Sine – Pretty, Wonderful Clothing

Beautiful things must come in threes.  Sine, Parameter and LAILA are three beautiful lines designed by one talented Australian Micaela Ezra, a former designer for Cynthia Steffe.

Sine the newest of the three lines began in the spring of 08 – sparked by one little question, what would I like to wear on a daily basis that is not readily available in the market?  The answer, a line that is a bit edgy yet refined and modern, and sophisticated with bohemian undertones.

Each piece is finished with the detail of a much more expensive line – full silk linings, French seams, luxe and high tech fabrics and contemporary details.  Signature pieces are silk tops with pleating, ruffles and draping paired with hi-waisted and structured waist line skirts and pants for an easy downtown look. Dresses are plentiful and pretty but always with a modern twist.

Ezra’s uses prints that are reminiscent of painters like Klimt, Monet, and Degas. She told Lindsey Calla of Saucy Glossy Blog “I’m inspired by the look of the brushstroke and that sort of rawness.  When you see those masterpieces, there’s an instinctual response to color.”

Ezra believes, “women want to feel something specific when they put on a piece of clothing, every woman has those moments of fantasy or escape — like music or art. Fashion allows you to play a certain role.  Slip it on, zip it up, and you just feel like a goddess”.

She makes a belted high-waisted A-line skirt look sexy with just the right amount of prim when paired with a perfectly proper blouse.

Mom always told me “pretty is as pretty does” and Sine is doing pretty, wonderful fashion.

Make sure you check it out (Fall 1 & 2, 2010) at the upcoming Intermezzo Show – May 3-5 at Pier 92, Booth 1363.

It’s a must see and a must buy!

Photos: Sine Website

Price Points: $120-$300 at Retail

Where to Find It:

Corporate Showroom
519 8th Avenue
19th Floor
New York, New York 10018
212-947-5182 Phone
212-947-6480

Atlanta Showroom
Tricia Boch
3040 Peachtree St.
Unit 1112
Atlanta, Ga 30305
tricia@sineny.com

Dallas Showroom
Kaitlin & Co.
1807 Ross Ave.
Gallery 110
Dallas, Tx 75201
405-215-2193 Phone
214-694-5814 Fax
kaitlin@valerieco.com

http://sineny.com
http://www.shopsineny.com

Leigh & Luca – Swoon-Worthy

Serendipity brought Gillian Leigh and Susann Luca together a little more than a year ago.  A chance meeting over a scarf on a downtown Manhattan subway station, set them on the ambitious course of reinventing  “the scarf”.  Luca envisioned a new fashion category: an over-sized rectangular or square piece that could be worn as a shawl or sarong and also as a travel blanket.  They succeeded wildly and you can find their designs in a limited number of fine boutiques throughout the world.

Luca, the creative Director travels the world for inspiration.  Her spirit is seen in exotic influences from Africa and Asia.  Cashmere, silk, and cotton are hand-woven on century-old wooden looms in India and then limited edition hand printed art and hand embroidered designs are added. The designs are modern and edgy, dominated by a color palette of neutrals (blacks, greens, and creams).  They merchandise the scarfs using a tone-on-tone look, and spice things up by pairing them with slightly darker or brighter tones.  The result, irresistible.
For Fall 2010, they’ve added handbags with the same beautiful artwork and craftsmanship you find in the scarfs.  The hand-printed crushed cotton canvas totes are swoon-worthy and even though the buttery leather totes are not imprinted they are definitely “no plain jane”.  Every detail from the lining to the hardware is exquisite.  Best of all your customers won’t be mortgaging their houses to buy one.  The prices at retail start in the $240’s for the canvas and the $560’s for the leathers.  Worth every penny!

Price Points: Scarfs: $98 – $250 at retail, Handbags:  Cotton Canvas: $245 – $275 at retail, Leather: $565 and up.

Where to Find Them:

Showroom

addison+crescent

Cooper Bldg

860 S. Los Angeles Street
Suite 611

213 612 0050

213 612 0015(f)

www.addisoncrescent.com

addison+crescent

525 Broadway
Suite 202

New York, NY 10012
212 925 5601(p)
jessica@addisoncrescent.com

Website: http://www.leighluca.com

Your Brand Is What Your Customers Say It Is!

Is this true?  Is your brand really whatever your customers say it is? You’re darn right it is.

Designer Eileen Fisher learned this lesson last year.  The hard way.  Eileen created a media storm last year when she behaved as if her fashion brand belonged to her, and not her customers.  First she offended Rosie O’Donnell, a loyal customer from a core demographic.  Mistake #1, was offending Rosie O’Donnell.  Rosie is vocal,  has a huge bull horn (Sirius XM radio to speak from) and has publicly shared her unabashed love for Eileen Fisher’s clothes for years.  Mistake # 2, Biting the hand that feeds you.  Ouch!

