NORDSTROM’S DESIGNER PLAN/4 CALIFORNIA IN DEPTH/SEC. IIWomen’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • March 22, 2006 • $2.00

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PARIS — Few designers can balance the

exotic and the sedate, but Dries Van

Noten does it with ease. For fall, he sent

out looks that were light, fl owy and, in a

word, delightful. His batch of tapestry-

like prints was also a pleasure, as

this silk and linen dress, worn with a

mohair and wool scarf, shows.

For more, see pages 6 and 7.

WWDWEDNESDAYSportswear

See Jones, Page 18

Jones on the Block:$5B Apparel GiantPuts Itself in PlayBy Vicki M. YoungNEW YORK — Jones Apparel Group is up for sale, and any buyer is likely to be a private equity player.

The $5 billion company’s announcement Tuesday that it is exploring a possible sale confirms a page-one exclusive in WWD that day.

Sources in the financial and vendor community said a sale could be finalized within six weeks, and Jones would not accept an offer of less than $40 a share, which would value the group at $4.56 billion. Another source said the company is already in discussions with at least one private equity company,

WWD.COM2 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

FASHIONDesigners delivered a crop of pretty little dresses for fall with slightly loosened shapes that still emphasized the waist.

GENERALJones Apparel Group said its board is exploring a possible sale of the entire company and has hired Goldman Sachs as a fi nancial advisor.

The London Fog Group fi led a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, seeking to restructure its business, and is selling its Pacifi c Trail unit.

The Costume Institute has fi nalized the designers whose works will be part of the “AngloMania” exhibit that kicks off its four-month run May 3.

MAINSTREAM: The jury is still out whether the plethora of relaunched and new brands in better sportswear departments is benefi cial.

The Bush administration presented Congress two proposals to fi x a glitch in CAFTA that has kept its promise of duty-free trade out of reach.

WEST: The city of Los Angeles, which defi nes urban sprawl and a life-style built on the automobile, is embracing a new concept: downtown.

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WWDWEDNESDAYSportswear

● LAST RIDE: Jean-Louis Dumas performed his last offi cial act as chief executive offi cer of Hermès International on Tuesday, presenting the French luxury fi rm’s 2005 profi ts to its com-pany directors. The fi gures are to be released to the public on Thursday. Dumas, 68, announced last September that he was stepping down as ceo and artistic director as of January 2006, citing “personal reasons.” Patrick Thomas, an Hermès veteran who rejoined the fi rm in 2003, now has sole control of the man-agement helm.

● NEW ADDITIONS: The third round of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund will kick into high gear Thursday when the Council of Fashion Designers of America begins accepting applications from emerging design talents. This year, the fund sees the addition of two new underwriters: Nordstrom and Theory. They join underwriters Barneys New York, Juicy Couture, Coach, Kellwood Co. and Vogue. Barneys is also stepping up its commitment to the fund, whose winners will be announced next fall, and Gucci has made an undisclosed donation to it. Last year, winner Trovata received a cash award of $200,000, and runners-up Derek Lam and Thom Browne took home $50,000 each. In addition, Trovata was mentored by Coach president and executive creative director Reed Krakoff; Derek Lam by Domenico De Sole, and Thom Browne by Dolce & Gabbana USA president Glenn McMahon.

In Brief

Obituary...............................................................................................4

Classifi ed Advertisements.............................................................23-27

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By Vicki M. Young

NEW YORK — The London Fog Group on Monday filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy court pe-tition, seeking to restructure its businesses.

The company received a $40 million debtor-in-possession fi nancing facility from Wachovia Bank. The fi nancing is subject to court approval. The fi ling was in a Reno bankruptcy court. The company said the fi ling was necessary because it was unable to secure suffi cient fi nancing for day-to-day operations.

This is the second bankruptcy fi ling for the 84-year-old fi rm. The rainwear and outerwear manufac-turer fi led a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court pro-tection on Sept. 27, 1999, in Dela-ware. In April of 2001, the compa-ny emerged from bankruptcy.

T.K. Flatley, managing director of investment banking fi rm Avalon Group, said London Fog will keep its London Fog and Homestead textiles businesses, which it will restructure through the bankrupt-cy process. Flatley said, “We were hired well before the bankruptcy to sell [outerwear brand] Pacifi c Trail, and sold it to Perry Ellis International when we found out London Fog needed to go through the bankruptcy process.”

The companies have an agree-ment in which Perry Ellis will become the “stalking horse” in a bankruptcy court auction to buy Pacifi c Trail for $14.5 million. The deal is subject to better offers.

Flatley said the plan is to have an auction within 10 days, subject to court approval. Avalon has asked for an expedited hearing. He said 65 or so compa-nies were initially contacted to considering buying the sportswear/outerwear fi rm. About half had en-tered into confi dentiality agreements.

An institutional investor observed, “This is probably a good purchase. Perry Ellis has always made great calls on acquisitions, but the question here is, can they grow the business?”

London Fog said Pacifi c Trail has built a na-

tional reach of more than 10,000 stores. David Greenstein, chief executive offi cer of the

London Fog Group, said in a statement, “We have forged three very attractive businesses targeting distinct markets, yet we fi nd ourselves without suffi cient capital to fund the full group’s expected growth. London Fog Group has determined to di-vest our Pacifi c Trail business as it represents a

very strong group of nationally recognized, successful brands with excellent prospects for growth.’’

In December 2004, London Fog Industries Inc. changed direction. It folded Homestead Fabrics with its outerwear businesses. At the time, London Fog denied it had been sold, but investment bank-ers said then that it was acquired by Homestead, a bondholder of London Fog.

Homestead, which was a sub-sidiary of Man chester, England-based Broome & Wellington, is the home-textile business run by David Greenstein.

During his tenure at Home-stead, where he was president, Greenstein took the company from a start-up to a $100 million busi-ness in six years, primarily through sales of acquired private label home products. One of those ac-quisitions was the Guilford Home Fashions division, which Guilford Mills sold in 2002. Although Homestead still uses the Guilford brands and licenses of the division, its manufacturing and distribution

operations were shut down following the purchase.Separately on Tuesday, Perry Ellis reported that

even though fourth-quarter profi ts fell 1.4 percent, the results beat analysts’ estimates by a penny. In the three months ended Jan. 31, the company earned $8.1 million, or 81 cents a diluted share, compared with $8.2 million, or 83 cents, last year. Fourth-quarter net revenues rose 24.3 percent to $213.9 million from $172.1million last year.

For the fi scal year, Perry Ellis had earnings of $22.7 million, or $2.26, up 8.2 percent from $21 mil-lion, or $2.15, last year. Annual revenues were up 29.4 percent at $849.4 million.

London Fog Files Chapter 11

By Marc Karimzadeh

NEW YORK — The Costume Institute has chosen the design-ers whose works will be part of the “AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion” exhibit from May 3 to Sept. 4.

The exhibit will feature a mix of British designers, tailors, milliners, a jeweler and a cob-bler. John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Bailey for Burberry, Hussein Chalayan, Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney are the featured fash-ion designers; Paul Smith, Ozwald Boateng, Anderson & Sheppard, Richard Anderson, Huntsman, Richard James, Henry Poole and Carlo Brandelli for Kilgour are the tailors; the millinery will be by Stephen Jones and Philip Treacy; jewelry will be by Shaun Leane, and Manolo Blahnik will provide the shoes.

“It was really hard to come to the selection of designers because there is such a great breadth of creativity in Britain,” said Andrew Bolton, associate curator of the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “We wanted the work of designers to refl ect the themes of the English period rooms. We wanted clothes to have a direct dialogue. That made it easier for us to narrow down our focus and selection.”

Bolton said the fi nal list of

designers was determined by who was the most transgressive or best represented the idea of tradition. “We felt that British creativity comes from this vio-lent crash between tradition and transgression, and so the designers we have chosen re-fl ect the idea of tradition and transgression in British culture and British fashion.”

The exhibit’s contemporary

pieces were culled from the 30-year period between 1976 and today. The show also includes historical pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries, which will be juxtaposed with the contem-porary designs. The exhibit will comprise about 60 pieces.

“We started with the birth of punk,” Bolton said of the con-temporary designs. “It’s the 30th anniversary of the offi cial birth of punk and we wanted to start then because we felt it was a paradigm shift in terms of fash-ion because it introduced the vocabulary of postmodernism.”

The Costume Institute has also chosen the dance chairs for the annual benefi t gala on May 1, which kicks off the spring exhibit. This year’s chairs are Camilla Al Fayed, Lily Cole, Lauren Davis, Lily Donaldson, Lady Gabriela Windsor and Gemma Ward — who will no doubt choose to attend the gala in glittering gowns designed by some of Britain’s brightest fashion stars. The night’s honor-ary chairs are Burberry chief ex-ecutive Rose Marie Bravo and the Duke of Devonshire. Co-chairs for the benefit are Burberry’s creative director, Christopher Bailey; Sienna Miller, and Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour.

The show is sponsored by Bur berry with support from Condé Nast Publications, which owns WWD.

Designers Set for ‘AngloMania’ Exhibit

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This Alexander McQueen spring 2005 design is expected to be part of “AngloMania.”

A look from London Fog’s fall 2006 collection.

Harper’s Bazaar was a co-host of the Madison Avenue Blue event on March 14, which was omitted from a story on page 12 last Wednesday. The event was part of Bazaar’s anticounterfeit-ing initiative.

Clarifi cation

California In Depth, a section II, appears in this issue.

WWD.COM

By Robert Murphy

PARIS — Bernard Lacoste, the energetic and colorful executive who for more than four decades stewarded the Lacoste brand, died Tuesday after a battle with “serious illness,” the French sportswear house said. He was 74.

Lacoste died late Tuesday morning after several months in the hospital, a spokeswoman said.

He stepped down as chair-man and chief executive offi cer for health reasons last Sept-ember, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Michel Lacoste, who continues to helm the fami-ly’s namesake business.

Lacoste was the son of ten-nis legend Rene Lacoste, who founded the company and cre-ated its famous crocodile in-signia. Bernard Lacoste was instrumental in building the family firm into one of the world’s most-recognized sports brands. He leveraged its pat-rimony by extending into new products and founding a retail network, starting with the opening of the fi rst Lacoste boutique, here, in 1981.

Lacoste saw opportunities in women’s and children’s clothes, and also branched into scents and shoes, while imbuing the brand with a modern, fashionable image.

It was at his direction, for example, that the

company introduced an array of colors in its traditional piqué polo shirts.

Gregarious and friendly, Lacoste will be re-membered as one of the last in a generation of French executives in the fashion and luxury industry here who brought as much poetry as fi nance to their business. He stayed true to the

vision of French elegance and sophistication that he believed his father embodied, while oper-ating as an astute businessman.

In 1999, he consolidated the brand’s licensing structure by inking a worldwide agreement with Devanlay for all Lacoste clothing. That deal led to the arrival as artistic director of French designer Christophe Lemaire, who in recent years has amplifi ed the brand’s hip factor and helped it resonate with a younger crowd.

Last year, 48 million Lacoste-branded articles were sold worldwide, representing wholesale sales of 1.29 billion euros, or $1.55 billion at cur-rent exchange, the spokeswom-an said. By comparison, in 1963,

the year Lacoste took command, the fi rm sold 300,000 Lacoste-branded items.

Lacoste is survived by his wife, Sachiko, and three children from a previous marriage, Jacques, Camille and Beryl. Services have not been set, the spokeswoman said.

By David Moin

NEW YORK — Nordstrom wants to put a comprehen-sive designer offering in at least one store in each of its major markets, said Mike Koppel, executive vice presi-dent and chief fi nancial offi cer.

The $7.7 billion Seattle-based chain’s emerging design-er strategy includes beefi ng up offerings across apparel, accessories and shoes to generate a “halo effect’’ that el-evates the image of other departments, Koppel said at a Bank of America consumer conference here last week.

The plan will put Nordstrom in more direct competi-tion with luxury rivals Nei man Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.

“While we are not going to create an overly large de-signer presence, we believe in improving designer and insuring that in every major market we are in, we have at least one store with a very relevant offering,” Koppel said.

Last year, Nordstrom bought Jeffrey, a retailer with two designer stores, in the Chelsea section of Manhattan and in Atlanta, that was owned by Jeffrey Kalinsky. He now works on designer strategy and unearthing new design tal-ent for Nordstrom.

“The acquisition of Jeffrey has been a terrifi c help in allowing us to open doors,” Koppel said.

More recently, Nordstrom opened a few units featuring a more sophisticated designer presentation with greater de-marcation between brands. The store at NorthPark Center in Dallas, with boutique areas that will be replicated else-where in the 99-unit chain, offers clothing by Christian Lacroix, Monique Lhuillier and Oscar de la Renta. The adjacent Collectors sportswear area has shops-in-shops for Roberto Cavalli, Blumarine, Chloé and Donna Karan, among others. The Via C boutique carries younger collec-tions such as Tracy Reese, Sass & Bide and See by Chloé.

Last year, women’s was streamlined so that all women’s apparel offerings were put under the supervision of a sin-gle general merchandise manager, Loretta Soffe, instead of four. “We think this structure [will lead to] a more coor-dinated execution and strategy, rather than having sepa-rate silos looking at it in their own way....The improved structure will allow us to take a much more strategic ap-proach to how we execute in women’s,” Koppel said.

Lately, the fi rm has been on a roll, with strong sales results, though they are credited more to cosmetics, ac-cessories, shoes and contemporary apparel offerings dis-played in the Brass Plum, Savvy and t.b.d. departments than other women’s areas.

Sales were up 6 percent on a comp basis last year and net earnings rose 40 percent. Nordstrom’s women’s busi-ness has had a mixed performance over the last couple of years; contemporary and young women’s have been strong,

and better and bridge have been relatively weaker, Koppel said. “We have an opportunity to build on the strength in our contemporary businesses....Our wear-to-work has not been as robust as it should, and we see that as an opportu-nity in a variety of price points.”

Koppel said shoes, cosmetics and accessories were “well developed businesses.” He added, “If you looked at that share relative to women’s apparel, there are some distinct differences.

“In terms of what we are doing in women’s apparel, I think the key here is, we should start to see in a more meaningful way the direction with merchandise sometime

in the back half of August or early September,’’ Koppel said. “We are learning and identifying the opportunities. The buy cycle is roughly six months. We will probably see some small things over the spring, but I think the more meaningful stuff will be toward early fall.”

The company’s merchandising has been on “a great path,” with better discipline over inventory, fresher con-tent and constantly trying new things, he said.

Private label accounts for 14 to 15 percent of Nordstrom’s total sales, Koppel said, but there is no specifi c growth target. “We are not out saying we are going to hit 18 or 20 percent.” Men’s furnishings, dress shirts and certain areas of kids are “very highly penetrated areas,” he said. “We continue to use [private label] as a tool to offer some-thing we are not offering through branded merchandise.”

He also discussed denim, which “continues to be strong” at premium and more moderate price points. “Today, denim is still very, very relevant for us. We have a terrifi c growth cycle with denim. There are a lot of new brands, prices are higher and we are still doing good, solid volume. We are seeing growth, but certainly not at the pace we might have seen a year or two ago.”

Overall, comp-store sales are planned conservatively, built around low-single-digit objectives.

Koppel said there has been curiosity about how Nordstrom will grow to the next level. “Are we going to do new formats or [add] new categories? We fi rmly believe we have an opportunity to increase share of wallet with exist-ing target customers.”

He sees women’s apparel as a “primary component” in the strategy, contributing to higher gross margins, a higher average price of unit sold and increased productivity. He characterized Nordstrom’s target customer as primarily female, age 25 to 54, in the $100,000-plus income bracket.

Koppel cited some “really great strides in terms of sell-ing productivity,” and said further improvements were possible. Last year, Nordstrom generated $369 per square foot, which is below the company’s all-time high of $394 in 1994. He also cited improvements in gross margin through a reduction in markdowns, higher sell-throughs and lever-aging in occupancy costs.

The company has focused on back-offi ce effi ciencies and technology improvements for better inventory con-trol and markdown optimization.

“We still believe that over time it will help us make better decisions over the timing and depth of mark-downs,’’ he said. “We are still learning. We have a vari-ety of different businesses with their own economics. In some areas, we are making more progress than others.”

However, most margin improvement will come from leveraging occupancy costs, and to some extent through beefed-up women’s apparel and markdown optimization.

WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 20064

LOS ANGELES — Surf brand Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. said executive chairman of the board Greg H. Weaver, who joined the company in 1987 as a vice president and rose to become chairman and chief executive officer, will retire on April 1.

Weaver, 52, was named executive chairman of the Anaheim, Calif., company last April 1 after serving as board chairman since October 1997 and as ceo since October 1996.

“I became executive chairman in April 2005 for a limited time to provide a period of transition and to work on new business development,’’ Weaver said in a statement. He cited the launch of One Thousand Steps, the accessories and footwear concept, as a good time for his departure. “This is the appropriate time for me to step down. I leave confi dent that Pacifi c Sunwear has an outstanding portfolio of retail concepts, talented people and a very experienced leadership team.’’

In the same statement, ceo Seth Johnson described Weaver’s tenure as “critical to the company’s phenomenal growth and success.”

Neither Weaver nor Johnson returned phone calls seeking comment.

Weaver had been a member of Pacifi c Sunwear’s board since February 1996. He joined the company in July 1987 as vice presi-dent of stores and was promoted several times, holding the titles of senior vice president, executive vice president, chief operat-ing offi cer and president, according to company literature.

Pacifi c Sunwear operates 814 PacSun stores, 96 PacSun outlets and 197 d.e.m.o. stores nationwide. The One Thousand Steps concept will launch in April, with six stores opening with-in the month: three in California — at the Galleria at Tyler in Riverside, in Los Cerritos Mall and at the Fresno Fashion Fair Mall — and one each at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.; Providence Place in Providence, R.I., and Melbourne Square in Melbourne, Fla.

Before joining Pacifi c Sunwear, Weaver spent 13 years at Jaeger Sportswear Ltd., working in both operational and mer-chandising capacities for the U.S. and Canadian stores.

— Emili Vesilind

Bernard Lacoste Dies at 74ObituaryWeaver to Depart PacSun

Nordstrom Reveals Designer Strategy

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6 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

Frock TalkThink fl uid, not baggy. Ungussied, yet not exactly simple. For

fall, designers delivered a crop of pretty little dresses with slightly loosened shapes that still emphasized the waist.

Nina Ricci Celine

WWD.COM7WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

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WWD.COMWWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 20068

In the Mainstream

Better Firms Refine Their ApproachBy Julee Greenberg

NEW YORK — Change is the order of the day in better sportswear.Relaunches and new brands are hitting the selling fl oors. For next fall, Nautica

will enter the arena, and Calvin Klein and Liz Claiborne will each get a face-lift. Last season, Kenneth Cole Reaction (produced by Bernard Chaus) and City Unltd., (produced by Liz Claiborne Inc.) launched on the better fl oors. This comes after years in which mainstays like Jones New York, Anne Klein and Lauren Ralph Lauren dominated.

It isn’t the fi rst time manufacturers have seen the opportunity for growth in the better area. About two years ago, companies hoped to fi ll the space occupied by Lauren Ralph Lauren, which at the time was produced by Jones Apparel Group. As the Lauren license was being transferred back to Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., Tommy Hilfi ger started H Hilfi ger, Jones launched Jones Signature, Michael Kors came out with Michael Michael Kors and Liz Claiborne created Realities. In the shakeout, H Hilfi ger dropped from the wholesale race, but is now being relaunched in its own retail format; Michael Michael Kors went through growing pains, but worked its way

back; Realities went under, and Claiborne ended its license for City DKNY and re-placed it with City Unltd.

“Up until about a year ago, the focus has been on the junior customer and all of the money teens have to spend,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y. “Now the focus has shifted to the Boomer consumer, who is gaining steam on their spending and starting to spend more on apparel than teens.”

Women overall last year spent $97 billion on apparel, a number that continues to rise, Cohen said. In 2005, teens spent $41 billion on apparel, up from $39 billion in 2004. Boomers spent $34.5 billion on apparel last year, compared with $34.3 billion in 2004. While the teen number rose signifi cantly, Cohen predicted Boomers will soon spend more than teens.

Although teens have enormous spending power, the Baby Boomers will spend more as their disposable income increases, while teens will spend less. “In just about two years, Baby Boomers will be spending more than teens,” Cohen said.

With increased competition at retail, brands are being forced to take charge and make changes, he said. This compe-tition doesn’t happen only among brands that hang together on the same fl oor, but across a wider sector.

Liz Claiborne realizes that those changes need to take place. The company hired a new designer, Richard Ostell, to overhaul the collection and add more value and career-re-lated pieces. Now, with Jones Apparel Group contemplating a sale of the company (see related story on page 1), changes in that better business could be on the horizon.

“This customer shops in more than one place in order to fi nd value,” Cohen said, “so these better brands are compet-ing with mass retailers, who are adding more fashionable merchandise, and they are also competing with moderate, who are working to increase their value with better fabrics and added details.”

Cohen said that 55-year-old women want to look like they are 35, but in a modern, more appropriate way.

“We see that these women still have the money to spend, but in order for us to get her to spend it, designers need to address her needs,” said Jill Doneger, a market analyst at The Doneger Group, a buying offi ce here. “They need to realize that if they lower the rise on their pants, it still cannot be too low. They need to keep the sleeves on, since many women don’t like showing their arms. These were the biggest prob-lems not addressed at fi rst.”

Designers fi nally seem to be on the right track, she said.Andrea Goldreyer, another market analyst at Doneger who

follows the better sportswear market, said there has been an increase in spending on career-related apparel.

“There’s been a real turn-around in career,” she said. “She’s buying suit essentials, which is really new and encouraging since it’s been more casual in the past.”

Goldreyer said customers are picking up on pants and jackets, which has been good for business since jackets are usually expensive pieces on the fl oor.

Retailers said that overall, the better market is on the right course. The consumer

is looking for modern classic, not trendy fashion, and the labels on the better fl oor have been improving their mix to meet the changing needs of the shopper.

“The world, as well as fashion is changing,” said Tom Crystal, senior vice president and general merchandise manager for Boscov’s, a 40-unit fam-ily-owned chain based in Reading, Pa. “Women today want to look sharper, not necessarily trendy, but modern and in good taste. These people on the better fl oor make attractive, age-appropriate clothing when there is a shortage of that in other areas of retail.”

Nicole Fischelis, fashion director for Macy’s East, agreed.

“Each brand on the fl oor has its own identity, which is a great mix for our stores,” she said. “I think the fl oor looks better than ever; everything is very aspirational and on the right track.”

