FEBRUARY 2013 by FOCUS ON FASHION RETAIL

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LAS VEGAS - 3377 Las Vegas Blvd - The Shoppes at the Palazzo - LOS ANGELES - 8500 Beverly Blvd

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FROM THE EDITOR “The only law in fashion is that there are none.” -Kenneth Cole

Kiss Superstitions Goodbye! I thought this would be an awesome theme for this issue’s topic. Our lives, and mine in particular, are full of mental crap and it would be a good idea to remind yourself once in awhilestop that and think differently! I am talking about pre-established opinions, pre-set rules and dreaming within limits attitude. What for? It’s boring and doesn’t make sense. Especially if you’re in the fashion business. Look around, and if you aren’t upset seeing what most people wear on the streets of America, one of us is crazy (and it’s not me!). If I was personally satisfied with the surrounding world and the current state of fashion in this country, then FOCUS magazine would probably be an extension of Walmart … but it’s not, and never will be. The true fashion is about creativity, inspiration, craziness, elegance, passion, rebellion, sexuality... MMMM…The last time I got aroused at the Walmart was probably… never? I just want to make one point. We are here to promote the BEST of fashion and fashion business to our readers. We don’t want to deal with cheaply made knockoffs and/or promoting what used to be cool ten years ago. We are looking for excellence, because it does exist. What you see in FOCUS is the BEST what the world has to offer in fashion today and only in FOCUS you will find so many trend setting powerhouses like Miu Miu, Armani, Cavalli, Diesel, Versace… I am not saying this is what you should be buying for your store, but the point is- knowing the best will help you stay away from the worst. Example- on the recent trip to Brazil (read my report in this issue) I saw many beautiful shoes, accessories and clothing. But as the officials openly said, to be successful on the long run exporting all over the world, besides taxes and other inside issues outlined in this article, they have to bring both the quality and guess what? The FASHION! to the level of the world’s top standards! Consumers everywhere are well aware of brands, styles and trends, becoming more demanding and pickier, so remaining on the competitive edge of fashion is a necessity of time for all, including YOU! This is why we at FOCUS are on the mission to promote good taste and knowledge of good fashion. If we will influence and inspire even just a few, our mission is accomplished. The world needs fresh ideas, freedom of self-expression through fashion, unleashed creativity of talented designers. Some time ago at the show I was stopped by a good friend of mine named Pete J., who had noticed me from afar and was RUNNING after me just to make this statement. Trying to catch his breath, he said, “Alex, I am very grateful to you for the piece your wrote (in one of the previous issues). Your article has inspired me. After reading it, I went to my garage and started making shoes that I LOVE. The fears of being misunderstood and not sold, are gone, and now I am much happier than before. Thank you!” So, to all the Petes out there- KISS SUPERSTITIONS GOODBYE! Go ahead and spread your wings and create something beautiful and original, the world needs you! With that, I want to thank you for your continuous support and appreciation of our efforts to make this magazine worthy of your interest. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to contact me at editor@focusonshoes.com with questions, comments, suggestions or topics you’d like to see covered in future issues. Serving you better is our goal and privilege. Sincerely,

Alex Geyman Editor 4

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BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR SHOE, APPAREL & ACCESSORIES STORES

FASHION RETAIL EDITOR: Alex Geyman GENERAL MANAGER: Dmitry Nelipovich ART DIRECTOR: Allison Moryl GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Pay Fan GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Laurie McAdams FASHION EDITOR: Francesca Trippoli SUBSCRIPTION: Sandra DaSilva RESEARCH: Shawn Lancaster SALES: Claudia Perez

table of contents: 4 Editor’s Letter - Kiss Superstitions Goodbye! 5 On The Cover: Penelope CruzKiss Superstitions Goodbye! 6 Spring/ Summer 2013 Fashion Trends 16 Entrepreneur Of The Month: 5 Business Lessons from Calvin Klein 21 Customer Service: The Customer Isn’t Always Right 22 Good To Know: Vietnam 24 Editor’s Corner: Notes from Couromoda 2013 26 Trade Shows Calendar 28 Sales: Handling Requests for Discounts 30 Cosmetics: Joey Healy, Brow Police, On The Golden Globes Hits & Misses 32 From The Red Carpets: Celebrities & Fashion 34 From The Red Carpets: Faces Behind Famous Fashion Labels 36 Workshop: The Importance of Technical Documentation- or Techpack 38 Trade Show Tips: Are You An Invisible Exhibitor? 42 Management: Will Your Business Be Better Off 4 Years From Now? 47 Subscription 48 Survey:Your Opinion Counts All images and editorials in this issue are subject to copyright law and are the property of FFR and/or the owners/contributors. No images, designs or texts may be reproduced, copied, used whole or in part without written permission. FFR magazine disclaims responsibility for the statements, claims made by either advertisers or contributing authors. FFR magazine is not responsible in whole or any part of advertisement or typographical errors.

FOCUS ON FASHION RETAIL 25924 Viana Avenue, Suite 19 Lomita, CA 90717 USA Tel. (310) 784-0790 fax (310) 202-6027 General E-Mail: info@focusonshoes.com Web: www.focusonshoes.com © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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KISS Superstitions

ON THE COVER

GOODBYE!

STARRING: OSCAR WINNING ACTRESS PENELOPE CRUZ OUTFIT: MARCHESA - HAND EMBROIDERED ILLUSION DRESS WITH SILK CREPE SKIRT SHOES: SALVATORE FERRAGAMO - RED CARPET COLLECTION JEWELRY: CHOPARD - WHITE GOLD RING SET WITH A BRILLIANT-CUT DIAMOND AND BRILLIANTS BAG: BRIC’S DRINK: CAMPARI TOCCO ROSSO PHOTOGRAPHY: KRISTAIN SCHULLER SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: ANDREA MARZAGALLI SENIOR COPYWRITER: BRUNO VOHWINKEL PRODUCTION: L&A ARTIST – MILAN THE CONCEPT OF KISS SUPERSTITION GOODBYE WAS CREATED BY BCUBE - MILAN On the cover of this February’s issue is a beautiful Oscar winning actress, Penelope Cruz, creating the intense imagery for the Campari 2013 Calendar. Penelope comments: “I have really enjoyed starring in the Campari Calendar 2013, I found the superstitious theme extremely intriguing and stimulating. As an actress I am often challenged to portray the ‘unexplainable’ and this shoot was no different. We created a character that had to portray a strong, positive attitude, and really get to the heart of each superstition and dispel these myths by promoting confidence. I hope people enjoy the photos as much as we have enjoyed creating them.” Academy Award winner Penelope Cruz has proven herself to be one of the most versatile, young actresses by playing a variety of compelling characters, and most recently becoming the first actress from Spain to be nominated for, and win, an Academy Award. First introduced to American audiences in the Spanish films “Jamon, Jamon” and “Belle Epoque,” in 1998 she starred in her first English language film, “Hi-Lo Country” for director Stephen Frears opposite Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette and Billy Crudup. In 1999, Cruz won the Best Actress award at the 13th Annual Goya Awards given by the Spanish Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for her role in Fernando Trueba’s “The Girl of Your Dreams.” Confirming her status as Spain’s hottest international actress, Cruz landed a series of coveted roles. She appeared in Billy Bob Thornton’s “All the Pretty Horses,” Fina Torres’s “Woman on Top, Alejandro Amenabar’s “Open Your Eyes,” Maria Ripoll’s “Twice Upon a Yesterday,” and Nick Hamm’s “Talk of Angels.” Additionally, Cruz co-starred in Pedro Almovodar’s “Live Flesh” and critically acclaimed “All About My Mother” which was awarded the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Next up for Penelope was New Line’s “Blow” for director Ted Demme and “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” opposite Nicolas Cage. After that, Penelope starred opposite Tom Cruise in the erotic thriller “Vanilla Sky”. To add to her already brilliant and diverse choice of film credits, she starred in films including “Gothika”; “Head in the Clouds”; “Noel”; and “Chromopho© FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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bia”. Penelope also co-stared with Matthew McConaughey and William H. Macy as Dr. Eva Rojas in the action packed film “Sahara.” In 2006, Penelope starred in “Volver,” which again teamed her with director and dear friend Pedro Almodovar. Critically acclaimed for her role as Raimunda, she won the “Best Actress” awards at the European Film Awards, the Spanish Goya Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, and received both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. Her recent credits include “Elegy” opposite Sir Ben Kingsley and Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” opposite Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson. Penelope won an Oscar, a BAFTA, an NYFCC and an NBR Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “Vicky Christina Barcelona” making 2008 a very great year. In 2009, Penelope teamed up with director Rob Marshall and co-starred alongside Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day Lewis and Marion Cotillard in the film version of the musical “Nine.” Her standout portrayal of Carla garnered SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. Her third Oscar nomination made history as it marked only the third time in Oscar history where the winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress was nominated for Best Supporting Actress again in the following year. In 2011 Penelope starred opposite Johnny Depp in the international blockbuster hit “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the fourth installment of the movie series directed by Rob Marshall. In the summer of 2011 Penelope also filmed Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love” which was released on June 22, 2012. Penelope’s last movie “Venuto Al Mondo” (Twice Born) was filmed in Sarajevo, Bosnia under the direction of Sergio Castellitto, with whom she previously starred in his critically acclaimed “Don’t Move”. The movie is based on the novel of the same title by Margaret Mazzantini and was released in November 2012. The Campari Calendar 2013, of which only 9,999 copies are printed, will not go on sale but will be distributed to friends of Campari internationally. For more information go to: www.campari.com Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

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Spring/Summer

FASHION TRENDS

• Renaissance And Retro • Minimalism • Black/White Combinations • Elongated Silhouettes • Sophisticated Elegance

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Blue Nile Diamond Trio Necklaces

Montblanc

Nina

Diego Dolcini

Joanne Stocker

Fornarina

Efva Attling

Lalla Alia

Joanne Stocker Carl F. Bucherer

ÂŠ FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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Spring/Summer

FASHION TRENDS

• Sportsmanship • Volume • Elongated Silhouettes • Natural Look • Elegance

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88 Rue Du Rhone

Blue Nile

Katherine Kwei Stefania Pellicci

Nina

IWC Schaffhausen

Thale Blanc

Marino Fabiani

Q By Pasquale

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Spring/Summer

FASHION TRENDS

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• A diversion of masculine tailoring in the face of all that is sexy, incisive and feminine • Hemp cloth, panama or organza and cotton mix men’s jackets paired with “tube” or light chiffon dresses for sexy legs in high heels • “T”-shaped sleeveless jackets and ponchos, skinny-fit leather trousers • Blacks, marine, natural colors and whites • Sensual intensity of indigo, freshness of metallic embroidery and bright colors

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Boseman Watch Co V.R.L.

