PHOTO BY MAN

WWD

By David Moin and Alexandra J. SteigradMOTHER NATURE PULLED THE PLUG ON CHRISTMAS business Monday, hurling a blizzard up the East Coast that dumped almost two feet of snow on New York, Boston and other cities. While business wasn’t bad through much of Sunday, it quickly tapered off by late afternoon as the snowfall and winds intensifi ed and buried any hopes of a strong start to post-holiday sales. Many retailers and malls were forced to close early Sunday and delay openings on Monday or remain closed, particularly in Manhattan and outlying areas. Massive transportation issues Monday snagged retail operations and deterred mall traffi c as roads were being cleared throughout the day, major airports remained shut until early evening and train and bus lines scrambled to revive services. The storm hit just when retailers were anticipating a resumption of the spirited shopping they’d enjoyed the week of Black Friday and again during the week of Christmas. The day after Christmas is always a big volume day, among the top six of the year. It’s fueled by gift card redemptions, returns and exchanges, and retailers unleashing a barrage of after-Christmas sales./8

Blizzard Buries RetailersWhite OutTODAY

Debate Grows in India Over FDI/2Retail: Foreign politicians and retailers pressure the Indian government to allow more FDI, but the nation’s small shopkeepers balk at the idea. Issa’s Moment in Spotlight/3Fashion: The London-based label founded by Daniella Helayel is hot thanks to royal bride-to-be Kate Middleton.

Fiber Prices Soar/10Textiles: Increasing prices for cotton and wool fi bers are expected to add further pressure on apparel prices at both the wholesale and retail levels in coming months. Stephen Dorff, Around Again/12Eye: The actor gets another comeback bid thanks to Sofi a Coppola’s talked-about-fi lm “Somewhere.”

When it comes to furs, this is a moment when

anything goes, and layering them up is both a luxurious and quirky way to brave winter’s chill. Here, Gilles Mendel’s fox buckled vest and

reversible mink coat for J.Mendel. Carolina Amato

gloves. For more, see pages 6 and 7.

Women’s Wear Daily • Tuesday, December 28, 2010 • $3.00

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A snow scene from Philadelphia.

• RETAIL: See more images of Scott Devon and the East Coast blizzard at

WWD.com/retail-news.• BUSINESS: More

financial news and daily stock movements at

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“I’m not sure, but I think we can make up the business. It’s been so good, I don’t want to give any of it back.” — Susan Davidson, chief executive officer of Scoop, on the impact of

the snowstorm. Page one.

QUoteDAILY to e-mAIL reporters AnD eDItors At WWD, the ADDress Is

fIrstnAme.LAstnAme@fAIrchILDpUb.com, UsIng the InDIvIDUAL’s nAme. WWD Is A regIstereD trADemArK of ADvAnce mAgAZIne pUbLIshers Inc. copYrIght ©2010 fAIrchILD fAshIon groUp. ALL rIghts reserveD. prInteD In the U.s.A.VOLUME 200, NO. 133. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in January, May, June and December, two additional issues in March, April, August, September, October and November, and three additional issues in February) by Fairchild Fashion Group, 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. 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 reprints of articles, please contact Scoop ReprintSource at 800-767-3263 or via e-mail at sales@scoopreprintsource.com. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Group 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.

CORRECTIONS

TODAY ON

.comWWD

Moonshine and Merch WWD may have jumpeD the gun on nov. 17, 1930, When it DeclareD the “end may Be near” for copycat fashions, but the paper had a reason to be optimistic. a few days later, rep. albert henry vestal (r., ind.), chairman of the house committee on patents, was scheduled to give a speech supporting the copyright registration of designs. “the plagiarism of ideas,” noted WWD, “has reached the point where it threatens to destroy the creative element.”

the hot-button issue was about as dangerous as the bootlegging across the nation — at least according to our reporters. “the art of plagiarism today and the amateurish efforts of a decade or so ago are about in the same relationship that the moonshiner with a small private still in the Kentucky mountains bears to the organized liquor and beer racket of today,” the paper argued. “it was sort of a romantic idea to have the sturdy sons of the tennessee hills, with a small copper kettle, produce white mule; and a rather entertaining spectacle to watch a manufacturer…take an imported idea and turn it into domestic mer-chandise. But when bootlegging reached its present stage, the result was an avalanche of protest…and when plagiarism has reached its present stage, it is certainly time that drastic, vigorous, and intelligent action were taken.”

prohibition is of course long gone, but nearly a century later, the plagia-rism protests continue.

— Venessa Lau

PARIS — gucci’s flagship here has a new skin.

the italian luxury brand is cel-ebrating the renovation of its store at 23 rue royale with limited edi-tion items, including a new jackie bag in gray ostrich, limited to six pieces, and a silk scarf featuring the shop’s address.

the 14,000-square-foot unit is one of 30 worldwide showcasing creative director Frida giannini’s design con-cept. it combines sig-nature gucci materials such as rosewood and marble with art Deco-inspired elements, in-cluding ribbed glass, polished gold and smoked mirror.

“rue royale is one of europe’s most prestigious retail destinations, so i wanted to amplify the luxuriousness of the boutique’s environments through

natural light and space to create an aes-thetic which is complementary to the vi-sion of the house today,” giannini said.

the boutique will be the first gucci store in europe to offer customers a

made-to-order service for its new Bamboo bag, which will be available in three sizes and 25 shades of crocodile skin. each bag comes personal-ized with the owner’s initials on the inner part of the flap and on the mirror case.

the ground floor houses men’s wear and accessories, lug-gage and small leath-er goods. the first floor is dedicated to

handbags, women’s ac-cessories, jewelry, silk

and fragrances, the second to women’s wear and the children’s collection oc-cupies the third floor.

— Joelle Diderich

PARIS — hot on the heels of fellow gucci group brand yves Saint laurent, Bottega veneta said monday that it had renewed its eyewear license with Safilo group.

the agreement for the design, pro-duction and distribution of Bottega veneta’s eyeglass frames and sunglass collections is set to last until Dec. 31, 2020, the companies said.

“Safilo has demonstrated a unique

understanding of the Bottega veneta Dna and consequently its products, and i am confident that together we will achieve further important growth in this category,” said marco Bizzarri, president and chief executive officer of Bottega veneta.

ySl and Safilo last week said they were renewing their partnership until Dec. 31, 2015.

— J.D.

By Mayu saini

NEW DELHI – the argument over foreign di-rect investment in multibrand retailing in india is heating up.

indian retailers have been reacting to a recent decision by a government panel that voted against opening up FDi in mul-tibrand retailing at this time. only 65 out of 180 respondents to the government’s discussion paper were in favor of allow-ing more FDi, while 113 were against it.

india does not allow any FDi in multi-brand retailing, although it does permit overseas companies to own 51 percent of firms in the single-brand sector. FDi in re-tail has been a key focus for foreign politi-cians and companies as the sector is one of the country’s fastest growing, increasing at 30 percent to 40 percent a year. according to the Bmi india retail report for the third quarter of 2010, total retail sales in india will grow to $543.2 billion by 2014 from $353 billion this year.

“opening up foreign invest-ments will bring in funds required for expansion of the nascent mod-ern retail sector in india,” said Kishore Biyani, chief executive of-ficer of Future group. the group’s pantaloon retail division has more than 200 stores in different formats. “the market opportunity is large and we support opening up of the sector to FDi,” said Biyani.

the number of company-owned pantaloon stores is expected to dou-ble in the next three to four years, from the current 50, with a planned investment of 21 billion rupees, or $464.1 million at current exchange. Future group has several other store formats, including central and Big Bazaar, and had turnover of 25.81 billion rupees, or $570.4 million, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with 19.54 billion rupees, or $431.8 million, last year.

the issue of FDi became a hot topic again last month, when president obama urged india to relax its regulations during his visit to the country, and was in the headlines earlier this month when French president nicolas Sarkozy made the same argument. christine lagarde, French minister for econ-omy and finance, said French companies could invest more than 10 billion euros, or $131.4 billion, over the next two years in the multibrand retail and insurance sectors.

“if the indian authorities consider it sensible to open up the sectors, i know French companies will significantly ex-pand their activities,” she said in new Delhi. in discussions with commerce and industry minister anand Sharma, lagarde mentioned that the issue was about “give and take” and that india could learn from French expertise.

