the study, “Economic Outlook for Asia-Pacific,” is to act now and make the most of technology. During the last recession when mobile wasn’t as prevalent as it is now, consumers deserted stores as they stopped shopping. As a result, brands were shut out. But today the conversation can carry on and be fostered from the comfort of someone’s sofa.

“Technology is changing how people have been seeing the slowdown. People are second screening. Staying at home no longer insulates you from the world or brand conversations,” said Joanna von Felkerzam, regional director of audience research and measurement solutions at Starcom MediaVest Group, which partnered with global research company YouGov on the study.

Von Felkerzam and her team conducted a similar study during the 2009 economic slow-down and that earlier research gave a broad context to what makes this slowdown unique in Asia and what it means for marketers. This time around political tensions in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China are making the road to recovery more complex.

This year’s study gauged perceptions and shifts in behavior through an online survey of more than 8,000 people in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indo-nesia and Australia. The researchers warn that brands must not think that an economic slowdown should mean a reduction in efforts

to reach out to their customers.“People are more than happy to engage,

but you need to deliver content that makes them feel you understand what moment they are in, where they are in their life and their needs,” said von Felkerzam.

Paying attention to Millennials is critical. Mobile in hand, they think they can do it all themselves and do it better than previous generations, but their confidence has been knocked by seeing rounds of job layoffs. In Singapore, the increasing closure of bou-tiques leading to “ghost malls” has shaken many shoppers. Add to this the awareness that home ownership is out of reach for many and you have a recipe for anxiety.

“Millennials are less stressed about the slowdown, but very concerned about their future and that is across the board,” said von Felkerzam.

This creates an opportunity for brands that can step in and help Millennials ask the right questions, think more long-term and show them how to upskill and prepare for the future, she said.

One in three Millennials has children and the way to their heart is through their kids. Von Felkerzam points to Hong Kong’s Land-mark shopping mall that in March launched its “Inspiring Young Minds” program, engag-ing with children and thus reaching their parents. It’s a good example of a luxury mall creating an environment.

Brands also need to totally rethink how they approach advertising. In China, one in three people surveyed said they want brands to stop advertising and one in four said they want brands to use more social media and to share relevant information.

“People want brands to participate in culture, to engage in meaningful connections, but these have to be beyond the traditional advertising push,” said von Felkerzam.

Japanese beauty giant SK-II is an example of a brand that understands this, success-fully connecting with its customers via its documentary-style ad about China’s “leftover women.” Called the “Marriage Market Take-over,” the four-minute video was released in April and quickly went viral, provoking a

debate about single women in the country.“SK-II really hit home with that ad. It was

an emotional connection to something that is affecting 20 million young women in China — that’s a meaningful participation,” said von Felkerzam.

Eighty percent of the content that people are exposed to is video-based and that is set to increase. Virtual reality is set to take the lead with its immersive experiences — the only thing that is slowing it down is content. With 360 cameras already available to buy for consumers to create their own videos and upload to Facebook and social media, brands can’t afford to get left behind.

“Marketers can’t afford to wait until things get perfected. They must work on this now and learn as they do. Things are moving fast in Asia - we’ve moved from PC ownership to mobile and mobility, now we’re going from display to VR,” she said.

The speed at which the brands space is changing in Asia has surprised many Western brands. In China it was previously very much about global influences and setting up best practices, but now many local brands have surpassed international ones in popularity and the level of sophistication is rising rapidly. While just eight years ago many consumers opted for international brands because of their connotations of quality, status and social acceptance, now there is more going on.

“Look at the luxury brands in China — because of global connectivity, travel abroad, experiences coming in and mobility, you start to see that people are making trade-offs between the big brands that they know as a staple and also the ones that they feel are right for them. It’s no longer about the big brand, it’s about the brand and what is right for me,” said von Felkerzam.

The study found that the slowdown is pushing many consumers to rethink what they spend their money on. That doesn’t necessarily mean they want to switch to a cheaper brand, but that they know what they want and are willing to wait to get it. The report’s message to brands is to maintain an emotional connection and keep it moving

because when a consumer is ready to make that decision, it will feel spontaneous even though they have likely been thinking about it for some time.

Patrick Corr, co-chief executive officer of YouGov in Asia-Pacific, said Chinese consum-ers have quickly moved from worshipping big brands to a much more subtle appreciation of labels and that it can be challenging for brands to realize how fast the environment is moving.

“The platforms are where things are happening in China. WeChat was well ahead of the curve in terms of commercialization and thinking about opportunities to monetize their customer base,” said Corr, referring to the phenomenal growth of the messag-ing app that supports payment and money transfers. Launched by Tencent in China in 2011, WeChat now has more than 700 million active users.