Skinny by Jessica Elliot

FitFlop Doucal’s

Alejandra G

Porsche Design Katherine Kwei

Mary

Barbara Bui

Nina

Barbara Bui

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Dino Bigioni

Marie France Van Damme

Standards & Practices

J Byron Lars Beauty Mark

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FASHION TRENDS • Sportsmanship • Elongated Silhouettes • Natural Look • Elegance • Classy Simplicity

Porche Design

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Marino Fabiani

Diego Dolcini

Joanne Stoker

Dyva

Porsche Design

88 Rue Du Rhone

Joanne Stoker

Thale Blanc

Porsche Design

Nina

Pareo

ÂŠ FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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Spring/Summer

FASHION TRENDS • Animal Prints • Cat-eye Shapes • Texures • Color Blocking • Oversized Lenses

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E N T R E P R E N E U R O F TH E MO NTH

5 Business Lessons From Calvin Klein “Anything we do in advertising is controversial.” Lesson #1: Push Your Ads To The Limits

nything we do in advertising is controversial,” says Klein. “If it’s provocative and sensual and related to what we’re selling, I’m willing to take the chance. I have fun with the ads.” By all accounts, Calvin Klein was a marketing genius. Pushing all the boundaries and changing the existing industry standards, Klein redefined what was acceptable for fashion advertising. And, he did so with tremendous success,

profiting off both the negative and positive public feedback that was received. Klein understood the power of a suggestive image and was able to link his brand name with the young, sexy and risqué images portrayed in his advertisements. The first signs of Klein’s marketing savvy came in 1979, when he had model Patti Hansen photographed on her hands and knees wearing his new, tighter jeans and placed the ad on a massive Times Square billboard. It caused such a sensation that it was left up in place for four years, demonstrating remarkable staying power in such an industry of fleeting fads as fashion. Never to be underestimated, Klein outdid 16

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his previous marketing campaign with the nowinfamous commercials featuring a young Brooke Shields in tight CK Jeans saying such suggestive phrases as, ““I’ve got seven Calvins in my closet, and if they could talk, I’d be ruined.” The suggestions of sexuality coming from a seemingly underage youth infuriated large segments of the population and the ads were subsequently pulled by all three of the major television networks on which they aired. But, to Klein, this campaign was still a major success. Sales of his jeans continued to climb to two million pairs each month and, subsequently, they allowed Klein to expand his product line to include shirts, skirts and jack-

ets. In 1980, these products netted the company nearly $180 million. When Klein ventured into the underwear business in 1982, he used the lessons he had learned from his previous campaigns to create a similar buzz for his new product lines. “I create the underwear to make people look sexy,” says Klein. “So my point is that when I advertise it, for sure I’m going to show it to its greatest advantage. And, I’m going to do it on somebody who has an excellent body, male or female, doesn’t matter.” This time, Klein dressed a muscular Olympic pole-vaulter in his new underwear and little else. He rented space in 25 New York bus shelters to

display these blown up posters. Overnight, all 25 had their glass smashed with the posters stolen. Taking this as a sign of success, Klein immediately began to design a line of women’s underwear featuring similar male-style boxers and briefs as those displayed in the posters. In 1984, the demand for this new line had become even too much for Klein’s own manufacturing capabilities and he decided to sell the division to Kayser Roth Corp. for $11.2 million. Klein continued to display his marketing genius with a series of ads in 1985 to market his new line of perfumes. With a $17 million budget for Obsession and another $6 million for Obses-

sion for Men, Klein focused heavily on a print and TV campaign, again featuring pictures that tested the limits. In one such ad, two men are pictured naked and embracing a woman. Daring to again push the envelope, Klein’s risk paid off. A survey found these Obsession ads to be the most memorable print ads of the year for four years running. As a result, Obsession became the second best selling fragrance in the world. Known for his provocative and suggestive marketing campaigns, Klein never held back. Even in the face of widespread criticism, Klein continued to market his products in ways that he knew would draw attention. He understood the © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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importance of a good marketing campaign and his success came about largely as a result.

Lesson #2:

prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology was his reward for the hard work he was putting in to cultivate his design skills. Despite the attempts to teach himself, Klein understood

Become An Expert

Once his relationship with Millstein began to deteriorate and Klein became fed up with the products they were manufacturing, he accepted jobs with two other companies, where he earned $20,000 designing women’s clothes. After getting in trouble for trying to negotiate a private deal on his own creations, Klein recognized that he had learned all he could from others. It was now time for him to start his own business. Soon after, Calvin Klein Ltd. was formed.

hether it was sewing lessons from his grandmother, shopping trips with his mother or an apprenticeship with the esteemed coat manufacturer Dan Millstein in the New York fashion district, Klein knew that if he was going to succeed in the fashion business, he was going to have to take advantage of every single learning opportunity that presented itself. Known for his dedication to his craft, Klein often sacrificed much of his personal live to improve his skills and increase his chances of succeeding professionally. Klein’s quest to understand all the intricacies of design – from the style of a cut to the design of a seam – began at an early age. A loner as a child, Klein gave up playing with friends in order to stay inside and learn how to sew from

his grandmother, who was a seamstress. Knowing how this would appear to other kids, Klein ignored the jokes and continued to absorb the knowledge his grandmother was passing on to him. Even a casual shopping trip throughout town with his mother, Klein turned into a learning field trip – studying all the clothes he saw and examining the details of their designs. These early experiences would serve as a good base foundation for Klein’s later designs. Unwilling to waste time chasing other pursuits, Klein enrolled himself into the High School of Industrial Art, where he could nurture his creativity. His acceptance into New York’s © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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perform more tasks and improve his skills. “I learned a lot, because he threw me into the snake pit,” recalls Klein. “It’s a fiercely competitive business, and Millstein was a perfect example of that world.”

Calvin Klein

the importance of also being technically and professionally trained if he was to move up in the industry. After graduating from FIT, Klein did not create his own company. He knew there were still skills he was lacking and he set out to apprentice for numerous fashion designers throughout New York. His first job was with a dress company, where he earned $55 a week. After feeling like he had learned all he could there, he quit and began working for Millstein. Here, he earned $75 a week and stayed a few years longer since he was given the flexibility to

With over 200 designers working in his studios today, Klein still stresses the importance of formal training in considering his next hire. “People have done it without having formal training in design, but I don’t hire people unless they’ve been formally trained,” he says. “I look for people who really are talented, creative, in-

ventive, modern in thinking and hard working. Because this is – we’re in a very hard, tough business.” In order to succeed, Klein exposed himself to as much informal and formal training as possible. It was only by learning from others and becoming an expert that he was able to make his mark on the fashion world.

Lesson #3: Don’t Be Afraid To Innovate

he name Calvin Klein has today become synonymous with innovation. He has made a career out of venturing into unknown territoFe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

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E N T R E P R E N E U R O F TH E MO NTH ries and charting new waters. From his designs to his promotional techniques, Klein has created a reputation based on originality and creativity. It was only in thinking beyond what had already been done, in all of the worlds of fashion, advertising and marketing that Klein was able to generate such incredible success and be named “America’s Best Designer” in 1993. When Klein first entered the fashion world after coming out of school in the mid-1960s, American fashion was something that could not be spoken of in serious terms. “American designers weren’t considered very important then,” recalls Klein. “We were considered inferior – copyists of the Europeans, lucky if we got a front-row seat at a French couture collection.” Klein was fed up with the formal, luxurious and pretentious nature of European clothes and did not want to devote his life to simply imitating others.

a middle-aged urbanite. Emails would regularly be sent to customers, with each one revealing further details about the model’s life, making it seem as if a real relationship was developing between model and consumer. The one thing the campaign never did, however, was directly promote the fragrance. This email strategy was Klein’s attempt to innovate and stay modern. “The next cKone generation has different values and communicates

it!” Klein has risen to the top of the fashion industry by creating products and advertising campaigns that appeal to the broadest crosssection of the population and herein lies part of his genius. By not limiting himself to a certain market and creating a wide range of product lines to accommodate all segments of society, Klein helped solidify his position at the top of the American fashion industry.

in a very modern way,” he said at the launch of the campaign. “When we take this campaign to email, it makes it very personal.” While the print and television ads lasted just a short time, the email campaign that accompanied them lasted more than three years with hundreds of thousands of followers, demonstrating its tremendous success.

in the gay community and rumors of his own sexuality plagued him throughout his career. With his line of men’s underwear coming to be considered a staple of the ‘gay uniform’, Klein was often criticized for conscientiously targeting this group above others. The vandalism of numerous New York City bus stops and the subsequent theft of their large-scale posters of nearnaked male models in Klein’s men’s underwear line were in fact considered acts by this group. Despite his popularity within the gay community, Klein denies any efforts to specifically target them, believing that to be bad business sense. “You can’t advertise for one group,” says Klein. “Otherwise, you end up having a very small business!”