But the foreign leaders’ comments ig-nited protests in new Delhi, with thousands of indian retailers taking to the streets and marching outside parliament. protests were made against free trade agreements as well.

thomas varghese, ceo of aditya Birla retail, which has a huge expansion plan for india and has been in talks with

carrefour to bring the chain into india, ob-served, “in my view, those who oppose FDi have not necessarily taken into account the experience in other countries, where the rise in organized retail has not led to the demise of local traders, who have also grown. rather, it has led to benefits to farmers, who get another more transpar-ent market for their product as well as im-provement in supply-side infrastructure.”

varghese’s argument is one made by foreign executives from firms such as Wal-mart Stores inc., tesco plc and carrefour, who contend that opening up india’s re-tail sector, especially in food, would spur growth and thus increase demand for farm products. overseas executives also contend more foreign ownership of retail in india would raise the standards of the country’s retail sector as a whole since local firms would have to compete.

predicted anil agrawal, an indepen-

dent industry analyst, “FDi in multibrand retailing is certainly going to happen. the only real question is about the timing.”

the indian market is dominated by thousands and thousands of small retailers, however, with only 5 percent of the market accounted for by so-called organized retail, as opposed to independent operators. it is the smaller firms that are strongly against more FDi in the industry. For example, jugul Sharma, who owns a small store in South Delhi’s lajpat nagar market, argues that bigger, foreign companies will wipe out retailers like him. it’s a claim that has been taken up by india’s opposition par-ties, which are firmly against FDi.

the committee on multibrand re-tail was set up by the Department of industrial policy and promotion and in-cluded officials from agriculture, food processing and consumer affairs, who ap-peared in favor of the opening up of FDi. they also had the support of the planning commission. the committee’s discussion paper, which has been awaited as a final nudge toward a change, instead leaves the issue in limbo once again. a follow-up paper is expected in coming weeks, with a wider debate and more participation.

india has slowly been opening up the retail sector to overseas investments over the last few years. in january 2006, a major change in policy resulted in allowing overseas compa-nies to solely own single-brand retail firms. Subsequently, 100 percent ownership also was permitted in the cash-and-carry trade.

NOV. 17, 1930

Gucci Fetes Opening With Limited Edition GoodsIndia Foreign Investment Rules Scrutinized

Bottega Veneta Extends Eyewear Pact With Safilo

• Zadora timepieces owner andreas von der goltz’s name was misspelled in an article on page 9, monday. in addition, meeling Wong was with john hardy for three years, not seven.

Gucci’s limited edition New Jackie bag and silk scarf.

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WWD.COMWWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2010 3

By Luisa Zargani

MILAN — Despite the economic doldrums last year, Cruciani has been charg-ing ahead, leveraging the development of superfine knitwear and a soft look to be more competitive and investing in retail to expand outside Italy.

“It’s not easy for a small brand to be global, but I’ve been holding onto the concept that we do the best product that we can do,” said Cruciani founder Luca Caprai. The entrepreneur’s focus on craftsmanship and luxurious cashmeres and fabrics is paying dividends as fall-winter 2010-2011 sales rose 23 percent compared to the same season the previous year and spring-summer 2011 revenues rose 45 percent over the corre-sponding season the year before.

In particular, the company posted a growth rate of 75 percent in the U.S. in 2010, compared with the previous year. In that market, which accounts for 8.5 percent of sales, the brand is available at Bergdorf Goodman, with a new corner that opened in September; Louis Boston; Mitchells; Richards, and Wilkes Bashford.

Caprai said he is not looking for a high-profile designer to replace for-mer creative director Roberto Menichetti, who joined the company last year and left after one season. “Menichetti is a genius, but he needs to work with much bigger companies,” said Caprai, who relies on a tight-knit design team. The company, based in Trevi, near Italy’s Perugia, has 490 employees.

Cruciani plans to open three stores in Dubai by June; two in China — in Shanghai and Beijing — and one in Moscow by the end of 2011. The firm currently has stores in Milan, the resort town Forte dei Marmi, Terme di Saturnia Spa & Golf Resort, Courmayeur, Tokyo and Dubai. The brand is available at more than 400 points of sale, including Isetan in Tokyo, and Tsum in Moscow.

Cruciani expects to close this year with sales of 15 million euros, or $21 million at current exchange, up from 11.5 million euros, or $16 mil-lion at average exchange, the year before. Looking ahead, Caprai said he expects sales of 18 million euros, or $25.1 million, next year.

By Samantha Conti

LONDON — Kate Middleton may have intro-duced the world-at-large to a small British label called Issa, but that bright, royal blue jersey dress the young royal-to-be donned on Nov. 16 is a longtime fashion favorite — with something of a dramatic past.

Brazilian-born, London-based Daniella Helayel, Issa’s founder and designer, recalls that when she first introduced her now fa-mous collection of fig-ure-flattering, brightly colored silk jersey dresses in 2001, hardly anyone even noticed.

“The first collection I ever showed was filled with leather and suede pieces and jersey dress-es that were easy to pack, easy to take away on a trip. I thought it was a fabulous idea,” said the stylish and ev-er-smiling Helayel over lunch at an old-time Italian restaurant in London’s Chelsea.

“The show was at the [Hôtel de] Crillon in Paris. Just one shop — in Brazil — bought the collection. I cried,” recalled the designer, who was dressed for lunch in a fire-engine red knit Issa wool dress nipped at the waist, knee-high black boots and a little black mink jacket.

L o n g b e f o r e Middleton discovered the label — “Kate found us through friends,” Helayel said, declining to elaborate —Issa was a growing business built on those same, brightly col-ored or printed jersey dresses that initially flopped. And Middleton is only the latest in a line of celebrities to don the label; others include Madonna — who wore Issa’s teal, pheasant-print jersey dress on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2006; Scarlett Johansson; Kylie Minogue; Keira Knightley; Sharon Stone, and Jemima Khan. British prin-cesses Beatrice and Eugenie are also converts to Issa, and regularly pop up in the front row at the brand’s London Fashion Week shows.

Next year, Helayel plans to relaunch her business in the U.S.; introduce e-commerce on the Issa Web site; open the first of six stand-alone stores in Brazil; begin selling a chil-dren’s collection called Baby Issa, and trans-form what’s now a clothing label with 200 stockists into a global brand. And contrary to British press reports, which have named her as one of the front-runners to design Middleton’s wedding gown, Helayel has not launched a stand-alone bridal collection. “I’ve done one-off designs for friends. That’s all,” she said.

Marc Abegg, the firm’s chief executive of-ficer, declined to reveal annual sales. “It’s a small — but growing — business, and we’re on the lookout for licenses,” he said. Abegg, who recently inked a deal with Havaianas to produce Issa-designed flip-flops for the Australian and Brazilian markets, said the brand also is looking to launch fragrance and eyewear collections, and to license the chil-dren’s collection, which will be introduced early next year at Harrods.

After that first show at the Crillon, Helayel mothballed her collection of dresses and turned her back on jersey altogether. For the next few seasons, the designer — a Rio de Janeiro native who began her career in New York sourcing fabrics, finding factories, and buying clothes and accessories for Brazilian companies — worked with Swiss cottons, peasant-inspired patchwork dresses and lace. She sold to stores including Barneys New York, Maria Luisa and Intermix.

But those collections were often difficult to deliver or to produce, and she eventually ran

out of money. It was Laura Moltedo, the former president of Bottega Veneta – and the moth-er of Helayel’s friend, accessories designer Gabrielecorto Moltedo — who took a 10 percent stake in her business and urged her to carry on.

That investment dovetailed with a growing interest in the mothballed jersey collection on the part of Helayel’s London friends. “I couldn’t even bear to look at those dresses anymore, but people began asking me about them,” she said. Her friends — some of whom were stylists and

public relations reps — wore the dresses and started a trend. Helayel began showing her collections during London Fashion Week in 2003, and by 2005 was dressing a host of London celebrities and society types in-cluding Camilla Fayed, Francesca Versace, Olympia Scarr y, Tatiana Santo Domingo and Josephine de la Baume.

Her design phi-losophy has never changed. “I love mak-ing clothes to hide defects and enhance the positive qualities,” she said. “For me, it always goes back to making a woman feel less fat and more se-cure about herself.”

