PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI

Just Bead It Burberry Prorsum hit a high note during London Fashion Week on Monday with a crafty collection full of handiwork and rich textures. Christopher Bailey used raffia, leather and basket knits to stunning effect. Here, his military T-shirt strung with geometric wooden beads and a soft, linen dirndl.

THE JUGGERNAUT SLOWS

China’s Sourcing PainsOther Nation’s Gains

IN WWD TODAY

WWDTUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY $3.00

By ARTHUR FRIEDMAN and KRISTI ELLIS

HAS CHINA PEAKED as a textile and apparel manufacturing giant?Industry buyers and sellers within China fear for the future of the busi-

ness, saying that profit margins have all but disappeared. They said it has become clear that central government policy is not likely to change in favor of promoting more textile and apparel manufacturing.

“Current economic policy is focused around high-end production and high-tech goods, offering incentives to companies that engage in these businesses,” said Li Fuyang, a textiles industry analyst. “There is little attention paid to lower-end manufacturing like basic clothing and textiles without added value.”

With rising costs for personnel and raw materials across China, and pressure to keep costs low for buyers, factories have been shutting down in quick succession across the Pearl River Delta and other manufacturing zones. There has been a re-invigorated effort to push factories into the poorer, less developed Chinese interior and western regions. Though some factories have moved, experts say the higher cost of transporting finished goods from China’s landlocked interior basically ne-gates what amounts to only 5 to 7 percent savings in overall production costs.

“The industry might die in 10 years if there’s no good policy coming up from government,” said Shi Jiajun of the Shanghai office of Li & Fung, the Hong Kong-based global trading company.

SEE PAGE 8

BRIT BRIGADEGILES, CHRISTOPHER KANE AND PETER PILOTTO. FOR MORE, SEE PAGES 4 AND 5.

CIRCUS ACTTHE EMMYS AFTER PARTIES WERE A WHIRL OF WINNERS, WATCHERS AND A FEW TRAPEZE ARTISTS. PAGE 14

Prada Eyes More Stores PAGE 2FASHION: Prada plans to open 80 stores a year over the next three years as its own retail operations fuel a 74.2 percent increase in first-half profits.

Tommy Fazio to Nordstrom PAGE 6RETAIL: The president of Simon Spurr heads to Nordstrom to become its men’s trend director.

Holiday Hiring Seen Sluggish PAGE 2FINANCIAL: A new study predicts holiday hiring by retailers will be even or slightly below last year’s levels as the outlook for the key season begins to grow cloudier.

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2 WWD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

Prada Charts Retail GrowthWWD.COM

CorreCtion

Frank Ball is a co-founder of Shop My Label, while Ilan Levine is the site’s chief technology officer. This was unclear in a story on page 4, Monday. A photo caption with the story implied the site allows individuals to sell their own designs, rather than to create their own online stores.

To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is firsTname.lasTname@fairchildpub.com, using The individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2011 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 202, NO. 60. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, October and December, and two additional issues in February, March, April, August, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For reprints of articles, please contact Scoop ReprintSource at 800-767-3263 or via e-mail at sales@scoopreprintsource.com. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

Daily Quote

If there was a suggestion box at the awards, I would recommend some

sort of food-related tie-in, like Kit Kat. — Vincent Piazza of “Boardwalk emPire.” Page 14

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toDay on WWD.CoM

Mary Charteris

SOURCING 1,8,10,12FINANCIAL 2FASHION 4-5,7,15

RETAIL 6,7MEDIA 13EYE 14

SeCtorS in thiS iSSue

By LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Prada SpA plans to open 80 stores a year over the next three years as invest-ments in its own retail network drive the company’s growth.

Spurred by a 33.4 percent increase in its retail channel in the six months ended July 31, the Italian fashion house posted a 74.2 percent jump in net profits to 179.5 million euros, or $256.7 million, compared with 103 million euros, or $131.8 million, in the same period last year. Retail sales accounted for 74.8 percent of revenues, which rose 21.1 per-cent to 1.13 billion euros, or $1.62 billion in the period. Prada said the company invested 134.7 million euros, or $192.6 million, mainly aimed at the expansion of its retail network.

And that expansion will continue for the foreseeable future: Prada aims to have about 550 directly oper-ated stores by the end of 2013.

“This plan is des-tined to extend the group’s presence both in countries that expe-rience a high growth in the luxury industry, and in areas where the group’s brands are still under represented,” said the company.

At the end of 2013, Prada expects that about half the new stores will be in Asia, with around 50 in China. Investments are also earmarked for Russia, the Gulf region and Latin America, which were previously served through franchising agreements.

During the last six months, the group opened 29 stores, with an additional 15 units in the following weeks, bringing the number of directly operated stores to 358.

In addition to its own retail, Prada pointed to gains in its core leather goods division and advancements at both the Prada and Miu Miu labels for the performance in the first half. The Prada brand grew 21.3 percent, account-ing for 78.6 percent of revenues, while Miu Miu gained 24.9 percent, accounting for 17.8 per-cent of total sales. The group also controls the Church’s and Car Shoe labels.

“I am particularly satisfied with the results obtained in these six months, that confirm our expectations based on the group’s expansion strategy, which was presented to the inves-tors during the road show leading to the IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange,” stated Patrizio Bertelli, chief executive officer of the

company. “Achieving these results confirms the soundness of our decisions and, in perspective, lies the foundations on which we will base our trust in the future growth of the group.”

Prada made its debut in Hong Kong on June 24, and the results reported Monday are its first as a public company. However, there was no conference call with analysts and press interview requests were declined.

Despite the increase in profits, Prada’s shares fell 3.7 percent on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to close at 41.30 Hong Kong dol-lars, or $5.30 at current exchange. The decline came amidst a generally tough day for global stock markets, which fell sharply on fears over the Greek debt crisis.

Earnings before in-terest, taxes, deprecia-tion and amortization rose 39.9 percent to 315 million euros, or $450.4 million.

Operating profit in-creased 47.1 percent to 253.4 million, or $362.3 million.

Dollar figures are converted from euros at average exchange rates.

As of July 31, net debt stood at 135.2 million euros, or $193.3 million, compared with 408.6 million euros, or $555.7 million, at the end of January. The company said it reduced its debt through a capital in-crease of 206.6 million euros, or $295.4 million, reserved to the market and operations-driven free cash flow. Prada raised about $2.14 bil-lion from the IPO, with a majority of shares com-ing from existing stock owned by Bertelli’s wife,

designer Miuccia Prada, and others in the com-pany. Another major shareholder was Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, which sold 102.25 million shares of Prada, representing about 4 percent of the fashion firm’s capital upon the listing, retaining 25.6 million shares.

Asia-Pacific continues to be the group’s largest market with sales of 368 million euros, or $526.2 million, up 35.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

All geographical markets showed gains, with Europe and the U.S. posting 17.2 per-cent and 16.4 percent growth, respectively. At constant exchange rates, revenues in the U.S. would have risen 26 percent. Sales in Japan were up 8.2 percent.

Prada’s core leather goods business grew 35.3 percent, accounting for more than 55 percent of sales. The company said ready-to-wear was stable, while the footwear division was up 13.3 percent.

Holiday Hiring Seen Flat to Slightly Off

By ARNOLD J. KARR

RECENT ECONOMIC setbacks could slam the brakes on holiday retail hiring and drop it below 2010 levels.

That was the discouraging conclusion of the annual holi-day job forecast of outplacement specialist Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., which concluded that the number of jobs created in the retail sector for the holi-day season will be “about the same or possibly lower” than the 627,600 positions registered during October, November and December of last year.

“It would be surprising if holiday hiring exceeded last year’s level,” said John Challenger, chief executive of-ficer of the Chicago-based firm. “Employment gains most defi-nitely will not reach prerecession levels, which averaged around 720,000 extra seasonal work-ers added from October through December. Most indications so far point to about the same level of hiring as last year.”

He cited last week’s report from the Commerce Department of flat retail sales in August and the downward revision of July sales numbers as signs that “con-sumer spending is dipping just as [retailers] are beginning to make decisions about how many workers to add for the upcoming holidays.”

Holiday retail hiring dipped slightly in 2007, falling 3.5 per-cent to 720,800, before going into

a 54.9 percent swoon, to 324,900, in 2008 as the full force of the economic downturn took hold. It rose 52.6 percent in 2009, but just to 495,800, before approach-ing the more typical 627,600 last year, representing a 26.6 percent spike. The average number of re-tail jobs added for holiday since 1999 is 655,825.

