IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS.The turning point in the United States was the

Triangle Shirtwaist factory fi re in New York City on March 25, 1911, when 146 garment workers — mostly women seamstresses — were burned to death when an exit gate was purposely locked. One hundred thousand New Yorkers marched in the funeral pro-cession as 400,000 people lined the streets. Their call was “Who will protect the working girl?” For the fi rst time, laws were enacted almost overnight to require

sprinkler sys-tems, fi re exits that opened outward and could not be

locked, and fi re safety inspec-

tions became the norm — all of which was opposed by Wall Street.

With legislation to protect worker rights, the labor movement emerged, and by the Forties sweatshops were wiped out in the United States. The middle class was built and living standards rose.

A hundred years later, we are racing backward.On Jan. 26, 102 years after the Triangle Shirtwaist

fi re, a fi re broke out at the Smart Fashion Export garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Seven young

SEE PAGE 8

TANKTHINKBY CHARLES KERNAGHAN

Editor’s Note: Think Tank is periodic column written by industry leaders and other critical thinkers. Today’s column is written by Charles Kernaghan, director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights.

VIEWPOINT

Sweatshop Garments Drag All of Us Down

WWDAdam, Take TwoAfter buying back the rights to his name from Kellwood Co., Adam Lippes is returning to fashion. “Simplicity, elegance and ease” is how he describes the fall collection, which he’s positioned at the entry-level designer tier. Here, Lippes’ cotton tweed dress with a pleated silk chiffon overlay in a matching tweed print. For more, see page 12.

GETTING IN EARLY

Fidelity Takes StakeIn Burch’s C. Wonder

By EVAN CLARK

CHRISTOPHER BURCH has found a new partner for C. Wonder — and it’s willing to pay big bucks to go along for the ride.

Boston-based investment giant Fidelity has taken a 10 percent stake in the budding chain, according to sources. One person familiar with the matter said the hedge fund paid $35 million, which would give C. Wonder a lofty $350 million valuation.

C. Wonder is still relatively small, but Burch has laid out ambitious plans for the chain.

A spokeswoman for C. Wonder declined to com-ment on the private company’s investors, but Burch did confi rm that a new investor has come on board.

“This investment underscores that C. Wonder is resonating not only with our customer but with the fi nancial and retail community,” said Burch, who is chief executive offi cer of Burch Creative Capital. “I am immensely proud of the work that Amy Shecter, president of C. Wonder, and her team have done in the last 16 months since we opened the fi rst C. Wonder in SoHo in October 2011.”

Since that start in New York City, the brand has since grown to 10 stores plus pop-up locations.

Burch plans to expand C. Wonder to 50 to 100 stores by the end of 2014, including 20 to 30 doors abroad in markets such as Japan, Germany and Dubai. Ultimately, Burch has said he sees an oppor-tunity to open about 110 stores in the U.S., with a total global footprint of 300 to 350 doors.

In its short life, the brightly colored C. Wonder, which sells apparel and home goods, has garnered more than its share of controversy.

C. Wonder became a point of intense friction be-tween Burch and his ex-wife Tory Burch, who viewed

SEE PAGE 12

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013 ■ $3.00 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

PHOTO BY JOHN AQUINO

CHEROKEE LINKS WITH VICTORIA’S SECRET MODEL ALESSANDRA AMBROSIA FOR A NEW LINE. PAGE 3

CATCHING AN ANGELJOHN GALLIANO GAINS

GROUND IN HIS LEGAL DISPUTE OVER HIS CONTRACT WITH CHRISTIAN DIOR SA. PAGE 3

JOHN GALLIANO GAINS ROUND ONE

2 WWD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013

Macy’s Launches Collection With Made

To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is firsTname_lasTname@fairchildfashion.com, using The individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2013 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 205, NO. 24. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in March, May, June, August, October and December, and two additional issues in February, April, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. For New York Hand Delivery Service address changes or inquiries, please contact Mitchell’s NY at 1-800-662-2275, option 7. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For all request for reprints of articles please contact The YGS Group at condenast@theygsgroup.com, or call 800-501-9571. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

on WWD.CoM

the Briefing Boxin Today’s WWd

Christopher Burch has found a new partner for C. Wonder: Boston-based investment giant Fidelity has taken a 10 percent stake in the budding chain. PAGE 1 In the latest column in the Think Tank series, Charles Kernaghan, director of The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, tackles the sweatshop issue. PAGE 1 John Galliano won the first round of what promises to be protracted labor litigation against Christian Dior Couture and his namesake house. PAGE 3 Cherokee is linking with Victoria’s Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio on a midrange lifestyle brand called Alé. PAGE 3 Organizers of the Première Vision textile trade show expect more mills to take part in its February edition. PAGE 6 Participants at the upcoming Texworld and Apparel Sourcing fairs are sure to focus on scouting for even better prices and new products to gain a competitive edge. PAGE 6 The opportunity for Southeast Asia to challenge China as the apparel industry’s workshop of choice is growing, said participants at the Southeast Asian edition of Prime Source Forum. PAGE 8 Kristina O’Neill recounts how she conceived some of her changes to WSJ. magazine. PAGE 10 BryanBoy has struck a long-term deal with Adrienne Landau to launch an exclusive collaboration of fur accessories for fall called Bryan Boy for Adrienne Landau. PAGE 11 Gwen Stefani’s new L.A.M.B. for Burton outerwear collaboration is all brash patterns and street-style details and will be hitting slopes come fall. PAGE 11 Swatch Group said net profits jumped 26 percent in 2012, and it expects another year of healthy growth. PAGE 12

An image from Americana Manhasset’s spring look book.

MEDIA: The Americana Manhasset team hightailed it to Hoi An, Vietnam, known for its foliage and numerous bodies of water, to shoot the company’s 60-page spring catalogue, “In the Mood for Vietnam.” For more images, seeWWD.com/media-news.

By DaviD Moin

nEW YoRK — Who says Macy’s must be mainstream?This spring, Macy’s is taking an edgy turn with

a collection designed together with Made Fashion Week. “This is an organic collaboration between the creative teams from Made and our merchants to bring relevant, of-the-moment fashion to Macy’s,” explained Tim Baxter, the retailer’s executive vice president, fashion and product office. “it’s a collection of must-have items, inspired by street fashion and what the most fashionable people in the world are wearing.”

He’s really talking about designers, photogra-phers, artists, filmmakers, models and media-types with a downtown vibe, that Made Fashion Week as-sociates with. Made, a creative hub that connects and supports emerging talent in different medium,

was formed in 2009 by Mazdack Rassi, cofound-er and creative director of Milk Studios; Jenné Lombardo, founder of The Terminal Presents branding and strategic marketing company, and Keith Baptista, founding partner of the Prodject production company. The platform started just after the Great Recession hit, when the founders witnessed many designers struggling. Made cur-rently supports about 40 labels, including Joseph altuzarra and Suno, in part by staging fashion shows, typically at Milk Studios and the Standard Hotel, and is itself supported by such corporations as american Express, Macy’s, Lexus and Google.

The Made-Macy’s collection, called Made Fashion Week for impulse, will be sold beginning March 12 only at 150 Macy’s stores [where the impulse contemporary departments are played up the most] and on macys.com. The plan is to make Made Fashion Week an ongoing part of impulse and to steadily feed new products into the space on a monthly basis, if not more frequently.

The debut spring collection features between 20 and 30 styles, priced from $39 knit tops, tanks and T-shirts, to $139 jackets. There are also skater skirts, pants and dresses. The collection is designed at Milk Studios and at Macy’s merchandising offices in Manhattan, with both domestic and overseas produc-tion. Macy’s described the collection as featuring clas-sic pieces remixed with of-the-moment prints, textures and patterns; silhouettes referencing “modern school boy and feminine grunge” trends, and layering.

a comprehensive campaign involv-ing print and outdoor advertising, direct mail, in-store visuals, digital and social media has been developed to launch the collection. The launch campaign was shot by Terry Richardson at Milk Studios with a behind-the-scenes, candid approach de-picting models just arriving to the set. a digital biannual style guide will feature fashion, music and art, and there will be editorials about artists, writers, musi-cians and designers who are shown wear-ing the Macy’s-Made collection. The guide can be viewed on macys.com/impulse starting april 2.

“We are translating our culture into actual garments,” said Made’s Lombardo. “To be able to bring pieces to life at an ac-cessible price point at a mass level is re-ally something we stand for.” Lombardo

said she’s been working closely with Macy’s to de-sign the collection, and that there’s no involvement by the designers supported by Made in the Macy’s collection. “Just like us, the Made collection exists somewhere at the intersection of fashion, music, art and popular culture. our collections will always be inspired by the kids on the streets. our currency has always been access.”