Her initial inspi-rations were Pucci, Seventies Diane von Furstenberg, Averardo Bessi and Paganne, all of whose vintage pieces she collected. The bright blue, belted dress that Middleton wore for the engagement photo with Prince William, she said, has been a bestseller

since 2004, when it was introduced, and re-tails for about 400 pounds, or $630 at cur-rent exchange. Its product number is DJ-157: Helayel loves to dance, and said the dresses are great for “spinning on the dance floor,” hence the DJ coding.

As for her royal tie-up, Helayel would only say she was “flattered and honored” that Middleton chose the dress for such an important occasion. “In Japan, in particular, the shops went mad immediately. And around the world, everyone who had the dress sold out,” she said. The dress was immediately knocked off by British stores including Tesco and Peacocks and sold for a small fraction of the original price. Abegg declined to comment on whether the company was taking legal ac-tion. “Issa has in the past shown a strong arm towards copycats,” he said.

Retailers would argue that Issa dresses were doing just fine before the Middleton bounce. The multibrand London designer boutique Matches had already sold out of a dress similar to the one Middleton wore weeks before Prince William’s fiancée even donned it.

“Issa does brilliantly at retail,” said Bridget Cosgrave, Matches’ fashion and buy-ing director. “It’s one of those stealth sellers. It performs quietly and consistently, has such a broad appeal, and the prints are amazing — they have a very young take.” Cosgrave added that while the brand has always been a big seller, the sell-throughs are now 100 percent, and the store is boosting its orders for next season. In addition to stocking about eight dress styles a season, Matches sells Issa biki-nis and beachwear.

For fall, Helayel said she’s going back to her roots, dipping into the archives and re-tooling her classic silhouettes — including the DJ-157, the halter dresses, gowns and caf-tans — with old and new prints. “I’ve got an amazing print archive and hundreds of dress shapes — most of which have never been used,” she said.

Issa’s Latest Moment in the Sun

LACOSTE’S NEW LOOK: After 10 seasons of its “Un Peu d’Air Sur Terre” ad campaign, Lacoste will introduce a new concept under the tag line “Unconventional Chic” in January. The ads feature individual models — including Liya Kebede, Anja Rubik, Jon Kortajarena and Noah Mills — in each iteration, rather than the groups of models that populated the previous ads. Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott shot the new campaign, working for the first time with Lacoste.

“After five years it was time for a change. The previous ads were very product-focused and we felt we needed a campaign that was an affirmation of the brand statement as a whole,” said Christophe Chenut, chief executive officer of Lacoste SA.

The new ads show each model wearing the iconic white Lacoste polo shirt over evening dresses and formalwear. “We’re showing that you can be chic in a different way, not just when you are dressed up for a party or for the office,” explained Chenut.

The global campaign will break next month in print, outdoors and online. Lacoste and its licensees will spend about 50 million euros, or $66.3 million at current exchange, on the campaign in 2011, up slightly from 2010, said Chenut. The media buy will mirror sales geographically, with about 30 percent in the Americas, 50 percent in Europe and 20 percent in Asia.

A separate, product-focused campaign for the Lacoste Live brand, which targets a younger consumer, will be introduced in March, and will also bear the “Unconventional Chic” tag line. — David Lipke

HAIL, MARIO: El Museo del Barrio will honor Mario Testino with a special award at its gala on May 26 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. “It’s an honor when the people that come from the country or continent you come from approve of something you have done and applaud you for it. I feel very flattered to be receiving this award and to be able to, in one way or another, give back to our community,” Testino told WWD. The gala will be co-chaired by Alex Gonzalez and Raul Martinez, who are co-founders of AR New York. Martinez is also a creative consultant at Vogue. The honorary gala committee includes Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors, Narciso Rodriguez and Francisco Costa. “Being from Peru has influenced my career in a very special and individual way,” Testino added. “It’s not like I’m an English photographer in an English community, with lots of other English photographers — or American, Italian, French or German (which is the majority of our business). So my training, my eye, my sense of color and my composition are very much shaped by Peru and I feel very lucky to have this perspective.” — Amy Wicks

“I love making clothes to hide defects and enhance the positive qualities.”— Daniella Helayel

Expanding Cruciani Gains in U.S.

MeMO PAD

Lacoste will spend $66 million on the “Unconventional Chic”

campaign next year.

WWD.COMWWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 20104

By Rachel Brown

TO ALL THE JOURNALISTS WHO SUMMED UP Scott Devon as the frozen food king when he em-barked on projects in fashion, motor sports, res-taurants, polo, real estate or otherwise, he didn’t appreciate the limiting title. The territory he is at-tempting to reign over is much broader.

“It’s just kind of snarky to me. Nobody wants somebody to have second acts,” said Devon, 49, sitting in the 10,000-square-foot store original-ly intended to be a car showroom that opened in December with a party hosted by Jessica Stam and attended by Nicky Hilton, Rashida Jones, Whitney Port, Eva Amurri, Nicolette Sheridan and Jamie King to launch his namesake fashion brand. “I don’t want to be defi ned by one thing, especially when going into a ven-ture like this.”

Devon is the fi rst to admit his entrepreneurial drive, however wide-ranging, is funded by food. His father, Wes Devon, built Grand Rapids, Mich.-based fro-zen garlic bread specialist Cole’s Quality Foods into a $22 million business that turned into a $100 million one after Devon took the company over in 1995, result-ing in a lot of dough Devon can throw at other pursuits.

Throw it he has. Whether out of brazenness, naïveté, ar-rogance, stupidity or a combina-tion, Devon leaps into new busi-nesses with going-for-the-gold gusto. He started playing polo at 20, only to be named the Polo Amateur of the Year in 2004 and become part owner of the Catamount team. An injury forced his exit from the sport in 2006. “I had a horse rear up and fall on me, and al-most kill me during a game,” he said. “I am an adrenaline junkie.”

In the quest for speed, Devon moved on from horses to cars. But simply dabbling in them wasn’t his style. He wanted to create the next great American super car and start-ed Devon Motorworks almost three years ago in Los Angeles. The fi rm’s car, the Devon GTX, set a lap record at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2009.

Viper put the brakes on Devon’s car dreams. He had sought to buy the famed auto brand — even cobbling to-gether a group of investors who were willing to shell out $100 million for it before Devon put in a $5.5 million bid for Viper in bankruptcy court — but ultimately was rebuffed. Viper’s possible resurrection is now con-trolled by Fiat, and Devon has taken his money elsewhere. “There wasn’t really a business model for making one-off cars,” he said.

Devon — a long-time admirer of trendsetting Los Angeles-area boutique Maxfield and the jewelry brand Chrome Hearts who favors an edgy, rock ’n’ roll crossed with motor sports sensibility — took his ini-tial stab at the fashion industry with watches. Again, though, no ordinary watch would do. Devon envi-

sioned the hour, minute and second hands rotating inside the watch on treadmill-like belts. Watch manu-facturers balked at the idea, so he took it to aerospace electronics company Ollia Industries to execute.

Called the Tread 1, the watch, which has a wrist-en-gulfi ng face and a mechanical black-and-white appear-ance, was among 11 preselected watches considered for the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2010 design and concept prize. Five hundred Tread 1s will be pro-

duced for sale next year in 35 re-tailers around the world, includ-ing Tourneau and David Orgell, where they will cost $15,000. A second version of the watch will likely be out in March 2012 and will retail for less than $10,000.

Devon’s fashion ambitions were whetted with the watch, which he sees eventually being a small, al-beit important, part of a complete design house. “We obviously have layers of depth we can do from home to fragrances to eyewear. There’s a lot of extensions,” he said. “You see the megabrands and what they can do.”

As creative director, Devon’s been developing his design house quickly. He has recruited Agatha Blois to collaborate on denim, Keith Lissner to spearhead de-mi-couture and Amy Meadow Hochfelder to handle wholesale distribution as vice president of sales. His designs tend to be dark and embellished. Sequins, stones, layering and leather are frequent-ly used, and the palette is heavy on black and silver.

“I’ve invested millions up to this point,” said Devon, who is unsure of precisely when a return will be realized. “I think the watch could even carry the brand this year, so its nice to have one hit, but we haven’t even showed the rest.…We have major people behind us that know how to build brands and promote brands, so it is not like we have a lack of expertise on our end. So, I think we have a good shot.”