The Challenger forecast fol-lows projections for holiday re-tail sales issued on Friday by the International Council of Shopping Centers, which expects chain store sales to grow 3.5 percent during November and December, below the 3.8 percent growth registered during the holiday 2010 season. ICSC also forecast holiday growth of 5 percent at clothing and acces-sories stores and 2.5 percent growth at general merchandise stores, in-cluding department stores.

The dour reading on retail employment came as investors in both Europe and the U.S. hit the sell button, worrying anew that Greece might default on its debt.

The CAC 40 fell 3 percent in Paris, as the DAX slipped 2.8 per-cent in Frankfurt and the FTSE 100 declined 2 percent in London after European finance ministers delayed more emergency funding for Greece.

Wall Street kicked off the week with steep declines, but saw those losses moderate as trading came to a close. The S&P Retail Index ended with a decline of 0.2 per-cent, or 0.92 points, to 532.25, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9 percent, or 108.08 points, to 11,401.01.

A look from Prada’s fall collection.

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J.C. PENNEy CO. INC. gave Vornado Realty Trust the go ahead on Friday to boost its stake in the retailer to 15.4 percent from 9.9 percent, though the investor will not see its voting rights increase along with the investment.

The move, detailed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is similar to Penney’s deal last month, which gave activ-ist investor William Ackman the OK to take on a “synthetic long position” that might increase his stake in the retailer to up to 26.1 percent while restraining his vot-

ing rights.Those deals amend the poison

pill shareholder plan Penney’s instituted last October to fend off Ackman and Vornado, which had quietly snatched up 26.4 percent of the company.

Now Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Capital Management, and Vornado chairman Steven Roth are on the company’s boards and togeth-er they can raise their ownership stake in the company to 41.5 percent.

Shares of Penney’s slipped 2 percent to $27.44 Monday.

— Evan Clark

Vornado Able to Up Penney’s Stake

■ RUNWAY: See the latest collections as well as backstage, front-row and party pictures from London Fashion Week at WWD.com/runway. ■ EYE: More pictures from the Emmy’s after parties and Fashion Rehab: Emmy’s at WWD.com/eye.■ FASHION: See the full A.L.C. And Z Spoke Spring 2012 collections at WWD.com/fashion-news. ■ BUSINESS: see more financial news at WWD.com/business-news.■ GLOBAL BREAKING NEWS

If there was a suggestion box at the awards, I would recommend some sort of food-related tie-in,

like Kit Kat or something.Vincent Piazza of “Boardwalk emPire.” Page 14

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REACH EVERYBODY WHO’S ANYBODY IN FASHION

HUMBERTO LEON & CAROL LIM OF OPENING CEREMONY // INDUSTRY LEADERS AND LOYAL READERS

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4 WWD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

Burberry Prorsum: Even though Burberry Prorsum has been leading luxury’s charge into cyberspace — and live tweeted its runway show — the brand isn’t only about life in the fast lane. For spring, chief creative offi cer Christopher Bailey slowed down, cracked the history books and paid homage to old-fashioned hand craftsmanship in this polished and vibrant collection.

It was an evolution of the men’s wear Bailey showed in Milan last June, and was fi lled with printed, jacquard and embellished outerwear. Trenchcoats, some with slim lines and others with full skirts, had detachable beaded or crocheted collars, chunky bits of mismatched colored wood, or raffi a fl ourishes. Sexy pencil skirts were fashioned from striped jacquard raffi a and stretch cotton basket knit, while parkas had sleeves made from woven leather.

“I was so busy just now staring at every detail and trying to work out was this raffi a? Was that leather? How did

he do that, you know?” said Olivier Theyskens after the show.

Texture and color were major themes, with one sweater a marriage of nubby crosshatch knitting on top and stripes on the bottom. It was paired with a dirndl skirt and wooden necklace. Meanwhile, tufts of raffi a and lozenges of brightly colored wood spilled onto shirt collars and silk dresses. Block-printed skirts took their cue from the sarong. “I wanted the collection to be joyous, happy, upbeat,” said Bailey in the crush of photographers and TV cameras backstage after the show. “I love the contradiction between this idea of artisanal hand skills, things that take time to make and digital speed. They can coexist.”

Giles: Giles Deacon had swans in mind this season, in particular the mechanical one at The Bowes Museum in the Yorkshire Dales, and a Cecil Beaton photograph called

“Symphony in Silver.” Hence the red and black cygnet prints on everything from T-shirts to fl oor-sweeping, bias-cut evening dresses. The birds even fl uttered in subtle silver jacquard over cream silk satin day dresses. The elegant collection took a tougher turn with a group of leather laser-cut skirts that looked as if they were edged in lace. Deacon also showed a host of evening gowns — he’s been selling increasing numbers of couture pieces — that ranged from the ethereal, including a lacy tiered number trimmed with ostrich feathers, to the theatrical in the form of a fl owing white gown cinched with a blood-red bow at the back.

Christopher Kane: The polished and proper ladies of the late Sixties are providing rich fodder for London’s designers, and Christopher Kane is no exception. The designer used a host of stiff couture fabrics for a series of pert shifts with nifty origami folds, and

sparkly, embellished ones for playful A-line skirts in pastel pink or mint green. Kane also channeled his inner child, cutting out hologramlike fl ower shapes, framing them with sequins, and sticking them onto skirts and blouses. With the exception of some clunkers — such as the jewel-embellished jeans and muddy brown taffeta coats — the collection was young and fun.

Peter Pilotto: Working their inventive prints onto clean, surfwear-inspired silhouettes, Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos’ sleek and precise collection looked to Indonesia’s tropical landscape for inspiration. While the surf motif is hardly new fashion turf, the duo managed to deliver a fresh, expertly crafted take and proved that sporty looks can also walk a glamorous line in dresses with billowing cotton skirts, one of which was printed with a crashing wave. Optical patterns designed to evoke lush jungle scenes came in green, sea blue and yellow. And the designers

LONDON: DAY FOURFrom raffi a and sequins to lace and silks, texture was key on the runways.

Burberry Prorsum Giles Christopher Kane Peter Pilotto

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played with handcrafted textures in the form of pencil skirts embellished with shimmering crystals and delicate PVC leaves.

Pringle of Scotland: For the debut of his women’s collection, creative director Alistair Carr mined Pringle’s archives — and then pushed the brand’s heritage into the 21st century. He took intarsia knitwear from the Sixties and gave them a 3-D spin on two-tone dresses and twinsets with a nubby texture. Among the standouts was a sleeveless white shift with black T-bar trim across the front. Caviar beading — which has adorned many a past Pringle knit — was subtle, spilling over a light gray argyle sweater and skirt. There were also shifts with bright, hand-knitted blocks of primary color. Next up: Carr plans to unveil a line of handbags created in collaboration with the British artist Liam Gillick at Art Basel Miami in December.

Erdem: The ornate, Wedgewood blue ballroom at The Savoy is a swell place for a fancy tea party and the perfect venue for Erdem Moralioglu’s parade of very proper, pinkies-up spring looks. The clothes seemed from another time, when women wore gloves and boater hats (which some of his models did) with their demure, past-the-knee dresses. Moralioglu pavéd them in busy, vaguely Japanese prints, sometimes embellished with silk embroideries and beads. His signature fl orals, in Easter shades and occasionally glazed or blurred, shared the limelight with dense guipure and delicate Chantilly lace, worked into stiff trenchcoats and ethereal slipdresses. While the clothes were pretty, they lacked currency and energy. In lieu of tea, the show could have used the modern rush of a double espresso.

Acne: How would a hip Stockholm girl interpret the sights and sounds of Marrakech? After a recent trip to the Moroccan city, Acne’s founder Johnny Johansson answered with a cool and modern lineup. His nod to North Africa came in the form of baggy tangerine culottes, navy camisole tops and crisp white cotton jackets. And when the designer wasn’t dreaming of Africa, he was thinking about New York — “Sex and the City 2” in particular — with bubblegum pink full-skirted prom dresses. Of course, there was lots of leather and denim, too, including star cutout details on camel shift dresses, and jean skirts paired with androgynous black shirts.

Antonio Berardi: Antonio Berardi was another in a line of London designers who summoned a Forties-meets-futuristic mood this season. His signature statement gowns had peaked shoulders, shiny PVC panels at the hips, and swishing fi shtail hems. Sharp-shouldered silk blazers — in lipstick red or pastel pink — were teamed with loosely tailored pants or leggings encrusted with armorlike patterns of sequins and crystals. As a counterpoint to all that tough glamour, Berardi worked in softer, romantic elements. One delicate chiffon dress had a cape that fl uttered as the model walked.