“The collection is really about individuality,” added Baptista. “What’s that young photographer who walks into the Milk Studio wearing? How does that blogger style herself? What’s that model wearing when she comes off the street? That’s what it’s about.”

A Made Fashion Week for Impulse ad, shot by Terry Richardson.

By aRnoLD J. KaRR

iconix BRanD Group inc.’s ac-quisition of a controlling stake in Buffalo David Bitton is expected to greatly accelerate the jeans-wear brand’s expansion beyond north america.

it just might speed the devel-opment of the rest of the iconix portfolio in Buffalo’s homeland of canada, too, neil cole, chief exec-utive officer of iconix, told WWD.

new York-based iconix said Monday it paid $76.5 million in cash to Montreal-based Buffalo international ULc for a 51 per-cent stake in the Buffalo David Bitton brand, which will now be housed in a venture formed by the two companies to accommo-date the acquisition.

The canadian firm becomes the “core licensee” for the brand it started in 1985, and royalties from Buffalo and other licensees will flow into the joint venture. although the number of licens-ees is expected to expand in the new relationship with iconix, they currently cover only the U.S. and canada and consist of The Levy Group for outerwear, Swank inc. for accessories and colors in optics Ltd. for eyewear.

asked if he was looking to fill a gap in the iconix portfolio with an upscale denim label, cole brushed aside conversation about categories and classifications.

“We don’t focus on ‘white spac-es,’” he said in an interview with WWD. “We look for great iconic

trademarks that we can take around the world and to which we can add value. With our rela-tionships in china, india, South america and elsewhere, we see tremendous upside to the brand.”

Gabriel Bitton, ceo of Buffalo international, said he looked for-ward to “iconix’s strong and prov-en global platform” helping “to grow Buffalo to the next level.”

While ample opportunities re-main in north america, growth will most certainly focus on the in-ternational arena, which Buffalo has explored only through limited wholesaling activities and which could be well supported by en-hancements iconix has made to its global footprint in recent years. The brand management firm formed iconix china as a joint venture with Silas chou’s novel Fashion Brands Ltd. in 2008, fol-lowed by a Jv in Latin america with the Falic Group in 2009 and, last February, a similar entity in india with Reliance Brands Ltd.

“Buffalo is a lifestyle brand that hasn’t done a lot of licensing, so there are a lot of great opportu-nities in a lot of categories, start-ing in north america,” cole said. “U.S. expansion is an important part of where we could go, but the expansion possibilities apply pretty much around the world, in-cluding the joint ventures that are already a part of our platform.

“We’ve been talking to Gabriel and his team,” he continued, “and we’re discussing ways they could help us with our portfolio in canada as well. They have

a tremendous organization in place in their home market.”

numerous iconix brands have a direct-to-retail licensing model — Mudd and candie’s are exclu-sive to Kohl’s, op to Wal-Mart and Madonna’s Material Girl brand exclusive to Macy’s — but Buffalo, like the Ed Hardy and Rampage brands, will continue to pursue multiple wholesale accounts. Macy’s, Dillard’s and Lord & Taylor are among the largest cus-tomers of a business that last year generated about $125 million in revenues, according to market es-timates, through wholesale activi-ties, 29 stores in canada and one in the U.S., a 4,000-square-foot unit that opened in new York’s SoHo district last year. The com-pany also conducts e-commerce at buffalojeans.com.

Buffalo has a secondary brand, i Jeans by Buffalo, which is sold ex-clusively at J.c. Penney stores and isn’t included in the transaction.

iconix expects the brand to gen-erate about $25 million in annual royalty revenue and yield between 75 and 80 percent of that figure in earnings before interest, taxes, de-preciation and amortization.

Based on the acquisition and a lower number of common shares outstanding because of share repur-chases, iconix raised its full-year earnings guidance to a range of $1.90 to $2 from its previous range of $1.75 to $1.85. The new guidance implies fourth-quarter earnings of 75 to 85 cents a diluted share.

Shares of iconix closed Monday at $23.95, down 24 cents, or 1 percent.

Iconix Buys Control of Buffalo

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WWD.COM3WWD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013

John Galliano Wins Round in Dior CaseBy JOELLE DIDERICH

PARIS — John Galliano emerged smiling from a Paris courthouse on Monday after winning the first round of what promises to be protracted labor litigation between the disgraced designer and his former employers — Christian Dior Couture and his namesake house, John Galliano.

Galliano, who has made a comeback of sorts in recent weeks working in the New York design studio of Oscar de la Renta, wore a skinny-trousered black suit and black shirt to the hearing at the Conseil de prud’hommes, or Labor Relations Court, located in a working-class neigh-borhood in the northeast of Paris.

He made no statement either inside or outside the court. Galliano spent more than three hours at the hearing before being driven away in a black Citroën C2 car.

His lawyer, Chantal Giraud-van Gaver of Coblence & Associés, claimed victory after the court ruled that it was quali-fied to hear Galliano’s claims against his dismissal in March 2011 after 15 years as creative director at Dior, following a se-ries of public outbursts during which he uttered racist and anti-Semitic insults.

At his trial on charges of public insult in June 2011, Galliano blamed work-re-lated stress and multiple addictions for his behavior.

Jean Néret of Jeantet Associés, the law-yer for Christian Dior Couture and John Galliano, argued that the case should be heard by a commercial court because of the complicated nature of the contracts linking Galliano with the two firms.

“I am satisfied because Dior’s request has been rejected, and our arguments have been upheld,” Giraud-van Gaver told WWD after the hearing, which drew a handful of photographers but only one print reporter.

Dior has 15 days to contest the rul-ing. If it opposes the court’s decision,

the matter will be referred to the Paris court of appeal in seven or nine months’ time, Giraud-van Gaver said, adding that it could be years before the case is prop-erly heard.

“This jurisdiction is very, very clut-tered, and therefore the delays are very,

very long. The proof is that we just lost time because instead of hearing our full arguments, the court has to explore the question of its competence. For the time being, we are winning,” she added.

For close to an hour, Galliano stood in front of a wide desk, facing the four members of the tribunal as both lawyers argued their case in French. Standing in front of a bust of Marianne — the na-tional emblem of France — modeled after French actress Catherine Deneuve, the designer sipped occasionally from a small bottle of water.

Néret opened by saying the Labor Relations Court was not qualified to hear the case, since Galliano was linked to Christian Dior Couture and John Galliano by a multitude of contracts, including several consultancy agreements with Galliano’s company, Cheyenne Freedom.

He added that these could not be treated separately from the employment contracts established between Galliano and the two companies, and that he was therefore more an independent contrac-tor than a subordinate.

The court heard that under the terms of permanent contracts negotiated in 2008, Galliano earned a fixed gross an-nual salary of 1 million euros, or $1.3 million at current exchange, at Christian Dior Couture, plus variable compensa-tion of up to 700,000 euros, or $906,400, and a percentage linked to the firm’s an-nual sales rise.

Other perks included an annual cloth-ing budget of 30,000 euros, or $38,850, and a grooming budget for personal ap-pearances of 60,000 euros, or $77,700.

In addition, Galliano earned a fixed gross salary of 2 million euros, or $2.6 million, as artistic director of his own brand, and a percentage linked to the decrease in annual losses at the peren-nially unprofitable house. That contract also stipulated an annual clothing budget of 70,000 euros, or $90,650.

Through Cheyenne Freedom, the de-signer also earned hefty fees for con-sulting for Christian Dior Couture and Parfums Christian Dior on matters such as advertising campaigns, catwalk shows and Web sites.

“John Galliano was no ordinary em-ployee. In fact, I would go as far as saying he wasn’t an employee at all,” said Néret. “The complexity of his various contracts is sharply at odds with the image of a poor, defenseless employee which the op-posing party is trying to project.”

Giraud-van Gaver said it was inaccu-rate to portray Galliano as a mere sub-contractor, since he was tied to Christian Dior Couture and John Galliano by ex-clusivity clauses. In addition, Christian Dior Couture owned 91 percent of John Galliano, she noted.

“Mister Galliano is perhaps no ordinary employee, due to the nature of his position and his notoriety, but he is an employee nonetheless,” she argued. “Would an ex-ternal provider be supplied with a car and a chauffeur? Would he have a coach and a personal assistant? Would the company grant him stock options?”

Speaking after the hearing, Giraud-van Gaver declined to specify the amount of damages Galliano is seeking, saying it depended on the charges the court ad-mits when the full case is finally heard.

“There are several arguments. One is based on nullity, one takes into account his health, one argues that his dismissal was ill-founded, so depending on what the court retains, there are different degrees of compensation involved,” she said. “He was at the company for a long time and he had a big salary, so the sums demanded will necessarily be high.”

