A ‘C’ for the star of ‘Z’Brad Pitt’s all-black ensemble would have been better off left for dead. Page MW11

MAN OF THE WEEK

June 20, 2013

by PAULINE SZMYDKE, ALESSANDRA TURRA and GORDON SORLINI

FLORENCE — As temperatures soared out-side, the Pitti Immagine Uomo trade show kept it cool with an eclectic mix of sports-wear and tailoring elements. An unusually subdued color palette expressed in prints and innovative fabrics impressed retailers, who were also hot about the prospects for the men’s wear business.

“Prints are very strong and very fancy this season,” observed Hirofumi Kurino, chief creative adviser of United Arrows, noting that they were a good addition to the upper market. “They are seen not only on shirts, but on jackets and trousers, and they sell very well. In Japan, prints were already in demand two to three years ago. It was about time that Europe and the U.S. follow suit.”

Kurino pointed to the comic prints at Gitman Vintage as among the highlights, but said “the most advanced trend is dark color.” “It’s very refreshing to see black being used for summer. Not the 1990s black-black, but made contemporary in lighter shades on linen or cotton with washed effects,” he said.

“Colors are a lot more subtle this sea-son,” agreed Tancrède de Lalun, general merchandise manager at Printemps. “This along with more fitted silhouettes, hidden details and a move away from logos, adds more chic to the collections….We also see a lot of jackets worn with T-shirts instead of shirts for a more casual attitude.”

Take Camoshita, for example. The Japanese up-and-coming brand designed by United Arrows’ Yasuto Kamoshita struck a contemporary note between luxe and casual and scooped the Pitti Uomo Award 2013, collecting laurels for its unique print and textile blends.

Channeling Fifties and Sixties American jazz culture, Camoshita present-ed a series of casual suits in various shades of blue, blue-gray, rich green and warm brown, from custom-made cotton, featuring toned-down graphic prints and relief tex-tures. While bottoms were loose featuring elastic waistbands, tops were more struc-tured through fitted shoulders.

“There is not much need any more for sophisticated business suits,” explained Kamoshita. “Men prefer lighter, more ca-sual versions which they can wear on a number of occasions, while traveling, going to the beach or to a restaurant.“

Eric Jennings, vice president and fash-ion director at Saks Fifth Avenue, said: “What impressed me right away at Pitti this season was the plethora of new brands and the more youthful vibe at the show. There seems to be a lot of excitement and energy despite the stifling heat.”

For the brand’s debut at the fair, Antonio Azzuolo, creative director of Eidos, the new label launched by Isaia, injected a contem-porary feel into classic men’s staples, which

REPORT FROM FLORENCE

Pitti Uomo Buyers Upbeat on Luxury Key spring trends include prints and sober colors.

PLUS:Men’s Wearhouse

founder George Zimmer is out at the

firm. Page MW2

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Generation NextGaia Trussardi will unveil her first collection on Sunday in Milan after taking the design reigns of her family label. Embracing a sophisticated athletic sensibility, the young designer was inspired by the masculine image of the Trussardi man from the Eighties. In keeping with the fashion house’s leather heritage, the spring collection showcases luxury outerwear, such as this car coat worn with rolled canvas Bermuda shorts. For more on Trussardi’s new chapter, see page MW10.

Men’s WeekMW2 WWD THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

by DAVID LIPKE

THE DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER efficiencies of e-commerce have become the go-to business model of many a fashion start-up. Following in the well-trod footsteps of companies like Everlane, Flint & Tinder and Harry’s shav-ing products comes Greats, a new men’s foot-wear concept that launches in August.

Founded by two footwear industry veterans, Jon Buscemi and Ryan Babenzien, the compa-ny will offer classic shoe styles, beginning with retro-looking sneakers, with high production values and accessible prices. “The footwear in-dustry is incredibly inefficient. By disrupting the traditional retail and e-commerce model, Greats will be able to make a premium-quality shoe and offer it to the consumer at a much lower price,” said Babenzien, who has been the chief executive officer of tennis apparel maker Boast since last year, but is stepping down from that position this month.

Apart from its founders’ own seed money, Greats has been funded by a small group of angel investors, including New York-based

High Peaks Venture Partners and NFL player Adrian Wilson of the New England Patriots.

The company has tapped Nickelson Wooster as “stylist in residence” and a member of its ad-visory board. Wooster exited his role as senior vice president of product development and de-sign of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. earlier this year.

The initial launch at Greatsbrand.com will offer two sneaker styles, each in three color options. The Wilson, priced at $59, is a low-top retro basketball sneaker in cot-ton canvas based on the silhouette of the Converse Chuck Taylor shoe, available in red, white or blue. “We’ll be working on the most classic men’s sneaker silhouettes and reinterpreting them in a hyper-relevant way,” explained Buscemi.

The Wilson is actually priced higher than the basic version of the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star, which starts at $50. The price of the Wilson is reflected in premium materials and construction, such as a synthetic pigskin foot bed, leather toe cap and an innovative elastic shoelace with a toggle closure that eliminates the need to tie your shoes, said Babenzien.

The Royale is the second available style, an upscale take on the Sixties tennis sneaker based on the classic Adidas Stan Smith sil-houette. Priced at $99, the shoe is made from deerskin and lined in calfskin leather, with a decorative felted quarter panel on the side.

Buscemi likened the look and qual-ity of the Royale to similar versions from higher-priced brands like Common Projects, Buttero and Visvim.

Greats will expand into a range of casual and dress shoe styles down the road, with some product made in Italy, which will push up prices. Currently, the product is manu-factured in León, Mexico, an emerging cen-ter of shoe production.

Deliveries will be fulfilled by a third-party service with warehouses in California, Pennsylvania and Canada. Greats will only

ship to the U.S. and Canada at launch, with international deliveries coming at a later date.

Babenzien has been ceo of Boast since last year, prior to which he was global director of lifestyle marketing at K-Swiss from 2008 to 2011. Earlier, he was di-rector of entertainment marketing at Puma from 2005 to 2008.

Buscemi was co-founder and chief marketing officer be-ginning in 2006 at Los Angeles-based Gourmet

Footwear, where he remains a minority owner. Earlier in his career, he was a men’s category director at DC Shoes.

Greats Footwear to Launch via E-commerce

Zimmer’s Ouster Leaves Industry Guessingby ARNOLD J. KARR

GEORGE ZIMMER might have overstayed his welcome at the company he led for nearly 40 years.

That’s how retail analysts, sup-pliers, competitors and other mar-ket observers reacted Wednesday to Zimmer’s unceremonious and sur-prising ouster as executive chair-man of The Men’s Wearhouse Inc. on the morning of the company’s an-nual meeting, which was postponed and has yet to be rescheduled.

Zimmer, who founded the $2.5 billion company in 1973 and stepped down as chief executive of-ficer in June 2011, had stayed on as executive chairman and a director.

Yet his disengagement from day-to-day oversight of the company had been decidedly incomplete. He re-mained a presence on the compa-ny’s quarterly conference calls with analysts as well as the bearded face and baritone voice of the company in radio, television and print com-mercials that resolved with the pop-ular tag line, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.”