Klein has become somewhat of an icon

“I’ve never been one to see women in ruffles and all kind of fanciful apparel,” says Klein. “To me it’s just silly.” So, instead, he decided to innovate. From creating tight designer jeans to popularizing men’s underwear to generally making consumers more brand-conscious, Klein has been a fashion revolutionary. He saw a void in the industry and was not afraid to go after his dreams to try and fill that void. Klein’s marketing techniques were also revolutionary. Aside from his provocative and controversial pictures, Klein was able to successfully harness the power of technology. To promote one of his later lines of products, Klein used a technique that had never been done previously. In 1998, before even setting up a Calvin Klein Ltd. website, Klein decided to ‘go digital’. In the marketing campaign for his new line of perfumes, Klein cleverly decided to include email addresses for the three models that were appearing in his print, television, radio and billboard ads. Peaking the curiosity of consumers, they would be able to email these models at, for example, anna@ckone.com. Responses would then be sent from the company in the fictional voices of each model. The three characters that were created mimicked Klein’s target audience: a sophisticated 13-year-old, a professional in her mid-20s, and 18

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By innovating and doing things that his competitors had not yet thought of, Klein managed to remain ahead of the game. In an industry where consumer loyalty is hard to maintain, creativity had a rewarding payoff for Klein.

Lesson #4:

“I

Broaden Your Appeal want everyone I can get,” says Klein. “Jews, Catholics, gays straights, you name

Instead, Klein says that the key to his success was his attempt to attract customers from all segments of society. “There’s an awareness of © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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fashion in this country, and it’s not limited to gay people,” he says. “If business were geared toward selling just to gay people, we wouldn’t have much of a business and neither would anyone else, because that group is not big enough to support it.” Thus, Klein decided to focus on sports and casual clothing, “clothes that everyone wears”. Believing that American men were becoming increasingly fashion conscious, Klein knew

cKone, the first unisex perfume ever created. By allowing anyone to wear the same scent, Klein was in essence breaking down all the barriers between his customers. Klein understood that if his business was going to sustain a significant market and have any kind of staying power, he had to create as broad an appeal as possible. His incredible success was in large part due to his ability to do just that.

Klein was never one to chase after the wealth that would come along with success. “The money is not that important to me, whether it’s $800,000,000, a billion or two billion.” For Klein, more crucial than wealth was his passion for designing the clothes that he wanted. Initially, breaking into the business with his own company proved more difficult to Klein than he had imagined. In the early days, when he was still working for other designers, Klein actually considered quitting the fashion industry altogether and going into the supermarket business. His friend Barry Schwartz had just taken over his father’s grocery store in Harlem and had turned it into a successful venture in his first six months. Klein was becoming increasingly frustrated with his jobs and when Schwartz offered him full partnership in his supermarket, it was hard to decline. Klein had worked at his own father’s supermarket for numerous years so knew what he would be getting into. But, a conversation over dinner one night with his father would change Klein’s life forever. He had gone to his parents to ask for advice, expecting them to agree with his decision to go into the supermarket business with Schwartz. Instead, Klein says, his father shocked him. “‘I think you would be making a tremendous mistake,’ he said. ‘I don’t understand what you’ve been studying all these years, but whatever it is, I don’t think you’ve given it enough of a chance.” Klein’s father warned him that if he didn’t continue what he was doing, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

that he could have a large market outside the gay community. “There has been a change in men’s attitudes toward their clothes,” said Klein. “In the past, the wife bought all the husband’s clothes, and that happens a lot less today. American men are more aware of fashion; they’re not afraid of it and they like clothes better and are willing to spend more time and money choosing them.” It was this change in social attitudes towards fashion that Klein keenly observed and was able to take advantage of. “Fashion is about selling clothes,” says Klein. “I’m in a business where no one cares about anything except how well your last collection sold.” This is why his advertising campaigns also targeted everyone from pubescent young girls to stylish urbanite men. The ultimate attempt to broaden his appeal came with the launch of his fragrance line © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

Lesson #5: Go After What You Want

“I

think fantasies are for the birds,” Klein once said. “Anything I wanted to do, I did. If there’s something I want, nothing stops me.” Klein’s career has been one based on determination, hard work and plenty of sweat and tears. A self-described “fighter to the end”, Klein set his sights on becoming one of the fashion industry’s greatest designers and would accept nothing less of himself. Almost 40 years and two divorces later, Klein’s priority in life was to make a name for himself and his designs and he was willing to sacrifice almost anything else that got in his way.

From that point on, Klein knew what he had to do. “He convinced me and was responsible for my making one of the most important decisions in my life – making the commitment to stick with fashion,” recalls Klein. Subsequently, Klein got a loan from Schwartz, brought him on as partner, and created Calvin Klein Ltd. It only took a few wise words from his father to reaffirm Klein’s passion for fashion. But, after that, there was no stopping him as he set out on his path to success. “I don’t think about my fame very much and I don’t dwell on success,” says Klein. “Maybe that’s one reason I’m successful.” Instead, Klein thought about just one thing: following his passion and designing clothes for the every American. Indeed, he did just that.

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C U ST O M E R S E RV I C E S

The cusTomer isn’T always righT. By Mercedes Gonzalez, director of GloBal PurchasinG coMPany

he customer is always right. This is one of those business rules that just never made any sense to me. Some retailers truly take it to heart like Stew Leonard’s, a small chain of urban customer service friendly supermarkets that has two rules (set in stone by the way)

The customer is always right.

If the customer is wrong refer to rule number one.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t give excellent customer service. What I am saying is to use judgment. There are great retail folk law stories about an elderly couple returning snow tires at Nordstrom and Nordstrom accepting the return. Nordstrom doesn’t sell snow tires but the store clerk figured that the couple mistook Nordstrom for the Sears that anchored the other side of the mall. A client in Nevada had a customer she was literally afraid of. This “scary client” was mean, demanding and rude. From the minute she walked in she interrupted other customers’ conversations, she would leave all the clothing thrown on the dressing room floor, and out of every 3 things she bought, she would return 2,of course while making a huge scene. Was she right? The store owner eventually took her out to lunch and had a talk with her. The talk wasn’t pleasant with tears and drama but the store owner realized that the customer had personal problems in her relationships with her boss, husband and children the only time she felt “heard” was when she was being bossy and mean in the store. Talk about retail therapy. The lesson is that the anger wasn’t a reflection of the store rather it was her redirecting negative emotion. But the customer wasn’t “right” to have such temper tantrums. © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

What about when a customer breaks something and insists it wasn’t their fault? Take in case the woman that wanted to try on a pair of skinny jeans. The salesperson suggested a bigger size than the one she had picked because that style was running on the small side. In fact she told the customer maybe we should look at two sizes bigger because they were running so small. The outraged customer asked the salesperson if she was telling her that she was fat, and yanked the size small jeans from the salesperson’s hands while she huffed and puffed her way into the dressing room. Two minutes later the salesperson heard the RIP! She asked if everything was ok and the customer answered that this jean was defective and made out of cheap fabric. She got dressed and threw the jeans at the salesperson. The salesperson tried to stop her and told her she had to pay for the ripped jeans since she was warned that she was trying on the wrong size. The woman huffed and yelled and kept blaming the brand for poor construction. At the end the customer stormed out without paying saying that the customer is always right. How about the abusive returners, the ones that don’t care about your return policy? The ones that it’s obvious they’ve worn the merchandise. Most lingerie stores have a “no return” policy on panties and swimwear unless they have the sanitary protection intact. Yet the customer insists they haven’t worn them. With high-end lingerie and corsets we have been noticing a trend that the customer wears it for a night then returns it or even exchanges it for another item. Basically, you can say they are renting the garment. One solution is to make large hang tags the size of half a sheet of paper with the return policy printed on it. We think a fair return policy is 14 days with tags and receipt for full refund or credit. But anyone can buy a tag gun and retag the garment to return.

One trick we have developed is to use a custom color for the tag- bright pink, electric blue or any neon color. They take about 6 weeks to special order. We have had customers return garments retagged with the clear tag you can pick up at any stationary store and argue that that’s the way they bought the garment, even when the salesperson points out all the other garments with the colored tag. Customers who have been refused a return have contacted their credit card company and asked for a dispute in which the credit card company charges back the retailer until a full explanation of the situation is given. The credit card company has the final say on who’s right and most times they side with the consumer, leaving the retailers without the merchandise and without the payment. Social media is also a tool of revenge for the disgruntled customer. On Yelp, a popular rating service, it’s very easy for anyone to post a negative remark about your store. If you want to defend the statement you need to do it online and public; the part I don’t understand you must post with a personal photo of yourself or Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

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G O O D TO K NO W Yelp won’t publish your answer. Another thing about Yelp is that the positive comments are often taken down since they “may not be credible”. Then there is PayPal, which has become a very popular form of accepting payments. We had a situation where the person had “forgotten” they had taken a workshop with us and disputed the amount with PayPal. Without asking for our side of the story, PayPal reversed the charges. We contacted the customer; he recalled taking the workshop, so he contacted both his credit card company and PayPal. PayPal took 180 days to refund us the payment even though the customer contacted them directly. It took a few hours for PayPal to reverse the charges and 180 days for us to be reimbursed. So is the customer always right? The answer is no. We need to set up policies and guidelines but we also have to empower our employees to make a decision. We can’t be so liberal with returns as the department stores. They get incentives and credit back from the vendors which off sets the cost of accepting unsellable returns. Our business is that of nickels and dimes and we must watch every cent even if it means “firing” some of our customers.