Asked if the figure of 6 million euros, or $7.77 million, was accurate, Giraud-van Gaver said: “If you add it all up, then prob-ably yes, because if you are earning more than 3 million euros a year and you add severance pay on top, it quickly adds up.”

By MARCY MEDINA

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. — Cherokee is linking with Victoria’s Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio to bring to market a midrange lifestyle brand, Alé by Alessandra, set to make its debut in spring 2014.

Starting with apparel pieces ranging from casual to day-in-to-evening, Alé is aimed at the 18- to 35-year-old looking for clothes that emulate Ambrosio’s Brazil-meets-Malibu-by-way-of-Europe style.

For the $924 million brand marketing company based here, a pioneer of the direct-to-retail licensing model, Alé, created by Ambrosio’s company Silver Sunrise, represents new terri-tory in that it is not owned by Cherokee and was created from the outset as a global-personali-ty-driven brand that will roll out first in Latin America.

In addition to its namesake brand, Cherokee owns Sideout, Carole Little, Liz Lange and Completely Me, the last two of which were acquired from Bluestar Alliance last September. Its retail network extends to 45 countries, and while none of its current retail partners will be carrying Alé, the company has plans to partner with well-known department stores and specialty chains worldwide.

“It’s not typical for Cherokee to get involved in representation; we usually market our owned

brands, but we felt the work [Silver Sunrise] had done was very compelling, extremely well thought out and not designed as a short-term concept. Based on what they presented to us we re-ally believed in it,” said Henry Stupp, the firm’s chief executive officer, of his first meeting with Ambrosio four months ago.

For her part, Ambrosio said, “This is not a hobby for me. I’ve been a fashion model for 15 years and designing is just an extension of my career. I still plan on modeling lingerie, but at the same time this is a busi-ness transition that I plan to have around for a long time.”

The model and mother of two was recently named number six on Forbes’ list of top model earn-ers from May 2011 to May 2012 with an income of $6.6 million.

Taking cues from Cindy Crawford and Kathy Ireland, she plans to use her modeling fan base and earnings as the foun-dation for a lifestyle empire. “I know what I like and what I want to see. I want to be satisfied just as much as the customer. I’m cre-ating a brand that’s everything that I am passionate about and have experience in, from growing up in Brazil, traveling around the world and moving here five years ago,” said Ambrosio.

She named Domenico Dolce, Stefano Gabbana and John Galliano as designers she has learned from while model-ing. The Alé sketches reflect her love of boho chic, body-conscious and colorful clothes with a beachy vibe. From tunic, mini and maxidresses to shorts, stretchy slim pants and cropped jackets, the pieces are similar to styles she is often spotted in on red carpets and off-duty at the Malibu Country Mart.

“It’s about having a well-designed product with unique DNA that speaks of who Alessandra is. We are very fortunate she has an opinion. Sometimes in these situations, [the personality or celebrity] is not sure what they want, and knowing what you want is half the battle. Building a team to take her vision and turn it into commercially sellable product is what we’ve done,” said Stupp.

Stupp, who has engineered something of a turnaround at Cherokee during his two-year

tenure, plans to amp up busi-ness even more with Alé.

“We are looking at the middle market for this brand because, all over the world, it’s the fastest-growing area and it’s not being properly addressed. So we’re putting a lot of thought into every item so it’s not a one-off piece of poor quality. The cus-tomer wants something fashion-able and affordable that will last from season to season,” he said.

Cherokee has built a dedicat-ed team of designers, print and textile specialists to create the looks, and plans to leverage its global network of suppliers and retailers to get quality product at a quicker rate. “Rather than have each country have their own sup-ply and interpretation, this brand is being designed from the begin-ning as a global opportunity and

we are building all of the product in collaboration with our selected retail partners or licensees to en-sure that we can get scale, which is really important when you are building a brand,” he said.

As for how much he hopes Alé will sell in its first year, Stupp said, “It’s too early to tell and we’re not in a rush. I think it will be a little slower than the Camuto-Jessica Simpson growth because the U.S. is really satu-rated right now, so we will be extremely selective of how we roll out our strategy here. Obviously Latin America is a key market and our first point of entrance so we want to make sure we are strongest there and then we will slowly expand.”

Future brand extensions in-clude jewelry, accessories, sun-glasses, swim and fragrance.

Cherokee Links With Alessandra Ambrosio

Sketches for Alé by Alessandra, Alesandra Ambrosio’s collection with Cherokee.

John Galliano leaving court in Paris.

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4 WWD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013

“Sartorial Prep.” — Tommy Hilfiger

“Romantic soft

tailoring details.”

— Georgina Chapman & Keren Craig, Marchesa

“This collection is daring, romantic and honors Belstaff ’s legendary

history in motor sport.” — Martin Cooper, Belstaff

“Positive and negative, strength and ease.”

— Alexa Adams and Flora Gill, Ohne Titel

“‘Loving Frank’ by Nancy Horan.”

— Rebecca Taylor

“Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales with all of their eternal magic, velvety beauty and black horror.”

— Lela Rose

“The great American fashion icons. Women

such as Babe Paley embodied the

glamour, strength and elegance

that has inspired me throughout

my career and this collection

is my tribute to them.”

— Dennis Basso

— Monique Lhuillier

“Hair.” — Alexander Wang

“Nature with abstract twist.”

— Max Azria, Hervé Leger

“The color, pattern and spirit of the great artist, Gustav Klimt.”

— Tory Burch

Designer InspirationsANYTHING GOES THIS SEASON, FROM THE MORE EXPECTED FAIRY TALES AND FILMS TO THE MORE ECCENTRIC LIKE, YES, HUMAN HAIR. — LAUREN MCCARTHY

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“Pixelated images/past to future.” — Maria Cornejo, Zero + Maria Cornejo

“Chinoiserie.” — Josie Natori

PART TWOFALL 2013

NEW YORK COLLECTIONS

“Jet-set gypsy.”— Oscar de la Renta

— Ralph Lauren

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“‘…a single uninterrupted and continuous surface

from which anything superfluous and all

interpretative possibilities are excluded.’

— Piero Manzoni”— Francisco Costa,

Calvin Klein Collection

WWD.COM5WWD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013

“An eccentric aristocratic party.” — Jill Stuart

“Liquid sensuality.” — Gilles Mendel, J.Mendel

“It’s inspired by a 1970s equestrian lifestyle with romantic baroque, men’s wear and medieval accents.” — Rachel Zoe

“Mars.” — Nanette Lepore

“I continue to work to find ways to reinter-pret traditional styles with updated details and modern proportions, what I like to call ‘subversive classics.’ I’ve been particularly inspired by imagery and music from the post-Bop era of the late 1960s.…” — Steven Alan

“During a trip to Marrakech I was so in-spired by the rich, bold colors in the mar-kets and the graphic patterns on the rugs and tile work of the sun-worn buildings.…I was reminded of the cinematic images or-chestrated by Diana Vreeland — the way in which she’d take an exotic backdrop and infuse her own vision of over-the-top chic.”

— Tom Mora, J. Crew

“VELOCITY!”— Andreas Melbostad, Diesel Black Gold

“La salonnière.” — Jenny Packham

“I am feeling celebratory.” — Giovanna Randall, Honor

“Soft geometry.” — Douglas Hannant

“Homage to Ophiuchus, the 13th zodiac sign.” — Threeasfour

“Necessarily Chic.” — Sophie Theallet

“The work and ideas of one of my favorite design-

ers, Ettore Sottsass, in particular his signa-

ture totemic forms. Strong hues and bold geometric forms embody a postmodernist

spirit and sensibility that is both time-less and fresh...” — Kelly Wearstler

“Man Ray’s photogram portraits of his surrealist muse Peggy Guggenheim and her witty, statement-making style.”

— Tia Cibani

“An effortlessly beautiful woman in a rich, roman-tic, dark setting.” — Serge Azria, Joie

“It celebrates the gilded grandeur of Russia and the opulent stage of the ballet.”

— Rozae Nichols, Clover Canyon

“Perfect contradiction.”

— Donna Karan, DKNY

“A dreamy Marianne Faithfull.”

— Whitney Pozgay, Whit

“Tiny absolutions/Of you, God and I/Little sanctities lost aimlessly/And every truth a lie./But when I hear the air is still/and the talking heads have won/I will say with certainty/And flicking my echoed tongue./I was good at everything/I, and you plus One.” — Jen Kao

“I started by looking at the musical ‘Into the Woods.’ I was fascinated by the way different folktales intertwined with each other, and also the fantastical forest backdrop that brought everything together....” — Hanako Maeda, Adeam

“War and Peace.” — Misha Nonoo

More, More, More

— Pamella Roland ▲

— Victoria Beckham, Victoria

Victoria Beckham

“High contrast.”