Fischelis said she was impressed with the new look of Calvin Klein, and is devoting a great deal of space to the relaunch in the fall, complete with window displays on the Broadway side of the Herald Square fl agship.

“The new designer [Chris Jackson, who joined from DKNY] has totally captured what Calvin Klein should be,” she said. “It’s modern and great looking, I see great things for the brand.”

Fischelis also mentioned Michael Michael Kors as a strong brand on the fl oor.

“Michael is very involved in the line, which brings a great taste level and great spirit to the product,” she said.

Fischelis said she is also doing well with pieces from City Unltd. and Kenneth Cole Reaction. “They are evolving in a positive way,” she said.

Crystal said he always has success with Liz Claiborne, Jones New York, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Anne Klein, Sigrid Olsen and Rafaella.

“Jones has always been great, but now they are even bet-ter, with more novelty and added touches that really make them special,” he said. “Liz is also doing a great job.”

Crystal is particularly looking forward to bringing Nautica into the mix next fall.“I was so pleasantly surprised with Nautica,’’ he said. “It looks really great, and

Denise [Seegal, president and chief executive offi cer of VF Sportswear Inc.’s Nautica and Kipling brands] is a great merchant. She has a hit with this one. The collection is refi ned, beautiful and done in great taste.”

Liz Claiborne (left) hired a new designer to add a more modern look to the brand. Nautica will launch women’s better sportswear in the fall.

Michael Michael Kors has gained momentum in the better sportswear area.

Calvin Klein will provide a new look to retailers next fall.

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WWD.COMWWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 200610

Nike Sales, Profi ts Jump in 3rd QuarterBy Melanie Kletter

NEW YORK — Fueled by gains in the U.S. and tight ex-pense management, Nike Inc.’s third-quarter earnings surged 19.2 percent and were far ahead of expecta-tions.

The company reported that profi ts jumped to $325.8 million, or $1.24 a share, from $273.4 million, or $1.04 in the quarter ended Feb. 28, while revenues surged 9.2 percent to $3.6 billion. Analysts on average had been looking for Nike to earn $1.11 a share.

This was the company’s fi rst quarter operating under the leadership of Mark Parker, a Nike veteran who became president and chief executive offi cer in January.

Parker said in a statement Tuesday, “The strength of our product pipeline, brand portfolio and global reach is enabling us to balance continued challenges in mar-kets such as Western Europe and Japan with strong momentum in other key markets and regions.”

In a call with analysts late Tuesday, Parker cited the women’s fi tness business as a particularly strong per-former in the quarter. Nike, the world’s largest active-wear group, has sought in recent years to elevate its women’s business with a more fashionable selection of offerings for a range of activities, including fi tness dance and yoga.

U.S. revenues in the third quarter increased 14

percent to $1.4 billion, with footwear sales rising 18 percent to $1 billion and apparel sales up 6 percent to $366.6 million. In the Americas region, which includes South and Central America, sales rose 41 percent in the quarter to $203.1 million.

Not all regions saw gains, however. European sales dipped 5 percent to $532.3 million, and were down both in apparel and footwear.

Sales at the company’s “other businesses” division, which includes Converse, Nike Golf, Hurley, Starter and other brands, climbed 17 percent to $454.5 million, Nike said. This area has been a key growth vehicle for the company as it seeks to build its business outside of the core Nike brand.

Worldwide future orders, a key indicator of growth, edged up 2.9 percent over the year-ago period. This has been an area of concern to analysts recently, since the company said late last year that it had a slowdown in futures orders.

Gross margins fell slightly, to 43.6 percent from 44.1 percent.

In the nine-month period, earnings grew 22.8 per-cent to $1.06 billion, or $4 a share, from $862.1 million, or $3.18 per share. Sales improved 9.3 percent to $10.9 billion from $10 billion.

Results were reported Tuesday after the market closed. Prior to the market closing, Nike’s shares slipped 56 cents to $84.95 on the New York Stock Exchange.

NEW YORK — A new fragrance marketer called Le Labo here wants to challenge the notion of mass-produced fragrances.

Le Labo, a boutique opened at 233 Elizabeth Street in the NoLIta section of downtown Man-hattan by two former L’Oréal executives last month, is based on the concept of put-ting the fi nishing touches on the manufacture of fragranc-es each time a scent is pur-chased at the shop.

When customers buy one of Le Labo’s 11 scents, a maturated essential oil blend is mixed with alcohol and water to create a fi n-ished fragrance. The process is designed to take about 10 minutes, ample time for visi-tors to browse shelves of raw ingredients in the 600-square-foot shop, as well as jars of iris and vetiver root, cedarwood, oak moss and juniper berries.

Le Labo, part laboratory and part museum, is the brainchild of Fabrice Penot and Eddie Roschi. The two formerly worked in interna-tional marketing for Giorgio Armani fragrances; Penot worked on the Privé brand and Roschi worked on the Emporio Armani scents.

Le Labo hopes to bring consumers closer to perfumery by deconstructing the various steps of fragrance production. Even the name of each Le Labo scent refl ects its structure. For instance, each moniker contains a number — like Rose 31, Iris 39 and Vetiver 46 — that denotes the number of individual ingredients in the scent’s essential oil blend.

“People ask about the raw ingredients, the dif-ferences in musks,” Roschi said during an interview at the store last week. “It’s a way to initiate people into the art of smelling.”

Added Penot, “We want to bring back the spirit of fragrance making.”

The space is a mix of black, silver, brown and white motifs. A store associate who mixes scents amid graduated cylinders, bot-tles, closures, droppers and a scale, wears a white lab coat. White tiles line the walls on one side of the shop, which features a black steel bar, oak stools and an oak fl oor. The opposite wall, which is covered with a layer of tin decorated with a ba-roque design reminiscent of fl eur-de-lis, displays fi nished fragrances as well as tester bottles.

Scents are fi nished at the shop to prevent any breakdown that might occur in a complet-ed formulation, Roschi noted. “We don’t see the point of letting it sit on the shelf for six months,” he said. “It oxidizes.” He noted oils

are kept refrigerated until they are mixed with the al-

cohol and water.Each scent is built

around raw ingredients processed in Grasse, France. The maturated oils are composed by one of eight perfumers, all of whom work for fra-grance suppliers: Alberto Morillas, Annick Menardo,

Daphne Bugey, Maurice Roucel, Frank Voelkl, Fran-

çoise Caron, Michel Almairac and Mark Buxton.

Of Le Labo’s 11 fi nished scents, three are for women,

three are for men, four are unisex — including one for babies — and there’s a home fragrance.

Fragrances are available in fi ve sizes: 15 ml. for $45, 50 ml. for $115, 100 ml. for $180, a half liter for $600 and one full liter for $900. There are also solid scents, 10 ml. for $80; body lo-tions, 240 ml. for $55, and bath oils, 120 ml. for $55. In the home fragrance category, candles go for $55 each and sprays go for $70 each.

The shop also offers bespoke scents, a pro-cess that takes about three to six months and costs $40,000. Industry sources estimate Le Labo could do sales of $1.5 million in its fi rst year.

— Matthew W. Evans

Le Labo: A New Spin on Making ScentsPH

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Fitness dance has been a strong category at Nike.

BEAUTY BEAT

ROLL CAMERAS: American Media’s reality show may be burning in development hell, but Jann Wenner’s contribution to the candid

camera genre is coming along nicely. Casting gets under way this week with an ad in the new issue of Rolling Stone calling for applications. “Respected music magazine seeks dynamic, culture-conscious writers to work at Rolling Stone and be on MTV,” reads the copy. Would-be participants will be instructed to submit videos of themselves, along with writing samples or links to their blogs, for a shot at one of six to eight slots on the as-yet-untitled program. Shooting is scheduled to begin in mid-June.

Defying the usual conventions of reality TV, the cast members will be selected based largely on merit as opposed to, say, sex appeal and a penchant for sociopathic behavior, according to Gary Armstrong, Wenner Media’s chief marketing offi cer. “Because this is journalism, writing skills are going to take the lead, as opposed to ‘Do you have a lot of tattoos and are you sexy?’” he said. They’ll also be judged on their responses to a questionnaire that asks “What three stories would you pitch to your editor?” and “What do you think are the most important qualities for a journalist?” “It’s totally earnest,” affi rmed Armstrong.

Maybe too earnest for its own good. The last MTV reality series based on the magazine world, “Miss Seventeen,” also touted its own high-mindedness — and drew so few viewers that the network dropped it. But whereas “Miss Seventeen” had an all-girl cast, the Rolling Stone show will be co-ed. That will provide the necessary frisson, said Armstrong, noting the show’s casting director also cast “Laguna Beach” — which easily outdrew “Miss Seventeen.” “There will be [sexual] tension,” promised Armstrong.

Now, about that American Media show: A spokeswoman took issue with a report in WWD Tuesday that AMI chairman David Pecker had expressed reservations about giving camera crews unfettered access to the company’s offi ces. “David Pecker has no involvement in the ‘One Park’ project and he does not have any concerns about the journalistic standards of AMI’s publications or about the behavior of company employees,” said the spokeswoman in a statement. “Any suggestions to the contrary are patently false and not based on fact.” — Jeff Bercovici

T BILL: The New York Times Magazine may not have generated much buzz since Gerald Marzorati took it over in 2003, but Marzorati’s expansion of it into a group of titles that includes the T luxury and the new Play sports brands has been among the few bright spots of the paper’s weakened bottom line. As a vote of confi dence, he was promoted to assistant managing editor at the Times on Tuesday. In his new role, Marzorati’s duties will include scouting editorial talent internally and working with a team of editors to map out a future for the paper.

“I think a big part of it is simply a recognition that....[the Times] is not something that’s simply going to be a broadsheet anymore,” he told WWD Tuesday. “That to me makes this a very exciting time to be part of the leadership of this place.”

Marzorati will also continue to have editorial oversight of the magazine, at least for the time being. “I need to be working on a tangible product. I don’t think I can function as well as an abstract manager,” he said.

As for the cushy digs that typically come with a promotion, he exhibited a surprisingly Zen attitude: “I’m still in the same offi ce I’ve been in for seven or eight years. I didn’t take the offi ce I was offered when I got the magazine job because it had lousy feng shui....I’ll get a new offi ce when we move into the new building,” but that won’t happen until next year. — Sara James

MEMO PADLe Labo’s Bergamote 22 scent.

Fabrice Penot and Eddie Roschi

WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006WWD.COM

12

HOUSE RULES: How do you stick a round peg in a square hole? Fashion editors surely will try as they plan their fall-winter shoots and incorporate full-on Balenciaga retro regalia into their themes. Turns out the French fashion house is requesting that all designs “be shot as complete looks to portray what was represented on the runway,” what designer Nicolas Ghesquière described as a “reference collection” based on the Cristobal Balenciaga archives.

Goodness knows how riding hats and barrel-shaped plaid suits might fi t into a Goth, grunge or Eighties shoot, but that’s what creative license is for — and don’t forget the handbag while you’re at it. The house also is asking that no accessories be shot without a total look — unless it is a still life or close-up shot.

WATCH THIS PAGE: Marc Jacobs continues to populate his quirky ad campaigns with surprising personalities. To wit: His forthcoming fall campaign for Marc Jacobs, just shot by photographer Juergen Teller, will star actress Jennifer Jason Leigh and makeup artist Dick Page. For the Marc by Marc Jacobs ads, it’s all about the versatile model Malgosia, who will model both the women’s and men’s looks. But it looks like Jacobs is moving on to plan B chez Louis Vuitton. Word has it talks to have Lindsay Lohan star in the next Vuitton campaign hit a snag and a replacement is still undecided.

APPLE OF HIS EYE: Karl Lagerfeld is still very much in a New York state of mind. The designer plans to return to Manhattan this spring — May 17 to be precise — to present his latest Chanel cruise collection, which is usually unveiled in Paris (last year on a fl eet of double-decker buses). Details, including the location, are forthcoming, but Lagerfeld is known for making a splash whenever he comes to town. Last December, he shuttered the Chanel fl agship to present his pre-fall “satellite” collection, made with help from

the house’s couture ateliers. And he showed his signature collections at the crescendo of New York Fashion Week, complete with a Podcast.

STATEMENT PIECE: She may design them, but Kate Spade is no fan of the “It” bag — so she’s designed a handbag to criticize it. The accessories designer, in collaboration with artist Hugo Guinness, has created a limited-edition canvas bag accented at the corner with the word “It.” Each bag in the run of 150 will be hand-printed by Guinness and will retail exclusively in either Kate Spade boutiques or Colette in Paris for $250 beginning this spring. “The ‘It’ bag concept is a comment on the insanity that is going on in the handbag industry today,” said Andy Spade, chief executive offi cer. “Everyone is trying to come up with the ultimate ‘It’ bag. Hugo is a friend and we decided to collaborate because he has an odd and irreverent sense of humor perfect for the project.”

Spade and Guinness also will be working on a collection of fi ve tote bags featuring prints that will be available next spring.

Fashion Scoops

By Alessandra Ilari

MILAN — Ferragamo is east-ward bound.

The Florentine luxury goods house will open its fi rst fl agship in Mumbai, India, on March 24 and three days later will officially inaugurate its fi rst outpost in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after it opened softly last December.

The 1,620-square-foot Mumbai store is located on the Grand Hyatt Plaza and will house all of Ferragamo’s products, including accessories, scarves, ties, fra-grances, eyewear and apparel.

The store is furnished in typical Ferragamo style — wal-nut chests, aluminum shelves, limestone floors and chain mail details.

“We started considering India about three years ago, but went ahead with the plan only after we found the right partner,” said Hervè Martin, Ferragamo’s product marketing managing di-

rector. “The Indian government is starting to understand that it’s more advantageous for them if consumers buy locally rather than shop abroad.”

Ferragamo’s Indian part-ner is SSIPL Luxury Fashion Private Ltd., a footwear dis-tributor that brought Nike to India but then embraced more upscale brands.

Martin estimated the store will have sales of between $1 million and $2 million in the fi rst year.

Pioneers in Vietnam, Martin said Ferragamo chose Ho Chi Minh City — Saigon until the end of the Vietnam War — in the south of the country, to start un-folding its business there. “Even Hanoi, which is in the north, is an interesting city. We shall wait and see how this country devel-ops for us,” said Martin.

He added that in the medium term, he expects the 756-square-foot store in Ho Chi Minh City to reach retail sales of $1 million.

SFA’s Andrew Jennings Upbeat on Italian LabelsNEW YORK — Saks Fifth Avenue’s Andrew Jennings be-lieves Americans have an en-during love affair with Italian fashion and has suggestions on how to keep the romance alive.

Jennings, Saks’ president and chief operating offi cer, re-ceived the Friendship Award from Gruppo Esponenti Italiani, an organization of Italian entre-preneurs, at a luncheon at the Rainbow Room here last week.

In his speech, Jennings said he’s optimistic about the future for Italian brands in America, but that they’re faced with challenges. He advised Italian fi rms to “have both a physical and personal presence in every market they operate in....The powerhouses in Italian fashion, whether it be Marzotto, Armani or Dolce & Gabbana, appreciate that people make or break busi-nesses,” Jennings said.

“Zegna is a good example of matching people with local presence. They moved quickly in the U.S. in 1980 to establish a ‘footprint’ with a smart team of professionals in sales, merchan-dise and design. And by so doing, showed they meant business. This requirement may sound simple enough, but you would be surprised by the number of orga-nizations that assume technology can replace human contact.”

Jennings also said the best Italian companies think glob-ally, but act locally. “They devel-op market intimacy. They truly connect with their customers and develop long-term, profi t-able relationships....Show me a consistently successful Italian brand in America, and I’ll show you a management that has in-vested time and resources to understand its partners’ retail operations.”

Jennings stressed that “genu-ine partnerships” are driven

by shared knowledge, that the fastest-growing fi rms are those that embrace “the power of sup-ply chain management” and di-

versify by selling across men’s, women’s, accessories and fra-grance at both contemporary and designer price levels.

His other points: Understand market complexities, be open-minded, fl exible and willing to up-date the business model and have the right resources. “Establishing a presence takes people, time, money and patience.”

Jennings concluded on a cau-tionary note. “The authenticity of products is a universal issue. So too is the increasing pressure for European luxury companies to outsource the manufacturing of components or fi nal assembly to more cost-effective jurisdic-tions.” While Americans may be used to having German cars created by a multinational team, “care must be taken with luxury items from fashion houses that remain inextricably tied to a country of origin. Customers may be willing to accept changes in the manufacturing location but they must be given reasons to continue to believe in the inher-ent value of Italian products.”

— David MoinStudent Organizes Show for AIDS CharityNEW YORK — Liz Grossman hopes to use fashion to raise money for a good cause.

Grossman, a Horace Mann High School sophomore and the daughter of Mindy Grossman, vice president of global apparel at Nike, has organized a fashion show for charity with the help of her friends.

“A very respected teacher, Andrew Taylor, moved to Africa to work for a school there,” Liz Grossman said. “Since he went there, we have kept in touch, and I’ve learned how devastating the AIDS epidemic is over there. It’s the worst and fastest-grow-ing [AIDS] rate in the world. Our

idea was to use something we really liked, which was fashion, to raise money for charity.”

Just this year, Grossman and her friends started Fashion Forward, a school club that uses fashion to raise money to help orphans with AIDS in Africa. So far, Fashion Forward has held a coat drive this winter, and it is Grossman’s hope that the fash-ion show at 7 p.m. April 21 at Pressure, 110 University Place in Manhattan, will raise $10,000 for a scholarship for an orphan with AIDS to attend Taylor’s school.

The show will feature designs from Elie Tahari, Heatherette,

Tory Burch, Nike and Penguin. There will be a silent auction selling donated items from W Hotels, Bliss Spa, Salvatore Ferragamo and Judith Leiber, among others. Nike will also provide specially designed T-shirts, printed with the Fashion Forward logo, for sale at the event.

Invited adults are asked to pay $75 for tickets, or $80 at the door. Invited students are re-quested to pay $35, or $40.

“So many children are losing their futures because of this ter-rible disease,” Grossman said. “The least we can do is help.”

— Julee Greenberg

Ferragamo Flagship Set to Open in India

Andrew Jennings and Lucio Caputo, president of GEI.

LONDON — Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA, the Switzerland-based luxury goods com-pany, has sold the French department store Old England SA to Tercade SA for an undisclosed price. Tercade is a holding company controlled by Olivier Goldberg. “Old England was not a core part of our luxury business,” said a Richemont spokeswoman. She declined further comment. The statement said the transaction would have no material impact on Richemont’s balance

sheet, cash flow or results. The disposal follows that of English men’s wear brand Hackett Ltd., which Richemont sold last summer to Torreal S.C.R. SA, a Spanish investment company, for an undisclosed price. Old England operates a 21,600-square-foot flag-ship on Paris’ Boulevard des Capucines and has two other stores, in Lyon and Toulouse. The high-end store specializes in the sale of traditional English brands including Turnbull & Asser, Church, and Smythson.

Richemont Sells Old England Department Store

The Kate Spade “It” bag, made

in collaboration with artist Hugo

Guinness.

A Balenciaga runway look.

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In Memory of

Oleg CassiniA dynamic man whose design and vision have withstood the test of time.

We will miss you.

WWD.COM14 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

By Evan Clark and Kristi Ellis

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration presented Congress with two proposals to fi x a glitch in the Central American Free Trade Agreement that has frustrated pro-ducers in the region and kept the accord’s promise of duty-free trade out of reach.

The seven countries in the deal were expected to start implementing it simul-taneously, but so far only the U.S. and El Salvador have done so.

Ratifi cation of CAFTA pulled El Sal-vador out of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, a U.S. preference program that also offers reduced duties. That means goods made in El Salvador using materials from other countries yet to join CAFTA — Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Re-

public and Costa Rica — are subject to du-ties that exceed 30 percent, in some cases.

That is the opposite of the accord’s in-tended effect. Honduras and Nicaragua might be ready to fully implement CAFTA next month, changing again how duties are applied to some goods from those or other countries in the region.

“It’s going to take a legislative fi x,” said Scott Quesenberry, special textile negotiator in the offi ce of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Quesenberry discussed two possible leg-islative changes with staff members from key Congressional committees via confer-ence call Tuesday. One plan would amend CAFTA so that countries in the agreement get rebates on duties paid in the interim. This retroactive treatment now applies

only to countries in the Caribbean Basin Initiative until they join CAFTA. This option has the advantage of being clearly retroac-tive, but does not become effective until a country enacts CAFTA, Quesenberry said.

The other solution would be to go back into the Caribbean preference program and change the defi nition of where coun-tries may get materials and still qualify for duty-free treatment.

“That [fi x] has the advantage of being able to be done immediately,” Quesenberry said. “The disadvantage is we will have to make it clear in the legislation that this is meant to have a retroactive effect.”

The problem won’t truly go away until the legislatures in all the CAFTA countries implement the deal — a goal complicated by Costa Rica, which has yet to even ap-

prove the pact.Wilbur L. Ross, chairman of Inter national

Textile Group, which includes Burlington Industries and Cone Mills, put plans for a denim plant in the region on hold because of the uncertainty about implementing the pact. Ross had hoped to start construction on a denim mill in Nicaragua or Guatemala in January and had not ruled out building plants in both countries.

“We were quite far along,” he said. “We have a location picked, the plant design and the equipment. Everything is all laid out, but it doesn’t really work without a couple of the countries, in our case Nicaragua and Guatemala, joining CAFTA.”

Jim Chesnutt, president and chief exec-utive offi cer of National Spinning Co. and chairman of the National Council of Textile

Organizations, has had to pull his yarn dyeing out of Guatemala and bring it back to North Carolina.

Chesnutt, who was sending his yarn to Guatemala for dyeing and on to El Salvador for sweater pro-duction, was almost forced to pay a 32.6 percent duty on 150,000 sweat-ers produced in El Salvador be-cause Guatemala has not offi cially been cleared to enact CAFTA. He

was able to get his shipment to the U.S. before El Salvador’s entry into CAFTA on March 1.

“I had it commissioned-dyed in Guatemala, but now I have to dye it in Burlington, N.C., and it takes away my flexibility,” Chesnutt said. “I have to dye it here now and wait until I get another order to fi ll a container, or ship a partial container to El Salvador, which is more costly. It has caused people to go elsewhere rather than trying to do business under a confused scenario.”

Even companies committed to the region have pulled back to some degree.

“We’ve had a slight shift out of there toward Asia, but noth-ing really that signifi cant,” said Jim Calo, senior vice president of operations for VF Sportswear Inc., a division of VF Corp.

