Daily EDition november 8, 2016 1

Fashion. Beauty. Business.

Plein’s PlanPhilipp Plein has an aggressive U.S. expansion plan that includes New York.

Page 4

Instant ShoppingFashion firms test Instagram’s feature linking product discovery and commerce.

Page 7

Red AlertAmerican Apparel sent a letter to workers warning of a possible closure if the firm is sold.

Page 3

● Retailers say they’re not marking down anymore than last year, though some market trackers see it differently.

by DaviD Moin and vicki M. Young with contributions from evan clark

As holiday shopping creeps ever earlier, retailers are stepping up targeted promo-tions while saving their real firepower for closer to the true season.

Retail industry executives say there is no reason to panic yet about holiday even as consumers remain reluctant to splurge on apparel and accessories. One of the main reasons is the distraction created by one of the most bizarre and divisive presiden-tial elections ever. But now that a winner should be decided today, retailers expect consumers to hit the stores and web sites and begin their real holiday spending.

Wall Street was looking past the election on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 371.32 points, or 2.1 percent, to 18,259.60 as Hillary Clinton’s campaign strengthened after the Federal Bureau of Investigation cleared her of mishan-dling classified emails, for a second time. Investors are generally change-averse and Trump is seen as more of a wildcard and potential market destabilizer.

Retailers benefiting most from the relief rally were: Fossil Group Inc., up 5.2 percent to $26.92; Gap Inc., 4.7 percent to $26.97; Tiffany & Co., 4.3 percent to $76.09; Amazon.com Inc., 4 percent to $784.93, and Ascena Retail Group Inc., 3.9 percent to $5.04.

Nomura analyst Simeon Siegel noted that Fossil Group Inc., L Brands Inc. and Kate Spade & Co. all just came out with quarterly updates that showed “very clean inventories” as well as “meaningful gross-margin erosion.”

“It appears that those companies — and I suspect others — are critically focused on the clean inventory part of that equation,” Siegel said. “It’s eroding profitability because it’s essentially ‘be clean at all costs.’”

He said many companies are finding that they have to ultimately sell goods for lower prices than management intended, whether it be in their own stores, online or through various off-price channels.

“The consumer’s the winner and that’s probably not a trend that goes away,” he said. Last week, Amazon unleashed “Black Friday” deals early and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. kicked in some of its own, casting a percep-tion that price promoting was about to click in big time. The perception is fueled by retailers getting more omnichannel in ori-entation and using their digital channels to raise the visibility of their price promotions.

business

Holiday MarkdownsCreep InEarlier

continued on page 10

Dek tktktk tktktkt tktktktk tktktk tktktk tktkt tktk tktktk tktkt tktktk tktktktktk tktk tktktktktk tktktktk tktk ttktkkt tktk tktkt tktktk tktk ttktktktktk tktkt tktktk tkt tktktk tktktktkt tktktktktk tktktk tktktktk tktktk tktktk tktktk tktktk tktkkt tktktk tktktktk tktktk tktktk tktkkt tkt ktktkk tktkkt tktkk tktktktk tktktkkt tktktk tktktktk tktktktkt tktk

The Hedline

Sneaker Con set up shop at the Jacob K. Javits Center over the weekend for the New York leg of its 2016 convention. Men, women, boys and girls

gathered to buy, sell and trade kicks — and more importantly, see what everyone else had on their feet. For more, see pages 5 and 6.

Get Your Kicks

phot

ogra

phs

by c

lint s

paul

ding

A celebration of the leading innovators and outstanding product launches that made for an unforgettable year in beauty

Ad Close: 11.18 / Materials Due: 11.25

1 5 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y

AWA R D S I S S U E

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT LOUISE COOLICK, BEAUTY DIRECTOR AT 646 356 4705 OR LCOOLICK@WWD.COM

An Advertising Opportunity

november 8, 2016 3

Teen Vogue to Change Frequency, Publisher ● Teen Vogue will become

a quarterly magazinethis spring.

● Buyers: Spring Accessories Focus on ‘Innovation, ‘Newness’ and Individuality

● Duchess of Cambridge Visits Gloucestershire in Sky Blue Coat

● Optimizing Store Design In the Internet Age

● Richemont’s Gamble: Johann Rupert Looks To Cut the Fat, Eliminates CEO Role

ToP 5TrendingON WWD.COm

NEWSmAKERSThis Week’s most Talked About Names In Our Industry

Hillary Clinton

maria Bartiromo

Donald Trump

Philipp Plein

● The firm warned workers a sale could lead to the business’ closure as sources say the European arm is preparing for bankruptcy.

by kari HaManaka

LOS ANGELES — American Apparel’s future is increasingly uncertain with employees at the company’s Los Ange-les headquarters warned of a possible shuttering of the business on Nov. 7 as the specter of bankruptcy looms for its European workers.

A letter, obtained by WWD, and sent to employees at the company’s headquar-ters and factory raises the likelihood that a sale process could lead to the closure of some of the business’ operations. The troubled company, which last month saw the departure of chief executive officer Paula Schneider, began shopping for a buyer earlier in the year.

The letter said “it is likely that the potential purchaser(s) of the company will not wish to continue manufacturing operations or to maintain corporate operations that support the company’s manufacturing, wholesale or retail divisions.”

If such a deal is reached, American Apparel “might begin the process of permanently ceasing operations and significantly scaling down operations at its headquarters/factory” in a move that would take place within the next 60 days.

A spokeswoman for the company declined comment.

Sources close to the company said American Apparel is evaluating multiple suitors with one of those likely to emerge the winning bidder in a deal involving the purchase of all of the company’s assets, which would encompass retail, wholesale and manufacturing. Those sources said the letter sent to employees Monday was a legal precaution but that the business has a good chance of con-tinuing on after a sale.

Iconix Brand Group Inc. and Authentic Brands Group are two names that have emerged in recent months as interested parties in the business.

Questions about American Apparel’s European operations have also emerged with sources at the company confirm-ing product shipments into the region stopped, effective Nov. 5, as that arm of the

business weighs a possible bankruptcy.The European business, which does

not include the U.K., totals about 30 stores and employs as many as 400 peo-ple. Executives there say the business is healthy but faced headwinds from its cus-tomer base when the new management team that replaced founder and former ceo Dov Charney began introducing more fashionable styles at a rapid clip rather than remaining true to its core basics and more slowly introducing a new design direction to shoppers.

The company’s spokeswoman also declined to comment on the European business.

It’s been one hit after another at American Apparel since the firing of Dov Charney in 2014, when he was essentially terminated twice that year from the firm. Charney received a letter of the compa-ny’s intent to terminate his employment contract first in June 2014, followed by his official firing in December of that year when the company announced the appointment of Schneider.

Charney contends the overseas units all had positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at

the time of his June 2014 ouster.“They stole control of the business

from me and they proceeded to crash the company,” he said. “The business was not performing on this trajectory when it was taken from me. There was no chance. When they took over in Decem-ber 2014, they said there was no chance of bankruptcy.”

Indeed, management at the time appeared optimistic that the business needed new direction and could be improved. Charney was painted as an incompetent micromanager who lacked a basic planning department. Schnei-der promised to reduce the company’s stock-keeping units and rid the company of slow-moving styles in clearance sales among other tactics. The business strug-gled under the weight of debt amid little traction on the turnaround strategy and filed for bankruptcy about a year ago, emerging from it in February of this year.

The business has continued to remain challenged. In October, the company auctioned off the equipment in its Hawthorne dye house. Now, speculation has emerged a sale could send American Apparel back to bankruptcy court again.

● Laura Vassar and Kristopher Brock of Brock Collection take home $400,000 and a year of mentorship.

by Jessica ireDale

The votes were tallied — no, not those votes. The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund elected its newest winners, Laura Vassar and Kristopher Brock of Brock Collection, the recipients of $400,000 and a year of mentorship. The two runners-up were Stirling Barrett of Krewe du Optic and Adam Selman, who received $150,000 each. The announcement came Monday night at the CFDA/VFF’s 13th annual gala held at Spring Studios.

Winners and runners-up were chosen

by the competition’s judging committee, which included Ken Downing, Mark Hol-gate, Steven Kolb, Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg, Marcus Wainwright, David Neville and Jenna Lyons. The other finalists competing for the prize were Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk of Area, Chloe Gosselin, Ji Oh, Morgan Curtis of Morgan Lane, Maryam and Marjan Malakpour of Newbark, Laura Chandler and Joshua Cooper of Rochambeau and Chris Stamp of Stampd. Michael Kors and Zendaya presented the awards.

It’s safe to say that it escaped no one that the event was held on the eve of what has been perhaps our nation’s most contentious and historic presidential elec-tions. Fashion is nothing if not zeitgeisty. To be fair, the CFDA/VFF gala typically

falls on the first Monday in November, which would be very on-brand title for a Vogue-sanctioned fashion documentary or TV series on the process, if one wasn’t already in production.

