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Master of His GameWith the Masters teeing o� today, two-time champion Tom Watson talks about “The Timeless Swing” and the di� erence between standing out and looking good. Page MW8.

PLUS:BOYS’ NIGHT OUTWhat’s cooking with

chef Curtis Stone. Page MW8.

April 7, 2011

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The Road AheadE-commerce innovators, branding virtuosos and the architect of last year’s biggest acquisition — that would be PVH’s purchase of Tommy Hilfi ger — were among the keynote speakers at the Fairchild Fashion Group Men’s Wear Industry CEO Summit at the Mandarin Oriental on March 29. More than 200 executives gathered to explore key issues impacting business, including the growth of the accessories market, the proliferation of brand collaborations and how to attract top talent to the fashion sector. Coverage of the Summit, which began last week, concludes on pages MW3 to MW7.

John Auerbach Andy Dunn

Emanuel Chirico

Victor Luis

Converse has branChed out on its own for its premium collection for fall.

the company recently severed its four-year relationship with John varvatos and is now producing a stand-alone line, Converse black Canvas, in-house.

the collection, which blends sport with fashion and a rock ’n’ roll sensibility, actually has a resemblance to the Converse by John varvatos line. among the signature pieces are vintage-inspired graphic ts, fleece lounge-wear and shorts, striped henleys and cardi-gans, military cargo pants, leather moto jack-ets and a dobby hooded parka.

apparel design director Gary Feazell has slimmed down the silhouettes to appeal to a younger customer. and the prices have been slimmed down as well, being 10 to 20 percent lower on average. For example, short-sleeve knits will retail for $58 to $68, long-sleeve knits at $68 to $98, sweaters will be $88 to $198, woven shirts $98 to $118, fleece $98 to $148, knit bot-toms at $68 to $78 and woven bottoms $98 to $138. outerwear is priced to retail from $138 to $398.

the company has continued its association with varvatos for its premium footwear.

MW2 WWD Thursday, april 7, 2011

Miami Heat star LeBron James partners with watchmaker as its newest global ambassador.

Men’s Week

Man of THE WEEK

He is sporting a blend of office nerd with a touch of a Sixties beehive.

“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” should never be sung on stage by a middle-aged Peter Pan party boy.

Adding a dress shirt as an underlayer creates a clashing of styles and enhances

the endless fashion faux pas.

The flowy pajamalike pants are reminiscent of Dorothy Zbornak in “Golden Girls,” and would be a more appropriate choice for a self-proclaimed

magician who can convert tin cans into gold.

They actually work beneath the many pleats of the harem pants.

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Lebron JaMes is on a new team.audemars Piguet will reveal at a press event in

Miami on saturday that James, the star forward for the Miami heat, will become the company’s newest global brand ambassador.

“he’s young and he’s one of the very top, top players in his field,” said François-henry bennahmias, presi-dent and chief executive of-ficer for the north american arm of the luxury watch company. “We have hope that he’ll be one of the great-est players of all time and will be remembered 10 years from now, too.”

as part of the associa-tion, James will represent the watch brand in both the u.s. and overseas while the company lends support to James’s charitable efforts.

“Lebron James is a gift-ed athlete and an exception-al humanitarian. his mis-sion truly mirrors ours and we are [pleased] to welcome him to the audemars Piguet family,” said Philippe Merk, ceo of audemars Piguet.

the athlete’s namesake charity is the Lebron James Family Foundation, which works with children and single-parent households dealing with adversity to build hope through educa-tion, physical fitness and better health.

“We saw the impact he has on kids and we wanted to be involved with that,” bennahmias said. audemars Piguet sponsored an event on Feb. 18 in Los angeles, where James and arnold schwarzenegger launched the after-school all-stars’

hoop heroes Program. that event raised $2 mil-lion, he said.

bennahmias said that with its other brand am-bassadors — who include Quincy Jones, Formula 1 driver Michael schumacher, golfers rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, and the “God of

cricket,” sachin tendulkar — the company has created a watch at the same time as unveiling the association. but with James, the watch will come at a later date.

“that is the first time this has happened,” bennahmias said. “We will work with his charity and other children’s charities first.” and the watch launch? “not in 2012, but maybe in 2013.”

until then, he will “wear something from all our collections, not just the offshore, which is a favor-ite of athletes. he dresses well and is stylish, so any-thing in the collection can work for him.”

James has committed to donate the proceeds from any future auctions of his timepieces to his founda-tion and its children’s-re-lated activities.

“I am pleased to be working with such a pres-tigious brand as audemars

Piguet. We both strive for excellence in everything we do,” said James. “to collaborate with aP on an exclusive timepiece while helping my foundation and other worthwhile charities is a real honor.”

James, a two-time nba Most valuable Player, was selected as the number-one pick in the 2003 nba draft and has the distinction of being named the youngest-ever rookie of the Year.

Audemars Piguet, JamesAlign for Charity, Brand

Converse Black Canvas Collection Makes Debut

by davId LIPKe

CYnthIa roWLeY Is GIvInG her men’s wear line a makeover, with a new e-commerce-based selling model and by rebranding it as Mr. Powers — named after her husband, bill Powers, a gallerist and judge on bravo’s “Work of art.”

the new incarnation has an expanded assortment and a more cohesive feeling than the small group of designs rowley previously offered in her six stores. the fall collection will be available on a dedicated men’s microsite at cynthiarowley.com in late July, in addition to the company’s stores in new York City, Chicago, boston, Charleston, s.C., and Montauk, n.Y.

rowley is also targeting a small number of wholesale accounts to carry the line.

“We’ve always had a sprinkling of men’s wear available, but we wanted to make a more concerted effort with it because of the greater visibility it’s got-ten from bill wearing the clothes on ‘Work of art,’ ” said rowley. “he needs more stuff to wear and people keep asking for it.”