— Peter Som

“On the Street.” — Tracy

Reese

“Bright Lights, Big City!” — Michael Kors

“Urban Layering.” — Amy Smilovic, Tibi

.“The work of Adriana Varejão.” — Narciso Rodriguez

“Siberian Winter Meets Suburban Landscape.”

— Elie Tahari

“MAN RAY WOMEN.”— Bibhu Mohapatra

“Saturation.” — Ralph Rucci,

Chado Ralph Rucci

“I love the graphic quality of the compositions in Jean-Luc Godard’s films.

He’s almost a painter.” — Anna Sui

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WWD.COM6 WWD Tuesday, february 5, 20136

textiles

By JOELLE DIDERICH

PARIS — Despite a challenging economic environment, organizers of the Première Vision textile trade show expect more mills to take part in this month’s edition, as they continue to bank on versatility and high quality to attract buyers.

Showcasing fabric trends for spring 2014, Première Vision is sched-uled to run Feb. 12 to 14 at the Parc d’Expositions in Paris Nord, Villepinte. More than 1,700 exhibitors are expected to take part in the different trade shows under the Première Vision Pluriel ban-ner — Expofil, Première Vision, Indigo, Modamont, Le Cuir à Paris and Zoom by Fatex. This represents a 12 percent in-crease versus the same period a year ago.

“Certainly, Première Vision is not immune to the economic environment, and it is difficult to predict now wheth-

er Europe’s ongoing economic difficul-ties will affect our attendance levels in the coming months, but we seem to have made the right choices in the past and I am tempted to say: So far, so good,” said Philippe Pasquet, chief executive officer of Première Vision SA.

The Première Vision trade show is ex-pecting 734 exhibitors, up 8 percent from February 2012, including 23 new weavers.

Italy’s Eurojersey will be back with collections mainly targeted to-wards swimwear, while Japanese firms Morishita and Kanemasa will enrich the offer of high-quality jersey fabrics. Cotton shirting specialist Wagdy Moamen will become the first Egyptian mill to ex-hibit at the event.

Pascaline Wilhelm, Première Vision’s fashion director, said the season would be rich in rugged or spongy fabrics evok-ing mineral textures, or futuristic tex-tiles with technical qualities and shiny

or rubbery finishes.“There is a shift in the place of nature

in the creative process, from raw authen-ticity toward a greater link with technical know-how and innovation,” she said. “It’s all about man’s interpretation of nature, plants, ethnic and tribal motifs. Rather than mimicking reality, everything is being channeled.”

For the second season, there will be an area dedicated to creative flatbed knitwear. Knitwear Solutions, launched in September, is expecting 24 exhibitors, including eight newcomers, a turnover rate partly explained by the seasonal absence of some cashmere specialists. Among the new arrivals are Chinese knitter Alphatex Knitting Co., which specializes in ultrafine gauges for high-end clients in Europe and the U.S.; Spanish company Parrillu’s, which man-ufactures creative knitwear for major French and Italian fashion brands; Portuguese firm A. Ferreira & Filhos, a producer of large and fine gauges, pri-marily for major European brands, and Malhas Carjor SA, a specialist in knit ar-ticles for babies and children.

Première Vision is also bringing back the Maison d’Exceptions event, first held in September 2011, that will group 16

manufacturers that focus on products made using ancestral, folk or contempo-rary techniques.

Pasquet said companies can grow de-spite the ambient economic gloom, pro-vided they entice consumers with clever, innovative products, in the same way that makers of smart phones and tablets have done in the consumer electronics market.

“There is little individual companies can do to change the overall level of con-sumer spending,” he said. “What is im-portant for our sector is to give the con-sumer a good reason to arbiter slightly more in favor of fashion items than other types of consumer items.”

The executive said mills remain under pressure from buyers seeking to shorten delivery times.

“The current situation is not favor-able toward increasing delivery times and risk-taking, but I would say that is the structure of the most sophisticated markets — to deal in very small quanti-ties for a maximum of buyers,” he said.

Pasquet added that price, while im-portant, will not always be the decisive factor for buyers, who also require flex-ibility, creativity and good service.

“Price is a consideration, but it is no longer the only one,” he said.

By DEVORAH LAUTER

PARIS — With global sourcing in flux and Europe’s sluggish econ-omy weighing on trade, partici-pants at the upcoming Texworld and Apparel Sourcing fairs are sure to focus on scouting for even better prices and new prod-ucts to gain a competitive edge.

“Globally speaking, we’re not in a period of strong growth, everyone knows that,” said Michael Scherpe, president of Messe Frankfurt France, the organizer of the Texworld and Apparel Sourcing fairs held at Le Bourget here for four days starting Feb. 12. “Europe re-mains in a mood of stagnation, even recession, which of course weighs on the rest of the global economy. But despite every-thing, the economy exists. It has become more difficult, it is more competitive and errors are rap-idly sanctioned.”

Scherpe said companies today need to be highly flexible, meaning they have to be able to target a market and then possi-bly six months later target an-other “because certain givens have changed too much.”

“There are opportunities in the global market, but they are more fluctuating,” he said.

To seize those opportunities and improve a company’s eco-nomic outlook, Scherpe said a powerful solution lay in “mo-tivated” negotiating for lower prices, better conditions and searching for new products, all of which are best achieved through individual contact at venues such as trade shows.

“Especially during this crisis, we need people to come togeth-er to fix it,” he said. “They won’t do it alone and they will solve it if they meet — better prices can be found at a trade show. Those

who are motivated will reap all the benefits.”

Those attending the Paris shows will have their pick of 625 weavers and manufactur-ers set to show their spring 2014 collections at Texworld and Apparel Sourcing. The 85 new weavers at Texworld will rep-resent offers from South Korea, China, Egypt, India, Hong Kong, Thailand and Turkey. Apparel Sourcing will showcase 17 clothing manufacturers new to the show, including six from the European Mediterranean basin,

and the number of their exhibi-tors is up by 15 percent. The Chinese New Year is expected to slightly decrease the number of weavers at Texworld.

On sourcing trends, show or-ganizers said traditional sourc-ing centers remain crucial sup-ply hubs, but buyers continue to redistribute their options to reduce risk and also better meet needs such as trend shifts, qual-ity and reliability by turning to mills closer to home.

“Buyers in recent years try to diversify more, so as not to be dependent on a single source,” in case of political and econom-ic turmoil or natural disaster in those places, said Scherpe. “There has been a balancing of sourcing, but at this point, the industrial fabric hasn’t changed a lot. We can’t do ev-erything near home (in Europe and around the Mediterranean basin) because the industrial means is lacking — there aren’t enough factories. And reindus-trialization doesn’t happen just by pushing a button.”

Closer to Europe, Turkey has benefited from sourcing redistribution and is now the country with the second-largest number of companies showing at Texworld.

New exhibitors to Apparel Sourcing, with a focus on manufacturing, come from Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Portugal and Tunisia.

“We are working closely with Messe Frankfurt’s offices in the main countries for sourcing and with organizations for export assistance, in addition to na-tional associations so that new manufacturing companies are encouraged to come to Paris,” he said. “Last September, three Pakistani companies came to Paris, augmenting the ranges offered at the exhibition thanks to the support of CBI,” a Dutch organization that helps promote exports from developing coun-tries to Europe, added Scherpe. CBI will also be present at the show with new exhibitors from the Mediterranean area.

Show organizers also said that due to tighter budgets, demand is up for more practical items, such as men’s shirting. As a result, Apparel Sourcing is expanding its range of shirting manufactur-ers from Turkey and Tunisia.

Texworld will be artistically organized around the theme of “desire” and new exhibitors in-clude Balsoy Tekstil from Turkey, known for its innovation in woven and dyed cottons; Gemma Knits from Thailand, with tech-nical fabrics for lounge, beach-wear and lingerie; MJ Youna Co. from South Korea, with ultralight Lurex styles for day or evenin-gwear, and Turkey’s Antik Dantel, which will show its high-end and middle-range lace and stress its ability to produce large quanti-ties quickly.

Première Vision Offering More Choices and Creativity

Première Vision 678 734 39 +8%Le Cuir à Paris 287 348 40 +21%Modamont 264 292 19 +11%Indigo 157 176 18 +12%Zoom by Fatex 130 144 20 +11%Expofil 36 42 4 +17%Total Première Vision Pluriel 1,552 1,736 140 +12%

Trade Show Exhibitors 2/12 Exhibitors 2/13 New Exhibitors Change

Première Vision Pluriel’s LineupA look at the shows under the PV umbrella.