Past recipients of the CFDA/VFF include last year’s triple winners Jonathan Sim-khai, Aurora James of Brother Vellies and Rio Uribe of Gypsy sporty; and previously Paul Andrew; Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne for Public School; Greg Chait of The Elder Statesman; Joseph Altuzarra of Altuzarra; Billy Reid; Sophie Theallet; Alex-ander Wang; Rogan Gregory for Rogan; Doo-Ri Chung for Doo.Ri; John Whitledge, Sam Shipley, Josia Lamberto-Egan and Jeff Halmos for Trovata, and, in the fund’s inaugural year, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler.

business

American Apparel Division May Shutter

fashion

CFDA/Vogue Fashion Names 2016 Winners

Workers at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles were warned on Monday of a

possible shuttering of operations.

am

eric

an a

ppar

el p

hoto

grap

h by

Kar

i ham

anak

a; c

linto

n by

ap

imag

es; t

rum

p by

reX

/shu

tter

stoc

k; b

artir

omo

by a

lex

Krok

e; p

lein

by

Josh

ua s

cott

november 8, 2016 4

● The company plans to show the Philipp Plein women’s and men’s collection during New York Fashion Week in February.

by lisa lockwooD

NEW YORK — Philipp Plein, the luxury sportswear firm known for its bejeweled leather and crystal-studded knits, is fast approaching $250 million in global sales. But one goal has eluded the company: Cracking the U.S. market.

Last January, Philipp Plein, the 38-year-old German owner and designer of the Lugano, Switzerland-based firm, hired Graziano de Boni as president and chief executive officer of Philipp Plein for the Americas and appointed him to the board of the Swiss parent company. De Boni’s role is to spearhead U.S. expansion.

In addition to opening more Philipp Plein stores across the U.S., the company plans to show the women’s and men’s Philipp Plein collection during New York Fashion Week in February for the first time and launch a women’s luxury activewear line called Plein Sport this month in Milan (a men’s Plein Sport collection was intro-duced this past summer).

Having developed a reputation for his over-the-top, elaborate fashion shows in Milan, Plein has remained somewhat of a fashion outsider. His business, which was initially cultivated in Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe, has been on a strong trajectory. By yearend, Plein will have 107 directly owned and franchised boutiques internationally, including five freestanding stores in the U.S. He has stores in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami.

Plein has also recently acquired a major-ity stake in the men’s classic brand Billion-aire, which has 20 stores and generates about $28 million in sales. Plein looks to bring that company to the next level under creative director Robert Rabensteiner and restructure the brand’s distribution.

Plein believes de Boni has the expe-rience and the wherewithal to help him develop the U.S. market. Earlier, de Boni spent four years as ceo of the North American division of Giorgio Armani Corp. Before that, he was president of Reed Krakoff, president and ceo of Prada USA and Valentino’s president of worldwide sales, marketing and retail, in addition to being president and ceo of Valentino USA. He was also president and ceo of Marzotto U.S.A. Corp.

This isn’t Plein’s first stab at the U.S. market, but a previous attempt didn’t get too far. “Coming to America is a challenge for most of the European brands,” said Plein, who was interviewed with de Boni at the designer’s Manhattan townhouse on the Upper East Side.

“We are entering a market that isn’t hungry anymore to consume. The market is saturated. It’s not like China and Russia and other markets, where people are still hungry to consume. It’s much more difficult,” said Plein, noting it’s particularly difficult for European brands when they’re an independent label.

While Plein has been successful in build-ing his company in Europe and Asia — Asia is the number-one market, followed by Russia-Eastern Europe — he feels one can’t ignore such an important market as the U.S. In his previous attempt to crack the market, Plein would take a booth at trade shows and stores would place orders.

“I came here with my luggage, exhibited in a booth and flew back after and had to deal with people in different time zones,

calling them for the down payments. They didn’t want to wire the money to Europe. If you don’t have an entity here, or you don’t have a company here, or an organi-zation here, it’s so difficult,” said Plein.

Two years ago, he set up an office in a penthouse at 4 West 58th Street. He sent a young man from Europe to New York. “He couldn’t develop anything. It was his first time in America. He didn’t know any-body,” said Plein. That’s why he found de Boni. “We need someone to help us build the brand. We have money to invest, but we don’t have money to lose,” he said.

“When you control your own retail, you control your own market,” said Plein, who isn’t interested in opening department store accounts. The reason is because they make you sign contracts that are as big as the Yellow Pages, he said. “If you have the wrong packaging, you pay a felony,” said Plein. Or if you’re a day late, you’re penal-ized. “If they go on sale tomorrow, all your stores have to go on sale too. It’s modern slavery. I don’t want to be part of it.”

A major part of de Boni’s role is to find attractive real estate around the country. De Boni has already secured space in the Houston Galleria and Ala Moana in Hawaii. The plan is to open up to 20 Philipp Plein stores in the U.S. in the next three years, as well as 10 stores between Canada (company owned) and Central and South America (franchised stores).

The brand will open a freestanding store in King of Prussia, Pa., in December, which follows the opening of a unit in Atlanta in September. Two years ago, it opened stores on Madison Avenue, Rodeo Drive and in Aventura, Fla.

Plein said he offers a collection that’s different from anything in the luxury market. “You have to make sure your product is so different than other prod-ucts that you have a reason to exist. Why should people spend money on you since you’re not a [well-known] brand and you’re not famous?” he asked. He said he has discovered a way to stand out from the crowd. “We created a niche for ourselves to be different and strong and to have a fun product,” he said. For example, he will take a cashmere sweater and write in Swarovski crystals, “Kiss My Butt.”

Known for its embellished products aimed at a fashion-forward customer, Plein’s sneakers retail from $500 to

$2,000; T-shirts are $500 to $1,500; leather jackets are $2,500 to $4,000; jeans go from $500 to $2,000; dresses retail from $1,500 to $4,000, and evening dresses are $3,000 to $10,000.

“We have a product that is completely out of the competition. This made us become so successful and independent and helps us in times like this when every-one is complaining. We’re growing. We’re over 25 percent up compared to last year and we have over 90 stores,” said Plein.

“I’m not Gucci or Kering Group. I can’t have huge stores. I go to locations where I can make money,” said Plein. He believes in getting the best locations he can. “That’s why I will open in Bond Street [next month] and opened in Via Montenapole-one. When you have a great location, you don’t pay for advertising,” he said.

The company has 13 stores in South Korea and more than 20 stores in Main-land China, and they’re opening a store in Macau and a fifth store in Hong Kong. Plein will open a 7,000-square-foot flagship men’s-only store in Milan in January after opening a 40,000-square-foot showroom there in September.

Earlier this year, Plein had an epiphany while flying to Los Angeles. He was reading a business magazine about the Fortune 500 companies and realized that the top appar-el-textile firms on the list were Nike, which does $30 billion in sales, and Adidas, which does $25 billion. “I was thinking whoever goes into active sportswear is making money right now,” said the designer.

The trend right now seems to be active sportswear, but in his view no one is mak-ing a luxury active sportswear line that can be worn to the gym. As a result, he devel-oped the Plein Sport men’s wear line, and plans to introduce women’s this month.

“We did over 10 million euros [in men’s] from scratch,” he said. Plein is opening three stores in December in Milan, Paris and Amsterdam which resem-ble gyms. In addition, 20 to 25 more Plein Sport stores will open in the next few months worldwide. The company is also looking to open Plein Sport stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Plein Sport sneakers will retail from $300 to $500, leggings will be $200 to $400, sweatshirts are $250 to $500 and T-shirts are $160 to $270. The Plein Sport collection will be shown at Pitti Uomo in

Florence in January and at the Liberty trade show in Las Vegas in February.

In another development, Plein intends to show his luxury label, Philipp Plein, on the New York runway in February. Asked why he plans to show in the U.S., he said, “In Milan, I reached everything I wanted to do. When you’re at your peak, you have to stop and do something else. America needs a push. We need to support our expansion here. I have a great captain on board.”

That said, Plein believes that fashion shows “are a huge waste of money for everyone.” Therefore, he said, he really needs to see the value in it. “The only value is to say thank you to my clients for their support. That’s why we’re coming to New York to thank our clients,” said Plein, adding he didn’t want to divulge too many details about the New York show.

Sixty percent of Plein’s business is men’s, and 40 percent is women’s world-wide. “The men’s is a little stronger. The Asians are buying more men’s,” he said. For women, the strongest-selling items are the leather jackets, and the brand has almost sold out of furs. “The strength is expensive, special items. They’re show stoppers and fun pieces. I’m not a basic guy. Everybody’s into minimalism, but with minimalism, you can’t make money,” he added.

“The trend is moving toward a maximal-ism period,” predicted de Boni, who said the collection is aimed at confident custom-ers who are not afraid of wearing fashion.

Plein said he and his team design every piece, and he travels with his designers to New York, Milan and Los Angeles. There are no licensees.

“I don’t have a background in fashion or interior design. I had an entrepreneurial spirit in the beginning,” said Plein, who was born in Munich. He originally went to law school but started making exclusive furnishings in steel and leather initially for family and friends in 1998, which eventu-ally became a full-time profession. He then gave up law school. His involvement in leather led him to experiment with leather garments and accessories and he launched his own fashion brand in 2004.

Plein owns his business outright. He has no partners, no investors and no banks breathing down his back. He builds every-thing out of the cash flow the company has generated, he said.

fashion

Philipp Plein Plots Aggressive U.S. Growth StrategyPhilipp Plein and

Graziano de Boni

phot

ogra

ph b

y Jo

shua

sco

tt

november 8, 2016 5

The Javits Center hosted Sneaker Con’s New York event over the weekend.

See what attendees wore here.