But comments from the compa-ny and Zimmer himself Wednesday suggest that the former ceo didn’t like the way things were looking at the company he started. Several

market sources theorized that di-visions between Zimmer and the board had become so severe that they were about to spill over in full view at the annual meeting, possi-bly prompting the move just hours before it was scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Pacific time at the compa-ny’s headquarters in Fremont, Calif.

Men’s Wearhouse shocked retail observers Wednesday with news that it had “terminated” Zimmer, who was to stand for reelection as a director at the meeting. “The board expects to discuss with Mr. Zimmer the extent, if any, and terms of his ongoing relationship with the company,” the firm said.

Identified only as the com-pany’s founder, Zimmer shot back with a statement of his own later Wednesday morning. It paid a one-sentence tribute to the firm’s em-ployees and customers for building the company, the largest U.S.-based men’s wear chain with controlling market share in sales of men’s tai-lored clothing and rentals of tuxedos.

It also made plain his displea-sure with the company’s current direction — and his disinclination to keep it to himself.

“Over the past several months, I have expressed my concerns to the board about the direction the com-

pany is currently heading,” he said. “Instead of fostering the kind of dia-logue in the boardroom that has, in part, contributed to our success, the board has inappropriately chosen to silence my concerns by terminating me as an executive officer.”

He and Douglas Ewert, presi-dent and ceo of MW, declined to dis-cuss the developments with WWD.

Zimmer’s dual status as com-pany pitchman and its largest noninstitutional shareholder, with control of about 3.5 percent of the company’s stock through a series of family trusts, is likely to make detente difficult. The company has paid Zimmer a $10,000 licensing fee for his marketing and promotional services as an employee, but the agreement calls for the fee to move up to $250,000 a year for a period of four years if and when he ceases to be an employee for any reason.

“Is the company going to want to pay $1 million to put its former chairman on the air after such a public dispute? It just doesn’t seem likely, or even smart,” noted one fi-nancial source.

The separation of Zimmer and the company that, in many con-sumers’ eyes, is virtually synony-mous with him suggests a board-room tension that many have sensed but of which there has been little concrete evidence.

While the men’s wear indus-try and Wall Street sought expla-nations for the surprising split, Richard Jaffe, analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, put into a research note sentiments heard frequently in the market Wednesday.

“We believe that despite Zimmer’s planned transition to a smaller role at the company, he had difficulty letting go of the reins and the leadership of the busi-ness,” he wrote. “We believe that this led to a conflict with the board and his subsequent termination.”

Jaffe noted that some of the fric-tion between Zimmer and the board might be attributable to the found-er’s continuing role as the com-pany’s on-air spokesman. “The use of Zimmer as spokesperson has, co-incidentally, been under review as management has been evaluating his effectiveness, particularly with the Millennial consumer,” he said.

Jaffe reiterated Stifel’s “buy” rating on Men’s Wearhouse’s stock,

which shed 43 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close Wednesday at $37.04, 4 per-cent below the 52-week high of $38.59 reached on Sept. 7. By comparison, it closed, after adjustments for divi-dends, at $30.08 on June 15, 2011, the day Ewert succeeded Zimmer as ceo.

Ewert, a Macy’s veteran who was president and chief operating officer before succeeding Zimmer as ceo, has been described as “me-thodical” in his two years at the company’s helm, although the pace of change has recently accelerated.

In March, the company said it had retained Jeffries & Co. to evaluate strategic options for its struggling K&G division, which subsequently saw comparable-store sales decline 6.7 percent in the first quarter ended May 4.

Less material to financial results but perhaps more indicative of any boardroom contentiousness, the company in December named de-signer Joseph Abboud, fresh from his stint as president and chief creative officer of HMX Group, as chief creative director and has been positioning him as the chain’s style authority with videos and question-and-answer content on its Web site.

However, Zimmer’s “Ask George” page, on which consumers can direct comments and questions to the chain’s founder, remained on the Web site Wednesday following news of his exit.

While beset with the same pro-motional pressures as other apparel retailers, MW is hardly a distressed enterprise. Last year, profits grew 9.2 percent, to $131.7 million, as total revenues rose 4.4 percent to $2.49 billion. Comps were up 4.8 and 1.5 percent, respectively, at Men’s Wearhouse and Moores stores while down 4.3 percent at K&G. Unlike its

next largest competitor, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., MW weathered a pro-motional first quarter well enough to boost profits 23.1 percent, to $33.1 million on a 5.1 percent sales in-crease to $616.5 million.

According to the company’s proxy, Zimmer earned about $2 mil-lion as chairman last year — $1 mil-lion in salary, $100,000 in bonuses and nearly $900,000 in other com-pensation, including nearly $523,000 for personal use of the corporate aircraft. Ewert’s total compensation was larger, at $2.1 million, but his sal-ary a smaller $617,000.

Zimmer, 64, has emerged in recent years as something of a cult figure, and not only because of his ubiquitous presence on television. The New York native is known to have a spiritual bent and succeeded in securing Deepak Chopra a position on MW’s board. He personally donated $50,000 to the un-successful 2010 initiative to legalize marijuana in California and eschewed the practice of putting job applicants through criminal background checks.

Consumers learning of his oust-er Wednesday were in some cases angered by the news. “We’ll never shop at Men’s Wearhouse again,” wrote one on Facebook. Another, posting on a Yahoo message board in a more fanciful vein, wondered if the company was backing away from its founder because his name might be confused with that of George Zimmerman, whose trial on charges of murdering Trayvon Martin recently began in Florida.

In industry circles, the reaction was one of near shock. “I thought it was a typo when I read it,” said one men’s wear supplier.

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM JEAN E. PALMIERI

The Royale sneaker.

Men’s Wearhouse revenues reached $2.49 billion last year.

George Zimmer

Men’s WeekMW4 WWD THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

IN AN ELEVATOR in the Portland Hilton last month, a very normal-looking guy asked me where I bought my polka dot silk scarf. He looked like he might have been in town for a medical device con-vention or, being Portland, the National Chainsaw Forum. He went on to say that he’d been thinking about getting a scarf like the one I was wearing, and wanted to know where he could buy one. I said that I had bought it in New York, so I gave him my e-mail and told him I would find him one and send it. Within three minutes I received his e-mail and it read, “Met you at the Hilton. Help me dress better.”

It’s just one in a series of encoun-ters that have happened to me over the last several months. All over the country I somehow find myself engaged in conversations with men who would never normally discuss things like patterns, color or cut, but it’s happening everywhere I go. These guys are both straight and gay, and sometimes “stray,” which is what I call someone who’s a bit of both.

Twenty-five years ago, 80 percent of men’s underwear was bought by women. That number today is probably down to 20 percent. Men are becoming more in-dependent in their thinking and more ad-venturous in their self-expression of who they are defined by what they wear. The uniform that we have trained men to wear is ready for a big shift. We’re about to go from Prep, to what I call Post-Prep.

