Julia Alcântara
Lauren Peacher
Izzy Bea
Mirka Germanova
Weronika Kumanek
Nike opened its newest retail store at Santa Monica Place at Third Street Promenade. The new two-story, 20,000-square-foot location unveils Nike's newest store concept with the launch of a fresh attitude, innovative consumer experiences, market tailored product offerings, community resources and the introduction of Nike+ Run Club and team customization services. The store is the first multi-category concept in the U.S. since the company opened its last NIKETOWN in 1999.
As part of the new NIKEiD team customization concept, Nike is giving team consumers the destination to gear up with their own custom footwear, apparel and equipment. With more than 115 key styles that can be customized on site, groups have the power to create authentic Nike team gear for practice, intramurals or just for fun with name, number, and sport logo.
It's a portal into a design community, both virtual and hands-on, for consumers to share ideas, concepts and bring NIKEiD to life for teams. Premium online NIKEiD is also available at the new retail location.
The store will also feature new runners' services and Nike+ Run Club. Founded as a running company, there is no better place than Nike for runners to get more from their run and join a local community of runners.
As part of Nike+ Run Club, participants can test-drive the latest Nike footwear and tune into their experience using Nike+, the exclusive technology that allows runners to connect their iPod or iPhone to their running shoes while tracking distance, pace, calories and more.
Training is offered at all levels, allowing runners to choose a 3-, 5- or 7-mile running route, receive expert tips from Nike store athletes and Nike+ VIP treatment at events. New iMac stations and wireless connectivity in store will allow runners to sync up their run at NikePlus.com along with iPod charging docks and printable custom routes.
Nike continues to offer a premium shopping experience with the continuation of its 'Athletes Serving Athletes' concept - hiring and training retail employees with a passion for Nike, sports and expert knowledge of the sport-minded consumer's needs.
Santa Monica locals can also access Nike's Athlete Central terminals with more colors, more styles, NIKEiD customization and Nike Find, which locates products that aren't available in store and has them shipped directly to the store free of charge.
Nike will be celebrating the grand opening throughout the weekend August 7 and 8. Activities will include:
August 7
3 PM - 5 PM Field Day. Local schools compete for customization prizes
8 PM - 9:30 PM Rival Rally. Local school celebration with special athlete appearances and live entertainment .
August 8
10:30 AM XC Gear Up. Cross Country season kick-off event.
NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities
In addition to the current Kate Moss for Topshop collection, Topshop has launched a range of simple yet luxurious essentials for Autumn Winter. Combining a mix of vests, tees and dresses this collection aims to satisfy all fashion basic needs.
The new collection continues to use the same fine jersey that has been seen in previous Kate Moss collections and continues to play on the greens, greys and beige colour tones. Key pieces for the collection include the charcoal grey long sleeved maxi dress and a long sleeve shift dress with pocket detailing available in both black and beige.
The inspiration for the updated Kate Moss collection came from a conversation with Kate about her perfect jersey items. She enjoys wearing jersey vests and tees so she was asked to come up with her perfect shapes and colours that she felt were missing from her own wardrobe.
An extensive mix of styles is featured in the new collection, from comfy vests and tees, to the new shape of the Boyfriend tee. The Boyfriend Tee is a key piece for Autumn/Winter and Kate has made it her own within the collection by adding ruche shoulders. This tee is available in stone and washed black and has been styled so it looks great worn with everything.
Camel is a must have colour for Autumn/Winter and Kate has incorporated this into her collection through her Jersey tee and a long sleeve T-shirt dress. Her long sleeved dresses are also available in black which are an ideal garment to throw on day or night. The jersey maxi dress is detailed with a panelled pocket and a tie waste, and is a prominent piece within the collection. Suitable for year-round wear whether it's teamed with gladiators in summer or chunky boots in winter - this item is set to be a piece customers turn to time and time again.
While the Essential collection is a premium basic collection with an emphasis on simple shapes, Topshop continually tries to move shapes on and Kate is constantly offering her ideas on her ideal shape, helping to keep things up to date while reflecting her own personal style.
Topshop was established in 1964 and is part of Arcadia Group Ltd. Sir Philip Green became owner of Arcadia Group Ltd in 2002. Topshop is continually recognised as being an authority on women's fashion on clothing such as jeans, dresses and the in-trend maxi dresses having won several awards for design reputation and new services, and has a wide range of clothing from women's jeans and maxi dresses to maternity wear.