Texworld Helps Makers Find the Edge

Checking out the fabrics at Première Vision.

There will be 625 exhibitors at the Texworld and Apparel Sourcing shows.

w05a006a;8.indd 6 2/4/13 5:58 PM02042013175951

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WWD.COM8 WWD tuesday, february 5, 2013

women were killed — some just 15, 16 and 17 years of age — and 15 were injured in a factory that violated every single law. Well over 50 workers at the Smart Fashion factory were just 10- to 15-year-old girls. The workers were producing illegal subcon-tracts for some of the largest European labels, such as Inditex from Spain. The child work-ers and helpers were paid just 13 cents an hour to work seven days a week. Senior sewing op-erators earned just 18 to 28 cents an hour and had no legal rights, leaving them trapped in misery.

Adjusted for inflation, the Triangle seamstresses in New York City 102 years ago earned what today would be the equiva-lent of $3.18 an hour. Garment workers in Bangladesh earn less than one-tenth of the wages earned over 100 years ago in New York.

The Bangladeshi govern-ment is saying that the lives of the young women killed at the Smart Fashion factory are worth just $252 each.

Just two months before, on Nov. 24, the Tazreen factory in Bangladesh was engulfed in flames, killing 112 workers who were sewing clothing for Wal-Mart, Sears, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Enyce label, Disney and others. The owner of the factory is still walking around scott-free.

What must be donen Two things are certain: First, Bangladesh’s women garment work-ers are among the hardest workers in the world, but also among the poorest and most exploited. Second, no one wants to damage Bangladesh’s boom-ing export garment industry, which employs some four million women and accounts for $19.1 billion worth of ex-ports to the U.S. and Europe.n The United States government is right to deny duty-free access to Bangladesh’s garment exports to the U.S. — until the government of Bangladesh takes concrete steps to

implement the country’s labor laws as well as the International Labour Organization’s internationally rec-ognized worker rights standards, of which Bangladesh is a cosigner.n The European Union, Bangladesh’s largest export market, is a major player and should review its current policies on blanket duty- and quota-free access to the EU, which has done nothing to improve labor rights condi-tions for Bangladesh’s workers. Duty-free access should be reserved to re-ward factories that are serious about respecting local and international labor rights.

n Putting an end to the tragic deaths — 700 have been killed in gar-ment factories across Bangladesh since 2005 — is the top priority. But it is important to note that the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone

Authority, which is largely controlled by the military, is openly operating a “blacklist” to purge any workers dar-ing to exercise their legal right to organize a union. This too must stop.n Voluntary corporate codes of con-duct do not work! In fact, it is one of the great scams that allowed outsourcing to proliferate across many developing countries that have no concrete intention to re-spect internationally recognized worker rights and safety standards. A case in point would be the hor-

rific fire at the Ali Enterprises garment factory in Pakistan in September 2012, which killed at least 262 workers, who were trapped in the factory. Under the auspices of Social Accountability International, which is based in New York City, Ali Enterprises was certi-fied that it was in full compliance with health and safety and worker rights standards not long before the workers were killed.n Corporate labels are protected, but not human beings. No corporate execu-tives, either in the garment business or in retail, would ever accept “codes of conduct” to protect their garments. Far

from it. Their garments and trademarks are protected by enforceable laws — in-tellectual property and copyright laws — backed up by sanctions, including stiff fines and even prison time for any-one making and selling knockoffs or counterfeit garments.

If labels can be protected by laws backed up by sanctions, why is it that the human being making these garments cannot have similar legal protections?

It’s simple. Corporations say it would be an impediment to free trade to allow workers their legal rights.

Controlling the beastn I recall a meeting years ago with a prominent high-end apparel executive in New York who blurted out, “We may look rich around here, but we kill for pennies.” Both apparel manufacturers and retailers acknowledge that this is a cut-throat business.n Governments are key. Few American consumers have ever visited a sweat-shop factory or spoken with workers who sew our garments. This is es-pecially true since garment produc-tion has moved offshore to countries like Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Pakistan.

Our government has embassies around the world and they know facto-ry conditions on the ground. The turn-ing point will come when governments begin to demand the rule of law.

The American people can demand that the ILO’s internationally recog-nized labor standards become the law of the land, backed up by stiff sanctions for noncompliance.

{Continued from page one}

If labels can be protected by laws backed up by sanctions, why is it that the

human being making these garments cannot have similar legal protections?

VIEWPOINT

Sweatshop Garments Drag All of Us Down

Charles Kernaghan is director of The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) human rights organization dedicated to the promotion and defense of internationally recognized worker rights in the global economy. Founded in 1981 as the National Labor Committee, the Institute’s research, in-depth reports, high-profile public campaigns and widespread media coverage have been instrumental in creating the antisweatshop movement in the United States and internationally. The Institute is headquartered in Pittsburgh.

have a Comment? Visit WWD.comand offer your point of View.

TANKTHINKBY CHARLES KERNAGHAN

8

By KRISTIANO ANG

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The opportunity for Southeast Asia to challenge China as the apparel industry’s workshop of choice is growing.

Participants at the first Southeast Asian edition of Prime Source Forum cited rising costs in China and other countries and upcoming regional eco-nomic initiatives as reason to feel the region’s sourcing potential is on the rise.

“For the last 10 years, China has pow-ered itself ahead with huge economies of scale,” said Mark Lee, chief executive of-ficer of Singapore-based apparel firm Sing Lun Holdings. “But inflation [in China] seems to be picking up and buyers are push-ing 25 percent of their sourcing dollar out.”

Ade Sudrajat, chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association, said, “This shift in the global value chain is a major growth opportunity for Southeast Asia. It is in part due to rising costs in China, but we also have the skills and downstream industry. The integrated

supply chain [Southeast Asia offers] will ensure our competitiveness.”

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, saw the value of its collective apparel exports grow 10.4 per-cent in 2012 to $38.1 billion, according to fig-ures from the Source ASEAN Full Service Alliance, an industry group.

“ASEAN is here to stay,” said Prabakaran Kesavan, project manager of SAFSA. “The industry here was bigger than Turkey and Bangladesh in 2010 and it will grow bigger and bigger.”

In coming years, the region’s sup-ply chain should become even more streamlined with the birth of the ASEAN Economic Community. This unification of 10 countries’ markets, loosely similar to the European Union, is slated to come into place by 2015.

The 10 ASEAN countries form-ing the union are Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Under the AEC, tariffs on mov-ing most goods within the group of coun-tries would drop to zero or near-zero lev-

els. It will take place alongside initiatives like the ASEAN Single Window, a system that will allow businesses to shift products throughout the region by submitting docu-ments to just one regulatory authority.

“In a weird scenario, you could have yarn from Indonesia transferred to Malaysia for dyeing, before being made into garments in Cambodia, all [processed] through the single window,” said Kesavan.

The effective merging of these mar-kets will also allow manufacturers to leverage various free-trade agreements with Southeast Asian countries to their benefit and import or export accordingly.

For example, the EU, Japan and the U.S. consider Cambodia one of the lesser-developed countries in their Generalized System of Preferences. With this classifi-cation, the country pays significantly re-duced tariffs on many of its exports, about 90 percent of which are garments.

Apparel industry representatives also talked up the potentially positive impli-cations for other trade agreements and partnerships linking Southeast Asian countries.

“The negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership should also reduce some tar-iffs and create investing opportunities for apparel in this region,” said Sudrajat, refer-ring to the U.S.-led agreement that will es-

tablish a free-trade zone in the Asia-Pacific region between 11 countries. Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are mem-bers of the TPP, which excludes China.

Sudrajat and Kesavan both said they expected an expansion of the ASEAN Common Competency Program as the re-gion continues to integrate. The program, which was initiated in May 2009, pro-vides certification to workers that allow them to be recognized as skilled labor in states that recognize the program.

Such a program could help alleviate the chronic labor shortages that afflict the industry in Cambodia and Thailand, countries with small supplies of gar-ment workers. As currently projected, the AEC would only provide for the free flow of skilled labor, as opposed to the free movement of all people codified in EU treaties. Six countries — Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam — currently recognize the Common Competency Program, which will apply to garment workers.

Discussion also turned to worker safety. Compliance monitors said factory condi-tions are generally better in Southeast Asia than in the Indian subcontinent, where re-cent factory fires have claimed the lives of hundreds. Bangladesh has been the site of two of the most recent disasters.

