July 17th, 2012

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Rihanna to design River Island clothing collection

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Pop star Rihanna is designing an exclusive clothing collection for UK fashion retailer River Island, which will launch in stores next year as part of the spring 13 collection.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Rihanna and to be the first fashion brand to work with her in this way,” said Ben Lewis, River Island chief executive. ”Rihanna will be designing the collection and we will be sharing our fashion experience with her to develop a range her fans will love.”

Meanwhile, Rihanna said: “I’ve been wanting to design my own collection for some time. River Island is the perfect partner for me to collaborate with and working with a British, family run business also really appealed to me.”

River Island, which has over 300 stores, will launch the clothing collection in spring 2013.

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Perry Ellis appoints Miller as Rafaella president

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

US apparel company Perry Ellis has appointed Denise Miller as president of Rafaella Sportswear.

The company described Miller as an “experienced fashion executive with an impressive background” having held positions within the Kellwood Corporation, and most recently withG-III Apparel where she served as President of Calvin Klein suits and suit separates.

The company said the appointment is part of Perry Ellis’ efforts to strengthen Rafaella’s positioning among the leading women’s sportswear brands.

Miller will be based in the company’s New York City office, and will be responsible for all aspects of the Rafaella business, including sales, design, merchandising and operations.

“We are pleased to welcome Denise to Perry Ellis International and are very excited about the breadth of experience in brand-building and leadership that she brings to the company,” commented Perry Ellis president and COO Oscar Feldenkreis. “We would also like to thank Lana Todorovich for her leadership while serving as Interim president of the Rafaella business.”

Todorovich will resume her role as president of swim, ladies activewear and shapewear.

The company said it has also strengthened its design and merchandising functions within Rafaella by installing Veronica Davis, who is currently EVP of design for Laundry by Shelli Segal. She will oversee those functions for both brands.

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Debenhams expands into Pakistan

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

British department store group Debenhams has opened its first store in Pakistan by teaming up with international brand retailer Team A Ventures.

The 25,000 sq ft store located in Dolmen City, Karachi, will offer men’s wear, women’s wear, children’s wear, beauty, lingerie, accessories and home products. The brands include Julien MacDonald, Maine for women, Casual Collections, Red Herring for women and John Rocha.

The British high commissioner in Pakistan will open the store on 2 August.

“We found a great partner in Team A Ventures, Pakistan who already have a number of UK franchises, resulting in a strong location for our first store,” the company said.

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Fast Retailing to open 1,000 Chinese stores

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Japanese retailer Fast Retailing has unveiled plans to open 1,000 new stores in Greater China during the next ten years.

“Looking ahead to potential development in Asia, we believe that China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, along with Asean nations and India hold the greatest potential for future Uniqlo growth,” the company said in its annual report.

It added that these markets are likely to experience an “explosion” in middle-class consumers.

Fast Retailing also expects to open 1,000 stores or more in other parts of Asia over the same time period.

The Japanese retailer is forecasting its Uniqlo International business to overtake its Uniqlo Japanese division in 2015.

To achieve this, the company aims to add 200-300 Uniqlo stores to its portfolio every year. This includes 100 stores in Greater China, between 50 and 100 in Asia as well as 50-100 in Europe and the US.

“Looking ahead to potential development in Asia, we believe that China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, along with Asean nations and India hold the greatest potential for future Uniqlo growth,” the company said.

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UK Inflation falls to lowest level since November 2009

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

UK inflation fell to 2.4% in June, the lowest level since November 2009, the Office for National Statistics said today (17 July).

The largest downward pressure between May and June came from clothing and footwear, transport and food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Clothing and footwear prices fell by 4.2% over the month, which the ONS said was twice as large a fall as the next biggest between these two months since the CPI was launched in 1996.

It attributed the falls in clothing and footwear to summer sales starting earlier than last year.

However, the price of football shirts was a notable exception, which saw prices increase over the month. Footwear also had a small upward effect with prices, overall, decreasing at a slower rate than the same

The Retail Prices Index fell to 2.8% from 3.1%.

Conlumino managing director Neil Saunders said that the thing having the most impact on inflation is falling fuel prices.

This has benefited most households although, in our view, it will take time for this to drive tangible changes in behaviour in terms of shopping and spending habits,” he said.

Saunders expects further downward movement in inflation, but does not expect a return to the deflationary environment which characterised much of the pre-recession period.

“Depleted retail margins, commodity cost pressure and the interest rate environment are all guarding against major declines in prices,” he added.

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Nicole Farhi Appoints Joanna Sykes Creative Director

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Nicole Farhi has named Joanna Sykes its creative director, a new role at the London-based company. Sykes, who was most recently design director at Aquascutum, will take up the role on Sept. 1 and present her first Farhi collection for the fall 2013 season.

Nicole Farhi, the label’s founder, remains a significant shareholder and a “key partner” in the business, the company said in a statement. Farhi described Sykes as “the perfect appointment” for the brand.

“Nicole Farhi has always been about timeless style and effortless elegance,” said Farhi. “Jo understands these qualities and brings a fantastic eye for detail, as well as a great understanding of cut, proportion and fabrication.”

Sykes, a Central Saint Martins graduate, has also held design positions at Giorgio Armani and Alberta Ferretti, and for over three years ran her own label, Sykes, which focused on silk separates.

Sykes called Nicole Farhi “an iconic British brand with fantastic heritage and enormous potential.”

The Farhi company also said that Francois Steiner, who was announced as interim chief executive officer of Nicole Farhi last May, would remain at the firm permanently as ceo.

Steiner, who replaced Niki Scordi at the management helm, has previously served as managing director of Sonia Rykiel, ceo of Kenzo’s fashion division, managing director of Thomas Pink, and president of Louis Vuitton Europe.

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Joe’s Jeans posts second quarter profit jump

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Shares of Denim brand Joe’s Jeans Inc. erased declines from earlier in the day in after-hours trading Monday following the Los Angeles-based jeans marketer’s report of a jump increase in second quarter revenues, gross margin, same-store sales and profits, on the back of rising sales.

The company said yesterday (16 July) that in the three months ended May 31, Joe’s recorded a net income rise of 88.8% to US$1.4m from the year ago mark of $751,000. Sales increased 16% over the period to $28.6m. Gross margin remained flat at 47%.

Retail sales increased 26% to $5.7m, driven by a 10% same-store sales increase combined with the contribution of three new stores. Wholesale revenue was up 14% to $22.9m from $20.2 million. Wholesale operating income improved 10 percent to $6.3 million from $5.7 million while retail profitability quadrupled to $570,000 from $143,000.

Revenues advanced 16 percent to $28.6 million, from $24.7 million in the comparable 2011 period, while gross margin grew to 47.3 percent of sales from 46.6 percent in last year’s quarter.

“Both our domestic wholesale and retail segments posted healthy increases and our retail segment continued to provide diversification to our revenue base. With these positive results, our operating income increased 82% to $3.1 million,” said president and CEO Marc Crossman.

“Our earlier commitment to introduce more fashion offerings, like printed denim and our ‘55 Colors,’ translated into growth. As we move into our third quarter with Fall and Back-to-School shopping, we are excited about our new product offerings with our wholesale partners and the expansion of our else brand with Macy’s.”

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