Mistake #1 Offending Rosie O’Donnell

On her Rosie Radio show, O’Donnell shared a conversation she had with Eileen about the designers line. Rosie said she told Eileen, “On behalf of every plus size woman in the world, I just want to thank you.” Eileen’s final response after they traded a few barbs.  “Well, it’s just not the image we are going for.”

OMG!  Missing a sensitivity chip Eileen?  Forgetting who the customer is?  Rosie is not the image you are going for!!!  OOOh, that one hurt. Rosie said later “it was like someone stabbed me in the heart.”  “I was like, ‘OK, Eileen, we’re broken up. I am wearing Donna Karan from now on.’”

Ok Eileen,  listen up. I bought your line for many years for my boutiques and the “Rosie demographic” – as in “fit challenged”, middle-aged women with money who talk is exactly the image your brand is known for. Not size 2, younger, hipper women with a defined waistline and a thirst for fashion.

Don’t get me wrong. Your line is a great line. It’s generously cut, washable designs with a huge passionate following among  real women.  Real women with real “fit challenges”.  Real women who purchased  $273 million dollars of your stuff in 2009.  Real women who drove your growth when other retailers were  just gasping for breath. Your passionate following currently is not the size 2 younger, cooler woman with a defined waistline and a thirst for style.

Mistake # 2 Biting the Hand That Feeds You

C’mon Eileen.  Don’t fool yourself.  I know you want to change the perception that only bigger, older women buy your clothes.  You have to.  But right now they’re the ones feeding you.  You have to be relevant among a younger generation of shoppers, I get it.  Saying you are doesn’t make it so.  And saying it won’t get you there. And alienating the women who got you where you are today won’t make it happen.  You need to be open and honest and share your plans with your existing customers.  And a touch of diplomacy in the future won’t hurt either.

Transitioning your store or brand  to a younger demographic is a straddling act.  At some point (if you’re around long enough) your boutique or brand will have to do this.  Here’s how I did it.  I wanted to attract more of my customers daughters.  First, I shared my plans with my customers and asked them to help me identify brands their daughters would love and they would love.  They were more than eager to help.  The next trip to market I was armed with dozens of new possibilities.  I selected the top six to test.

When the merchandise  began arriving in-store the moms were my biggest promoters.   They made sure they told everyone it was a great place for mother-daughter shopping!  Exactly what I wanted to hear.  Exactly what I wanted them to say.  Painlessly, seamlessly, a new brand image was formed.

Tour Isabel Marant’s New Store in Soho

The Isabel Marant boutique in Soho opened on April 9.   The store is modern with lots of open space yet has old bones and a quietness of design.  The perfect backdrop for gorgeous things like her little woven jackets, fringed boots, studded messenger bags, chunky jewelry, beautiful soft tees and more.

Image via WWD

The French designer and Harriet Mays Powell, New York fashion editor took a video tour of the store and picked out their favorite items.  I love the allure of her brand.  Part of the allure is it has been hard to get it in the US.  In an earlier post I talked about this and how more boutiques need to consider a “rarity” mentality in  A Rare Brand Indeed.

Where’s She Located:

55 Greene Street
212-219-2284
475 Broom Street
Pop in and visit her husband Jerome Dreyfuss for a look at his beautiful leather handbags.
http://www.isabelmarant.tm.fr

Of Two Minds – 40 Perfect Pieces

One stop shopping just got easier for fashion buyers.  Of  Two Minds launched by Tony Graham  in spring 2010 is a line where you can find the perfect top, the perfect pant, the perfect everything.  No need to cherry pick multiple brands to make up a tightly edited collection.  Just walk into a Findings Showroom, sit down and start writing.  Bring lots of OTB dollars because you’re not going to want to stop.

Graham saw a gap in the market for a line that was well-edited and covered all a woman’s essential wardrobe needs.  He organized a meeting of two fashion minds designers Desanka Fasiska and Stephanie Tran – and a collection was born.  Fasiska’s design esthetic leans toward sexy, feminine chic with a dash of vintage and a hint of bad girl.  Tran, the designer of A Common Thread mixes things up with texture, color, vibrant prints and embellishments creating a whimsical, craftsman like  feel.  The two of them together blend seamlessly into California cool meets globetrotting bohemian.

Fasiska told Apparel News, “.. almost everything has both of our fingerprints all over it. We pass things back and forth between us all day long. And the tag-team approach, gives the entire line a cohesive feeling.”