Trade fashion event Pure London announces the exciting launch of a new show in February 2011, dedicated to the needs of retailers and brands from the young fashion industry. The show, to be called Pure Spirit, will sit alongside and run simultaneously to Pure London attracting more buyers than ever before.
As Pure London grows from strength to strength and with the Young Fashion Hall bursting at the seams, February 2011 will see the expansion of Pure Spirit and Label into Earls Court. Over 150 brands have already shown strong interest in the show signing a priority booking form including, Desigual, Pepe Jeans, Bench, Fornarina, Iron Fist, Monkee Genes, Criminal Damage, Freddy, Vacant, Pink Soda, Rare, Blood and Glitter and Orion London.
Pure London are investing £1million in creating an unmissable fashion event, with a raft of new brands, including menswear and new generation zones for upcoming labels, branded catwalks, parties, seminars, bands and celebrities.
These exciting expansion plans will benefit Pure London’s current visitor base, whilst creating an even stronger identity with young fashion retailers. Buses will run between Earls Court and Olympia every 7 minutes to ensure efficient and easy access to both shows.
81 % of young fashion buyers would prefer a show with a fresh, bespoke identity and 89% agreed that the young fashion market needs its own dedicated show. This attitude is reflected by exhibitors such as Mukesh Desai from Pepe Jeans who commented ‘We have had a good show, opening 15 – 20 new accounts with many more to follow up. It has had a great buzz and energy. The plans for a dedicated show are exciting; it is what the industry needs.’
Next season the Olympia halls will be refreshed and re-edited and will feature even more brands to better meet the needs of buyers, and attract new retailers to the show. A new layout will also mean Pure London is able to better cater to the requests from brands wishing to exhibit. The launch of Pure Premium was a resounding success and will be just one area of the show to grow, alongside footwear and contemporary womenswear brands.
Samantha Bleasby, Event Director commented ‘August 2010 saw Pure London deliver the most ever visitors taking the event to another level. With international visitors up 27% the exciting expansion of Pure London and the launch of Pure Spirit will continue this momentum, and grow overseas visitors even further. The new launch allows us to fulfil the demand from even more brands who wish to take part in a London fashion trade event and will give more focus and identity to the young fashion industry'.
Pure Spirit will take place in Earls Court One 13th – 15th February 2011.
Pure London incorporating, contemporary and premium womenswear, footwear and accessories will take place at Kensington Olympia from the 13th – 15th February.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, often dubbed the Oracle of Omaha, has seen the future of fashion in the most unlikely of places, bearing a "Made in China" label better known for its cheap than chic.
"I threw away the rest of my suits," beams Buffett in the 2007 video, adding that he and Microsoft (MSFT.O) founder and Bill Gates are fans of Chinese suit maker Trands and would be great salesmen for the company based in the northeast Chinese city of Dalian.
Trands is one of a handful of emerging Chinese brands that someday hope to take on the likes of Gucci, Armani and Prada in the lucrative luxury goods market.
Sales of luxury goods in China grew 12 percent in 2009 to $9.6 billion, accounting for 27.5 percent of the global market, according to Bain & Co. In the next five years, China's luxury spending will increase to $14.6 billion, making it the world's No. 1 market.
Buffett's endorsements may make for fun Internet fodder, but analysts point out that the emerging crop of Chinese luxury wannabes face a long uphill battle in taking on the global heavyweights which have more than a century of history and huge marketing muscle.
Compounding the problem is a longstanding association that equates the "Made in China" label with poor quality and mass-market goods, versus the more exclusive cachet of the "Made in Europe" moniker.
"In the short term I don't think any Chinese luxury brands can compete with the international ones in terms of marketing, brand culture, design and quality," said Marie Jiang, JLM Pacific Epoch analyst.
China is expected to become the world's biggest luxury goods market in five to seven years, fueled by increasingly wealthy and brand-conscious consumers who want the best of everything, said a survey by The Boston Consulting Group in January.
That market has been largely dominated to date by the big Western names, most of which have shops in Shanghai and Beijing and are starting to look at smaller cities as well.