Powers, who is the co-owner of new York’s half Gallery with andy spade and James Frey, will return as a judge on the second season of “Work of art” later this year. he is not involved in the design or concept of the men’s collec-tion, however. “We are only using him for his name and his fame,” said rowley with a laugh. “he might say what he wants, but by then it’s probably too late.”

earlier in her career, rowley produced full men’s wear collections, com-plete with runway shows during new York Fashion Week. In 2002, she was nominated for a Perry ellis award for best new men’s wear design talent. however, the men’s business dwindled to a fraction of the brand’s sales, which now total about $150 million, including all licenses and more than 50 shop-in-shops in Japan and taiwan.

the fall men’s collection includes chunky wool sweaters and striped cardi-gans ($275 retail), cotton color-blocked shirts ($195), tweed chesterfield sport coats ($495), twill military jackets ($495) and t-shirts ($60 to $125). there are about 24 styles in tops, with no bottoms.

“We’re only doing tops, no pants, because we think everything looks better with jeans — and guys already have their favorite jeans,” explained rowley.

Cynthia Rowley Launches Mr. Powers Men’s Label

leBron James

A look from the line.

Mr. Powers is named after

the designer’s husband.

The unthinkable has happened, but the fallen television star has proven that there is something worse than an ill-fitting bowling shirt and a pair of baggy cargo shorts. Call it warlock brain or tiger blood or just plain white trash taste, but the drug called Charlie Sheen needs to lock his fashion choices in the same closet in which he’s been known to keep his lady friends.

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MW3WWD thursday, april 7, 2011Men’s Week

Fairchild’s Men’s Wear CEO Summit PART TWO

The Power and Pitfalls of the Acquisition Gameby Vicki M. Young

Do Your hoMework.That’s the advice from Phillips-Van heusen corp.’s

emanuel chirico for anyone contemplating a merger or ac-quisition.

he should know. Since joining PVh in 1993 as controller, chirico, now the firm’s chairman and chief executive officer, has been involved in at least eight acquisitions.

chirico was the keynote speaker in the afternoon ses-sion at the Fairchild Men’s wear industry ceo Summit at the Mandarin oriental hotel in new York on March 29. he spoke the day after PVh posted fourth-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates by 11 cents and said it expects 2011 revenues to come in at least at $5.58 billion.

Prior to the presentation, chirico told wwD that his thoughts regarding acquisitions don’t center on the size of deals but instead on the growth opportunities they present.

on whether new deals need to be huge ones to move the needle, he said, “if acquisitions are part of your strategy, then you need a strategy to it. i don’t want a hodgepodge of stuff.”

chirico told attendees during the presentation that if a transaction doesn’t make PVh a better company, then PVh should probably be “buying its own stock back.”

he discussed four acquisitions. izod and Superba were “bolt-on” deals that expanded the distribution or product categories of a brand. calvin klein and Tommy hilfiger were “transforma-tional” transactions that changed the business of the parent.

Izodcrystal Brands inc. was in bankruptcy when PVh bought its izod and gant businesses in 1995. The main opposition was management, which wanted to do its own deal. no surprise that due diligence and access to management were limited. izod had $200 million in global retail sales, while gant’s were $300 million.

Because crystal was teetering on bankruptcy for some years, there were major operational problems, from qual-ity control to cancellations of goods, that PVh didn’t learn about due to lack of access to information. chirico said for the first two years after the acquisition, those issues led to PVh missing earnings projections by 50 percent on the ac-

quisition, and post acquisition for two years PVh missed fi-nancial results on a consolidated basis that it had guided to wall Street.

“it was not a pretty picture, and then overnight we got re-ally smart,” he said candidly.

PVh sold gant for $100 million, and the izod business started turning around. Today, izod does $1 billion in global retail sales.

“The lesson here is the need to do due diligence. Though we understood the business and its operations, postacqui-sition there are always positive and negative surprises,” chirico said.

SuperbaAn exclusive sale, and PVh’s long relationship with the neckwear firm gave it unfettered access to the company’s fi-nancial and operational information. it also built in a poten-tially lucrative earn-out for Superba’s senior management, which agreed to stay for a three-year period.

Acquired for $105 million in early 2007, Superba had sales of $110 million four years ago and is now a $200 million business. it gave PVh significant revenue and expense cost synergies with its current tie businesses.

chirico cautioned attendees to be careful with earn-outs because, although they incentivize management, they can occasionally confuse decision-making authority. it wasn’t an issue for PVh since both management teams agreed on the future strategy for Superba.

“The moral of the story here is to move quickly and buy what you know,” chirico said.

Calvin Klein“This was a major transaction for us. we broke a lot of our own M&A rules here,” chirico said.

The sale was a full competitive auction, with limited

information, a high purchase price and high leverage. The $700 million deal, closed in 2003, consisted of $425 million in cash and $275 million in an earn-out. PVh’s market capital-ization at the time was $300 million. To complete the deal, it reached out to private equity firm Apax Partners, giving it a 38 percent ownership stake in PVh.

calvin had $2.5 billion in global retail sales and a $100 million licensing business. Seven years later, its manage-ment team is still running the show.

“we did not Van heusen-ize calvin klein,” chirico boasted.calvin “significantly exceeded all of our financial expec-

tations,” chirico said. The operation has helped PVh report record revenue and earnings for five years. PVh paid down the debt and took out the private equity investment in two-and-a-half years. calvin is now a business with more than $6.6 billion in global retail sales.

“great brands are expensive. it’s ok to pay huge premi-ums for a great brand, but make sure you’re actually buying a great brand,” chirico emphasized.

Tommy HilfigerPVh and Apax, hilfiger’s parent, were in talks about Tommy and other opportunities. PVh had total access to the busi-ness, and it invited Tommy’s team to spend time with PVh in the u.S. in what chirico described as a “reverse due dili-gence” process.

“A major selling point with Tommy was how we handled the calvin klein transaction and the fact that we didn’t Van heusen-ize it,” chirico explained.