It took six meetings with Meadow Hochfelder, who has worked with designers from Donna Karan to Rachel Roy and is aim-

ing Devon’s ready-to-wear at a few key pres-tige department stores, for Devon to con-vince her to join his brand. “It’s a little bit of a leap of faith to take a chance on something new,” she said, adding, “but his passion for

doing this was something I believed in and something that resonated with me. With life, there is always a risk. You can do the safe thing or challenge yourself.”

Lissner is confi dent Devon can make an im-pact on the fashion universe. “There are not many people out there trying to do new things,” he said.

“There are a lot of designers today I feel that are in this space of reinventing the past, and Scott’s really about the future.”

Devon also isn’t afraid to fail — he’s done it be-fore. Back in 1995, he had his mind set on introduc-ing fi ne gourmet bread to Grand Rapids residents with the Saint-Honoré French Bakery and Tea Room. They weren’t exactly storming the doors. “That didn’t work fi nancially, but I look at it like we made some of the world’s best bread. So, that to me is more important sometimes than being fi nancially successful,” he said. “Not everything you do works fi nancially, but you can be happy creatively.”

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By Ivan Castano

MEXICO CITY — Liverpool, Mexico’s largest department store chain, plans to open 40 stores by 2014 as it rushes to capi-talize on the country’s booming department-store market, which is growing by 10 percent a year.

Profi ts are expected to rise by 20 to 25 percent a year as the chain expands and works to bring new exclusive brands to its stores, general sales manager Eduardo Flores told WWD. Along those lines, the retailer recently signed a deal to exclusively carry Jones New York beginning with spring 2011. It also hopes to bring in teenage casualwear brand Alex Canon during the same period.

Traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange, Liverpool op-erates 81 stores, after opening six units in fi scal 2010. It competes head to head with Sears Mexico, which is major-ity owned by billionaire Carlos Slim Helú, and smaller up-market chain Palacio de Hierro. Unlike Palacio de Hierro, however, Liverpool caters to Mexico’s large demographic of middle-class consumers. Liverpool’s most popular apparel brands include Polo Ralph Lauren, Nautica and Levi’s.

Flores said 2011 will mark a return to aggressive expan-sion after Liverpool virtually froze its growth plans in fi s-cal 2009 when the recession forced it to open only two stores, down from eight in 2008.

“We will grow more aggressively next year to posi-tion ourselves fast-er in the market,” Flores said. “We also have also iden-tified some really good retail loca-tions we don’t want to miss out on.”

Liverpool’s rush is understandable given the market’s growth potential and increasing competition. Flores said the competition is also scrambling to become the mar-ket leader and he pointed out Coppel, a fast-growing rival chain that also targets the middle class, as a growing threat for the established players.

“They [Coppel] are opening 20 to 30 stores a year so every-one’s watching what they are doing,” Flores noted.

According to Flores, Mexico’s department-store sector is growing by 8 to 10 percent a year on the back of a thriv-ing and young middle class that favors American-style shop-ping in big malls. For that reason, many of the new stores Liverpool will open will be in large shopping centers, which are quickly being built across the country.

“In Mexico, you don’t have the street shopping culture of Europe or other parts of the world,” Flores explained. “Here you take your car and you go to the mall, just like in the States and this is a growing trend.”

Liverpool is already present in Mexico’s main cities, so future outlets will be installed mainly in midsize cities with a population of 400,000 to 600,000. The fi rst stores to be opened next year will be in Guadalajara and Villahermosa, Flores said, adding that the other units will likely be opened in southeastern and northern Mexico.

According to Flores, Liverpool usually invests $35 million to $40 million to build a midsize store measuring about 215,000 square feet, which is the size that 80 percent of the new stores will be. About 20 percent of the new doors will open in smaller cities and will measure around 107,000 square feet.

Asked if Liverpool will follow on the coattails of other Latin American department stores such as Chile’s Falabella or Ripley, which are expanding across the Central and South American region, Flores said Liverpool plans to stay in Mexico.

“We don’t have any foreign expansion plans,” he said. “We want to consolidate our presence in the domestic market and we see a lot of growth potential in Mexico, at least for the next four years.”

Liverpool’s profi ts are rising thanks to cost-cutting efforts and growing sales. This year, it hopes profi ts will increase by 20 to 25 percent from 2.8 billion pesos, or $226.5 million at current exchange, in 2009. Group revenues should grow over 10 percent, Flores said. Last year, profi ts rose 7.2 per-cent while turnover increased 8.1 percent to 47 billion pesos, or $3.8 billion.

Next year, Liverpool expects to maintain a similar growth rate, even as Mexico’s economy is forecast to grow at a slow-er pace than in 2010, mirroring a similar performance in its main trading partner the U.S.

Mexico’s Liverpool Eyes 40 More Stores by 2014

Scott Devon Speeds Into Fashion

Nicky Hilton and Scott

Devon.

Jessica Stam

Inside the store.

Liverpool is ramping up expansion.

WWD 100 Years | 100 Designers Adolfo Azzedine Alaia Giorgio Armani Christopher

Bailey Cristóbal Balenciaga Pierre Balmain Geoffrey Beene Bill Blass Marc Bohan Callot Soeurs Pierre Cardin Hattie

Carnegie Bonnie Cashin Oleg Cassini Roberto Cavalli Hussein Chalayan Gabrielle Chanel Liz Claiborne Francisco

Costa André Courrèges Oscar de la Renta Christian Dior Dolce & Gabbana Alber Elbaz Perry Ellis Jacques Fath

Gianfranco Ferré Tom Ford James Galanos John Galliano Jean Paul Gaultier Nicolas Ghesquière Frida Giannini

Hubert de Givenchy Madame Grès Halston Carolina Herrera Tommy Hilfiger Marc Jacobs Charles James Betsey

Johnson Norma Kamali Donna Karan Rei Kawakubo Anne Klein Calvin Klein Michael Kors Christian Lacroix Karl

Lagerfeld Helmut Lang Jeanne Lanvin Ralph Lauren Mainbocher Martin Margiela Claire McCardell Stella McCartney

Alexander McQueen Tai and Rosita Missoni Isaac Mizrahi Captain Edward Molyneux Claude Montana Thierry Mugler

Norman Norell Rick Owens Thakoon Panichgul Jean Patou Phoebe Philo Stefano Pilati Paul Poiret Zac Posen

Miuccia Prada Proenza Schouler Emilio Pucci Paco Rabanne Rodarte Narciso Rodriguez Sonia Rykiel Yves Saint

Laurent Jil Sander Giorgio di Sant’Angelo Arnold Scaasi Elsa Schiaparelli Raf Simons Willi Smith Steven Sprouse

Anna Sui Olivier Theyskens Riccardo Tisci Emanuel Ungaro Valentino Dries Van Noten Donatella Versace Gianni

Versace Madeleine Vionnet Diane von Furstenberg Alexander Wang Vera Wang Vivienne Westwood Jason Wu Yohji

Yamamoto Adolfo Azzedine Alaia Giorgio Armani Christopher Bailey Cristóbal Balenciaga Pierre Balmain Geoffrey

Beene Bill Blass Marc Bohan Callot Soeurs Pierre Cardin Hattie Carnegie Bonnie Cashin Oleg Cassini Roberto

Cavalli Hussein Chalayan Gabrielle Chanel Liz Claiborne Francisco Costa André Courrèges Oscar de la Renta Christian

Dior Dolce & Gabbana Alber Elbaz Perry Ellis Jacques Fath Gianfranco Ferré Tom Ford James Galanos John

Galliano Jean Paul Gaultier Nicolas Ghesquière Frida Giannini Hubert de Givenchy Madame Grès Halston Carolina

Herrera Tommy Hilfiger Marc Jacobs Charles James Betsey Johnson Norma Kamali Donna Karan Rei Kawakubo

Anne Klein Calvin Klein Michael Kors Christian Lacroix Karl Lagerfeld Helmut Lang Jeanne Lanvin Ralph Lauren

Mainbocher Martin Margiela Claire McCardell Stella McCartney Alexander McQueen Tai and Rosita Missoni Isaac

Mizrahi Captain Edward Molyneux Claude Montana Thierry Mugler Norman Norell Rick Owens Thakoon Panichgul

Jean Patou Phoebe Philo Stefano Pilati Paul Poiret Zac Posen Miuccia Prada Proenza Schouler Emilio Pucci Paco

Rabanne Rodarte Narciso Rodriguez Sonia Rykiel Yves Saint Laurent Jil Sander Giorgio di Sant’Angelo Arnold Scaasi