They Are WeAring

SneAker Con

by AlexA TieTjen

phot

ogra

phs

by c

lint s

paul

ding

november 8, 2016 6ph

otog

raph

s by

clin

t spa

uldi

ng

november 8, 2016 7

● A new feature means that the visual platform will begin an expansion into a commerce platform.

by MagHan McDowell

On Monday, fashion brands became the first to test a new feature on Instagram that aims to connect the dots between product discovery and purchase.

The feature, which lets brands add product details and outside links, means that Instagram stands to expand beyond a story-telling tool to become a more direct commerce one.

The pilot program began rolling out to some users this week with 20 U.S.-based brands, and brands gradually began sharing posts that were tagged with products. When clicked, the tag opened up a “details” page with information such as product name, price and a description. From there, users can click a link to the product’s page on the brand’s web site.

JackThreads, for example, is posting a $49 flannel shirt and $65 Vans sneakers; Coach is featuring its pre-spring collection of Coach 1941, and Kate Spade is empha-sizing its new personalization program with a $228 Cameron Street Lane bag and interchangeable $128 tassels.

When describing the incentive for brands to participate, many use the word “seamless,” an increasingly relevant aspect of shopping through the digital divide.

“Coach is always looking at ways to drive a seamless consumer journey,” said Andre Cohen, who is president, North America and global marketing at Coach. “This gives us the ability to broaden our reach by giving consumers even more of a reason to follow us and provide shoppa-ble inspiration.”

The company aligned its product selec-tion for the shoppable Instagram posts with the timing of the launch of the Coach 1941 collection.

Cohen said that Instagram has been “essential for storytelling and highlighting our brand transformation to consumers.”

In the last four years, Coach has attracted more than 1.5 million followers on the social media site. “We were a first adopter of Instagram Stories and we were the first luxury brand to host an InstaMeet, with more than 100 attendees and millions

of impressions,” Cohen said. Followers reg-ularly comment with interest in purchasing and the brand’s social presence has driven consumers to stores, where they use their phones to reference an item from Coach’s social media channels, he said. “We hope that the organic shopping feature will continue to further improve the shopping experience of our consumers.”

Other brands participating in the pilot include J. Crew, Warby Parker, Abercrom-bie & Fitch, Levi’s, Macy’s, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, BaubleBar, Hollister, Lulus, MVMT Watches and Shopbop.

JackThreads chief marketing officer Ryan McIntyre called it “a huge first step in the future of shopping” and a “game changer” in that customers won’t have to toggle over to the JackThreads app, or comment with purchase questions, when scrolling their Instagram feed.

The desire to shop an Instagram feed has inspired a handful of workarounds. Michael Kors, for example, lets followers shop Insta-gram posts with the hashtag #InstaKors.

Some companies have built services with similar features. By building it in-house, Instagram might eat away at their relevance but some say that this only emphasizes the need for social networks to serve the customer.

Curalate’s Like2Buy facilitates a shoppa-ble landing page of a brand’s recent Insta-gram posts and saves users’ “liked” posts

— a feature that Instagram is expected to add in the future.

“Instagram’s shoppable content initiative validates everything we’ve been building, and that has a profoundly positive impact on Curalate,” said chief executive officer Apu Gupta. “We think Instagram’s pilot program is great for consumers, brands, the partner ecosystem and Instagram. However, this isn’t just about making Instagram shoppable. It’s ultimately about connecting visual content to commerce — wherever it exists.”

J. Crew is a Curalate client and a partici-pant in the Instagram pilot.

“The future of shopping is evolving daily,” said Jenna Lyons, president and executive creative director at J. Crew Group. “This is one more way we can see the experience coming to the customer where he or she is shopping and living. The ability to see something you love — and to get it seamlessly — is what the world expects these days.”

Blogger monetization network Reward-Style’s LiketoKnow.It has an opt-in service for bloggers that lets followers “like” a photo to get an e-mail with product infor-mation. Founder Amber Venz-Box said that the company’s service to influencers, rather than brands, will maintain rele-vance in social shopping.

“Businesses that were built on the back of Instagram, providing tools to retailers,

were perhaps not savvy or thoughtful enough to consider the history of social networks,” she said. “Social networks attract influencers to the platform by giving them the opportunity to grow their audience. Then the network sells that audi-ence to brands and earns revenue through advertising. The networks play in the brand sales space, and we serve the influencers; those lines are clear for us. Without the influencer, there are no ads to sell.”

Instagram doesn’t profit from its new feature, but vice president of monetization James Quarles did say that it could lend itself nicely to advertising in the future; this means a brand could pay to promote its shoppable posts beyond just followers.

In the immediate future, the observable changes on Instagram will be discrete and limited to only some users. But the capa-bility signals a shift that, for many, was a long time coming.

A Tory Burch spokeswoman said that the brand hopes to learn whether shoppable posts increase traffic to its site, in addition to what resonates with the customer. “It will be interesting to see what drives click-through,” she said. For now, she said the Tory Burch feed will remain largely the same: ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags and accessories and a mix of personal photos, inspiration and products. Except now some of them will be shoppable.

business

Shoppable Instagram Is Here, Slowly

● One Click Retail found that the sales were supported by “very strong growth” in men’s for the month.

by MagHan McDowell

Amazon’s push in fashion has it gaining steam in apparel, but so far it’s mostly in basics.

According to e-commerce research firm One Click Retail, October apparel sales on Amazon grew 5 percent versus a year earlier and 85 percent compared with September.

But luxury shopping still has come to the e-commerce behemoth in full force.

One Click analyst Jeff Brown said Hal-loween costumes led the growth for the month, accounting for an estimated $21 million in sales and 27 percent in the total lift in apparel month-over-month.

Outside of costumes, the men’s category in October saw “very strong growth,” said Brown, who has worked at Target and Overstock.com.

Amazon is still largely seen as a desti-nation for functional basics, with popular items including Levi’s 501 Original Fit Jeans and workwear items such as Dickies over-alls and Carhartt hoodies.

In September, back-to-school shopping fueled the number-two growth category of shoes, with athletic shoes accounting for more than $28 million in sales.

One Click Retail has been tracking Ama-zon sales data since 2015 and found that, compared with other categories that are experiencing “explosive” growth, apparel growth has been “relatively flat.”

“Although Amazon had a big push for luxury goods, the mainstays, such as underwear, socks, jeans, workout apparel and sporting goods, are doing the best,”

said One Click’s managing partner Spencer Millerberg, who previously worked at both Wal-Mart and Amazon.

Amazon has made attempts at attracting luxury retailers, but it’s struggled to gain significant traction. Recently, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said that the company would not do business with Ama-zon in its existing business model.

“Amazon has been described as the ‘mall of the mess,’ and when you take a look at it, that’s probably a fair statement,” Millerberg said. “It’s the same reason that Wal-Mart has struggled. It’s not the desti-nation that customers think of first, and not the way they shop, either.”

Millerberg said it was an awareness problem.

“They didn’t have the brand and the product two years ago, and one year ago they didn’t have the platform to support

it; now, they have an awareness issue,” he said.

But potential competitors are certainly aware. Gap Inc. chief executive officer Art Peck told shareholders in May that he was open to selling on Amazon and not consid-ering it was “delusional.”

Some experts anticipate that Amazon will experiment with a physical retail space in the form of a pop-up shop or sample shop to build awareness of Amazon apparel. Amazon has also slowly started rolling a number of lines of in-house apparel.

“It’s the same thing as everything Amazon does,” said Millerberg. “They launched private brands of baby wipes and now they are the number-three brand in the space. They’ve done it in hundreds of different categories, but I don’t know if they will be able to make those same in roads [in apparel].”

business

Basics Abound: Amazon’s Apparel Business Up 5% in October

JackThreads on Instagram

november 8, 2016 8

● Blue Nile’s acquisition and Bonobos’ capital raise are helping set the bar for what companies are worth today.

by evan clark

Bricks-and-mortar — but not inventory — might be the best part of the buzzy e-commerce crowd.

And with a $500 million deal to take fine jewelry player Blue Nile Inc. private and bottoms-maker Bonobos said to be on the hunt for $100 million in growth capi-tal, the market is finally starting to home in on just where these companies sit between the la la land of tech valuations and the rock bottom price tags in fashion. Successful e-commerce companies that have some stores — and the opportunity to add more — are getting valued as strong growth plays.

Blue Nile, which on Monday inked an all-cash deal to be bought by Bain Capital and Bow Street, has seen slowing sales and profits this year. But the company’s “web room” retail business is seen has having potential.

It’s that potential that makes the com-pany attractive. The deal valued Blue Nile at about one-times sales and more than 28-times earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization of $16.1 mil-lion — that’s something of a middle ground with a relatively low valuation on sales, but a big price tag on earnings.

By comparison, Facebook Inc. trades at 13-times revenues and 25-times EBITDA, while Macy’s Inc. at the other end of the spectrum trades at 0.7 times revenues and 5.7 times EBITDA.

Blue Nile is slated to open its fifth web room in Seattle by Thanksgiving, allowing

customers there to try on engagement rings and get advice from consultants, who aren’t paid by commission, and com-plete the sale online.

Edward Yruma, analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, said Blue Nile’s web rooms have helped show the advantages of having physical stores, particularly those that act as showrooms to examine product that is shipped later.

“You need the stores, but by not having to carry the inventory of the stores, you alleviate yourself of a lot of the burden,” Yruma said, citing the expense of inventory.

Shoppers are content to get their order later, he said.