PVh’s attraction to Tommy was its international opera-tional platform, which the apparel giant felt would enhance the core competencies of both companies.

“it was a big deal,” chirico said of the 2010 transaction. “over $3 billion. we took on $2 billion of new debt. we were highly leveraged again.…we were doing an acquisition that was almost the same size as we were. [Tommy] has $2.5 bil-lion in revenue, generating $380 million in eBiTDA [earn-ings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization].”

Apax was brought in as an investor again, this time hold-ing just a 12 percent stake in PVh.

The firm is quickly deleveraging: it paid down $450 mil-lion and will pay down another $300 million this year.

noting Tommy’s excellent growth prospects, chirico ended his remarks somewhat colloquially: “The moral of the story is: so far, so good — or this better work because my ass is on the line.”

“The moral of the story is: so far, so good — or this better work because my ass is on the line.”

— EManuEl ChiriCO, PhilliPS-Van hEuSEn COrP.ph

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Retail Opportunitiesby JEAN E. PALMIERI

ThE MEN’s wEAR shopper is back, but the recession has changed him. Instead of buying the same old, same old, he’s seeking newness in fit and label, but he’s still holding back a bit and not purchasing at the same levels he did before the financial crisis.

That was the message from a roundtable on Retail Opportunities, which was moderated by Robert Burke, president and chief executive officer of Robert Burke Associates.

“The men’s business is coming back, but the customer has changed,” said Russ Patrick, senior vice president and gener-al merchandise manager of men’s for Neiman Marcus Group. “he’s more thoughtful about his buying habits. he’s asking a lot more questions and is more educated and thoughtful about buying.” he said the customer is “demanding newness. The worst thing for him to see is what was there before.”

At saks Fifth Avenue, it’s the younger, more contempo-rary customer who has been the first to return, according to Tom Ott, svp and gmm of men’s. In fact, he said, while sales of traditional men’s product fell off most during the recession, “the contemporary and designer businesses were less worse.”

Bob Mitchell, co-president of the Mitchells Family of stores, said although the customer is coming in less often, his business has “seen 15 to 16 months of nice growth.” And when he does come in, he’s returned to the high-end

luxury product that he purchased before the downturn. “They would rather buy more of the best [merchandise], even if they buy less of it.”

Kevin harter, vice president of fashion direction for men’s at Bloomingdale’s, agreed that the men’s customer has returned, but noted that there has been a marked change in his spending habits. “Now, 84 percent of men make their own decisions,” he said, meaning that retailers can “market to guys. It makes us better retailers and better at our game.”

Mitchell said one of the things drawing men into stores is the new silhouette. Acknowledging that men “don’t like change,” and often return time and again to the same brands, he said stores should tout the “new fit from their old friends to make them comfortable.” At the same time, he believes men are “open to new brands,” and will mix in a few new vendors if they’re presented properly.

harter agreed, saying Bloomingdale’s tends to “nurture the brands we already carry,” but “balance” those with new labels.

Ott believes there is an opportunity for new brands to flourish and expects there will soon be a “changing of the guard” as some of the more-established brands lose ground

to what harter described as a “young pool of designers.” he added that any brand trying to break into the men’s

arena needs to “offer a distinct point of view and mes-sage.” he also encouraged brands to come to the stores and meet the shoppers so they’re well-versed in what to-day’s customer is seeking.

Mitchell urged vendors to work with the sales associ-ates in the stores to get them behind the brand. “That’s the cheapest, most effective way to market your brand,” he said. “You can connect with the customer through the sales associates, who are your champions on the selling floor. That’s how you can get your first lift.”

The same can be said of private label offerings, a big initiative for many large stores today.

Calling it a “major underpinning of our strategy,” Ott said it is essential for retailers to offer shoppers a differentiated point of view. The saks Fifth Avenue Men’s Collection, which launched in 2009, is the largest brand in the men’s store, and was launched to fill “white space” that the company saw for men’s wear with an international classic sense of styling. “we really went after it during the recession.”

At Neiman’s, Patrick said the store uses private label “when we fall in love with specific product,” but stressed the company’s mission remains “building big businesses with the best designers.”

Online selling was also a topic of discussion. Patrick said the Neiman’s shopper often researches products online before shopping in the stores and is a “huge driver” of the men’s volume. harter said the Internet provides an “edito-rial voice” for the company’s offerings, but many still want to “feel, touch and taste” the product in the store. he said the goal is to create a “synergy” between the two channels.

The panel was in agreement that sales of men’s wear will continue to strengthen in the future.

“The future looks bright for men’s wear,” said Patrick, who said he expects steady growth as men dress up again and shop to complete a more “polished” and “finished look.”

For Bloomingdale’s, attracting a younger customer will be key to future success, harter said. “The contemporary tailored clothing business is one of our fastest growing,” he said, adding that it is essential that retailers learn how to “engage” this younger guy. The secret? “Technology, technol-ogy, technology,” he said, noting stores should install wi-Fi and “wire” their sales associates to attract these shoppers.

A question from the floor about the future of premium denim evoked a range of responses. Mitchell said denim con-tinues to grow steadily. “we sold a lot during the recession and it will continue to be an important part of the mix.”

harter said Bloomingdale’s is selling the same number of units, but the prices are lower than they were a few years ago. Patrick said he has reduced the number of units he bought, but the quality has remained the same.

One big growth area for all the stores, however, is accesso-ries. Noting that products such as pocket squares or tie bars “finish off the look,” Mitchell said today’s man is more edu-cated about his appearance and ready to buy just the right piece to complete his wardrobe.

Men’s WeekMW4 WWD thursday, april 7, 2011

Building Men’s Salesby ALEXANDRA sTEIGRAD

IF COACh INC. had its way, all men would carry purses.