While cutting back and slicing corners might seem like sensible measures to take in a slowdown, the researchers warn this is not necessarily the best approach. Rather than skimping, they advise brands to be continue to invest.

“Consumers are becoming more insular. They ask, ‘What’s in it for me?’ And they are looking for value exchanges,” said von Felkerzam.

In Asia, consumers have traditionally understood brand “generosity” to equate to economic value. This is still core, but there is more to it than that. People want brands to focus on what they are doing right and offer quality products for less.

“Are you as a brand igniting the right emotions? Are you attracting them? Are they searching for you or are you chasing them, which is the traditional push rather than pull, traditional advertising,” said von Felkerzam.

Brands must look at their business perfor-mance in a broad contact. They need to keep a close eye on local market indicators such as layoffs, property prices and political tensions to get the pulse of people’s sentiment, said researchers.

“It’s more than a brand-health study, or even social listening. It’s integration of all the different ways to keep a pulse check to antic-ipate the next curve or incline of the roller coaster,” said von Felkerzam.

BUSINESS

Beating Asia’s Slowdown With Millennials and Tech

● Revenues are expected to reach up to 295 billion euros, according to Bain & Co. and Fondazione Altagamma.

BY LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — The global luxury market is expected to grow at a mild pace until 2020, showing a compound annual growth rate between 2 and 3 percent, reaching revenues of 280 billion euros to 295 billion euros, or $314 billion to $331 billion at current exchange rates. Business will be driven by the con-tinuous growth of Chinese shoppers and a recovery of mature-market consumers. The Chinese are expected to represent 34 percent of luxury consumers in 2020 led by more than 40 million new consumer mainly in the middle class.

The data was presented Tuesday in Milan as part of the Worldwide Luxury Market Monitor 2016 spring update by Bain & Co. and Fondazione Altagamma.

Other leading factors for growth include the generations Y and X part of the expected new 50 million consumers will become even more relevant; a healthier markdown market will reduce sales cannibalization; the online channel will remain the “champion” format with a double-digit growth, and market

segmentation will be more blurred, also through the online channel.

“The forecasts for 2016 are less positive compared with six months ago, but there is no decrease,” said Armando Branchini, vice president of the luxury goods association. “Japan and Europe are growing, Asia and America are stable, while best performing cat-egories are leather accessories and beauty.”

The global luxury market is expected to grow up to 2 percent at constant-exchange rates in 2016, replicating the performance of 2015, which closed at 253 billion euros, or $280.8 at average exchange rates, up 13 percent at current exchange rates but up 1 percent on a constant basis. Japan is the region predicted to grow the most, between 5 percent and 7 percent, followed by mainland China at a 2 to 4 percent clip. Asia, exclud-ing mainland China, should close the year between down 1 percent to up 1 percent. Europe is seen growing between 1 and 3 percent, while the Americas are expected to register sales that range from flat to down 2 percent. The rest of the world is forecast to be between flat and 2 percent growth.

Branchini also presented the Altagamma 2016 Consensus, noting that the second half of 2016 is expected to improve. Apparel is seen growing 1 percent, while art de la table will be flat as well as jewelry, watches, pens and lighters. Leather shoes and accessories

are forecast to grow 4 percent. Beauty is the most mature segment, said Branchini, but is seen advancing 4 percent. The forecasts are reduced compared with the October estimates, he underscored, when apparel, for example, was seen rising 3 percent.

“It’s true that year-on-year growth is increasingly more moderate,” said Branchini, urging to compare the high-end market with “all other industrial sectors rather than with its own performance of the past. In fact, it is evident that the luxury sector performs better than almost all other industrial sectors.”

A day after the surprising news that Gian Giacomo Ferraris, Versace’s longtime chief executive officer, will be succeeded by Jon-athan Akeroyd in June, Branchini observed how the economic scenario is putting pressure on luxury companies, to “create new teams to try and look for new growth opportunities. It’s never happened before in this industry, where winning teams would not be changed,” referring to Ferraris’ successful track record in developing the Italian brand. “When growth rates stood at around 8 or 10 percent, some companies settled for being a little above that, but now with the economy’s growth rate so low, it’s imperative to be above it. When we said 2014 ushered a new normal, we didn’t think it would create the basis for such abnormal [parameters].”

Claudia D’Arpizio, partner at Bain & Co., said the market is “passing through a phase of consolidation. All eyes are focused on China again, key in leading a global upswing trend, and on business improvement in the U.S., where now local spending does not balance a slowdown in tourism.”