Calo said the company would keep production in the region because of its ability to get goods to the U.S. quickly and the cost savings that duty-free treatment will eventually create.

“We’re still hopeful that we’re going to be able to reach back into what we’ve done so far this year and be able to get that stuff duty free,” said Calo. “Unfortunately, you have to pay that duty up front, so there’s a cash lag.”

The wait for CAFTA to become a reality has been too much for some, said Erik Autor, vice presi-dent and international trade counsel at the National Retail Federation.

“A number of retailers have probably thrown up their hands in disgust and said, ‘That’s it, I’m going to Asia,’” he said. “It has just been incredibly frustrating for retailers. It’s too bad. I think people initially were very excit-ed. It’s just been so botched.”

Bush Proposals Aim to Rectify CAFTA

Scott Quesenberry

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Novelty Key at SIMMWWD.COM

WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 15

By Barbara Barker

MADRID — The Spanish trade fair SIMM featured novelty and a healthy dose of glamour for fall, but some vendors said the overall show did not meet their expectations and noted the summer edition is usually more robust.

The strongest lines at the show, held here last month, featured novelty knits with spidery textures, cables and asymmetric details for stretched-out sweater coats, cardi-gans and a few dresses; snappy sportswear with print and fabric mixes such as polyester and corduroy, and crushed or pleated materials, from outerwear to fl irty evening styles.

“Glamour is key for fall. In general, women are dress-ing younger and sexier,” said Joyce Antaki, Spanish agent for After Six, a division of Medici, a London maker of special occasion dresses and evening-wear. She report-ed solid bookings, mostly from the domestic market. Hot items included a short strapless cocktail dress in crinkled taffeta, wholesaling for $105; animal prints; gold; dentelle lace, and pattern mixes in silk chiffon instead of tradi-tional jersey.

In noting their disappointment with the show, some exhibitors cited a thin buyer turnout and less than satis-factory sales.

“The show was weak in terms of sales and contacts were just OK,” said Alberto Sobrino, export manager of Fuentecapala, a high-end Madrid label featuring tradi-tional silhouettes and impeccable tailoring for men and women.

“We’re targeting retailers from China, Russia, India and the Middle East through the Madrid fair — but main-ly for franchising opportunities. Our strategy for emerg-ing markets is to develop franchises and open stores.” A franchised unit in Beijing is planned by the end of the year, he confi rmed.

With one freestanding store in Madrid and a second location “co-owned” in Moscow, Fuentecapala sells through 750 Spanish points of sale and 40 doors in the U.S., including Neiman Marcus, Saks-Jandel and smaller specialty boutiques, Sobrino said. “We plan to grow the American and Canadian markets and we’re expanding the brand in Europe — where the company has a solid customer base — by opening additional showrooms and sales networks.”

He said buyer interest focused on colorful yarn-em-broidered wool jackets, British-inspired blazers with ribbed elbow patches and striped linings and decorative skirts. Wholesale tags range from $84 to $240.

Regarding Asian competition, he said, “We have no problem with China or any other country. They produce a medium- to lower-priced product and we do the oppo-site.”

On the other hand, “Basics are a very tough sell. In today’s market, you have to offer something different — a lot of hand-work, for example — and that’s expensive. Some makers have no choice but to produce off-shore. You have to justify the price,” said Mireia Bisbe, second-generation manufacturer of special occasion dresses whose eponymous label is based in Barcelona. “The fair is disappointing. Retailers are holding back. There’s a cli-mate of insecurity and confusion in the market.”

Echoing other exhibitors, she pointed out that summer is traditionally a stronger season for Spain’s product of-fering because winter here is short, followed by January sales that last through February. “The weather is to blame for this winter’s diffi cult selling season,” she claimed. “It wasn’t cold enough.”

Her bestsellers were tulle and lace-trimmed dressy separates in a subtle taupe and a lean chocolate brown velvet sheath with embroidered lace detailing. Wholesale prices range from $185 (for the dress) to $285 (for the sep-arates). Velvet and lace are both signifi cant fall trends, Bisbe added.

According to offi cial fi gures, the four-day fair drew 31,500 trade visitors, down marginally from last winter. Foreign participation increased slightly — to about 10 percent of the total.

“There is a tendency to judge a fair’s success by the number of visitors, but international participation and exhibitor satisfaction have to be taken into account,” said SIMM director Pola Iglesias. “We measure our success in terms of the quality and quantity of supply and demand. At this edition, the levels of both were maintained; there were no ups or downs.

“Even though foreigners came from 69 countries, there was little change in buying patterns over February 2005, which is consistent with what is happening in the rest of Europe,” she added.

Better retailers said fall purchases aren’t wrapped up yet, “but I’ll spend about the same as last winter,” said Sonia Ruiz, owner of the Deli Room, a trendy shop in cen-tral Madrid.

She skipped the fair — “too mainstream” — in favor of local showrooms and a stop at the SIMM-sponsored Pasarela Cibeles runway shows in the days follow-ing the trade show to catch Ailanto, one of her key re-sources. She said she’s picking up a group of Sixties-in-spired baby-doll dresses and separates by the Barcelona label.

Pasarela Cibeles featured 31 designers — established Spanish names and newcomers — and 26 shows.

A few of the highlights:● Amaya Arzuaga’s edgy volume plays, crinkled

fabrics and a sober palette of khaki, gray and black — either daring plunge backs and tucked-under bubble skirts or fl yaway tops and pencil silhouettes, paired with over-the-knee boots on 4-inch stiletto heels and long punky gloves.

● Agatha Ruiz de la Prada’s schoolgirl jumper dress-es and sparkly leggings under puffy heart-trimmed coats and trapeze-style dresses in signature rainbow colors, and her bridal debut — four models only (the full collec-tion launches in June). “Every year, the clothes get more wearable,” she remarked backstage after the show.

● Ailanto’s homage to Peggy Guggenheim, includ-ing ladylike Art Deco-inspired dresses in burgundy and hunter green, structured Calderesque jacquards and patched rabbit-fur wraps.

● José Miro’s skinny knit dresses with below-knee lengths and a futuristic fl avor, high-waisted novelty denim and decidedly Mugler-like cuts — Miro worked for the defunct French house from 1996 to 1999.

Amaya Arzuaga

Ailanto’s homage to Peggy Guggenheim.

A bridal look from Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

Agatha Ruiz de la Prada

WWD.COM

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By Betsy Lowther

SINGAPORE — Eighteen-year-old Joanna Wong loves “American Idol,” pop music by singers like Celine Dion, and graphic T-shirts from American Eagle Outfitters.

The fi rst two aren’t any problem to get in her home city — satellite TV and music megastores like HMV are easily available in Singapore. But the American Eagle T-shirts are another matter. The company has no stores in Singapore — or anywhere in Asia — and even though the brand is sold on one of the relatively few U.S.-based Web sites that will ship abroad, buying a $19.50 T-shirt would cost Wong a budget-busting $25 in international shipping fees.

So, what’s a graphic T-shirt loving teen to do?Nothing, until last fall, when Wong discovered online

spreeing, a growing trend among Singapore youths who want the cool foreign fashions they see in magazines and on TV but can’t fi nd at home. On a small but rising num-ber of local online forums, the term “spree” has come to defi ne a group of shoppers who combine their shop-ping lists and make one large purchase together from an online retailer based abroad. The participants split any shipping costs and added taxes to get the goods back to Singapore, which dramatically lowers the fi nal price from what their purchase would have cost if each had bought and shipped it on their own.

The concept suits a teen’s budget, which gravi-tates toward small, lower-priced purchases. In Wong’s case, that means the American Eagle Ts, her favorite Bonne Bell Lip Smackers ($1.60 each) and trendy tops from budget-friendly Forever 21. She got hooked on spreeing through an online forum at sgspree.livejournal.com and has become one of the group’s most active organizers. She compiles and places an order and distributes the purchases when they arrive in Singapore.

Spree organizers don’t get paid, but Wong doesn’t mind because spreeing has opened up a whole new range of fun fi nds.

“Shopping online is so much easier and cheap-er than going to a store,” said Wong, a college stu-dent who organizes about one spree a week and spends as much as 20 hours a week shopping on-line. “But only when it’s not exam time, because then I have to study more.”

Wong does about 90 percent of her shopping via cyber-sprees. “I can’t even remember the last time I bought something in a store,” she said.

Singapore’s strong economy and wide exposure to Western brands have made the city-state a shop-ping hub in Southeast Asia, so it is natural that its status as a leader in shopping trends would ex-tend online. More than 80 percent of Singapore’s Internet denizens have shopped online, making an average of fi ve to six purchases a month, the same number made by consumers in Taiwan and China. Like Singapore, they are key e-commerce markets in Asia, according to an ACNielsen global study released in October.

Even as tactics such as spreeing have helped make online shopping more accessible, there are other hurdles to surmount when ordering from abroad.

About 41 percent of medium- and large-sized online merchants won’t ship to foreign addresses or accept foreign credit cards for purchases, creat-ing a signifi cant problem for local cybershoppers. The reasons: fear of fraud, and the challenges of logistics and payment infrastructures.

Such issues are being addressed by new ser-vices such as ComGateway, a Singapore-based on-line shopping system intended to make it easier for local customers to shop on Web sites based abroad. The service, which launched its pilot pro-gram last June in a partnership with MasterCard and local Singapore bank DBS, provides custom-ers with a billing and shipping address in Oregon where they can send their purchases. Then, for a fl at rate of $17.50 for as much as 1 kilo (plus $2.50 per additional kilo) the company redirects the packages to the customer in Singapore within a week. The bank partnership provides customers with a credit card address that is recognized by U.S. merchants, and a sys-tem to guard against fraud.

“If you’re a consumer shopping online and you are able to see but not buy, it can be a very frustrating experience,” said Danny Lim, chief executive offi cer of Creditel, the parent company of ComGateway. “We wanted to help make it a possibility.”

In the fi rst six months of the pilot program, about 3,500 customers signed up for the service. Since then, ComGateway has processed an estimated $500,000 in orders, with about 60 percent of them for apparel and accessories. This response has prompted plans to expand the service to other countries in the Middle East and Asia, including China, by the end of this year.

Singapore’s postal service is assisting online shoppers in a similar fashion, via vPost, which routes packages to Singapore from an address in California, provid-

ed they are from online merchants that accept Singapore credit cards.

Clearly, the use of such services is good news for Singapore’s growing spree community, which is mostly made up of tech-savvy, trend-following females in their teens and twenties. Spreeing ap-peals less to older consumers, who either have the income to shop the Web on their own or don’t have the computer know-how to try.

Most spree participants love shopping online because they can fi nd outfi ts, makeup and ac-cessories that they can’t get at home. “It’s cool to have things that no one else does,” said Wong Liang Lin, a ponytailed 17-year-old technology student who monitors the spree site she cre-ated, spsspree.tk, from an ever-present laptop. “If you’re wearing something different, you’ll get stopped on the street, because people want to know where you bought it.”

The status appeal is strong: Liang Lin’s spree site, launched about a year ago, has more than 450 members. The site holds about three sprees per week — “but double that during school holidays,” she said. Typically, from 10 to 30 people shop dur-ing each spree.

Most are looking for unique variations of the casual, comfortable styles they usually wear. Theodora Kwok, 18, a chatty, self-confessed Internet bargain-hunter, is obsessed with the deals at oldnavy.com — and she’s even gotten her 22-year-old brother into spreeing there. She likes Old Navy’s fl ip-fl ops and denim miniskirts; he likes the graphic Ts.

“Everyone in Singapore is already wear-ing brands like Quiksilver,” Kwok said of labels bought in local stores. “But if you can buy at old-navy.com, you get something no one else has, and it’s much cheaper, too.”

Kwok has used spreeing to stock up on Avon mascara, funky T-shirts from DavidandGoliathtees.com — she’s been eyeing one that says “Boys are Stupid” — and more than 40 bottles of O.P.I. nail polish, which is available in Singapore but, like many imported products, costs about twice what she pays for it online. For Kwok, spreeing also has another, more practical purpose: a chance to fi nd cool clothes that fi t her size 14 frame.

“Most girls in Singapore are really tiny, so stores only stock small sizes,” said Kwok, who, like many others, pays for her purchases with money from her allowance, which is about $250 a month. “I can fi nd so many more things that fi t me online.”

Though most spree sites have made the pro-cess routine, it is not always hassle-free. Many

spree shoppers share stories about organizers who stole the money instead of placing an order, or a shirt that looked great online but was a weird color and the wrong fi t when it arrived. In addition, returns are a big problem for spree shoppers purchasing from Web sites based abroad because of the high shipping costs to return items to the U.S. Most simply resell their unwanted purchases on local online auctions.

Despite such risks, spree enthusiasts said one great fi nd makes it all worth the effort.

“I saw this green bikini with pink Scottie dogs on ‘The O.C.,’” said Kwok, with a grin that reveals black and pink braces. “On delias.com it was about $30, which I thought might be too expensive. But then I saw the exact same one at the mall here for more than [$200].

“When I saw how much it costs here, I just had to have it,” added Kwok, who re-turned to delias.com and bought the item.

WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 200616WWD.COM

Marketing

RANK WEB SITE WHAT’S HOT THE 411 1. Abercrombie Logo Ts Fake takes sold in Singapore stores don’t look right. 2. GoJane Girly separates Updated every Saturday; good sales. 3. Hollister Co Surfer chic In sync with Singapore’s never-ending heat. 4. Aéropostale Handbags, graphic Ts Sprees easily hit $200 in just a few hours. 5. Eyeslipsface Low-cost cosmetics The ELF makeup line is priced at $1 per product. 6. ASOS Celebrity-inspired looks Turn-up HotPants, Kate Moss style, are on offer. 7. Forever 21 Ahead-of-the-curve items Has the goods weeks ahead of Singapore store. 8. Threadless Unusual T-shirts Blogs and designer interviews create a community. 9. Drugstore Beauty products for less Undercuts prices at local stores.10. Taiwan Yahoo Shoes, accessories Quicker deliveries than from U.S.-based sites.SOURCE: WWD ANALYSIS OF SPREE FORUMS AND INTERVIEWS WITH SINGAPORE SPREE SHOPPERS, FEBRUARY 2006

TOP SHOPS: SPREE ENTHUSIASTS’ 10 FAVORITE SITES TO BUY FROM

‘Spreers’ Find Strength in Numbers

Since she started spreeing last fall, Joanna Wong, 18, has been buying about 90 percent of her clothes online. Here, Wong browses in a Marks & Spencer department store, in Singapore’s Paragon shopping mall.

Theodora Kwok, 18, said she “once went a little crazy and bought lip gloss in every color” at eyeslipsface.com.

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but the name of the fi rm could not be learned.Looking at the pool of fi nancial players who made

investments in the apparel and retail sector over the past year, companies likely to eye Jones include Apax Partners Inc., which just bought Tommy Hilfi ger; Apollo Management LP; Cerberus Capital Management LP, which owns Mervyn’s, and the Texas Pacifi c Group, owner of Neiman Marcus Group and J. Crew.

Jones’ announcement Tuesday caught many in the industry and on Wall Street off guard because Jones has consistently delivered sales growth and is not con-sidered a distressed company. However, its stock has been fl at for the past few years, trading in the $30 range. Shares of the stock ended the day Tuesday up 13.04 per-cent to $34.84.

In a briefl y worded statement after trading on Jones’ stock was halted Tuesday, the company said it has hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. as its fi nancial adviser “to assist in this process.” Jones also said, “Contrary to recent press reports, the company is not currently considering the divestiture of any of its businesses or divisions.”

The statement went on to say that Jones would not “disclose developments with respect to the exploration of a possible sale unless and until its board of directors has ap-proved a defi nitive transaction or a decision not to proceed with a sale of the company is made.” But during a previous-ly scheduled address Tuesday to a Merrill Lynch investor conference, Peter Boneparth, chief executive officer, was more forthcoming.

During the question-and-answer session, the ceo said the company is very focused on shareholder value. Jones’ board, he said, is “looking at both the external and internal factors, both what our business looks like, what the valuation of the share price is, what we think is out there. I think that they [the board members] are doing the prudent thing. So, it is not like it happens on a one-day event; it is obviously an ongoing discussion for a long period of time.”

Boneparth’s otherwise prepared remarks given before the Q&A session were similar to an address the ceo made a week ago at the Bank of America con-

sumer conference. “Our strategy has been really very simple, if you put it into some sort of formula. If you have the best brands and you combine with the opera-tional excellence, you maximize your operating cash fl ow, and that’s going to make you a long-term winner,” Boneparth said.

Merrill Lynch analyst Virginia Genereux said in a research report released late Tuesday that it was “odd” that Jones’ statement “would seemingly preclude a breakup, which in our view would optimize share-holder value.” She said, “Selling the brand piecemeal optimizes shareholder value, but a successful auction may require leaving some on the table for a fi nancial buyer.” Still, she said, there are challenges to a “multi-front auction” that might make selling the entire com-pany “more likely.”

For her part, Genereux does not see a specifi c stra-tegic bidder for Jones, given the size of its valuation and brand profi le. Instead, she thinks a private equity fi rm would be a more likely successful bidder. “We see

the Jones situation as fairly unique in that the stock has dramatically underper-formed for the past fi ve years and management’s operat-ing skill has been called into question, leading the board to consider alternatives,” Genereux wrote.

“It’s pretty straight for-ward,” said Marc Cooper, managing director at Peter J. Solomon, the investment banking firm that sold the Kasper and Anne Klein brands, as well as Barneys New York, to Jones. “The board is saying, ‘Are we bet-ter off selling or staying as an independent company?’ It goes to growth and valuation.

The board is being very opportunistic.’’Cooper said the current acquisition environment is an

exciting one because private equity has money to spend — about $100 billion worldwide — and investors are still very much interested in the fashion and retail space.

Cooper added the public market place is not making it easy for large fi rms such as Jones because it is “hard-er and harder to grow, and harder and harder to capture more and more of the share of consumers’ wallets.”

Financial investors believe Barneys alone could be worth $1 billion, but Cooper wasn’t so sure. Jones bought

Barneys for nearly $400 million in December 2004. But Cooper agreed that if one were to analyze the Neiman Marcus sale to two private equity fi rms, Texas Pacifi c Group and Warburg Pincus, multiples have gone up by about 30 percent since the sale of Barneys.

Harrison said although private equity fi rms have joined together on other retail deals, they have tradi-tionally shied away from apparel because of the sea-sonality, cyclicality and ever-changing fashion tastes. But Jones would be different because its business is more diverse.

A sell-side analyst noted that many of the moderate brands under Jones’ umbrella appear to be weakening compared with similar brands owned by competitor Liz Claiborne. The analyst emphasized that the Jones brands, given the right management, could be turned around. The analyst expects the buyer to be a fi nancial player, who would then sell off parts of the operation while keeping Barneys New York. The new owner might use the cash from the sales of the divisions to try to buy Saks Fifth Avenue, the analyst speculated.

Jones said it wasn’t planning to sell the assets indi-vidually, but private equity fi rms are expected to circle around the businesses, hoping Jones changes its mind. “This is where you have the sum of the parts possibly worth more than the whole,” said one institutional investor.

The sale of Jones in its entirety is likely to gener-ate a price tag of at least $37 a share, said one fi nancial source. The source added that a breakup of the com-pany could bring as much as $40-plus per share.

Under a breakup scenario, said one former invest-ment banker, Barneys could get a $1 billion price tag, while Nine West is likely to be worth about $1.8 billion. The rest of the business, which includes a wholesale volume of $1.5 billion annually, is worth about $3 billion, or a total of $5.8 billion. After subtracting about $1.15 billion in debt, with 114 million shares outstanding, the price tag is about $40 a share.

18

Jones Apparel Group 1970: Sydney Kimmel founded Jones Apparel Division of W.R. Grace & Co. and became president.1975: Kimmel and a partner bought the Jones division from W.R. Grace & Co. and incorporated it as Jones Apparel Group.1987: After almost 10 years of profi tability, Jones suffered net losses beginning in 1985 and running through 1987: The company returned to profi tability in 1988 following a successful turnaround.1991: Jones became a public company on May 15, when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.1993: Jones purchased the Evan-Picone label.1995: Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. and Jones established a licensing agreement that resulted in the Lauren by Ralph Lauren line.1996: Jones reaches $1 billion in sales.1998: Jones purchased Sun Apparel Inc. in October. Sun produces jeanswear and sportswear that are marketed under the Polo Jeans Company brand. Jones also announced its fi rst public debt offering, $265 million in senior notes due in 2001, and a $550 million bank credit facility to pay for the acquisition.1999: In June, Jones announced the completion of its acquisition of Nine West Group Inc. Nine West includes Nine West, Easy Spirit, Bandolino and Enzo Angiolini labels. 2000: Jones acquired the Canadian license for several Polo Ralph Lauren brands in April. In July, the company acquired Victoria + Co. Ltd.2001: Jones completed its acquisition of Judith Jack LLC, a manufacturer and distributor of women’s jewelry sold in better department stores and specialty retailers, in April. In June, Jones acquired the McNaughton Apparel Group. 2002: Jones completed its acquisition of Gloria Vanderbilt Apparel Group in April. In August, Jones purchased RSV Sport Inc. and related companies, also known as L.E.I.2003: Kasper Ltd. was acquired by Jones in August, a deal that encompassed brands that include Kasper, Anne Klein, Le Suit and Albert Nipon. Jones agreements with Polo Ralph Lauren ended in 2003 following a dispute between the two companies.2004: In July, Jones completed its acquisition of Maxwell Show Co. Inc. In December, the company completed its deal for luxury retailer Barneys New York Inc.

Through the Years

SOURCE: COMPANY WEB SITE.

Continued from page one

Peter Boneparth Sidney Kimmel

Jones Apparel Group

WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

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Analyst Jennifer Black of the fi rm that bears her name said, “This is very signifi cant. I think this is a piv-otal point in the apparel industry — the beginning of a series of changes. It is a good move for Jones, and in the best interests for shareholders. The company still has the brands that consumers want, and those brands [eventually may be in] different formats, depending on how a buyer can better position the brands.”

Andrew Jassin, partner in the Jassin O’Rourke Group, a consulting fi rm here, said, “On a divisional basis, Jones hasn’t been doing as well. Some of their competition, Oxford Industries and Liz Claiborne, are looking at younger opportunities [brands] to acquire.”

He said Jones decided to go to the retail route, with its Barneys acquisition, but its brands have gotten old, as have its customers.

Jassin said Jones didn’t go after a lot of younger brands because they were too small, and the company had a sales threshold for acquisitions that are $100 mil-lion or more.