“Amazon has trained people to be OK with waiting a day,” the analyst noted. “The consumer’s getting more used to this idea that, ‘I don’t need everything this second.’

The retailers of the future, it’s not going to be just e-commerce, it’s not going to be just stores, it’s going to be a blend of both.”

The jewelry company’s future owners are expected to keep rolling out web rooms to grow the business.

That’s something Bonobos is looking to do on its own.

Having entered the world as an e-com-merce play, Bonobos is looking to come of age as a retailer and is said to be working with Citi to raise money that would be used to significantly expand on its base of roughly 30 inventory-lite guide shops.

The experience-heavy stores, which offer shoppers a beer, advice and a chance to try on styles, also don’t carry inventory and instead ship goods to customers.

Bonobos, which also sells through Nordstrom stores, is said to be profitable

with sales of more than $100 million, with projections putting revenues at about $150 million for the year ahead.

The nine-year-old company, which is led by cofounder and chief executive officer Andy Dunn, has already raised $127 million from Nordstrom Inc., Accel Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and others. (Dunn declined to comment through a spokeswoman.)

At the WWD CEO Summit in 2014, Dunn noted: “We had this battle early on. Was this a tech company or a retail company?” He settled on the term “merchant.”

One source familiar with Bonobos described it as a solid growth story that other investors are watching closely to see where valuations at the crossroads of retail and e-commerce are going.

“For every Jet.com, there’s a Nasty Gal or a One Kings Lane or a Gilt,” the source said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. paid $3.3 billion for e-commerce marketplace Jet.com in September, but that stood out as a relative winner in the e-commerce marketplace.

But the once ultra-hot Nasty Gal, which has also inched into retail, is now said to be looking for its footing.

Fab.com was once valued at $1 billion, but was sold to PCH for $15 million. One King’s Lane went from a $900 million valu-ation to a fire-sale price in a deal with Bed, Bath & Beyond. Gilt Groupe saw its price tag go from $1 billion to $250 million when it was acquired by Hudson’s Bay Co.

Bonobos could illuminate a more pos-itive ending for its generation of e-com-merce darlings, if it can raise the money it needs to grow at the right valuation.

“It’s a fairly pristine asset,” the source said. “There are going to be a lot of take-aways for folks. It’s probably the first of many” deals where fashion and e-com-merce meet.

● A lawyer for the designer said he was “very satisfied” by the court’s decision to give him access to financial information on Saint Laurent.

by Joelle DiDericH

PARIS — A lawyer for Hedi Slimane said on Monday he was “very satisfied” by a court decision to give him access to financial information regarding Yves Saint Laurent, as part of the designer’s ongoing legal battle against his former employers.

The French commercial court on Friday ordered GG France Holding, an entity of Saint Laurent parent company Kering, to respect one of the clauses of the part-nership agreement it signed in 2013 with Analytic Project, a company that handles commercial rights for Slimane, giving him certain rights as a minority shareholder in Saint Laurent.

Léon del Forno, speaking on behalf of Hervé Temime, whose law firm represents Slimane, confirmed the terms of the ruling but declined to provide additional details. Officials at Kering declined to comment. It is not known what percent-age of the company’s capital is in Sli-mane’s hands.

The commercial court in June ordered Kering to pay $13 million to Slimane in

application of a non-compete clause following his departure from Yves Saint Laurent earlier this year. Kering said it planned to appeal.

Slimane, who left Saint Laurent in April after a four-year tenure as creative and image director, lodged the procedure in

May. It concerns non-competition obliga-tions that are among standard clauses for high-profile executive and creative roles in fashion, and which typically restrict a designer or chief executive officer from working for competitors for up to a year or more.

Last month, Slimane launched further legal action against Kering. According to media reports, he is seeking an additional sum close to 2 million euros, or $2.2 mil-lion at current exchange, corresponding to his variable compensation in his last year at the head of the fashion label.

business

E-tailers Defining E-commerce Valuations

business

Hedi Slimane Wins Another Round in Legal Battle With Kering

Hedi Slimane

Bonobos, which introduced its Good Sport Collection in September, is being seen as a benchmark as it

looks to raise more money.

slim

ane

phot

ogra

ph b

y m

icha

el b

uckn

er

november 8, 2016 9

● The collection will be available online from Nov. 18 and at 20 OVS stores the following day.

by alessanDra Turra

Italian retailer OVS on Monday unveiled the eveningwear capsule collection designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. The lineup will debut on the company’s online store on Nov. 18 and the following day at 20 OVS stores in Italy.

The French designer developed a col-lection of 60 pieces for men and women, which will retail at prices ranging from 29 euros, or $32 at current exchange rate, to 149 euros, or $164.

Gaultier juxtaposed some of his signa-ture motifs, such as the marine stripes and the tattoo-inspired graphics, with a damier pattern and a new print of game cards.

“My collaboration with OVS is a playful collection for the end of the year holi-days,” Gaultier said. “I wanted something fun and at the same time dressed up, that is why we developed a print with the deck of cards and used the asymmetrical cuts.”

The women’s range includes pieces such as a trenchcoat cut shorter on the front to be worn as an evening dress; a mannish suit incorporating see-through organza details; a reversible, bias cut printed maxiskirt; an allover sequined oversize bomber, and fitted Lurex sweat-ers with stripes.

The same motifs also appear in the men’s lineup, which spans from printed jeans, T-shirts with tattoolike prints and Wind-breakers showing damier details, to tailor-ing options, including patchwork suits.

The offering is completed by men’s and women’s footwear styles, as well as belts, silk scarves, bags and underwear.

“First of all, we decided to choose Jean Paul Gaultier because he has a fun, play-ful image. I think our customers find him

friendly and low-key, which is something very important for us,” said OVS chief executive officer Stefano Beraldo. “This is also a tool to demonstrate once again that OVS is not only competitive in terms of prices but also in terms of the quality of its fashion design.”

The debut of the capsule designed by Gaultier also marks the launch of ovsfash-ion.com, the company’s online store ship-ping to any destination within Europe.

OVS, which is 52 percent controlled by Gruppo Coin SpA with the remaining shares publicly listed, has initiated an overseas expansion process targeting especially Switzerland, Austria and then Slovenia and Hungary.

Last September, the retailer revealed its intention to acquire a 35 percent stake in Sempione Retail AG, which controls Swiss apparel retailer Charles Vögele Holding AG. The tender offer will close on Nov. 23.

“If we complete the acquisition, as I think it’s going to happen, Charles Vögele will transform about 130 of its stores in Switzerland into OVS doors within July and September,” Beraldo said. “Six months later, we will debut 100 units in Austria.”

According to Beraldo, Charles Vögele also controls 70 stores in German retail parks and they will be transformed into shops under the Upim mass-market label, controlled by OVS.

“With the acquisition, we will also enter in markets where the e-commerce is relevant,” said Beraldo, who expects that online sales will play a pivotal role in the international development of OVS.

In the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, OVS revenues rose 7.5 percent to 1.32 billion euros, or $1.49 billion, despite contin-ued contraction in the sector as a whole in Italy. In 2015, OVS opened 189 stores between franchises and directly con-trolled units, but also improved sales in existing locations.

● Giovanni Carlino will succeed Andrea Tessitore, who will cover the role of vice president.

by alessanDra Turra

Italia Independent Group has tapped Giovanni Carlino as its new chief exec-utive officer.

Carlino will be responsible for the reorganization and the reboot of the group cofounded by Lapo Elkann, who last September announced the launch of a capital increase of 15 million euros, or $17 million at current exchange. In the six months ended June 30, Italia Independent reported a net loss of 2.6 million euros, or $2.9 million, compared with 727,000 euros, or $850,590, in the same period in 2015.

Carlino, who matured a 30-year experience as financial adviser and industrial partner of private equity funds, as well as covering the role of chief financial officer at Gruppo Mer-loni Elettrodomestici from 2003 to 2005, will succeed Andrea Tessitore.

Cofounder of the group, Tessitore will be appointed vice president of Italia Independent Group. In his new role, he will coordinate the company’s business development activities in various areas, with the exception of

the core eyewear category.“I’m very satisfied with the appoint-

ment of Giovanni Carlino who will use his experience and managerial skills to relaunch Italia Independent,” said Elkann. “I’m also very happy that Andrea Tessitore, who co-founded Ita-lia Independent with me, will be able to focus on the search of new oppor-tunities for the group also through new partners who might accompany us in our journey.”

Confirming his loyalty to the Turin-based manager, Elkann also named Tessitore chief executive officer of his Laps to Go Holding, which controls his automotive customization firm Garage Italia Customs.

According to a statement released by the company, Carlino will have the chance to directly invest in the Italia Independent Group by acquiring a maximum of 600,000 shares held by Elkann.

● The Canadian retailer is shipping its products to several continents.

by sHaron eDelson

Aritzia, which filed an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in August, has launched international shipping to 221 countries and introduced an international e-commerce site. The move could be seen as a precursor to launching international stores. However, Oliver Walsh, chief marketing officer, said international shipping will give Aritzia insight into different markets.

“It’s step one in terms of our inter-national thinking,” Walsh said. “It’s going to give us lots of interesting data. Something we think about and consider a lot in our e-commerce business is e-commerce analytics. The data points will inform our strategy. We operate 76 stores in North America, which we are continuing to grow.”

Aritzia raised 400 million Canadian dollars, or $302 million, in its IPO on Sept. 26, which represented the largest deal so far for the Canadian IPO market.