D’Arpizio said the last quarter of 2015 was

particularly difficult in Europe, hurt by the terrorist attacks in Paris, and in the U.S., where the strong dollar impacted tourism and where local consumers have slowed down their purchases. Also, heavy discount-ing eroded department stores’ margins, and the uncertainty of the electoral year is an additional negative element. Mainland China improved in the last weeks of the year, but Hong Kong and Macau confirmed high double-digit contraction. Southeast Asia improved throughout the year, and Japan confirmed a very positive performance. The Middle East was impacted by sociopolitical tensions and was marked by instability.

In the first quarter of 2016, the market was in line with 2015 with a 1 percent growth at both current and constant exchange, showing a slowdown of tourists due to a partial rebal-ancing of the price differentials as well as the terrorist attacks in Europe.

Mainland China and Europe are expected to grow thanks to more local spending. Japan, despite a slowdown compared with 2015, remains the market that is growing the most thanks to Chinese tourist flows. South Korea and Southeast Asia are showing a positive performance while Hong Kong and Macau are far from inverting the decline.

D’Arpizio said the market in the future will be defined by the strategic decisions set by the companies. “Customer strategy, branding, omnichannel and pricing remain priorities for ceo’s, and the key is to implement value proposition locally. They should enhance personalized customer experience in-store, master brand content and story telling, and refocus distribution strategy and footprint in a real omnichannel way,” she explained.

BUSINESS

Luxury Growth Seen as Moderate Through 2020

management change, nor is it pushing for a sale of the company, according to sources familiar with the investor’s thinking. One individual said Barington believes that Chico’s is “significantly undervalued, and that it could be run bet-ter with more fiscal discipline.” Another said it believes Chico’s serves a unique customer base, one where its shoppers have a strong loyalty to its brands.

Activist firms often agitate for change in leadership, or a sale of the company. The chain was in talks twice last year with private equity firm Sycamore Partners about a possible buyout in the $3 billion range. Both times discussions broke off over disagreements on valuation of the retailer and related financing issues. With new leadership under the direction of president and ceo Shelley Broader, the company seems focused on improving operations rather than on a sale of the company — although should someone come in with an offer the company’s board would have a fiduciary obligation to consider it.

The activist firm has been an investor in Chico’s since December 2013, and holds a 1.4 percent stake in the company. Bar-ington said it has been in communication with Chico’s since March and has shared its view that the retailer should reduce its “substantial corporate overhead,” includ-ing significantly decreasing its advertising and other SG&A expenses.

Barington also said the retailer could “more than double its earnings per share in three years” if it was better managed. It wants Chico’s to improve executive and corporate strategy, as well as improve its corporate governance and executive compensation practices, the investment firm said.

The activist firm said the company has failed to create meaningful long-term

value for stockholders. It supports that charge by noting that Chico’s common stock is down 77 percent from its all-time high of $48.90 a share on Feb. 21, 2006. Shares of Chico’s on Tuesday fell 1.2 per-cent to $10.77 in Big Board trading, giving it a market capitalization of $1.44 billion.

Chico’s is somewhat of an interest-ing fight for Barington, or any activist investor. That’s because the retailer has Broader, who joined as president and ceo in Dec. 1. Broader, who was president and ceo of Wal-Mart’s EMEA region, has more than 25 years’ experience leading global and regional retail businesses. In her first 170 days, she’s already realigned the retailer’s marketing and digital commerce functions.

The company said on April 25 that the decision-makers are directly within the retailer’s three brands: Chico’s, White House | Black Market, and Soma. In decentralizing its marketing functions, the company expects to achieve about $14 million in annualized cost savings.

At the time, FBR analyst Susan Ander-son said, “We believe Chico’s new ceo Shelley Broader is utilizing her past Wal-Mart experience to bring cost efficiencies and discipline to Chico’s operations, which we view as a positive. While she is making back-office functions more effi-cient and we believe there is likely room to make store operations more efficient, she will likely do it in a way that will not affect the customer or sales….We remain buyers of Chico’s and continue to like its differentiated model, which we believe will allow it to take market share over the next several years and drive operating margin through cost efficiencies.”

That’s where it gets interesting. Sources familiar with the discussions between Chi-co’s and Barington said the two have been looking at how to improve the retailer’s operations. It appears that the talks have been somewhat amicable, with Barington representatives working through their talking points and having an audience in Broader. Given the “friendly” conver-sations, Chico’s seems the least likely candidate for a proxy fight.

Other sources familiar with the matter said the company is still in the middle of a

“holistic review” of the company, and that more initiatives are forthcoming when the review will be completed later this year.

Chico’s said Tuesday that talks with shareholders to exchange views and ideas indicate that they are supportive of the company’s four priorities: Evolv-ing the customer experience to better integrate the digital and physical retail environments; strengthening the position for each brand; leveraging actionable retail science to develop algorithms and predictive analytics to enable real-time decision-making, and sharpening the company’s financial initiatives to drive further cost savings.