Harry Bernard, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Colton Bernard, said much of [Jones’] “business is stuck in the toughest segment of the market unless they start acquiring other luxury fi rms…but then they’ll be competing on a global scale. They’ll be facing VF in the moderate area, and the Italians and

the French, who are almost in every area.”Trading in shares of Jones was halted at 10:06 a.m.

during Tuesday’s New York Stock Exchange session when the stock was at $33.69. Trading was stopped awaiting news from the company. Just past 11 a.m., Jones released its statement saying it is exploring the sale of the company.

Shares of the company then zoomed to $35.50 — above the most recent 52-week intraday high hit in March 2005 — when trading resumed around 11:15 a.m.

— With contributions from Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Meredith Derby, Lisa Lockwood, Amy S. Choi

and Liza Casabona

19

Wholesale Better Apparel: Jones New York, Jones New York Signature, Jones New York Sport, Jones Jeans, Jones New York Country, Jones New York Dress, Jones New York Suit, Nine West, Anne Klein New York, AK Anne Klein, AK Sport, Anne Klein Dress, Kasper, Albert Nipon, Evan-Picone Dress, Le Suit

Wholesale Moderate Apparel: Jones Wear, Jones Wear Jeans, Nine & Co., Bandolino, Norton McNaughton, Gloria Vanderbilt, Evan-Picone, Energie, Erika, l.e.i., Jeanstar, A/Line, Pappagallo, Rena Rowan, Glo/Glo Girls, Whip-O-Will, C.L.O.T.H.E.S., W

Footwear: Bridget Shuster, Circa Joan & David, Albert Nipon, Garolini, Boutique 58, Nine West, Nine West Kids, Enzo Angiolini, AK Anne Klein, Bandolino, Easy Spirit, Nine & Co., Westies, Pappagallo, Gloria Vanderbilt, Mootsies Tootsies, Mootsies Tootsies Kids, Sam & Libby, Sam & Libby Kids, Dockers Women, Jones Wear

Accessories: Bridget Shuster, Anne Klein New York, Judith Jack, Jones New York, Nine West, Givenchy, Bandolino, Nine & Co., Gloria Vanderbilt, A/Line, Napier, l.e.i.

Retail Stores/Number of Units:Nine West/224Easy Spirit/125Enzo Angiolini/16Bandolino/24

Outlet Stores/Number of Units:Nine West/160Jones New York/156Easy Spirit/110Stein Mart/104*Kasper/81Anne Klein/35Treza/15Barneys New York/12Joan & David/1

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By Michelle Dalton Tyree

LOS ANGELES — The city that defi nes urban sprawl and a lifestyle built on the automobile has a new idea for itself — it’s called downtown.

The eight-square-mile district that has been an un-derachieving zone of offi ce buildings, low-end retail shops and cultural institutions is starting to attract de-velopers who view it as one of the last frontiers in this 470-square-mile Southern California metropolis.

Los Angeles, like Atlanta, Dallas and other major U.S. cities, is trying to tap into the desire of young pro-fessionals and empty-nesters for an urban lifestyle of residential, entertainment, cultural and retail options that is enriching and frees them from hours of commuting and dealing with home maintenance. Developers and municipal offi cials see an opportunity for profi ts, beefi ng up tax rolls and invigorating the core of cities.

Perhaps nowhere are the possibili-ties and challenges of downtown rede-velopment more formidable than in Los Angeles, the hub of a fi ve-county market of more than 20 million people.

“Downtown might be fi nally coming back,” said Tridib Banerjee, a professor at the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning and Development. “The trends are quite good and the market has taken off....There’s a growing number of singles, single professionals and Baby Boomers moving back to the city as it has be-come very expensive for young professionals to fi nd sin-gle-family homes and they are [instead] buying condos.”

Founded in 1781 as a Spanish settlement, Los Angeles has never been known for a thriving urban cen-ter. The city morphed into sheer sprawl marked by a system of more than two-dozen freeways. Traffi c is per-petually heavy or moving at a crawl. And Beverly Hills,

Santa Monica and other affl uent nearby cities, as well as Los Angeles neighborhoods like Westwood, are more geared to pedestrians and have fl ourishing boutiques and restaurants.

Downtown retail growth has been slow, despite an in-fl ux of people moving into apartments and converted lofts that start at about $500,000. Luring merchants with reno-vated spaces, a critical mass of people and myriad con-sumer services is key to changing perceptions about down-town as a strictly in-and-out destination, experts said.

Paul DeArmas, creative director of Fred Segal Beauty in Santa Monica, the beauty arm of the trendy retail-

er, rents an apartment downtown near the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and is among

the growing number of Angelenos who want to get into what they predict will eventually be a

fl ourishing district. “I’ve done my homework on downtown,”

DeArmas said, “and people who don’t see the potential are blind.”

DeArmas said he was particularly bull-ish after a 2005 demographic study by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District that put the median household in-come of residents at about $90,000 and pegged

the average dweller as single and between the ages of 23 and 34 years old, statistics that are enticing to businesses.

Offi cials at organizations that promote economic development, such as the Downtown Center Business Improvement District and the Valley Economic Develop-ment Corp., hope that others see the potential as well, and that within the next fi ve to 10 years the area can attract well-known names like Fred Segal.

Even now, the profi le of downtown residents is be-ginning to emerge. Among those who have relocated is David Jansenn, 60, chief administrative offi cer for the County of Los Angeles. In addition to working in the neighborhood, Jansenn and his wife traded in their

WWD West20 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

L.A. Confi dential: City of Fre

LAST OF THREE PARTS

Downtown Los Angeles.

Paul DeArmas on the roof of his downtown apartment building.

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Pasadena home for a two-bedroom rental on the 24th fl oor of a building in the Bunker Hill area of down-town. Bunker Hill in the late 19th century featured stately Victorian houses and is now home to cultural venues such as the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, which opened in 2003.

Although consumer-friendly businesses, including food markets, are still lacking, Jansenn said, “You don’t have to worry about all the challenges of home owner-ship...like the roof leaking and yard work. I get to walk by Disney Hall every day...we absolutely love it.”

The greater downtown area is loosely defi ned as the district that lies within Interstate 10, the 101 and 110 freeways and the Los Angeles River. Much of the new housing has been concentrated in the historic district — from Second Street to Ninth Street and Hill Street to the river. “This is the area that is the most ripe for re-tail,” said Warren Cooley, project director of the Historic Downtown L.A. Retail Project of the Valley Economic Development Corp., a nonprofi t that has a contract with the city to attract retailers.

The housing construction push started in 1999 when the Los Angeles City Council passed the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, which made it easier for developers to con-vert older offi ce buildings to loft dwellings by eliminating some zoning requirements and allowing the structures to be upgraded. Since then, at least 4,000 housing units have been built and 6,000 are in the pipeline, offi cials said.

The Valley Economic Development Corp. estimated that by the middle of this year, there would be 13,000 to 14,000 lofts and condos in downtown Los Angeles with about 20,000 residents. Many retailers are looking for at least double that population before making a commit-ment. But estimates are that as many as 50,000 people may be living downtown within the next four years.

Yet it isn’t simply more residents that will breathe life into the area, Cooley explained. What’s needed is more nightlife and leisure options coupled with basic services.

“Once you get a critical mass with those two, then you begin to change the retail environment,” he said. “And that’s when things like women’s specialty stores and oth-ers become interested in the area.”

So far, courting nightlife and restaurants has been the easier part. The Golden Gopher bar, housed in a for-mer speakeasy, attracts plenty of hipsters, as does the Standard Hotel, a go-to spot for a crowd that loves to sip mojitos and linger around the rooftop pool.

The Gansevoort Hotel, which bowed in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District in 2004, is scheduled to open a 170-room Gansevoort West next year. The hotel will be in a 1914 Beaux Arts building at Grand Avenue and Ninth Street. It will feature a glass-bottom rooftop pool and two rooftop lounges connected by a glass sky bridge, as well as an 1,800-seat amphitheater.

Several major mixed-use ventures that meld enter-tainment and retail are also in the works.

Adjacent to Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and Kings, will be LA Live. The six-block, $1.5 billion development from Anschutz Entertainment Group is to be completed in stages and fully operational by 2014. It will feature the 7,000-seat, $90 million Nokia Theatre, which is slated to house the Latin Grammy Awards, Espy awards, concerts and more. LA Live will also have a nightclub and a 20,000-square-foot plaza.

Nearby, the $1.8 billion mixed-use Grand Avenue project located east of the Walt Disney Concert Hall is set to launch its initial phase in 2009. Gehry is designing a hotel and condominium tower for space. The project will also feature about 250,000 square feet of retail and a 16-acre park. The entire development is set to be com-pleted by 2012 or 2013.

“It’s premature to say, specifi cally, but for the fi rst phase, we imagine a mix of a high-end grocery store, health club, bookstore, fi ve or six restaurants, some small gallery and retail space and possibly a night-club,” said Bill Witte, a partner of Related Companies of California, the project’s developer.

“It’s about creating an identity for downtown and in-troducing a true mixed-use project, but also a signifi cant amount of public space,” he said. “At the end of the day, I think it will be defi ned as much by its public spaces as by its signature buildings.”

Downtown is becoming more attractive to archi-tects, interior designers and hoteliers. The prestigious Southern California Institute of Architecture has its headquarters in the area.

“I get calls all the time to do work downtown,” said interior designer Kelly Wearstler, who has put her stamp

on fashionable hotels such as the Viceroy in Santa Monica and Maison 140 in Beverly Hills. She is work-ing on the renovation of the Art Deco Eastern Columbia Lofts at Broadway and Ninth Street, which her hus-band’s company, the Kor Group, is developing.

While hotels, lofts and huge projects such as LA Live and Grand Avenue are under way, wooing the goods and services providers has proved more diffi cult, said Carol Schatz, chief executive offi cer at the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, a coalition of 480 prop-erty owners.

“But we are starting to see all kinds of interesting signs, such as the construction of a [50,000-square-foot] Ralph’s grocery store at Ninth and Flower Street,’’ she said. The $110 million project, which is to open next year, will include residential units as well as some smaller retailers.

Schatz said the business improvement district is also courting a Trader Joe’s grocery store, and has received interest from bookstore chains.

“We’re not seeking the Crate & Barrels and the Gaps because we think you can get that anywhere,” she said. “We’re looking for more unique retail.”

Downtown needs merchants who can weather the growing pains, said Jack Keyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

“Right now, they have to [realize that] if they opened in the next year, they might not see sales, but they are buying into their future,” he said.

There are incentives. A federal empowerment zone encompasses most of the historic district, from about Second Street to Ninth Street and from the east side of Hill Street to Alameda Street. Businesses in the zone qualify for electricity rate reductions, employer wage credits and other benefi ts.

Rich Reams, co-owner of Loft Living, a 14,000-square-foot furniture store, is one of the independent retailers who decided to roll the dice. He said the city

has made doing business downtown almost too good to pass up. But it hasn’t been easy for the former set deco-rator, who lives in a loft downtown and whose eclectic store carries everything from wall beds to pieces once used by movie studios.

“We pretty much sunk everything we own into this, including our houses,” said Reams who owns a simi-lar store in Big Bear, Calif., 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, which he is selling.” I lost $100,000 [on the downtown store] this fi rst year.”

But sales have been picking up in the last six months, and the store is already generating sales that the Big Bear location took three years to reach, said Reams, who is considering opening up a second downtown spot.

Another element in growing downtown is Los Angeles’ 73-mile metro rail system, which averages about 253,000 riders per day during the workweek. New York’s subway system, by comparison, spans 660 miles of track and carries about seven million riders daily.

Still, city planners hope that expansion of the system will help to propel downtown’s momentum. There are blueprints for a new light-rail line that would go from Santa Monica into downtown and the gold line from Pasadena to downtown is being extended into the Little Tokyo district and to East Los Angeles. Offi cials are also exploring the westward expansion of the red line, which runs from North Hollywood to downtown.

In addition, there are discussions about introduc-ing streetcars to the district, said Victor Franco, senior vice president of government affairs for the Central City Association, which represents business and property owners.

“Los Angeles used to have the largest streetcar sys-tem in the world in the late 1800s,” Franco said. “So the idea would be to use it to circulate people downtown and activate streets that are dormant at night — such as the fashion district and theater district.’’

While downtown’s reinvention may be a boon to many, it is also a source of concern for residents such as Magnus Walker, founder of the alternative apparel line Serious Clothing.

“It’s got an overkill, gold-rush mentality where people just have to be downtown,” said Walker, who has oper-ated his business in the district for 15 years and runs it with his wife, Karen Caid. While Walker and Caid are part of the growth, they hope to help make the area more of a neighborhood by developing intimate dwellings.

“Instead of building monster complexes, we want to build a more boutique loft experience,’’ he said. “Part of what we feel we have to offer is that we’re not part of this Vegas-style development that they call lofts.”

The pair moved downtown in 1994, relocated to the Hollywood Hills and then moved back. The company’s headquarters also houses their former loft, which they rent out for TV shows such as “America’s Top Model” and music videos.

“What we gain from downtown is the opportunity to do multiple things: clothing, movie-making, develop-ment,” Walker said. “Believe the hype now; the buzz is happening.”

21WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006WWD.COM

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WWD.COM22 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

ATLANTA — Material World, the fabric, sourcing and technology show that launched a New York event in September, is expanding to a biannual format in New York and will start on the West Coast by spring 2008.

After beginning in Miami in 2001, Material World is seeking a more global audience, organizers said. The existing spring show at the Miami Beach Convention Center will continue, targeting primarily regional and Western Hemisphere manufacturers, contractors and sourcing managers.

Tim von Gal, executive vice president of Atlanta-based Urban Expositions, producers of Material World, said demand in New York, the center of the U.S. design community, can support a twice-a-year format and draw a more international exhibitor base and audience.

This fall’s show, set for Sept. 26 to 28 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, will have 60 to 70 percent more exhibitors than last year’s 325, includ-ing a deeper penetration of Far East and Near East re-

gions. The fi rst New York spring show will begin in 2007 or 2008, at the convention center.

Though no dates and locations are set, plans call for a large-scale West Coast event, probably in Los Angeles,

by either fall 2007 or spring 2008, von Gal said.“The West Coast gives us access to the Pacifi c Rim,

as well as to the vertical garment producers and the ap-parel industry in California,” he said.

Material World’s three-shows-in-one format plays to globalization of the U.S. apparel industry. A growing segment is the sourcing show, with around 135 booths. Technology Solutions, a separate show that launched a few years back, also has 135 booths, addressing trends such as Radio Frequency Identifi cation.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association, a partner of Material World, holds board meetings and ed-ucational seminars at the shows, which should continue to draw U.S. manufacturers, von Gal said.

“Our biggest challenge is keeping our attendee base, the sourcing and purchase managers of the most sought-after U.S. design houses here, rather than the European and Asian shows,” he said.

— Georgia Lee

Material World Doubles Up in East, to Head WestMaterial World

New York, 2005.

Material World New York, 2005.

Apparel Prices Decline 0.4% At WholesaleBy Evan Clark

WASHINGTON — Wholesale prices for domestically produced women’s and girls’ apparel fell 0.4 percent in February com-pared with the same period last year. Prices on all goods dropped more than economists expected amid declines in the food and en-ergy areas.

Registering its biggest dip since April 2003, the Labor De-partment’s Producer Price Index declined a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent for all fi nished goods in February. The index had in-creased 0.3 percent in January and 0.6 percent in December.

“The acute pressures that we saw in terms of prices in the fourth quarter of 2005 have mod-erated,” said Brian Bethune, U.S. economist at Global Insight.

Most of those pressures came from a steep rise in energy prices.

“The core rate, when you ex-clude food and energy, was up 0.3 percent, but there was nothing in there that looked like it was out of line,” he said. “Overall, I would say, on the core side, it looked pretty good.”

James F. Smith, director of the Center for Business Fore casting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the report “says, probably, there’s not very much infl ation in the pipeline, but you’d be well advised not to draw huge conclusions from the PPI.”

Economists prefer to look at the Consumer Price Index, which rose 0.1 percent in February, to gauge infl ation. This is particu-larly true in apparel, since the CPI measures all goods sold at retail, while PPI concerns only U.S.-made clothing, which ac-counts for only about 10 percent of the pie.

Though consumer prices ap-pear to be in check, Smith still ex-pects the Federal Reserve Board to raise interest rates twice more, to 5 percent. He said that could cool off the economy too much.

Within the women’s and girls’ area in February, wholesale prices for dresses fell 3.7 per-cent from a year earlier, while nightwear was down 4.8 percent, and jeans and slacks dropped 2 percent. Prices on knit shirts and blouses rose 2.4 percent.

IN MEMORY

OLEG CASSINI

OC,YOU WERE MY VERY DEAR FRIEND

AND WILL BE FOREVER MISSED.

MARIANNE,MY THOUGHTS AND DEEPEST

CONDOLENCES GO OUT TO YOU.

WITH LOVE,BUTCH ELIAS

23WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

STORE MANAGERR-Mine Bridal Couture

Is looking for an individualwho can perform multiple tasks

efficiently in a fast pacedenvironment. We are seekingsomeone who is personable,highly energetic, motivated,detail oriented, organized andworks well with our clients toestablish new and existing

accounts. The position requiresstrong sales skills, a back-

ground in fashion and a teamplayer. Word, Excel and

Quickbooks a plus.Located in Studio City, CA.

Call: (818) 505-9064

PATTERNMAKERPosition available for

qualified 1st patternmaker.Must have experience at

designer level & an excellentsense of proportion. Mustbe computer familiar, fast,accurate and have ability todrape unusual garments,

and work independently tomeet deadlines. Based in

Los Angeles, CA.Fax Resume to Sandi

213-489-1615

DESIGNER AND DEVELOPERNau, Inc. is a new, direct retail, technical outdoor sports apparel and lifestyleclothing company based in Portland, OR. It’s different than any placeyou’ve ever worked. We won’t make anything unless it can be madesustainably-with respect to the planet and to the people involved in its creation.The Designer uses advanced design skills to create original, innovativedesigns that showcase nau’s unique brand point of view. The Designerresearches the global market to understand trends, color direction & break-through tech, & participates in setting the design philosophies & standards.Requirements: 8 years of design exp in sportswear concentrating onmen’s apparel; exp with denim in strongly preferred; Bachelor’s in Design;proficiency with Adobe Illustrator; demonstrated understanding of patternmaking, draping, materials, trims and garment fit/construction; travel 15%.The Developer is responsible for driving the product development processto ensure on-time development, engineering and accurate documentationof the line while achieving price point and margin goals. They will managethe product development timeline developing products that meet or exceedpre-determined gross margin targets, and communicating the specifica-tions and product details to the sourcing organization and suppliers.Requirements include : 8 years of product development exp Bachelor’s De -gree; exp in the development of knits, woven bottoms (denim ) and sweaterspreferred; understanding of design through production process and supplychain; proven performance history with domestic and offshore vendors andmanufacturers; knowledge of garment fit; travel 20%.

Please send resumes to careers@nau.com.

Wendy HilPATTERNMAKER

L.A. based women’s contemporaryclothing line seeks in house

first - production patternmaker10 years experience preferred.Email: wendy@wendyhil.comor fax resume: (213) 892-8012

Creative GraphicTextile Artist

(Los Angeles, CA) Must have thorough knowledge

and experience in textile, color andpaint development, embellish-

ments. Knowledge of fine arts andgraphic design is essential. Mustbe skilled w/ applicable computerprograms, and be creative in handcraft techniques. Fax resume to

818-345-7560

Ecommerce Content AssociateMaxstudio.com a leading brand in contemporary women’sclothing seeks an Ecommerce Content Associate. The Ecom-merce Content Associate will assist with all product photogra-phy, digital retouching and database maintenance. Must beknowledgeable in Photoshop, general photography, and Win-dows. Must be a team player. Position located inPasadena, CA and does not qualify for relocation. Good ben-efits available.

Please fax your resume to 626-797-3251or email todaira@maxstudio.com

EOE,M/F/V/D

Online Store ManagerHigh-end belt and handbag company seeks motivatedindividual to run its online store. Responsibilities include;processing orders and shipping, maintaining site withcurrent merchandise information, strategizing methods forobtaining traffic and customer service. Candidate must haveprior experience with running an online store and be detailoriented. Excellent communication skills are required.

Please fax resumes to: (310) 231-9949 or e-mail to:Tamey@lineapelleinc.com.

Private Label Sleepwear & Daywearmanufacturer group is seeking L.A office based:

1.National Sales Manager/ Sales ExecutiveMin. 5 yrs exp & strong relationships with major retail. Excel-lent communication skills & self-motivation & team working.

2.Sales CoordinatorMin. 3 years in Sales/product development experience withgood merchandising skill. PC knowledge and can workindependently.

Please email or Fax Resume and expected salary tomatthew@kaidausa.com or fax to: 213 623-8337

NATIONAL SALES MANAGERCONTEMPORARY NOVELTY KNITS EXCITING OPPORTUNITYW/ RAPIDLY GROWING LA MANUFACTURER. SEASONEDPRO W/ PROVEN ABILITY TO DRIVE SALES, OPEN NEWACCOUNTS, AND PROVEN CONTACTS W /DEPT. / SPECIALTYSTORES. COMPETETIVE SALARY + COMMISSION + BENEFITS.

FAX RESUME W/ SALARY HISTORY TO 310-396-2097EMAIL: appareljob@aol.com

Director Of Sales(POSITION BASED IN LOS ANGELES)

Licensed Jewelry Company (www.lucas-design.com) seeks aSales Director with 7+ years of sales experience in fashionaccessories. Jewelry experience highly desirable. Experiencebuilding and running a sales team is integral for this job.Extensive Trade show experience required, & domestic travelto visit customers and sales reps will be necessary.

Email resume to: Daniel@lucas-design.com

ACCT REC MANAGERFast-paced apparel co seeks

experienced A/R ManagerInvoicing * Credit Memos * RA’sWork with Factor. LA based position.ahenderson@peopleslib.com

SALESREPRESENTATIVES

LA based women’s contemporaryco. seeking exp’d & motivatedindividuals to join our team. All

positions require min. of 3 yrs. exp.Submit resumes to:

plasticisland@sbcglobal.net

24 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

SUPPLEX*TASLANLargest Supplier of IN-STOCK WovenSolid Fabrics. Available in all Finishes.Domestic/Export. RB1257@aol.com

Venture Worldwide1-800-4-SUPPLEX 212-580-1684

Cash For Retail Stock & Closeouts. No Lot Too Big or Too Small.