If Prep is e-mailing, Post-Prep is Tumbling. Prep is Prius, Post-Prep is Tesla. It’s the Darwinian evolution that we, as men, are going through — crawl-ing out of the primordial mud of tradition, moving toward an oxygenated world of choices about how we want to represent ourselves as our personal brand. It’s time we gave our webbed toes a pedicure.

Why should pattern and color be just the domain of women? Why should we continue to choose which neutrals to wear? As Winston Churchill wrote, “I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones

and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.” Don’t get me wrong, I like brown; it looks great on camels and trees, but I think Churchill reflects my feeling about men’s wear.

Men’s wear as a palette for great design can and should be as exciting as women’s wear. The expression of design in women’s wear is masterful and historical, adventur-ous and delicious, superb and sensual; so far ahead in its exploration of fabrics, cut and emotional texture. But men’s wear is still so unexplored. So how far can we push ourselves? I don’t mean that men

should start dressing like Lady Bunny, but we can go much further than we do.

With only a very few exceptions, there hasn’t been a significant launch of a sig-nature American men’s wear brand since Tommy Hilfiger in 1985. This statement will undoubtedly be debated by many. The iconic campaign that advertising vision-ary George Lois created for Tommy at the time was brilliant, and instantly planted Tommy’s flag on top of the world.

But as the comedian Eddie Izzard says, “No flag, no country.” We need more men’s wear designers to plant their flag in the ground.

When I say that there hasn’t been a sig-nificant launch since 1985, I don’t mean launch in terms of scale, but in market influ-ence. I think John Varvatos is brilliant, amaz-ingly talented and a true artist. I think Thom Browne is a genius, and whatever they put in the water in Pennsylvania where he grew up should be bottled. There are others, of course, but clearly not enough. If you think about it, New York is the only fashion capital in the world that doesn’t have an organized

men’s fashion week, even though the United States is one of the largest men’s wear mar-kets. Isn’t that telling us something?

Men’s wear sales at some of the con-temporary Web sites that carry both men’s and women’s are 50 percent higher in com-parison to the off-line sales of women’s apparel. If total women’s clothing sales in the U.S. are about $120 billion, and men’s are about $60 billion, does that mean that men’s has a $30 billion upside if there were more fashion for them to buy?

If men were buying with more frequen-cy (more like women in their need to keep

up with style), the opportunity could be significant. An increase of 10 per-cent or 20 percent would be remark-able, and in some ways it’s already happening. As noted in the New York Times last December: “Men’s suit sales will be up 10 percent this year, and sports jacket sales will be up 11 percent, while women’s ready-to-wear sales remain flat.”

It’s not that men are necessarily more comfortable shopping online; maybe they are finding more fash-ion there. It’s pretty hard for most men to find contemporary apparel in the brick-and-mortar space, un-less they live in large urban areas. When I walk the men’s floors of some stores, I feel like I am in a time-warped Valium-induced haze; style that is hermetically sealed in a world of golden Labradors and perfectly manicured mansions that haven’t yet had the chance to (and may not) be passed down to the Post-Prep generation.

This is what our friend in Portland faces everyday.

Look at the modern world we live in; how we are going to dress

in it? The technology shaping social sys-tems; electric cars that can drive across the country; the stunning world that is being mapped and photographed on every street — and now in the ocean; crowd funding of new ideas that would never be-fore have seen the light of day; space tour-ism coming online in 2014. Are we still going to drape cable knit sweaters gently around our shoulders while the world goes through one of the most disruptive periods of its existence?

This conversation is not about a new trend, but the launch of a new style. Style is like knowing someone all your life; a trend is having dinner with someone and never seeing them again.

It’s been a while since I’ve worked on Seventh Avenue. Not much has changed. There are the same retailer/vendor con-flicts, the late deliveries, the supply chain issues, the markdowns; the everyday drama that goes along with the apparel business. But what has changed is the transparency of the designer/consumer relationship.

Retailers are not the guardians of fash-ion anymore, just like record companies are not the arbiters of what people listen to. We can no longer hide behind a store door that opens at 9:30 a.m. to let people buy what we tell them to. Creativity and commerce are now open 24 hours a day and nothing will again hold them back. The true narrative of a brand can now be distributed unfiltered and fresh, and not be stifled by the economics of a third party.

Perhaps it is in this environment that men’s wear designers and retailers can finally flourish. So get ready to take down the posters of the golden Labs. I’m just as sentimental as anyone, but it’s time to let the dogs out, so to speak.

Which is why I’m going back into the men’s business. When asked by people, “Why on earth would you go back in the indus-try?” Well let me put it this way. First, I love it, even with all its insular idiosyncrasies. Second, I need new clothes. Third, there is a huge opportunity I just can’t ignore. And finally, to quote my new company motto, and which I also use as the rallying call for men’s wear in general: “Because he can.”

by JEAN E. PALMIERI

HASPEL IS PREPARING for its reemergence.After a year’s hiatus, the venerable men’s

wear brand, which got its start in 1909, will be relaunched for spring. It is being produced in-house by descendants of founder Joseph Haspel, who have brought CFDA-winning designers Jeff Halmos and Sam Shipley of the brand Shipley & Halmos on board to design the collection.

The brand is being managed by Thomas Wallis, an industry veteran whose résumé includes stints at GFT USA Corp., Marzotto and brands such as CP Company and Emanuel Ungaro.

“It’s an aggressive plan, but we wouldn’t have jumped in if we weren’t confident that it was going to work,” said Laurie Haspel Aronson, president and the fourth generation to run the family-owned business.

The label had been licensed to Neema Clothing, but that company wound down its branded business and sold its inventory to the Samsung Group in late 2011. The Haspel license was then assigned to Blue Lion, a company operated by Jeffrey Ammeen, the son of former Neema chief executive offi-cer James Ammeen, to handle the sales and marketing for Neema’s licensed businesses, which included Haspel. Aronson said that relationship ended at the end of 2012.

“We brought Tom in to manage the brand, and he has so many great ideas,” she said. “He sees where the potential lies, and we’ve been working behind the scenes to get every-thing started.”

Under the direction of Halmos and Shipley, Haspel will offer a full collection of tailored clothing and sportswear, the vast major-ity of which will be manufactured in the U.S. The tailored clothing will be made in the JA Apparel factory and the shirts, ties and casual pants will be made at the Southwick plant, both of which are in Massachusetts. Knitwear will be made in Peru. It will be shown at the Shipley & Halmos showrooms in New York as well as at the upcoming Project trade shows in New York and Las Vegas.

The new Haspel offering will be targeted to a younger customer, have a “modern clas-sic” sensibility and be targeted to better de-partment and specialty stores. “The emphasis will be on sportswear, clothing and accesso-ries that have references to our past but with more modern fits,” she said. It will be priced just under designer collections and will in-clude suits at $795 to $1,200; jackets for $695 to $995; shirts for $175 to $225; ties for $95, and chinos for $195 to $295. These prices are “about double” those of the collection pro-duced by Neema, Wallis said.

Aronson said after she and Wallis inter-viewed dozens of potential design partners, she was impressed with the “attitude and zest” exhibited by Shipley and Halmos, who have had their own label for five years.