Other strategic actions taken so far include a slowing of square footage growth, including the closure of 170 to 175 stores through 2017, or $65 million in cost savings; implementing the corporate organizational realignment in 2015, and reducing capital expenditures, such as the sale of Boston Proper to Brentwood Associates, completed in January.

Perhaps it’s because of the initiatives under way that have some sources familiar with the matter puzzled over why Barington would push to put Mitarotonda and Grove on the board now that the com-pany is performing as it should be.

But activist firms such as Barington who tend to be longer-term investors — in comparison to those who take a stake, agitate for some change, and then sell out as soon as the stock price goes up — like to know that they will continue to have a receptive audience so they can influence change. Many activists try to do that as an “independent director,” a reason why they seek board seats. And that’s where the point of contention seems to be between the parties.

Chico’s on Tuesday, following Bar-ington’s launch of its proxy fight, said it has nominated Bonnie Brooks, vice chairman of Hudson’s Bay Co., and Bill Simon, the former president and ceo of Wal-Mart U.S., to stand for election to the company’s board. Also on the company’s slate are Broader, and Janice Fields, an independent director on Chico’s board and former president of McDonald’s USA LLC.

David F. Walker, chairman of Chico’s board, said the company under Broader is “taking meaningful steps to improve per-formance and value creation. We believe Bonnie’s considerable apparel, merchan-dising and turnaround expertise and Bill’s impressive track record of driving cost-ef-ficient operations with other leading retailers will contribute to the progress we are making against the company’s new operating priorities.”

According to Chico’s, its corporate governance and nominating committee began a search process for independent candidates in February, with the help of Herbert Mines Associates. Barington recommended a list of five candidates, which the Chico’s board reviewed. The board had discussions with two of those candidates — Mitarotonda and Grove, along with a third before she withdrew her name from consideration — and after a review of those identified by Herbert Mines, unanimously determined that Brooks and Simon were best qualified.

But with Brooks the vice chairman of a retailer that sells to consumers who might also shop at Chico’s, and Simon a former Wal-Mart colleague of Broader, it’s con-ceivable that questions of what it really means to be an independent director might arise.

One of the individuals familiar with Barington’s thinking said the investment firm is “supportive of what Broader’s announced so far [in terms of change], but doesn’t want to stay on the sidelines and hope everything turns out okay. They want to be involved [in the process]. They also want to make sure that shareholders have a voice in the boardroom.”

Allen Questrom, the former chairman and ceo of J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Feder-ated Department Stores, Barneys New York and Neiman Marcus Group, said in a telephone interview that Chico’s is an underdeveloped brand that has a huge opportunity if it can get the right mer-chandise mix in place.

“Activist investors can be very helpful if they challenge one on how to run a company, but not if [they are pushing for] a quick return for investors,” Questrom said.

25 MAY 2016 9

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10 25 MAY 2016

● Retailers and shopping center owners are adjusting their expectations of what makes the right tenants — at the end of the day, it’s all about getting people into a property.

BY KARI HAMANAKA

LAS VEGAS — That sweaty gym sitting in an old department store or book-store’s former space? It’s no longer getting the side eye from other retailers or property owners.

The commercial real estate downturn that came with the Great Recession had landlords getting creative with the lease deals they were inking from Target now anchoring some malls to the aforemen-tioned gyms taking up space from bank-rupt book stores or home goods retail-ers, but those weren’t just fads to get the industry through the downturn. They’re getting property owners through the next set of challenges that has come with an environment in which digital disruption paranoia is par for the course in any conversation on the industry.

“Take the retail that will provide the

most strength for your tenants,” advised Paul Ajdaharian, executive vice presi-dent of real estate investment trust WP Glimcher, while speaking during a panel at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual RECon conference tak-ing place here through Wednesday.

The firm has about $150 million to $200 million allocated towards redevel-opment, expansions and remodels of properties within its portfolio.

“We want to do deals with things to do, not things to buy,” Ajdaharian added.

The sentiment goes back to the expe-riential conversation surrounding what motivates Millennials to spend.

The executive said the firm is doing a large amount of deals with gyms and, in some cases, taking out the dated food court concepts of the malls of the Eighties and replacing them with movie theaters or other entertainment uses. There’s also the city offices and other community-type tenants and services that have been a focus.

“Retailers and customers want to go into the projects that are the busi-est,” Ajdaharian said. “Activity breeds activity.”

Those types of tenants may have been scoffed at by other tenants in the past,

but attitudes have shifted.“Not that long ago, I was at a different

retail company, but I didn’t think that a large fitness box was a good co-tenant,” said David Krueger, Ulta Beauty senior vice president, during the same panel.