Vietnam aims to become one of the top five textile and clothing exporters by 2020 Vietnam has set out an objective to become one of the top five textile and clothing manufacturing and exporting nations by 2020 while simultaneously fostering social improvements and environmental well being, according to a report in Issue No 159 of Textile Outlook International from the global business information company Textiles Intelligence. In value terms, the industry has set an export target in the range US$20 billion-US$22 billion for 2020. It aims to achieve this leap forward by concentration on a strategy of specialization and modernization and an increase in added value. The process of value addition has already started. Between 2005 and 2011, the added value rate of Vietnam's textile and clothing exports increased markedly, from 30.2% to 47.8%. Over this time period, exports more than trebled from US$4.8 billion to US$15.8 billion. The momentum continued into 2012 with textile and clothing exports during the first nine months of the year up by 7.4% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, to US$11.14 billion. That said, the export target for 2015 has had to be moderated to US$14 billion-US$16 billion, which is similar to the current level, in recognition of tougher economic conditions in its two main markets, the USA and the EU. Looking further ahead, there are ambitious plans to achieve a strong advance in exports and retain the textile and clothing industry's status as one of the country's most important sectors.

About the Author: Mercedes Gonzalez is the director of Global Purchasing Companies, a full service buying office that specializes in the independent retailer and young designers. GPC offers consulting, buying and training services. www.globalpurchasinggroup.com

To aid in these plans, the government has established a series of incentives to attract and encourage the kind of foreign direct investment (FDI) which is most likely to drive the country's future development. In addition, Vietnam has secured free trade agreements (FTAs) with a number of countries and regions. In particular, through its membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), it benefits from the Asean China Free Trade Area (ACFTA), which is the world's largest FTA in terms of the total population of its signatories. In addition, again through its membership of Asean, it benefits from FTAs with Australia and New Zealand, India, Japan and South Korea. Also, it has bilateral FTAs with Israel and Japan. Furthermore, Vietnam has entered into negotiations with the EU with a view to signing a comprehensive FTA. Most importantly, it has entered into negotiations to be part of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which aims to establish a free trade area for the Asia Pacific region.

Source: Textiles Intelligence, www.textilesintelligence.com

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E DIT OR ’S C O RN E R

NOTES FROM

couromoDa 2013

by Alex Geyman

Anhembi Exposition Center he 40th edition of Couromoda in Sao Paulo, Brazil was a pleasant and professionally fulfilling experience- again. This was my second visit to the show and I must start with saying that Brazil is a beautiful country and people are super friendly and warm. Secondly, I love shoes and the shoe business and to me, being at Couromoda is the same as being a kid in a candy store- love it! As on my first visit, the huge Anhembi Exhibition Center was crowded with domestic and international buyers. The only footwear trade event even more crowded that I have seen, was the previous edition of Couromoda. In conjunction with the Prêt-a-Porter show held at the nearby Expo Center Norte, both venues featured 3,500 exhibiting brands (3,000- Couromoda alone) with 90% Brazilian companies being present. Due to seasonal difference with the Northern hemisphere, the featured merchandise at Couromoda is always for Fall-Winter. In my 24

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estimate, nearly half of all shoes at the show are fashion market oriented. And, as everywhere in the world nowadays, they are pretty much the same styles with few variations; retail prices averaging from $30-200, depending on a brand and materials used. This is a good price for genuine leather shoes. Zeferino

Zeferino

I cannot say that they make the best shoes in the world, both styling and quality - wise there is a lot of room for improvement (my criteria bar is set by Italian shoes, of course). But you know, the main street fashion is there. And in general, Brazilian shoes are quiet competitive in quality, comfort, styling and prices, with the shoes mass produced in Asia.

And there were a few companies whose products I would put at the top of the chain without any hesitation, really world-class performance. My favorite would be Carmimabsolutely gorgeous shoes, bags and clothing! Sadly, they don’t export for some reason. Too badI am sure that America would have appreciated Carmim’s originality, quality and fashion. Then, the Schutz- beautiful collections by designer Alexandre Birman, true high-end fashion, loved it! No surprise they have a successful store on Madison Avenue in the posh Upper Eastside neighborhood, apparently very popular among New York fashionistas. Collections from Jorge Bischoff are less sophisticated than the previous two brands, more affordable, a great find for those interested in reasonably priced, genuine leather, good quality, high fashion shoes. Apart from attending Couromoda, I had the opportunity to visit and tour the factories of Piccadilly, Biondini and Zeferino brands. This tour has helped me to understand the level of sophistication and culture of footwear manufacturing in Brazil. At Piccadilly, for example, high volume production of comfort footwear has been achieved through use of modern machinery and © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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Couromoda

Piccadilly Factory

technologies, skilled labor, practicing sustainabilinternational scope, we note a decrease of over ity and conservation principles and quality check 15% in the values generated by exports at each step of the production, from start to until November. Moreover, we notice a finish. Result- well-made comfort shoes sold low stability in the volume of exported all over the world at very reasonable prices. pairs. This situation is caused by the While on a smaller scale than a company overvalued exchange rate and the above, Biondini makes affordable fashion high Brazilian tax burden allied shoes utilizing the very same ideas: susto costly labor laws.” The current tainability, conservationism and quality federal laws need to be modified in control. I was very pleased to order to protect domestic Carmim verify for myself, that all Bramarket from questionzilian factories we visited, have ably legal loopdemonstrated family-like workholes allowing ing environment, humanity and anavalanche positive attitude. Happy people of immake happy shoes, you know portwhat I mean? And finally, Zee d ferino- a clear demonstration that Brazil can produce really high-end fashion shoes, all hand-made, featuring exotic leathers, sparkling Swarovski crystals, beautiful crochets, bids, etc. The factory employs Jorge Bischoff only experienced skilled workers making beautiful women’s shoes using Italian components and inspired by Italian designs.

make footwear and footwear parts manufacturers more engaged in sustainability issues, resulting in the increase of opportunities in exports to countries that regulate the acquisition of sustainable products. In order to get certified, the footwear and footwear parts sector will have to satisfy the criteria of the program’s four pillars: environment, economy, society and culture. “This year, we are going to invest even more in promotion actions, training, market studies and also in image actions, which help present Brazilian shoes to different nationalities the best possible way”, says Cristiano Körbes, Abicalçados’ project coordinator. According to him, the organization has been planning activities to assist in the penetration into new markets, such as China and Russia. “With the Program’s actions, we intend to reverse the negative situation of Brazilian footwear exports”, he concludes. And as proof of the above statement, there was a press-conference during the Couromoda, announcing that the MICAM show is starting its’ new Shanghai edition with a serious participation of the Brazilian companies! To conclude, Brazil has all the components necessary to becoming a global footwear exporting country. They have prosperous natural and human resources, the culture and the technology, and a desire to succeed. They can, and do already manufacture fashionable, competitively priced product to satisfy the most demanding world’s markets and are serious about overcoming the challenges outlined in this report. My personal experiences of visiting Couromoda and Prêt-àPorter, and touring the factories have helped me to better understand the enormous capacities and potentials of this rapidly developing beautiful country, along with the challenges they are facing. I appreciate their dedication to improving quality, styling and sustainability of the product and better quality of life for Brazilian people. Brazil deserves our attention and support, and they will make it, mark my words!

This is an uncompromised record of my personal experiences and Schutz observations during this last visit to Couromoda. A year ago I was excitedly reporting that the Brazilian leather goods sector is on the rise and there is a bright future in store for it. A year later I must adjust my own previous assessment- this is happening and will happen, but not so fast. There are serious problems that have to be addressed and resolved. I am very pleased that the leadership of Abicalcados, particularly its executive director, Mr. Heitor Klein, has courageously identified these problems loud and clear: “The Brazilian footwear industry has been severely suffering to set competitive prices. In the © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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Schutz Schutz

products that escape the enforcement of the anti-dumping tariff and substitute the work in Brazilian manufacturing plants. The new program designed to improve competitiveness of Brazilian footwear on international markets is sustainability certification. With this program, Abicalçados and Assintecal intend to

Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

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2013 TRADE SHOWS CALENDAR FEB