Halmos said the duo had produced a small-er collaboration with Uniqlo, but this is the first full-scale effort outside their own label. “We’re cautious about who we’re going to part-ner with,” he said. “But being approached by Laurie and being able to work on a 100-year-old-plus brand is not super common. We look at it as an opportunity to take something that was once an important American brand and give it some much-needed love.”

Shipley said that in addition to the ap-parel, they have redesigned the logo, mar-keting material and hangtags — “the collat-eral that helps tell the story of the brand.” Although Haspel’s history is in men’s seasonal suits, the line is more than just seersucker. “We’re using other natural fibers — linens, wools, cottons — and a mix and match ap-proach,” Shipley said. “We also modernized the silhouette,” said Halmos. “The 104-year-old brand is credited with pioneering seer-sucker for men’s suits. As the story goes, Joseph Haspel took the fabric, which at the time was used as a material in coveralls, and produced a men’s suit at his New Orleans fac-tory. To demonstrate the wash-and-wear char-acteristics of the fabric, Haspel jumped into the Atlantic Ocean on a business trip wear-ing his seersucker suit, hung it out to dry and wore it to a trade show that night.

MEN’S WEAR IS STILL SO UNEXPLORED. SO HOW FAR CAN WE PUSH OURSELVES? I DON’T MEAN THAT MEN SHOULD START DRESSING LIKE LADY BUNNY, BUT WE CAN GO MUCH FURTHER THAN WE DO.

VIEWPOINT

Men Are the New Women*

Editor’s Note: Think Tank is a periodic column written by industry leaders and other critical thinkers. Today’s column is written by Nick Graham, chief executive of NGO Inc. and founder of Joe Boxer.

Haspel to Relaunch With Shipley, Halmos

Nick Graham is the CEO of NGO Inc, a company that will produce, license and distribute men’s apparel and accessories under the Nick Graham brand starting in 2014. He is also the Founder and former Chief Underpants Officer of Joe Boxer. nick@nickgraham.com.

HAVE A COMMENT? VISIT WWD.COMAND OFFER YOUR POINT OF VIEW.

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* The term “Men are the New Women” came from an article I read last fall. It is credited to Bret Pittman, director of J. Crew’s Ludlow Shop. Mickey, I know that you’re probably going to read this and if I didn’t mention it I’d never hear the end of it.

TANKTHINKBY NICK GRAHAM

Men’s WeekMW6 WWD THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

included a green washed cotton peacoat with an asymmetric cut, a checkered drawstring raincoat and a comfortable blazer in a cot-ton shirt fabric. Channeling a subtle military theme, Azzuolo reworked cargo pants, moving the lateral pockets up for a more urban and so-phisticated effect.

Also among this season’s new-comers at Pitti Uomo was Natural Born Elegance, the luxury out-erwear line designed by Julian Cerrutti, son of Nino Cerrutti. Focusing on craftsmanship and high-end fabrics, Cerrutti delivered four styles — a zipped bomber, a sweater jacket, along with a classic and a sporty blazer — all lined in lightweight rich materials treated with innovative techniques, which made them waterproof.

Standouts included a snakeskin-printed cashmere bomber, a nylon and cotton sport jacket lined with printed cashmere and a casual blaz-er in linen. Cerrutti also used a silk and ramie fabric to deliver a sophis-ticated bomber with a leatherlike ef-fect and a cool tuxedo jacket featur-ing the lining in a crocodile pattern.

Other texture innovations were observed at Boglioli. Continuing the company’s search for unconvention-al products, the Italian men’s wear brand launched the “Pashmina

Jacket,” an all-season lightweight deconstructed blazer made with an exclusive superfine cashmere wool, which is usually used for scarves, and introduced lightweight pieces made from dyed mohair.

The company, which according to chief executive officer Giovanni Mannucci is planning to have a store make its debut in Milan in September 2014, is also gearing up to open its first offshore branch in the U.S., called Boglioli USA Corp. “The American mar-ket is almost u n e x p l o r e d by Boglioli, so we decided to manage it directly,” Mannucci said. “The U.S. has a leadership in the luxury busi-ness, and we believe that the re-gion requires a presence in situ in order to serve our customers more effectively.”

To run the company, Boglioli tapped David Newlove as manag-ing director. The appointment will be effective July 1.

Having his sights set on going west, as well, Christophe Vérot, se-nior designer of Paris-based swim-

wear label Robinson Les Bains, made a point of designing a special version of the brand’s best-selling Oxford shorts in custom-printed toile de Jouy for the U.S. market.

“France and the U.K. are still our biggest customers, because our shapes are more fitted and the Europeans are more body-

conscious. But now we made the shorts longer to match the American taste,” he said, noting that the brand registered an increase of 75 percent in turn-over in the past 12 months. “This season alone we have won 20 new clients.”

Following the trend toward premium

swimwear, the brand broadened its offer of prints. “Usually we only have one or two, this time we are presenting seven,” said Vérot, noting he tapped the archives of famous Italian printmaker Ratti, choosing floral and Orient Express-inspired motifs, which among others made their way into a hybrid T-shirt that can be worn on the beach or in the city alike, made from terry with printed nylon sleeves and soft cotton lin-

ing. “We sell this model a lot to people who go sailing,” said Vérot, citing light knits as another trend.

“Light summer knitwear is still the strongest category,” con-firmed Kurino, predicting the trend would continue throughout next winter, with round-necks having a comeback.

Signaling hybrids as another trend, Kurino noted that while trousers are preferably worn cropped by his customers, men’s jackets were increasingly get-ting longer, as seen at Japanese

KS(S) for instance. “With all this bad weather going on around the world, these coat-with-jacket [blends] are useful. They also look more elegant and mature.”

On the color front, indigo was the buzzword. At Closed, the brand’s signature denim and chino styles upped their ante with a nat-ural indigo dye, which also found its way onto a series of sweats. While the brand made vintage-looking patchwork its leading theme for denim, chinos came in a new cotton fabric, woven with a “military structure” and developed by the German casualwear brand. “It gives a three-dimensional qual-ity to the fabric, it’s more volumi-nous, but lighter,” senior men’s de-signer Manfred Wagner said.

The brand made loosely knit long-sleeve shirts from cotton linen blends a topic this season. Being a strong player on the European market, the company is eyeing Asia next. “It’s a strongly growing market for us, Japan and South Korea especially, where people have a sense for quality and detail,” said Closed’s sales manager Nadine Hölkermann, citing a trend toward slim-legged bottoms.

Jennings further observed that while “the camo trend has not gone anywhere,” traditional camo has been combined with other prints, patterns and colors, calling it “camo-fusion.”

Take London-based label Maharishi. Having sensed the influx of camouflages, the brand’s founder and creative head, Hardy Blechman, showcased his recycled mili-tary pants, the brand’s signa-ture, featuring

soft gray lunar prints, bonsai trees and hinted snake motifs, which were also used on tapered sweat-pants and longer slouchy T-shirts. “We totally recut the M65 pants to a slim-fit for a contemporary look,” Blechman said, excited about being back at Barneys New York this sea-son after five years of absence.