Krueger’s thought was someone like his wife, who worked out at the gym, and would dart back home after a work-out rather than stroll through a center.

“The consumer keeps changing,” he said, pointing to the rise of ath-leisure that’s made it acceptable to now wear workout clothes just about anywhere.

Bill Beckeman, founder, president and chief executive officer of Linear Retail Properties LLC, spoke to similar trends his company has been seeing play out over the past decade in a separate talk during the conference Monday.

“In today’s world, a lot of the national things that focus on commoditized prod-ucts are struggling more with having to be multichannel and we really were focused [from the start] on internet-in-sulated types of businesses, things that are focused on food, restaurants, coffee and services,” Beckeman said during his talk. “And we’ve had the proliferation of services over the past decade or more.”

Beckeman pointed to health services, ranging from cycling houses to medical

service uses, such as urgent care cen-ters, that he said are “exploding.”

Linear, which has a portfolio of properties centered in and around the Boston area, has about one-third of its centers in urban markets with the remainder in suburban locales — it’s the former that’s currently trending very strong, Beckeman said, with “almost no vacancy.”

“We don’t have much in our suburban [properties] either, so I think pretty much across the board, we’re feeling pretty good demand for space and we’re seeing rents starting to pick up. That’s coming off the company’s best year ever, according to Beckeman, during which it spent more than $100 million on more than a dozen property acquisitions.

About 60 percent of the centers’ tenants are restaurants or services and that trend will only continue, Beckeman said. But Linear has also insulated itself from the challenges many centers face with a leasing strategy focused on local or regional players that create points of distinction in the marketplace.

“We really aren’t focused on anchored centers as much, but more on the quality of the small shop space and the quality of the real estate location that we’re pursuing,” Beckeman said.

RETAIL

Mixing Uses to Woo Traffic Back to Centers

● The Millennial male lifestyle brand wants to meet its customers wherever they are, whether that be in store or on a phone.

BY KARI HAMANAKA

LAS VEGAS — It took a computer and software engineering major who previ-ously worked at Deloitte in management consulting to perhaps crack the code of building a men’s lifestyle brand.

Four-year-old Frank + Oak, which just this month announced a brand refresh, represented one case study at the Inter-national Council of Shopping Centers’ RECon conference taking place in Las Vegas this week of what digital disrup-tion looks like as the retail industry aims to evolve in step with consumers.

“We live in a world where indus-tries are crossing over,” Ethan Song, cofounder, chief executive officer and creative director, told the crowd at the

conference. “We’re talking about gray zones. It’s not so clear if you’re a tech-nologist, if you’re a retailer, if you’re a brand or if you’re a service. You almost have to rethink your key competency and what value you bring to the market.”

That’s why Frank + Oak is so specifi-cally homed in on the Millennial male lifestyle segment and, more specifically, guys in the creative space, ages 21 to 35 that work in entrepreneurial companies such as marketing, advertising and tech, Song said.

“If you go online and you look at Amazon, you’ll find 10,000 hits for blue shirts, which means that we are all in the commodity business. Nike’s in the commodity business. As a matter of fact, Apple’s in the commodity business,” he said by way of stressing the importance of branding, especially for start-ups.

Part of the Montreal-based firm’s successes has also come from nimble moves.

Song started the company with his high school friend Hicham Ratnani in 2012. They were an online-only brand

for the first three months of the compa-ny’s life. They thought mobile first with responsive design websites and about two years ago went into physical retail.

“Innovation needs to come from every single touch point, every single unit of your business,” Song said.

The company designs product in-house at lighting speed with 12 to 16 collections produced annually turning designs around in three-month cycles. Its community of now 2.5 million mem-bers around the world creates brand loyalists but also helps Frank + Oak glean key data about its customer base, such as the fact that many of its shoppers buy

tall. There’s also data and its integration with the rest of the business making Frank + Oak perhaps a technology firm first before fashion company. “We have more web developers than we have fashion designers and it’s by design,” Song said.

Frank + Oak currently has 13 stores, mostly in Canada and all of which were opened in the last 18 months. About 70 percent of its sales come from the U.S., leaving plenty of room for expansion.

“We’re definitely looking for more opportunities to grow in the market,” Song told the crowd of shopping center owners and brokers.

RETAIL

Frank + Oak CEO Stresses Innovation In All Channels

Frank + Oak

25 MAY 2016 11

Chloë Grace Moretz is not interested in shying away from political rhetoric. The 19-year-old actress, in New York Monday to attend the Friends of the High Line spring benefit and be unveiled as Coach’s new fragrance spokesmodel, feels that “Donald Trump is a joke for America.”