Louise Gray: In her show notes, Louise Gray said she wanted to celebrate inspiring individuals, listing such radical feminine fi gures of the 20th century as Claude Cahun, Vali Myers and Gala Dalí. But the designer’s short tweed suits with patch pockets soon yielded to her familiar and colorful melting pot of Bollywood style and African street culture. In the mix were crafty-looking pieces such as chiffon dresses with shiny sequins or chunky ribbon embroideries, and tweed trenchcoats with plastic overlay, but the collection felt a little lost under the vast glass roof of the old Eurostar terminal.

Mark Fast: Known for his clinging, sexed-up knitwear, Mark Fast took a more refi ned approach this season and channeled Thirties glamour. Evening gowns fi t for a screen goddess came in cream-colored loose weaves while gold fl apper dresses had tassel fringe. The designer continued to speak to his hard-core fans with plenty of thigh-skimming minidresses in his spring lineup. But he still needs to work on the wearability of some of his pieces as some added unnecessary (and certainly unwanted) bulk.

Todd Lynn: The designer took a softer, more feminine approach to his signature masculine tailoring, using a muted palette. Todd Lynn’s Victorian-inspired silhouettes included belted coatdresses made from layers of silk, and draped gray skirts with bustles. There were more fl uid pieces, too, including off-the-shoulder dresses made from stretch viscose and loose, asymmetric knit numbers in dark teal.

LONDON: DAY FOURFrom raffi a and sequins to lace and silks, texture was key on the runways.

Louise Gray

Pringle of Scotland Acne Antonio Berardi

Mark Fast Todd LynnErdem

FOR MORE REVIEWS, SEE

WWD.com/runway.

WWD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 20116

Pucci Outlines Plan for U.S. Shop-in-shops

EBay Launches Virtual Outlet MallBy Vicki M. Young

EBaY on MondaY launched Fashion outlet, its virtual “outlet shopping mall.”

The firm, once known primarily as an auction site, has shifted gears to include that and more as it aims to be the leading u.S. destination for fash-ion. The latest launch has more than 200 brands available on the site. discounts are generally be-tween 20 percent to 65 percent off the retail price.

Some items are made exclu-sively for the outlet, and the made-for-outlet items reflect competitive pricing that is typically not further discounted. additional discounts on all items, include MFo items, might be available during promo-tional periods.

currently the u.S. outlet site only ships to u.S. addresses. Shoppers at Fashion outlet can browse by the eBay store or by brand. Those shop-ping by store are typically shop-ping a retailer that carries various brands, whereas those browsing by brand will see all options offered in-cluding those available at the multi-branded retailers on the eBay site.

Factory stores online at the Fashion outlet include Brooks Brothers, calvin klein, Fila, Last call by neiman Marcus, Reed’s Jewelers and Tommy Hilfiger.

in the women’s section, acces-sory brands available include Bodhi, Botkier, Elliott Lucca, Fossil, Furla and kooba. intimates are represented by Bali, Barely There, Hanes, Jockey, Spanx and Wonderbra. Footwear firms include Bruno Magli, charles Jourdan, donald J. Pliner, Frye, Sesto Meucci, Seychelles and Stuart Weitzman.

Women’s apparel brands include a.B.S. by allen

Schwartz, adrienne Vittadini, anne klein, Badgley Mischka, BcBg Max azria, christopher Blue, Elie Tahari, Elizabeth and James, graham & Spencer, James Perse, Joe’s Jeans, Juicy couture, Miss Sixty, nanette Lepore, nicole Miller, Rachel Roy, Rainforest, Rebecca Taylor, Robert Rodriguez, Studio 148 by Lafayette new York, Theory and Vivienne Tam.

Men’s brands include Seven For all Mankind, american Essentials, Bobby Jones, Emporio armani, English Laundry, Hickey Freeman,

Robert graham, Rock & Republic, Timberland, Victorinox and William Rast.

EBay, which has outlet sites for shoppers in the u.k. and germany, is eyeing similar sites for other countries.

Balmain Inks Eyewear Deal With L’Amy GroupBaLMain HaS SignEd a long-term licensing agreement with the L’amy group for the design and distribution of its eyewear beginning with the spring 2012 season.

The collection of opthamalic frames and sunglasses will make its debut at the Milan international optical Fair, or Mido, in March, fol-lowed by a u.S. launch at Vision Expo East 2012 later that month. Retail prices will range from $275 to $400.

“[Balmain’s] international reputation fits perfectly with our aim to develop luxury acces-

sories and to expand our brand portfolio,” said Stephen Rappoport, president of L’amy america. “We are very pleased to partner with Balmain and to launch a luxury collection for men and la-dies that will perfectly complement our current brand portfolio.”

currently, the 101-year-old eyewear company creates frames for brands such as chloé, kenzo, nina Ricci, Rochas, Theory and Proenza Schouler — and has nearly doubled in size since being ac-quired by groupe TWc in 2010.

— Rachel StRugatz

By LuiSa ZaRgani

MiLan — The opening of a new shop-in-shop at Saks Fifth avenue is only the first step in Emilio Pucci’s expansion in the u.S.

“The u.S. market is excellent for Pucci, one of the markets that is growing the most, as it showed 20 percent gains year-to-date,” said alessandra carra, who joined the company in March as its new chief executive officer. “We didn’t used to have shop-in-shops in department stores, as it was a conscious decision in the past to focus on build-ing our boutiques, but we thought that with Saks, it was the right moment to change our strategy.”

carra highlighted the symbolism of the deci-sion, since Saks was the first american depart-ment store to carry Pucci in the late Sixties.

The ceo said Pucci plans to replicate the shop-in-shop in other department stores. The brand, controlled by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, operates eight stores in the u.S. and is sold at department stores such as Bergdorf goodman, neiman Marcus and nordstrom.

Sales through its own stores account for 50 percent of global revenues, and carra noted that Pucci doesn’t plan to change that percentage while mapping out a strategy to develop its whole-sale division in the future. “department stores are very important for us and a strong vehicle for growth,” she said.

carra underscored how the u.S. is “very strate-

gic and very important for Pucci,” despite a gen-eral slowdown in consumer spending in the area. “Luxury is not often influenced by this factor, and the american market has picked up after a couple of difficult years, although it remains hard to fore-cast the future,” said carra.

capitalizing on strong brand awareness, Pucci is enjoying growth because of the work of creative director Peter dundas, who has rejuvenated the brand while respecting its past. “The market is re-sponding to his designs, which evoke italian style and glamour,” said carra, pointing to celebrities such as gwyneth Paltrow, who wore a black, mid-riff-baring Pucci look to the Emmy awards.

She said there were two major projects in the pipeline in the u.S., but declined to provide de-tails. “We have big plans to grow,” she said. The u.S. accounts for 20 percent of wholesale sales and 25 percent of retail sales, added carra. as per com-pany policy, she declined to reveal sales figures.

Pucci recently opened its first boutique in Lebanon, in Beirut, in a partnership with aishti group, as the Middle East is seen as an opportuni-ty for growth for the company. “Beirut is a sophis-ticated, glamorous city, which maintains its joie de vivre even in difficult moments,” said carra. Pucci is also looking at expanding in the arabian Peninsula with a series of openings over the next 18 months.

There are 48 Pucci stores, mainly directly op-erated, and the label is available at 350 multi-brand stores.

Fazio Departs Simon Spurr For Nordstrom Men’s Post

By JEan E. PaLMiERi

ToMMY FaZio, president of Simon Spurr, has resigned to join nordstrom as men’s trend director, a newly created position. Fazio, who served as men’s fashion director of neiman Marcus and Bergdorf goodman before joining Simon Spurr in September 2009, will relocate to Seattle.

“it’s an amazing opportu-nity to join an amazing com-pany,” Fazio said.

a nordstrom spokeswoman confirmed Fazio’s appoint-ment but did not provide fur-ther details.

The Seattle-based retailer has no men’s fashion director but in 2005 purchased a stake in the trendy Jeffrey specialty stores, whose founder and president, Jeffrey kalinsky, serves as chief merchant for men’s and women’s designer merchandise for the company.

on Monday, Simon Spurr said: “Tommy has made an in-strumental contribution to the development and growth of the Simon Spurr brand over the past two years. While we will certainly miss the dynamic approach that he brought to the brand, we sincerely wish Tommy the very best in this new venture with nordstrom.”

Spurr and his business part-

ner, Judd nydes, launched Spurr exclusively at Bergdorf ’s in fall 2006 with three styles of jeans and it has since devel-oped into a full lifestyle brand sold at such high-end stores as Bergdorf ’s, nordstrom, Jeffrey and Saks Fifth avenue.