MARCH

FEBRUARY

DATE

Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

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EVENT

LOCATION

2-5

PREMIUM order Dusseldorf

M W C

Dusseldorf, Germany

PH X

3-6

ISPO (International Sporting Goods And Sports Fashion) MUNICH

Munich, Germany

5-7

FFANY- The New York Shoe Expo

New York, NY

7-14

Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week

New York, NY

8-10

SIMM- the Madrid International Fashion Fair

Madrid, Spain

8-10

Memphis Gift & Jewelry Show

Memphis, TN

12-14

The Children's Great Event Shoe Show

Teaneck, NJ

15-18

PREMIUM order Munich

Munich, Germany

15-19

London Fashion Week

London, UK

17-20

OFFPRICE show

Las Vegas, NV

18-20

AccessoriesTheShow

Las Vegas, NV

18-20

MRket LV

Las Vegas, NV

18-20

KIDShow

Las Vegas, NV

18-21

WWIN- WomensWear In Nevada

Las Vegas, NV

19-21

ENKVegas

Las Vegas, NV

19-21

FN Platform

Las Vegas, NV

19-21

Project

Las Vegas, NV

19-21

MAGIC

Las Vegas, NV

X X X

N/A

(415) 86

(212) 75

(212) 48

Fashion Show X

X X

44-20-7

(630) 24

(718) 76

X X

N/A

Fashion Show

19-21

Pool Trade Show

Las Vegas, NV

23-25

TASM- The Atlanta Shoe Market

Atlanta, GA

24-26

Fame

New York, NY

24-26

AccessoriesTheShow

New York, NY

24-26

Moda Manhattan

New York, NY

24-26

Coterie

24-26 27-2 3-5

(262) 78

(212) 68

(305) 59

(702) 43

(212) 75

(818) 59

(212) 95

(818) 59

(877) 55

(706) 92

(212) 68

X X

N/A

New York, NY

Sole Commerce

New York, NY

ISPO (International Sporting Goods And Sports Fashion) BEIJING

Beijing, China

SMOTA- Shoe Market of the Americas

Fort Lauderdale, FL

3-6

theMICAM

Milan, Italy

3-6

MIPEL

Milan, Italy

9-11

Modacalzado + Iberpiel

Madrid, Spain

10-12

Australian Shoe Fair

Melbourne, Australia

11-13

Transit- The Los Angeles Shoe Show

Los Angeles, CA

12-14

Mode Shanghai ENK

Shanghai, China

13-15

GDS International Event for Shoes & Accessories

Düsseldorf, Germany

13-17

BIFF & BIL

Bangkok, Thailand

14-17

Sapica

Leon, Mexico

14-18

Sao Paulo Fashion Week

20-24 22-26

(212) 68

(212) 75 X

(212) 75

(415) 86

(786) 33

39-0243

39-0249

34-9172

613 965

(213) 63

(212) 75

(312) 78

(323) 46

(477) 15

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Fashion Show

N/A

Miami Beach International Fashion Week

Miami, FL

Fashion Show

(954) 47

Rio Fashion

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Fashion Show

N/A

24-27

Sylemax

Chicago, IL

25-27

Fashion Access

Hong Kong, China

25-28

Mosshoes

26-29 28-31

(312) 52

(415) 94

Moscow, Russia

ENKBeijing

Beijing, China

CHIK- China International Clothing & Accessories Fair

Beijing, China

(495) 78

(212) 75

86-10- 6

1/31/13 11:27 AM

FEBRUARY - MARCH

This issue is broughT To you by:

FOCUS’ RATING PHONE

WEB SITE

N/A

www.premiumexhibitions.com

N/A

(415) 868-8882

www.ispo.com

N/A

(212) 751-6422

www.ffany.org

★★★

(212) 489-8300

www.imgworld.com

44-20-7886-3000

www.semanamoda.ifema.es

(630) 241-9865

www.helenbrett.com

N/A

(718) 769-4251

www.tcgess.com

★★

N/A

www.premiumexhibitions.com

N/A

www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

N/A

(262) 782-1600

www.offpriceshow.com

★★

(212) 686-4412

www.accessoriestheshow.com

w X

w x

★★★★ N/A

★★★★

(212) 686-4412

www.mrketshow.com

(305) 598-7019

www.lingerieshow.cc

★★★

(702) 436-4081

www.lingerieshow.cc

★★★★

(212) 759-8055

www.enkshows.com

★★

(818) 593-5000

www.fnplatform.com

N/A

★★

(212) 951-6654

www.projectshow.com

★★★★

(818) 593-5000

www.magiconline.com

★★★★

(877) 554-4834

www.pooltradeshow.com

★★★

(706) 923-0580

www.atlantashoemarket.com

★★★

(212) 686-4412

www.fameshows.com

(212) 686-4412

www.accessoriestheshow.com

★★★

(212) 686-4412

www.modamanhattan.com

★★★

(212) 759-8055

www.enkshows.com

★★★

(212) 759-8055

www.enkshows.com

★★★

(415) 868-8882

www.ispo.com

N/A

(786) 331-9000

www.smota.com

★★

39-02438291

www.micamonline.com

39-024997-7582

www.mipel.com

★★★

34-91722-5719

www.ifema.es

★★★

613 9654 7773

www.aec.net.au

(213) 630-3616

www.californiamarketcenter.com

(212) 759-8055

www.enkshows.com

(312) 781-5185

www.mdna.com

(323) 466-9645

www.biffandbil.com

(477) 152-9000

www.sapica.com

★★★

★ ★ ★ Good

N/A

★★★★

N/A

★ N/A

★★★★ N/A

LEGEND ★ ★ ★ ★ Awesome

N/A

www.ffw.com.br

N/A

(954) 476-5761

www.miamifashionweek.com

N/A

★ ★ OK

N/A

www.ffw.com.br

N/A

★ Awful

N/A Not Available

(312) 527-7750

www.stylemaxonline.com

★★

(415) 947-6608

www.fashionaccess.aplf.com

N/A

(495) 781-3411

www.mosshoes.com

N/A

(212) 759-8055

www.enkshows.com

N/A

86-10- 65053207

www.chiconline.com.cn

N/A

F80701.indd 27

Show dates and locations were accurate at the time of printing and subject to change without notice. Please contact venues directly for the latest information.

FFR’s ratings are based on reports from our correspondents, contributors, vendors and retailers who attended these events. Ratings reflect people’s opinion of show organization, traffic, convenience and value for attending/participating businesses. Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

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SA L E S

Handling Request for Discounts

S By Harry J. Friedman, Founder/CEO, The Friedman Group

he competitive nature of the retail selling environment today is such that many retail¬ers have had to resort to a variety of techniques to maintain their volume. It is also the case that many customers want to haggle with you over the price of a piece of mer¬chandise. A customer’s request for a discount, even if approved by management, may not always be the setting for an easy close. Suppose you encounter a customer who appears genuinely interested in a particular item, but who is also asking for a discount. If you perceive the discount to be abso¬lutely necessary and are able to convince your manager of this fact, you may get some or the entire discount authorized. Politely excuse yourself, and consult with your man¬ager about lowering the price. Let’s say that your manager gives approval for a partial discount. Let the customer know that you don’t make this a regular habit and you are

Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

only doing it be¬cause you know he really wants the item and you want to see that he gets it. Also, at all times, keep information concerning discounts like you would valuables—in a safe—as you don’t want your store to earn a reputation as an easy discounter. If the customer is still unhappy with the partial discount offered, then ask the customer for a commitment. That is, ask how they will be paying for the item and whether you can show proof of this to your manager for a second try at a discount. If the customer is willing to do this, you can pretty much assume the deal can be done with a discount. Once the manager authorizes any necessary discount, return to the customer and congratulate him. Let your customer know that a discount of this size is a big deal in your store and that it was a direct result of your tireless efforts. By doing this, you will condition your customers to feel like they’ve gotten a rare deal, rather than giving them the impression that they can come into your store and negotiate anytime they want to. If the manager doesn’t grant you the dis-

count, blame it on the cost of the merchandise rather than on people. You can’t afford to harm your customer relationships. Here is a great example of how your dialogue may sound: Customer: I think your store has the best selection of watches, but these prices are too high. Is $1,450 the best you can give me on this one? Salesperson: I understand your concern. However, we don’t offer discounts be¬cause we don’t initially inflate our prices. That’s how we’re able to offer the best value in quality timepieces to our customers. Customer: Well, I can appreciate that, but I’m not in any position to spend more than $1,250. Salesperson: Of course. Well, since I can tell you really like this particular watch, I’d certainly be willing to ask my manager about a discount for you. I would like to see you get it. Do you mind

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1722 FOS

waiting? (Disappears to find the manager.) Salesperson: Well, I couldn’t get authorization for a $200 discount, but I did get authorization for a $100 discount which is still a substantial savings. Shall I write it up for you? Customer: No, I’m sorry. I just don’t have more than $1,250 in my budget to spend on a new watch. I guess I’ll have to look around a little more. Salesperson: Wait. I know you want this watch and I want you to have it. May I ask what type of payment you were planning to use? If I can show my manager that you’re committed to buying this watch, maybe he would reconsider the $200 discount. It can’t hurt to try. Customer: That’s a good idea. Let’s see. I’d like to pay $500 with a check and put the balance on my credit card. Salesperson: (Goes to consult with the manager again.) Well, we’re in luck. The manager checked our cost and found some extra margin, so I can sell you the watch for $1,250. Let me tell you that your payment commitment re-

ally helped. Otherwise, I don’t think we could have done it. Do you want me to wrap it up? Customer: No, I’m going to wear it now. I love it. Salesperson: Congratulations. I’m really glad this worked out. Notice in this scenario how the salesperson:

  

Talked about how the store did not inflate prices

discounts because your prices are reasonable to begin with and competitive in the marketplace. This approach will either dissuade the impossible-to-please customer, or it will en¬courage them to further analyze the value of the merchandise in question. The goal of course is to sell our products at retail price. But for those situations when you cannot get past the customer’s request for a discount, try using this technique. You may very well close the sale without giving away a substantial discount.

Stressed that the merchandise was already a good value Said that discounts rarely occurred in the store

Sometimes, you run into customers who seem bent on getting a “deal.” They seem to enjoy the haggling almost more than owning the item. If you’ve determined that there is nothing you can do to make a price-driven cus¬tomer happy, my advice is to tell these retail deal-makers, in a direct yet polite man¬ner, that your store does not offer

e s About the Author:

Harry J. Friedman is an internationally acclaimed retail consultant and Founder/CEO of The Friedman Group. Since 1980, his retail sales and management techniques have been used by over 500,000 retailers worldwide. For information on upcoming free retail webinars, seminars, training programs, on-site training or eLearning, call 800-351-8040, email info@TheFriedmanGroup.com or visit www.TheFriedmanGroup.com.

g .

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Joey healy, BroW Police, on the Golden GloBes hits & Misses Hollywood’s A-list stars shined at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Not only were designer dresses the talk of the red carpet, but the stand out trend was bold, beautiful brows. Celebrity brow stylist and Brow Police Joey Healy picks the hits and misses and reveals how to get these gorgeous looks. WINNERS

ANNE HATHAWAY

SOFIA VERGARA

C D

Best supporting actress? Check. Best supporting arches? Double check. The Les Miserables starlet dazzled the red carpet with bold, brunette brows which worked perfectly to balance her short pixie cut and frame those big brown eyes. I dreamed a dream of perfect eyebrows!