Elsa Schiaparelli Raf Simons Willi Smith Steven Sprouse Anna Sui Olivier Theyskens Riccardo Tisci Emanuel Ungaro

Valentino Dries Van Noten Donatella Versace Gianni Versace Madeleine Vionnet Diane von Furstenberg Alexander

Wang Vera Wang Vivienne Westwood Jason Wu Yohji Yamamoto Adolfo Azzedine Alaia Giorgio Armani Christopher

Bailey Cristóbal Balenciaga Pierre Balmain Geoffrey Beene Bill Blass Marc Bohan Callot Soeurs Pierre Cardin Hattie

Carnegie Bonnie Cashin Oleg Cassini Roberto Cavalli Hussein Chalayan Gabrielle Chanel Liz Claiborne Francisco

Costa André Courrèges Oscar de la Renta Christian Dior Dolce & Gabbana Alber Elbaz Perry Ellis Jacques Fath

Gianfranco Ferré Tom Ford James Galanos John Galliano Jean Paul Gaultier Nicolas Ghesquière Frida Giannini

Hubert de Givenchy Madame Grès Halston Carolina Herrera Tommy Hilfiger Marc Jacobs Charles James Betsey

Johnson Norma Kamali Donna Karan Rei Kawakubo Anne Klein Calvin Klein Michael Kors Christian Lacroix Karl

Lagerfeld Helmut Lang Jeanne Lanvin Ralph Lauren Mainbocher Martin Margiela Claire McCardell Stella McCartney

Alexander McQueen Tai and Rosita Missoni Isaac Mizrahi Captain Edward Molyneux Claude Montana Thierry Mugler

Norman Norell Rick Owens Thakoon Panichgul Jean Patou Phoebe Philo Stefano Pilati Paul Poiret Zac Posen Miuccia

Prada Proenza Schouler Emilio Pucci Paco Rabanne Rodarte Narciso Rodriguez Sonia Rykiel Yves Saint Laurent

Jil Sander Giorgio di Sant’Angelo Arnold Scaasi Elsa Schiaparelli Raf Simons Willi Smith Steven Sprouse Anna Sui

Olivier Theyskens Riccardo Tisci Emanuel Ungaro Valentino Dries Van Noten Donatella Versace Gianni Versace

Madeleine Vionnet Diane von Furstenberg Alexander Wang Vera Wang Vivienne Westwood Jason Wu Yohji Yamamoto

Available in hard cover at Bergdorf Goodman, amazon.com & WWD.com/store

100 Reasons to Love Fashion.

6 WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2010

Remember the glamour and mystery of Faye Dunaway in

“Chinatown,” Roman Polanski’s 1974 neo-noir fi lm? Here, a similar mood is captured in the New York enclave with the season’s most dramatic furs — Bobbi Queen

PHOTOS BY MAN

Helen Yarmak’s spotted fox vest over Rachel Roy’s polyester crepe dress. Kara Ross necklace;

Wolford hosiery; Michael Kors shoes.

WWD.COM7WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2010

Piazza Sempione’s rabbit short sleeve coat over Elie Tahari’s wool turtleneck and skirt. LaCrasia gloves; Sigerson Morrison shoes.

Oscar de la Renta’s dyed fox coat. Gaspar gloves.

Jerry Sorbara’s hooded knit mink poncho for Neiman Marcus.

Carolina Amato gloves.

Dennis Basso’s crocodile-faced sable and ermine vest and silk shirt. Silhouettes & Profi les hat; Helen Yarmak diamond cuff.

Adrienne Landau’s fox jacket and Doo.Ri’s rayon crepe dress. Carolina Amato gloves.

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8 WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2010

Retail Blown Back by BlizzardContinued from page one

The industry consensus Monday was that the storm was a significant factor in depressing sales but didn’t represent a disaster since the holiday period had been so strong until then. Retailers and analysts believe most of the volume lost Sunday and Monday can be made up in the next few weeks, although it will require stores to extend sales and advertise more to clear merchandise, impacting their costs.

At Saks Inc., “We closed stores early yesterday and today we are planning on de-layed openings for New York and Walt Whitman,” Julia Bentley, senior vice president of investor relations and communications, said Monday. “Late openings means noon, but it will really depend upon staff ability to get to the store and the conditions. Short Hills and Bergen [in New Jersey] closed early yesterday and all day today. Three New York-area Off 5th [outlets] closed early yesterday and all day today.”

On the positive side, “There are lots of tourists in the city due to weather, who are continuing to shop,” Bentley noted.

At Scoop, “We had a great Christmas, including a massive surge last week, then the storm came and we closed eight stores in the Northeast,” said chief executive officer Susan Davidson, who was supposed to travel from Chicago to New York and then to Puerto Rico, where she has a home, but she bypassed New York and went straight south. “We will open some stores on New Year’s Day to make up for today. We’ve never done that before. I’m not sure, but I think we can make up the business. It’s been so good, I don’t want to give any of it back.”

“The storm totally puts a dent into things. When you lose one of the top six days of the year you feel it,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group. “The loss of post-Christmas weekend is brutal. This weekend was shortened already,” with Saturday being Christmas.

Cohen said the storm swept through roughly 25 percent of the nation’s retail-ing, moving from the Midwest to the East Coast, and altered the shopping mood. “The urgency issue isn’t quite there anymore,” he said. “Holiday was on steroids and all of sudden lost some of that luster. However, the storm doesn’t really af-fect the overall scheme. It affects the image of what the holiday brought, and we could go from being a very good December to an OK December.”

Analysts said retailers would lose 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent of their holiday sales as a consequence of the storm, though most of it should be recouped later this week and into January. They’ll be helped by online retailing, which would likely pick up more than originally expected with consumers stranded at home. In addition, tourists trapped in New York and other major cities due to can-celled or delayed flights showed up in the stores Monday, particularly the big anchor destinations such as Saks, Barneys New York and Macy’s Herald Square.

A steady stream of tourists and shoppers made their way down Fifth Avenue Monday, occasionally ducking into stores to make post-Christmas purchases and seek refuge from the slippery, messy streets. Saks enticed consumers with 40-per-cent-off sales on select accessories, shoes and women’s designer apparel. While sale signs in the men’s department offered up to 50 percent off, most shoppers flocked to women’s apparel, where they rifled through sales racks. At Bergdorf Goodman, customers made a beeline to the designer shoe department, where already marked down footwear was 50 percent off. But even with a 33-percent-off sale on select merchandise, traffic in other departments was noticeably lighter. A bustling Bloomingdale’s lured shoppers with apparel marked down 40 to 50 percent. “It’s been very active since we opened,” said a store associate.

However, at all those stores, while traffic was strong, customers didn’t appear to be carrying many shopping bags.

Intermix stores in Manhattan opened their doors on Monday morning, but closed early because of the weather conditions and the resulting decrease in foot traffic. They are set to reopen today at regular hours.

Traffic was brisk Monday afternoon at Barneys and at the Ugg Australia flag-ship on Madison Avenue and 58th Street. Ugg had the usual line of shoppers outside its entrance waiting to get in Monday morning, several seeking Ugg’s signature sheepskin boots to keep their feet warm in the snow.

Outside of Manhattan, Macy’s said 70 stores closed early from the Carolinas to New England, most between 6 and 7 p.m. Sunday, as opposed to 9 or 10 p.m. closings this time of year. Fifty Macy’s units opened between 90 minutes and two hours late Monday, from the scheduled 10 a.m. opening.

A Target spokeswoman said the retailer closed 29 stores in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Delaware, New York and Connecticut

The snowy scene in New York… …Philadelphia…

WWD.COM9WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2010

Sunday, all of which were reopened by 11 a.m. Monday. At J.C. Penney, “We have roughly a dozen stores in the Northeast

closed today due to extreme weather conditions,” said a spokesman Monday. “Approximately 80 stores closed early Sunday. The unsafe weather conditions in the Northeast appear to be moving on, and we anticipate our stores to be fully operational as soon as safe access is re-stored. Also, while each of our 1,100 stores is important to our business, we expect minimal impact to our business on a total level.”

At Taubman Centers, four centers closed early Sunday: MacArthur Center in Norfolk, Va., closed at 3 p.m. instead of the normal 8 p.m.; West Farms in Farmington, Conn., closed at 7 p.m. instead of 9 p.m.; The Pier Shops at Caesar’s in Atlantic City closed at 4 p.m., instead of 6 p.m., and the Mall at Short Hills, Short Hills, N.J., closed at 6 p.m. instead of 9 p.m., and remained closed Monday but was expected to open on time Tuesday. The Pier, West Farms and Stamford Town Center opened at noon Monday.

