GET IT WHOLESALE!

EXCLUSIVE Brooks Brothers will start wholesaling

its men’s and children’s wear to Nordstrom, beginning in July. Page 2.

ACCESSORIES

Coach Aiming To Double Men’s Wear BizFreestanding stores, new product part of the growth plan.

January 27, 2011

PHOTO BY MAURICIO MIRANDA

A new softer shoulder in tailoring was all over the Milan and Paris runways, like this one from Jil Sander by Raf Simons. For more runway trends, see pages 4 and 5.

Mister SofteeReed Krako�

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

NEW YORK — Coach Inc. wants a bigger piece of the men’s wear pie.

The plan, which will begin this year, includes additional freestanding stores, in-store shops within existing stores, a dual-gender retail concept and enhanced product offerings both in North America and overseas. All told, these moves are expected to double the men’s business in 2011, with further growth expected beyond that, according to Michael Tucci, presi-dent of the company’s North American retail division.

“We’re almost one year into our fi rst freestanding men’s store on Bleecker Street,” Tucci said. “And the customer response to the more intensifi ed assort-ment in that store and our shops in North America and Asia have led us to believe that the men’s opportunity is substantial.”

Right now, men’s accounts for less than 5 percent of the company’s $3.6 billion in an-nual sales. “But we’re expecting to double our men’s business this year,” Tucci said. He said the growth will be “organic” and will not be tied to expansion in women’s. “But it represents a very substantial volume oppor-tunity in the near and long term.”

{Continued on page 6}

Jil Sander

by WWD Staff

PARIS — Strong on creative, masculine and luxurious designs, the French capital is starting to give other men’s wear capitals stiff competition.

“Paris, for us, was as exciting as the city itself. We arrived in an-ticipation of great opulence and unbridled creativity, and we were very pleased,” Nickelson Wooster, men’s fashion director for Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, said of men’s fashion week, which wound up here Sunday.

“Paris has proved to be prolific, as we’ve picked up new brands to add to our portfolio,” said George Yang, general merchan-dise manager, men’s wear, at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, listing Ann Demeulemeester and Dover Street Market among them. “We’ve experi-enced some of our best sell-through results recently and have increased our purchases to be in line with our positive performance. Paris has al-ways provided the compelling, di-rectional and the dramatic.”

Buyers were in an upbeat mood, with budgets to match.

“Men’s wear has performed consistently well throughout 2010, and we remain optimistic for 2011, planning double-digit increases for our best-performing departments,” said Richard Johnson, men’s wear buying manager at Harvey Nichols, whose Knightsbridge lo-cation logged a 29 percent bump in

its designer room last season.“The men’s business is grow-

ing,” agreed Claudio Antonioli, owner of Antonioli in Milan, citing gains in online sales to interna-tional clients. “Budgets are up 35 percent on the year-ago period.”

Key trends include oversize and longer outerwear, easy suit-ings, wide-leg trousers, check pat-terns, fur trims and shots of color — from camel shades to brights.

“I thought the collections were strong, with a real focus on quality and detailing. It felt like a very mas-culine season,” said Stephen Ayres, buying manager for men’s wear at Liberty in London. “We saw a lot of outerwear, and chunky knits that were very masculine. People were trimming outerwear with lots of fur, which gave a real feeling of luxury.”

Collections by Dries Van Noten, Junya Watanabe, Lanvin and Ann Demeulemeester earned wide praise, with Rick Owens, Maison Martin Margiela, Dior Homme, Balmain and Givenchy also getting mentions.

Here’s what buyers had to say:

Jason Broderick, general merchandise manager for men’s wear, Harrods: TRENDSPOTTING: “There’s a new sense of luxury coming to France. It’s luxury dressing that’s wearable.” SOUND-OFF: “Paris obviously is not as big a business as in Milan in terms of power brands, but for men’s wear there’s the creativity side of it.”

Eric Jennings, vice president and fash-ion director for men’s wear, home, gifts, food at Saks Fifth Avenue: TRENDSPOTTING: “The most saleable trends were the tailored jackets. It was great to see sharp, tailored shoulders. Also, the sweater-jacket hybrid continues. In terms of color, brown is the new black and camel is the new gray.”