The Modern Family actress sported the perfect modern brow on last night’s red carpet – thick, yet exceptionally manicured. This Colombian beauty looked the part of true Hollywood royalty last night with her signature brows out in full force. Her bushy shape coupled with her freeflowing hair kept this 40 year old beauty looking ageless.

JULIANNE HOUGH

Julianne brandished the best red carpet accessory a girl could wish for - a perfect pair of ash toned brows! The color was pitch perfect for the big night! An ashy brow on a blonde really makes the eyes pop; her irises looked vibrant blue and the whites of her eyes looked brighter (as opposed to opting for an unflattering gold tone brow). Her well placed arch hit in the ideal spot (2/3 way out), giving her eyes a sharp femme-fatale look.

NOMINEES

JESSICA CHASTAIN

For winning best actress in a drama, we’d expect a bit more drama in the eyebrow department! Her barely there brow shape gave this beauty a large forehead and a washed out quality – definitely not Zero Dark Thirty. She missed the mark on achieving the ethereal brow look - she should have opted for a soft cinnamon powder to subtly polish off her look while balancing that bold berry lip. A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H.

Brow Architect Stylo Antler Brow Architect Stylo Molasses Brow Renovation Serum Brow Structure Clear Set Duo Brow Brush Luxe Brow Powder Corduroy Luxe Brow Powder Equestrian Luxe Brow Powder Tobacco

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JENNIFER LAWRENCE

J. Law may have taken home the Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy but her eyebrows were no Silver Lining! Her brows flat-lined (literally) on the red carpet, offering much to be desired. Her deflated brows made for a permanently etched in grumpy expression.

JULIANNE MOORE

Julianne could use a Game Change in her eyebrows from eyebrow expert Joey Healy. Her brows looked ketchup stained and uneven, not auburn infused and artfully enhanced. The unbalanced color application makes them look inauthentic. She should have taken a page from Julianne HOUGH’s book!

About Joey Healy: A triple threat in the beauty industry, Joey Healy is a prominent eyebrow stylist, professional makeup artist and licensed esthetician. With his skill and unique approach for creating the ideal arch, Joey launched his mobile eyebrow styling division in late 2009, The Joey Healy Eyebrow Collection in 2011 and The Joey Healy Eyebrow Studio in December, 2012. The result, a chic way for men and women to tame and maintain exquisite eyebrows. Utilizing his talents, Joey has become a favorite among celebrities and companies including Kyra Sedgwick, Aviva Drescher, Jill Zarin and Carole Radziwill of The Real Housewives of New York, Andy Cohen of Watch What Happens Live, Live, Sean Young of Blade Runner, the New York City Ballet, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bravo!, Neiman Marcus, Dress for Success, MTV and many more. For more information on Joey Healy or The Joey Healy Eyebrow Collection visit www.joeyhealy.com. Follow Joey Healy on Twitter @JoeyHealyBrows

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Fashion

From the Red Carpets

CELEBRITIES

On the occasion of the screening of Love is All You Need, Pierce Brosnan wore a Giorgio Armani tuxedo.

Actress Anne Hathaway attends MONTBLANC launching Collection Princesse Grace De Monaco at the Princess Grace Awards in New York City. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain)

Singer Nicole Scherzinger wore a Maria Lucia Hohan dress with Norman Silverman and Amrapali bangles to the X-Factor Auditions in England

June 2012

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Actress/Model Sarah Marshal is wearing a Petitis Pas necklace and Hymne a Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;amour bracelet with fashion designer Jean-Claude Jitrois is wearing Montblanc Timewalker watch with black strap and black bezel at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, France ÂŠ FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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Actress Andrea Riseborough wearing the rose gold and diamond Collier, and gold and diamond Fine Bandeau rings from the Treillage collection by Faberge to the British Independent Film Awards, on December 9, 2012

Musician Pitbull at the MTV EMA’s 2012 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Supermodel Heidi Klum at the MTV EMA’s 2012 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Actress Jessica Alba (wearing Montblanc Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco Fine Jewelry) attends the Montblanc international gala in China (photo Andreas Rentz)

Actors Tom Cruise and Robert Duval at the Jack Reacher’s premiere in Manchester, UK Actress/Model Olivia Palermo wearing Carrera y Carrera earings © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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!? ?

From the Red Carpets

FACES BEHIND FAMOUS FASHION LABELS

You know these famous brands, but do you know the PEOPLE? 8

3 4

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runway at the Anna Sui Spring 2013 fashion show during MercedesBenz Fashion Week at The Theatre Lincoln Center on September 12, 2012 in New York City

Designer Donatella and Versace’s

2 CEO Santo Versace attend the

! !? ?

1 Designer Anna Sui walks the

2012 International Herald Tribune’s Luxury Business Conference in Rome, Italy

3 Designer Garavani Valentino

attends the 2012 International Herald Tribune’s Luxury Business Conference in Rome, Italy Designer Giorgio Armani at Sean

4 Penn’s Haiti Benefit Gala Dinner

during the 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2012 in Cannes, France Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier

5 attends the 2012 International

Herald Tribune’s Luxury Business Conference in Rome, Italy Designer Nicole Miller walks

6 the runway at the Nicole Miller

Spring 2013 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on September 7, 2012 in New York City

Designer Ralph Lauren walks the

7 runway at the Ralph Lauren Spring

8 Designer Tom Ford arrives at the

2012 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Los Angeles (Photo by Brian To WENN) Designer Tommy Hilfiger at the

9 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City

Vivienne Westwood and 10 Designers Manolo Blahnik attend the 2012

International Herald Tribune’s Luxury Business Conference in Rome, Italy

11 Guess’ CEO Paul Marciano, Guess’ collaborator Elin Kling, Guess’ CoCEO Maurice Marciano

12 Renzo Rosso, Diesel Founder, at the

9 1

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! ! ! ! ! !

2013 fashion show during MercedesBenz Fashion Week on September 13, 2012 in New York City

! ! ! ! !

2012 International Herald Tribune’s Luxury Business Conference in Rome, Italy Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

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WORKSHOP

The Importance of

Technical Specifications

– or TECHPACKS By Frances Harder

For those of you who are starting a clothing business without any formal training in the industry, it is important that you learn how to create a TECHPACK. What is a Techpack? A Techpack is a package of various documents which will include a technical flat sketch or a good working drawing with all of the design details. Flats are used extensively within the industry to explain designs in detail. It is usually drawn as if it were laid out flat on a table with all the seams, darts, and construction details. If you have ever seen a drawing on the backside of a commercial store-bought pattern, you will understand what a flat or working sketch is. It is what it says it is, a flat two-dimensional illustration often drawn without a figure but to scale. Generally the technical flat is a black and white line drawing, but they can be colored with a rendering of the fabrication or a scan of a print or fabric to be used. The complete Techpack is compiled to explain everything from type of fabric, interfacing used, buttons and placement thereof, cutting and sewing details from beginning to end. The documents will be referred by everyone involved in the whole construction process. The “Techpack” “Techpack”, which is sometimes referred to as “Specification” would typically include some of the list of documents below, or all, or in some cases even more detailed information: • Flat sketch with construction details and style number • Bill of Material – Type of fabric, buttons, interfacings, zippers, labels, contrasting fabrics, etc. • Callouts, or sometimes referred to as “Sendouts” would be for a process that could not be completed in the factory e.g. Printing, Dyeing, Washing, Embroidery etc. • Cost Sheets • Pattern cards • Cutting and Marker Marking details • Grade Rules for sizing • Packaging information • Line Sheets • Presentation boards As the Techpack will also include the style’s precise measurements for all components with grade rules it will be crucial to understand how to measure garments and understand construction methods. So, if you are untrained on how to creating all the above details it will be important find a person with experience to assist with this critical group of documents. 36

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Frances Harder is the founder/President of the Fashion Business Incorporated (FBI), which provides vital business development and job retraining programs to the US apparel industry Fashionbizinc. org. She has self-published a series of books dealing with starting a fashion business. Fashion for Profit is an extensive text that covers the A to Z of starting an apparel company, this book along with her other publications address valuable information to assist when starting an apparel related venture. www. fashionforprofit.com. Frances is also a United Nations consultant to women owned businesses producing Alpaca prod products in Peru. She consults on product development, branding, merchandising, production and entering the US market. Frances often serves as an industry expert in legal disputes. Frances is a faculty adjunct professor at Woodbury University and Cal Poly Pomona, a member of the Southern California District Export Council (SCDEC), Business Incubation Network (BINS). MAGIC seminars – February 18th, 12.30pm Sourcing Bootcamp. South Hall February 21st, 9am Retailing 2013 February 21st 10.30am Techpacks and how they are created.