Call CLOTHES-OUT:(937) 898-2975

New Ladies’ BeadedEvening Dresses

Overstock 700-800 available forimmediate delivery. Call 973-439-1196

JOBBER/EXPORTERWe buy better goods. All categories,

including fabrics. Immediate $$.Please call 212-279-1902

10,000 sf Open SpaceMinutes from Lincoln/Holland Tunnels

Jersey City Heights/Quiet bldg/Low priceIdeal for storage, shipping, office, or mfg.

Will subdivide Call: 201-222-1931

1407 BROADWAYSHOWROOMS/OFFICES

TREBOR MGMTBob Forman 212-944-6094 x 314

14th-40th St. Showroom-Hot Lofts900, 1500, 2200, 3500, 9000

Prime Manhattan Scott 212-268-8043search- www.manhattanoffices.com

For Space in Garment Center

Helmsley-Spear, Inc.212-880-0414

Search For Space In Garment CenterShowroom/Office/Retail - no fee

www.midcomre.comOr Call Paul 212 947-5500 X 100

530 7th AVE SHOWROOMCorner showroom facing 7th Ave. full

windows, about 3500 s/f. Contact:917-886-7648 or 212-391-1636.

8th Ave #555 24/7 AttendantBeautifully Renovated, light, window

offices. 870- 7200 sq ftOwner 212-695-0005 Or 718-387-0500

Well established & growing

Bridal/Eveningwear Companylocated in central Florida

Local & International ClientsGrowing 17 to 20 percent ayear see info and pics @

www.floridacapital.comAgent, 941-924-2378

CONTRACT KNITTINGAvailable 5 & 7 cut flat bed shima seiki

Immediate Computerized SamplesContact: Hampton Industries

Call: (973) 574-8900 Fax: (973) 574-9042E-mail: Hamptonind@msn.com

Embroidery ProductionAllovers/Edges/Medallions/Venise Lace

Domestic Sample Mfg AvailableChina & Domestic Production

Call Tom @ (201) 945-2727

Patterns/Samples/ProductionCouture sewing & cutting, show sample,no min prod. 240 W 38th St, 2nd Floor

T: 212-221-9304 E: dkpattern@yahoo.com

PATTERNS, SAMPLES,PRODUCTIONS

All lines, Any styles. Fine Fast Service.Call Sherry 212-719-0622.

PATTERNS, SAMPLES,PRODUCTIONS

Full service shop to the trade.Fine fast work. 212-869-2699.

Patterns/Samples/ProductionSnaps, Eyelets, Covered Bottoms

Any Style - Full ServiceCall Johnny: 212-278-0608/646-441-0950

EDGE*nyNOHOFOR EMERGING DESIGNERS

A STORE LIKE NO OTHERHave your own selling space at 65Bleeker Street. Street Level, primeretail location. (Between Broadway &Lafayette). Sell your designs directlyto your customer from this uniquedepartment store created for emergingdesigners. We are looking for uniquewomenswear & menswear designers,hat designers, beauty product designers,eyewear designers, pet products, andmuch more. For more info please visitour website www.edgeny.com or callAlex or Dede at 212-358-0255.

PROFITABLEProm Dress Business

Profitable, reputable 14 year businessw/ revenue of $500K, 200 customers,and net income of $120K. Inventorysold out; Operable from anywhere USA

Call Nick: 800-640-7469

Paco JeansWanted: Graphic Artist

Junior’s Jeans/TopsStyle Cads/Artwork

Must Know Mac IllustratorMust show portfolio

Please Email resumes:wanda@pacosport.com

PRODUCTION MANAGERCalypso, a high end clothing company seeks a candidatewith extensive exp. in production for its Private label with anability to manage & lead the production team. The candidatemust have leadership quality and diversified knowledge in allthe facets of overseas & domestic production including fabrics,trims, garment construction and costing in high end market.Strong contacts with overseas factories and following.Minimum 8-10 years experience required with a degree infashion. Strong computer skills and communication skillsneeded. Please indicate salary requirement.

Fax resume to: (212) 625-0763 Attn: Production

Accounts ReceivablePublic traded fashion co. seeks a staffaccountant. A/R collection & chargebackexp preferred. Must have excellent excelskills. Please email or fax resume to:E: emhiring@yahoo.com F: 212-695-9483

AdministrativeAssistant - Converting Textile/Garment Co. seeks a dynamic& self-motivated individual with theability to provide strong support fordomestic and international sourcing.Responsibilities include entering greigegoods, PO’s & contracts. Communicatewith suppliers & brokers on all aspectsof purchasing/imports. 1-3 yrs. exp.

E-mail: jobsbwcos@yahoo.com

ADMIN/SALESASST/FRONT DESK

Accessory Co. seeks reliable, persona-ble, multi-tasked individual to work inquick paced atmosphere. Good com-puter skills in Word, Excel and E-mail.Resp. for phones, corresp. & gen.office duties. Fax resume: 212-302-2753

Admin Since 1967

W-I-N-S-T-O-NAPPAREL STAFFING

DESIGN * SALES * MERCHADMIN * TECH * PRODUCTION

(212)557-5000 F: (212)986-8437

APPAREL

APPAREL, HOME FASHION &ACCESSORY SEARCH DIVISION

Opportunities with the best fashioncompanies in the following area’s:

•Operations/Manufacturing•Production•Design•Finance•Technical Design•Administrative Support•Graphic / CAD Design•Sales / Marketing•Product Development•Merchandising

Allen Platt Partnerallen@srisearch.comJennifer Glenn V.P.

jennifer@srisearch.comPh. (212) 465-8300

ASSISTANT DESIGNERExperienced in eveningwear.

Import experience a plus.Computer literate. Organized, self starter.Please Fax resume to: (212) 302-9325

Assistant Merchandiser/Product Development

Lifestyle & bedding Co. seeks organized,creative individual. Responsibilities toinclude identify emerging trends, designconcepts & hands on sourcing for kids& tweens division. 2 yrs experience amust. Great opportunity.Email Resume to:HR@Ideanuova.com or Fax 212-643-0684

Asst to Sales ManagerLeading off price distributor seeks anindividual to assist sales manager.Communication and computer skills amust. We offer opportunity for growth.Fax 212-840-8333 /dryan@rsiskind.com

AUGUST SILK Product Manager/Production CoordinatorMin- 3 to 5 years experience in sweaterproduct development/production control.Ensuring time lines are followed. Issue &track production orders, Communicatew/ overseas offices. Computer knowledge,high productivity level and excellentorg. skills a must. Email resumes to:

nicolehakimian@augustsilk.com

BRIDAL SALESEXECUTIVE

We are seeking a highly motivated,energetic sales professional with aluxury bridal or designer backgroundto join our wholesale Bridal division. Successful candidates must have astrong working knowledge of sales/operations as it pertains to retail storesand have 3-5 years of selling experi-ence. Strong computer skills (MicrosoftOffice Suite) a must. Extensive travelrequired.

Email resume with subject header“Bridal Sales” to:

recruiting @verawang.com

BUYERS WANTEDjustretail.com

National Specialty Retailer located inPhiladelphia requires Buyers and/orAssociate Buyers who can move quicklyinto buying positions. Send your resumein confidence to: Fax: (877) 633-2207

E-mail: apply@justretail.com

CAD DESIGNERTEXTILE

Home textile firm seeks CAD Designerwith min 2 years experience. Must behighly creative adaptable and organ-ized. Must be knowledgeable abouttextile design. Require strong comput-er skills: Adobe Photoshop and Illus-trator - knowledge of Pointcarre andPunto a plus. Resume w/salary req to:

Suzanna Fax 212-213-1683stam@tncliving.com

COLOR ASSOCIATE Leading Women’s Apparel Co seeks anoutgoing & ambitious entry-levelprofessional with basic color & textiletesting knowledge to assist Manager ofColor & Testing. Must be detail ori-ented, organized & dependable w/excellent clerical and computer skills.

Fax resume: 212-827-3062 Attn: MD

ComplianceChargeback Analyst

Seeking a highly motivated, analyticalperson to analyze and dispute CB’sreceived from our retailers. Excel amust. Salary+incentives. Email resume& salary req to: hr@francoapparel.com

25WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

COSTER $50-60KMust Be Able To Break Down A

Garment. Girls Dress MnfgToddWayne1@aol.com or 212-947-3400

Customer Service/Shipping ManagerUK Designer brand seeks Customer Svc./Shipping Mgr. to produce pick tickets,organize shipping to stores, liaison withcorporate office, customers and storemanagement. Computer literate andthe ability to be self-motivated andwork as part of a team.Please fax resume to: (212) 840-2481 or

E-mail: victoria@b-eautique.com

Data Entry PositionApparel wholesale company is seekingsomeone to enter orders, process billingand assist in customer service. Shouldbe familiar with AS400 system & EDI.Please fax resume to: (212) 575-2214

Design AssistantDONNA DEGNAN

Women’s sportswear company seeksenergetic individual to assist in allaspects of design room duties. Sourceand manage trim & fabric libraries, flatsketch, Illustrator. Great presentationskills a plus. Fax resume: 212-629-4625.

Design AssistantF/T Asst Designer position availablefor a dynamic Childrenswear Co. Mustbe very organized, detail oriented andbe able to understsand design con-struction, tech packs, lab dips, strikeoffs, and submits. Proficienty in Illus-trator and Photoshop a must. A gener-ous compensation package will beoffered to the right candidate. For consid-eration, please email your resume to:

PPiacenti@weeplaykids.com

DESIGNER

Assistant DesignerFor fast paced women’s outerwearcompany seeks indiv who is extremelyorganized & computer knowledgeable.Overseas communication concerningsamples and approvals. Salary com-mensurate with experience.

Please email resume to:Deirdre@thelevygroupinc.com

DESIGNER ASSISTANTfor Intimate Apparel Company. Look-ing for a perfectionist! A fast learner,detail-oriented, organized and self-motivated, along with a willingattitude and great work ethic. Musthave construction knowledge & abilityto create flat sketches in Illustrator.Associates degree in fashion required.Lingerie/sleepwear experience is aplus. Please fax resume: 212- 842-4050.

Technical Designer Industry leader seeks fashionpro to join our talentedteam. Must have 5 years’ladies’ bottoms exp., incl.denim, w/patternmaking andgrading knowledge. Beresponsible for spec, fitevaluations, technical sketchesand daily communicationw/suppliers. Must be a highlyorganized, computer literatemulti-tasker. Comprehensivecompensation package.Please fax or e-mail resume,incl. salary requirements to:

CW @ 212-827-9917 orrecruiting@bonjourcorp.com

DesignerBetter priced womenswear manufacturerseeks sportswear designer with min 2years exp. designing collections fordepartment stores. Background incontemporary market at big plus. Mustbe able to run a sample room and workwith patternmakers. Great opportunityfor growth. Salary commensurate withexperience.

Fax resume to 212-382-0237.

DESIGNERDynamic and trendy garment Co.seeks an experienced and talenteddesigner for daytime and eveningwear. Excellent opportunity.Please fax resume to: 212-382-3623

DESIGNEREst’d. Special Occasion Dress Co. seeksinnovative and creative Designer withknowledge of current trends, colors,and fabrics. Must have background inMissy or Jr. Special Occasion. PleaseE-mail resumes in confidence to:

ROFSEE@aol.com

DESIGNERGrowing Baby Wear Co. is seeking atalented designer with a minimum of 5years experience in Newborn, Infantand Toddler design. Experience withlicensed properties and Baby industrya plus. Please send your resume to:

E-mail: ralphk@childapp.com orFax: (212) 967-8108, attn. Ralph Kassin

DESIGNER - Jr. SweaterMajor NY sweater co. seeks a highlycreative designer with min. 3-5 yrs.exp. Candidate must have technical

sweater knowledge & proficiency withCAD. Must be detail oriented & work

well in a fast paced environment.E-mail: design2006@graffiti.com

Director of Sales TrainingSeeking a candidate to develop and lead sales training forUS Fashion, Fine Jewelry and Watches. The position is basedin our New York Corporate Office, but requires both domes-tic and international travel. The ideal candidate has:

• 8-10 years experience in retail sales training• Background in instructional design and retail performance analysis• Excellent communication skills and presence• Strong computer skills• Luxury goods background preferred.

We offer an attractive salary and an outstanding benefitspackage. For immediate consideration please send your

resume with cover letter including salary history to:NYFashionjobs@chanelusa.com.

No phone calls, please. We regret that we are only able torespond to those who are invited for an interview.

EOE M/F/D/V.

SENIORSPORTSWEAR

DESIGNERMajor women’s moderateupdated sportswear co. isseeking a talented designerwith 5-7 yrs. exp. Candidatewill be designing for a majorpublic updated co. Musthave a strong background inupdated wovens and knitsfor pants, skirts and jacketswith a strong knowledge ofprints and fabrics. Must beable to shop stores for thenewest trends and have anunderstanding of developmenttime lines. Position based inBoston with frequent travelto New York.Excellent Salary And Benefits

E-Mail or Fax Resumehrresume06@yahoo.com

617-332-3260

DESIGNERJunior & Missy Sportswear Looking for dynamic designer. Idealcandidate must have 5-8 years exp.and focus on new ideas and trend.Must have the ability to present ideasand concept clearly on board and workclosely with India and China suppliers.Send resume to Amit:-Fax: 212-398-2579or email at amit.shescool@gmail.com

Designer - MerchandisingJr/Contemporary Sweater /OuterwearCo seeks exp’d designer for imports.Must be team player w/ fresh ideas forthe Jr. market. Knowledge of sweat-ers, flat sketching & proto specs req’d.Good benefits. Excellent work envi-ronment. Email resume attn: Doradleggio@yahoo.com / fax 212-398-2087

DESIGNER - SILK PRINTS5 TO 7 YRS. TECH EXP A PLUS

debra@justmgt.com800-544-5878

DESIGNERWell est’d Importer of Women’s sleepwear& lingerie, seeks a fashion CAD designerwith at least 3 years working experience.Must be well organized, detail oriented,technical, creative and proficient inPhotoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Weoffer a great working environment goodbenefits & a salary based on experience.Please email or fax resume to Att: MaryE: chcjobs@gmail.com F:212-448-0926

Design

Menswear DesignerLuxury Menswear Co. seeks a creative,energetic, and organized Designer w/min.5 years experience in similar high-endmarket. Extensive knowledge of all as-pects of men’s design including fabric,trim, and fit. Knowledge of Photoshop/Illustrator and PDM required. CT based.E-mail resume as a Word attachment to:

kryan@natnast.com

Design

Raider Jean CompanyAssistant Designer

Established Young Men’s and Boy’sSportswear Company seeks a designassistant for the New York office.Minimum 3-5 yrs. garment experience,proficient in Adobe Illustrator &Photoshop. Responsibilities includegenerating initial computer illustratedstyle sketches, CAD’s, and completingtechnical production packages. Candi-date must be organized and able tofollow directions. Please email resumeto Indra: ialvarez@raiderjeanco.comDESIGN

YM/Boys Sweater/Knit Designer

Fast growing NY based sweater co. withmajor licensees seeks a highly motivated,organized, creative designer. Individualshould have a min. of 3 yrs. exp. withknowledge of sweater construction &cut/sew knits. CAD exp. a must. E-mailresume to: design2006@graffiti.com

Young Designer collection has three new positions available:

Trim BuyerCapable of sourcing, organizing, and distributing trims to our

domestic factories. Three years experience required.

Knit Specialist/Product DevelopmentTo assist Designer in the development & production follow

through of our knit collection.

Swimwear Sales PositionDedicated to servicing & growing our swimwear accounts.

3 yrs exp working w/ swimwear specialty & departmentstores. Young designer/contemporary exp preferred.

Great benefits and opportunities!Please Send Resumes to Personnel:

Fax 646-349-4367Email: aoshrin@millyny.com

DSGR GIRLS - INF/TOD OPEN $Major co. seeks experienced creativeindividual to do licensed girls playw’r

A.D. FORMAN ASSOC.450 7th AVE (AGCY) 268-6123

FABULOUS OPPORTUNITIESFREELANCE & PERM

ASST. MERCHASST. PROD

HANDBAG PROD DEV.HANDBAG PATTERNMAKER

Send resumes ASAP!!!!Email: ebeeney@taylorhodson.com

FASHION CAREER OPPORTUNITIESIleen Raskin, Apparel 212-213-6381Nancy Bottali, Accessories 212-213-6386Ed Kret, Textiles/Apparel 212-213-6384

raskin718@msn.comwww.raskinexecsearch.com

Fashion Recruiters! Incredible Comp +Benefits! $100K+!

Leading NYC Fashion Recruiting Firmseeks Fashion Savvy Recruiters!MUST have recruiting/sales/marketingor fashion background. Full Time andFreelance Opportunities.

Amazing Opportunity! Join us at the fourthFLOOR!

Please send resumes to:NYR@fourthfloorfashion.com

Finance

ChargebackAnalyst Collector

Nationally recognized apparel manu-facturer seeks a Chargeback Collectorto analyze and research charges todetermine proper resolution, reconcilemultiple accounts, and code incomingchargebacks. Responsible for disputingclaims and recovering money for thecompany as well as interfacing withaccounts payables to retrieve necessarypaperwork. Follows up on returnedmerchandise and unapplied cash. Factorexp is a must and apparel exp is a plus.Good communication skills required.

Please fax your resume along withsalary history, in confidence, to:

(212) 869-5242; or email to:recruiter@periscopeusa.com EOE M/F

FINANCIALANALYST

Nationally recognized apparel mfr isseeking a Financial Analyst. The idealcandidate must have strong analyticalskills with a proven track record inanalyzing existing business systems,processes and workflow. This includes,but is not limited to, budgeting,forecasting, expense and inventorycontrol, and sales GP analysis. 4 plusyears of related experience. Apparelindustry exp. a plus. Bachelor’s degreein finance and/or accounting is a must.

Please fax your resume along withyour salary history, in confidence, to:

(212) 869-5242 or: email to:recruiter@periscopeusa.com EOE M/F

26 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

First PatternmakerFast paced womenswear manufacturerseeks first patternmaker experiencedin both sportswear and dresses. Mustbe able to drape and flat pattern min 2designs a day. Experience in contemp-orary market a big plus.

Fax resume to 212-382-0237.

Graphic ArtistMajor apparel company seeks GraphicArtist with experience in toddler 4-6xboys. Individual must be very creativeand detail oriented. Responsibilitiesinclude executing the art from start tofinished packages for production. Willwork with mock up samples and theembroidery dept. Must be able towork in fast paced environment.

Please fax resume to 212.239.2766

IMPORTCOORDINATOR

Nationally recognized apparel manu-facturer is seeking an Import Coordinatorwith a minimum of 3 years experienceto coordinate documentation, and updatein-transit information into AS400 forall F.O.B. shipments. Complies with L/Cguidelines, corresponds with overseasvendors daily, and ensures customsbroker has proper documentation forclearing. Proficient in Excel & Word.Detail oriented & ability to multi-taskin a fast-paced environment.

Please fax your resume along withsalary history, in confidence, to:

(212) 869-5242 Or E-mail:recruiter@periscopeusa.com EOE M/F

IMPORT COORD NJ $45KTrack shipment by Boat & Air

ToddWayne1@aol.com or 212-947-3400

JEANSWEAR PROD’N COORD $70KCosting, P.O.’s, Cut Tickets, PC

ToddWayne1@aol.com or 212-947-3400

* JOBS *JOBS *JOBS **Artists: N/I/T-Girl-Boy-Jr.-Young Men*Designer or Assoc-Layette-Baby Gift Sets*Designer-Assists-assoc boy-girl-jr-missy*Designer Assist/CAD 1-2 yr exp.*Designer Girls 4/16 Denim Very Jr. Driven*Designer Girls 4/16 S/W Exciting License*Graphic Artist/Boys 8/20 T-shirts*Product Assist or Coord.-Lab Dips, etc.*Product MGR-Accessories or Apparel*Production Assistants and Coordinators*Production coords - bilingual Chinese $ HI*Sales Assistant - Showroom Exp $ HI*Technical Designers & Assistants*Technical Designer Boys 2/20 Denim $HI*Technical Designer - Hosiery - KnitsCall (212) 643-8090; fax 643-8127 (agcy)

Logistics/Prod CoordChildrenswr mfr seeks very organized,detail oriented indiv to track shippingfrom factories. Exp w/frt forwarders/customs a plus but will train rightcandidate. Must know Excel. Faxresume to HR at (212) 763-1667 oremail: traflogjob@yahoo.com

Merchandising AssistantPvt label sptswr co has immed. oppty forenergetic multi-tasker to support merch& design team from product conceptionto Mgmt. of order related details. Mustbehighly organized and detail oriented& have 1-2 yrs exp in similar capacity.Proficiency in Photohsop & Illustrator &knowledge of Wal-Mart systems preferred.E-mail resume w/detailed cover letter to:

jobs225@aol.com

Office & Billing Asst.Est’d. Clothing Co. seeks motivated, hardworking individual with great computerskills. Knowledge of EDI Billing for Dept.Stores, order processing, and familiarityw/routing of major retailers req’d. Mustwork well with others and be an "allrounder", able to assist w/all generaloffice duties. Seeking long-term, stablecandidate. Fax resume to: 212-840-9310

Order Entry /Shipping SpecialistNYC manufacturer seeks experiencedOrder Entry / Shipping Specialist toguaranteed all orders are processed ina timely and accurate manner. Respon-sibilities include: order entry, down-loading orders via EDI, working closelywith inventory/procurement to deliverorder status, tracking/running productionreports, responding to inquiries andproviding exceptional customer service.Candidates must have a minimum of 2yrs. experience and possess knowledgeof major retailers Routing Guides.Computer proficiency a must. Knowledgeof SAP a plus. College graduates only.

Please email your cover letter andresume (including salary requirements)

to: Assistant8@aol.com

ORDER PROCESSING/ EDI SPECIALIST

NYC menswear importer has immediateopenings for an experienced OrderProcessing / EDI Specialist. Candidatesmust have at least 2 yrs. experience inorder entry, EDI processing and know-ledge of major retailers Routing Guides.Working closely with warehouse andsales to deliver order status, trackingand shipping. Computer proficiency amust. Salary + Benefits.

Please email resume to:Susan@wearfirst.comor fax to: 917-510-0472

PATTERNMAKERConcept to Production

Leading Intimate Apparel Co. seeksexperienced patternmaker with a min-imum of 3 years experience. Excellentcommunication skills, knowledge ofgrading, fabric YY’s, Outlook, Excel,Word and Lectra.Please fax resume and salary reqs to

(212) 481-7498 attn: Miriam

PATTERNMAKERCouture Co. seeks experienced, well

organized team player with backroomresponsibilities. Able to create from

sketch thru finish. Fax Resume:212-481-1968

PATTERNMAKERNYC based company seeks patternmakerfor 1st pattern. Flat patternmaking.Ability to drape a plus. Fast paced andfriendly environment. 5+ years experi-ence preferred. Please fax resume withsalary requirements to 212-290-2708.