Richard Johnson, men’s wear buying manager, Harvey Nichols: TRENDSPOTTING:“Coats, espe-cially in shearling and leather, and heavy knitwear which can be worn as outerwear will be the key investment pieces for fall 2011.”SOUND-OFF:“We have seen a much clearer, distinctive direction from the Paris designers, which has centered around sophisticated elegance and simplicity.”

Nickelson Wooster, men’s fashion director for Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman: TRENDSPOTTING: “Twisted clas-sics, warm color, fur and hats.” SOUND-OFF: “The timing of every-thing. Between the New York and Pitti Uomo trade shows and the one-day break between the Milan and Paris runways, it is impossi-ble for one person to cover it all.”

David Walker-Smith, buying and merchandising director for men’s wear, beauty, fragrance, home and leisure, Selfridges: TRENDSPOTTING: “I think the

superwide pant that Raf Simons introduced for spring-summer was picked up all over Paris, and I think it’s an absolute key shape for [fall] 2011. [Also] color is very important.”SOUND-OFF: “We didn’t have any problems — apart from Givenchy when all the lights went out and we had to sit there for an hour and a half.”

Stephen Ayres, buying manager for men’s wear, Liberty: TRENDSPOTTING: “For us, the biggest trend this season is a real focus on outerwear, with the sil-houette a bit longer.” SOUND-OFF: “It was nice seeing a lot of collections grow up a bit and become more serious this season. And the use of color. It will look really exciting on the shop floor.”

George Yang, gmm, men’s wear, Lane Crawford Hong Kong: TRENDSPOTTING: “New ease in men’s suiting — a softer, sophis-ticated silhouette. Also, exotic plaids and checks, multifunction-ality (reversible, etc.), luxury ma-terials (mink, sable, fox), shearling jackets, red as a highlight.” SOUND-OFF: “Paris is certainly very important as a hub for most of our buying appointments — plus Paris offers highlights as in trade fairs from Tranoï, Capsule and Rendez-Vous Homme. I always get concerned we’re downgrading Milan, New York and Japan.”

Buyers Love Paris in the FallVan Noten, Watanabe, Owens, Dior Homme, Lanvin among standouts.

2 WWD THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2011 Men’s Week

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

NEW YORK — Brooks Brothers is about to become a wholesaler.

The venerable retailer will reveal today that it has created a partnership with Nordstrom to sell its men’s and children’s wear collections beginning this fall. The Seattle-based Nordstrom will carry the Brooks Bros. merchandise in about 30 stores and online.

“We know many of our customers admire and appreciate the Brooks Brothers brand for its heritage and quality,” said David Witman, Nordstrom’s general merchandise manager of men’s. “We think our customers will respond well to it.”

Beginning in July, Brooks Bros. items will be available in select Nordstroms around the country, including in Seattle, Chicago, Dallas and Tyson’s Corner, Va. Paulette Garafolo, Brooks Bros.’ president of international, wholesale and manu-facturing, said the Nordstrom buying team purchased product that is target-ing “a much more contemporary cus-tomer. They bought it in a collegiate, younger way.” For example, instead of the traditional sack suit, Nordstrom will offer slimmer silhouettes in suits, skinny ties, slimmer shirts and cam-pus-inspired sportswear. Nordstrom will also carry the newly launched Fleece collection for boys and girls, designed by Nikki Kule.

The items will sport the Brooks Bros. label and will be merchan-dised as classifications, Garafolo said. “And there will be big market-ing events in 10 key doors” to intro-duce the offering, she noted.

“This will help us reach a new audi-ence,” she said, “one that is probably 10 years younger than our core customer.”

And since Nordstrom doesn’t carry a lot of heritage-inspired prod-uct, “it doesn’t duplicate a lot of what they have on their floors,” she said.

Garafolo said there are no plans at this time to expand the wholesal-ing initiative, although the deal with Nordstrom is not exclusive. “We’re complete novices at the wholesal-ing world,” she said. “So we said, let’s start and do it right with one customer. We’re probably two years away from adding any more whole-sale business.”