But home-grown brands such as Trands are trying to raise their profile both at home and abroad to get a piece of the lucrative luxury pie.
Ports, another luxury fashion maker founded in 1961, made its own splash by wooing celebrities and sponsoring clothing for the 2006 movie "The Devil Wears Prada."
FINICKY CONSUMERS
Aspiring Chinese luxury brands may face their toughest battle on the homefront, where shoppers often prefer big international names such as France's LVMH or Hermes that carry more prestige and more than a century of history.
One of the few brands to gain anything approaching an international following is Shanghai Tang, a designer of brightly colored chic clothing featuring Chinese themes founded in Hong Kong and now with stores worldwide.
"They are brand conscious, it is a little bit of a show-off attitude and what we have seen is that when they have money, they tend to spend on well-known brands," said Renee Tai, an analyst with CIMB-GK Research, referring to Chinese consumers.
Chinese brands could face an even rougher road ahead as global brands, well aware of China's rapidly growing wealth, launch major expansion campaigns in the country that include opening stores in second and third-tier cities.
Louis Vuitton will open one of its largest stores in the world in Shanghai this year. In the past year, LV has opened stores in second-tier cities of Xian, Xiamen and Tianjin.
London's upscale department store Harrods is also rumored to be in talks with Shanghai's municipal government to open its first store outside the United Kingdom.
International brands are also adapting to China, with Hermes rolling out a new brand, "Shang Xia" offering luxury accessories at cheaper prices just for China.
"They face competition and I think in terms of them being able to take a dominant share of the market, that's sometime off," said Stephen Mercer a partner at KPMG Shanghai.
He said Chinese luxury brands could succeed in niche areas such as spirits and jewelry, with Moutai, a Chinese spirit that was served to Richard Nixon during his famous China trip during his presidency, as one such example.
Jinjiang in Fujian province, known as “Shoe Capital of China”, posted a further expansion on footwear exports since beginning of this year, foreign orders of shoes grew significantly.
Footwear exports in value gained 6.8% to $1.1 billion in the first half of 2010, the growth of export in footwear sector demands more employment in Jinjiang city, according to statistics in Jinjiang Bureau of Commerce.
Look out, Gucci, Armani and Prada. Here comes "Made in China."
Melanie Lee reports Warren Buffett, who touts Chinese suit maker Trands in a 2007 video, may not be the only one who thinks that the world is ready for Chinese luxury goods. Sales of luxury goods in China grew 12% in 2009 to $9.6 billion, accounting for 27.5% of the global market, according to Bain & Co., and it is projected to become the No. 1 market in the world within five years. Exporting that growth though domestic brands will be a more daunting task.
"In the short term, I don't think any Chinese luxury brands can compete with the international ones in terms of marketing, brand culture, design and quality," says JLM Pacific Epoch analyst Marie Jiang. Indeed, Chinese consumers often prefer international names such as France's LVMH, Louis Vuitton or Hermes.
Chairman of China Textile Industry Association Mr. Du Yuzhou said at the joint conference of 2010 report of corporate social responsibility of Chinese textile and garment industry held on July 30, in the first half of this year, China??s textile and apparel exports increased by more than 22 percent over the same period last year, which has surpassed a record high.
China's market share of global textile and apparel exports reached 32.71 percent, the proportion has further expanded, reflecting that China's textile industry has not only maintained international competitive advantage in the new situation, but also managed to increase.
In the first half of this year, industrial output value of China's textile enterprises above designated size increased by 25.4 percent over last year, efficiency gained by 61 percent, exports grew by 22 percent, domestic sales value of enterprises above designated size advanced by 28.26 percent year on year, creating the best results over the same period in history.
Every year, Millward Brown Optimor, a global brand strategy and financial consultancy, will release a list of "World's Most Powerful Brands."
2009 is a rough year for global luxury brands , they suffered from economic cold winter around the world and had to compete with those rising mass fashion labels and retailers.
On the list of 2010, brands like Burberry and Prada didn't make the top ten. However, Louis Vuitton and Hermes actually did better than last year.