PATTERNMAKERSeeking highly skilled Freelance

Patternmaker in swimwear. Must havework area or their own sample room.Please fax resume to: (212) 750-1516

or Email: draulston@nyc.rr.com

Piecegoods BuyerLeading childrenswear mfr seeksdetail oriented indv to handle purchas-ing & sourcing of materials for 807production. Must have knowledge ofdomestic & imported goods w/ excel-lent color sense. Friendly/high pacedoffice environment. Benefits/401K Plssend resume to: Fax 212-763-1667 orE-mail: cindy@rareeditions.com

Planners & Dir. of Allocation 70-150KAsst. Buyers/Buyers 50-100KExecutive Assistants 50-100KMarketing Mgr.-Cosmetics 70-80KHuman Resources Asst. 40-60K

Many other oppty’s TEMP & PERMFax: 212-986-7708

Email: team@otmaa.com

Prodn Assist/Coord $35-65KStrong Math/PC/Excel. Cut Tickets

Time ’n Action. Factory Exp A+SusieJessilyn@aol.com 212-947-3400

Product DevelopmentCoordinator

Northern NJ based Infant wear Co.Seeking highly motivated & detail ori-ented individuals. Will be responsiblefor all phases of production approvals:lab dips, fabric/print approvals & dailycommunication w/ overseas. Strongcommunication skills req’d & must bea team player. Knowledge of Outlook,Word & Excel a must. 2-3 yrs experience.

Email resume to Attn: JNCinfantdesign@yahoo.com

Production Assistant $30-35K. Min 1-2yrs exp in apparel. Bilingual Chineseor Korean required. Computerized.Call 973-564-9236 Jaral Fashion Agency

Production AssistantDesigner handbag co. seeks highlyorganized, detail orientated, motivatedProduction Asst. Ideal Candidate willhave 3 years experience in overseashandbag production, including makingtech packs, reviewing pp samplesand sample tracking. Experience workingwith Better market. Candidate will beliaison between Production Managerand Design Team. They will work withDesign team for market prep, line sheets,sample orders and design changes.Candidate must possess strong com-puter skills and sketching ability. Needto be able to multi-task in a fast-pacedenvironment. Salary Commensuratewith experience. Send resume to:

E-mail: Maria@kooba.com orFax: (212) 777-5125

Production AssistantEntry-level position available forladies apparel tops production.Computer literate a must; includingExcel. Fax/Email resume: 212-768-7856

mkaplan@gas-co.com

Production AssistantFashion Accessories Co. seeks productionassistant that has experience with eitherTarget or Walmart. Great Work environ-ment. Must have 2-3 yrs. experience.Fax or e-mail resume & salary req. to:646-486-1336, nydresumes@yahoo.com

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTHydraulic jeans seeks motivated anddetail oriented person to assist productionmgr. Duties include involvement inall phases of garment production frominitial order to final delivery and com-munication with factories. Strong com-puter skills a must. Great Opportunity!

Fax resume to HR @ 212-719-1521

Production AssistantLeading Apparel Importer seeksexperienced, detail oriented individualfor fast paced NY office. Duties includeassisting pre-production manager,follow-up fabric and garment purchasing,writing PO’s, follow-up with overseasfactories, and color submissions toWal-Mart. Strong communication andcomputer skills a must. Fax resumewith salary requirements to:

Mark Rubin at (212)444-6019

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTLeading Women’s apparel companyseeks Production Asst with 1-2 yrs exp.Must be highly motivated, detailoriented, team player.Responsibilities to include but notlimited to: Issue purchase orders, WIPtracking, daily communication w/ over-seas factories, style product maintenance.Must possess good communication, organizational & computer skills.Excellent opportunity for the rightperson. Salary commensurate withexperience, excellent benefits.

Please email or fax resume:Fax: 212-328-1230

E: foxhr@tagusa.com

Hanky Panky Ltd. is an established fashion lingeriecompany that proudly produces in the Metro NY Area.

Due to the brand’s fast growth we are looking forcandidates at both the Manager and Assistant Manager

levels in the Merchandising and Production areas.

MERCHANDISE PLANNING MANAGER ANDASSISTANT MERCHANDISE PLANNING MANAGERThese positions are liaisons between the design, sales, technicaldesign and purchasing areas. The right candidates will haveproven experience with the creation, supervision and mainte-nance of line development charts to track the status of all fabricand trim from initial concept through production. They willreview costing, evaluate line pricing and manage raw materialinventory needed to make market samples for timely line andprivate label presentations. Understanding of sales planning andtrend analysis along with superior computer skills, a strongdetail orientation and good interpersonal skills are a must.

PRODUCTION PLANNING SUPERVISOR ANDASSISTANT PRODUCTION PLANNING SUPERVISORThese candidates will have experience with the entire productionprocess and will plan, manage and analyze the style inventoryto ensure timely delivery of initial orders and replenishmentreorders. They will coordinate with the sales, purchasing andproduction departments to ensure that all key delivery deadlinesare met and that cutting tickets are maximized for optimumproductivity. Experience in managing fashion distribution andassortment strategies and seasonal planning budgets is amust along with excellent computer and written skills.

Hanky Panky offers a competitive salary and benefits package in a team-oriented atmosphere. Please send salary

history and requirements along with a cover letter to:JSofhankypanky@aol.com

(Please indicate the job you’re applying for in the subject line)

Production Coord.Hand-Tailored, Custom & RTW

Women’s WearExtraordinary Opportunity

High-end women’s wear seeks exp’dcoord. to run small but growing prod.studio in Long Is. City. Manage prod.calendar; tailors, cutters, pattern-making for jackets, dresses, eveningwear, pants, & tops. Knowl. of tablepatterns, GGT, custom adjustments,fit, construction, fine tailoring techni-ques, & fabrics essential. Knowl. ofKorean useful. Candidate is highly or-ganized, detail-oriented, proactive,able to manage fast-paced environ-ment, sense of humor. Excel, Word,Outlook, QuickBooks. Min 3 yrs exp.Salary commensurate w/ exp. Benefits.

Resume: Hudson@mindspring.com

ProductionDesigner collection seeks experiencedtechnical production person to coordinateover seas production. Must be organized,detail oriented, be able to multi task &have knowledge of garment construction.Please, fax resume to: 212 563 6215.

Production Director/Merchandising

Established mfr. seeks a candidatewith min eight to ten years work expe-rience. Ability to communicate withdesign team and retail buyers. Knowl-edge of fabric, garment constructionand costing for coats. Overseas anddomestic travel required. Great salaryand benefits for the right candidate.

Please fax resume to 212-643-0593

Production ManagerKNIT PRIVATE LABEL

Minimum ten years experience in allphases of knit sportswear production.Work with sales team / factories fromcosting thru shipping. Establish laborprice and follow up shipping. Respon-sible for construction & quality control.Computer literate. Please fax resumeto Karen 212-947-7218.

Production/Traffic CoordinatorGrowing sweater company seeksproduction coordinator for fast pacedenvironment. Ideal candidate must bewell organized, AS / 400 / Excel / Wordliterate and with some traffic experience.The ability to multi-task, act proactivelyand communicate efficiently withmanagement and overseas vendors isdesired. Competitive salary offered.Fax resumes to: 212-512-0674

Receptionist $29K+ Full Benefits

Busy showroom seeks upbeat, cheeryperson with great communicationskills to answer phones and meet/greetcustomers. Email resumes as a Microsoftword attachment: jr@accessnyc.com

RECEPTIONIST/FIT MODELJunior denim company seeking officehelp. Excellent computer skills re-quired. 40 hour weeks.

Fax resumes to Gisela: 212-869-4442

Receptionist/Gal/Guy FridayManufacturer of Women’s Sportswearseeks energetic self motivated personwho wants to learn the business fromthe inside. Person should possess goodinterpersonal skills, be organized anddependable. Besides answering phonesand greeting people, person will helpwith sales and design dept’s as well.

Please fax Resume to 212-239-7332

Receptionist/OfficeAssistant

Sweater Company seeks organizedindividual.Duties include greetingcustomers, answering phones, orderingoffice supplies, assisting sales staffand maintaining showroom. Musthave excellent phone manner anddesk appearance. Excel, word andPhotoshop elements knowledge a must.

Please fax resume to 212-768-2102

SALES ASSISTANTEstablished sportswear company seeksSales Asst. that is friendly, organized,motivated & a team player. Must havean excellent communication & followup skills, computer literate. Familiarwith AIMS a plus. Friendly environment.Competitive salary & benefits.

Please fax resume to: (212) 221-3622

SALES ASSISTANTGrowing Junior/Missy Denim co seekssales asst who is highly organized,detailed oriented & computer literate.Wal-Mart exp preferred but willing totrain. Opportunity for growth. Excel-lent benefits. Send resume to :

appareljobs@eurekamail.net

SEWERS/TAILORSWomen’s Couture Co. seeks

experienced highly skilled individual .Knowledge of cutting a plus.

Call 212-869-2296

SEWINGINSTRUCTION WRITERSimplicity Patterns seeks sewinginstruction writer w/ education / back-ground in garment, craft and home decsewing. Must be able to write technicalstep by step instructions for patterns onsite in our NYC office. Home Econom-ics Degree or comparable exp desirable.Knowledge of sewing req’d & computerknowledge helpful. Excellent benefits.Send resume to: Simplicity Pattern Co.,2 Park Ave, 12th Fl, NY, NY 10016, Attn:HR or email: cploschke@simplicity.com

SOURCING MANAGERIntimate apparel company seeks

candidate with global experience tosource sleepwear and panties. Must

have strong relationships with factories.Please fax resume to: (212) 779-8298

SPECH TECH Major NY based better dress & suitmanufacturer seeks exp’d technicianto support its pattern making &production teams. Responsibilitiesinclude attend fittings, take accuratefit notes, work w/ pattern makers, prepareconstruction details specs & communicatew/ overseas factories on various technicalissues. Must be a team player, computerliterate on e-mail & excel, and abilityto work in a fast paced environment.Dress exp a plus. Excellent opportunity.Benefits/401K. Fax in confidence withsalary requirements to HR: (201)964 5892

SR. DESIGNER - BOTTOMSCREATIVE/TECHNICAL

sue@justmgt.com800-544-5878

Sweater Tech Designer Branded womenswear manufacturerseeks sweater tech designer with min2 yrs import exp. Must be able to flatsketch, have technical knowledge ofsweater yarns, stitches, and graphing.Background in contemporary market abig plus.

Fax resume to 212-382-0237.

TECH DESIGNER/FASHION APPAREL

Pet Accessories Co. needs designer pro-ficient in Illustrator and Photoshop. Musthave 2-3 yrs. experience. Fax or e-mailresume and salary requirements to:646-486-1336, nydresumes@yahoo.com

Tech DesignerSecaucus co. seeks Tech Designer full-fashion sweaters; cut & sew knits.Must have complete knwldg sweaters,yarns, stitches. Must be exp’d inspecing, fittings, grading, comn w/vendors. Excel, & Illustrator exp. amust. 5 yrs exp. Salary commensuratewith exp. FULL TIME.

Fax Dir Tech Design: 201-866-0387

TECH DESIGNERSFull Time & FreelanceJr, Msy, Plus Sportswear

A growing apparel Co. seeks veryorganized, detail oriented, team-playerswith min 3-5 yrs exp in fitting with livemodels, grading and specing. Knowledgeof Patternmaking & Excel are essential.Be able to communicate well withoverseas vendors to follow through allaspects from 1st fit to production in adeadline-oriented environment.Pls fax resume to Judy at 212-354-8948

Technical DesignAssistant Knitwear

Knitwear co. seeks exp’d individualfor technical design and production.Candidates should possess workingknowledge of the following: techpacks, production specs, fittings andlab dips. Minimum 2 years experience inknitwear. Great opportunity for growth.Salary and benefits commensuratewith experience. Please send resume to:

Box#M 1010c/o Fairchild Classified

750 Third Avenue, 5th FlNew York, NY 10017

Technical DesignAssistant

Northern NJ based Infant wear Co.Seeking highly motivated & detail orien-ted individuals. Must have strong know-ledge of specs, fit evaluation, construct-ion & grading. Must be a team player &communicate with overseas. Knowledgeof Outlook, Word a must. 1-2 yrs exp.

Email resume to Attn:JNCinfantdesign@yahoo.com

Technical Design AssistantUnique position in mens/boys garmentcomp. for individual with an eye fordesign and technical detail. Individualwill be responsible for receiving garmenttech packs from outside vendor andfollowing garment from sampling toproduction. Candidate must possessthorough knowledge of garmentconstruction, exceptional organizationaland follow up skills, ability to clearlycommunicate details to patternmakerand overseas sample room and abilityto work in a fast paced/quick turnenvironment. Adobe Illustrator req.Must be detail oriented.

Please fax resume to 212.239.2766

Technical DesignerA well est’d women’s apparel importerseeks a candidate w/3-5 yrs experience.Must be knowledgeable in patternmaking,garment construction, fittings, specs &be able to communicate detailed com-ments to overseas & domestic factories.Must be computer literate in Excel. Pls fax resume attn: SC (212) 302-3872

Technical DesignerChildrenswear co seeks TD w/extensiveknowledge of garment constructionand patternmaking. Will be req’d to doyields and labor breakdowns. Must bedetail oriented, organized & work wellunder pressure. Willing to train.Benefits/401K Email or fax resume to:cindy@rareeditions.com / 212-763-1667

TECHNICAL DESIGNERMajor better womens sportswear mfrseeks seasoned pro w/ min 7 yrs exp inestablishing fit, spec & constructionguidelines, communicating w/ retailclients & oversea factories, managingall fit approval & tech issues. Musthave computer skills in Excel & Acrobat.Knldge of pattern making & PDM aplus. Pls fax resume & salary history to:

212-239-1610

TECHNICAL DESIGNERS*TD Bet Bridge Runway Dsgner $90-125K*TD Better Bridge Contemp Mkt $85K*TD Target/Partners Online SW $60-80K*TD Jackets/Pants/Skirts $65-70K*TD Kids/Boyswear $70K*Spec Tech- Wovens $35-$55K

SusieJessilyn@aol.com 212-947-3400

27WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

* MERCHANDISING OPPORTUNITY *Lenzing the leading International fiber manufacturer seeks dynamic

Home Furnishing/Textile Merchandiser. Textile background requiredwith considerable experience in the home furnishings market with establishedcontacts through -out the industry on all levels. Ability to coordinate globalsourcing opportunities and communicate with management at all levelsof the apparel chain. Excellent presentation and communication skills

required. Proficient in Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word and Power Point.Travel Required.

Excellent Benefits, 401K and competitive salary.Please send resume to: humanresources.us@lenzing.com

SMILESTechnical Design Production Assistant

NY-based Women’s Apparel Importer seeks a personwho can sketch tops, pants, skirts, jackets and dresses.Responsibilities also include: issuing initial size spec’s,measure garments, issue fit comments / updates,communicate with overseas factories and have goodunderstanding of pattern making and garmentconstruction. smileshr@gmail.com

TECHNICALILLUSTRATOR

Fast past sportswear company seeksindividual with 2-3 years experience towork in busy design dept. Must knowPhotoshop, Adobe Illustrator and CAD.Must have knowledge of garment con-struction and details. Must be detailoriented, organized and able to workin a team oriented environment.

Please fax resume to:(212) 302-1980

ACCOUNT MANAGERMissy and Junior apparel manufacturerlooking for salesperson to open addi-tional accounts. Must have strongsecured relationships. Must have donebusiness with such relationships with-in the last month. Relationships musthave a minimum of $1,000,000 in salesper year. Fax resume to: 212-840-0500

Agent R.E.D. Int’lFeaturing globally marketed Europeanbrands. We’re looking to expand ourfamily & searching for an energeticindividual with a natural inclinationfor sales & at least 2 years experiencewithin the contemporary fashion market.You must be able to hit the groundrunning & have established contacts.You must also display strong communi-cation skills, both verbal & written.We have a competitive compensationstructure including generous vacationtime for the right person.

Email: genie@agentredintl.com

FT/PT Sales PersonDomestic Women’s Sportswear N.Y.C.SHOWROOM SALES PREFERRED

Busy office looking to expand. Greatworking environment; Fun & flexible.Generous compensation package, Faxor E-mail resumes to: 212-719-0362sean@cleveland streetny.com

Home TextilesAccount Executive

Importer/Converter seeking individual;self initiative with good communicationand organizational skills for customerservice & product development for thehome textile, decorative fabric & finishedproducts business. Knowledge ofTurkish and textiles degree are a plus.

Fax or email resume to: F: (212) 714-2021

E: recruit@edpausa.com

SALES / ADMINUpdated Knitwear, Tank & T-shirt Co.seeking exp’d Salesperson. Must havestrong existing relationships and est’dcontacts with all classes of trade.E-mail resume to: Jerinc@jamatex.com

SALES ASSISTANTNY wholesale co. seeks exec Asst. w/ atleast 3 yrs. exp. Please fax resume w/salary request to:

212-629-4027 or E-mailallicorp@aol.com

Sales Assistants / Clericals SUNNY LEIGH

Division of F.Y.C. Apparel GroupWe are looking for dynamic individualswho must possess analytical skills andhave strong computer knowledge inExcel and Word. You must have twoyears experience in the women’ssportswear market. You must be ableto take initiative in solving problems,be detail oriented and handle multipletasks in a very fast paced environment.Please email/fax resumes to Melanie at:

E: Melanie@allisontaylorfyc.comF: 212-302-3872

The highly anticipated launch of this Junior / ContemporarySportswear line requires the exceptional talents of the following:

SENIOR DESIGNERCandidates must be cutting edge, trend savvy, innovative andable to design/direct from initial concept through production.Must have extensive knowledge of wovens, denim, knits andtrim. Minimum 5 years experience in the junior/contemporarymarket. Highly organized and fast paced. Technical skillsinclude CAD, PDM, Illustrator / Photoshop, flat sketching andpresentations.

ASSISTANT DESIGNERHighly organized, self-motivated with good work ethic. Musthave strong sketching and specs, knowledge of garment con-struction. Team player with excellent communication skills.Photoshop / Illustrator. Web PDM a plus.

TECHNICAL DESIGNER (2)DENIM BOTTOMS & WOVEN TOPS /

KNITS - C & S AND SWEATERSKnowledge of pattern, measuring, construction and fit. Illus-trator / Outlook / Excel a must. Daily communication withoverseas vendors. Interaction with design, merchants andproduction teams. Web PDM a plus.

Please fax resume to: (631) 514-3131(Please indicate on cover letter the job you are applying for.)

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVELEI Knits and Active, a division of Jones Apparel Groupis seeking an Account Executive with 5+ years of experiencein handling major department stores & specialty chains.Position will interact with Sales, Design and Merchandising.

REQUIREMENTS: Experience in managing large and smallvolume areas, ability to interpret retail numbers for grossmargin, stock level, turn opportunities, ability to have financialaccountability internally, inventory levels brought to a plan,individual store plans, plan out customer business, plan byseason. Must have excellent computer and communicationskills. Some travel required.

To be considered for this position please apply at:http://careers.jny.com and reference job #1533

An EEO/Affirmative Action Employer

Sales AssociateTransprint USA, leading heat transferprint co, seeks self-motivated person tosell designs in all markets. Must haveselling exp & good organizational skills.Must be team player and able to work infast paced environment. ExcellentBenefits. Fax resume to: 212-967-5099Attn: David Morrison, Sales Mgr.

david@transprintusa.com

SALES EXECUTIVELeading Childrenswear Manufactureris seeking an energetic and motivatedaccount executive for it’s layette andbaby gift division. The ideal candidatewill have at least three years experi-ence in the baby industry plus a strongunderstanding of character licenses.This is an exciting career opportunity!

E-mail: ralphk@childapp.com orFax: (212) 967-8108, attn. Ralph Kassin

Sales ExecutiveRAMOSPORT

Better Ladies Outerwear Co. seeksexp’d & highly motivated salespersonfor speciality stores & mail order biz.Must have 2-3 exp & be results orient-ed. Outerwear background preferred.Excellent earning potential. Salary/benefits. Fax resume: 212-840-6877

Sales/MerchandisingJr/Contemporary Sweater /OuterwearCo seeks merchandiser /salesperson toshop stores, work w/ designers andsell. Must have knowledge of Jr.market for sweaters. Good benefits.Excellent work environment. Email/fax resume to: dleggio@yahoo.com

212-398-2087 Attn: Dora

Excellent OpportunitySeeking exp’d. Sportswear/DenimSALESPERSON w/strong relation-ships in Private Labels & Dept.Stores to work with our NY show-room. Fax or E-mail resume to:

212-730-1616david22818@msn.com

Sales PersonWe are looking for dynamic Sales Personfor Junior and Missy Sportswear. Idealcandidate must be w/ 5-8 yrs exp. w/ anexisting account base. Apply withexpected terms. Send resume to Amit:

Fax: 212-398-2579Email: amit.shescool@gmail.com

SALES REP FOR

NYC-METRO AREALaces, Embroideries & Trimmings

Email: hmann@carolace.com

Sales Reps WantedExperienced in Women’s knitted/wovenclothing. Excellent quality manufacturer.

Call 973-439-1196

OUTLAWFast paced Junior Co. seekinghigh energy, well connectedsales person for corporateshowroom. 3 yrs min exp.in dealing with dept. stores.

& specialty chain stores.West Coast based position.FAX RESUME 213 613 2281

Retail Coordinator for CA Bay AreaElie Tahari is currently looking for a Retail coordinator whowill visit department stores (Neiman Marcus, Saks,Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s west) in the San Fransisco area.Candidate should have at least 3 years of extraordinary retailsales experience, and preferably has established relation-ships in the stores.

Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to:• Merchandise the floor and give product knowledge seminars.• Work with stores to determine associate sales goals.• Assist and sell ET on the floor and help with events.• Work together with specialists and management in order to grow the ET business.• Excellent communication skills (work with stores as well as corporate buying office).• Includes traveling once a month and some work on weekends.

Qualified candidates should email their resume to:jobs@elietahari.com with subject line reading

" Retail Coordinator ". Please visit www.elietahari.com for information about

Elie Tahari products.