Fazio had been Bergdorf ’s fashion director for four years and took on parallel responsi-bilities for the neiman Marcus group in 2009 in a reorganiza-tion of the group’s fashion of-fice. Before joining Bergdorf ’s, Fazio worked for a year at Hickey Freeman, developing the younger hickey label, and spent five years at calvin klein as vice president of sales and marketing for men’s.

Tommy Fazio

Fashion Outlet, eBay’s virtual outlet mall site.

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w20a006a;6.indd 1 9/19/11 7:43 PM09192011194407

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By DaviD Lipke

French men’s wear designer alexandre mattiussi will launch in the U.s. this fall with a push from Barneys new York. The retailer begins selling the collection in 10 doors this month, in addition to its web site.

Barneys chief executive officer mark Lee, cre-ative director Dennis Freedman and fashion director amanda Brooks will host a party today with mattiussi in the madison avenue flagship, followed by a dinner

at Le Bilboquet.“ami is targeted for a guy looking for modern clas-

sics,” said Tom kalenderian, general merchandise manager for men’s at Barneys.

Barneys new York is the exclusive retailer for the label in the U.s., which is called ami alexandre

mattiussi, apart from The webster in miami and mrporter.com. Barneys is merchandising the collec-tion — which emphasizes wearable staples — in the co-op department of its Barneys stores as well as in the freestanding co-op doors.

“i wanted to make a collection that was easygoing, chic and comfortable, without being pretentious. i don’t overthink the clothes,” said mattiussi. “it’s very easy to make an expensive collection and find the best fabrics and the best production. it’s harder to make a collection in a smart way that’s affordable.”

mattiussi’s tailored jackets retail for $695, pants for $295 to $375, jeans for $260, shirts for $225 to $285, knitwear for $380 to $555, outerwear for $560 to $740 and a leather jack-et for $1,200.

Flannel is a key signature in the line for fall. The legs of jeans are lined in a thin layer of soft flannel, wool sweaters are adorned with flannel elbow patches and the undercollar of a jean jacket is trimmed with the fabric. a mixed-media car-digan is fashioned from flannel with knit wool sleeves.

a small footwear line ac-companies the collection, in-cluding leather lace-up oxfords and ankle boots with a slender strap detail and crepe soles.

Globally, ami alexandre mattiussi is launching at about 30 stores this fall, including Le Bon marché in France and 10 corso como in milan and seoul, and will expand to more than 40 doors in the spring, including printemps in France and Lane crawford in hong kong.

mattiussi, 31, was born and raised in normandy, France and moved to paris to attend design school at Duperré. at 21, he secured a position at Dior homme as an assistant on the 30 montaigne line of classic men’s pieces. he later launched his own collection of shirts before taking a posi-tion at Givenchy from 2004 to

2008 as an assistant designer for men’s wear, work-ing for a time under riccardo Tisci. he then worked for two seasons as a senior men’s designer for marc Jacobs, traveling between new York and europe, be-fore leaving to start ami alexandre mattiussi with a group of about 10 individual investors.

Zegna Sees Growth in ChinaBy kaThLeen e. mcLaUGhLin

BeiJinG — selling luxury goods in china has never been simple, but in 20 years the fashion house ermenegildo Zegna has discovered that a long view and patience are key to win-ning customers.

now that china is clos-ing in on Japan as the world’s top market for lux-ury goods, everyone wants a piece of the pie. But Zegna executives believe the com-pany is uniquely positioned to remain a market leader.

celebrating Zegna’s two decades in china, execu-tives discussed the chal-lenges and opportunities this market presents, and focused mainly on the posi-tive. They have reason for their optimism, as one of the top five luxury brands in china, which is now the company’s number-one market in the world after passing the U.s. last year.

“considering that we’re only men’s wear, i think it’s quite an accomplishment,” Zegna chief executive officer Gildo Zegna said at a press conference ahead of the brand’s anniversary fashion show and party at a modern art museum last Thursday night. “The secret is in the Dna of the company…pio-neering spirit and ambition.”

Zegna’s china presence started with one store in 1991. The company now has 75 stores in 32 cities and plans to increase that to about 80 by the end of the year, the ceo said. he said executives are even explor-ing the possibility of reach-ing into fourth-tier cities, smaller urban areas where luxury consumers are only just beginning to emerge.

Of course, along with being a top luxury brand comes increased competi-tion from other men’s wear lines seeking to capitalize on china’s emergent wealth and taste for luxury goods.

The executive said he’s confident about the compa-ny’s position, but he doesn’t plan to rest on past laurels. instead, Zegna is unrolling new global brand stores, along with collectible items like limited edition watches, to lure style-conscious men.

Zegna is even more op-timistic about china than many analysts, who see the luxury scene here gradually outpacing other countries.

“china is competing with Japan to be the number-two luxury market in the world,” he said, adding that he thinks that could happen by next year.

Last year, ermenegildo Zegna’s net profit reached 60 million euros, or $79.2 million, compared with 17.3 million euros, or $24 million, in 2009. revenues surged 21 percent to 963 million euros, or $1.27 billion.

asia accounted for 46 per-cent of Zegna’s revenue, led by china, which grew more than 30 percent. in china, the company opened four new stores designed by peter

marino, including a flagship in shanghai, its largest store to date. Zegna is also looking at launching an online store in china at the end of this year or early next year.

“it’s the importance of being an insider,” Zegna said of the brand’s growth in china. To that end, the executive said the company is heavily focused on under-standing individual local markets in china and build-ing sales staff and product offerings to meet demand.

as evidence: Zegna’s fall 2011 collection, “in the mood for china,” which was first unveiled in milan in January and shown again in Beijing at the house’s an-niversary party. The collec-tion, which was dedicated to china, features suits the house says were inspired by the chinese revolution of the last century, and mixed of other details paying hom-age to Forties style.

Beyond particular prod-ucts, executives said well-trained employees are key to Zegna’s growth in china, where male customers tend to be far more reliant on the advice of sales associates than in europe or the U.s.

“here, they value highly the recommendations of the sales associates,” said Zegna.

some other notable dif-ference in Zegna’s china customer base: chinese men shop in groups, as a leisure activity, and visit stores seven to 10 times a year. in other words, shop-ping is fun. That’s com-pared with traditional mar-kets, where customers visit once or twice a year. and unlike in other markets, chinese men are strong consumers of luxury items.

“china has historically been more of a men’s mar-ket for luxury than wom-en’s,” said Zegna.

Alexandre Mattiussi with his line at Barneys New York on Madison Avenue.

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Barneys Launches Alexandre Mattiussi

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Rick Helfenbein, president of Luen Thai USA, said that while he believes China will maintain its position as the number-one apparel supplier to the U.S., his company has changed its sourcing strategy and “redirected some of its busi-ness out of China” to other countries.

“If you look at it from our perspective as a direct manufacturer, we’re seeing changes and have been restructuring our portfolio, but we haven’t decreased our China produc-tion,” Helfenbein said. “We have increased our alternatives [sourcing countries] for our customers that want alternatives.”

When it comes to the steady trickle away from China as the world’s textile and appar-el manufacturing center, the Asian country’s loss appears to be everybody’s gain. Industry experts say the production business that is leaving China is ending up in a large number of other countries and regions, from Vietnam to the Western Hemisphere.

China’s impressive infrastructure and logistics platform continue to make it a key destination for most major buy-ers, but it has lost apparel import market share in the U.S. in the last 12 months, falling to 40.8 percent for the year end-ing July 31 from 41.9 percent in the year-earlier period, according to the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel. In July, combined shipments fell 7.6 per-cent to 2.4 billion square meter equiva-lents, as apparel imports fell 3.2 percent to 1 billion SME and textile imports declined 10.5 percent to 1.3 billion SME.

“That is an astronomical number,” Julia Hughes, president of the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel, said of the import share decline. “It could represent a substantial increase for other countries,” such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia. “There are definitely shifts away from China.”

Luen Thai is sourcing more in the Philippines, where it has had a presence for more than two decades, as well as Indonesia, Helfenbein said.

“The Philippines is an excellent envi-ronment to work in,” he said. “The peso is stable and worker-retention rate is high, around 90 percent, which is a big deal for us, because we use skilled labor. We are also going into Indonesia and expanding there. Everybody should have backup plans. Costs will continue to rise in China. The cost of labor will continue to go up, but what you have in China that you don’t have elsewhere

is enormous flexibility and skill level.”The Western Hemisphere is also ben-

efiting from sourcing shifts out of China and Asia, as companies try to offset the rising labor and raw materials costs by making apparel closer to home. While China lost apparel import share, other countries have gained share in the past 12 months. (See box.)