TExTIlEs

touting southeast asia’s Potential

IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS.The turning point in the United States was the

Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, when 146 garment workers — mostly women seamstresses — were burned to death when an exit gate was purposely locked. One hundred thousand New Yorkers marched in the funeral pro-cession as 400,000 people lined the streets. Their call was “Who will protect the working girl?” For the first time, laws were enacted almost overnight to re-

quire sprinkler sys-tems, fire exits

that opened outward and could not be locked, and fire

safety inspec-tions became the norm — all of which was opposed by Wall Street.

With legislation to protect worker rights, the labor movement emerged, and by the Forties sweatshops were wiped out in the United States. The middle class was built and living standards rose.

A hundred years later, we are racing backward.On Jan. 26, 102 years after the Triangle Shirtwaist

fire, a fire broke out at the Smart Fashion Export garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Seven young

SEE PAGE 12

Editor’s Note: Think Tank is periodic column written by industry leaders and other critical thinkers. Today’s column is written by Charles Kernaghan, director of The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights.

xxxxx

Headlin eHeree

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FIRST ISSUE: “I had this wacky idea to bring in columnists,” said Kristina O’Neill.

She was at the Nomad Hotel on a recent Wednesday flipping through her maiden issue of WSJ. magazine, out Feb. 16, and recounting how she conceived some of her changes.

A veteran of magazines — first at New York, the last 12 years at Harper’s Bazaar — O’Neill had been thinking about what distinguishes her new employer, The Wall Street Journal. “Being at a newspaper and just thinking about the columns of a newspaper, a six-column grid, I had this idea to do columnists in columns,” she said.

Except, instead of Peggy Noonan and Karl Rove, she asked “luminaries in their field to talk about a topic that we sort of feel is pervasive in the ether,” a topic like discipline, for instance.

“Discipline sort of kept coming up. It was one of those words that I kept hearing at dinner parties. It gave me this idea to talk to different people in different fields,” she said.

She called Karl Lagerfeld and Marina Abramovic and Dwyane Wade, among others, and a feature was born. In each new issue, six rotating personalities will sound off on a topic of the magazine’s choice.

Lagerfeld the columnist is one of several innovations O’Neill has brought to the nearly five-year-old glossy, Rupert Murdoch’s entry in the luxury magazine race, where she’ll be its third editor in chief.

She said that unlike her former employer, Bazaar, WSJ. is a magazine in its infancy and she has time to shape its long-term image. “That’s the freedom of it. We’re not talking about a 145-year history,” she said.

Though the last time O’Neill worked at a newspaper was when she ran her high school paper, The Valkyrie, in her hometown, Woodbridge, a Virginia suburb, she embodies many of the attributes the Journal was looking for in a successor to Deborah Needleman.

She is the editor next door. Easy-going, with an all-American smile, she’s a 36-year-old wife and mother who lives in Brooklyn Heights. On weekends, you might spot her at Monty’s, a greasy pizzeria in her neighborhood, with her six-year-old daughter. Although she’s worked for some big personalities — as Candace Bushnell’s assistant at the New York Observer and then, at Bazaar, as a staffer under Kate Betts, and rising to executive editor under Glenda Bailey — she is much more low key.

Says Bushnell, “Even when she was working for me, she always said she wanted to get married and have kids. She wanted her wedding song to be ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ by the Carpenters. I was writing ‘Sex and the City,’ and thinking, ‘Good luck!’ Sure enough, the kid gets married.”

Her understated persona is perhaps what made her an attractive candidate to take over a magazine that needed to coexist with, not upstage, the Journal’s panoply of luxury sections.

“It comes wrapped up in the paper but for our millions of readers it’s one of the courses in the multicourse meal we serve them,” said Mike Miller, the senior deputy managing editor who hired O’Neill.

She understands this, too. She said one of her missions has been to bridge the gap between the magazine and the daily broadsheet.

For instance, she redesigned WSJ.’s logo to resemble the Journal’s Escrow typeface. And she introduced a front-of-book section that doubles as a news digest.

With her fashion story — white is her big theme for spring — O’Neill wanted to serve the regular Journal reader.

“I don’t think she wants a lot of mixed messages. She wants a takeaway, which is what

everyone wants when they open a fashion magazine,” she said.

In another departure from Needleman, O’Neill has forgone a fashion director, hiring instead Magnus Berger, who ran his own ad agency, as creative director, and brought in David Thielebeule from Allure to run the market department.

“It’ll give us flexibility to work under a freelance infrastructure,” she said. The first issue counts as contributors Mikael Jansson, lensman for Salvatore Ferragamo and Gant; Patrick Demarchelier, who shot Delphine Arnault, and Vanity Fair’s man for interiors, photographer Todd Eberle, who, in a coup, got an inside look at Domenico De Sole’s South Carolina estate. Berger will continue to have a stake in his firm, Berger & Wild.

That all sounds very pricy for a magazine within the frugal new News Corp. But that was also one of the perks of hiring an insider with deep ties to the industry who was accustomed to the equally frugal Hearst Corp.

“People don’t make these decisions just on money. They just want to be near talented editors,” Miller said, while also hastening to add, “We’re very disciplined about how we spend money and everything we do at the Journal.”

With O’Neill’s name and Bazaar cachet on the masthead, advertisers, including newcomers like LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton brands Celine and Marc Jacobs, have been piqued — though the Journal still doesn’t disclose its rates, the fashion issue has 65 ad pages, up 29 percent from the year before.

At a new Journal that is no longer buttressed by the more lucrative divisions of News Corp., austerity is newly in vogue. It’s also what explains an initially confounding aspect of O’Neill’s hire — reporting to Ruth Altchek, the editorial director of both the magazine and Off Duty, the weekend section.

Miller said that “like every magazine editor, Kristina has a boss, and her boss is Ruth.” But, he said, “It’s an administrative structure that works for our portfolio of properties. It’s one way we can be efficient economically.”

O’Neill’s hire was arranged in under a week, and she’s had a nonstop schedule since, tasked with putting together a major fashion issue, complete with tweaks and new features, in about six weeks. She hasn’t even had time to meet the Journal’s new managing editor, Gerald Baker. “He was in Davos, and I was in Paris [for couture],” she said. But that she was able to manage it is a testament to how quickly the magazine veteran has adapted to newspaper culture.

“I didn’t have time to overthink it. I just went with my instinct,” she said. Soon after she’d closed women’s fashion, she was rushing to finish the men’s issue.

— ERIK MAZA

CALIFORNIA COOL: Rebecca Minkoff’s spring campaign, with California’s sun-drenched, mountainous scenery as its backdrop, seems perfectly in sync with the designer’s spring collection, which was inspired by late American photographer Slim Aarons. Shot by Santiago and Mauricio Sierra, the images feature Hilary Rhoda at a private residence in Palm Springs and are slated to break on Wednesday. The company also plans to upgrade its showroom digs to a new 13,000-square-foot space in Manhattan’s Chelsea district on April 1. Next up for Minkoff? A freestanding store closer to home at 96 Greene Street that opens in August — KRISTI GARCED

SPARKLE PLENTY: Crystals may be tiny and shiny — but they’re certainly not for wimps. That’s the message from Swarovski, whose latest corporate ad campaign broke Monday in Love magazine. Created by Ronnie Cooke Newhouse of House + Holme in London, and shot by Nick Knight, the campaign features lots of glitter — but no specific product.

It features model Candice Swanepoel in a variety of poses with crystal-encrusted objects including a motorcycle helmet, a baby barbell and ski goggles. Other images show pink and lavender flowers in full bloom and dripping with crystals like raindrops.

“We wanted the campaign to capture the essence of the cool, contemporary woman,” said Nadja Swarovski, a member of the executive board, Swarovski Crystal Business. “Beautiful, healthy and strong, she is in charge and can compete in any way. She is also fun and kind of humorous. Nick catches her spirit perfectly. But more importantly, this is an overarching corporate campaign celebrating the modern woman and Swarovski crystal as a design ingredient supporting creative expression.”

Cooke Newhouse said about her springboard for the campaign: “I saw a common thread between the natural beauty of flowers, which need light in order to grow and be seen, and the finely crafted beauty of crystals which come alive in the light.” The campaign will also appear in the March issues of titles including the British, American, and Chinese editions of Vogue; British Harper’s Bazaar, and Vanity Fair.— SAMANTHA CONTI

LATE NIGHTS WITH ANDRE: André Leon Talley is aiming to bring his larger-than-life persona to the small screen. The voluble Vogue contributing editor has inked a deal with production company Electus to develop a late-night talk show. Electus, a partnership between former NBC Entertainment cochairman Ben Silverman and IAC Corp., has coproduced “Fashion Star,” “Mob Wives,” and “Teen Wolf.” Silverman has also

been an executive producer on “The Office,” “Ugly Betty” and “The Biggest Loser.”

