gbrown_nyc
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Interesting article from today's WSJ. I for one am all for house brands. I've got some great house suits from Barney's and from a favourite European department store (Bon Genie in CH) that represent, in my mind, great value. Less great value if you're a regular here on the B&S but for walking off the street and paying full retail they seem like a deal to me.
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Passersby along New York's Fifth Avenue will soon see a change at Saks Fifth Avenue: Rather than a designer collection, a corner window will announce the department store's own new line of menswear.
While the store doesn't go so far as using the term "house brand," which sounds too lowbrow, it is emphasizing value with its new venture. The "Men's Collection" is an unusually comprehensive, soup-to-nuts line of everything from suits to shirts, socks, ties and shoes, manufactured at many of the same factories used by European designers but priced at about half of today's designer levels. The collection is trickling into New York now, and will be at Saks stores around the country by mid-August.
Bloomingdale's, too, is rethinking its house brand. This summer and fall, Bloomies is retiring its two house brands"”Joseph & Lyman and Metropolitan View"”and replacing them with "Bloomingdale's: The Men's Store."
These are the latest examples of how this lemon of an economy is making lemonade for consumers. There's a renewed focus on value, as opposed to glitz and celebrity names, at every level of fashion from Target to Ungaro.
By focusing on house brands"”which are traditionally known for good value though not cachet"”both Saks and Bloomingdale's are betting that men are willing to forgo the panache of a designer label if they can save a lot of money.
"It's going to be an entirely new customer, as well as the existing customer that all of a sudden can't afford" designer clothes anymore," says Eric Jennings, men's fashion director of Saks. "As we've watched the prices rises over the past few years, we've had to address it."
Shoppers have recently cut back on buying clothing"”sending store revenues and retail-stock prices spinning downward. There's also been an undercurrent of anger among consumers at how much designer prices soared over the past five years or so. This was due not only to the weakness of the dollar but also to the cult of glitz and boom-style spending. While that went beyond fashion, department stores"”particularly Saks"”have been hit hard by the backlash against the sort of overspending and focus on fancy brands that they promoted.
The department stores' latest moves also serve to strike back at design brands such as Gucci and Prada that have increasingly been opening their own stores and competing with the department stores they once depended upon as a conduit to customers. By selling their own fashions, department stores will get more control and a bigger cut of the profit.
"When we make things ourselves, there's one less mark-up in it," says Dan Leppo, head of Bloomingdale's men's dress furnishings. He says that Bloomie's private-label clothes will cost 30% to 40% less for the same quality as the designer clothes the stores carry.
Also, many consumers may not have known the two prior house labels were Bloomingdale's own. The company hopes consumers will see more value in its name. "We feel there's good brand equity on the Bloomingdale's name," Mr. Leppo said.
Both department stores are in a unique position to create high-end, stylish clothes. Their fashion directors attend runway shows around the globe and visit the showrooms of hundreds of designers. Then they work with manufacturers"”many of whom also work for those designers"”to create their own in-house collections. (Not just incidentally, those factories have excess capacity and are eager to make deals now.) "I'm in all the best fashion shows and showrooms all around the world," says Mr. Jennings, "so I'm able to get the inspiration."
But the stores still face challenges in introducing entirely new lines to consumers. Saks has carried Saks-label clothes in the past and in the 1980s carried a house label called Passport. But executives had to learn new elements of the fashion business. Tom Ott, the Saks senior vice president overseeing menswear, refers to "the string episode," which occurred when the group ordered "hang tags" for the clothes, which offer tidbits about the make and origin with the slogan "Know What You're Wearing." Someone forgot to order string to attach the hangtags. So Mr. Ott and his team sat around his desk in New York, using a ruler to calculate the length"”3½ inches"”and choosing the cotton string. He calls this the "sweat equity" of creating a collection"”figuring out the details that Saks had generally left up to the design brands.
The Saks collection seems to offer an equal blend of stylish and conservative. Cashmere sweaters are milled by Todd & Duncan in Scotland, and outerwear coats use Loro Piana's wicking Storm System fabric. Egyptian cotton dress shirts are slim-cut and cost around $135. Hand-tacked silk ties are priced at $75 and cut narrow, in keeping with modern trends. The prices"”suits around $1,000, Italian-made dress shoes between $325 and $395"”may look high to men who shop at Zara but are likely to seem attainable to those who have aspired to Zegna.