Brian Hill started the women’s apparel brand in 1984. Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire Partners has been a majority investor since 2005. Hill and Berkshire hold 97 percent voting control of the company, based on the dual-class structure of the shares.

For the second quarter ended Aug. 28 — Aritzia’s first earnings report since becoming a public company — the Vancouver-based retailer posted a net loss of 67.3 million Canadian dollars,

or $50.8 million, equal to 65 Canadian cents, or 49 cents, a diluted share. This compares with net income of 4.7 million Canadian dollars, or $3.5 million, and 5 Canadian cents, or 4 cents, in earnings per share a year ago. Net revenue rose 30.1 percent to 157.9 million, or $119.3 million, from 121.4 million, or $91.7 mil-lion, a year ago. Comp-store sales rose 16.9 percent on top of the 20.8 percent comp growth a year ago.

Among the countries Aritzia is servicing with international shipping are China, the U.K., Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, South Korea, Mexico, Japan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

Aritzia’s international e-commerce site is optimized in a responsive manner for any device and will offer thousands of products. Global shoppers are redirected to an international version of Aritzia’s web site. The assortment is the same as that available to North American customers. Walsh said the retailer will determine if any tweaks are necessary “to make it more relevant.”

Aritzia’s shipping and return options include standard or express services. As a part of the launch, Aritzia is offering free standard shipping to international shop-pers that spend more than $100, and free express service for orders above $500.

We’re proud of our customer service with style advisors,” Walsh said. “We have a whole team of style advisors that speaks a variety of languages. They offer styling advice for finding fashion items to fit the consumer’s personal style.”

Aritzia has been promoting the interna-tional shipping service through Instagram.

● The company said it stands by its financial statements and denied the claims in Spruce Point’s report.

by vicki M. Young

Burlington Stores Inc. has a response to hedge fund Spruce Point Capital Man-agement, which on Wednesday issued a “strong sell” report.

Spruce Point, a short seller, said Burling-ton’s sales record and earnings-per-share gains probably wouldn’t continue and indicated that there are financial and busi-ness issues that could signal a slowdown in sales. It also said that the selling of stock by certain company executives are an indica-tion of instability. Short sellers operate by borrowing shares of a company, which they then sell. They hope to buy back the shares at a lower price.

The off-price retailer on Monday said, “The company stands by its financial statements and emphatically denies the claims made in the report. The report, which is filled with innuendo and baseless

allegations, is based on flawed, inaccurate and misleading analysis.

“The company also notes that the short seller stated in the report that it ‘stands to realize significant gains in the event that the price of [Burlington’s] stock declines,’” the retailer said.

Burlington also said that its “financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP and any non-GAAP information is reconciled to its GAAP equivalent. Bur-lington’s annual financial statements are audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP.”

Burlington went public with an initial public offering in 2013. The company was formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory.

Shares of Burlington opened at $72.74 on Wednesday, but then fell to $69.55 later that day after the report was published. The stock closed at $69.24 on Friday. Shares of Burlington opened Monday’s trading session at $69.97, but rose 1.2 per-cent to $70.06 at 9:45 a.m. when the mar-ket opened for trading following the com-pany’s issuance of its statement. Shares of Burlington ended the day’s trading session up 4.6 percent to close at $72.43.

fashion

OVS Set to LaunchJean Paul Gaultier Capsule

business

Italia Independent Group Names CEO

business

Aritzia’s World View

business

Burlington Responds to Short Seller’s Allegations

Lapo Elkann

elka

nn p

hoto

grap

h by

sté

phan

e fe

ugèr

e

november 8, 2016 10

While price promoting is a necessary evil in retailing, most stores say they are keeping discounting on par with a year ago, that there’s no need to slash prices right now and that the discounts currently on offer were engineered for profitability well in advance.

Still, according to pricing intelligence firm Market Track, the October “creep” study of more than 100 top holiday prod-ucts showed a 6 percent decrease in the average listing price on Oct. 31 from the week prior on Oct. 24.

When comparing feature advertisement discounts by category for October 2016 versus October 2015, Market Track said discounts were steeper this year: Footwear at 16 percent off; kids apparel, 13 percent; cosmetics, 11 percent; intimates-accesso-ries, 8 percent; jewelry, 7 percent, and women’s apparel, 1 percent.

Fluent Research in a report said the holiday shopping season starts “sooner and sooner.” It noted that one in three, or 34 percent, of Americans started holiday shopping before Sept. 1, with 53 percent saying they planned to start shopping before November.

Only 20 percent said they will start shop-ping for holiday in December. Nearly three in 10 said they plan to finish their holiday shopping by the end of November, and of those who started shopping by October, 70 percent planned to wrap up their holiday shopping by December.

Even as Christmas shopping now starts for many consumers before Halloween, there is a consensus among industry executives that inventories are under con-trol, holiday sales should be up around 3 percent, anticipated colder weather should spark coat and cold-weather accessories businesses and that the consumer is more equipped to spend due to rising employ-ment and wages and low gas prices.

Those trends are why retailers and ana-lysts believe it’s too soon to drive holiday traffic via sharp markdowns, though stores have their kitschy Christmas sweaters on display and tree-trimming shops up and running already.

“It’s too early to panic,” one retail chief executive officer told WWD. “Every year, Christmas shopping comes later and later. If anyone is breaking price, they are panicking way too early. Most people think they will have a better view into the con-sumer buying behavior after this election. We all expect the season to come late and come hard at the end.”

“I don’t see any abnormal behavior in regards to price cutting,” said Tom McGee, ceo of the International Council of Shop-ping Centers. The ICSC expects a “robust” holiday shopping season, forecasting retail sales to be up 3.3 percent. ICSC will issue the results of a survey next week, indicat-ing no price advantage to shopping online versus in stores, McGee said. The survey examines 540 products from different sectors and shows “no price advantage at all to shopping online,” McGee said.

“Nothing is being forced. The promo-tional cadence is similar, though it still continues to be a highly value-driven, price-promotional environment. But des-peration is not in the air,” observed Arnold Aronson, partner and managing director of retail strategies at Kurt Salmon.

“The bottom line could be better, inventory levels have been cut signifi-cantly from last year and the chance for the weather to be more favorable than last year’s disaster could help the more prof-itable categories like jackets, sweaters, gloves,” Aronson said.

Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, said retail prices seem roughly similar to last year. “It’s not quite as crazy yet.” He said there have been “normal levels of seasonal promotions” with the exception of outerwear, where there have been heavier promotions due to warm weather during September and October in the Northeast and upper Mid-west. “We have seen it at 50 percent off. Other categories are 25 to 30 percent off.”

Johnson cited an increase in the distribu-tion of high-end outerwear including such labels as Moncler and Canada Goose. “A lot of [retailers] have ordered up on that and there’s some worry whether it will be able to sell through. But we haven’t seen prices break quite yet.”

He added that “there’s still a ton of premium denim on the market. Women’s is having a comeback at the very high end of the pyramid,” such as J Brand. “There’s a lot of newness. They haven’t broken price.”

However, at the mass level, with brands such as Levi’s and Old Navy, “it’s very price competitive.”

The sweater business seems “a little soft” but the category is still considered the number-one gifting item, Johnson said.

Broad discounting at department stores continues, according to Johnson. “They are still very very challenged. Traffic is down. They are having a tough go of it.” Still, “the gifting season has just barely begun,” Johnson said. CGP is forecasting a 4.1 percent gain in total retail sales during holiday, with apparel up 1.5 percent. Defla-tion masks the fact that unit demand on apparel is up 5 percent.

“There is a desire to clear through a little more merchandise a little earlier,” acknowledged one senior merchant at a major chain. “But people are just being very realistic. We’re looking at individual cases based on rate of sales. There’s no blanket discounting. The biggest learning from last year was inventory control.”

The merchant added that regardless of whether outerwear is marked down 40, 50 or 60 percent, consumers won’t buy it if it’s warm outside.

According to the RetailMeNot Promo-tions Index, for the Nov. 1 to 4 period, which draws data from about 80,000 retailers, percent-offs on accessories are less aggressive — 28.85 percent in 2015 versus 20.68 percent in 2016.

For apparel overall, there were no nota-ble changes on deals from a year-over-year perspective, though “we are seeing higher discounts (both dollar off and percentage off ) in the designer-clothing category,” said a spokeswoman for RetailMeNot, a digital destination for discounts at retailers, restaurants and brands.

Teen clothing percent-offs are slightly higher and dollars-off offers are much higher, with an increase of more than $11 off on average, according to RetailMeNot.

Market Track said the steeper discounts that began as early as Halloween indicate that “Christmas creep” is real. It’s study included prices on Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, Best Buy, Jet, Target and Wal-Mart.

This year saw the same flurry of friends-and-family events, as well as the new flash sales for specific categories among several retailers, such as Talbots and Lands’ End, according to spot checks online.

Traci Gregorski, Market Track’s senior vice president of marketing, said, “Posi-tioning friends-and-family and flash sales as opposed to the more overt Black Friday price specials is a way of tickling the shopper’s mind bone. They have come to expect sales earlier in the season. Retailers are also more direct about when they will put out Black Friday deals and circulars so people can plan their purchases.”