In the early Nineties, the com-pany had attempted to wholesale to independent specialty stores in the States but achieved only mod-erate success and the initiative was abandoned shortly thereafter.

Retail

Brooks Brothers To Wholesale To Nordstrom

Man of THEWEEK

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA A+State of Fashion 2011.

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Value of all men’s and boys’ suits, sport coats and dress coats exported from the U.S. to other markets in the year ended Nov. 30, 5.5 percent above the prior-year level of $32.7 million. The biggest recipient of these exports was Canada which, at $11.1 million, was up 26.8 percent from the previous 12-month period.

SOURCE: Commerce Department

$34.5 millionObama gets

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6 WWD THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2011 Men’s Week

CoaCh aims to Double men’s salesThis Year

by LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN— Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have revamped their men’s bou-tique here — and it’s all male.

“The store now has a younger, more contemporary vibe,” said Dolce during a walkthrough of the store on Corso Venezia. “Products are more accessible, you can see and touch them more easily.”

Merchandise is visible even when stored away in drawers, enclosed by glass panels. “The store celebrates the rite of shopping for pleasure,” said Gabbana.

To further endorse such enjoyment, the designers redid the store’s layout, separating each category and even expanding the chang-ing room areas to allow customers to sit on burgundy, oversize velvet poufs and discuss the looks. “It allows for almost a locker-room mood,” said Gabbana.

One prominent additional area is the “black tie” room, equivalent to the vanity room in the women’s boutique a few steps away. Rendered more private by velvet-pad-ded walls, the area displays sharp tuxedoes and suits, but also underwear and silk robes. Men’s wear today accounts for 50 percent of

Dolce & Gabbana’s $1.7 billion business and the designers plan to model other men’s stores globally after this concept.

The 10,800-square-foot, three-story store, which originally opened in 2003, is also meant to help expand the design-ers’ customer base and to allow shoppers to browse. “A kid who wants to try a pair of jeans may not feel at ease surrounded by tuxedoes, and he need not even walk through the formal area,” said Dolce. A wide-ranging selection of accessories is clearly separated and easily accessible.

Elements that stand out among the ex-pansive black Murano chandeliers, stuc-coed vaulted ceilings and polished wood parquet floors include lacquered displays and sleek walnut shelves. “I like the shinier look, it’s more luxurious,” said Dolce. There are also touches of Art Deco, with three-way mirrors and headless mannequins in full-length wood and glass cases.

“We want to create interest for every area,” said Dolce, who also underscored the importance of first-class service. “There is a warmer and more contemporary mood, but sophisticated at the same time.”

Dolce & Gabbana updates milan store

{Continued from page one}Although he declined to provide a vol-

ume figure, Tucci said the productivity of the Bleecker Street men’s store on a “per-square-foot basis is among the best of any store in the chain.” As a result, the com-pany has signed deals to open two addi-tional men’s-only stores in the late spring, at Copley Plaza in Boston and Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J. Although Bleecker Street is a street location, Tucci said he be-lieves the company has created an environ-ment that is complementary and will trans-late well to a mall environment.

Beyond that, the company expects to open another three to 10 men’s-only units the following fiscal year. Coach’s year ends in June. “There will be a more aggressive rollout in calendar year 2012,” he said. Although leases are still in negotiation, Tucci said the company is close to inking deals for Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles for freestanding stores.

The stores will range from below 1,000 square feet to 1,500 square feet, and the productivity is expected to be “extremely

high, given our sales thresholds,” Tucci said in a conference call Tuesday announcing the company’s 25.9 percent jump in second-quarter earnings.

The men’s push is “multilayered,” Tucci added, and will include a dual-gender model that will offer men’s in a separate environment adjacent to a women’s store. Tucci did not provide a goal number for the dual-gender stores, saying: “We’ll open a couple in fiscal year 2012 and see how they play out. If they work, it will provide another growth opportunity.”

Shop-in-shops in large flagships in North America and internationally are also part of the plan, as is “maximizing opportunities in existing stores” where the men’s product is generally relegated to wallets and belts. “This month, we dedicated more space and introduced a broader men’s product assort-ment to seven additional stores, bringing our total men’s concept-store count to 37 in North America, including eight flagships such as 595 Madison Avenue in New York,” Tucci said.