Combined apparel and textile ship-ments from Vietnam rose 6.6 percent to 267 million SME in July compared with a year earlier, as apparel imports increased 0.9 percent to 167 million SME and textile shipments were up 17.7 percent to 100 mil-lion SME. Still, China’s overall apparel and textile import volume to the U.S. dwarfs that of Vietnam, the second-largest supplier. For the year ending July 31, China’s combined import volume was 25.8 billion SME, while Vietnam’s was 3.1 billion SME.

Kevin Burke, president and chief executive officer of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said he sees some busi-ness coming back to the Western Hemisphere, espe-cially the countries involved with the Central American Free Trade Agreement — the Dominican Republic,

El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua — to take advantage of the duty free imports to the U.S.

“It’s taken awhile,” since the pact was en-acted in 2005, said Burke. “It’s a vital area of the world to produce

product. Companies are trying to shorten the sup-ply chain and reduce time in the supply chain. If you

have the choice of making a garment in Central America and making it in China and being able to get the same price, with 11 days less on the water, plus distribution time on the West Coast, you might want to look at that as a viable alternative.”

Burke noted that the region is known for producing basic merchan-dise, with companies such as VF Corp., Hanesbrands, Levi Strauss & Co. and other denim firms doing significant sourcing in the region, as well as a renewed interest in Mexico, which has enjoyed duty free import status since passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.

There’s also been revived interest is making goods in the U.S., particularly high-quality knits. So far the desire hasn’t translated into a real movement, but there are bits of data, such as 1,100 more ap-parel workers hired in August, and much anecdotal evidence of at least a fractional rebound in domestic textile and apparel manufacturing. Established domestic knit-ters such as Fessler USA, Buhler Quality Yarns and Huntingdon Yarn Mill Inc. have reported increased orders and interest in future business from retailers and brands.

Michael Lakritz, product development and merchandise manager for Los Angeles-based Laguna Fabrics, and president of its Enviro fabrics division, said, “There are more retailers and brands looking for U.S. consumption because they feel they can’t produce overseas effectively anymore.”

Lakritz said as a domestic converter of basic and novelty knits, Laguna has the abil-ity “to turn relatively fast, which plays into what’s happening right now in the market.”

“We can turn from lab dips and ap-provals in three to four weeks compared to six, eight, 10 weeks overseas,” he said “Pricing has always been an issue. But retailers are helping us with domestic business because they’re placing orders so close to the season. We do a lot of pri-vate label for stores such as Nordstrom to Forever 21. Nordstrom is placing more business onshore with private label manufacturers, and I think that’s going

to continue. They’re in the fashion busi-ness. If you wait 12 weeks for the cycle, you’re missing the trends.”

Laguna specializes in developing nov-elty and innovative fabrics for the con-temporary market. The company knits and finishes all of its fabrics locally, rang-ing from large program orders to single fabric lots. Laguna specializes in Lenzing branded fibers, including various blends of Modal, Tencel and Promodal, as well as bamboo, hemp, organic cotton, rayon vis-cose, Lurex and wool blends.

“Since we’re one of the largest con-verters onshore for novelty knits, our business has been up,” he said.

As for the revival of U.S. manufac-turing overall, Lakritz said, “There’s no question it’s coming. The biggest prob-lem right now is that even if manufactur-ers are willing to pay the price, they’re finding it difficult to find the needle, the cut-and-sew factories. There’s just not enough production capability. We’re talking about a 1.5 to 3 percent produc-tion shift back to the U.S., which may not seem like a lot, but after all these years, it’s significant. The desire is there, the orders are there, but the produc-tion is not, but it will come. For now, those brands looking to bring production closer to home are going to places like Guatemala, Honduras and even Mexico.”

Jon Terbell, president of Jack Robie, a direct merchant of better men’s shirts sold exclusively on its Web site, jackrobie.com, chose to produce its line only in the U.S. when the company launched in June 2010.

“The decision to manufacture in the U.S. was about quality, and not produce halfway around the world, with time zones and language barriers and a host of other problems that come with it,” Terbell said. “We decided to pay a little more and be able to have better qual-ity control, better relationships with our manufacturer, and provide our customer with the best product possible.”

Terbell said since Jack Robie is a direct merchant, “we’re able to produce in the States and still offer competitive prices.” The line is made in a factory in Carlstadt, N.J., using mostly Japanese, Italian and Turkish fabrics. The company’s offices are on Lafayette Street and Astor Place in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood.

“We go to the factory personally every week or two to talk directly to the manu-facturer,” Terbell said. “He has the best technology, the best Gerber sewing ma-chines. We’re able to get the exact shirt we want and not compromise on anything. ”

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROMKATHLEEN MCLAUGHLIN

8WWD.COM

WWD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

{Continued from page one}

sourcing horizons

BY THE NUMBERSTHE TOP FIVE COUNTRIES SUPPLYING

APPAREL TO THE U.S. MAINTAINED THEIR POSITIONS IN THE PAST YEAR, BUT THERE

WERE SHIFTS IN BUSINESS, AS CHINA LOST SHARE AND THE OTHERS GAINED.

TOP 5 APPAREL IMPORT SHARE IMPORT SHARESUPPLIERS JULY 2010 JULY 2011

CHINA 41.9% 40.8%

VIETNAM 7.6% 8.1%

BANGLADESH 6.2% 6.7%

INDONESIA 5% 5.3%

HONDURAS 4.97% 5.1%

* SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE’S OFFICE OF TEXTILES AND APPAREL

China’s Decline Creates New Dynamic

Jack Robie Made in the

U.S.A.

An empty Chinese manufacturing

booth at the Apparel Sourcing Show.

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A factory in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

ResouRces.MateRials.inspiRation. North AmericA’s lArgest sourciNgeveNt feAturiNg 700+ mANufActurers,fAbric & desigN resources from40+ couNtries, treNd forecAstiNgANd iNdustry semiNArs.

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las Vegas conVention centeR – soutH Hall Magiconline.coM(877) 554 4834

FeBRuaRY 12 – 15, 2012MAGIC OPENS ON THE 13TH

10WWD.COM

WWD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

sourcing horizons

By KHANH T.L. TRAN

LAS VEGAS — Price, provenance and value dominated discussion among de-signers, textile mills and manufacturers at Sourcing at MAGIC last month.

More than 700 companies from 40 coun-tries participated in Sourcing’s most recent edition, held Aug. 21 to 24 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Sourcing unveiled a new section devoted to companies based in North, Central and South America. The Americas pavilion included 70 exhibitors from the U.S., Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti and other nations.

To highlight the importance of the trade in the Americas region, U.S. Department of Commerce’s Under Secretary Francisco Sánchez came to meet with exhibitors and attendees. According to Sánchez’s office, the U.S. is the fourth-largest exporter of tex-tiles and apparel in the world, and the Western Hemisphere forms the largest market for U.S. textile and apparel ex-ports, receiving more than 64 percent of such goods produced in the U.S. Last year, the U.S. exported nearly $13 bil-lion of textile and apparel goods to the Western Hemisphere, an increase of nearly 20 percent from a year ago. Sánchez’s office expects the positive growth trend to continue in 2011.

American Denimatrix, owned by a co-op of cotton farmers in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, hopes to benefit from that growth. Using denim fabric made in Texas, the company washes and sews jeans in Guatemala. While prices start at $15 for a pair of basic jeans, the com-pany said it has the capability to produce fashion styles, such as waxed snake-print

jeans. It said it can complete an order in as little as eight weeks, doubling the time if it has to produce fabric that isn’t in stock. Being a vertically integrated business that controls every step from the cotton fields to the sewing of the garment, it looks at ways to streamline each operation to help peo-ple who are interested in making clothes in North and Central America.

“They’re looking at making gar-ments in this hemisphere,” said Ryan Lupton, product development manager at American Denimatrix. “They want to see if we can make the price work.”

Parras, a denim mill and manufac-turer in Mexico, said price is the biggest concern for its customers, which include Abercrombie & Fitch, Urban Outfitters’ BFD and Lucky Brand. Returning to Sourcing after a four-year absence to show at the Americas pavil-ion, the company has had to lower its prices. Fabric prices now start at $3.70 a yard and go up to $8 a yard, and manu-facturing packages cost be-tween $8 and $20 a garment.