Gregorski said the “creep” has been happening for several years now, aided in part by a “lot of activity in digital driving some early conversations.” She said that what’s new is the tag ‘Black Friday pricing’ on some of the early ads. “This is really about taking demand out of the market before other retailers can entice consum-ers. Everyone is so connected, and already on their [smartphones], that there’s more noise now for retailers to cut through. It’s become challenging for retailers to figure out how to stand out. The new flash-sale promotions help drive a sense of urgency,” Gregorski said.

But Gregorski noted that the holiday season for retailers has become more chal-lenging as it stretches over a longer period. “Part of the idea is to buy for me now and everybody else later on,” but over time, with promotions the norm and discount codes available online almost constantly, the retailers are running the risk of desen-sitization, she said.

Joel Alden, partner in the retail practice at consulting firm A.T. Kearney, said, “We are definitely seeing the ‘creep’ trend. It’s been happening for the last six to seven years, and it continues to creep earlier. I am definitely seeing more sales starting ear-lier that are associated with the holidays.”

Alden said there used to be big sales events such as back-to-school in August and September, with a traditional break until holiday, but the “break in sales activity is now limited, and with some sales being pulled back to October, there’s now less of a bifurcation.” But while the sales activity is earlier, not all are branded as holiday sell-ing, and maybe both retailer and consumer expectations are partly to blame.

In an A.T. Kearney report that’s due to be published shortly, Alden said the recent consumer survey notes that 22 percent of consumers said they plan to buy early in the season before the Thanksgiving week-end. One in four said they can get the same deals beforehand, so there’s no reason to wait until Black Friday.

Alden said the downturn of the financial crisis had retailers promoting more and more to spur sales in order to capture mar-ket share, and that has “trained shoppers to shop differently. About half of all shop-pers expect to get a deal or promotion.”

According to Alden, less than 10 percent said they actually plan to shop at the last minute, defined in the survey as between Dec. 16 and Christmas Day. But regardless of whether consumers buy earlier in the season at discount or wait until later in the season, at the end of the day it may not matter at all. “The overall [sales] growth of the season hasn’t changed dramatically, it’s been around up 3.5 percent whether it’s spread out over more days or within a few days,” Alden said.

Marshal Cohen, The NPD Group’s chief industry analyst, said he thought the friends-and-family events are similar to those held a year ago, and that election coverage distracted shoppers. He said early holiday business is comprised of much self-purchasing, about 25 percent of it. But it’s not like retailers are increasing market share, Cohen said, “The retailers would rather spread out the sales season as they can’t handle the crowds. It’s not like they are getting more business. They are getting the business spread over a wider period of time.”

A friends-and-family 30-percent-off promotion on Lands’ End’s web site.

Holiday MarkdownsCreep In Earlier ConTInuEd froM PAGE 1

november 8, 2016 11

● As customers take charge of their shopping journey, businesses need to resist manic messaging and take a strategic stance.

by elizabeTH Doupnik

It’s a buyer’s market. The tables have turned for retailers that were once in control of customer behavior — brands and stores have been left holding the shopping bag.

And a duality has also emerged in consumers. Customers now wish to drive their shopping journey, yet expect personalized experiences delivered from the same shops they wanted to inde-pendently peruse. A resounding “huh” can be heard within the retail industry. It’s a tectonic shift. The majority of retail-ers are finding themselves vying to win over the same shoppers that once were considered avid followers.

Consumers are now highly informed decision-makers. Gone are the days of sim-ple brand loyalty. “Consumers today can research, browse, compare and purchase at any given moment from any one of their many devices. This always-available digital connection has caused consum-ers to expect personalized experiences from brands and retailers that fulfill their unique wants and needs,” said Lori Mitchell-Keller, global general manager of consumer industries at SAP.

This is where things get tricky. During the navigation of all things e-tail, shoppers expect a constant stream of touch-points, ease and accessibility. And that’s not including in-store experiences.

Michael Klein, director of industry strategy and marketing at Adobe said, “It’s a new world. Powerful experiences change the way we interact, entertain, work and relate to the world around us. With on-de-mand access to products and the lowest prices, experience and service become the only true differentiators for retailers, pro-viding a pathway to an emotional connec-tion with the consumer like never before. Because of this, those experiences must be compelling, personal, efficient, engaging — and everywhere.”

And though experiences need to be everywhere, consumers still need to feel in control. E-commerce site Farfetch has perhaps figured out the balance. Its “Dis-cover” app allows customers to connect with the e-tailer throughout their day. “Our customers value a shopping expe-rience that provides them with complete convenience. The Farfetch app allows our customers to shop on-the-go with ease. Around 60 percent of our traffic now comes from mobile — including the app — and tablet devices,” said Stephanie Hor-ton, chief marketing officer at Farfetch.

It isn’t rocket science, but it involves a lot of data. Horton credited qualitative data as a main component to their tailor-ing e-mail newsletter campaigns. Farfetch bases this campaign “not only on explicit preferences, but qualitative data, like what consumers are browsing online and clicking on, we offer different personalized stories for customers,” she said.

Accessing qualitative analytics is para-mount — but best not to rely solely on big data. Mitchell-Keller said, “To execute a successful omnichannel strategy, busi-nesses need to truly understand their customers and capture their interactions, behaviors, the context and intent to create a continually evolving profile. While Big Data has been making headlines, it’s

difficult to mine through the information to identify actions from these data sets.” Instead consider customers holistically and veer clear of empty promises, and new processes without matching the operations to support it.

Klein echoed Mitchell-Keller in the importance of understanding consumer behavior before rolling out customized content. “To deliver a personalized customer experience, retailers must first understand their customers by leveraging data about their buying habits and prefer-ences,” he said.

Timing is everything, especially in the rapidly evolving consumer landscape that’s punctuated by last-minute pur-chases and deeply researched investment buys — a dichotomy at best. “Retailers need to use the right data at the right time on the right platforms to align with their current and targeted customers on their device of choice. Without the relevant data, customers won’t receive the personalized experiences important to them. And without the right timing, they won’t feel like this is their own journey,” Mitchell-Keller explained.

Having a platform that delivers real-time insights is a must for today’s retailers looking to improve standing with customers. “The Adobe Marketing Cloud seamlessly connects brand assets with rich consumer data, in real-time, to deliver relevant experiences. Retailers leverage Adobe Marketing Cloud to gain deep insights into customer behaviors — helping them deliver personalized campaigns, add new approaches, better target content and as a result, maximize profits,” said Klein.

Retailers stand to gain more from data than simply answering to consumers. Rich analytics provide opportunities to push next iterations of product forward, and in the right direction. Take Under Armour — an SAP customer — for example.

“The Gemini 2 shoe has a built-in chip that tracks, analyzes and stores workout data and GPS information,” said Mitch-ell-Keller. “Under Armour is consciously developing a relationship that begins with the purchase that then evolves beyond the promise of better training or faster running — it gives customers the tools to improve their life. This relationship allows Under Armour to understand the needs of the athlete. It provides the necessary insight to be in the right place — with the right product — at the right time.”

Underscoring all of this is the imple-mentation of operations that will provide analytics for the present and are prepared for future developments. But there’s a huge learning curve. “According to recent research commissioned by SAP, two out of three organizations believe that their existing CRM cannot support their future vision for customer engagement. This data represents a paradigm shift of going beyond CRM,’’ said Mitchell-Keller.

Just throwing technology into the mix won’t do much good. “Retailers have to do more than personalize their customers’ individual web, mobile and in-store expe-riences — they have to ensure customers receive consistent experiences across all devices and through every interaction with the brand,” Klein said. “To accomplish this, they must organize their teams and technology around the customer journey, not the channels.”

It would all be so simple if the shopping experience were just online. But then there are bricks-and-mortar counterparts. And herein also resides consumer duality. Much to do with the Amazon-effect, Millennial shoppers expect and appreciate streamlined, efficient retail experiences, said Keller-Mitchell.

Getting consumers to visit in-store will take plenty of strategic planning. “Cus-tomers want to see, try and feel mer-chandise before making a purchase, yet

crave the excitement and convenience of using technology to experience products and shop in new ways. That’s why many retailers are offering new technologies that blur the line between entertainment and merchandising and give customers more control over how they interact with retailers,” Klein said.

But before finalizing any game plans, be sure to decipher the priorities belonging to target audiences. Want to pull in the Amazon-dependent Millennial? “Relevance is important — emphasizing the point that retailers need to have a meaning-ful, non-promotional presence in digital spaces to attract these customers,” said Keller-Mitchell.

To appeal to luxury shoppers, it’s about consistency across all channels. Horton said, “For all of the boutiques and brands on Farfetch, our approach has always been about creating a consistent luxury expe-rience, whether online or in-store; it’s the combination of great product and content, total convenience and ease to shop, as well as outstanding customer service.”

As products are easily accessed online, consumers are searching for more than merchandise when visiting bricks-and-mortar shops. “To entice consumers in stores and maximize their time, enjoy-ment and propensity to buy while they’re there, some retailers are experimenting with merchantainment, which meshes entertainment content with product infor-mation,” Klein said. This is the opportu-nity to delight and surprise shoppers with new branding initiatives and technologies.

So what does that actually mean? Look to interactive experiences, Klein suggested. By humanizing product and providing style tutorials or makeup how-to’s, merchandise becomes more than a jar on a counter or a dress on a hanger. Approach store associates as an extension of branding opportunities while pro-viding strategic services. Klein said, “A retailer could arm store associates with mobile devices to support customer ser-vice needs, checkout services and access inventory availability. The possibilities are endless.”