Online offerings will also be beefed up.“It’s a measured but aggressive

growth plan,” Tucci said.Victor Luis, president of inter-

national retail for Coach, said the company has opened three men’s-only shop-in-shops in Japan over the past 11 months and they are all performing well above plan. Although additional sites have not yet been secured, the plan is to continue to expand this concept going forward, he said. In China, Luis said, Coach is focusing on ex-panding men’s through the opening of dual-gender shops. “We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us,” he said.

In terms of product, the men’s assortment is being substantially expanded to accommodate the new-found business.

President and executive cre-ative director Reed Krakoff pointed out that Coach started out in 1941 as a men’s leather goods business and didn’t add women’s until the Sixties. “There’s a lot of excitement and opportunity to grow the men’s business,” he said. “It’s a real com-plement to women’s.” He said the brand has worked hard to “get the collection right and add categories that we didn’t have in the past.”

The company’s historical strengths in wallets, belts and briefcases has now been expanded into a full collection, ranging from messengers, commuter bags and totes to dopp cases, baseball paperweights, key chains, fobs and luggage tags. Apparel, in-cluding outerwear in leather and other ma-terials, sweaters, scarves, sunglasses and shoes are also part of the mix today. “We want to tell a whole story when you walk into the store,” he said.

The assortment is “much more youth-ful and urban,” Krakoff said, classic and modern at the same time. “We don’t want to be in the fashion business. Our customer wants timeless investment pieces.”

In addition to the core collection, the men’s line will include several limited edition pieces such as iPad cases, molded leather cases for laptops, reversible totes and customized leather bike accessories.

Separately, the company in the first quarter also opened its first five stand-alone men’s factory outlet stores, which are performing above plan as well. “It confirms our belief that there is a particularly large opportunity for men’s in our factory chan-nel,” Tucci said during Tuesday’s confer-ence call. “During the remainder of fiscal year ’11, we’re planning to open at least five more men’s factory locations.” These stores will average 2,500 square feet.

Items from the fall men’s

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7WWD THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2011Men’s Week

Love, Chicago StyleAn MCL turned their QB into an SOB. Now, Chicago’s got its starter’s back.

iral bullies, beware!

That’s one message of the Jay Cutler saga. At least in Chicago, where, after an early

thrashing by fans that started well before the end of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game between the Bears and the Green Bay Packers, the city now proudly has its much-maligned quarterback’s back.

At the beginning of the game’s fourth quarter, the TV camera fo-cused on an apparently injured Cutler — no longer part of the action. Rather than cutting an imposing, athletic silhou-ette befitting a Monster of the Midway, he stood on the sideline, swaddled in a slightly more-athletic version of a Snuggie, staring into space. Jaws of those at a small game-day party dropped, and one knowing view-er stated that which seemed obvi-ous: “He’s going to be torn apart for this tomorrow, huh?”

Oh, how naïve to have thought the critical onslaught would wait for Monday-morning quarter-backing. Before the game clock hit 00:00, the verdict appeared to have been in: Fans, along with commentators and — most shock-ing of all — current NFL players, took to Twitter and blog message boards to express their distaste. By the time the Packers were hoisting the George Halas Trophy, Bears fans were uploading vid-eos of themselves burning Cutler jerseys. (Most surprising here is that people had Cutler jerseys to burn; on any given Sunday, one is far more likely to see Bears fans showing their sartorial support for Brian Urlacher and Devin Hester.) For a few moments this Sunday, it appeared that Jay Cutler would be ridden out of town by dawn.