They work in soft fabrics like whiskered chambray, acid wash, and sand-washed twill and stretch black lace. They mix vintage and new.  Vintage Army jackets and pants were reworked into contemporary statement pieces for the well-edited 40 piece spring line.

The line while distinctive has all the makings for staying in a woman’s closet for a long time.  Just make sure it’s in all your customers closets.  Run, don’t walk to buy this one.

Price Points: Tops at retail $90 to $275, Jeans and pants $275+, Jackets $300-400, Dresses $300-400.

Where to Find It:

Findings Showroom
860 South Los Angeles St.
Suite 609
Los Angeles, Ca 90014
213-622-0717
213-624-9536
Ashley@findingsinc.com

250 West 39th
Suite 1001
New York, NY 10019
216-944-7900
216-944-2544
jamie@findingsinc.com

Website:  www.of-two-minds.com

Must Love Boutiques Wins Blog Award

Check it out Must Love Boutiques is the Featured Blog on the Blog Awards List published by Kodak Printer Ink.  The site has over 200,000 unique visitors monthly and features over 30,000 blogs.

Muubaa Leather – Rocker Chic With a Downtown Look

Muubaa is a London based fashion brand that launched in September 2007.  Their price points are accessible for amazing leather designs, bridging the gap between high street and designer. The line is edgy and has its own point of view…..100% cool rocker chic with a great downtown look.  They were at Coterie for Fall 2010 and it was hard to resist leaving heavy orders for this one.

They launched in Top Shops iconic Oxford Street store and since then have grown rapidly throughout Europe, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In 2010 they crossed the ocean to the USA and Canada as well as into Japan and China.  This is a line I would grab immediately.  It’s a perfect boutique line and customers will be lining up for seconds at these price points.

Photos:  Muubaa Website

Price Points: $250-$400

Fit:  Slim

Where to Find Them:

Wallace Sacks, LTD
Chandler Building
8 Scrubs Lane
NW10 6RB London
United Kingdom

Phone: +442089606988
Fax: +442089688928
Stephen Sacks Ceo
http://www.muubaa.com
http://www.muubaa.co.uk

Bailey 44 – The Perfect Fit

What do you do when you can’t find the kind of clothes you really want to wear?  Make them yourself, of course!  That’s exactly what the two fashion veterans behind the line Bailey 44 did in 2006. Ruthy and Shelli couldn’t find clothes that were cool and understated, sexy but not overt, modern, relevant, well made, and that fit a woman with taste so they just starting making them, themselves.  They produce in American so Shelli (as in Shelli Segal of Laundry and an owner) can try on every single style and submerge herself in all phases of production.  That’s not an easy task when you produce a collection a month. But it works.  Its works exceedingly well.

Bailey 44 appeals to a broad range of customers and ages – from 20 to 50 – who love fashion but aren’t slaves to it.  Saying its comfortable, wearable and affordable makes it sound pedestrian.  Its not. It is affordable, wearable fashion but with a designers eye for details.  Details like pin-tucking, gathering, and color blocking.  Jersey fabric can be tricky but they use it creatively.  It’s doubled so the first layer hugs the body and the second layer lies looser so the fit is super-flattering.
Their Spring/Summer 2010 collections use linen and lace for a softer look one month, then dive into leather detailing, rivets and browns with a bolt of bright yellow for a rocker vibe the next month.  They play with tribal influences in summer and then transition to early fall with a more natural palette of neutrals, hunter green, and earthy tones.  Basics are a staple of the line in  black, white and gray but even their staples have a trendy twist to them.

Bailey 44 is a versatile line that’s going to be around a long time.  Great for mother daughter shopping.  The fabrics work in all areas of the country.  It’s one of those lines that always seems to “sells right out of the box”.

Price Point: $100 – $300 Retail

Distribution: Fairly extensive but it never hurt my sales.  The line is big enough to edit to your store needs.

Fit: Runs slim so size up depending on silhouettes and body types

Where to Find It:

2160 East 10th St.
Los Angeles, Ca 90021
213-228-1930
213-228-1937
info@bailey44.com

Simon Showroom
West Cooper Building
860 S Los Angeles Street Ste #533
Los Angeles CA 90014
T: 213.593.1394
F: 213.593.1397

95 Fifth Avenue 3rd & 4th Floors
New York NY 10003
T: 212.242.1565
F: 212.242.6836

Atlanta Apparel Mart
250 Spring Street
9E329 – 9th Floor
Atlanta GA 30303BailBail

PeaceLoveMom – A Celebration of Motherhood

How can you not love a line that has Peace, Love and Mom in its name.  It was one of my favorites tee lines at Magic. It started at the beginning of the recession in 2006 and motherhood is its inspiration.  They’ve had lots of success and it’s not to hard to figure out why.