“Manbags, murses, man purses — they are characterized in many different ways, but it is a very substantial opportunity for us,” Victor Luis, president of Coach International, told the audience, whose skepticism turned to intrigue — and laughter — after they viewed a series of clips from popular films and television sitcoms that poked fun at guys who carry bags.

with the image of an exasperated Jerry seinfeld and his “European carryall” still fresh in the minds of the audience, Luis launched into a presentation of how Coach, which reported $3.61 billion in sales in 2010, is aiming to expand its men’s business from 3 percent of sales to 10 percent in five years.

Key to this expansion is Asia, and more specifically, China, where men account for 50 percent of the handbag and accessories market.

Currently, the global market for accessories and handbags equals $26 billion, and just 15 percent, or $4 billion, of that is devoted to men, Luis said. Of the $26 billion market, North America accounts for 30 percent, while Japan and Europe both equal 15 percent. In the next four years, that $26 billion market is projected to expand to $36 billion, Luis said, and China, which represents just 11 percent today, is ex-pected to mushroom to 20 percent by 2015. Growth in North America and Japan, however, is supposed to moderate during that period.

with that said, the idea that Coach, a brand known for its women’s handbags and accesso-

ries, can conquer the men’s accessories market may elicit a few eye rolls. But the New York-based firm actually started as a men’s brand 70 years ago, and it wasn’t until 1962, 20 years after its inception, that the company produced its first women’s handbags and accessories.

“In many ways, this is getting back to our roots and capturing our fair share,” said Luis, who added that women’s bags started to really take off in the seventies and Eighties. Coach cemented its place as a fashion destination in

the late Nineties under the direction of then executive director and president of design Reed Krakoff. (Krakoff is now president and executive creative director of the firm.)

Now the brand is coming full circle, Luis said, “relaunching men’s as a true global op-portunity,” with several new categories like small leather goods, handbags, outerwear, ac-cessories, giftables and footwear.

Although Coach is making a global push to expand its men’s business, its focus is on Asia, which is anticipated to account for nearly three-quarters of the global market by 2015. And part of that push is understanding the Asian male consumer, Luis explained as he

unfurled a shiny black men’s hobo bag, which he referred to as a “mobo.” seconds later, he held up a current bestseller in Japan, the sling bag, an oblong fanny pack meant to be worn across the body like a messenger bag.

Unlike the North American consumer, Asian men own more than one bag and tend to be more fashion-conscious than their North American counterparts.

still, even though Asian men are more into their accessories, Coach isn’t ceding any ground in North America. At the end of 2011, it plans to roll out three full-price men’s

stores in the U.s. and 10 factory stores, as well as men’s concept shops that will be in 37 existing Coach locations in North America.

In China, the company is planning on ex-panding the dual-gender format to not only the majority of its 53 stores, but to any stores it opens in the future.

“we have pretty audacious objectives in trying to reach 10 percent penetration, which I guess some would argue is still conserva-tive, given the fact that it’s 15 percent of the market. we at least should try to aim for that,” Luis said.

“Manbags, murses, man purses — they are characterized in

many different ways, but it is a very substantial opportunity

for us.”— Victor Luis, coach internationaL

“the men’s business is coming back, but the customer has changed.”

— russ Patrick, neiMan Marcus GrouP

Robert Burke, Russ Patrick, Bob Mitchell, Tom Ott and Kevin Harter.

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MW5WWD thursday, april 7, 2011Men’s Week

The Brand Buildersby Lisa Lockwood

“it’s been a good year to be a Hilfiger,” said trey Laird, chief executive and creative officer of Laird + Partners, the new York ad agency.

Laird was referring to “the Hilfigers” ad cam-paign his agency created for tommy Hilfiger. sharing the podium with alex Gonzalez, co-founder and ex-ecutive creative director of aR new York, and James Gardner, ceo and co-founder of createthe Group, the three executives offered insight into brand building, both online and in traditional media.

For Laird, creating an eccentric family of characters enabled the company to re-focus after several twists and turns. when Laird took over the account, he saw that Hilfiger’s image wasn’t as clear as it once was, and there was some confusion with customer perception: “what does tommy really stand for? is he no longer about american classics? is he a rock ’n’ roll designer, or is he hip-hop?” Laird tapped into the company’s roots as classic sportswear with an irreverent twist. “and now that’s the sweet spot,” he said. “what’s hap-pened over the last couple of years is an incredible brand renaissance. the brand has emerged stronger, more fo-cused and more powerful than ever globally,” said Laird.

by using storytelling, Laird brought the Hilfiger characters to life across many consumer touch points, in both traditional and new media. “we gave them all Facebook pages, and fans doubled in the last year. they’ve tweeted from events, large and small, and they’ve been interviewed by blog-gers; they’ve made pop-up appear-ances all over the world, from a box at the U.s. open, where [John] Mcenroe gave them a shout-out, to store openings in Paris and tokyo, to Jimmy Fallon,” said Laird. with all the buzz about digital initia-tives, Laird said it was television, the “tried and true” medium, that put “the Hilfigers” on the map.

in the fourth quarter, Hilfiger made the most aggressive tV buy in its history (spending $7.5 mil-lion for tV holiday commercials), and the Hilfigers hit the air in the U.s. and 14 other countries. “sales have been phenomenal,” he said.

Gonzalez addressed the cre-ative work his ad agency has done for brioni, the high-end family-owned italian men’s wear brand. “it’s a jewel of a small brand,” said Gonzalez, whose agency has also done campaigns for Valentino, banana Republic, Versace, dolce & Gabbana and Jimmy choo. He explained that Umberto angeloni, former ceo of brioni, asked them to come up with a platform that did not speak about fashion at all. “we had to enter the brand’s dna and its reason for being,” said Gonzalez. after conducting a case study, they found the brand was built around 1 percent of the world’s movers and shakers. “these are men who like one-of-a-kind pieces, and they can appreciate the unique nature of this brand,” said Gonzalez. For one long-running print campaign, they photographed a Learjet. For its new campaign, brioni wanted to see more products in the ads.