Moretz — whose “Neigh-bors 2: Sorority Rising” film opened last week — has recently spent time cam-paigning for Hillary Clinton, by caucusing in Nevada and attending rallies in Los Angeles. “I think that you don’t have a right to complain about the state of our government unless you use your right to vote and you use your right as a citizen — I think a lot of young people think the system is the way it is and that is just not true,” she told WWD.

She described her support for Clinton over rival Dem-ocratic candidate Bernie

Sanders: “I think one can really get things done and the other is a little bit too polarizing for both parties. I think you need someone who is even keel enough to be able to juggle both Republican and Demo-cratic parties because you need someone to be able to shake someone’s hand and get things done and not yell at their faces and cut people off during speeches.”

Moretz also chimed in on likely Republican nominee Trump — calling his run for the presidency, “a joke.”

“It shows that America is a completely reality [TV] driven world and the fact that we have had this underlying amount of sexism and racism that we thought was dormant, but in reality, was this aggres-sively cancerous thing that has now somehow come to an uprising.

“We are at a real contrast [in the U.S.] between someone

who is very progressive and someone who is very regres-sive and I think it’s a genera-tion that doesn’t really stand for the gray line anymore — we can’t just settle for mediocre; we have to stand up for what we really want. Donald Trump is a joke for America, it makes us look silly.”

Moretz said that as an actress, she wants to further promote “my philanthropic side and how politically oriented I am, that I really fight for women’s right and how I think I can influence a lot more than just a typical actor. I think there is a lot more to me than people know,” she said.

The actress — soon to start work on her forthcoming role as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” live action film — also recently publicized her relationship with David and Victoria Beck-ham’s eldest son, Brooklyn. The announcement resulted in a media frenzy.

“It’s a little shocking, I think we were both taken a little aback about how many peo-ple actually cared,” she said of the public’s interest. “I think ev-eryone is looking for the new ‘It’ couple and I think the thing with he and I is that we have real jobs and aspirations and I don’t think you see that very much. You see a lot of fads and you see a lot of people who do a lot of things for fame and I think the opposite of us. We really do enjoy each other a lot, we’ve known each other for years and didn’t do this for anything except for the fact that we want to be together.” — MISTY WHITE SIDELL

Chloë Grace Moretz Talks Dating and PoliticsThe 19-year-old actress is not interested in shying away from political rhetoric.

Chef Greg Baxtrom and farmer Ian Rothman are bringing the “farm to table” concept to Prospect Heights, but for them, the distance between source and dish is much shorter. Opening Tuesday, Olmsted combines a seasonal menu with lo-cal ingredients — some as local as the restaurant’s backyard garden.

The pair originally met while working together at Manhattan culinary hot spot Atera — Baxtrom as a cook; Rothman as a horticul-turist. The camaraderie between the two friends is easily palpable, and they’re continuing the same division of labor at their co-owned restaurant. “We met and just really enjoyed talking about food and agriculture, and how food and agriculture go together,” explains Baxtrom. “Everything on the menu is very thought-out — if it’s not from New York, there’s a reason for that.”

While Baxtrom’s experience is steeped in fine dining — he got his start at Alinea in Chicago before cutting his teeth in the kitchens of Per Se, Atera, Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Lysverket — he was conscious about trying to keep the price points at Olmsted affordable, with a cap at around $24 for the food.

“What we’re trying to do is still have the same standards, but just provide it using our backgrounds — re-tweak it all so that we don’t have to charge as much, that it’s way more affordable,” he explained. That means creative ingredient sourcing, such as utilizing scallops that were broken from a perfect circle during the shucking process and featuring underutilized sea-food on the menu, such as crayfish and dogfish.

For the past few months

Baxtrom and Rothman, along with Baxtrom’s father, a professional carpenter, have been building out the entire restaurant space them-selves. The narrow dining room is steeped in wood detailing, and includes a chef’s counter framed by farm wood salvaged from Baxtrom’s childhood home outside of Chicago, destroyed in a tornado a few years ago. A row of tables is situated underneath a “live wall” of green plants, which will eventually blanket the majority of the white brick wall.

The restaurant opens up into the backyard mini-farm, designed by Rothman, where guests can sit and enjoy drinks and small snacks next to a menagerie of plants — peas, lavender, wasabi, turnips and radishes. “We really wanted to showcase what a farm was,” explains Rothman, and theirs even

features a small flock of quail.While Olmsted is incorporating

some of the plants into dishes and rinks, not everything in the garden is meant for consumption, at least in the traditional food sense. They hope to draw a subtle connecting line for their guests — a bathtub is home to crayfish; there are cray-fish crackers on the menu. Fiddle-heads grow on the periphery of the garden; the restaurant is featuring fried fiddleheads on its opening menu. “When you have fiddleheads here, you’re having a bowl of fid-dleheads and you’re sitting next to fiddleheads,” says Baxtrom. “You’ll definitely know what a fiddlehead is when you leave.”