“In the U.S., business is pick-ing up again,” he said, adding the brand has done a series of exclu-sive items for the department store for winter.

Maharishi showcased a line of iPad cases, card holders and bags manufactured from vintage uniforms, featuring handles from recycled military parachute cords for extra street credibility.

Meanwhile, G-Star is pushing hard into the Italian market. The Dutch denim maker has teamed

up with Italian A.R.P. retail group to set up 10 monobrand stores in the country. “It’s a three-year plan and we are starting with Rome in August,” said Philip Truyen, the brand’s international account director. “A.R.P. is a great partner. Once they made a deci-sion, they shift gears very fast, and for us a flagship is the best shop window. We have a lot of confidence in the market.”

Truyen said he was also ex-cited to see that while G-Star has traditionally been a “European brand,” it is now showing a posi-tive evolution in Asia, the Middle East and the U.S. “And we see one of the strongest penetrations in Australia,” said Truyen. “Thirty monobrand stores there alone. They love denim.”

G-star is celebrating its 25th an-niversary with a key introduction this season, the Type C denim pant available in six washes. Channeling

Forties U.S. workmen wear, it fea-tures extralarge pockets and 3-D effects giving shape to the legs before being worn. “They twist by themselves while giv-

ing you a relaxed silhou-ette — a very commercial

style,” explained Rene Ketting, creative control-ler at G-Star. Otherwise, Ketting lists straight-leg and tapered among the most relevant styles, “with indigo obviously being our bestseller.”

Thinking outside of the box was Montreal-

based luxury accessories brand Want Les Essentiels de la Vie, which for the first time presented its collection in a customized glass garden house outside

the pavilion. Playing with optical illu-

sions, the de-signers used an Italian

Robinson Les Bains

Prints, Darks Colors for Summer Set the Tone at Pitti Uomo Show

Eidos Kiton

Brunello Cucinelli

Boglioli Natural Born Elegance

Want Les Essentiels de la VieMaharishi

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high-end woven fabric that looked beaded as well as a coated rubber-ized canvas featuring a leather-like effect. The designers also re-worked a vintage Liberty motif and offered a new take on camouflage with the colorful “Blue Splash” pattern.

Among its wide range of prod-ucts, Want Les Essentiels de la Vie introduced a style, called Lindberg, consisting of a spacious tote bag, along with a new fold-able folio with pockets inside. Following the debut of the brace-lets last year, for spring the brand introduced its first range of belts made of woven coated canvas.

Swiss brand Victorinox con-tinued building Protect, its cap-sule collection designed in col-laboration with artist Christopher Raeburn, now the label’s artistic director. This season the sub-brand showcased three styles, a vest, a parka and a bomber jacket, all reversible, featuring a water-inspired camouflage print on one side and indigo blue on the other, while a new three-in-one version of the brand’s best-selling explorer shell jacket with detachable vest complemented the offering.

The brand’s sales spiked 25 per-cent in 2012. “While the U.K. stays our largest single market generating 35 percent of total business, India is the fastest-growing,” said Joachim Beer, Victorinox’s president. “In 12 months we doubled our sales there. It was a real shock to us.”

Europe, on the other hand, is divided, remarked Beer. “We are opening a flagship in Cologne this August, but in the south — and I mean France, Spain and Italy — business is slow. We are sort of under the weather there.” The company, which is set to open seven more stores this year, has fo-cused its expansion plans on Japan and Greater China.

Once again, luxury labels are weathering the choppy economy bet-ter than most, with many notching up double-digit revenue growth, sus-tained almost exclusively by strong exports, while the domestic market remains mired in recession.

Take Brunello Cucinelli. Echoing a sentiment shared by other tailoring brands, Cucinelli pointed to export markets — espe-cially the U.S. and Europe exclud-ing Italy — and foreign consumers traveling to Italy as the drivers of the firm’s sales. In its home coun-try, the firm’s sales are flat, the ceo said — “and that’s good,” he added, pointing out that many firms in the industry are seeing negative sales growth in the country.

For spring-summer 2014, the firm found inspiration in the “Teddy Boy” suburban youth move-ment of Fifties London. Colors re-flected the demand for subdued tones, ranging from dark shades of red to burgundy and purple, along with blackberry, sage, myrtle and nuances of boxwood, royal and navy blue and indigo with over-

lappings and sartorial details. Cucinelli said for next season, an important novelty is the use of many shades of blue, matched to darker hues, like browns.

The fabric mixes are wool, linen and cotton as well as pure wool for some jackets, which can thus double as outerwear when need-ed. Garments continue the slim-fit trend, “close to the body,” some-thing particularly important for the jacket, “which can be worn ev-erywhere, in an elegant and sporty manner — even just to go buy a newspaper at the kiosk,” he said.

Barbara Cocco, president of Belvest USA, said sales in the first five months of 2013 in that market — which represents some 25 per-cent of total turnover — are up by 10 percent on the same period last year and she expects 10 percent growth for the full year. The big novelty in-troduced at Pitti for spring 2014 is the firm’s new lagoon jacket, in wool-cotton seersucker and with clean lines, while the company has also seen demand increase in the U.S. for

linen. “Ten years ago, you mentioned linen in the U.S. and consumers would faint. Now, they are accepting linen a lot more,” Cocco said.

High-end tailor Kiton also took a new turn at linen, blending it with cashmere, which was also mixed with vicuna. Colors for next sea-son include blues, dark and light grays in patterns that “generate movement” on the fabric, including oversize checks and thin pinstripes. Antonio De Matteis, ceo of Kiton, said overall sales in the first five months of 2013 were up by almost 14 percent on the year-ago period.

The company last week opened its first store in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and is scheduled to open two more units by September, one in Astana (again Kazakhstan) and one in Istanbul. Plans call for opening more stores in European cities including Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid, while in China Kiton aims to have 15 to 20 stores within three years, the ceo said.

At Isaia, the leitmotif for next season is a reinterpreted military camouflage aesthetic that uses Isaia’s trademark coral design to create a new, playful “coral-flage” pattern applied to shirt and jacket meltons and pants as well as to tai-lored and sportswear pieces and accessories, like bags. In keeping with the military theme, Isaia uses paratrooper arm patches on leather pieces. The company also showed a refined version of last year’s San Severo superlight, deconstructed shirt jacket with checks and sport-ing the “coralflage” melton.

Isaia said revenues at the fam-ily-owned firm last year reached 32.6 million euros, or $43.6 mil-lion at current exchange, from 28 million euros, or $37.4 million, in 2011, and forecasts sales hitting 35 million euros, or $46.8 mil-lion, this year. Given the strength of the sportswear collections, Isaia said he’d like to balance the firm’s sales from 30 percent sportswear and 70 percent tai-lored clothing to 50/50.

Internationally, the company is showing strong growth in Eastern Europe with 10 percent expansion on a seasonal and yearly basis, while Western Europe is up 6 to 7 per cent. In China, the company is “focused on developing increased brand awareness and is looking to expand with some key franchising opportunities,” Isaia said, pointing out that the firm has also identified

new retail opportunities, including store openings slated for New York and Tokyo by 2014.