Here's a look:
1. Louis Vuitton
Last year's ranking: 1
Overall Brand Value: up 2% to 19.78 billion U.S. dollars
2. Herme?s
Last year's ranking: 2
Overall Brand Value: up 8% to 8.46 billion U.S. dollars
3. Gucci
Last year's ranking: 3
Overall Brand Value: up 2% to 7.59 billion U.S. dollars
4. Chanel
Last year's ranking: 4
Overall Brand Value: down 11% to 5.55 billion U.S. dollars
5. Hennessy
Last year's ranking: 6
Overall Brand Value: down 1% to 5.37 billion U.S. dollars
6. Rolex
Last year's ranking: 5
Overall Brand Value: down 14% to 4.74 billion U.S. dollars
7. Moe?t & Chandon
Last year's ranking: 8
Overall Brand Value: down 12% to 4.28 billion U.S. dollars
8. Cartier
Last year's ranking: 7
Overall Brand Value: down 19% to 3.96 billion U.S. dollars
9. Fendi
Last year's ranking: 9
Overall Brand Value: down 8% to 3.20 billion U.S. dollars
10. Tiffany & Co.
Last year's ranking: unranked
Overall Brand Value: up 6% to 2.38 billion U.S. dollars.
Naomi Campbell told a war crimes tribunal Thursday that she received a few "dirty-looking stones" after a 1997 dinner party with former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor but did not know where the gift came from.
The British supermodel told the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam near The Hague that she received a pouch containing the stones after a dinner party hosted by then South African President Nelson Mandela at his presidential mansion in Pretoria.
Taylor was also at the party, she said.
"When I was sleeping I had a knock at my door and I opened my door and two men were there and gave me a pouch and said ,'A gift for you,'" Campbell testified. "I saw a few stones in there. Very small, dirty-looking stones. There was no explanation, no note."
Campbell said she opened the punch the next morning and told her former agent Carole White and actress Mia Farrow about the gift at breakfast.
"One of the two said that is obviously Charles Taylor and I said, 'Yes, I guess it was,'" Campbell said.
The supermodel said she later gave the rough diamonds to the former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's fund.
Taylor, now on trial for 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, was accused of using "blood diamonds" to fund a war in Sierra Leone. Prosecutors alleged that Taylor had given Campbell a large uncut blood diamond as a gift.
Taylor allegedly backed Sierra Leonean rebels. He has pleaded not guilty and denies possessing any diamonds as a result of the war.
Blood diamonds, also known as conflict diamonds, were often acquired from conflict zones through trade that financed wars in Africa, including in Sierra Leone.
Prosecutors summoned Campbell to testify about reports that she received diamonds from Taylor in South Africa in 1997.
Local media said Campbell's testimony would not provide anything new.
"Actually, the court has collected enough evidence," local media reported.
Cartier has sued the online "flash sale" retailer HauteLook, accusing it of damaging the luxury goods maker's brand by selling damaged and second-hand Cartier merchandise without permission.
HauteLook is "causing immediate and irreparable harm to the Cartier brand and trademark," Cartier said in its 36-page complaint filed on Tuesday evening in Manhattan federal court.
Cartier claimed that HauteLook has sold used Cartier watches despite maintaining on its website that it "never" sells "secondhand merchandise, ever."
It also said HauteLook has sold Cartier goods that were damaged, were shipped in the wrong packaging, or carried defaced authenticity certificates, and sometimes included a Cartier warranty booklet though the warranty did not apply.
The lawsuit seeks to halt the alleged improper sales, compensatory and triple damages, and other remedies.
Cartier in a statement said the lawsuit is intended to protect clients from misleading online sales practices, as well as "the trusted Cartier name and what it stands for."
In a statement, HauteLook said it is reviewing the complaint. "HauteLook respects intellectual property right holders and is taking this matter very seriously," it added.
Cartier is based in Cham, Switzerland, and has U.S. offices in New York. HauteLook is based in Los Angeles.
Flash sales typically offer designer goods, including overstock and samples, at heavily discounted prices in private sales that typically last just a day or two.
Among other flash-sale sites are Editors' Closet, Enviius, eBay Inc's Fashion Vault, Gilt, Ideeli and RueLaLa.
HauteLook said its goods carry discounts of 50 percent to 75 percent, and have included such brands as BCBG, Joe's Jeans, Laura Mercier and Taschen. It launched a men's site this week.
On June 3, HauteLook said it won $31 million of equity financing led by New York private equity firm Insight Venture Partners.
The case is Cartier International AG et al v. HauteLook Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-05845.