The buck doesn’t stop there. Digital capabilities mean more data, which means higher potential to maximize ROI. “Retail-ers benefit by uniting the customer infor-mation they gather from these technolo-gies and back-end systems to offer much more personalized services for shoppers,” he said. Shared on the same platforms, customer data is transferable to online and in-store shopping for big gains.

With software and technology com-panies swimming in success, retailers are urged to model business operations similar to digital start-ups. Think efficient workflow in a solution-centric framework. For Farfetch, it’s about matching shifting customer demands in order to grow with the shopper. Horton said, “The important thing, for luxury e-commerce sites to keep in mind about their customers, is listening to their needs and responding quickly and efficiently with solutions.”

This extends to physical stores as well. Purposeful interactions for customer-fac-ing associates and back-end employees all need to be on board. “Retailers must ask themselves ‘What problem or friction am I removing?’ If the store associates don’t buy into the program, the likelihood of the program succeeding will be limited. The executives need to sponsor the pro-grams, and the team needs to adopt it,” Klein said.

Best to adopt this strategy now — the consumer is already changing.

business

Cracking the Consumer Code in Retail’s ‘New World’

A shopper inspects goods for sale.

phot

ogra

ph b

y s

hutt

erst

ock/

1000

wor

ds

“Customers want to see, try and feel merchandise before making a purchase, yet crave the excitement and convenience of using technology to… shop in new ways.”

— Michael Klein, Adobe

november 8, 2016 12

Angelica Garcia Sings of the Rural SouthThe 22-year-old singer offers a refreshing take on blues and soul on her debut album, “Medicine for Birds.”

Italienne Blends French and Italian Influences in Flatiron DistrictIn keeping with the theme of twoness, the restaurant has both a taverna and a dining room.

“My parent’s house is 200 years old — it was a station for the union troops during the Civil War,” says Angelica Garcia on a recent visit to New York. The 22-year-old was in town promoting her debut album, “Medicine for Birds,” which was released in September and quickly earned praise from The New York Times — no short order for a first-timer.

Garcia owes the album in part to that 200-year-old house, in east-ern Virginia, where her parents uprooted her to. “History, especial-ly in that area, is all over the place,” she says. “They’ve got all these plaques all around the different lit-tle towns that say, ‘Oh, this general stayed here, this doctor was here during the Civil War.’”

A Los Angeles native, Garcia ended up in Virginia following high school at the request of a local church — her father is an Episcopal priest. “The first church that was like ‘come be our priest’ was this tiny little church on the eastern shore of Virginia, in the middle of nowhere,” she says. “After living in L.A., going to fields and farms and woods and forests, it was really crazy — so I basically spent my free time writing this album.”

The Virginia landscape became breeding ground for her music, but it was not without a fair share of culture shock. “Just some of the little things; in L.A., there’s a street light on

every corner, it’s all well lit,” she says. “Over there sometimes on the eastern shore, you would be driving and it would be pitch black — like there wouldn’t be anything and on either side of you, it’s just fields, miles of fields, or miles of woods. Also, ceme-teries are everywhere; some-times people have tombstones in their backyard.”

As it happened, it was the perfect setting for writing a more old-fashioned leaning style of music, with roots in blues, soul, country and classic rock. “I have a song on the record called ‘The Devil Can Get In’ and it’s kind of a spooky song I wrote while in my house, really late at night,” she says. “And what was going through my head was I was imagining walking through an old spooky house — so little things like that influenced the record in their own way.”

Garcia grew up to her moth-er’s voice singing mariachi and “a remake of that Rosie & the Originals’ song ‘Angel Baby,’” but she never assumed music was a career path she’d follow. "For years I thought ‘I’m gonna go to school and be a writer,’ and I got into UVA and I was going to go do American Studies, a combo of American literature and history. And I almost felt like every time I tried to only do school, music would be like, ‘Hey, you can do this if you want to!’”

She was singing with a group of friends at a small venue when she was spotted by a scout for Columbia Records, who signed her up. Her record is a mix of songs inspired by the “particular-ly creepy” vibe of the rural South, and her unfolding narrative of growing up — or as she says, “that strange time when you’re first going into your adulthood and it’s like ‘Wait this is weird…take me back. I don’t like this.’ I hate being a blur to people, not totally knowing what I am.”

College has been put on hold

while she continues down the path of music, which means for now, Virginia remains home. “A lot of times if you’re around on your own, you feel particularly isolated because of how small the popu-lation is,” she says. “But honestly, I feel like what produced some of my best work was being on my own and not being so influenced by all the other people around me, or not having to worry about, ‘Oh, would this band think this was cool?’ or ‘Would this person think this was cool?’ I was just like ‘What do I like?’” — Leigh NordstromAngelica Garcia

The “Medicine for Birds” album cover.

"When you’re in Provence, you’ll see the Italian restaurants say ‘cui-sine Italienne,’" said James King, general manager and co-owner of Italienne, the latest addition to Manhattan's Flatiron District. "Jared [Sippel] came up with the name while he was working [in France] for one year, just from seeing all those cuisine Italienne restaurants. It kind of fit exactly with the idea behind the restau-rant — melding French and Italian."

Sippel is co-owner and head chef of Italienne. Born in Iowa, he left for Boulder, Colo., where he attended culinary school and began work at Frasca. He then spent a year at culinary school in France and later moved there for "just under a year" before coming back to work at Frasca. There, Sippel met Michael Tusk, who re-cruited him to help open Quince's San Francisco location. Sippel spent 15 months at Quince's old location before helping to open its new one, and eventually went back to Frasca for a third time.

"This last time, I thought I was gonna stay," he said. "Before coming to New York, I thought I was gonna move to Denver and open up my own spot. I was just about at the end of my time at Frasca and then I got headhunt-ed for the Brooklyn Fare job. I didn’t really have any interest in coming to New York, but came out here to cook for them just be-cause I needed to know. I didn’t want to be saying, ‘What if?’ the rest of my life."

Sippel and King met while

working together at Frasca. The two teamed up for the Manhattan opening of Brooklyn Fare. "We worked at Brooklyn Fare for the 10 or 11 months that I was there, and then I started looking for spaces," Sippel said. And then the two got to work on Italienne.

As its name suggests, Italienne blends influences from both French and Italian cuisines. The restaurant is divided into two parts: the taverna in the front and the dining room in the back. "It’s essentially the bistro to the restaurant," Sippel said of the setup. "A lot of times in Europe when you have fine dining restau-rants, they have a little trattoria

or bistro next door to help with sustainability, to help with costs and also just to offer a different style of dining." He described the taverna's à la carte menu as more "casual," adding that it will change fairly often. The dining room's prix-fixe menu, on the other hand, will remain the same, with one or two changes seasonally.

Though there are two sep-arate menus, Sippel makes it clear that the products are still "high-end artisan products" — and many of them are on display in the front of the restaurant. "That’s what I wanted the front to be about — a more rustic ap-proach," he said. "But you’re not

getting any lesser products, just because the menu’s cheaper. It’s just different from the back."

In keeping with Italienne's theme, the cocktail menu, curated by bar manager Travis Oler,

includes fresh takes on French and Italian staples, with a little bit of American influence, too. "A lot of cocktails came from New York in the early 1900s and 1800s, so it’s a play between all of that," Oler said. "And then a couple of solid originals, but most of them are plays on classics and then we tie it in to the restaurant some-how with either the name or the ingredients that we’re using." The beer menu, on the other hand,

veers slightly off course, including two Belgian offerings.

"Jared and I both agree that Belgian beer's typically the best," Oler said.

Italienne opens on Nov. 11. — ALexA tietjeN

italienne19 West 24th Street

New York, NY(212) 600-5139italiennenyc.com

The dining room of Italienne.

The Good Book – rittenhouse, cappelletti, carpano antica, boker’s bitters, chocolate bitters.

owners of Italienne James King and Jared Sippel.

gar

cia

phot

ogra

ph b

y Je

nna

gre

ene;

ital

ienn

e by

Jos

hua

sco

tt

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

ATTEND: SLEE@WWD.COM, 646.356.4730 SPONSOR: ACOYLE@WWD.COM, 646.356.4719

summits.wwd.com

DIGITAL FORUM LOS ANGELES

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

• LOS ANGELES

CREATED BY WWD, BUILT FOR YOU

FAIRCHILDSUMMITSANNUALPARTNERS

Kate FosterNYDJ APPAREL LLC

Sarah LeeGLOW RECIPE

Mary Alice HaneyHANEY

Gregg RenfrewBEAUTYCOUNTER

EVENT SPONSORS

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER

november 8, 2016 14

Memo PadBoobs And BondsMaria Bartiromo has had an interesting election season, to say the least. The longtime business anchor never expected to be the topic of conversation on social media for her fashion choices. But the Fox Business Network anchor found herself there, in the center of the storm, after she wore a low-cut red ballgown to the tele-vised Al Smith charity dinner last month.

Seated behind the speaker’s podium, Bartiromo quickly became the star of the dinner on Twitter — so much so that she even addressed it the next day on her show “Mornings With Maria.” Citing a scene from “Erin Brockovich,” Bartiromo brushed it off with a laugh: “Let me quote Julia Roberts. ‘They’re called boobs, Ed.’ It’s not that big of a deal.”

But the topic of her looks is nothing new for the reporter, who was dubbed “The Money Honey” in the Nineties when she began reporting from The New York Stock Exchange floor for CNBC. Following a 20-year stint there, the anchor moved to Fox Business to cover economic issues, including the presidential election.