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Steps in creating a first sample and ultimately a production sample: Step 1 – First Sample Once the sample yardage is acquired, the first pattern is made from the designer’s first sketches. In order to produce a good first pattern, the patternmaker must be able to understand the design that is to be translated into a pattern, and then into a first sewn sample. Step 2 – Costing It goes without saying that the simplest garments will cost less to make. As styling details are added; pockets, style lines, linings, and trims etc, the cost of the finished garment will increase labor cost in production. If you choose expensive fabrics for an intricate design you will need to make sure you don’t cost yourself out of your chosen market niche. Step 3 – Accepted into the Line Once the sample is accepted into the line a technical drawing of the garment is sketched with finished dimensions and sewing details, topstitching, zipper length, etc. If you are trained in draping, and are able to make your own patterns, this will obviously save you a great deal of money. You will then be more likely to achieve your vision of how you would like your garments to look and be produced, without requiring the garment to be remade a number of times before it is to your ultimate satisfaction. Step 4 – Production Pattern The next step is to create the production pattern and production sample. The production pattern is the perfected first pattern. This means the first pattern is perfected for fitting and sewing details and the lay of the fabric is tested for an economic marker. The production pattern is then given to the Grader and Marker Maker to be graded into sizes. These days the computer software system is used to perform these two steps. Step 5 – Production Sample The contractor that you plan to use for your production, (not necessarily a sample maker) can often also make the production samples. The production sample will be used as a “sew by” and will be referred to throughout the production process. This has the added advantage of the contractor being able to cost the garment for production. The contractor will then be aware of any production problems with sewing a particular style and can then give a fair estimate of the time involved for production costing. (As a general rule of thumb, sewing the first sample will usually cost two to three times the price of sewing a garment in production.) Techpacks are also used as a legal document of how to manufacture any type of apparel or sewn product. This legal document will be used as a form of contract to be followed by the source of the production process. © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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T R A DE S H O W T I P S Million USD

Are You An Invisible Exhibitor? Country

Exports

181 Albania 27 Argentina 45 Australia 931 Austria Almost every exhibitor will 4 172 Belgium tell you they go to trade 1 296 Brazil shows to raise their com177 Bulgaria pany’s visibility and build 224 Canada their corporate image. 135 Chile Those visual 39 374 China metaphors are not 34 Colombia coincidental. It’s essential 160 Croatia to be seen 570 Czech Rep. at a trade 747 Denmark show. 37 Ecuador And yet, 14 Egypt despite 69 Estonia their best intentions, too many 156 Finland exhibitors end up … invisible. 2 409 France Could that be you, too? 4 392 Germany Let’s throw a light on what makes exhibitors 80 Greece invisible, even when they really want to be seen: 34 Guatemala A camouflaged trade show display 5 317 Hong Kong 385 Hungary Your trade show display will fade into the 1 421 India background like a soldier’s camouflaged uniform 3 227 Indonesia in a dense forest on a foggy, moonless night, un78 Ireland less your display has enough visual appeal to stand 49 Israel out from the crowd. Even if you are trying to 10 376 Italy be noticed, somehow you may end up with an 45 unremarkable display, with a boring shape, too Japan little lighting, bland colors, either no images or Republic 144 Korea, too many small images, unreadable text thatMalaysia is too 201 small, too busy, too plentiful, or too close inMexico color 411 to its background, or simply a boring message 2 933 Netherlands that doesn’t appeal to your target audience. Norway 20 110 Pakistan It’s not on purpose that trade show booths 1 130 Panama end up invisible, but it happens all too often because exhibitors try to put too 22 Peru 11 Philippines 543 Poland 2 091 Portugal 1 391 Romania 30 Russian Federation 7 Saudi Arabia 284 Singapore 151 Slovenia 33 South Africa 2 870 Spain 262 Sweden 274 Switzerland 899 Thailand 409 Tunisia 398 Turkey 228 United Arab Emirates 1 400 United Kingdom 1 023 USA 5 123 Vietnam

World Data Map

38 4

DFe eb c er umabreyr 22001 132

Imports 31 395 1 333 1 596 2 322 428 98 2.089 925 1 289 477 189 790 989 118 94 94 384 6 506 8 717 588 115 4 850 299 149 184 448 413 5 662 5 062 1 536 259 718 3 465 721 73 1 153 255 138 1 070 606 343 3 940 433 560 214 905 2 977 949 1 402 220 18 816 678 5 169 23 245 25

Million Pairs Exports

Imports

Production Consumption

By Mike Thimmesch. Used by permission of Skyline 12 Exhibits www.skyline.com 8 8

2 2 28 207 113 13 12 35 10 170 2 4 51 22 4 1 3 3 80 194 10 2 362 28 113 206 8 2 229 1 9 31 22 143 1 8 102 3 3 39 65 57 6 1 28 8 3 130 9 4 141 27 93 76 88 78 316

4 23 118 139 132 3 133 75 2 49 much on and 195it. Unfortunately 1 that backfires 22 makes the display a muddled mess that might as 34 819 740 well be invisible for all the stopping power 18 15 20 it retains. 164 8 160 promotion 134 A lack of 11 110 and at the show2 761 43 before12 888 64 Your trade show53display is one of115 hun18 10 even thousands 23 dreds, and sometimes that 188 attendees can 4 decide to visit.142 But 49 36 attendees’9 limited show floor time is30 precious. You must 10 36 make them vis10 49 see the value in58 iting your2 booth. They won’t 5 5 22 know to look 4 for you if you never 22 480 call, mail, email, 24 post a social media 424 message, or advertise 593 31 what great things 430 will befall65 them by seeing you 3 at the show. 58 11 have no visually 21 intriguing and valu29 If you able giveaways 425 to entice them, 1 they will walk64by your booth 29 to visit those who 23 do. If you have24no promotional their 106 activity to2 arouse 209 their curiosity, 2 202 eyes will 32 skip your booth700 to look for more 526 entertaining and in38 engaging displays. 1 If you haven’t31 vested in 42 promotions that help you break out from 3 42 the clutter, be358you risk fading 208in the background 336 hind the few that promote themselves well. 619 79 697 Invisible Booth 116 5 Staffers 111 33 68 70 Claude Rains was the star of The Invisible 68 1933 horror 254 film. It’s also a299 Man, a classic hor245 booth staffers1share Claude Rains’ 104 ror if your 26elude the eye. 1 Your booth staffers 26 ability to 16 299 308 will disappear from view if they hide be108tables or sit with 1 their heads down 7 hind 34 rather than 42 stand alert by 73 the 118 79 194 115 32 108 56 61 51 73 44 59 256 52 302 43 86 127 67 12 51 16 2 10 206 47 249 354 94 318 49 1 41 61 1 58 56 245 160 2 44 18 52 188 148 131 0 55 455 5 372 2 302 25 2 249 2 805 136 ©©FFRFFR-Focus FocusOn OnFashion FashionRetail Retail

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COME TOGETHER. THE ATLANTA SHOE MARKET FEBRUARY 23-25, 2013

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T R A DE S H O W T I P S aisle. Worse yet, they duck their heads behind laptops and smart phones, avoiding eye contact with any potential passerby. Not everyone is cut out to be a booth staffer. Some are too scared to engage with strangers, and no matter how much training you give them, they will do their best to avoid being seen, let alone talked to. That’s not to say you should not bring any introverts – actually some can make excellent booth staffers. Just make sure you bring staffers who can and will engage with attendees as they walk by, no matter if they are gregarious or shy. Because you want booth staffers who are Rainmakers, not Claude Rains. Exhibiting At The Wrong Show What if your best buyers don’t see you as they walk down the trade show aisle because you’re exhibiting at a different show than the one they

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attend? Do your homework and find out which shows you’d want to darken with your shadow. Check the demographic reports of your shows’ audiences – do the attendees match your best prospects, based on job title, company size, and geography? You may get lost in the crowd at the big industry show, but sparkle at a smaller show attended by your best vertical market buyers. And ask your best customers which shows they attend when they go looking for suppliers. That’s where you really want to be seen. Keeping A Low Profile With Your Internal Team Not only do you want to avoid being an invisible exhibitor in the show hall, you also want to avoid being invisible about your exhibiting to others within your own company. Could your sales group pick you out from a lineup, because you

asked them what qualifying questions they want booth staffers to ask prospects? Have you stood in front of them to lead booth staff training, or continued to see them when you ask what happened when they followed up on your trade show leads? And have you caught the eye of your management team, as you report your trade show results, ask for resources, and justify your trade show budget? Because if you don’t, your budget may shrink until it is now longer in view. Be Seen And Succeed! While exhibiting can involve all the senses, it is still very much a visual medium. Do everything you can to ensure your exhibit, staffers, and promotions catch the eye and get noticed. And be sure you are visible to your best buyers and your own internal team. Do that, and you’ll be much more likely to see trade show success.

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M A N A GE M E N T

WILL YOUR SMALL BUSINESS BE BETTER OFF FOUR YEARS FROM NOW?

(9 WAYS TO MAKE SURE THE ANSWER IS YES) By Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey

If you’re the owner of a small company, the founders of Barefoot Wine have a word of advice: Stop fretting about Washington, DC, and direct your energies closer to home. They offer nine proven basics to help your business thrive long term.

t seems like every few weeks there is a new crisis to capture our attention and make us wonder about how it will affect our business going forward. Just in the past few months we have been hit with the election, the fiscal cliff, and now the debt ceiling and upcoming budget battle. With crisis coverage ramped up to a fevered pitch and blasting the airwaves 24/7, many small business owners are rightfully feeling confused and anxious over what to do. Some are standing like dear in the headlights frozen in fear, feeling powerless and confused. Here’s a word of advice: Tune out the rhetoric, and get back to work. No matter what happens with the government, small busibusi ness owners will have to rely on who we’ve always relied on to be successful—ourselves, our employees, and our customers. However the latest crisis unfolds it will have minimal impact on the small businesses that form the backbone of our nation. We, ourselves, are the best determinant of how successful our businesses will be. We’re speaking from experience. We are the founders of Barefoot Cellars, the company that transformed the image of American wine. We started the Barefoot Wine brand in our laundry room in 1986, made it a nationwide bestseller, and successfully sold the brand to E&J Gallo in 2005. Starting with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, we employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles and create new markets. What’s more, we did it all while four presidents, each with very different governing styles, held the highest office in the land and during long forgotten crisis after crisis. From Reagan through Clinton, and through both Bushes, we learned a lot about what makes a small business successful. We

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learned the hard way and the best way: by experience. We are convinced that any company that has a good product or service and gets the basics right will thrive—regardless of the outcome of an election, budget debate, our debt ceiling. What exactly are the basics? Here a few of them: ◆ Embrace the advantages of being small. While small companies, especially start-ups, tend to be undercapitalized and