Tom Kalenderian of Barneys summed up the general mood at the trade show as “upbeat,” adding “the Italian suppliers seemed confi-dent and the attendance appeared strong.” Following the prevailing theme, he said he would stock up on more items that are seasonless. “With the climate changes we’ve ex-perienced in the U.S., we put more focus on items that transition sea-sons,” he explained.

MSGM: MSGM creative director Massimo Giorgetti tempered his girly aesthetic with charming tomboy touches in a colorful resort collection. A laser-cut, short-sleeve sweatshirt was worn over a digital-printed floral shirt and puffy skirt, and there were tough jacket and feminine dress combinations, such as a perfecto paired with a Sixties-inspired A-line shift in neon cotton jacquard.

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UMIT BENAN“There was once a Turkish gentleman….”

— Umit Benan, Creative Director

DIRK BIKKEMBERGS“The new men’s collection is inspired by the creative contrast between the organic feel and the technical concept.”

— Hamish Morrow, Creative Director

BELSTAFF“The collection is a balance between utility and adventure — the two pillars of the Belstaff brand.”

— Martin Cooper, Creative Director

MP MASSIMO PIOMBO“The power of glamour with an eccentric attitude.”

— Massimo Piombo, Designer

ANDREA INCONTRI“The new Andrea Incontri collection is dedicated to life on the seaside and the figure of the lighthouse keeper.” — Andrea Incontri, Creative Director

BRIONI“Under the summer sun, there’s still room for sartorial elegance.”— Brendan Mullane, Creative Director

ROBERTO CAVALLI “Damascus steel is the precious inspiration for a sharp and charming masculine allure, where elegance is the protagonist. The exquisite designs and the architectural sobriety derived from the world of rare knives and blades create a sophisticated and sensual universe made to be discovered and savored — cool, refined and timeless as style itself.”

— Roberto Cavalli, Creative Director

ETRO“Zorro is the man without a face, doing good without being recognized and rewarded. He is one who gives without asking, he is one who serves, who puts himself at others’ service without demanding anything in return. This is the true revolution!”

— Kean Etro, Creative Director

MONCLER GAMME BLEU“All rounder.”

— Thom Browne, Creative Director

MISSONI“In recognition of Missoni’s 60th anniversary, the collection draws inspiration from the family’s focus on innovating new knit techniques, this season inspired by the radiant textiles and landscapes of West Africa.”

— Angela Missoni, Creative Director

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO“A recovery of classical antiquity and beauty without compromises: a perfect physicality, the rigor of sports, masculine moments of leisure. Reminiscent of the Thirties, an expression of the true soul of architectural rationalism — in the background, a city with metaphysical contours accentuates the ideal of an absolute linear purity. The color range, from white to light blue up to blue, is accentuated by green grass and rust.”

— Massimiliano Giornetti, Creative Director

Men’s Week WWD THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013 MW9

Rites of SpringFrom the rigor of sports to the call of the

Orient, inspiration comes in many guises for designers set to show in Milan.

PORTS 1961“A reinterpretation of abstract geometric installations applied to form, fit and graphics.”

— Fiona Cibani, Creative Director,

and Ian Hylton, Men’s Wear Designer

ERMANNO SCERVINO“For the upcoming season, I thought of a man with a strong, timeless style.”

— Ermanno Scervino, Designer

Z ZEGNA“Architectural evening proposals in high-performance and contemporary fabrications.”

— Paul Surridge, Creative Director

ANDREA POMPILIO“Signature prints are reproduced on fabrics and various materials, with new combinations of textures — for instance, a glossy white trench of coated linen. Paisley, batik, geometric and optical graphics appear on garments like hallucinations, even on denim. The tailored suit, striped or printed, needs to be worn with a poplin shirt with the collar popped.”— Andrea Pompilio, Designer

ICEBERG“The inspiration of the new Iceberg men’s collection stems from the observation of urban attitudes — to discover dynamism and metropolitan movement.”

— Creative Team

JET SET“The Jet Set man: a modern attitude, where fashion meets comfort and performance.”

— Massimo Suppancig, Chief Executive Officer

CORNELIANI “From Mantua to Sumatra, passing through Shanghai…by air, sea or land… a journey to the edge of the Orient, stretched toward the future to serve an aesthetic with influences running from the traditional to the ultramodern.”

— Sergio Corneliani,

Creative Director

LES HOMMES “The thought of what felt relevant for spring coincided with the need to think about purity and honesty of the shapes, colors and textiles whilst exploring something romantic.”

— Tom Notte and Bart Vandebosch, Creative Directors

CANALI“For spring-summer 2014, Canali wisely mixes its Italian soul with an international spirit. Giorgio Morandi and Yves Klein are the two main muses for colors, patterns and shapes.” — Elisabetta Canali, Communications Director

DIESEL BLACK GOLD“With the attempts to control Nature, humankind has

created a new, futuristic, technological yet furious Nature. The next environment will be wilder and unpredictable. New generations of urban botanical gardens, new

species, odd forms and new

synthetic colors. A silent war between two contrasting worlds. Nature against technology.’’

— Creative Team

Men’s WeekMW10 WWD THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

Gucci Opens Men’s Flagship in Milanby LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — Gucci will officially un-veil its first men’s wear flagship in Europe on Sunday evening with a party during Men’s Fashion Week.

Designed by creative director Frida Giannini, the 5,400-square-foot store covers three floors and is located in Milan’s arty Brera dis-trict. The unit counts an area dedi-cated to Gucci’s made-to-measure program and is the first to offer the capsule collection designed by Giannini and Lapo Elkann,

named Lapo’s Wardrobe. The clas-sic tailoring collection comprises 27 looks — 23 for men and four for women — and is completed by made-to-measure leather goods, shoes and jewelry.

Standout elements in the light and airy open space with an Art Deco mood are a series of back-lit panels with Gucci’s Diamante pattern that lead the way into the store. The brand’s signature rose-wood and ebony are enhanced with the introduction of new ele-ments such as matte, light gray

marble, exclusively used in Gucci’s men’s stores. Fluted glass, warm brushed bronze, smoked mirrors and smoked bronze glass all con-tribute to the design.

In line with Gucci’s com-mitment to sustainability, the company is seeking LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certifica-tion for the store. The flagship carries the full men’s collection, including ready-to-wear, footwear, luggage, accessories, small leath-er goods, belts, sunglasses, watches, jewelry and fra-grances. A VIP fitting area is reserved for Gucci’s made-to-measure on the first floor. The store also offers made-to-order shoes.

Giannini and Elkann had already worked together on the Fiat 500 by Gucci in 2011. Elkann, known for his stylish and sometimes quirky approach to fashion, brings a touch of eccentricity to Lapo’s Wardrobe, where the choice spans from suiting sil-houettes and textiles, to linings, knitwear, shirts, suspenders, ties, scarves, cuff links, jew-elry, shoes and luggage, all using exclusive patterns.