Or at least they hope so.The name Olmsted is a tribute

to the late Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who code-signed Central Park and Prospect Park a few blocks away. He likely would have approved of Baxtrom and Rothman’s lush urban oasis dining concept.

OLMSTED659 VANDERBILT AVENUE BROOKLYN, NY718.552.2610OLMSTEDNYC.COM

— KRISTEN TAUER

Alinea Alum Greg Baxtrom Opens Olmsted in Prospect HeightsThe restaurant features a seasonal menu and backyard garden.

Chef Greg Baxtrom

The dining room inside Olmsted.

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The scene at the Friends of the High Line spring benefit.

Robert Hammond, Wendy Keys, Marty Chavez and Victor Luis.

Stuart Vevers and Chloë Grace Moretz

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Jay’s First JabJay Fielden’s Esquire is coming into focus.

Fielden, who was appointed editor in chief of the men’s magazine in January, will un-veil the first issue of Esquire with his name on top of the masthead.

Although the June/July issue, which hits newsstands on May 31, isn’t the finished product — Fielden said his Esquire is still “evolving” — it does provide a glimpse at of what readers can expect from the editor down the line.

“These are hints of things to come,” said Fielden, flipping over the issue to reveal the cover, featuring actor Viggo Mortensen, along with a bold-er “Esquire” logo and tagline “Rebels & Renegades.”

“The subtext of this title — of this theme — ‘rebels and renegades,’ is kind of to make a statement about the spirit of the Esquire that I love the most, that shows you the rules you should break, not the ones you should follow,” he said. “That’s the spirit. That’s a key change in tone and feel.”

The theme holds true for the “zeitgeist moment” that we’re in, the editor said, referring specifically to the presidential race. Aside from Mortensen, the issue features 27 examples of men from different generations and backgrounds that embody Fielden’s theme. They include Kendrick Lamar, Pope Francis, Dave Chapelle, Harvey Wein-stein, Henry Kissinger, Phillip Roth and John McEnroe.

With such a broad sampling of men — who then is exactly Fielden’s target consumer? Who is the Esquire man?

The editor hesitated to answer that — no one wants to dismiss potential readers — especially as magazine readership is under pressure. Instead, he gave a more aca-demic answer about Esquire’s importance as a “cultural” magazine, which “at its best,” can “direct a conversation” and appeal to both men and women.

He brought in a slate of new writers — male and female — in order to achieve that. They include Dwight Gar-ner, John Lahr, Terry McDonell, Jay McInerney, Katie Roiphe and Lisa DePaulo.

In terms of stories, Fielden noted that he’s looking to investigative stories and first person narratives to help deliver that “umph” and nod to the magazine’s heritage of weighty long-form journalism and insightful, humorous essays.

In the summer issue, Field-en pointed to a feature explor-ing the potential construction of Donald Trump’s wall on the Mexican border. Written by John H. Richardson, the story examines if it would be possi-ble to construct such a wall, logistically and financially.

“It turns out it is not pos-sible,” said Fielden, who commissioned a design team to produce an eerie comput-er-generated image of the wall to accompany Richard-son’s feature.

In terms of fashion, Fielden, who had been editor in chief of both Men’s Vogue (shut-tered in 2008), and Esquire sibling, Town & Country where he now serves as editorial director, said he’s “amping up” the coverage.

But, don’t expect elaborate, glossy fashion shoots and

typical market pages. Instead, the editor is trading off Es-quire’s journalistic heritage to tell fashion stories.

In the current issue that translates to a story on how to wear a black suit without “looking like a limo driver,” he said, and a spread on sneak-ers, depicting the evolution of the fashion sneaker over time as worn by stylish men.

“To me, Esquire at its heart is a magazine that has tried to understand the world through writing,” he said. “The impera-tive is to talk about fashion in a journalistic way.”

But making fashion rele-vant to readers who may not consider themselves “fashion guys,” isn’t far from how other men’s magazines approach the topic.

While GQ, the other big men’s magazine in the space, takes a more fashion-first ap-proach, it is still largely seen as Esquire’s main competitor in the erratic men’s space.

With Fielden’s background, not to mention his recent hire of ex-GQ editor at large Michael Hainey as executive director of editorial, it appears that Esquire is gunning to grab market share.

When asked about that and GQ as Esquire’s prima-ry competitor, Fielden said defensively: “Number one is, GQ is a supplement of Esquire in terms of who’s [preceding] whom, let’s be genealogically correct.”

“What I think is there’s very different magazines. I truly think that. I think they think that,” he continued. “If you look at what this is going to become and the kind of tack they’re taking [is] that they are for very different readers.”

