US fashion chains look to New York catwalks for fresh talent
September 18, 2005
Tomer Gendler showed his green silk T-shirt and knickers for men at New York's biggest fashion show, one of a record number of new designers appearing at the event.
"It's every designer's dream to be able to showcase their work on such a scale," Gendler says.
A 26-year-old Texan whose clothes have been worn by Oscar-winning actors Adrien Brody and Jamie Foxx, Gendler is trying to make his first sale to a national retailer such as Nordstrom or Federated Department Stores, which are adding more unknown designers to bolster slowing sales growth and enliven their apparel collections.
"More retailers such as Nordstrom are taking a lot more risks with new, young talent," says Jane Hali, who runs retail and merchandising consulting at New York-based Coleman Research Group. "Five years ago, there were fewer fresh young designers being picked up."
A total of 180 designers, 40 of them first-timers, unveiled their work at New York's Fashion Week, which ended on Friday. It included 70 shows in four white tents at Bryant Park, a block away from Times Square.
Fern Mallis, the executive director of the Bryant Park show organiser, says about 100 000 people attended the shows, including 2 600 journalists.
Terry Lundgren, the chief executive of Federated Department Stores, says: "We do our best to seek new talent. It's very important. We never worry about not having enough room for them."
Sales growth at US retailers has slowed to an average of 3.7 percent this year from 4.7 percent last year.
At luxury retailers, where most of the new talented designers get their start, sales have risen 6.8 percent.
Neiman Marcus Group fashion director Joan Kaner says she would attend about 60 shows, split evenly between established designers and upcoming talent.
Kaner says the upscale fashion chain adds a good number of new young designers, including Derek Lam and Zac Posen.
Esteban Cortazar, a 21-year-old from Colombia who showed his collection of women's dresses with braided straps and fishnet designs, will introduce his line at Neiman Marcus later this year.
Fashion specialty retailer Nordstrom has created Via C, a department showcasing up-and-coming designers, and this year began carrying new brands Jenni Kayne and Doo.Ri.
Barneys New York, now owned by Jones Apparel Group, was the first major US retailer to take a chance on Brazilian designer Amir Slama five years before his debut at Fashion Week in 2000. Slama, who created Rosa Cha swimwear and summer fashion coveted by models, actresses and royalty, now sells to Bloomingdale's, Saks and Neiman Marcus.
Slama says his US sales have surged to $4 million (R25 million) from about $800 000 since his US runway debut. Three days before his show last Saturday, he was busy behind the scenes fitting a beige ruffled cotton bikini on a model while three stylists worked on the hair of another.
Barneys was also the first major US retailer to stock Project Alabama's cotton apparel hand-stitched by about 130 artisans in Alabama and nearby states, which debuted its Fashion Week show last Saturday. Enrico Marone-Cinzano, a partner at Project Alabama, says: "We literally showed up with a plastic bag of clothes" for a fashion director at Barneys.
Hali, who was a merchant at Macy's before joining Coleman Research Group, says: "Retailers are looking for freshness and newness to separate themselves from competition. They are trying to get the customers back to the stores."
Shares in Cincinnati-based Federated, which owns Bloomingdale's, have risen 42 percent on the New York Stock Exchange in the past year, while Seattle-based Nordstrom has climbed 85 percent and Dallas-based Neiman Marcus has surged 78 percent in the same period.
Many of this year's newcomers won't have Slama's success in selling to retailers. Miguel Adrover, a Spanish designer whose avant garde designs won fashion awards in the early 2000s, said last year that he was moving his base back to Spain because he couldn't finance his US venture anymore.
"They hang by their fingernails," says Stan Herman, the president of Council of Fashion Designers of America. "They fall through the cracks."
For the first time at Bryant Park, a tent is devoted solely to designers such as Gendler, who pays his models in clothing rather than money.
To help cover their expenses of between $265 000 to $465 000 just to rent space in the tent, designers depend on sponsorships from corporations such as United Parcel Service and volunteers who dress models.
Gendler says: "Demand for niche brands with their cult-like following is high right now. Because of the show, our sales director has an easier time talking to retailers."
Linda DeFranco, a trend forecaster at industry group Cotton Incorporated, says Spring 2006 collections at Fashion Week will include more rose, copper, white stone and other neutral colours. Edwardian influences such as higher collars, multiple buttons and higher waists will also dominate the spring style. Pants will be more tailored, and embellished and beaded styles toned down.
"We are returning to a more simple look," DeFranco says. "Young designers are going to create a buzz. That's their job. They are going to be more theatrical and more energetic."
The new crop of talent will try to follow the lead of designer Tracy Reese, whose beaded and laced clothing dresses celebrities from Minnie Driver to Julia Stiles. Since debuting at Fashion Week five years ago, she says her eight-year-old business has grown 15 percent each year and has expanded with buyers from Saks to Bergdorf Goodman.
"It made a tremendous difference," she says. "It glamourised the product. It's no longer just clothes hanging in the showrooms. People actually know who you are." - Bloomberg
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