The made-to-measure wardrobe comprises more than 80 textiles that allow for more than 900 possible combinations between color, fabric and style.

There are two silhou-ettes, for single-breasted suits with rounded shoulders and double-breasted options with equestrian detailing. Of note are elements such as decorative turquoise silk thread in contrast, hand-stitching and manu-ally created buttonholes.

Jackets feature unique cuts accen-tuating the back. An internal label allows for the owner’s name, date of creation and the garment’s city of origin. In addition to Milan, the capsule collection in the future will be available in four Gucci stores worldwide — Paris, London, New York and São Paulo.

A selection of jacket linings include printed silks with archi-val patterns of feathers or horse saddles, for example, reproduced for the first time. Coordinated silk

trim matches the foulard lin-ings on collars and double cuffs. High-waisted pants fea-ture slim lines, and detailing includes pleats, built-in belt-

ing, button-up cuffs and but-tons for suspenders.

Materials include tartan wool, stretch cotton gabardine, cashmere corduroy, herringbone tweed, wool mohair and velvet. Blue, man-darin orange, green, red, ivory, mocha, navy, gray and black are some of the hues in the color palette. Jacquard with the signature letter G in a chain creates a sub-tle pinstripe. Shirts

with embroidered initials and customized knit polos as well as car-digans, peacoats and the chesterfield, assorted bags, luggage and shoes complete the offer.

There are two women’s day suits and tuxedos with plunging necklines and em-phasized waistlines, while shoulders may be either sharp or rounded. Fabrics comprise wool mohair, nat-ural stretch wool, cashmere

and velvet. There are also pumps in suede or velvet with bow detailing.

Gaia Trussardi Makes Debut at Storied Family BrandMILAN — The Trussardi family is closing ranks.

As Gaia Trussardi unveils her first collection for the Trussardi brand during the men’s shows here on Sunday, she will join at the head of the family-owned firm her sib-lings Beatrice and Tomaso, respec-tively president and chief execu-tive officer of Trussardi, and ceo of TRS Evolution, the Trussardi Group company that produces the brand’s first and second lines of clothing and accessories.

“The group is now ready and mature to welcome Gaia, and this step is part of the renewal process and relaunch of the company,” said Tomaso Trussardi, adding that his sister helps contribute to a “new image that speaks of the family and its vision to make Trussardi into an Italian and global leather goods and apparel brand. She’s lived through all the different eras of the brand, she knows about style and leather treatments, and she is the perfect person to work on the aesthetics not only of the shows but also of the stores and ad campaigns.”

“My goal is to create a more precise identity for the label, bringing back the brand’s core val-ues built over the last 100 years,” said Gaia Trussardi, who said she

will focus on “timeless yet contem-porary codes in order to communi-cate a joyful sense of dynamism.”

For her first collection, Trussardi wanted to re-create the strong, mas-culine image of the Trussardi man in the Eighties, designing clothes that are sophisticated and comfort-able at the same time. In keeping with the brand’s core business, Trussardi indulged in the use of leather, which she reworked not only for accessories, including volu-minous bags, cases and backpacks, but also for ready-to-wear pieces.

Delivering a “minimal, sporty elegance,” Trussardi took inspira-tion from the Dakar Rally compe-tition to design soft leather pants and a coordinated zipped bomber, which were matched to resemble a racing suit. She also realized a car coat in washed, glossy leather, which she paired with textured canvas rolled shorts and a washed shirt. Another look included py-thon skin baggy shorts, worn with a muslin cotton polo shirt in a co-lonial print, which was inspired by an archival pattern.

The deconstructed outerwear in-cluded a parka in creased canvas, a knitted bomber and a treated leath-er biker jacket with snap buttons.

The designer took on the role

of creative director in March, after the group and Umit Benan Sahin ended their two-year collaboration with the women’s fall collection. She was previously creative direc-tor of the Tru Trussardi line.

The three siblings are the offspring of Maria Luisa and Nicola Trussardi, who reshaped the family business he had inherited from his father.

“There are so many brands that work to create a heritage experience they don’t have, but we legitimately

have it, we don’t need to invent any-thing. This is a company founded in 1911 with an important industrial re-ality,” commented Tomaso Trussardi.

The executive said the compa-ny, which closed 2012 with sales of 150 million euros, or $192 million at average exchange, is aiming to expand its business in Europe, en-tering Germany and France with the signature line, and in Russia.

“In value, looking at orders for 2014, Italy accounts for 36 percent;

the Far East and Japan for 40 per-cent; Russia for 10 percent, and Europe for 7 percent, but we would like Italy to represent 26 percent and Europe to grow to account for 28 percent,” he said.

The Milan-based firm is also looking at re-creating a network of stores for its signature line as the best vehicle to communicate the values of the brand. “The experi-ence at retail is fundamental — the logic is pull, not push. A beautiful, quality product is a prerequisite, the next step is to express an emo-tion,” said Tomaso Trussardi, admit-ting the wholesale channel is “more difficult, ” suffering the most in the difficult economy. Women’s accesso-ries are the best-performing items, accounting for 60 percent of sales.

There are 10 Trussardi bou-tiques, including two new ones in Tuscany’s resort town Forte dei Marmi, and in Turin. Five stores opened in China in one year, in-cluding two in Shanghai and one in Beijing. There are plans to open 20 units over the next two-and-a-half years in the Asia-Pacific re-gion, with a focus on Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

— L.Z. AND ALESSANDRA TURRA

Inside the three-level store.

The store is in the Brera district.

Spring looks from Trussardi.

A look from Lapo’s Wardrobe.

Lapo Elkann

designed a capsule

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THE FIRST QUARTER of 2013 was no pic-nic for men’s wear retailers as unpredict-able weather patterns and continuing eco-nomic uncertainty took a toll on business. But the situation started to turn around in May, and customers returned to the stores, providing merchants with a much-needed uptick just in time for Father’s Day. As a result, sales were strong for the holiday, with accessories, dress shirts and other traditional gift items leading the way.

The rebound in business and the strong Father’s Day results have also brightened the mood of men’s wear stores about the up-coming fall season, with most retailers an-ticipating a strong second half.

The National Retail Federation, in its annual spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, projected that the average per-son would spend $119.84 on Father’s Day gifts this year, up from $117.14 last year. Total spending was expected to reach $13.3 billion. Apparel was expected to account for $1.8 billion of that spending.

“It was a very good Father’s Day,” said David Fisher, executive vice president and general merchandise manager of men’s wear for Bloomingdale’s. “It looks like we’ll be up in the single digits.”

Although comparisons with last year were impacted by a shift in the promo-tional calendar, Fisher said he was pleased with the results. “We broke price in cloth-ing in May so sport coats and slacks were good,” he said, adding that nested suit sales were “just OK.” Canali, Burberry,

Corneliani and Hickey Freeman were among the top performers, along with Armani, “which is coming back.”