Talley will serve as executive producer of the potential chat-fest, along with Electus. He said his goal is to create “a show that blends Dick Cavett’s approach to eloquence and sophistication with unparalleled access into my international fashion lifestyle. A forum where unique stories will be told and inspirations shared.”

Marc Beckman of DMA United brokered the deal between Talley and Electus. Beckman said the show was still in the early stages of development but would likely be geared towards a cable network. “We think a television platform is an ideal showcase for André’s personality to shine and bring together his amazing network of personal contacts, ranging from designers to musicians to politicians,” he noted.

Talley has already racked up a string of on-screen credits, serving as a fashion correspondent for Entertainment Tonight since last year, as a judge on “America’s Next Top Model” from 2009 to 2011 and a red-carpet critic for ABC’s coverage of the Academy Awards in 2007. He videotapes a regular series for vogue.com called “Mondays With André,” and he’s scored cameos on the big screen in “Sex and The City: The Movie,” “The September Issue” and “Valentino: The Last Emperor.”

Talley will continue to contribute to Vogue and explore other special projects within Condé Nast, said Beckman.

In separate news, Talley has also signed on for the role of editor at large at Numéro Russia, which is slated to publish its first issue in March. Talley will help conceive covers, select feature stories and develop a monthly column for the magazine. The new title is a partnership between France’s Groupe Alain Ayache, which publishes the original version of Numéro, and Russia’s Artcom Media Group. — DAVID LIPKE

10 WWD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013

MEMO PAD

Kristina O’Neill and the cover of her first edition of WSJ.

An image from Rebecca Minkoff’s spring campaign.

Candice Swanepoel in an ad for Swarovski.

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WWD.COM

HOT AND COLD: Mary’s little lamb may have been white as snow but Gwen Stefani’s new L.A.M.B. for Burton outerwear collaboration is all brash patterns and street-style details and will be hitting slopes come fall.

Making its debut at the SIA Snow Show in Denver, ending today, the 10-piece collection is set to begin retailing at Burton flagships and online at burton.com this September. Wholesale prices will range from $20 for an acrylic beanie to $180 for a down jacket. “The pieces are a unique mash-up of Gwen’s bold style combined with on-mountain functionality,” said chief creative

officer Greg Dacyshyn, who hopes the collaboration will ignite other projects.

The line includes parkas trimmed with the designer’s signature Rasta stripes or houndstooth patterns, as well as punky details like oversize zippers and military quilting. “The clothing itself is really technical. We haven’t done that before so it was a new challenge,” said Stefani. “We worked really hard on the pants. You don’t think of snowboarding pants as being superflattering by nature so we tried to mix masculine and feminine, which we always do, and give them a really cute fit, then added a tuxedo stripe for that edge.”

— Kim FriDAy

ZEE EmPirE EXPANDS: Joe Zee is adding published author to his résumé. He’s sold a still-unnamed style guide to St. Martin’s Press for an undisclosed amount. Zee, the creative director at Elle, contributed to an anthology about the magazine, but this is the first book under his name. It’ll mix personal history and self-help fashion advice. Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martin’s, acquired world rights for the book and has not set a publication date. — EriK mAZA

PrEPPiNG FOr TriAL: Macy’s Inc. filed a pretrial memorandum late Monday night detailing its contract dispute case against Martha Stewart and J.C. Penney Co. Inc. Macy’s, which has the exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart-branded products, sued Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. and Penney’s last summer after Stewart inked a deal with Penney’s to create Martha Stewart shops-in-shop. Penney’s also bought a 16.6 percent stake in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Macy’s, which is seeking to stop the sales agreement between its department store rival and Stewart, won an early victory in July in New York State Court. Presiding Judge Jeffrey Oing awarded Macy’s a preliminary injunction against Martha Stewart, barring the

sale of certain home goods at Penney’s. However, the judge also ruled, at a separate hearing, that Penney’s could go forward with its plan to set up Martha shops-in-shop this spring.

The case, which is set to go to trial in New York State court on Feb. 20, will ultimately decide the fate of the cantankerous contract dispute.

In its pretrial documents, Macy’s claimed that it has gathered evidence “documenting” tortious inference by Penney’s as well as a “mass of correspondence” between its rivals, in which Penney’s “demanded and MSLO transmitted Macy’s confidential, proprietary information.” Court papers further allege that negotiations between the defendants were “concealed” from Macy’s until after their deal was signed in late 2011.

Judge Oing will also have to wrestle with Martha Stewart’s counterclaims, which include the claim that Macy’s breached its own agreement by “failing to fulfill the contractual obligation to maximize net sales [of Martha Stewart products].”

For its part, Macy’s is looking for a permanent injunction, damages and attorney’s fees. — ALEXANDrA STEiGrAD

NEW DiGiTAL: John Varvatos has upped the ante for its e-commerce and Web site, which is being relaunched today. Designed by the Wednesday agency, the site is designed to encapsulate the brand aesthetic while providing an experience that is easy to navigate. It features separate sections for each collection — John Varvatos Collection, John Varvatos U.S.A. and Boys, Converse by John Varvatos and Fragrances — and layouts allow the user to flip through collections on their tablets or mobile devices.

New to the site is an editorial component called Style & Substance, a monthly section that profiles and photographs real men. The inaugural issue includes entrepreneur Pete Cashmore, restaurateur michael Chernow, comedian Anthony Jeselnik, actor Vincent Piazza, athlete Nick Swisher and chef michael Voltaggio, and offers photographs of them wearing Varvatos and includes quotes about their careers and style. There is also a Personal Shopper function on the site that allows shoppers to arrange one-on-one phone, FaceTime, and e-mail consultations to help them choose wardrobes specific to them and their needs.

A new program called “All Access” has been added that will allow customers to sign up for the first look at new collections and limited-edition products, invitations to private sales, priority access to the personal shopper and free shipping. The new Web site is being feted with an event in New York tonight. — JEAN E. PALmiEri

ULLmAN ON THE BOArD: myron E. Ullman 3rd, former chairman and chief executive officer of J.C. Penney Co. Inc., has joined Saks Inc.’s board. The 66-year-old Ullman will also serve on Saks’ audit and corporate governance committees of the board.

Ullman, a 30-year veteran of retail and luxury businesses, retired from Penney’s in February 2012. He joined as chairman and ceo in December 2004. Prior to that, he served as directeur général of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, in Paris; chairman and ceo of DFS Group Ltd., and chairman and ceo of R.H. Macy & Co. He currently serves on the boards of Starbucks Corp. and the COFRA Group, and as deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He is also an adviser to the board of the Retail Industry Leaders Association and is a past chairman of the National Retail Federation.

— DAViD mOiN

11WWD tuesday, february 5, 2013

Fashion scoops By LISA LOCkWOOD

FUR-SPORTING BRYANBOY is follow-ing his passion. He has struck a long-term deal with Adrienne Landau to launch an exclusive collaboration of fur acces-sories for fall. The label, Bryan Boy for Adrienne Landau, is the blogger’s first de-signer collaboration.

The accessories, which are unisex, are in rich, vibrant colors and feature camera straps, bow ties, hats, scarves and cowls in furs ranging from rabbit and mink to raccoon and fox.

“I use fur as a per-sonal punctuation mark,” said BryanBoy in an interview at Landau’s showroom at 519 Eighth Avenue in New York. “It’s fun, easy and anybody can wear it.”

BryanBoy ex-plained that the idea of collaborating with Landau had been percolating for awhile. He said he would frequently go to Landau’s showroom for his blog, and would ask her to design things in other colors. The two then decided, “Why don’t we work together?” he said.

The collection’s color palette ranges from deep shades of dewberry purple and shamrock green to sapphire blue, soft lilac, China rose, poppy yellow and vibrant red. The line, manufactured in China, will

be available for fall at retailers worldwide as well as on adriennelandau.com and bryanboy.com.

Bryan Boy for Adrienne Landau wholesales from $38 for a rex rabbit bow tie to $118 for knit rex rabbit cowl to $598 for a silver fox camera strap. Landau de-clined to give a first-year projection.

“After blogging for eight years, peo-ple are aware of my aesthetic and what I love. It was time for me to do something really creative. Now is the time to explore my creativity and challenge myself to do something more. I don’t want to be 50 years old and still be taking pictures with my cell phone on the street,” said the 30-year-old blogger.

Landau said that BryanBoy was 100 per-cent involved in de-signing the merchan-dise and knew exactly what he wanted.

“His line is fun, accessible, cut-

ting edge and new. It’s fashion, it’s color and has a point of view,” said Landau, who’s known for design-ing glamorous furs for stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Intermix.