Gardner’s firm helps companies develop a strong online presence by creating communications platforms and campaigns in digital, mobile, social media and emerging technol-ogies. His clients, such as burberry, Marc Jacobs, La Perla, tom Ford and david Yurman, use digital platforms to tell stories. “digital has changed the way we shop for luxury,” he said. He described the “digital Gentleman” as the luxury consumer “who’s always connected at work and at play. He’s on his lap-

top, he’s on his smartphone, he’s increasingly on his tablet device. How the brand engages this digi-tal gentleman is the key question,” said Gardner.

“digital has radically changed media,” he said. Previously, brands engaged in a one-way monologue with a captive and passive audience. while that still exists, “digital is multidimen-sional. consumers are having a conversation. it’s now an active audience that is voluntary. success is based on not just buying his presence, but earning his presence,” said Gardner.

He explained that now it’s imperative to de-liver “unique and engaging content, whether it’s created, commissioned or curated, to tell the brand’s story.” For example, he cited burberry’s “art of the trench,” which featured user-gener-ated photographs. another client, nowness, uses storytelling from the art, travel and music worlds, and for dunhill, they developed a platform called day 8, which has an iPad app with rich content that engages with the consumer.

James Gardner, Alex Gonzalez and Trey Laird.

Growth financing?Let’s talk.

La Jolla Group specializes in surf, skate, snow, motocross and beach lifestyle apparel with licenses that include O’Neill Clothing USA, Lost Clothing, Metal Mulisha Clothing, Rusty North America and True Love & False Idols. For 16 years, CIT’s responsiveness and steadfast support have contributed to La Jolla’s strong growth.

Want to talk about how CIT Commercial Services can provide your company with the factoring and financing services it needs to grow? Visit us at cit.com or call 800-248-3240.

I asked CIT for a larger line of credit

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© 2011 CIT Group Inc. CIT and the CIT logo are registered service marks of CIT Group Inc.

Credit Protection n Working Capital

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MW6 WWD thursday, april 7, 2011 Men’s Week

Breaking the Rulesby Sharon EdElSon

ThE idEa for Bonobos came serendipitously to andy dunn when he was an M.B.a. candidate at Stanford University. Watching his roommate and Bonobos co-founder Brian Spaly altering his pants using a girlfriend’s sewing machine, dunn identified a hole in the men’s wear market: affordable pants that fit well. he zeroed in on a problem area for many men — the saggy backside or, as he called it, “khaki diaper butt.”

Working from his downtown apartment in 2007, dunn was a one-man order and fulfillment center, with 400 pairs of pants tacked to his bedroom wall. he answered customer service e-mails in the morning, then picked, packed and shipped the merchandise. “on a good day, you’d lay out four invoices on the bed, pull the pants from the wall and put them into packages,” dunn said. “Six months later, we had five employees and were growing by 25 percent month to month.”

along the way, dunn broke plenty of rules.“in many ways, it was a crazy idea,” he said. “folks in this [ap-

parel] industry were the most skeptical. We said, ‘We’re going to design a best-selling men’s brand, sell it over the internet and name it after a promiscuous chimpanzee.’” Meanwhile, Silicon Valley’s tech companies were no more visionary. “People didn’t just say no; they said, ‘hell no,’ ” dunn said.

The first person to recognize Bonobos’ potential was Joel Peterson, chairman of JetBlue airways Corp., who was one of dunn’s professors at Stanford. Peterson encouraged dunn to go against the fashion industry’s grain. “We were going into an estab-lished industry with a very customer-centric model,” dunn said. “We decided we were going to spend all of our time thinking about our customers. and we were going to take advantage of a different way to reach customers — the Web. Great customer service would be central to the concept.”

Without the overhead of stores, dunn was able to hold the price of Bonobos’ San francisco-made pants at $50. “Without print

costs, the internet is a better catalogue,” dunn said. “We were ex-cited about the gross margin of being a brand combined with the growth of being an e-commerce player. as an e-commerce player, you’re aggregating demand and you can grow much more quickly.”

Bonobos pants have a point of difference — an anatomical waistband. like a belt, which has a slight curvature, the waist is contoured. “We actually built that contour into our waistbands,” dunn said. “The next step was the rise. European-cut men’s pants are notorious for a very tight rise, while american pants have this horrible long rise.”

dunn believes flash-sale Web sites such as rue la la and Gilt Groupe are bringing about “a fundamental repricing in the indus-try. The customer that used to be lazy and not shop on sale now has that opportunity every day. This is a game changer for men’s

shopping. it’s fundamentally changing the price structure in our industry. By taking control of vertical distribution, Bonobos will have a fundamentally better price structure over time.”

almost as important as the product is giving consumers a great shopping experience. “We’re trying to provide our customer with a service, which is not just great clothing but a great experience of buying that clothing,” dunn said. “it starts with fantastic product, free shipping both ways and lifetime returns. They’ve gotta love the pants. We’ve just moved on to having a great button down shirt, which alleviates BMT, or billowing muffin top,” where the shirt gathers and bunches at waist. “We’re working on a denim con-cept,” dunn added. “The denim brand will launch on the Web.”

The Key to Attracting Top-Notch Talentby daVid Moin

iT’S noT ThE economy. it’s not the com-petition moving in next door. What re-ally concerns retailers is the difficulty of finding new talent, at least according to a survey of 135 chief executive officers and presidents conducted by the herbert Mines associates search firm, WWd and Equation research.

The survey posed the question: “What keeps you up at night?” The biggest con-cern expressed was talent acquisition and development, said hal reiter, chairman and ceo of herbert Mines. “ninety percent do not believe that the retail industry is at-tracting the best and brightest from college campuses. it’s a problem.”

overall, there is a lack of satisfaction with the talent pool in retailing. “about half [in the survey] thought the skills and expertise needed to fill the C-suite are not available,” and, consequently, 74 percent said they plan to recruit from outside the retail industry for leadership.