Harsh? Chicago is a sports-obsessed city, and Chicago fans are tough. Forgiveness is not nec-essarily a Second City value. Case in point: More than seven years

later, one can hardly imagine Steve Bartman being welcomed for brats and beers anywhere near Wrigley Field. The stakes are always high here, and everyone gets invested. This time last week, the city was blanketed not only in snow, but in blue and orange as well. The only thing standing between the Bears and the Super Bowl was a victory against their most hated rivals, the Packers. So it came as no surprise that those following the contest on Da Bears Blog live-feed boards ripped into Cutler for “tapping out” of the biggest game of the year. The more printable posts ran the gamut from personal dismay (“I am disappointed in Cutler’s lack

of leadership — even if not playing — how about trying to root your team back into this game…”), to unfavor-

able comparisons (“He is not ‘too injured to play.’ Brett Favre played half-dead.”), to philosophical que-ries (“Did Cutler just bitch out?).”

Well into the next day, com-mentators, both professional and amateur, questioned Cutler’s toughness, heart and injury. If he couldn’t play, people wondered, couldn’t he have been a bigger presence on the bench? Where was the Gatorade-throwing tan-trum as he begged Lovie Smith to put him back in? Whither the high-fives to Caleb Hanie as the “third quarterback” attempted to mount an improbable (and, as it turned out, impossible) fourth-quarter comeback? Why had he not sought out a pair of blue and orange pom-poms and bran-dished them with vigor? Instead, Cutler seemed sullen and sulky on the sidelines; On ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon proclaimed that he had body lan-guage issues. Indeed, it seemed that Cutler’s BLIs were more of an issue than any potential MCL injury — he appeared bundled and bemused on the cover of the Chicago Sun-Times as the head-line blared “Green Ache-r.”

Of course, Cutler hadn’t ex-

actly established himself as a rally around guy for Chicagoans. Before his arrival at Soldier Field, it was widely reported that Urlacher, the Bears’ team leader and megahero, had called him an unpleasant name that certainly did not refer to his cat-like quickness in the pocket. In his first game as a Bear (against, who else, the Packers), he threw four interceptions. He gained a reputation for being distant, at best, during press conferences. Two weeks ago, ESPN.com’s Rick Reilly criticized him for not being ostentatious enough about his charity work. (At Christmastime, Cutler and his girlfriend, Kristin Cavallari, bought gifts for an en-tire children’s hospital ward, which he later refused to discuss with the Chicago Sun-Times.) Cutler lacks the charisma of Bears greats like Walter Payton and Mike Ditka. Heck, even Rex Grossman could crack a joke or two. Before Sunday’s loss, it would have been difficult to imag-ine Cutler doing a “Super Bowl Shrug,” let alone the “Super Bowl

Shuffle.” Not that it matters now. But by Monday morning, even

before the official injury reports poured in, something funny hap-pened. Suddenly, almost in unison, Bears fans got tired of the verbal bullying that had become a nation-al story. Now, rather than cursing Cutler’s name and burning him in effigy, fans started jumping to his defense. He had, after all, led their team to within one game of the big one. Those other NFLers voicing their distaste for Cutler via Twitter? Most fans agreed with Urlacher, who called them “jeal-ous people watching our game on TV while their season is over.” Urlacher also vouched for Cutler’s heart — a far cry from a purport-edly derisive comment two years ago. As for his toughness? The boards speak for themselves: “Jay has done better then any QB in our history. He’s gotten so much better after last year. He’s a tough SOB who took 52 freaking sacks. 52!” On any other day, praising your quarterback by extolling how many times he got rocked for a loss is a bit like a teenager swearing he

couldn’t have broken grandma’s prized vase because he was other-wise engaged smoking pot in the basement. Coming from a Bears die-hard just after a heartbreaking loss, it read like an ode to heroism.

Why the sudden fan turn-around? Perhaps because Cutler really was injured. Perhaps be-cause his teammates jumped to defend him: Hanie said Cutler was, in fact, “very encouraging.” Perhaps because so much of the criticism came from outsiders and, well, he may be an unlike-able guy, but he’s Chicago’s un-likeable guy, darn it. Perhaps be-cause the brouhaha over Cutler’s supposed lack of toughness in light of a real injury is ridiculous, as Barry Petchesky at Deadspin pointed out, especially in a year in which NFL players’ safety has never been more in the spotlight. Whatever the reason, by Tuesday, Chicago felt compelled to defend its QB — much to its own chagrin. In Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune, David Haugh wrote, “I can’t be-lieve I’m defending a guy who played so poorly in the first half Sunday and can act so unprofes-sionally, but Cutler doesn’t de-serve the labels being attached.” Which is not to say that, after a crushing defeat, Chicagoans have gone soft. Always hungry for a scapegoat, they’ve found a few: the offensive line (it of the 52 sacks), the refs (of course), second-string quarterback Todd Collins (poor guy) and the Bears organiza-tion. But those who rushed to blast Cutler? As one fan so eloquently put it, “f-ck anyone burning Cutler jerseys, they aren’t Bears fans.”