“It’s difficult at this time because of the price of cot-ton,” said Grissel Ramirez Hernandez, who handles Parras’ marketing and de-velopment. “We are trying to make agreements with contractors. We are trying to develop fabrics in the price range that customers are looking for. We are trying to be creative to offer what customers are looking for.”

Keeping prices low is an ongoing challenge for manufacturers and de-signers. Prices of cotton, wool and silk have risen, as have costs for en-ergy, labor and transportation. China’s Riverland, which specializes in making woven coats, cut its profit margins by 5 to 10 percent, even as the cost of mate-rials increased 10 percent. Parkdale, a yarn producer based in Gastonia, N.C., expected the price of cotton to stabilize later this year and in early 2012. India’s AP Fashions tried to adjust prices by using polyester, which costs 75 percent less than silk, in the ruffled and appli-quéd sundresses it makes for custom-ers. Burlington Worldwide, a supplier of synthetic fabrics, wool and wool blends from Greensboro, N.C., said wool prices have gone up as much as 20 percent.

“Customers are struggling with wheth-er to stay at 100 percent wool or look at blends,” said Peter Baumann, Burlington’s senior vice president of merchandising.

Exhibitors brought their latest and newest offerings to Sourcing. Denim North America, a denim textile mill based in Columbus, Ga., and a first-time exhibi-tor, offered cotton denim with black fill-ing at $5 a yard and a stretch fabric called EverFlex at $5.50 a yard. Hong Kong’s Capital Kingdom Ltd. highlighted texture in a cotton slub blend and a cotton dobby woven in sharp black and white waves, both priced at $2.20 to $2.50 a yard. Buhler Quality Yarns, based in Jefferson, Ga., dis-played MicroTencel blended from Tencel and Supima cotton. Indonesia’s Bless, an-other new exhibitor, hoped to catch the trend for snakeskin bags and statement jewelry with its rings, necklaces and bags made of materials ranging from Bali shells and rose quartz to Indonesian python, crocodile and cowhide. Prices range from $10 for rings to $125 for python clutches en-crusted with natural stones.

Aside from price, which remained a priority, specialization was also impor-tant as designers strove to add value and offer high quality in their garments.

“We were looking for vendors in terms of their specialty,” said Gloria Brandes, chief executive officer of young contem-porary line BB Dakota in Costa Mesa, Calif., who returned to Sourcing after discovering a reliable knit maker there last February. “We were looking for knit vendors, crochet vendors, embroidery.”

Peru’s Comercial Distribuidora Ariana S.A.C. understood the importance of show-ing specialty knit products at its debut as a Sourcing exhibitor. Counting Rag & Bone and Custo Barcelona as clients, the manu-facturer appliquéd traditional Peruvian fabric in a star pattern on a cotton knit

shirt. Requiring a minimum of 200 units, it charges $7 to $15 a garment.

“Ten years ago, you could bring your [basic] T-shirts and polos” to the show, said Karina Montes Romero, commercial man-ager. “Now, people are looking for fashion and the added value in the garment.”

Aware of the complexities of creat-ing a fashion line, Jen Roye and Patrick Knowles began offering design services at their sourcing company Vertical by Design International this year. Participating at Sourcing for the first time, the San Francisco-based company hoped to at-tract customers who want to do private label or launch a line using their in-house design team and network of some 20 fac-tories in China. Roye, who previously de-signed for Levi’s and Pacific Sunwear of California, specializes in denim but she also offered pieces such as a melton wool cape and polyurethane biker jacket at Sourcing. Prices run from $14 for a pair of rigid denim jeans to $22.20 for the cape.

“This was an opportunity to leverage all my experience as a designer and give support to designers,” Roye said. “Our customers know they can talk about their design to another designer.” PH

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Putting the Focus on the AmericasSourcing at MAGIC

introduced the Americas pavilion in

its August edition.

Vertical by Design International’sJen Roye and Patrick Knowles.

ADVERTISEMENT

A land of 20 million people, Sri Lanka lives up to the name English novelist Horace Walpole gave to it in the 18th century: Serendib, or serendipity, a place for discovering pleasing things by accident. Tis island paradise features rich biodiversity: miles of pristine beaches, a mist-shrouded hill country and lush tropical forests. A perfect balance of business and pleasure, it is also the home of a premier fashion and apparel outsourcing hub.

Te beauty of the island is matched by its work ethic: with a legacy of ethical business practices and environmental responsibility, Sri Lanka’s apparel industry stands out as a proven business model that offers clients world class ethical solutions supported by fast turnarounds and uncompromising product delivery. All of this has helped develop longstanding partnerships with some of the biggest names in world fashion.

“We have the highest apparel exports per capita of any exporting nation in our region,” says A. Sukumaran, Chairman of Sri Lanka Apparel, the apex body guiding industry initiatives. “We account for 2% of U.S. clothing imports and are ranked number 11 in apparel supply to the U.S.”

It wasn’t easy to grow and prosper as Sri Lanka did during 30 years of war within the country. Now this peaceful paradise offers opportunities that are increasing as more space, people, and resources are all made available as a result of the peace dividend. Sri Lanka’s post-conflict economy is growing at 7-8% and, as an emerging economy in Asia, the country has the benefit of building around business. A massive investment in the nation’s infrastructure integrates all parts of the country and expands global connectivity. Sri Lanka’s small size works to its advantage, and this rapidly growing connectivity means reduced downtime, transportation time, and cost.

A Strategic Epicenter for BusinessSri Lanka is an innovative industry center located where east meets west, and a global economic hub for logistics, trade, investment, communications, and financial services in South Asia. It is uniquely empowered to meet the needs of the fashion and apparel industry through its location, philosophy, and innovative drive.

In an industry where hub-services are of increasing importance, Sri Lanka is a proven leader—it has elevated operations of the garment industry to that of a skills-based, knowledge-intensive undertaking. “Nearly 17% of

U.S. apparel is sourced from the sub-continent,” says Noel Priyatilleke, the Deputy Chairman of the industry body. “Sri Lanka already partners on R&D, product development and design innovation requirements, and multi-country consolidation.” Tese elements make Sri Lanka an ideal locale for setting up regional headquarters for brands, back-office operations such as customer service call centers, financial operations, warehousing and distribution, and especially product design and development.

Te island’s geographic location and focus on port development means minimum deviation for shipping lines, an efficient feeder network, fast turnarounds, and round-the-clock service. Clients can take advantage of fully equipped berths for vessels and containers, multi-country consolidation and entrepot cargo, EDI facilities with two modern container terminals,

and state-of-the-art technology and control systems.

Strengthened backward linkage has resulted in the development of a significant local raw material base for woven and knit fabrics, as well as lace and a wide range of other inputs—thread, elastic, buttons, hangers and the like. Additionally, a partnering of garment factories and textile mills in the region forms “virtually vertically integrated factories,” offering an expanded garment supply chain.

Ease of business—combined with speed, efficiency, and low cost is not all Sri Lanka has to offer. Te country’s commitment to a higher standard of business ethics—upheld over 350 plants and a half-a-million-strong workforce—means that the apparel indus-

try is free of sweatshop practices, child and forced labor, and discrimination. Known for creating “garments without guilt,” the “Made in Sri Lanka” label has become synonymous with ethical apparel and responsible business.

When it comes to ecological awareness and responsibility, Sri Lanka has always been among the most progressive nations in the world. Te country boasts numerous programs that include wildlife and marine preservation, and the green mindset carries into apparel manufacturing. Determined to leave the lightest carbon footprint possible, the country is constantly innovating to reduce carbon dioxide, sulfur, and nitrogen oxide emissions—and to save energy, reduce water waste and, of course, recycle.

Big business is thriving on the tiny island paradise of Sri Lanka—and experts are taking note. As the nation continues to build and innovate the apparel business, it is poised to become a power player and the true hub of the industry.

Business in Paradise: The Offerings of Sri Lanka

12WWD.COM

WWD tuesday, september 20, 2011

sourcing horizons

Junior (left)

By ARTHUR FRIEDMAN

THE U.S. INTERNATIONAL Trade Commission, in its latest report on “The Economic Effects of Significant U.S. Import Restraints,” estimates that U.S. economic welfare, as defined by total public and private consumption, would increase by about $2.6 billion annually by 2015 if the U.S. unilaterally ended, or liberalized, all significant restraints.

Exports would expand by $9 billion

and imports by $11.5 billion. These chang-es would result from removing import barriers in high-tariff manufacturing sec-tors, including textiles and apparel.