“On the East Coast, traffic is definitely soft today but we expect to regain momentum by the end of the week when the weather subsides,” Karen MacDonald, director of communications for Taubman Centers Inc., told WWD on Monday.

Simon Property Group Inc. reported that eight shopping centers had de-layed openings Monday, while 17 closed early on Sunday. Simon’s Roosevelt Field mall reported “several” stores never opened Monday and advised shoppers to call ahead to see if the store they wanted to shop was open.

In Boston, staffers at Coach, David Yurman and Sephora were busy fi-nessing displays by 9 a.m. Monday — an hour before doors were scheduled to open. On Newbury Street, Niketown’s sidewalk was shoveled clean more than an hour before its opening. As municipal snowplows tried to clear the streets, two parking lot attendants used snowblowers to dig through the snow on what was uncharacteristically a deserted street. Meanwhile, shov-elers did what they could in front of Ecco and other boutiques.

The storm didn’t hit only post-holiday shopping, though — it also hurt retail shares on Monday. Retail issues ended the day with a 0.3 percent skid amid concerns about business lost to the storm. The S&P Retail Index ended the day at 510.48, down 1.35 points, about half the size of its largest decline of the day. The major U.S. indices finished with smaller percentage declines, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average off 18.46 points, or 0.2 per-cent, at 11,555.03. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index were both off 0.1 percent at 1,257.54 and 2,667.27, respectively. Trading volume was light.

According to Amy Noblin, analyst for Weeden & Co., “The week after Christmas can account up to 15 percent of holiday sales. I think that Sunday was expected to be even more important for retailers with peo-ple having to go back to work on Monday. The weather will cause the holiday season to close on a softer note.”

Nonetheless, her holiday forecast of positive low-single digits remains unchanged, as sales were driven largely by pre-Christmas shopping.

Liz Pierce, analyst for Roth Capital Partners, said holiday has been stron-ger than had “originally been expected, driven by pent-up demand and fru-gality fatigue. However, yesterday’s severe weather that blanketed much of the East Coast is likely keeping a lot of consumers at home and may curtail some of the comp upside we had anticipated. That said, online sales could be a beneficiary of the weather and even though most companies do not include online sales in their comp sales, the additional sales, which tend to have higher margins, could help cushion some of the lost sales at retail. Nonetheless, our forward outlook on the sector is tempered by upcoming dif-ficult compares and lingering high unemployment and therefore, we expect consumer and retail stocks will see some selling pressure in the near term.”

— With contributions from Marc Karimzadeh, Rosemary Feitelberg and Sharon Edelson

…and Boston.

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Textile & Trade Report

By Liza Casabona

WASHINGTON — High fiber prices are expected to create some upheaval throughout the supply chain in the coming months.

Rising costs of raw materials deep in the supply chain haven’t yet made their way through to retail apparel prices, but that can’t continue indefinitely, experts said. Volatile cotton prices in the last year have soared to record highs, wool prices are higher than they have been in years and synthetic fiber prices, while not seeing up-ward pressure anywhere near the natural fiber industries, are also elevated.

“Once these higher fiber prices filter through the supply chain, it’s going to be painful,” said Gary Raines, vice president of economics and analysis with FCStone Fibers & Textiles. “Who’s going to crack first? Will consumers willingly pay higher year-over-year prices for apparel? I’m not sure. 2011 is shaping up to be unlike any year we’ve seen. There is a major disjoint be-tween retail trends and what’s happening on the fiber side.”

Prices will eventually come down from current elevated levels, but it could take

some time and they won’t fall far enough to avoid creating reverberations in the apparel industry, Raines said, impacting profits all along the supply chain.

“The assumption is they’re going to have to pass some of this on at the retail level; the question is how much,” said Nate Herman, vice president of international trade for the American Apparel & Footwear Association. “It won’t be the full amount of the additional costs people are paying in the supply chain.”

Retail prices for apparel are likely to register increases in the low- to midsin-gle digits next summer or fall given the production schedule of apparel, Herman said. Pushing costs back up the supply chain is trickier now because of a consoli-dation of the sourcing base following the economic crisis, when many factories were forced to close.

Cotton prices were driven higher this year by a supply-and-demand ratio that is wildly out of whack, experts said. A surprise increase in demand for cotton followed the steep drop-off precipitated by the global economic crisis. Combining that with al-ready high demand from China helped create a cotton shortfall. The supply side out-look was further impacted by inclement weather in some of the major cotton-producing

countries such as China and Pakistan and export policies in India limiting cotton ex-ports earlier this year. In addition, high prices of other commodities like corn and soy-beans have stolen acreage from cotton in recent years as farmers shifted to other crops.

“The world supply-and-demand situation remains the tightest in the modern glo-balized era,” Cotton Incorporated said in its Monthly Economic Letter for December. “Much of the tightness at the world level can be attributed to China.”

India’s export policies were also under scrutiny this year. The country imposed a ban on raw cotton exports last spring in response to pressure from domestic manu-facturers, who said they needed relief from high prices. While the outright ban was lifted several weeks later, India continues to eye its export levels.

“This year every bale counts,” said Jon Devine, an economist with Cotton Inc.Despite high prices, demand for cotton remains so high that four months into the crop

year for 2010-2011 almost 100 percent of the projected U.S. crop is already sold, he said.

World cotton production in 2010-2011 is forecast to be 115.5 million bales, a 14.5 percent increase over the prior year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a December report. The U.S. crop is predicted to be 18.3 million bales.

The USDA predicted that cotton usage worldwide will decline slightly in crop year 2010-2011 as cotton prices continue at “un-precedented levels amid tight supplies.” The drop is predicted to be only 2 percent, signal-ing it could be some time before a market correction in cotton prices takes hold.

The continued high prices could drive manufacturers to substitute other fibers, Raines said. While shipments of cotton ap-parel to the U.S. rose in October compared with a year earlier, its share of total textile and apparel imports sank to 38.3 percent, the second-lowest in more than two decades, ac-cording to a research note from FCStone.

Wool prices are also elevated more than they have been in years. Some of the price increase could be attributed to a slight rise in demand, but for the most part sources said the prices were driven by a produc-tion decline.

Wool production worldwide peaked around 1990, but it has been on the decline since then due to a range of factors, includ-

ing profitability, and land and labor issues for sheep farmers, said Rita Kourlis Samuelson, wool marketing director for the American Sheep Industry Association, based in Englewood, Colo. Wool prices have fluctuated, but they have been trending up, especially recently, she said.

Worldwide, wool production and demand are roughly the same now following previous overproduction that had driven prices down. That ratio has evened out, Samuelson said. Depending on the indicator used, prices in October were close to a 10-year high, she said.

Synthetic prices are also up, a natural function of higher demand for the product driv-en by staggeringly high cotton prices and elevated oil prices, Raines said. But prices for polyester and other synthetics have not seen the steep increases that natural fibers have.

Raw Material Costs Taking a Toll

“Once these higher fiber prices filter through the supply chain, it’s going to be painful. ”

— Gary Raines, FCStoneFibers & Textiles

The Fiber Price SheeTThe last Tuesday of every month, WWD publishes the current, month-ago and year-ago fiber prices. Prices listed reflect the cost of one pound of fiber or, in the case of crude oil, one barrel.

Price on Price on Price onFiber 12/27/10 11/30/10 12/28/09cotton $1.42 cents $1.24 68.4 centsWool $4.18 $4.12 $3.37Polyester staple 85.5 cents 85.5 cents 77 centsPolyester filament 74 cents 74 cents 66 centsnovember Synthetic PPi 108.6 108.6 111.8crude oil $91.51 $83.76 $78.05

*The Wool Price is baseD on The average Price for The Week enDeD Dec. 17 of 11 DifferenT Thicknesses of fiber, ranging from 18 microns To 30 microns, accorDing To The Woolmark co. informaTion on coTTon anD PolyesTer Pricing is ProviDeD by The consulTing firm DeWiTT & co. The synTheTic-fiber ProDucer inDex, or PPi, is comPileD by The bureau of labor sTaTisTics anD reflecTs The overall change in all synTheTic-fiber Prices. iT is noT a Price in Dollars buT a measuremenT of hoW Prices have changeD since 1982, Which haD a PPi of 100. oil Prices reflecT lasT Week’s closing Price on The neW york mercanTile exchange of fuTure conTracTs for lighT, sWeeT cruDe oil To be DelivereD nexT monTh.