Come next season (or even next week), the tides of public opinion may turn once again against the grumpy fellow from Santa Claus, Indiana. But for now, Jay Cutler need not jump on the first bus out on the Borman Expressway. The viral bullies who incited a counter offensive made it clear that, for now at least, Chicago thinks Cutler should stay.

— CATHERINE G. O’HARA

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THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT: GQ has revealed the finalists for its fourth annual Best New Menswear Designers in America competition, with the talent pool this year including Patrik Ervell, Alexander Wang for his T by Alexander Wang line, Michael Bastian for his Gant collection, Rick Klotz of Warriors of Radness, Kirk Miller of Miller’s Oath, and Joe Sadler, Derek Buse and Greg Ullery of Riviera Club.

The competition has a new sponsor this year in Dockers, for which all six finalists will create a designer khaki pants-and-top look, which will be sold as a limited edition collection at key Bloomingdale’s stores in the fall. Previously, Levi’s was the sponsor.

The winner, who will receive a $50,000 cash prize, will be

chosen by a judging panel that includes GQ editor in chief Jim Nelson, GQ creative director Jim Moore, Tommy Hilfiger, CFDA executive director Steven Kolb, Dockers senior vice president of global design Doug Conklyn and Bloomingdale’s vice president of fashion direction Kevin Harter. All of the finalists receive mentoring from teams at GQ, the CFDA and Bloomingdale’s.

The magazine will host an event showcasing each designer’s fall collections at the Ace Hotel in New York on Feb. 10. — DAviD LiPke

KELLER’S NEW GIG: Starting in early March, New York Times executive editor Bill Keller will have a regular column in the Sunday Times Magazine. it is expected to run about 30 times a year.

keller’s column will appear in the front of the book of a redesigned and relaunched Sunday Magazine under new editor Hugo Lindgren. keller said it was Lindgren’s idea to get him writing in the magazine.

“i was talking with some of my colleagues, and we were like, ‘How do we make this a destination page in the magazine — something people will feel like they have to read?’” said Lindgren. “And, ‘Who’s a writer that can occupy this space for more than half the time, so it sort of feels like someone is there most of the time?’ And someone said, ‘Bill keller,’ and i was like, ‘Ha ha ha. He could never do it.’ ”

Lindgren asked keller, and, to his surprise, his boss didn’t immediately shoot it down. After a

few conversations, they came to an agreement. The column will be the front essay that will start The Way We Live Now section. Lindgren said it will run about 1,500 words. The idea is to have keller write two times every three weeks or so. The writer or two that will write on keller’s off weeks still needs to be locked down.

“it’s too early to say what i’ll write about, but it won’t be a media column (at least mostly not), and it won’t be an op-ed column (no unfettered opinion),” e-mailed keller.

This week, keller has an 8,000-word cover story for the magazine on the paper’s relationship with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. (The story is an excerpt from the opening essay of an e-book the Times is releasing titled “Open Secrets.”) Lindgren said keller’s

column will likely match the tone and the subject of his cover story this week (i.e., Big Buzzy Topics), albeit with less gossip about the inner workings at the Times.

in the last year, keller has been aggressive in finding new work for his editors, moving more than half a dozen department heads into new jobs at the paper. keller said his new assignment with the magazine — which will be done, obviously, in conjunction with his daily duties of running the paper — should be “a little rejuvenating.”

And it’s not his first stint at the magazine, either. When keller was passed up for the executive editor’s job in favor of Howell Raines in 2001, he soon after became a senior writer at the magazine under then editor Adam Moss. — JOHN kOBLiN

A dejected Jay Cutler on Sunday.

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