SOHO Boutique MgrWe are searching for an innovative,detail oriented self starter who lovesworking with people and is passionateabout fashion! You must have proventrack record in selling with full under-standing on how to run a retail store.Min. 3+ years of retail managementexp required. Compensation: competi-tive salary + bonus. E-mail resume to:

wwd_retailmanager@yahoo.com

NEED A FABULOUS SHOWROOM?*Atlanta 9th floor atrium *31 yrs exp.*

*Strong specialty store following**Extensive road travel*

Rick & Sarah Miller Call:404-525-1707

Contemporary Sales RepsTampa, FL based contemporary embellish-ed Sportswear Co. seeks aggressive SalesReps with well established accounts tosell line to boutiques and majors accrossthe country. Territories available.E-mail: Diane@dianedallagoltd.comTel: 813-890-8989 / Fax: 813-890-8987

SALESKnitted/woven/sweater outwears verticalfactories in China. Office in NY seeks

commission based Sales Reps.Email: sales@smfnyc.com

Sales Reps WantedCA based Missy updates separates Co.

seeks Sales Reps. All territories.Tel: 510-791-8608 / Fax: 510-324-8704

Sleepwear Sales RepPrivate label mfr, looking to sell mod-erate to better sleepwear line directlyto retailers & catalog companies.

E-mail: jancoent224@aol.com

SALESPERSONFashion design studio seeksteam player. We design &mfr a variety of lines. Studioin NY & our own factoriesin China.For info call 718-428-8828

UPDATED MISSYGrowing updated missy sportswear /sweater / active co. seeks salesperson.Must have strong relationships w/ dept& chain stores. Fax resume to:

866-281-4962

Global Sourcing /Prod Exec

Seeks new challenge. Professional withexpert technical, negotiating and man-agement skills. Money making history inladies/juniors sprtswr for mass market,mid tier and dept stores. Please reply to:

212-877-0249 / j62938@aol.com

Senior VP LicensingBROAD EXPERIENCE

SUCCESSFUL PROPhone 212-861-1128

Traffic/Import Coordinator TIBI

Will follow up on shipments andcoordinate drop shipments. Must haveknowledge of quota, customs andfreight booking. Excel, Outlook, Ariareq’d. Email resume Attn: Sara

sara.jordan@tibi.com

PROUD SPONSOR OF MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK AT SMASHBOX STUDIOS

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PAIR PLAYCalifornia casual takes on a new meaning this season with sharp vests, airy blouses and cashmere tops. Here, Ezekiel’s cotton vest, Corey Lynn Calter’s silk blouse, J Brand’s stretch cotton jeans, Trina Turk’s cashmere and silk top and Johnson’s silk shorts.

WWDCALIFORNIAINDEPTHSECTION II

By Khanh T.L. Tran

CALIFORNIA, WHICH HAS A BIGGEReconomy than Canada or Spain, casts a wide shadow on overall U.S. prosperity.

Several key indicators show that the most populous state, with the nation’s largest ap-parel industry and retail market, is now coming out of its economic slump. State rev-enues are growing, jobs are being created and there’s a revived technology industry — as well as strength in agriculture, tourism and, of course, entertainment.

State offi cials said California added 547,200 jobs from November 2003 to January 2006, compared with 149,500 jobs from January 2000 to November 2003, according to the state Employment Development Department. Last year alone, California netted an increase of 287,800 jobs. In February, the Milken Institute said California claimed fi ve of the top 30 U.S. metropolitan areas in terms of new jobs in 2005. The state’s unemployment rate, which hit 6.9 percent during the dot-com downturn of 2003, stood at 4.9 percent in January.

The personal incomes of Californians are forecast to increase 5.6 percent this year, ac-cording to Global Insight Inc., an economic and fi nancial analyst and forecasting company based in Waltham, Mass.

“We’ve got California growing even faster than the nation in 2006,” said Jim Diffl ey, a managing director at Global Insight, forecast-ing that national income will rise 5.2 percent.

The value of all products and services generated in the state totaled $1.53 trillion last year, putting California eighth among all global economies. A survey by Union Bank ranked “opportunities for growth’’ as the top reason for small businesses to open in California, and it estimated that 40 percent of small businesses in the state are planning to make capital expenditures in 2006.

Still, California must navigate through several eco-nomic challenges, from costly workers’ compensation insurance and the highest average home prices in the U.S. to rising energy costs and a state budget defi cit, even though tax revenue is running higher than an-ticipated. In addition, California’s apparel industry continues to shed jobs.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, who won offi ce in a recall election in 2003 and is seeking reelection this year, outlined a $125.6 billion bud-get in January that proposes higher spending for schools, health care, prisons, highways and transit systems. He also wants to boost the state minimum wage by a dollar to $7.75 over the next two years. The governor is awaiting a bill on the wage increase from the Democratic-controlled legislature, said Schwarzenegger spokesman Vincent Sollitto. An increase in the minimum wage would likely help retail spending.

The chief fi scal analyst for the California legisla-ture, Elizabeth G. Hill, warned in February that the state’s economic risks include increased energy costs and a steeper-than-expected cooling-off of real estate sales and construction activity. “A more pronounced slowdown in California’s economy during the next two years…could easily reduce general fund revenues by as much as $4 billion from our projected level in 2006-07,” Hill wrote in her budget analysis.

The price of California real estate is so high that an increasing number of people can’t afford to live in the state, which means companies are unable to hire some qualifi ed workers, which can force businesses to relocate to less expensive markets.

“High housing prices are going to constrain California’s growth in the next decade,” said Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center of Real Estate at the University of California at Berkeley. He said that if it weren’t for high home prices, California’s economy could grow at a rate of more than 2 percent, instead of the projected 1.4 percent.

The 2005 median price for a single-family home

was $715,700 in the San Francisco Bay Area and $529,000 in the Los Angeles metropolitan region, including Long Beach, the National Association of Realtors said. Those fi gures compare with a medi-an price of $194,500 in Raleigh, N.C., and $247,400 in Phoenix.

That’s why Patagonia, the Ventura, Calif.-based outdoor clothier, is taking matters into its own hands. The privately held company is looking for real estate on which it can build apartments for new employees who are unable to immediately buy housing, said founder Yvon Chouinard. The fi rm also is consider-ing moving some employees to Reno, Nev., where it is doubling the size of a 171,000-square-foot distribution center, while keeping marketing and design teams in Ventura. “If housing prices don’t come down soon, if the bubble doesn’t burst, we’ll be forced to do that,” Chouinard said. “We’re not able to attract the best people for the lower jobs.”

Even as overall employment rises, Japanese car-maker Nissan announced in November that it will re-locate its North American headquarters and transfer about 1,300 jobs to Tennessee from Gardena, a suburb 15 miles south of Los Angeles, partly to take advantage of more favorable tax rates. Engineering and construc-tion fi rm Fluor said it will move its headquarters to Irving, Tex., which is outside Dallas, from Aliso Viejo, although its engineering and operations divisions will remain in California.

These departures are a recurring theme, U.C. Berkeley’s Rosen said. In the 2001-2004 period, rep-resenting the most recent data available, 250,000 peo-ple left California for neighboring states, including Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. (For more on corpo-rate relocations to Nevada, see p. 10.)

Apparel companies worry that a higher mini-mum wage would further erode California’s apparel manufacturing base. “It’ll certainly be a negative to the overall business,” said Jeff Silver, operations and fi nance chief for Jerry Leigh Inc., an apparel maker that produces less than 20 percent of its

products in California. “Every step in the supply chain will be affected.”

With 136,600 workers, the textile and apparel in-dustry is the 10th largest employer among California industries, behind sectors such as tourism, interna-tional freight, aerospace, technology and entertain-ment, said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Last year, Los Angeles County lost 4,900 jobs in apparel manufacturing and is projected to shed another 2,500 this year, he said. “The industry seems to be bot-toming out,” he said. “We have become a design and marketing center.”

Growth in California is generated by three geo-graphical regions. The Bay Area is buoyed by tourism, international freight business and a revived technol-ogy industry led by Apple, Google and eBay. Southern California has a diversifi ed market fueled by port activity, tourism, entertainment, technology and ap-parel. And the Central Valley, which stretches from Bakersfi eld to Stockton, is adding distribution servic-es to its agriculture-based economy.

As the state’s biggest city, Los Angeles is suscep-tible to a real estate slowdown that would constrict tax revenues. Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa projected a defi cit of $271 million in his new budget. Meanwhile, the city will have to earmark an additional $200 mil-lion for its pension funds while projecting new rev-enue growth of only $300 million, said Joe Ramallo, spokesman for Villaraigosa. “He’s looking fi rst at cut-ting waste and eliminating ineffi ciencies before look-ing to raise any fees or taxes,” Ramallo said.

Another concern is lack of job growth in the enter-tainment industry. “We’re losing some movie produc-tion to other countries and other places in the U.S.,” said Howard Roth, chief economist for the state’s Department of Finance.

Still, for many companies, the benefi ts of being in the Golden State are worth the price. They are fi rms such as jeans maker 575 Denim, which must ensure

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Revival and RiskDespite new jobs and growing tax revenues, California’s economy is coping with high home costs and shrinking apparel manufacturing.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger presented his state budget proposal in January, shortly after a motorcycle accident earlier in the month.

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that its fl agship brand stays ahead in the competitive premium denim market and can justify a $90 whole-sale price. The Los Angeles-based company plans to increase its staff of 240 employees by 20 percent this year. “I want to make sure everything is behind the product,” said 575 Denim founder and designer Frank Mechaly. “It would be impossible to do if the facility were in China.”

Schwarzenegger’s administration acknowl-edges that there will always be companies seeking the least expensive location to do business. “California does not compete pure-ly on cost,” said the governor’s spokesman, Sollitto. “We recognize that there will always be places that will be cheaper to live or there will be states that will spend taxpayers’ money to lure companies. And California will not and cannot do it.”

Sollitto said that Schwarzenegger revamped the workers’ compensation insurance system so that premiums paid by companies and non-profi t organizations were almost halved, sav-ing employers at least $8.1 billion over the last three years.

And industry executives such as Moshe Tsabag, chief executive offi cer of Hot Kiss in Los Angeles, are bullish on California. Tsabag predicted that a larger teen population will help boost his wholesale volume by 25 percent to $50 million this year. He said Hot Kiss will open its fi rst branded store in Los Angeles in 2007, with additional shops slated later for New York, Miami and Chicago. “We have a healthy economy in California,” Tsabag said.

California’s economy is but one piece of a highly segmented pie, said Dick Baker, presi-dent of surf brand Op, which is owned by Warnaco Group Inc. “The consumers today, what they are wearing is very similar in Tokyo and Biarritz [France] and Orange County and Rio de Janeiro,” he said. “It’s a very international product base.”

To retain and grow businesses in California and accommodate fi ve million new residents in the next decade — the state has a current population of 36.1 million — Schwarzenegger outlined in January a multiyear, $222 billion public works package promising 1,200 miles of new highway and more than 2,000 new schools, among other improvements. The proposal,

which would be fi nanced using state and federal money and $68 billion in new state bonds, would be a boon to the construction industry. The borrowing re-quires approval from the legislature and voters.

Another idea that’s been fl oated for years is a partnership between private enterprise and the gov-ernment to build an exclusive toll lane for trucks heading to and from the Los Angeles-Long Beach

ports, the biggest in the U.S.Demand for energy also will escalate.

Schwarzenegger wants to improve the state’s energy outlook by importing liquefi ed natural gas from over-seas and investing in transmission lines from the Rocky Mountains to California.

“The governor’s focus is on the big picture in im-proving the business environment,” Sollitto said.

Continued from page 2

High housing costs in California have constrained the state’s growth.

Port activity and international freight are key to California’s diversifi ed economy.

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California style is more than camisoles paired with jeans. West Coast designers are going for sleek, sophisticated looks this season, from sharp blazers and comfy sweaters to chic dresses and tops.

From left: Hurley’s cotton, polyester and rayon blazer and cotton and ramie sweater with Levi’s Capital E denim jeans. Vans sneakers. Michael Stars’ cotton T-shirt and Michon Shur’s silk skirt. Mia & Kompany necklace; LD Tuttle shoes. Michele Mason’s cotton dress. Orlika necklaces; Mia & Kompany ring; Lesa Wallace clutch; Marcello Toshi shoes. Morphine Generation’s cotton shirt and jeans. Vans sneakers.

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7WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

From left: Split’s angora sweater vest and Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent’s silk and rayon dress. Mia & Kompany necklaces; Marcello Toshi shoes. Volcom’s cotton vest and pants with Split’s cotton shirt. Vans sneakers. Roxy’s cotton jacket; Guess’ rayon and Lurex halter, and Hudson’s cotton jean shorts. Leather Island belt; Anyi Lu shoes.

From left: Split’s angora sweater vest and Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent’s silk and rayon dress. Mia & Kompany necklaces; Marcello Toshi shoes. Volcom’s cotton vest and pants with Split’s cotton shirt. Vans sneakers. Roxy’s cotton jacket; Guess’ rayon and Lurex halter, and Hudson’s cotton jean shorts. Leather Island belt; Anyi Lu shoes.

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From left: Volcom’s silk taffeta dress. Mia & Kompany cuff; B. Romanek clutch; LD Tuttle shoes. True Love False Idols’ polyester blazer; 3 dots’ cotton T-shirt, and Kasil’s cotton jeans. Vans sneakers. True Love False Idols’ cotton sweatshirt and Generic Youth’s cotton T-shirt and jeans. Vans sneakers. Geren Ford’s silk dress. Zink necklace; Mia & Kompany ring; Marcello Toshi boots.

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9WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

From left: BCBG’s silk dress. Goldenbleu shoes. Wyeth’s silk camisole; Seven For All Mankind’s stretch cotton jeans, and Trovata’s wool and polyester jacket (on chair). Zinc necklace; Calleen Cordero belt; Mia & Kompany ring; Marcello Toshi shoes.

From left: Juicy Couture’s rayon and silk velvet blazer and silk blouse and Zinc’s polyester, nylon and spandex shorts. Anyi Lu shoes. AG’s cotton jacket; Tart’s stretch cotton dress, and Self Esteem’s cotton, spandex and polyester camisole. Rachel Abrams necklace; B. Romanek clutch; LD Tuttle heels. Juicy Couture’s leather jacket; Quiksilver’s cotton sweater and shirt, and 575’s cotton jeans.

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By Khanh T.L. Tran

“GO WEST” IS THE TIMEWORN ADVICE TO fortune-seekers. For California companies, it might be better to go east — to Nevada.

Famous for its casinos, legalized prostitution and quickie marriages and divorces, Nevada is sprucing up its image as a business-friendly state that doesn’t tax corporate and personal income, inventory or gross receipts.

The makeover comes primarily at California’s expense. The Golden State has been skewered in a series of advertising campaigns that shine a glaring light on the high workers’ compensation fees, energy bills and labor laws that make it diffi cult for busi-nesses in California.

On March 17, three days prior to launching a $3.5 million campaign, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman stood in the rain in a navy pinstriped suit and tossed peanut bags to offi ce workers in the middle of down-town Los Angeles. His transportation was a blue double-decker bus covered with the slogan: “Stop working for peanuts. Take your act to Las Vegas.”

“I’m trying to create an intellectual marketplace down there [in Las Vegas],” Goodman said.

Somer Hollingsworth, chief executive offi cer of the Nevada Development Authority, a non-profi t organiza-tion that tries to attract non-gaming business to southern Nevada, spearheaded the peanut campaign. He estimated that from 2002 to 2007, companies new to southern Nevada will generate $592.7 million in wages and $100 million in sales, property and payroll taxes. “We have to diversify this economy,” Hollingsworth said.

Another marketing initiative, started in 2003 by a consortium of Nevada trade groups and budgeted at roughly $600,000 per year, took potshots at California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state’s bear mascot. Mocking Schwarzenegger’s action fl icks such as “The Terminator,” the punch line asked, “Will your business be terminated?” Another tag line teased that California’s cost of living had become so prohibitive that even the bear on the state fl ag had decamped to Nevada. A billboard hoisted above a busy intersection at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street explained that the bear was “found doing business in Nevada.”

“There is not a perception out there that we’re a dynamic business climate,” said Julie Ardito, spokes-woman for the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, which helped pay for the campaign.

Nevada has momentum. Sixty-fi ve companies, ranging from software makers InfoGenesis and PC-Doctor Inc. to confectioner Kimmie Candy Co., have moved to Nevada from California in the last two years, Ardito said.

Nevada trade groups said the state attracts com-panies in technology, life sciences, industrial manu-facturing and construction, rather than in the fashion and apparel industry. That’s because the biggest chal-lenge for designers and clothing manufacturers is

fi nding workers in Nevada with expertise in design, pattern making, brand management and production.

Still, there are qualifi ed people who work on costumes for casino shows. Lauren Molasky, the 22-year-old designer behind contemporary label Lauren Jane, said she had great response to ads for people to make samples and patterns in Las Vegas, but she was looking to fi ll only two positions. Still, Molasky said, living in Las Vegas “separates me from all the Los Angeles-based designers.”

North of Las Vegas in Reno, the talent pool is smaller, said John Kirsch, ceo of outdoor clothier Sportif USA. “When it comes to the traditional gar-ment design, obviously, there is not a lot of depth in Reno,” he said. Still, Sportif, which moved to Reno from the San Fernando Valley in 1971 and owns a factory in Sri Lanka, won’t return to California. “We draw very little from the L.A. market,” Kirsch said.

Scott Szybala, president of Skagen Designs Ltd., said it has been diffi cult to hire “creative people” to design and market its Danish design-inspired watches, eyewear and soon-to-be-introduced leather brief-cases and handbags. “We’re still hopeful,” Szybala said. Nonetheless, after relocating to Reno from Long Island, N.Y., in 1990, Skagen saw a trade-off in tax ben-efi ts, a lower cost of living and central location to cities such as San Francisco and Salt Lake City, he said.

Patagonia Inc. in 1996 moved distribution opera-tions to Reno from its headquarters in Ventura, Calif., for better access to fi shing, hiking and the Sierra Mountains as well as low construction costs and tax benefi ts, said Dave Abeloe, the outdoor company’s distribution center director. Patagonia saved “mil-lions” after the relocation, he said.

The proximity to California’s metropoli benefi ts Nevada. It takes four hours to drive to Reno from San Francisco and fi ve hours to Las Vegas from Los Angeles. Many Californians cross the border to ski, gamble,

shop at outlet malls and dine at world-class restau-rants. Southern California publications, including L.A. Weekly, are stuffed with ads for performances by Cirque du Soleil and other entertainment in Sin City.

“The biggest, most important market to Vegas is Los Angeles,” said Jeff Wagner, president of public relations fi rm Wagner/Junker Agency in Hollywood, which plans to open an offi ce in Las Vegas by July.

California, with one of the world’s largest econo-mies, isn’t exactly running scared from its much smaller neighbor, but at local and state levels, it has started to fi ght back.

“If you’re a serious business, perhaps Las Vegas is the last place where you want to go to,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., criticizing Nevada’s largest city for its relatively undeveloped transporta-tion system and reliance on entertainment.

Schwarzenegger launched a counterattack against Nevada in 2004 with a national initiative stating: “California wants your business.” The governor posed for photos as head of “Arnold’s Moving Co.” to help fi rms relocate from Las Vegas to the Golden State.

But Schwarzenegger can’t change economic reali-ties. “Nevada tries to steal California’s lunch,” said Stephen M. Miller, chairman of the economics depart-ment at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. “Most of our growth is fueled by Southern Californians com-ing here and cashing in their home equity,” he said.

Diann Tonnesen, a real estate agent in Henderson, Nev., outside Las Vegas, said Californians make up 60 percent of her clients. “A lot of them are in their 50s, not retired yet, but getting ready to retire,” she said.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median price for a single-family home in 2005 was $304,700 in Las Vegas and $349,900 in Reno. In comparison, the median price was $529,000 in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, including Long Beach, and $715,700 in the San Francisco Bay area.

Las Vegas is home to the country’s third-largest convention center. MAGIC International began show-ing there in 1989 after a decade in the Los Angeles Convention Center because it needed more space. Ernae Mothershed, a spokeswoman for MAGIC in Woodland Hills, Calif., said the show has doubled in size since its fi rst production in Las Vegas. Each show (there are two a year) generates $145.4 million in non-gaming revenue.

It’s no surprise that entrepreneurs like Ivan Kane chase the more than 50 million tourists who visit Nevada each year. “People are coming to spend money,” said the owner of Los Angeles burlesque nightclub Ivan Kane’s Forty Deuce, which expanded to Las Vegas in November 2004. “In my line of busi-ness, it’s a fantastic thing,” Kane said.

Retailers also fl ock to Las Vegas. Juicy Couture, based in Los Angeles, opened its fi rst boutique there. Even some luxury brands, including shoe label Giuseppe Zanotti, preferred Las Vegas’ Strip over Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive for their retail debut on the West Coast. Levi Strauss & Co. said it chose Las Vegas as the site for its 18th freestanding store be-cause the city is becoming a major shopping destina-tion. “It’s the new Beverly Hills experience for some people,” said Levi’s spokeswoman Amy Jasmer.

Panning the Golden StateWith economic incentives and ad campaigns, Nevada goes prospecting for California businesses.

Here and above: Nevada trade groups are posting billboards in a play for California businesses.

Two Rodeo, Beverly Hills208 Rodeo, Badgley Mischka, Baracci, Bernard K. Passman Galleries, Breguet, Buccellati, Cole Haan, Gianfranco Ferre, Escada, Ferragamo,

Georg Jensen, Gucci Fine Jewelry, James Elliot/Bez Ambar, José Eber Atelier Beverly Hills, Judith Ripka, KAJE, Lalique, A Pacific Seafood Grill By McCormick & Schmick’s, Persol for Max & Co., Pierre Deux, Porsche Design, Tiffany & Co., Urasawa, Versace, Vilebrequin, Westime

At the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard. Valet parking on Dayton Way. ph. 310.247.7040 2rodeo.comFor leasing information, please contact Hanna Struever at Retail Portfolio Solutions. ph. 949.715.9032

Tw o R o d e o Inspired Pop

The real estate boom puts California’s Central Valley on the retail map.

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By Emili Vesilind

CALIFORNIA’S CENTRAL VALLEY HAS BEEN THE COUNTRY COUSINto the Golden State’s glittering coastal communities for generations.

But the region — Stanislaus, Merced, Mariposa, Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties — is California’s bread basket, a wide-open landscape that is home to most of the state’s approximately 84,000 farms and produces hundreds of commodities, most notably dairy products, cotton, grapes, lettuce and almonds. Agriculture accounts for 21 percent of all income and 25 percent of all employ-ment in the Central Valley, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation.

Although the region’s reputation may grow from its agricultural roots, the recent interest in commercial and residential real estate in the Central Valley — fueled by population spillover from California’s biggest cities — may leave its image in the dust.