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Cotton prices have doubled in the last year.

WWD.COMWWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2010 11

By Lisa Lockwood

NEW YORK — Eileen Fisher, who started her business with four pieces and $350, now steers a women’s sportswear company gener-ating $300 million in annual sales.

She said the key is bringing together em-ployees “who are passionate about what they’re doing. A lot of what we do in our sustainability efforts come from their pas-sion,” Fisher told attendees at the recent Sustainable Textiles Conference here.

When Fisher began designing 27 years ago, she loved natural fibers. “I thought they were a good thing, like eating natural food, real food. Real clothes seemed like a good start,” she said.

Fisher recalled attending a friend’s wed-ding years ago in a polyester dress “and thought I’d get cancer; I was sort of creeped out,” she told the packed room. She wanted to create designs and good-quality clothes that would last. “I loved the idea of the Japanese kimono. For thousands of years, they used only one shape.”

Fisher believed that the simpler the style, the more you could adapt it and take old things and make them new. She was intrigued with the idea “of what makes a style last a long time and still be in the moment.”

She recalled running into a woman at one of her stores wearing a dress she designed 26 years ago. “Certain things really do last. How do we create these things and what makes a design transcend its time?” said Fisher, who last year started a recycling program for her timeless designs at her Lab store in Irvington, N.Y., where her company is based.

One sustainable practice was to move into fabrics that were washable. She told the crowd that sometimes the way people take care of their clothes “is more damaging than how it’s created. How you wash and dry clean a garment is more important than how it’s made,” she said.

Fisher began testing organic cotton from Sally Fox and did a wool program with Black Sheep.

Most importantly, she noted it’s imperative for a customer to love the way the product feels. “She’ll buy it even if it costs a little more, if it has a tag on it [that says it’s] eco-friendly. The problem with Black Sheep was the wool was scratchy.”

So the company went back to see if Black Sheep could make it softer. Fisher said her firm also has “ongoing partnerships with vendors and mills about cotton,” and is always trying to figure out ways to make fabrics better and less harmful to the environment. “My intention is to make a difference, be open to what others are saying and to care on a deep level. It’s not just about profits. New business models have to go much deeper,” she said.

Fisher said her business is up 10 percent this year.She had several members of her team on stage with her. Among them was fabric de-

signer Inka Apter, who said while growing up in Croatia, “reduce, reuse and recycle” were part of her everyday vocabulary. “Plastic bags were lovingly folded” and reused. When she moved to the U.S. “the hardest thing to absorb was the multitude of things. Going to a department store, I’d have an anxiety attack. There was too much stuff.” She came across an Eileen Fisher store and “was struck with the simple beauty. It was an eye opener and I wanted to be part of that company,” said Apter, who has worked at the firm for 13 years, expanding its global sourcing.

“We’re trying to bring a positive change to the product,” she said, explaining that as a fashion company, Eileen Fisher can test the products for pilling and strength. “But there’s no test for the ‘wow’” factor, she said. “We need to make sure we champion those products that have those qualities.”

Still, she was realistic. “Green products cost more,” Apter said. “The price of raw materials is going through the roof on every level. We’re one link in this chain.”

Sustainability reaches to some of the techniques the company uses, even if these can at times have drawbacks of their own. Fisher noted she is passionate about hand-beading from China and Peru. “We want to support these crafts people,” she said. “But [the garments] can’t go by boat. They need to be dry cleaned and go by plane. There are endless complexities. We’re all on a path, and it’s all imperfect.”

By Peter Born and Jennifer Weil

MONTE CARLO, Monaco — The beauty industry is pay-ing more than lip service in its pursuit of innovation.

That’s at least the experience of packaging de-signer Marc Rosen, who has been promoting a new kind of clear plastic polymer, made by Eastman Chemical Co., for use in makeup packaging.

This is a departure from industry thinking, Rosen said this week, because product developers have long held that makeup only looks glamorous in black packaging.

“I’ve tried to create a superluxurious packaging with clear plastic,” he said. And to his surprise, Rosen said he received more queries than expected from major brands after unveiling his ideas in late October at the premier Luxe Pack trade show here. The ma-terial, called Eastar CN copolyester, a branch of Eastman’s The Glass Polymer series, is unusual in that it can create containers with thick walls and sharp edges and corners, Rosen noted. Last year, he had used the same material to make treatment packaging. This time, Rosen worked with five suppliers, each of whom provided the tooling to create a different design.

“It was truly a unique collaboration,” Rosen said, adding that the time for action is now. “Suppliers need to present innovation to the brands, if they want to get the business. They can’t get the business anymore just by offering good prices.”

Certainly, innovation was in the air at Luxe Pack. Its preregistration numbers rose 15 percent versus its 2009 session, according to Nathalie Grosdidier, deputy managing editor of Idice, Luxe Pack’s organizer. However, actual visitor count declined 3 percent on-year to 5,726, due to difficult travel conditions from French transit strikes.

Meanwhile, the number of companies represented by attendees at the event increased 3 percent. International visitors — from at least 80 countries — made up 54 percent of the total, and trade show organizers noted more people from the U.S., U.K. and Spain.

Luxe Pack’s 340 exhibitors, which included 10 first-timers, hailed from more than 30 European countries.

Two new features of the trade show this year were an Innovation Forum and the Luxe Pack in Green prize, which was awarded to Promens for its Ecolution ecological airless distribution system.

Indeed, many Luxe Pack exhibitors focused on environmentally responsible packaging. Lumson, of Capergnanica, Italy, for instance, presented new deco-rations for its Tag System, billed to be the first and only airless system with a glass bottle. These included spray lacquering with metallic inks on the inside of the flacons.

The company calls the Tag System “responsible recycling packaging,” thanks to its patented “Eco-Lock system” component that allows end consumers to separate plastic parts from the glass bottle therefore letting each material be recycled separately. To encourage the eco-friendly attribute, Lampson devel-oped and patented a “Responsible Recycling Packaging — Separate Glass from Plastic” logo.

For its part, the Groupe Verpack subsidiary CLP Packaging, of Neuilly Plaisance, France, and Billerud, of Solna, Sweden, highlighted FibreForm. It’s an environmen-tally friendly, highly elastic thick paper said to be a good substitute for plastic for shaped packaging, for instance.

FibreForm allows for highly pronounced embossing on packaging such as coffrets. It is based on renewable raw material that is recyclable and compostable.

During the trade show, Rosen led a panel discussion on the topic of how the industry can revive itself after two devastating years of re-cession. Its panelists included Lynne Greene, global brand president of the Clinique, Origins, Ojon divisions of the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc.; Rochelle Bloom, president of the Fragrance Foundation; Tim Dell, vice president of inno-vation and sustainability at Eastman Chemical, and Terry Young, managing director, Rapp, a di-vision of Omnicom.

The Tag System packaging.

Swirl Collection made of Eastar CN copolymer and produced by

Jackal Cosmetics Limited.

FASHION SCOOPS

BEAUTY BEATIndustry Puts Innovation in Lead Role

Eileen Fisher Keeps Green Focus

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PRODUCT PLACEMENT: The silhouette of Chanel No.5’s iconic bottle — made from 1,200 hand-assembled sequins — will decorate the exterior of Paris’ Musée d’Orsay from Jan. 6 to 28. The massive flacon’s image will cover 2,890 square feet of the museum’s exterior, which runs along the Seine river.

PARTY ON: During the upcoming men’s fashion week in Milan, Fendi will bring its Fendi O’ club night to the city for the first time. The party, taking place on Jan. 17 at Spazio Fendi, will feature the live performance of Canadian electro-pop trio Dragonette and Paris-based house music DJ and producer Martin Solveig. During the night, the Roman fashion house will unveil its spring campaign and will launch the first Fendi O’ music compilation.

BUCKLER BOOM: Men’s wear label Buckler is going into the New Year in expansion mode. The New York-based company will open its fifth store in February on a hip stretch of Venice, Calif. The 1,200-square foot shop is located at 1312 Abbot Kinney Blvd. and joins Buckler’s two existing retail stores in New York and one each in Toronto and London. “Our own retail stores have been the strongest part of our business so we’re investing in that area,” said designer Andrew Buckler. Additionally, the company launched an e-commerce site in November and this spring will debut a new sunglasses range produced in Italy.