Here, Bartiromo talks about her career as a female business reporter, how the outcome of the presidential election could influence the markets, and of course, the boobs.

WWD: What do you think the markets will do after the election on tuesday?

Maria Bartiromo: Obviously, it depends on who wins the election. The traditional thinking has been that the stock market likes certainty. They sort of see Hillary Clinton as the status quo, more of the same, which is why the market is expected to rally should she become president. Donald Trump is more of the unknown. We could see an initial sell-off. Longer-term or midterm, their economic plans are very differ-ent. It looks like Trump’s plan has the potential to actually move the needle on economic growth because he wants to lower taxes and lower regulations. That would be very powerful in terms of creating jobs. Longer-term, I think the markets would rally under a Trump plan and sell-off on a Clinton policy. Clinton wants to raise taxes, raise wages and she wants to do things like put caps on drug prices.

WWD: What about the global markets?

M.B.: He’s talking a lot about redoing trade and that’s the area that is getting globalists nervous. Number one, they want certainty. They do not want to see a disruption in trade. He’s promising to rip up NAFTA, redo NAFTA. He’s not going to do the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP trade with Asia. I think the global

markets will probably be selling off with a Trump presidency because he has promised to re-do trade deals.

WWD: trump’s rhetoric has been so inconsistent, why do you think the U.S. market would think he’s going to do what he says and rally in the long-term?

M.B.: He’s been very consistent on trade. What he has put up for question is this idea of tariffs. Initially, he said if China won’t stop taking advantage of us and manipulating their currency, then I will put tariffs in place. That spooked everybody because if you charge China a fee and an extra tariff for anything they bring into the United States, what’s going to happen is that companies carrying those goods are

going to raise prices. It’s going to be expen-sive for people. People got scared of that, but then he walked that [idea] back. I don’t think anybody is expecting heavy tariffs on anything. He basically has said, ‘No it’s more of a threat than an actual reality.’ I do not think we’re going to see tariffs put in place, but that would be the worry.

WWD: Clinton’s plan mirrors a lot of what the current administration has in place, but the U.S. economy is in a slow recovery from steep declines of the recession. Why would the market dip in the long-term, then?

M.B.: I think that in the last eight years, we were averaging economic growth of about 2 percent. It’s not good. It’s very slow. It’s a slow pace. People are expecting that pace to continue if Hillary Clinton becomes president. She has promised to build on President Obama’s policies. That means build on Obamacare, build on Dodd-Frank, build on the regulations coming out of the EPA. If that’s the case, that will not be good for the economy. I’m not expecting a big sell-off but I do think that if we don’t have a move toward economic growth and policies that will promote economic growth and get us out of this 2 percent world — we really need to see 4 percent, 5 percent — to see jobs created, and if we don’t see that longer-term, yeah the market will sell-off…[but] I do think

things are getting better. It’s just been very slow.

WWD: let’s talk about the al Smith dinner. When did you realize people were paying more attention to you on social media than what the candi-dates were saying?

M.B.: I was texting and looking at my phone. About 10 minutes [into the dinner] my sister texted me and said, “Maria, I just wanted to let you know that you’re on TV live. You’re front and center.” I thought, ‘Oh God, I’m right behind Donald Trump and in the camera shot. After that I stopped moving. I just sat there. It was funny. I was delighted that people noticed my white gloves. It was a white tie dinner, for the dais you had to be in white tie. I thought it was an excellent opportunity to wear the white gloves. My stylist chose the white gloves and I think she did a spectacular job….I couldn’t believe the stir my gloves were making at the dinner.

WWD: it wasn’t the gloves, Maria.M.B.: Well, a lot of people were talking

about the gloves [laughs]. By the way, when you see me on the air, I always have jackets on. I like to think I have a flair and a style but I’m always in a business look. I was at a white tie affair. I’m not going to apologize for having a dress that is a white tie affair dress. I’m sorry if people were upset about it.

Maria Bartiromo

Fashion ScoopsPitti’s new FacesPitti Uomo continues to support emerg-ing brands.After announcing last month that Paul Smith and Tim Coppens would be the guest designers at the upcoming edition of the Florence-based interna-tional men’s wear trade show running Jan. 10-13, Pitti revealed the names of the brands included in the Pitti Italics project, which highlights labels that are made in Italy and present outstanding creativity.

These include: Milan-based designer Lucio Vanotti — who also showed at Pitti Uomo last June — and Edward Buchanan. The latter is creative director of knitwear collection Sansovino 6 and, while he

had hosted a performance event at Pitti Filati last summer, this is his debut at Pitti Uomo with the brand. Knitted pieces will also be central for the London-based designer Carlo Volpi, who will present his latest unisex effort focused on colorful knitwear worked in eclectic patterns and bold colors under his namesake brand.

In order to boost the international appeal of the fair, Pitti Uomo’s organizers signed a two-year partnership agree-ment with the Japan Fashion Week Organization, which this year will present the Sulvam brand in Florence. Founded in 2014 by Japanese designer Teppei Fujita, who cut his teeth at Yohji Yamamoto, Sulvam will host a fashion show at the Stazione Leopolda to present its latest collection of tailoring reworked with a

contemporary touch.Pitti Uomo will also collaborate with

South Korean promotional agency Kocca to unveil the collection of two South Korea-based labels, Bmuet(te) by Byung-mun Seo and Ordinary People.

— ALessANdrA tUrrA

Weber’s Winthe British Fashion Council will honor Bruce Weber with the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator at The Fash-ion Awards, formerly known as the British Fashion Awards, next month in London.

Weber, known for his black-and-white images, will receive the prize for his work as a fashion photographer. “He is one of the foremost photographers and cre-ative talents of our age who has helped shape the fashion industry we know today,” said Natalie Massenet, chairman of the British Fashion Council.

Named for the late British editor, the award honors a British stylist, makeup artist, photographer, art director or pro-ducer. The annual event will take place on Dec. 5 for the first time at The Royal Albert Hall.

Previous winners of the Isabella Blow Award include Nick Knight, Edward Ennin-ful, Amanda Harlech and Louise Wilson. — LoreLei mArFiL

Sock it To ’emSock 101 cofounders Kelly Yarborough and Dave Feyerabend have secured a $250,000 investment from designer Rebecca Minkoff and fashion’s factoring executive Gary Wassner.

The investment was secured in May when the Nov. 3 episode of Lifetime’s “Proj-ect Runway: Fashion Start-up” was filmed.

Yarborough said Wassner and Minkoff each own 5 percent of the company, although Wassner has a convertible note to earn another 5 percent.

According to Wassner, chief exec-utive officer of Hilldun Factors and chairman of Interluxe Holdings, said, “I love the concept of subscription socks. Men in most professions still have lim-

ited ways of distinguishing themselves fashionwise. Socks is one of the few. Getting a new pair every month that you can wear under a nondescript suit and tie to go to work can brighten your day and make you feel quietly and subtly riskier and cooler.”

Four guys in Kansas City, Mo., had an idea in 2012 to create a men’s dress-sock firm for non-boring socks to match the color of one’s pants. The investment will be used to help expand the company to the “world’s largest sock-of-the-month club.” Sock 101’s goal to be a $10 million company within three years.

According to Yarborough, the company posted $1.5 million in sales last year. He said with the mentoring of both investors, the company will be going through a re-branding. “We’ve been impressed with how involved they are. We usually exchange e-mails daily,” Yarborough said. He said the firm was contacted by a producer from the Wein-stein Group suggesting that it might be an opportunity for the company to pitch to investors.

The company also has its Socks for a Cause program for the creation of cus-tom socks for charitable organizations. The firm gives back to the charity a por-tion of the proceeds. — ViCKi m. YoUNg

Signing onHostess with the mostess: Karlie Kloss has been revealed as a cohost of the

2016 Whitney Museum Art Party, taking place Nov. 15.

“Co-chairing the Whitney’s Art Party is an opportunity to celebrate the art, cul-ture and creativity that epitomizes New York,” Kloss said, of her hosting duties. “My dear friend Brandon Maxwell and the Whitney, along with my other fellow co-chairs, do so much to celebrate the past and future generations of creatives in fashion and art, and working with them for this wonderful event to support art education is a true honor.”

Kloss joins previously announced co-chairs Brandon Maxwell, Common, stylist Micaela Erlanger, and Vanity Fair’s Michael Carl. The annual art party will take place on Nov. 15 and will celebrate Dreamlands artists Dora Budor, Ian Cheng, Ben Coonley, Alex Da Corte, Aidan Koch, Jayson Musson and Artie Vierkant. Virginia Overton’s solo exhi-bition Winter Garden, on the fifth floor outdoor gallery, is also on display. The Dreamlands exhibit, which opened on Oct. 28, will run through Feb. 5.

Earlier this year at the museum’s studio party, Whitney committee mem-ber Erlanger hinted at a fall surprise in the works. “We have a lot of fun things coming up in the fall,” said the stylist, who dresses the likes of Lupita Nyong’o.

Also at the studio party, back in May, soon-to-be host Maxwell said “I’m a huge Whitney fan. I wouldn’t have missed it — I mean, there’s drinking at a museum.”

— Leigh Nordstrom

A look from Sock 101.

Sansovino 6 creative director Edward Buchanan.

bar

tirom

o by

ale

x Kr

oke