As in the previous six reports, the first of which was issued 20 years ago, the ITC — an independent federal agency with broad investigative responsibilities on trade mat-ters — identified sectors with significant import restraints on the basis of high tariff rates, restrictive tariff-rate quotas and other restrictive import policies, such as prefer-ential rules of origin. Among manufactured

goods, the most restrictive restraints are in the apparel, footwear and leather sectors.

The ITC estimates that while liberal-ization reduces output and employment in directly affected sectors, it benefits sectors that use those products and the economy as a whole by lowering the price of imported goods and increasing U.S. productivity, causing gross domes-tic product to rise. While employment in liberalized sectors typically falls, this is offset by employment gains in other sectors, according to ITC data. Exports

rise throughout the economy because of lower prices for domestic goods in lib-eralized sectors and higher productiv-ity elsewhere. Imports also rise overall, driven by lower import prices and great-er purchasing power, the report said.

The ITC estimates that liberalizing import restraints in textiles and apparel would increase economic welfare by $514 million. However, as the domestic industry has been contending for years, the report states that liberalization would reduce out-put and employment in this sector by 9 to 10 percent, which would magnify the already substantial declines projected to occur without liberalization. Import liberalization would also eliminate exports of U.S. goods

that are stimulated by preferential rules of origin. This change would lead to large declines in exports of U.S. products such as thread, yarn, fabric and cut fabric.

Certain U.S. imports of tex-tiles and apparel are eligible for duty free treatment under free trade agreements and pref-erential trade agreements. The value of U.S. textile and apparel imports that entered duty free under FTAs or PTAs in 2010 was $20.4 billion, or 20.1 percent of total imports of such goods, with 56 percent originating from North American Free Trade Agreement and Central American Free Trade Agreement countries.

The U.S. remains the world’s largest importer of textiles and apparel, accounting for about 25 percent of global imports by value in 2010. The U.S. reces-sion between 2007 and 2009 exacerbated the contraction in the U.S. textile and apparel sector that has been under way since the late Eighties. Output of textiles and apparel fell 35.3 percent during 2007-09 to $62.7 billion before rebounding mod-estly by 5.9 percent to $66.4 bil-lion in 2010. Output of apparel was especially hard hit, falling 47.9 percent, with a 1.3 percent recovery in 2010. Employment in the textiles and apparel sec-tor also declined dramatically, falling 27 percent in 2007-10, for a loss of 146,500 jobs. As textile and apparel manufacturers have increasingly outsourced produc-tion to low-cost foreign factories, the number of U.S. textile and apparel plants has declined, with a corresponding decrease in the number of textile and ap-parel workers. In 2009, there were 3,463 apparel textile mills, down from 3,828 in 2007; 7,810 home furnishings and industrial textile mills, down from 8,130 in 2007, and 8,339 apparel facto-ries, down from 9,492 in 2007.

Despite this sharp contraction, industry representatives project the rate of decline in the U.S. tex-tile and apparel industry will slow through 2015. In part, this is be-cause domestic products no longer compete directly with imports. The limited remaining domestic pro-duction of fabric and clothing is pri-marily for U.S. government defense contracts for high-end and niche markets willing to pay a premium price for higher quality product and fast-turnaround orders.

In 2010, 85.6 percent of the total value of all apparel sold in the U.S. was imported, up from 74.7 percent in 2007. Between 2007 and 2010, U.S. imports of textiles and apparel from China increased 16 percent to $40.5 bil-lion, while imports from Vietnam rose 37 percent to $6.1 billion.

ITC: Trade Reform to Boost Economy

w20a008(10,12)a.indd 3 9/19/11 5:47 PM09192011174846

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CIAO, BLOOMBERG: Bloomberg has teamed up with Italian daily La Repubblica to launch “Economia & Finanza con Bloomberg,” or “Economy and Finance With Bloomberg,” a new section available on repubblica.it.

Unveiled Monday, the site has a dedicated staff and features major economic and financial news, organized in two different categories. One focuses on macroeconomics, another on markets, including fashion in an area called Fashion and Finance. Financial data and research are also available, as

well as profiles of the companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.

La Repubblica’s aim is to broaden the readership of financial news.

— ALESSANDRA TURRA

ADDING ON: InStyle has tapped Samira Nasr, a freelance stylist, as style director. Nasr has been a regular contributor to Elle for the past few years and has also worked for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Spain and Vogue China. She got her start at Vogue, as an assistant to Grace Coddington. She will report to Ariel Foxman, InStyle’s editor in chief.

Elsewhere, Elise Loehnen, former deputy editor at Lucky and editorial projects director at Condé Nast

Traveler, was named editor in chief of Beso.com, a Web site that aggregates millions of products from retailers. In August, unique visitors increased 64 percent to 3.65 million, according to comScore. — AMY WICKS

A DIFFERENT TAKE: For the first time, Valentino creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli turned to Tim Walker to photograph the Red Valentino campaign for fall, due to launch Wednesday. Walker captured model Daga against the backdrop of Copped Hall, a Georgian mansion in Epping, near London, infusing the images with fantasy and a dreamlike quality.

“Through his images, Tim Walker

captures the romantic fantasy and free spirit of a surreal atmosphere,” the designers stated. “The resulting carefree, highly poetic universe perfectly represents the values of the brand.” — LUISA ZARGANI

PhOTO BY TIM jENKINS

Sienna Smile

WWDSTYLE

MeMo pad

Sienna Miller joined a flock of notables at Burberry’s Kensington Gardens show on Monday as the celebrity factor ticked up a notch at London Fashion Week. For more, see Fashion Scoops, page 15.

REST UP: Tilda Swinton is planning to take it easy following a busy film schedule. PAGE 15

An image from the Red Valentino campaign.

w20a013a.indd 1 9/19/11 7:56 PM09192011195653

14 WWD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

The Circus Goes OnTHE POST-EMMY PARTY machine cranked up on Sunday night as the 1,000-plus attendees made their way across the street to the Los Angeles Convention Center

for the Governor’s Ball, where a black-and-white circus theme — including

hanging fi ber optic light designs and twirling trapeze artists — fi lled the cavernous hall. Winners such as Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory”

and Julianna Margulies of “The Good Wife” walked in with trophies in hand,

then took their time fi nding their seats as they stopped to hug and kiss several peers and quite a few more strangers. “Wow, thank you,” Margulies said over and over again. As guests waited for Grey Goose cocktails at a bar carved entirely out of ice (and topped by a model wearing a two-story skirt that was clearly done with some cleverly draped scaffolding), they ogled stars like Jeremy Piven and Mark Wahlberg, who beat an

early exit with wife Rhea Durham holding the cake pop party favors.

For many, the next stop was HBO’s post-Emmy party at the Pacifi c Design Center in West Hollywood, where a steady stream of stars arrived including Claire Danes, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, Alan Cummings, Steve Buscemi, Kathy Griffi n, Julia Stiles, Adrian Grenier, Sarah Hyland and Dianna Agron.

“One side of my jacket says Canali, but the other side says Gary’s Tux Shop,” chuckled Jon Voight, who fl ashed the inside of his jacket to illustrate on the way in.

Winners each in their respective best supporting categories — Peter

Dinklage, Melissa McCarthy and Guy Pearce— all walked in trophy-in-hand.

“It’s like a dumbbell, actually, it’s quite heavy,” Pearce said.

Other attendees were eager to hit the sizable buffet, which included steak, salmon, gnocchi and risotto.

“If there was a suggestion box at the awards, I would recommend some sort of food-related tie-in, like Kit

Kat or something,” said Vincent Piazza of “Boardwalk Empire,” who was clad in Alexander McQueen. “I

mean, with all the product placement opportunities in

Hollywood, wouldn’t it be so easy to have a Hershey’s Kiss dancing

across the stage?” At the Entertainment Tonight post-

Emmy party at the Vibiana downtown, sweets were more in abundance than stars, causing one guest to moan, “I’ve not seen one celebrity here, not one.” The crowd at least got some fi rst-rate entertainment when Stevie Nicks hit the stage around 10:30 p.m.

The Fox Broadcasting Company, Twentieth Century Fox Television, and FX party at West Hollywood eatery Fig & Olive had more than its share of winners. The ubiquitous “Glee” kids were among attendees but the party’s big winners — “Modern Family” couple Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell — proved surprisingly press shy — opting out of a walk down the golden carpet. “It’s an embarrassment of riches. I think I might have blacked out a little bit,” Bowen, who was accompanied by real-life husband Scott Phillips, laughed, of hearing her name called for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She carried her award inside, where she met up with co-stars Hyland, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Ed O’Neill. Heidi Klum and husband Seal made an appearance, but it was a still-energetic Emmy host Jane Lynch who generated the most buzz. The host summed up the night: “It was a big party. I enjoyed every moment of it and tried to be completely present. I had the time of my life.”