That means retailers must invest more in training and skill development. Some do, including Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Saks fifth avenue, Gap and Toys ‘r’ Us, which reiter credited for running effec-tive training programs. nevertheless, “the

retention rate of kids is almost zero after two years,” he added.

“Why haven’t we typically attracted best entry-level talent? The number-one reason is that sexy careers are elsewhere — in banking, consulting, in anything else be-sides retailing,” reiter said. There is also a widespread perception that the first few years in retailing can be a drag. “You sit at a computer and look at a spreadsheet for the first five years,” reiter said.

But he sees some hope. “i am here to tell you the landscape has changed. it’s a new day. The convergence of technology and social media and recent developments in the economy give us great reason to be optimistic. now working in retail is sexy. This shift in the environment is attract-ing the younger generation. now is a great time of opportunity.

“But, at the end of the day, it’s not about salary and stock options. it’s about career development,” reiter said. “You must give them more opportunities to grow faster.”

Luring Men to the WebGilT Man’S Goal is nothing short of total domination. “Beyond even what we’re of-fering now, our intent is nothing less than being the online lifestyle brand,” said John auerbach, president of men’s at Gilt Groupe.

The e-tailer’s strategy involves “bringing excitement back to shopping,” auerbach said. “The key to that is creating unique and per-sonalized customer experiences.”

Gilt Groupe introduced men’s in april 2008. The Web site offers designer and luxu-ry brands at up to 70 percent below regular retail prices. Gilt now has more than 5 mil-lion members, with 1 million monthly shop-pers choosing from 1,500 brands. Men have a choice of 350-plus brands. during the noon to 1 p.m. hour, 120,000 people typically visit the site. Gilt Groupe’s revenues are expected to be close to $500 million this fiscal year.

Gilt Man was spun off in late 2009 in re-sponse to “a relatively sizable male popula-tion on Gilt,” auerbach said. “i was working in customer service and marketing then, and we were constantly getting customer feed-back. in late 2009, we spun off Gilt Man. We’ll continue to evolve our men’s offering with the launch in July of our first separately branded, full-price business.”

auerbach said Gilt’s male shoppers re-spond to value, which has different mean-ings for different people. “it could be the discount off the retail price such as Gilt, or value in the form of a time-saving trusted resource for a full-price product.” Customers will shop both sites, he said, and the full-price site will appeal to men for whom the flash site holds little appeal. “Men were thrilled to have a new channel to buy designer clothing quickly and easily,” auerbach said. “[Gilt] was the first flash sale site to offer men’s.”

a sign of Gilt Man’s success is the fact that 80 percent of men’s products are pur-chased by men for men. “We have a very engaged male population,” auerbach said. “We really [personalize the shopping experi-ence] in a very data-driven way. We built the platform from day one to look at the business intelligence and brand intelligence that we pick up to create unique and personalized experiences. The fact that the site is mem-bers-only gives us a lot of ability to glean additional data. We analyze user navigation, click-through, wait lists, size preferences and price sensitivity. our customer insights enable us to better target communications [to consumers].”

Prior to Gilt Man, men’s online retail

was treated as a commodity or an after-thought, auerbach said. Gilt Man brings consumers “an offering that interests them housed in a store that’s exclusively for them.” Gilt has taken personalization one step further than simply gender-appropri-ate product. “it’s us curating the daily as-sortment based on our understanding of your preferences,” auerbach said. “The personalization carries over from the site to e-mails you get. We have two sets of brand-ing, one for Gilt noir, our loyalty program for big spenders, and Gilt Man.”

Gilt picks six of 30 sales every day to high-light for each member and sends out 10,000 different e-mails daily. if a shopper bought size 32 trousers in the past, Gilt will send the customer a message about a sale of size 32 trousers. “That’s led to tremendous gains in conversion and traffic and a dramatic lift in sales,” auerbach said. “it helped us take the next step to true personalization,” he added. “We’re now moving toward intervention shop-ping, where we can further personalize the experience based on any number of char-acteristics, such as style, size and fit. We’re using the data we collect to replicate as much of the [retail] sales associate-customer inter-action as possible. That’s what data will help us do and that’s what we think is the promise of e-commerce.”

— S.E.

“We said, ‘We’re going to design a best-selling men’s brand, sell it over

the Internet and name it after a promiscuous chimpanzee.’”

— andy dunn, BonoBos

Hal Reiter’s Top 10 Attributes of a Successful CEO:

■ Fits in with the corporate culture.■ Fosters creativity and innovation.■ Knows the difference between a

balance sheet and the profit and loss statement. “You just can’t be a merchant prince anymore.”

■ Listens. ■ Engenders trust.■ Moves fast with alacrity and a

sense of urgency.■ Knows the customer.■ Understands the cadence of

change and technology.■ Has vision.■ Has a history of success. “People

don’t change.”

John Auerbach

Andy Dunn

Hal Reiter

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Men’s Week MW7WWD thursday, april 7, 2011

Collaborations Can Boost the Bottom Lineby DAVID MOIN

WIth cOllAbOrAtIONs between design-ers and retailers spiraling, brooks brothers is taking it cautiously.

the retailer’s high-profile arrangement with thom browne, who designs the black Fleece men’s and women’s collections for brooks bros., has become the focus, though initially, in 2006, brooks bros. said there would be a “laboratory”of guest designers creating capsule collections.

“As far as designer collaborations, this is the one we are going to stick with for awhile. We don’t have any plans to do any more guest collaborations,” noted lou Amendola, chief merchandising officer for brooks bros., during a panel on designer collabo-rations and the benefits of what’s become a burgeoning, industry-wide strategy.

however, brooks bros. is seeking ad-ditional collaborations on “certain classi-fications of product,” Amendola said. the chain has a co-branded luggage line from hartmann; footwear from Peal & co.; jeans from levi strauss, and children’s wear under the Fleece label designed by Nikki Kule.