While Esquire publisher

Jack Essig agreed, he did note that he will now have a great-er chance with Fielden to grab ad dollars in the grooming, watches and autos space.

Fielden said he is still in the process of making changes, but a redesign won’t be one of them.

“I think it would be disre-spectful and would undermine the weight of the institution,” he said, offering that since his predecessor, David Granger, left at the end of March, the

magazine has already un-dergone a “fairly refreshed approach.”

And as for masthead shakeups — Fielden hasn’t had too much of that yet.

“It takes a while to get the caliber of people who can create the team. I am aware of that,” Fielden said, while flipping through a stack of old Esquire assignment cards for writers ranging from Dylan Thomas and Dorothy Parker to Tom Wolfe, William Faulkner

and Truman Capote, who was paid $25,000 for his tell-all “La Côte Basque, 1965.”

“For true change to take root and harden into a clear and consistent vision, it’s going to take a little time,” he said. “You set the bar high. You don’t do that by Septem-ber. You do part of that by September. You set the bar over the course of a period of time where you can actually achieve it, and we will. ” — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

Memo Pad

Holding Back, Sort OfAlexander Wang is trying something new for resort 2017. The designer will show the collection to press and re-tailers as he usually does in June, but all images and reviews of the resort lineup will be under embargo until the collection ships in November. In that respect, this is a strategy several designers have experimented with over the last pre-collection seasons. Wang is doing so with a caveat: He will show a selection of resort items on his spring 2017 runway during New York Fashion Week in September. So while the full resort images will be under em-bargo, the items shown on the runway will publicized with the spring lineup. “For several seasons now, we have released images of our T by Alexan-der Wang and Men’s collections only at the time of their delivery in store,” Wang told WWD. “We have had a very positive response to this from consumers and we decided to pursue a similar strategy with our ready-to-wear pre-collections; we have found that this shortened timeline between seeing the collection and it being available in stores creates a sense of

immediacy and generates excitement at the retail level.” — JESSICA IREDALE

Superfine Gets BasicSuperfine, the British cult label that relaunched in the U.S. last year, is expanding its reach with a casual new sister label, Fine by Superfine. But don’t call it a diffusion line. “It’s more of an extension. The two lines sit really well together,” said founder and cre-ative director Lucy Pinter, explaining the distinction between the two. “Superfine is for fashion pieces — silks, leathers, embellished denim.

Fine by Superfine is your everyday basics — T-shirts, sweats and jeans…It’s much more L.A.” Sourced in Italy and manufactured in Los Angeles, Fine’s easy basics and knits are meant to complement Superfine’s more up-scale, detail-oriented sportswear at an accessible price point. The spring 2016 collection of Fine by Superfine, ranging from $70 to $280 for tees, sweats and denim, is rolling out to Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, FWRD by Elyse Walker and Shopbop.com. It will also retail on the company’s new e-commerce site, Superfinelondon.com, launching this Wednesday. — KRISTI GARCED

Ready for LaunchJoules, the British premium lifestyle brand for men, women and children, will float on London’s smaller AIM market this Thursday in what has been a fallow period for fashion, retail and luxury initial public offerings in the U.K.

The brand has announced the con-ditional placing of 7,175,851 new, and 41,261,649 existing ordinary shares at 1.60 pounds, or $2.32, per share with institutional and other investors set to raise gross proceeds of approximately 77.5 million pounds, or $112.3 million.

Rothschild acted as financial advis-er to the company, with Peel Hunt the

nominated adviser, joint book runner and joint broker. Liberum was joint book runner and joint broker.

Based on the placing price, the market capitalization of the company on admission to trading on AIM will be 140 million pounds, or $203 million.

On admission, the founder Tom Joule, who got his start in business selling colorful clothing from market stalls at countryside events, will hold about 32.2 percent of the issued share capital.

Admission and the start of dealings in the ordinary shares under the ticker JOUL are set to take place Thursday morning.

As reported, Joules’ group revenue increased 50.2 percent to 116.4 million pounds, or $178.1 million, in the two years to 2015, driven primarily by new stores, the continued expansion of e-commerce, and increased sales within existing wholesale accounts, such as John Lewis and Next Label.

Joules has 98 stores in the U.K., with an average of 12 opening each year over the last three years. It also has a fast-growing presence in North Ameri-ca and Germany. It operates across its own retail stores, e-commerce, whole-sale, country shows and licensing.

The company has said the money raised from the float will be channeled into the continued U.K. store rollout, international expansion in existing markets; and new product categories. — SAMANTHA CONTI

Fashion Scoops

Esquire’s June/ July cover.

Looks from Fine by Superfine.Alexander Wang