Fisher said denim sales were up, but not to the “level I wanted.” However, contempo-rary sportswear and the emerging brands in the retailer’s Lab department were “terrific.” He also singled out John Varvatos along with its Star line, Burberry sportswear, Theory, Hugo Boss and Vince as among the best per-formers for the pre-Father’s Day period. “We developed some key items from Vince for Father’s Day, and it paid off,” he said.

He said accessories and men’s jewelry sales have been good and neckties have been outperforming dress shirts. “We’ve seen a big uptick in socks, small leather goods, sunglasses and bags — the big gift items,” he said. “And ties have been better than dress shirts all season.”

Looking ahead, Fisher said the future appears bright. “It was a tough quarter for everyone, but things opened up in May, so it looks good. We have so much ammuni-tion for fall, with our British invasion and the whole Beatles thing.” Bloomingdale’s for fall will pay tribute to the U.K. through a storewide celebration it is calling “Brit Style.” The promotion will be national in scope, but the men’s area has embraced it in a particularly aggressive way, partnering

with more than 40 British brands to pro-duce exclusive merchandise.

“And the fall collections were awe-some,” Fisher added, noting that Burberry, John Varvatos and Vince all presented strong lines. Ralph Lauren is producing some exclusive product for the retailer under its Polo label. “We’re going to have a certain amount of product that is not available elsewhere,” he said, “so that helps us differentiate.”

Saks Fifth Avenue was also pleased with its Father’s Day business. It was good,” said Tom Ott, senior vice president and gmm of

men’s. “Business just kept getting better and better as the season went on.” He said the company’s “story this year is about acces-sories.” Featured product included every-thing from sunglasses and hats to “pocket gadgets” including pens and lighters. Cuff links, tie bars, lapel adornments and color-ful patterned socks joined pocket squares, watches and bracelets in the store’s Father’s Day catalogue this year.

“It’s all about color and modernity,” he said. “The old guy wants to look young and the young guy wants to look cool.” Outside of accessories, Ott said premium denim has also been a standout. “It’s probably our best trending business in men’s,” he said, noting: “We’ve really been going after it.”

The tag line for the season was “Little Things Make a Big Difference,” and Saks partnered with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital over Father’s Day weekend to do-nate 5 percent of men’s purchases to the charity. The initiative kicked off Thursday night at the flagship when former NBA stars Kevin Willis and Walt Frazier appeared in the store on behalf of Willis’ big & tall men’s wear collection, Willis & Walker.

Eric Jennings, Saks’ men’s fashion direc-tor, said repeating last year’s success over the Father’s Day period was tops on every-one’s mind. “It was all hands on deck,” he said, “to figure out a singular vision on how to execute it.” The result was to “gather thousands of little things” that would be “showstoppers” for customers. The store also used its Fifth Avenue windows to show-case the accessories products in an intricate and creative way. “I’ve never seen more men or women stopping to look and take pictures,” Jennings said. “We’re making the little things big. Little accessories can really make a difference in a person’s style.”

Ott said the strength of the Father’s Day business buoyed his spirits for the remain-der of the year. “I hate to blame the weather, but the warm winter and cold spring in the Northeast really hurt sales, but when the weather changed, people started to shop. The male consumer is really a buy-now, wear-now shopper.”

Jennings agreed. “Men’s wear has been so steady and consistent over the past five years. Men are more engaged in their ap-pearance, and that shows in the numbers.”

Lou Amendola, chief merchandising officer for Brooks Brothers, said business

this Father’s Day was a lot like the spring weather — “stormy, inconsistent and cool.” He said while clothing and personal ac-cessories such as belts, shoes and small leather goods were “bright spots” and “up to last year,” traditional furnishings such as dress shirts and ties, along with sports-wear, were “very disappointing.”

Amendola said sales of clothing continue to be driven by young guys seeking slimmer suit silhouettes, “but Father’s Day and gift-giving are not about tailored clothing. They’re more about shirts, ties and sportswear. In those categories, there are a lot of options out there and a lot more choice of price.”

As a result, he continued, “The four-letter word to describe the spring season is ‘sale.’ It’s one of the drivers. Either that, or the cus-tomer needs a reason to buy, like our Gatsby collection. It either has to be distinctive and special or driven by a promotion.”

Although Brooks Bros. managed to meet last year’s numbers, Amendola said the end result was “nowhere near plan or where we would like it to be.” As a result, “we have an extremely conservative plan for fall,” he said. One positive, however, is that inventory levels are in line “so there won’t be any panic. But there’s also no sus-tainable momentum.”

Durand Guion, vice president and men’s fashion director for Macy’s, said there were several highlights for the Father’s Day sell-ing period. “We’re in the middle of our American Icons promotion, and a lot of that product was popular,” he said, pointing to graphic T-shirts and short-sleeve wovens in an updated red, white and blue palette.

“Then there was the buzz leading up to the U.S. Open,” he added. “That pushed the whole golf category forward.” Top perform-ers included polos in performance fabrics and bright colors and patterns.

Color is also making its mark in foot-wear, with suede driving moccasins and boat shoes selling in updated hues such as gray. Other top sellers for Father’s Day in-cluded flat-front shorts in seasonal colors, linen in neutral shades and tropical pat-terns, bold colored dress shirts from Alfani Spectrum (available in up to 24 shades) and bow ties. “The bow-tie momentum contin-ues,” Guion said, as does the interest in socks and pocket squares.

Looking toward fall, Guion said he’s “very excited about the trends. There will be more saturated colors and that will continue to drive newness. That’s what’s working and we see that continuing into fall.”

Kevin McLaughlin, cofounder of the J. McLaughlin chain of preppy specialty stores, said Father’s Day sales rose in the double digits at the company’s 70-plus stores. “But it was late. It seemed like people stopped at the store on Sunday on their way to Dad’s house,” he said with a chuckle.

What they purchased were novelty items. “Conversational ties, embroidered shorts, brightly colored swimwear and the accessory of the moment: thematic, pat-terned socks. It was nothing too serious.” This trend is expected to continue into fall. “It tells me we have to have a level of novelty in everything we do,” he said. “People come to us for things that are different in some way, and we have to stay on that track.”

Men’s Week WWD THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013 MW11

Brad Pitt confronts a zombie apocalypse in his new thriller “World War Z” — and he took the Goth theme to heart with his all-black, deconstructed look at the film’s Times Square premiere this week.

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Time for a haircut, Brad — although New York women would pay a fortune for those sun-kissed highlights.

The elongated sleeves on the sheer T-shirt manage to look both sloppy and affected.

The raw edges and missing buttons look unfinished and inappropriate for a 49-year-old movie star. The All Saints look is better left to younger guys.

Angie was missing from the screening, but it looks like her sunglasses were there.

A stronger shoulder on the jacket would add some needed structure to this look. It’s possible to be both Goth and tailored.

A less transparent T-shirt would be more polished. Even heartthrobs can put some effort into dressing up — just ask George Clooney.

The jeans have a nice, slim fit but are too long. Less bunching would clean up the silhouette.

Accessories Drive Father’s Day Sales

The windows at Saks Fifth Avenue.

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A SC

HIPP

ER/G

ETTY

IMAG

ES F

OR S

AKS

FIFT

H AV

ENUE