While at brooks bros. such collabora-tions round out the overall offering, at Gant there seems to be an even higher purpose. the company’s collaboration with de-signer Michael bastian has been “part of the rebuilding of a brand,” said Gant UsA president and chief executive officer Ari hoffman. “the way to speed up [the rebuild-ing process] was to do a collaboration. It really elevated and cranked up the creativ-ity in the company. It created this feeling of competition, the whole creative process has

changed so much.…Gant comes from a man-ufacturing background. It’s never been in the forefront of fashion. this taught us how to communicate better with the press, about fashion and about working with designers.”

the situation with bastian “was not forced. When you let things grow naturally you get the best results…the criteria is that it has to be true to our own brand. I always ask, ‘Is it authentic for us. Is it right for us?’ that’s the start.”

Designer steven Alan, founder of the company bearing his name, recalled when Virgin Airlines approached him to create “the perfect travel bag,” which was intricately designed as a carry-on with a laptop sleeve and several other features. More significantly,

“it led us to kind of staff ourselves to making bags” and develop a network of tanneries, sample makers, factories and other suppliers to launch a handbag collection.

Alan has had a string of collabora-tions, including with Nike, Uniqlo, Urban Outfitters and Dockers. but it’s not about soliciting collaborations, he said. “It’s re-ally people coming to us.” before pursuing a joint project, Alan looks for chemistry with the other party. “You really have to be able to get in there and have our team work with their team.”

At brooks bros., collaborations have emerged in different ways. With levi’s,

brooks bros. made the overture. “We de-cided that levi’s fit our DNA,” since levi’s makes the jeans in America and brooks bros. is an American brand, Amendola ex-plained. “the people involved and the two companies or individuals really have to share some common ground and believe in the same principles to be successful,” Amendola said. “thom grew up in brooks bros. clothes. he knew everything about brooks bros. and our DNA. so we knew right then and there this would be a successful collaboration.…In the beginning this was a p.r. venture. Now it’s a business. We are wholesaling [black Fleece] selectively to re-

tailers and we have a freestanding store.” In addition, black Fleece taught brooks bros. it could sell slimmer suits at a time when they were lacking in the assortment.

the outcome with levi’s was also un-expected. With levi’s added to the assort-ment, said Amendola, “we actually said we will drop our current jean, that we don’t need two jeans. but when we introduced the levi’s, sales of our jeans soared. All of a sud-den we decided we didn’t need to drop our own jeans. It actually helped a classification we were not pleased with.”possible. that’s what data will help us do and that’s what we think is the promise of e-commerce.”

“When you let things grow naturally you get the best

results…the criteria is that it has to be true to our own brand.”

— Ari HoffmAn, GAnT USA Ari Hoffman, Lou Amendola and Steven Alan.

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HMX GROUP Joseph Abboud

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MW8 WWD thursday, april 7, 2011 Men’s Week

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

ToM WATsoN Is worried about the future of the sport he loves so much.

The legendary golfer said he “foresees clouds on the hori-zon” as fewer and fewer people play the game. He attributed it in large part to “the time factor. With all the electronics they have in their pockets,” it’s hard for people to shut out the “e-mail, tweets and texts. And if you check it, you’re required to respond. so it takes four, five, six hours to play and people just don’t have that kind of time. That worries me.”

Watson, who will celebrate his 40th anniversary as a pro-fessional golfer this fall, is in Augusta, Ga., this week for the Masters tournament, the first round of which starts today.

The 61-year-old, whose riveting performance at the 2009 British open, where he lost to stewart Cink in a four-hole playoff at the age of 59, attributes his longevity to his ability to “watch and observe.”

Watson said: “The number-one player when I started was Jack Nicklaus. He was the best prepared of anybody and he knew how best to play the course.” He said Nicklaus would go to Augusta the week before everyone else and get out on the course, and then play again during the practice rounds prior to the official start of the tournament. “And he won six Masters.”

Watson also is an endless student of the game and eager to share his passion with others. Last week, he made an ap-pearance at the Polo Ralph Lauren men’s flagship in New York to sign copies of his new book, “The Timeless swing.”

Watson, whose swing has actually improved with age, is eager to share the lessons he’s learned with anyone will-ing to pick up a 5-iron. The book offers a step-by-step tuto-rial for newbies and experienced golfers alike, with tips on everything from club grip and the arc of the swing to proper spine angle. The book is a strong complement to last year’s DVD set, “Lessons of a Lifetime,” which showed video versions of many of the same instructions.

“With ‘The Timeless swing’ and ‘Lessons of a Lifetime,’ I wanted to produce what I think is the proper way of do-

ing things with a golf club,” Watson said. “These are things that I’ve gleaned from the lessons I received throughout my life. This will be my last hurrah for what I think a swing should be.”

Watson admitted that he “didn’t know how to swing properly until 1994. There was a long stretch when I just couldn’t hit it well. so I made a decision to think outside

the box.” He learned to keep his spine angle con-sistent, and that led to him “hitting the ball straight and lower. It made the game really easy for me. That’s the secret — and it makes perfect sense.”

He credited pros such as Nicklaus and Lee Tre-vino, as well as stan Thirsk, his teacher from the age of 11, for instilling in him a love of the game. “stan has such a passion for the game, it’s infectious,” he said.

When Watson turned pro, he asked Thirsk what he should do when he went out on tour. The answer? “Watch and play with the best.”

That advice still holds true today, but the best players in 2011 have advantages Watson didn’t have when he start-ed out, particularly the updated equipment.

“The ball goes quite a bit further,” he said. “I’m actually a proponent to make the ball go shorter, but I’m a dinosaur and that’ll never happen.”

on the other hand, the courses are in much better con-dition — “They’re like carpets” — and the greens are “very consistent.”

other changes he’s seen in his career include the hefty purses available to professionals today. “The game has got-ten much bigger with all the corporate involvement,” he said. “We’re playing for a lot more money. We’re spoiled rotten with all the perks that are given to us.”