“What’s going on is a population shift that’s been going on for three or four years,” said Stephen Fisher, retail real estate agent for CB Richard Ellis in Fresno. “Things are so expensive [elsewhere], and the valley still represents a reasonably decent buy, both from a residential and investment standpoint. What we see is people relocating from [coastal cities] and buying a bigger and better house for half the price here.”

During California’s development in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Central Valley attracted largely blue-collar workers, a demographic that remains strong in the region. The average household income in Fresno was $40,473 in 2003, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Four of the county’s top 12 employers are food-processing companies, the local Economic Development Corp. reported.

Because of its socioeconomic makeup, the region has been somewhat ignored by upscale housing devel-opers, residential buyers and major retailers — until recent years.

The nationwide housing boom, which ramped up in 2001 and is only now leveling off, didn’t miss the Central Valley.

“The housing market has gone crazy in the last four years here,” said John B. Hans, a com-mercial and industrial real estate agent for Fortune Associates in Fresno. “It’s gone up 20 to 25 percent.”

And though most residential real estate brokers in the area agree that sales are leveling off — 38,300 homes sold statewide in January, down 27.5 percent from 52,800 in December and down 9.5 percent from 42,300 in January 2005 — the housing market in the Central Valley is still bustling.

“We’re still selling a house a day,” said David Crisp, a residential real estate agent and novice developer in Bakersfi eld. “I saw 46 percent price

Central Stage

The Central Valley is made up of seven counties and stretches 245 miles, from Bakersfi eld, 90 minutes north of Los Angeles, to Stockton, 60 miles east of San Francisco.

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NORTHERN CITIESRedding: $223,176Sacramento: $375,900San Francisco: $715,700San Jose: $744,500Mill Valley: $874,508

CENTRAL VALLEY CITIESVisalia: $179,801Bakersfi eld: $181,202Fresno: $243,000Modesto: $257,533Stockton: $266,068

SOUTHERN CITIESLong Beach: $529,000West Hollywood: $556,964San Diego: $604,300Santa Monica: $827,729Beverly Hills: $1,323,721

Median Sale Prices for Single-Family Homes in 2005Sweet Home California

SOURCES: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, CNNMONEY.COMContinued on page 14

Department store Kohl’s has opened 28 locations in California since 2003, including a handful in the Central Valley.

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increases last year. This year, it will be 15 to 20 percent increases. Houses are sit-ting on the market longer because their sellers are trying to sell for the top, top dollar. That’s over.”

Despite comparatively higher prices, buying in the Central Valley remains far less expensive than buying near the coast. “The area is still the second most affordable in California,” said Donna Waddel, vice president of market develop-ment at Guarantee Real Estate in Fresno.

According to statistics from the National Association of Realtors and the California Department of Finance, the median sale price of single-family homes in Central Valley cities is about half what it is in San Francisco and San Jose, and roughly a third less than that of cities in Southern California.

The median home price in Tulare County in mid-2005 was $190,000, an 86 per-cent increase from 2000. Fresno, the Central Valley’s most populous city, with an estimated 464,727 residents, according to the California Department of Finance, has seen the highest price hikes in residential real estate: The average home price in mid-2005 was $243,000, up 129 percent from 2000.

Home buying is, of course, a byproduct of population increase. Fresno County’s population grew by 67,116 residents between 2000 and July 2004, according to the Census Bureau, and the agency named neighboring Madera County among the 100 fastest-growing U.S. counties, with a population growth rate of 3.9 percent between 2003 and 2004, when the population hit 138,951.

The Central Valley communities of Bakersfi eld, 90 minutes north of Los Angeles, and Stockton, 60 miles east of San Francisco, are becoming a draw for commuters.

“Even though growth has gone up dramatically, it’s still less expensive [than Los Angeles and San Francisco],” said Scott Manson, senior vice president of apparel and general merchandise manager at Gottschalks, the largest department store chain in the Central Valley, with 63 units. “I think, for right now, the growth of the Central Valley will continue, based on longer commute times, but a better quality of life.”

Commercial real estate costs in California have risen just as sharply as resi-dential costs, and, as in the residential market, the high prices are driving busi-ness owners out of coastal regions and, in many cases, toward the Central Valley.

Prices in L.A.’s most luxury-minded shopping districts range from around $5 per square foot on Melrose Avenue to around $25 per square foot on Rodeo Drive.

And in San Francisco, asking commercial rents in the central business district hit $28.86 per square foot in October 2005.

In Glendale, an L.A. suburb with population and income statistics comparable to Fresno’s, prime retail space costs about $2.75 to $4 per square foot per month.

In contrast, commercial rents in “reasonably vibrant shopping districts” in Fresno start at about $1.20, said Fisher of CB Richard Ellis. “In newer areas like Riverpark and Fig Garden Village [two major shopping centers], rents can be anywhere from $2 to $2.50 per square foot.” Commercial leasing rates in the most coveted parts of up-and-coming Madera range from $1.25 to $1.65, said Fisher, adding that Visalia rents are $1.80 to $2.

Visalia is the town where most new retailers have been opening in Tulare County, said Paul Saldana, president and chief executive offi cer of the Tulare County Economic Development Corp. “In the last couple of years, we’ve had well over 2 million square feet of retail commercial space that’s been added to the county, varied in size and type,” he said, listing Home Depot, Target

and Kohl’s among the recent arrivals.Saldana added that there are several projects slated for development in the

city of Tulare, including a new Wal-Mart. “Even our smaller communities are gaining from some of the major retailers looking at the buying power that comes from the growth of the population.”

Kohl’s, the Wisconsin-based department store chain, has staged one of the most aggressive infi ltrations of the region in recent years, opening 28 stores in California since March 2003, including Central Valley locations in Fresno, Modesto, Turlock, Stockton and Visalia. On March 2, Kohl’s opened a new store in Manteca, just south of Stockton.

“We now have over 70 stores [in California],” said a company spokeswoman. “We expect to be more aggressive with our expansion plans in the Southwest over the next fi ve years, particularly in California. We plan to open 80 to 85 stores this year, ultimately reaching over 1,200 stores by 2010.”

Zinkin Development, based in Fresno, is making room for the retail newcom-ers. Company owner DeWayne Zinkin spearheaded four recent and upcoming multiuse projects in the Central Valley, in collaboration with Fresno real estate fi rm Commercial West Associates.

Among the highlights is a multiuse center located in what Zinkin calls the “golden loop,” an as yet unnamed, horseshoe-shaped, 26-acre parcel of land in Fresno. The project will include 250,000 square feet of retail space across the “loop” from a 133,247-square-foot offi ce building. Construction begins “in the next 60 days,” said Zinkin. Retail tenants have yet to be announced.

Also on Zinkin’s résumé is the Riverview Shopping Center, a $15 million retail project in downtown Fresno. The outdoor complex features 120,000 square feet of retail space and specialty store tenants such as She She, which carries better young contemporary brands Sweetees and Rock & Republic, and Angelica Haley, which stocks Italian designer apparel from Blumarine, Prada and Gucci.

Zinkin is building a third shopping center (as yet un-named) in Fresno with 50,000 square feet of retail space. It is scheduled to open in the next 10 to 12 months, he said. Retail tenants have yet to be announced.

The developer is also making fi nal plans for a shopping center in Madera. The project will have 50,000 square feet of retail space anchored by a major depart-ment store. Zinkin said he was talking to “the biggest retailers in the country,” add-ing that construction on the shopping center will begin in the next six months.

All this expansion in the region, however, is not likely to come without costs. Leland Shapiro, a professor in the agriculture and natural resources depart-

ment of Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., said that agriculture eventually will be pushed out of the Central Valley, creating a trade imbalance and forcing the U.S. to import the commodities grown in the region.

“When building homes, you often destroy the part of the land where the soil comes off the rivers,” Leland said, “and that’s the land best suited to growing the best crops.”

Irrigation also poses problems. “It takes a lot of water to grow food, but so many people are moving into California, there’s competition for the water,” Leland said. “But if you take water away from the farmer, you have to pay for [food] as an export.”

Developers eyeing the Central Valley may meet some resistance from envi-ronmental groups when encroaching on existing farmland, though frequently the farmers themselves are selling to developers for top dollar.

And if growth continues here at even a fraction of its current pace, retailers would be wise to expect an increasingly savvy consumer to surface in the Central Valley communities.

“The local customer is becoming more sophisticated,” said Manuela Frignani-Perkins, co-owner of Angelica Haley at Riverview Shopping Center, which opened in 2004. “However, it takes a lot of education. You have to nurse your clientele and educate them about the brands.”

Metropark, an 11-door young contemporary chain owned by Hot Topic, opened in Fresno’s Fashion Fair mall in December. “There happens to be a lot of dispos-able income in Fresno,” said Renee Bell, vice president and general merchandise manager. “We had an inclination that they would be hungry to shop.”

Helena Etchart-Tin opened her third women’s apparel specialty store, What’s Up Europe? Exclusive Designs, in Visalia last year. The retailer, who was raised in Milan, agreed that the Central Valley consumer is evolving.

“People [here] who really go to events used to go to buy [apparel] in San Francisco. They never bought in Visalia,” she said. “Then it changed a lot, start-ing a few years ago. This area is growing so much and it’s changing the type of life that is here — it’s an incredible environment.”

Central Stage Continued from page 12

“The housing market has gone crazy in the last

four years here. ” — John B. Hans, Fortune Associates

Metropark, an 11-store young-contemporary chain owned by Hot Topic, opened at Fresno’s Fashion Fair mall in December.

Angelica Haley, which stocks designer apparel from Prada, Gucci and Blumarine, opened in 2004 at Fresno’s Riverview Shopping Center.

By Joanna Ramey

SAN FRANCISCO — This iconic city of steep hills and striking bay views is also resilient, and its economy is finally emerging from the withering effects of the dot-com bust and 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The business climate here has strengthened, par-ticularly in the last 12 months, buoyed by the city’s retail, fi nancial and legal sectors and the second consecutive year of increased tourism, analysts said. Still, there are no expectations of a return to the late Nineties, when Internet start-ups in the Bay Area generated new wealth and consumer spending.

Among the most visible signs of San Francisco’s changing fortunes is Union Square, the city’s main retail neighborhood, clustered around a palm tree-bordered piazza and extending for 36 square blocks. Neiman Marcus is expanding and Nordstrom and Macy’s have spruced up. The area also has welcomed Swedish fashion-for-less chain H&M and Forever 21.

The improved economic forecast comes as Bloomingdale’s is set to open its fi rst San Francisco store this fall, on Market Street downtown, in the ex-panded Westfi eld San Francisco Centre, where it will join Nordstrom and 111 new specialty stores. Upscale sportswear phenom Juicy Couture is to bow in August on nearby Grant Street, with European luxury pur-veyors Bottega Veneta and Hermès as neighbors. And Barneys New York continues to scout space in the city, a company spokeswoman said.

“San Francisco is on the upswing,” said Keitaro Matsuda, senior economist, Union Bank of California, citing the city’s 4.7 percent unemployment rate in January — the latest fi gure available — compared with 4.9 percent for all of California. Neither rate is seasonally adjusted.

A year ago, 5.6 percent of the city’s workforce was jobless, compared with 8 percent in 2003 and 3 per-cent in 2000.

Business and leisure travelers are key economic bellwethers here, generating one-third of the city’s retail sales, according to the offi ce of Mayor Gavin Newsom. So there was anxiety when hotel occupancy rates plummeted to 65 percent in 2002 from an his-toric peak of 82 percent in 2000, the height of the dot-com rush, according to PKF Consulting, which advises the city’s visitors bureau.

Occupancy rates last year increased to 76.4 per-cent, a 4.1 percent boost from 2004, and the largest gain since 2002, PKF Consulting added. This year is the 100th anniversary of San Francisco’s greatest comeback — from the earthquake and fi re that de-stroyed most of the city — and occupancy rates are expected to reach 78 percent.

“Even a small bump in the tourism economy can make a difference in San Francisco,” said Stephen Levy, director and senior economist with the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, Palo Alto. He said the city, which has fewer than 800,000 people, is more dependent on tourists and conventioneers than other places in the nine-county Bay Area, including Oakland and San Jose.

Like most consumer spending in San Francisco, sales of women’s apparel tracked the falloff in visi-tors and has rebounded, according to California gov-ernment statistics. In 2000, merchants sold a then-city record of $251.3 million worth of women’s clothing. By 2002, sales for the category fell almost 9.6 percent to $227 million, before heading upward. By 2004, wom-en’s apparel sales set a new record of $257.7 million.

Final 2005 fi gures aren’t in, but women’s clothing sales were up 7.3 percent and 9.5 percent in the fi rst and second quarters, respectively, compared with the same periods in the previous year. A state spokes-woman couldn’t provide quarterly dollar comparisons.

Other retail sectors took larger tumbles during the downturn: Men’s apparel sales dropped 18 percent in 2002 to $64.9 million from $74 million in 2000. Home furnishings sales fell 25 percent in 2002 to $397.5 mil-lion from $532.3 million in 2000.

The Union Square district took a hit as many family-run retail shops, selling items such as cam-eras, luggage and decorative arts, began to go out of business, said real estate brokers and executives.

“There were so many retail space vacancies after the dot-com bust and 9/11 [that] it was easy to pick up retail leases relatively cheap,’’ said Nathan Nayman, executive director for the Committee on Jobs, a coalition of some of San Francisco’s largest employ-ers, including Levi Strauss & Co., Gap, Wells Fargo and Charles Schwab. “That’s not the case now.”

In the late Nineties, demand for retail space also was intense. “The joke was, if LVMH doesn’t want a space, call Gucci,” said Seth Nodelman, Union Square broker for Cushman-Wakefi eld.

Prada’s dot-com-era ambitions involved buying 185 Post Street, a block from the square, for $18.5 million in 1996. The Italian luxury fashion merchant never developed the property — even after hiring Dutch ar-chitect Rem Koolhaas. He designed a steel-sheathed, 10-story structure covered with round windows that was to be one of Prada’s signature stores. The com-pany sold the property last year for $11 million to British real estate concern Grosvenor Group, which is seeking a retail tenant.

Across Post Street, Prada has kept a former Brooks Bros. store, which is vacant, and is three years into a 10-year lease, real estate brokers said. The company operates a store a block away on Geary Street, where neighbors include Gucci, Betsey Johnson and Lacoste.

“We’re evaluating potential growth opportunity in the market,” a Prada spokeswoman said. “The current location is doing well.”

Vikki Johnson, president of Johnson Hoke Ltd., a commercial real estate broker, said average retail rents in the Union Square area are in excess of $200 a square foot, about the same as in 1998, when the dot-com craze took off. Rents crested at more than $300 a square foot by early 2001. Johnson said rents fell in 2002 to less than $200 a square foot before starting to edge up.

“We’re right back to a very nice, healthier mar-ket, like we’ve springboarded from 1998 until now,” Johnson said, noting annual rent increases are about 4 percent.

Johnson said she has been in talks with Barneys to locate the luxury store in a space on Stockton Street once occupied by Joseph Magnin, a locally based con-temporary fashion powerhouse that folded in 1984. A Barneys spokeswoman declined comment.

In Union Square, H&M opened a 43,000-square-foot store in December. It is the chain’s fi rst West Coast location. Down the block, competitor Forever 21 opened in 2004 in a 27,500-square-foot space across from San Francisco-based Gap’s four-fl oor fl agship at the corner of Market Street.

As newcomers face off, ensconced rivals are ratch-eting up. At Macy’s on Union Square, which is the chain’s West Coast fl agship, the fi ne jewelry, watch and handbag departments have been expanded and made easier to navigate. The front door has been relocated from a side street to the plaza. The second-fl oor shoe department has been redesigned with a comfy living room-like feeling.

“On a busy Saturday, I can have 100 sales staff ” in the shoe department, said Lori Randolph, the man-ager of Macy’s on Union Square, which she said is second in sales to the retailer’s Herald Square store in New York.

Neiman Marcus, with a glass-covered front at Geary and Stockton Streets, is renovating its entire 250,000-square-foot space. When completed this fall, the store will be the largest in the 35-store Dallas-based luxury chain, a company spokeswoman said.

Changes to Neiman’s include creating individual designer shops on the second fl oor with the ambience of boutiques for lines such as Valentino, YSL, Chado, Eskander and Donna Karan, said John Capizzi, vice president and general store manager.

“It’s all for the luxury customer who understands luxury,” Capizzi said.

Nordstrom, four blocks from the square, cov-ers 350,000 square feet on Market Street. Four new in-store boutiques are being built for designer la-bels Chloé, Missoni, Donna Karan and Armani. A Nordstrom spokeswoman declined to give sales, but said the store is “in our top 10” in sales at the 155-store Seattle-based chain.

But Nordstrom isn’t the only San Francisco Centre tenant to post big numbers, according to a spokes-woman for the mall’s manager, Australia’s Westfi eld Group. She said sales among the 70 specialty stores, excluding Nordstrom, increased 7 percent last year to $659 a square foot, well above the industry average of $200 to $300 a square foot. “It’s among our best-per-forming portfolios in the U.S.,” the spokeswoman said.

Westfi eld also is developing a $440 million addi-tion to the mall that will house the 357,740-square-foot Bloomingdale’s. The addition is expected to generate $600 million in annual sales and attract 25 million shoppers a year, according to a presentation prepared for local tourism offi cials by Steve Eimer, vice president of development for Westfi eld.

Richard Green, vice chairman of Westfi eld’s U.S. operations, said the Union Square retail zone is “vital.… If you’re fortunate to fi gure out how to get in, it’s a must-be market.”

SECTION II

CALIFORNIA IN DEPTH

WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

WWD.COM

16

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With the dot-com bust well behind them, the city’s shopping districts are booming again.

San Francisco Bounces Back

Union Square is San Francisco’s retail epicenter.

JUNIORS: With so many options these days, it’s no wonder PYTs have a hard time getting dressed in the morning. Enter the latest in convenience fashion: the “twofer,” two items attached together for one price. Cali designer Amy Tan of Amy Tangerine popularized the short-sleeve over long-sleeve T-shirt style a few years back, and the latest combo is a denim mini attached to a pair of leggings, by It Jeans. Sure beats putting a look together the old-fashioned way, as Ashlee Simpson demonstrates here.

DENIM: Denim is softening up. Not with more stonewashing and rock tumble-drying, but in new, touch-me fabrics like fl eece and combed cotton. Brands like True Religion and Stitches are cutting their trusty denim silhouettes in knits, showing that there’s always room in the market for clothes that are even more comfortable than jeans, yet less casual than a tracksuit. In fact, True Religion chief executive offi cer Jeff Lubell thinks his knit “jeans” with matching jackets will replace the ubiquitous comfort outfi t someday. “I was getting sick of the Juicy velour suit,” he said.

SWIM: For a long while, swimwear was about all things Rio; even Cali giants like Roxy were taking a cue from the embellished mix-and-match teeny bikinis of Ipanema. But now, the pendulum appears to be swinging back toward the ladylike, more modest styles of eras past. Lines like Nicolita are taking their cues more from Esther Williams and Rita Hayworth than from Gisele Bundchen. Designer Nicole Sainz said her whimsical suits were inspired by Forties-era Cuba, where her parents grew up, and where Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons tangoed the night away in “Guys and Dolls.” Hollywood has always been a harbinger of things to come, and this spring, actress Gretchen Mol brings retro style back to the big screen (and, no doubt, beyond), starring as “The Notorious Bettie Page.” Here, Mol is shown as Bettie — where else? — on the beach in her pre-pinup days.

SECTION II

CALIFORNIA IN DEPTH

18 WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

A look ahead to the rising trends in six of California’s key apparel categories.What Next?

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Ashlee Simpson wears a twofer.

Gretchen Mol as “The Notorious Bettie Paige.”

True Religion Knits hopes to replace the tracksuit.

Nicolita’s Knotty Nicolita bikini.

By Marcy Medina

How’s this for required reading?How’s this for required reading?

A very different kind of college.Over 30 years, over 30,000 graduates.Call us. 800.624.1200 www.fidm.eduThe Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising

DESIGNER: No wonder the bar is set high in this category. California has spawned design talents like Bob Mackie, Richard Tyler, Kevan Hall and Louis Verdad. And the ladies — Michelle Mason, Erica Davis and Jenni Kayne — aren’t too shabby, either. The latest designer phenom to hit Hollywood is Thomas Wylde, the label founded and designed by former model and Julien MacDonald muse Paula Thomas. Decidedly more rock ’n’ roll than red carpet, it’s nonetheless a brand of glamour that’s been embraced by stylemakers from Cher to Charlize Theron. Thomas Wylde’s most recent fan is a girl who knows a thing or two about style herself: Sienna Miller.

Sienna Miller wore Thomas Wylde to the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

CONTEMPORARY: Lines in the upmarket category are fi nding new revenue by tapping into the Mommy and Me set. Everyone from Juicy Couture (sportswear) to L Space (swim) to Hudson (denim) is expanding into kids’ clothes. If you thought mini-me outfi ts were already maxed out price-wise, get ready for more. For those who aren’t willing to break the bank for baby’s play clothes, there’s always the Cali-born mainstay, Baby Gap.

WWD.COM

19WWD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

SURF: The waters of the California coast rarely get above 70 degrees, and surf bunnies need to keep warm. But a wet suit is no longer just about body heat. The full-length seal suits have been getting girlier, with fl ashes of color and hip graphics. And the classic short-sleeve rash guard and board short combos have become decidedly more sexy. Still, technical companies like O’Neill are staying true to their core customers by refusing to sacrifi ce function for fashion, opting for a happy marriage of the two with the introduction of a Surfkini tankini-style top and hip-hugging Thinskin shorts.

Hudson’s Antique

jeans for mother

and child.

O’Neill’s Surfkini

and Thinskin shorts.

For more information, contact Gus Floris, associate publisher, New York, at 212-630-4636; Deborah Levy, senior account manager,West Coast, at 323-951-1803; Elizabeth Haynes, European advertising director, Paris, at 33-1-44-51-13-03, or Elena DeGiuli,

account executive, Milan, at 39-02-7600-3926.WWDMediaWorldwide®

Students today are turning trends into profits for retailers and manufacturers — their spending power exceeds $41 billion. The college issue provides insight into the attitudesand purchasing power of this new crop of fashion-conscious consumers. Find out where

they shop and who they consider to be their style icons and favorite designers.

Only WWD editors have the authority to go on campus and make the grade with the college market. Showcase your brand among the key influencers

that impact the college consumer.

Coated-Stock Magazine: April 27Close: March 23

WWDFAST College Issue

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