Seal with Heidi Klum in Christian Siriano.

Scott Phillips with Julie Bowen in Oscar de la Renta and Neil Lane.

Joel McHale in Michael

Bastian with Nina Dobrev

in Donna Karan at the

Governor’s Ball.

Jane Lynch in David Meister at the Governor’s Ball.

Zooey Deschanel in Monique Lhuillier at the Governor’s Ball.

Anna Paquin in Alexander McQueen and Van Cleef & Arpels with Stephen Moyer in Alexander McQueen.

Dianna Agron in Roksanda Ilincic and Fred Leighton.

Sarah Hyland in Tadashi Shoji.

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VIEW FROM THE GARDEN: “It was un-be-lievable,” said Sienna Miller, who was part of a front-row lineup at Burberry’s show in Kensington Gardens that included Gemma Arterton, Kanye West, Ellie Goulding, Ben Kingsley, Luke and Harry Treadaway, Andy Murray, and Britain’s First Lady Samantha Cameron. “I loved the parkas, the knitted leath-er sleeves, the raffia fringing,” Miller enthused.

Arterton had weather on her mind. “I’m glad it’s not too hot today — can you imagine, we’d melt in this plastic tent,” she said. “Everyone is wearing leather and tweed, so I’m grateful the good old English weath-er came through.” The bubbly Arterton is headed to Dublin next week to begin filming “Byzantium,” di-rected by Neil Jordan. “I’m playing Saoirse Ronan’s mum, would you believe? That makes me feel old.”

Lily Donaldson, who was seated nearby, was feeling quite sprightly. “I’m finally out and about again after three months of mending a broken leg from a horse riding accident,” she said. “No heels for me.” Julia Restoin Roitfeld was sharing some of her innermost thoughts. “I’m mostly excited about the linge-rie collection I’m working on,” she said before the show. “I have a really great lingerie col-lection, but it’s not for my boy-friend — he doesn’t care — it’s for myself. Next to shoes, it’s my favorite luxury.”

SOUNDS OF SILENCE: Kanye West, slated to unveil his debut women’s wear collection during Paris Fashion Week, has yet to begin a charm offensive with the press. “Don’t ask me any-thing. I’m not saying anything,” he said at the Christopher Kane show in London on Monday. He made a zip-the-lip motion when asked about his upcoming show. Across the way, David Byrne made a rare front-row appearance, attend-ing the show with T Magazine’s Sally Singer. “I heard this one is good,” he shrugged. Byrne said he just unveiled a 50-foot inflatable globe sculpture that’s squashed underneath the High Line in Manhattan.

MOSTLY MARIO: Mario Testino swept into London on Monday for the Burberry show, and to receive the inaugural Moët & Chandon Etoile Award at a Thirties-themed party at the Park Lane Hotel. “I have a sore throat — that’s why you see me wearing this scarf,” said Testino before the show. “But I can tell you I’ll be consuming my fair share of Champagne tonight.” Jasmine Guinness, who planned to attend the black-tie event, co-hosted by Lady Amanda Harlech, Lucinda Chambers and Hamish Bowles, said: “There’s not a tuxedo left in this city.”

Testino’s moment of glory will be a brief one. “Unfortunately I’m not staying in London for long this time around. I’m busy working. Here tonight, and off again tomorrow. It’s the working class, you know. It’s got to be done,” he said.

According to the company, the award celebrates an indi-vidual of exceptional talent and influence.

SLEEPING BEAUTY: Tilda Swinton, who was front row at Pringle Monday, has a busy schedule ahead — in bed. Lately, she’s been busy promoting her latest film, “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” which comes out next month in the U.K. and in the U.S. in December. And she’s recently finished filming Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.” Her plans going forward are to sleep. “An enormous sleep. I’m

like a farmer after a big harvest. I’ll be having a mas-sive old sleep,” she said.

SISTER ACT: Glenda Bailey hosted a cocktail gathering at the Savile Club Saturday to promote her latest book, “Harper’s Bazaar: Greatest Hits.” Guests included Caroline Sieber, Charlotte Tilbury, Henry Holland and Nicholas Kirkwood. Bailey, who was decked in Miu Miu, was in a reflective mood: “I like to think the energy and the pas-sion really come across when you pick up a copy of Harper’s, but above all, I hope that people get that there’s a sense of humor to it, because after all that’s what fashion is about — that feel-good factor,” she mused.

Holland, meanwhile, had a cover idea. “I’d love to see a joint cover shoot of the Fanning sisters. They have a very unusual appeal, and even though they seem to want to keep their identities separate I think that they’d make a pow-erful cover. Do you think I should men-tion it to Glenda?” he asked.

CAFFEINATED: Like many deadline-oriented workers, designers tend to operate in a highly caffeinated envi-ronments, so it’s fitting that Starbucks has recruited three up-and-comers to design one-of-a-kind T-shirts. Alexander Wang, Sophie Theallet and Billy Reid, win-ners of the past three CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund awards have created tops inspired by the brand to cele-brate its 40th anniversary. Each stayed true to his or her DNA — Wang’s design resembles a spilled cup of cof-fee; Theallet’s has a fitted shape with grosgrain ribbon, and Reid’s plays up prep with a worn-in feel. The limited edition $85 T-shirts are made in the U.S. and are sold at starbucksstore.com and through select Nordstrom stores while supplies last.

Nordstrom and Starbucks are supporters of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. Each designer received a fee for participating, but more than anything the venture gave them the chance “to give back a little bit which is in keeping with the spirit of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund,” said CFDA executive director Steven Kolb. And apparently the trio did not take the task lightly. Theallet said, “I was inspired by the global community, and all the connections involved around a cup of Starbucks coffee.”

WILD ABOUT GARY: “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” — and photographer, too? The famously ver-satile Gary Oldman, who’s already generating Oscar buzz for his star-ring role in the film adaptation of John Le Carre’s novel, was the guest of honor at a photographic exhibition at Paul Smith’s Albemarle Street store on Friday night.

The photos were all taken on the film set by Jack English and Oldman, who captured his subjects in black-and-white on a 35mm Widelux camera. “I’ve been getting into pho-tography seriously for about 10 years,” said Oldman, who noted his images “have this grainy effect, which suits the 1970s period. They’re very voy-euristic, too, which I think suits the spy theme of the film quite well. I wanted them to have a backstage feel. I like to capture peo-ple at work.”

Guests at the party included Patrick Grant, artist

Charming Baker, dancer Stephen McRae and Tomas Alfredson, who directed the film.

Oldman could not contain his excitement about the project: “We knew we were working on something special straight away. It just ticked all the boxes. Great cast, great director, great adaptation.”

Smith was an early consultant on the look of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” and he and Oldman are longtime friends. Oldman, who was dressed in a plum corduroy

Paul Smith suit with a matching tie and thick-rimmed glasses, said: “I wore this in his honor. I go to Paul’s store in Los Angeles on Melrose all the time. There’s something quintessentially British about his clothes. They’re like comfort food to me.”

FASHION DELIVERS’ HONOREES: Thomas P. Johnson, chief executive officer at Aéropostale Inc.; Pamela Lifford, executive vice president and gen-eral manager at Disney Consumer Products, and Andy Hilfiger, presi-dent of marketing at MESH/Star Branding and creative director of Andrew Charles, will be the honor-ees at this year’s Fashion Delivers Gala event. The event is the yearly fund-raiser for the charitable foun-dation, which coordinates deliver-ies of donated men’s and women’s apparel and home fashions to aid victims of disasters throughout the year. This year’s event will be held on Nov. 8 at the American Museum of Natural History.

FRINGE ELEMENTS: “They are unique and stubborn, they do what

they want and follow their feeling,” said Roland Mouret, referring to the winner of the annual Fashion Fringe new talent contest: Fyodor Golan. Fyodor Podgorny and Golan Frydman’s spring collection, titled Flowers of Evil, was feminine and edgy, and drew its inspiration from Frida Kahlo, Vincent van Gogh and Charles Baudelaire and his poetry. “We love how these artists grasped at nature as a way of expressing pain. Frida even ended up drawing flowers on herself,” said Podgorny. Their knee-length, rigidly tailored dresses — which were all worn with gold neck braces — came in gentle shades of green and yellow, while others were adorned with glit-tery embroidered flowers and fake gemstones.

WWD.COM15WWD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

FASHION SCOOPS

David Byrne

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Sophie Theallet’s design for Starbucks.

Tilda Swinton

Kanye West

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15WWD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

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