1.  They have really cute, fun tee styles with great colors.

2.  Their branding is hip, fun and happy.  Puts a smile on your face!

3.  Their cottons are yummy, soft and irresistible.

4.  Their fit is not too small or to big and their sizes are from XS to 2XL.

5.  They have something for everybody…..mom, baby, daughter.

The long sleeve and short sleeve tees retail for under $50 making it an easy sale and great gift item.  They have a great website with lots of other goodies…childrens, babies, accessories and more.

Babies PeaceLoveMom Line

Cindy Crawford and daughters in PeaceLoveMom

I met Suzanne Simkin one of the owners at Magic and she is full of enthusiasm and it’s infectious.  She’s the one on the right with her family.

Suzanne Simkin and Family (in coral tees on right)

Babies PeaceLoveMom

Reynolds Wolf, a CNN reporter talks with the 3 owners of PeaceLoveMom and finds out what makes them successful in this market. Check out the video.

Where to Find It:

For wholesale or product information:
contact Suzanne at 404.966.8273 or Lori at 404.259.6542
email celebration@peacelovemom.com
website www.peacelovemom.com

Photos:  PeaceLoveMom

A Peace Treaty

A PEACE TREATY is the beautiful by-product of a Pakistani Muslin (Farah Malik) and  a Libyan Jew (Dana Arbib).  In 2008 they joined forces to produce luxurious hand crafted accessories inspired by Middle Eastern, Asian, European and African influences. But here’s where it really gets interesting, they only work with local artisans in regions immersed in sociopolitical conflicts.  Why?  They want to provide employment to artists so they can preserve their trade.  They want to provide fair trade wage rates (that can be up to 8 times the local rate) so they can better artisans circumstances.  They want to enlighten people throughout the world about social issues that are important to them. In summary, they want to make the world a better place.

Their design inspiration starts with Arbib.  She forms a picture in her mind of what she wants to see people in or something she is lusting over.  Then she sketches it out for Farah and they start building on the ideas.

With ideas in hand they look for trades that are dying out because of industrialization and conversion to factory-based manufacturing.  They research the type of handicrafts a region offers or the types of colors and patterns used within the county’s aesthetic culture.  Story boards are made to inspire them as they look for interesting ways to modernize what a country has to offer and then translate it into one great accessory.

Each season they select a different region to work in.  Their new spring collection, Sozan Doz, was done in partnership with Afghan Hands. Each scarf is hand-embroidered by a widow in Afghanistan using traditional embroidery skills. In an interview with the Cut they told Sharon Clott, “It wasn’t easy, because infrastructurally, Afghanistan is harder even than Iraq to work in,” said Malik. “We had to airlift fabric in. The whole project took three or four times longer than any of the other projects we’ve done. It was a total labor of love.”  Their line is a total labor of love-Arbib’s love of graphic, textile and product design and Malik’s love for social justice and human rights-combined to create beautiful, lovely things.

While A Peace Treaty is mainly known for its exotic, understated, exquisitely crafted scarves, this Spring (2010) they introduced a jewelry line, Sunari which means “female goldsmith”.  The jewels are inspired by the Kuchi nomadic tribes of Afghanistan and the Turkoman tribes of Central Asia. There are 12 pieces in the collection and no two pairs of earrings or necklace are the same.  Each hanging amulet and talisman is 24 karate gold-plated and has beautiful intricate geometric carvings.

Their Capra collection of scarves and shawls features hand-woven Himalayan cashmere made from the shedding hairs of  Capra Hircus mountain goats.  The items are woven using the finest and silkest hairs of the goat and the skill and craftsmanship learned and passed down through many generations.  The Kilim collection of scarves, stoles and neckerchiefs features hand-blocked printed silks. The process embodies the art of carpet weaving found in traditional Central Asian kilim carpets.

If you need artisan-level accessories for a luxury market customer, you need A Peace Treaty.

Pricepoints: Scarfs: $$60-$320 Retail, Jewelry: $120-$280
Lifestyle: Casual Chic, Luxury

How To Find Them

Offices/Studio
1133 Broadway Suite 618
New York, NY 10010
646-352-2127 Phone
646-861-4643 Fax
farah@apeacetreaty.com
jesse@apeacetreaty.com

Showroom Representation:
Simon Showroom
95 5th Ave
New York, NY 10003-3052
212-242-1565
info@simonshowroom