***********************
Passersby along New York's Fifth Avenue will soon see a change at Saks Fifth Avenue: Rather than a designer collection, a corner window will announce the department store's own new line of menswear.
While the store doesn't go so far as using the term "house brand," which sounds too lowbrow, it is emphasizing value with its new venture. The "Men's Collection" is an unusually comprehensive, soup-to-nuts line of everything from suits to shirts, socks, ties and shoes, manufactured at many of the same factories used by European designers but priced at about half of today's designer levels. The collection is trickling into New York now, and will be at Saks stores around the country by mid-August.
Bloomingdale's, too, is rethinking its house brand. This summer and fall, Bloomies is retiring its two house brands"”Joseph & Lyman and Metropolitan View"”and replacing them with "Bloomingdale's: The Men's Store."
These are the latest examples of how this lemon of an economy is making lemonade for consumers. There's a renewed focus on value, as opposed to glitz and celebrity names, at every level of fashion from Target to Ungaro.
By focusing on house brands"”which are traditionally known for good value though not cachet"”both Saks and Bloomingdale's are betting that men are willing to forgo the panache of a designer label if they can save a lot of money.
"It's going to be an entirely new customer, as well as the existing customer that all of a sudden can't afford" designer clothes anymore," says Eric Jennings, men's fashion director of Saks. "As we've watched the prices rises over the past few years, we've had to address it."
Shoppers have recently cut back on buying clothing"”sending store revenues and retail-stock prices spinning downward. There's also been an undercurrent of anger among consumers at how much designer prices soared over the past five years or so. This was due not only to the weakness of the dollar but also to the cult of glitz and boom-style spending. While that went beyond fashion, department stores"”particularly Saks"”have been hit hard by the backlash against the sort of overspending and focus on fancy brands that they promoted.
The department stores' latest moves also serve to strike back at design brands such as Gucci and Prada that have increasingly been opening their own stores and competing with the department stores they once depended upon as a conduit to customers. By selling their own fashions, department stores will get more control and a bigger cut of the profit.
"When we make things ourselves, there's one less mark-up in it," says Dan Leppo, head of Bloomingdale's men's dress furnishings. He says that Bloomie's private-label clothes will cost 30% to 40% less for the same quality as the designer clothes the stores carry.
Also, many consumers may not have known the two prior house labels were Bloomingdale's own. The company hopes consumers will see more value in its name. "We feel there's good brand equity on the Bloomingdale's name," Mr. Leppo said.
Both department stores are in a unique position to create high-end, stylish clothes. Their fashion directors attend runway shows around the globe and visit the showrooms of hundreds of designers. Then they work with manufacturers"”many of whom also work for those designers"”to create their own in-house collections. (Not just incidentally, those factories have excess capacity and are eager to make deals now.) "I'm in all the best fashion shows and showrooms all around the world," says Mr. Jennings, "so I'm able to get the inspiration."
But the stores still face challenges in introducing entirely new lines to consumers. Saks has carried Saks-label clothes in the past and in the 1980s carried a house label called Passport. But executives had to learn new elements of the fashion business. Tom Ott, the Saks senior vice president overseeing menswear, refers to "the string episode," which occurred when the group ordered "hang tags" for the clothes, which offer tidbits about the make and origin with the slogan "Know What You're Wearing." Someone forgot to order string to attach the hangtags. So Mr. Ott and his team sat around his desk in New York, using a ruler to calculate the length"”3½ inches"”and choosing the cotton string. He calls this the "sweat equity" of creating a collection"”figuring out the details that Saks had generally left up to the design brands.
The Saks collection seems to offer an equal blend of stylish and conservative. Cashmere sweaters are milled by Todd & Duncan in Scotland, and outerwear coats use Loro Piana's wicking Storm System fabric. Egyptian cotton dress shirts are slim-cut and cost around $135. Hand-tacked silk ties are priced at $75 and cut narrow, in keeping with modern trends. The prices"”suits around $1,000, Italian-made dress shoes between $325 and $395"”may look high to men who shop at Zara but are likely to seem attainable to those who have aspired to Zegna.