BRAZIL BLUES: Fernanda Motta has launched a co-branded women’s denim line with Brazilian jeansmaker John John, which will be in stores

this spring. The company is targeting the designs, which bear the Fernanda Motta [Hearts] John John label, at U.S. stores only. The core John John brand, founded by João Foltran, is based in Tietê, Brazil, and is currently only available in its home country. “I have been modeling for over 10 years now and always have ideas for clothes and insights,” said Motta, who appears in the current John John advertising campaign in Brazil. She is best known for hosting the television show “Brazil’s Next Top Model” and for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. There are 25 styles in the initial Fernanda Motta [Hearts] John John collection, including jeans and shorts, with average retail prices of about $150.

Fernanda Motta in jeans from her new line.

WWD.COM12 WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2010

RESTORATION JOB

The greaT sanTTini

You’re never too Young for rebirth in hollYwood, a universal truth with which stephen dorff is by now well acquainted. at age 37, dorff ’s second (or third, or fourth) moment bloomed last week with the release of sofia Coppola’s “somewhere,” in which he stars as an ennui-stricken actor holed up in the Chateau Marmont.

“i like to say that sofia Coppola made me cool again,” dorff says in los angeles a few weeks before the film’s release. “she landed this butterfly, this gem of a movie, in my lap at a time when i really needed it more personally than professionally.”

which isn’t to say that the actor hasn’t been grateful for the perks that come with being part of a buzzed-about film.

“i haven’t been shot by Mario testino in like six years and now he’s shooting me for the cover of v Man and l’uomo vogue,” dorff says. “and tom ford has been really good to me for all of these events.”

not that he was ever that far removed from the spotlight. a child actor from age 12, dorff, whose father steve is an emmy-nominated composer, landed his first movie role in “the Power of one” at 18, and has built a diverse résumé that includes turns as factory icon Candy darling in “i shot andy warhol,” the title character in John waters’ “Cecil b. deMented” and big-budget films like “blade” and “Public enemies.” throw in a cameo in a britney spears video for good measure.

“some people go, ‘oh, [playing an actor in ‘somewhere’] must be easy for him. he’s a bad-boy actor living at the Chateau…’ but it’s quite the opposite; it’s holding a movie together with nothing but pure emotion and facial expressions,” he says of Coppola’s minimal script. “You just don’t get that chance very often. You are either doing the sequel to a big movie or a teeny movie that not many people are going to see.”

that said, dorff is certainly making the most of the renewed demand for his services. larger audiences will see him next spring in the adam sandler-penned comedy “born to be a star,” in which he plays a porn star named dick shadow.

“i’m really glad ‘somewhere’ came out first,” he cracks. and later in 2011 he will star in the $100 million greek mythology action

flick “immortals” alongside Mickey rourke, Kellan lutz, John hurt and freida Pinto. dorff said the experience of working with newbie Pinto was refreshing.

“i liked how un-actress-y she was,” he says.Pinto marks the second “it” girl dorff has shared screen time with in his

recent work. in “somewhere,” his character deals with the sudden arrival of his young daughter, played by elle fanning. dorff says the role has opened him up to the idea of fatherhood.

“i’ve found a connection to these young people that i’ve never had in my life,” he says. “Maybe it means i’m supposed to be a dad. hopefully that will happen sooner than later, but i’d like to do it right.”

and, in another reflective moment, he admits, “it’s a weird thing to grow up. because i’ve been an outspoken, rebellious young guy for most of my life, i’ve been able in retrospect to realize i’m lucky that i never took it over the edge and there wasn’t a ‘true hollywood story’ on me.”

— Marcy Medina

There’s no shorTage of BriTish cooks peddling a lifesTyle: nigella lawson, wiTh her cozy comfort food and outsized appetite; Jamie oliver of the bish-bash-bosh school of 30-minute dinners with italian flair, and delia smith — the grandmother of them all — with her utterly charmless, matter-of-fact approach to cooking for busy families.

add newcomer laura santtini, whose approach is less about lifestyle and more about life.“There is an inextricable link between flavor and feelings,” santtini says over biscuits and tea

beside a roaring fire at a london hotel. “we eat aspects of life that we don’t like. But it’s ok to spit something out. life shifts, and sometimes things have to taste a certain way. it’s important to check in with yourself, and recognize what sort of ingredients you’ve been using.”

santtini, a petite, exuberant mother-of-two who can speak with as much passion about a toasted cheese sandwich as she can about a sprinkling of sumac, pink peppercorns and rose petals on roasted root vegetables, published her first cookbook, “easy Tasty italian” (sterling publishing), in october. a few days before christmas, she launched a culinary advice column for Mydaily.co.uk, the aol-owned news and features site aimed at women.

“i can’t just write about beans; i see this as a ‘food and the city’ column,” she says before offering up a sample of her snappy relationship advice: “if what you need is an avocado, don’t marry a banana!”

while santtini may be a newcomer to cookbook country, she’s a veteran of the food and catering industry. she’s known among foodies for her attempt to capture umami — the so-called fifth taste characterized as intensely savory — in a tube. her Taste no. 5 Umami paste has been a bestseller on both sides of the atlantic since its launch last year, and santtini has trademarked the name. she also offers a line of wet and dry food rubs, including truffle and porcini salts, and a mix of smoked tea, sichuan peppercorns, and jasmine and orange flowers for white fish.

in addition, her family owns the italian restaurant santini in london’s Belgravia district — a former favorite of frank sinatra’s and a celebrity haunt over the years with guests including princess diana, Michael caine, Tom cruise, and Bill and hillary clinton. santtini now oversees the restaurant, which specializes in cooking from italy’s Veneto region.

santtini spent much of her youth in the kitchen, bonding with her father, gino santin, over the mayonnaise bowl.

“The only place where we could connect was in the kitchen — i’d be the one pouring the oil for the mayonnaise,” she recalls. “i don’t really remember a weekend when we weren’t concocting something in the kitchen.”

another big influence was her italian grandmother, with whom her family lived when santtini was a small child. she recalls in particular the “fluffy pillows of gnocchi bobbing to the surface” of nonna pasqua’s boiling pot, and the fried chicken skin her grandmother, who owned and ran hotels on italy’s adriatic coast, used to serve up with a sprinkling of salt.

“she opened my soul to deliciousness — and what that could do to transform a mood or a moment,” says santtini.

in the nineties, santtini temporarily left the culinary world to pursue a career in public relations and events. she worked for p.r. maven lynne franks, one of the inspirations behind the comedy series “absolutely fabulous,” and later organized events for MTV europe. in 2000, santtini returned to help run the family restaurant, and later began working as a food industry consultant, creating menus and products for retailers and food manufacturers. her true culinary calling, she would argue, came from an assignment she got from a supermarket to get vegetarian protein into a pasta sauce.

“i was stuck, but i was desperate to get the check,” says santtini. “and i didn’t want to use beans — i’d come up against a bean wall.”

she solved the problem by drawing up a recipe for a sicilian-inspired sauce involving almonds, chili, raisins and anchovies. during her research at the British library, she started to explore the medieval science of alchemy.

“alchemy and cooking are the same thing,” she argues. “it’s all about creating something that’s more than the sum of its parts.”

hence, her award-winning cookbook is filled with what she calls “flavor bombs.” The concoctions — which include pestos; sweet and salty butters; pastes and marinades; dry and wet rubs, and seven different recipes for bread crumbs — are meant to enhance basic dishes. her drinks and desserts also get the flavor bomb treatment, with red chili peppers and gold flakes slipped into bottles of vodka or grappa, and a recipe for parmesan ice cream with black pepper and balsamic strawberries.

asked about entertaining guests, especially around the holidays, santtini suggests taking a philosophical approach.

“in the past, i’ve spent so much time trying to make everything perfect — and then no one wants to sit down at the table with me because i’m so frazzled,” she says. “don’t overdo it. don’t turn into a crazy person. in the end, wouldn’t everyone just prefer a cheese sandwich and a laugh?”

— Samantha Conti

“Alchemy and cooking are the same thing. It’s all about creating something that’s more than the sum of its parts. ”

— Laura Santtini

Laura Santtini

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