“I’m always exploring new things and new products. It’s great to have another mind who thinks differently. It’s bring-ing in a younger vibe,” said Landau.

BryanBoy in Fur Collaboration

Bryan Boy for Adrienne Landau’s fur accessories.

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By Joelle DiDerich

PAriS — Swatch Group said net profits jumped 26 percent in 2012, beating market expec-tations, and it expects another year of healthy growth after a positive start to 2013.

The world’s largest watchmak-er — parent of brands including omega, Breguet, Blancpain and Swatch — posted net income of 1.61 billion Swiss francs, or $1.72 billion, in 2012 versus 1.28 billion Swiss francs, or $1.44 billion, the previous year. All dollar rates are calculated at average exchange rates for the period concerned.

“The 2013 financial year started well in January with con-tinued healthy growth,” Swatch Group stated.

“The signals from the mar-kets around the world clearly indicate continued healthy growth potential for the Swiss watch industry and the Swatch Group,” it said. “Against this backdrop, there is a realistic prospect of long-term growth in the Swiss watch industry of 5 to 10 percent per year.”

Swiss watch exports rose 12.6 percent between January and November 2012, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch industry, which is due to publish full-year results on Tuesday. Though demand has softened in key Asian markets, chinese tourists are expect-ed to continue underpinning european sales this year.

As previously reported, gross sales at Swatch Group rose 14 percent last year, breaching the barrier of 8 billion Swiss francs, or $8.5 billion, for the first time.

in its full results statement,

the group said its operating prof-it margin rose by 150 basis points to 25.4 percent in 2012. This was sharply higher than forecast by Swiss private bank Vontobel, which earlier said it expected the margin to increase by 30 basis points to 24.2 percent.

The Swatch Group results come on the heels of disappointing data from rival compagnie Financière richemont. The parent of brands including cartier and iWc report-ed last month that revenues in its fiscal third quarter rose 9.3 per-cent to 2.86 billion euros, or $3.72 billion, as sales in the Asia-Pacific region flattened out.

Thomas chauvet, luxury analyst at citi, maintained his “neutral” rating on Swatch Group shares.

in a research note, he pointed out that the company’s cash pile has been steadily decreasing due to higher inventories, the acquisition of small movements and components suppliers, pur-chases of raw materials and a personal loan to the chairman of Swatch group’s largest Asian customer, hengdeli holdings.

“The acquisition of harry Winston jewelry brand for ap-proximately $1 billion in January 2013 will put further pressure on cash flow this year,” chauvet said.

“While management empha-sized that this is a good use of ‘low-yielding cash,’ we are not fully convinced by the ratio-nale of the harry Winston deal, which will dilute margins/re-turns and require additional in-vestments in sourcing, manufac-turing, distribution and working capital,” he added.

Swatch Group shares closed up 5 percent at 543.50 Swiss francs, or $703.75.

By MArc KAriMzADeh

AS For cAuTioNAry fashion tales, Adam lippes’ luckily comes with a happy ending. After a one-year absence during which the de-signer bought back his name from Kellwood co., he picked himself up, dusted himself off and is now reen-tering the industry with an impres-sive lineup of elegant, easy clothes.

“This is a progression, an evo-lution of that [earlier] line in a lot of ways, certainly in the style and aesthetic,” lippes said on Monday, sitting in his chic Soho apartment that also serves as his business headquarters. “This is certainly the first time i have done some-thing totally on my own. i had two very different financial partners before: first Atelier [Management llc], which was richemont-funded, and then Kellwood.

“This is who i am as a designer,” he continued. “it’s true American designer sportswear. it’s important for me to create a wardrobe of sta-ples for a woman with clothes that she can wear that don’t wear her. Words that come to mind are sim-plicity, elegance and ease.”

Where the previous incarnation was at the contemporary level, this time lippes, who honed his skills at oscar de la renta for eight years before launching into underwear (remember a+dam and a+eve?) and then apparel, is aiming at the entry-level designer tier. it shows in his fabrics and execution. There are sporty silk track pants, a white shirt-

dress with kilt pleat back detail and knitwear pieces like an italian me-rino wool top with a sheer V insert and an oversize italian jersey sweat-er with floral embroidery. Bonded fabrics add a luxe touch, demon-strated on a voluminous leather skirt with a cashmere lining and a lace-and-duchesse-silk version.

The clothes are priced to retail from about $400 for a fine merino wool knit top, to $2,500 for a long coat with a fur collar, with dresses ranging from $700 to $1,200.

While retailers won’t see the new line until next week, lippes hopes to launch the collection in a focused way with one department store and one e-tailer, as well as about 30 high-end specialty stores, many of which he already has established relationships (his previous stores included harrods in london, lane crawford in hong Kong and Marissa collections in Naples, Fla.). “A lot of designer stores carried us in the past because we had the aesthetic,” lippes said, noting that initial retail conversations have resulted in posi-tive feedback.

he will also relaunch his Adam ba-sics line of T-shirts and underwear at adamlippes.com this spring. he plans to expand it into a fuller assortment that could, he said, range from cash-mere hooded tops to T-shirt dresses.

in the first year, lippes antici-pates $1 million in wholesale sales.

The designer has assembled a small team, all of whom worked with him in the past, while indus-try executive Donata Minelli, who left her position of chief executive

officer of yigal Azrouël last month, is now an adviser to lippes.

For the moment, this comeback is self-financed. “Through the big in-vestors i had in my past life, i saved some money,” lippes said. “We have a small team and everyone chipped in. it’s been a really good moment in my experience with fashion.”

it wasn’t always this way. lippes joined forces with Kellwood in 2010 but the relationship ended in December 2011 when Kellwood pulled the plug on the business a week before the designer was due to show his pre-fall collection. lippes bought back his name last May, and in the process renegotiated the noncompete clause earlier than was originally planned. “it was a learning experience and a growing experience and i am happy it’s be-hind me,” he said. “if you learn from these things, it’s great. i feel that looking back now, i was sad, angry, mad, but i am really fortunate to be able to be in this position, relaunch-ing a year later. i have to thank Kellwood for helping me get back to this position. They could have pre-vented it so i feel fortunate i was able to acquire my name back.”

lippes will present the collec-tion on Feb. 11 and 12 in a raw office space on the 22nd floor at 3 columbus circle. There, he will recreate his own Soho living room, which, after all, has played a key role in his relaunch. Speaking of his downtown digs, he plans to keep working from home until he outgrows the space. After all, he says, “it’s an easy commute.”

the brand’s stores as aestheti-cally too similar to her own.

rumors of a lawsuit swirled for months, but eventually it was christopher Burch who sued in october, alleging his ex-wife and her employees inter-fered with his ability to develop c. Wonder. Tory Burch counter-sued, alleging that her ex-hus-band used his role as a director at her company to make “copy-cat” products for c. Wonder.

The awkward affair was ul-timately settled late last year when christopher Burch sold off some of his 28.3 percent stake in the Tory Burch business and the legal tussle was dropped.

That has cleared the way for c. Wonder to press on.

investors are keen to tap into

the potential of brands in the fashion sphere. Kors, which went public in December 2011, is now valued at nearly $11 billion and Tory Burch is now said to be val-ued at $2.5 billion or more.

clearly, Fidelity wants to get in on the ground floor with c. Wonder — a somewhat sur-prising investment for the firm, which is known as one of the largest mutual fund operators in the world, serving more than 20 million people and institutions.

it is not known how often Fidelity invests in small com-panies such as c. Wonder. The firm’s FMr unit, however, is well known in fashion invest-ment circles. FMr has $5.61 billion invested in apparel and accessories firms, including a $1.08 billion stake in lululemon

Athletica inc., $948.2 million worth of PVh corp. stock and a $774.2 million chunk of Michael Kors holdings ltd.

c. Wonder hasn’t reached the level of those businesses yet, but it has caught the at-tention of the industry. Burch had a number of retail brands in the works, but in November said he would focus on c. Wonder and Monika chiang.

he seems to have a knack with shoppers.

“The only skills i really have are creativity and intuition,” he said at the WWD ceo Summit last month. “That intuition has allowed me to kind of link to the consumer.”

Burch puts the shopper at the center of the retail experience.

“All we care about is our cus-tomer,” he said. “other speak-ers [at the summit] talked about how important fashion is and the product. i actually think the [store] environment and voices of the customer are more important. When you have no rules or regulations, you can tell your sales staff, ‘you can do anything you want to make them [customers] happy.’”

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Fidelity Said Taking Stake in C. Wonder{Continued from page one}

Swatch Profits Rise 26 Percent

Looks from Adam Lippes’ fall collection.

Burch plans to expand C. Wonder to 50 to 100 stores by the end of 2014.

Christopher Burch

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