Watson, who says he’s been blessed with “good genes” and has been fortunate to have escaped without serious injury, plans to continue to enjoy those perks as long as he can. After the Masters, there’s the British open, a se-ries of Champions Tour events and the Watson Challenge, a tournament in his hometown of Kansas City, Kan. “I’ll keep playing as long as I’m competitive and can play well when the chips are down.”

With Watson still such a stickler for fine form, what does he think of some of the younger stars whose swings are unorthodox, such as Bubba Watson? “Bubba never had a lesson. He plays by feel,” he said, indicating Bubba Wat-son’s “heart,” which he rates above mechanics.

As for that other signature of golf — the clothes — Wat-son is equally a stickler for the classic. He has been spon-sored by Polo since 1993. “We had some people in the old days [who dressed pretty crazy]. It makes them stand out,” he said. “But it says ‘Look at me,’ not ‘Do I look good.’ ”

EYE

Tom Watson on Form and Style

WHEN WRITING ABouT a mildly famous (at least in some circles) man on a weekly basis (except when it gets bumped for WWD’s men’s summit coverage) it can’t always be about an actor, though it would be easy to go there. A chef, prefer-ably one who is in New York, willing to talk about more than food, and has an iota of sexy chef appeal, would be a nice alternative. unfortunately, The New York Times just did a big profile on sam Talbot. Anthony Bourdain was in Macau. Then someone mentioned Curtis stone, whose name didn’t ring a bell but whose face, it turned out, was all over the relent-less NBC promos for “America’s Next Great Restaurant,” which he hosted with Bobby Flay and the guy who owns Chipotle. That was stone’s eighth experience and counting with reality TV. Just last night he made his debut as the host of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters.

It probably would have been amusing to have him make lasagna in my 20-square-foot kitchen, or shop for kale at the green market, or at least go to his favorite restaurant while he was in New York. Instead it was coffee in the general vi-cinity of 770 Broadway per his publicist’s request. I blanked and could only come up with Think on Mercer, which is a de facto NYu dining hall and was thusly packed with 20-year-olds bathed in the ambient light of their laptops, none of whom recognized stone or mistook him for Ellen DeGeneres even though they dress alike — not a bad thing — and have the same hair cut.

stone, 35, is bleach blond and Australian with the slight-ly exotic yet bright and sunny combination of tan, teeth and accent that has Magical Elves knocking on his door. Also, the producers of “Celebrity Apprentice,” on which he starred alongside Bret Michaels and Rod Blagojevich for season three. Before that there was “Take Home Chef” on TLC and “surfing the Menu” back in Australia, both of which came after stone was plucked by the media from Marco Pierre White’s kitchen in London, where he actually earned a Michelin star — his badge of honor. If you thought Tom Colicchio was the master of reality cooking shows, you were wrong. stone is every-where. on “The Biggest Loser,” hosting the Miss usA Pageant, grilling shrimp and pouring Chardonnay for Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee on the fourth hour of “Today.”

In the beginning, stone was constantly positioned as the cutie with a way with a saucepan that housewives would love to invite into their home. That was, in fact, precisely the premise for “Take Home Chef,” his introduction to the American public, which ran in 2006 and 2007. He shot the pilot for the free flight to LA, which was in relative proximity to the 30th birthday party he was throwing for himself in Las Vegas, not thinking it would get picked up for 60 epi-

sodes. The idea was to approach a young, attractive woman in a supermarket and volunteer to help her cook dinner as a surprise for her husband. “some guys turned around and walked right back out the door. some guys were like, ‘Whoa! I get a chef to cook me dinner. How cool!’ some guys were just happy there weren’t busted on ‘Cheaters.’ They’d walk into the house and see all these cameras pointed at them.” stone says that nothing more than dinner prep ever hap-pened with the women targeted on the show. “Most of them were married.”

Implicit in all this is that stone owes his success more to how he looks more than the way he cooks. He doesn’t have his own restaurant, though he plans to open one this year in Los Angeles, where he lives with his girlfriend, but he does have a big business, which includes a test kitchen under the name stone’s Cuisine, where he and a team of chefs pump out recipes for AoL and various food magazines. There’s also his line of kitchen utensils, a cookbook franchise, and a deal with midwestern supermarket chain Hy-Vee. In other words, he’s doing pretty well. stone is self aware enough to know that some of his peers might be inclined to dismiss him as a pretty boy. “I kind of like that,” he says. “I really feel like we take ourselves too seriously, in general. Not just chefs, but chefs especially. We think we’re these f-----g gods and why? We’re someone that puts dinner on the table. If anyone’s a hero in the food industry, it’s the guy that works his ass off on a farm.”

Plus, it’s hard to take oneself seriously on the reality circuit. stone was just in from the Bravo upfront in Los Angeles, where he met the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and New York, Patti stanger from “Millionaire Matchmaker.” “An ensemble of weirdos in the nicest pos-sible way,” he says. “You just can’t f-----g believe some situa-tions you find yourself in.” Especially when it comes to the housewives. “They still do write reality shows,” explains stone. “Like ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ for example, there’s a five-act breakdown that they set up. They know that if you take six people and tell them that they have to pick a leader

and do this and do that, then there’s going be some level of conflict before lunchtime. But with the Housewives, it’s like they give them a glass of champagne and scream ‘Action!’ and watch it all evolve. Bizarre.”

stone hasn’t met the women of orange County, but he recently watched an episode in which one housewife hosted a Botox party. “They all came and got Botoxed,” says stone. “Two of them had an argument so they thought it would be funny to bring a can of Mace, just in case. so she went and picked up two cans of pepper spray and gave one to her girlfriend and said, ‘You never know. We might need it.’ F--k me. I’m so normal.”

Throw Another Hot Chef on the Barbie!

Boys’ Night OutBy Jessica Iredale

Tom Watson

Curtis Stone

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