(relatively) unknown, they also have some big advantages over larger competitors. They tend to be more nimble and flexible instead of being mired in bureaucracy. Since they don’t have big siloed departments, they can communicate faster. They’re less risk-averse. All of this allows them to turn on a dime. Even a shortage of cold hard cash can be an advantage. Why? Because it makes you more innovative. Because small companies are usually underfinanced, they are always scrambling for inexpensive and effective ideas to stay in business. This apparent hardship forces you to discover and employ unorthodox ideas, strategies, and tactics that the big guys wouldn’t dream of. They don’t have to. In a small company, costsaving ideas, customer retention, and marketing concepts can come from anywhere. The big guys tend to want ideas to originate from their proper divisions, which can miss or kill some gems in an effort to defend precious turf. ◆ Think creatively about marketing. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. Back in 1986 when Barefoot was founded, we pioneered what they call “worthy cause marketing” (WCM). We partnered with nonprofit organizations (NPOs) that believed in the same causes we believed in—specifically, environmentalism and civil rights. We donated product at fundraising events, we worked festivals, and we got out into the community to talk about causes we were passionate about, Barefoot wine, and our NPO partners—all in the same breath. In this way, we gained access to lots of potential customers and gave them a “social reason” to buy Barefoot wine. And in return, the NPOs received donated product and manpower at events, as well as publicity via Barefoot’s distribution channels. © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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◆ Find good people. Make great people. Of course you need to hire well. That means finding people who are not only qualified, but who have foundational qualities you can build upon. Barefoot looked for enthusiasm, confidence, honesty and integrity, a willingness to learn, and a sense of humor. But we didn’t stop there—we made sure to provide the environment, encourageencourage ment, resources, and flexibility for our people to become their best. We made sure to create a positive culture. We caught people doing things right and told our enen tire staff about it. We allowed them to make mismis takes so as not to squelch their creativity. We put a lot of energy into mentoring and training. We gave them plenty of vacation time to rest and recharge. We did everything possible to help them live up to their full potential. To get the best out of your people, find out what they excel at. Then, redesign their jobs to fit those skills. Ask others to pick up the aspects of the former job that still need to be done. You might be surprised at the positive response. Don’t put the © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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square peg in the round hole. Build a square hole. ◆ Use performance-based compensation. Most compensation plans are based on an hourly rate, which is paying for attendance, not necessarily production. Consider offering bonuses based on sales, cost reductions, and customer retention. In other words, give them a financial reason to help the team perform. With the ideal compensation system, non-producers can’t afford to work for you, and producers can’t afford to leave. ◆ Grow your business by sharing the wealth. Henry Ford used to say he’d rather have 1 percent of what a hundred others made working for him than 100 percent of what he made by himself. Some business owners want to have it all, but in the process, cut off the very folks they need to get what they want. We were chastised for “overpaying” salespeople. True, we had several salespeople who made more than we, the owners, did—yet when we looked at the efficiencies of scale, the value of stability, and the increase in sales, we knew we were doing the right thing. Sharing the wealth allows you to reduce turnover,

attract go-getters, and motivate people to produce even more. Best of all, increased profit is “found money”—it really costs you nothing. Just make sure the payment is tied into profitability, and not based solely on “growth.” You are paying too much for labor when you pay for “attendance” alone. It’s their production you really want, because that is where your profits come from. ◆ Don’t treat information as currency. Let it flow freely. Some companies, especially big corporations, treat information like a coveted commodity. In fact, it’s often used as a type of currency to buy a lunch, get a promopromo tion, receive kudos, or trade for other information. Some information is down right suppressed bebe cause it may threaten some supervisor’s concept of job security. Do not let this happen. Do whatever you can to engage everyone and keep the informainforma tion free-flowing. Be transparent about challenges and ask the entire staff for solutions. It can also help to link compensation to overall performance. At Barefoot, we made sure all people were getget ting bonuses on sales, which meant that sharing information and ideas was good for everybody’s Fe b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

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M A N A GE M E N T paycheck. Respecting the intellect of your human resources, giving them a financial reason to work as a team, and sharing your challenges can avoid hardening of the information arteries. ◆ Listen to your salespeople. Without them, there is no company. Run everything by your salespeople that affects your product and its image. Before you allow a change or “improvement” to the product or the package, check with the folks who have to actually make the sale, overcome the objections, and talk directly to the decision makers and the end users. Top-down thinking, when it comes to product, package design, and even promotion, can undermine what has taken years to establish. It’s also critical that your non-salespeople appreciate where the money comes from that pays their salaries, bonuses, and benefits. When folks are hired, present them with an info-graphic that follows the money trail backwards from the cuscus tomer through the distribution system, through the marketing and sales system, through the supsup ply and production system, and winds up in their pockets. It may seem obvious, but it can be forgotforgot ten as your company gets larger. ◆ Establish a positive culture. Company culture has a direct bearing on the survival and growth of a company. This starts from the top and permeates throughout an organization. Barefoot’s culture was based on two overarching principles: generosity and permission. And by allowing, no, insisting that people use their imagination to exex periment, be creative, and even make mistakes, Barefoot gave them permission to be all they could be. Plus, Barefoot was fun. The whole approach was fun, from the image of the bare foot to the colorful labels and cartons to the slogans, puns, and parodies. Barefooters were encouraged to be playful. Having fun with the “foot” was always a hallmark of Barefoot culture.

◆ Make sure customer service is an integral part of that culture. At the time Barefoot Wine was founded, our business model was considered radical. We viewed it as more of a “service” rather than merely a product. At its “velocity price point,” Barefoot could not survive without becoming “America’s Personal House Wine”— meaning Tuesday night wine, picnic wine, beach wine, the wine you kept on hand because it always delivered quality and value. We would have to sell massive quantities to stay in busi-ness—and that meant pulling out all the stops to create a great customer experience. The original Barefoot culture was based on the most comprehencomprehensive definition of customer service. Imagine a company that, through worthy cause promotions, encour-aged customers to go into specific retail establishments to buy their brand. Imagine a company that viewed its displays as retail entertain-ment, adding color, fun, and theme sets for the enjoyment of its custom-ers! This is the ultimate in customer service to your retailer, your end user, and to your community. All of this gave Barefooters a unique level of ownership seldom seen in most companies. It kept Bare-foot fresh and its people involved. They looked forward to coming to work because it was so exciting. Again, it was fun and they knew they were making a difference. Business owners need to remember something crucial: Governments cancan not create. It’s just not their job. They can make things easier or more difficult (and often, the policies they put in place could be argued to work either way), but they cannot build something new and exciting and inspiring. That’s our job—and we should focus on it instead of worrying about things we can’t control.

No matter what the crisis headlines of the day, we need to be grateful for the opportunity to have our dreams, bring them to life, provide a good living for our employees, and make life better for our customers. It’s a privilege, and if we can stay focused on that, we will come out on top no matter what the latest crisis might be!

About the Authors: Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey are the authors of The Barefoot Spirit Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built a Bestselling Wine, to be released in January 2013. To learn more, visit www.thebarefootspirit.com.

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Escape, Explore and Experience Carmel-by-the-Sea

Explore the scenic surroundings and enjoy the exquisite cuisine of Mundaka, Grasingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Fandango Restaurants during your stay at the Hofsas House.

1-800-221-2548 www.hofsashouse.com San Carlos and 4th ~ P.O. Box 1195 ~ Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA 93921

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SURVEY

YOUR OPINION COUNTS

As a service to our worldwide audience, Focus on Shoes regularly conducts surveys to determine satisfaction with the various footwear, apparel and accessories trade shows and to rank our readers’ favorites. Being an independent media outlet not affiliated with any trade show, we believe that peoples’ opinion must be heard, it adds up to the value of our services as well as serves the needs of the industry. As always, in the closing issue of the year (November) we will be announcing and reviewing the TOP 10 TRADE SHOWS of 2009. For that purpose, we will be conducting this survey throughout the year, offering to rate performance of various shows. Events collected the maximum score will make it to the final list. If you have attended any of the shows listed below and would like to submit your opinion, please do so according to these rules: • Rate the shows you have attended on the scale of 1 through 10, where 1 is awful and 10 is awesome; • You must identify yourself (see opposite side); • Your opinion must be fair and objective; • You must be an independent observer, not employed by not affiliated with any trade show;

Show

• Please rate only those events that you have attended within last 6 months. Upon completion, please send this form to FOS. Your personal information will not be disclosed, nor shared with anybody. Thank you!

Organization, Planning, Promotion

Attendance, Traffic

Convenience

Services offered at the show

Cost of attending/ exhibiting

Value for your business

AccessoriesTheShow Australian Shoe Fair BIFF & BIL CHIK- China International Clothing & Accessories Fair Coterie ENKBeijing ENKVegas Fame Fashion Access FFANY- The New York Shoe Expo FN Platform GDS International Event for Shoes & Accessories KIDShow MAGIC Memphis Gift & Jewelry Show Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week Miami Beach International Fashion Week MIPEL Moda Manhattan Modacalzado + Iberpiel Mode Shanghai ENK Mosshoes MRket LV OFFPRICE show Pool Trade Show Project Rio Fashion Sao Paulo Fashion Week Sapica SIMM- the Madrid International Fashion Fair SMOTA- Shoe Market of the Americas Sole Commerce Sylemax TASM- The Atlanta Shoe Market © FFR- Focus On Fashion Retail

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SUBSCRIPTION Send a check/money order ($30 for USA subscribers) along with your address and contact information to our office. International ordersplease contact office for rates. To pay online using your credit card, please send your payment via www.paypal.com to subscription@focusonshoes.com Advice for a FREE SUBSCRIPTION: Ask our advertisers or your vendors to pay for your subscription! If your business is important to them, they may agree to by pay for your subscription from their marketing funds.

Business Name: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Mailing Address: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ State:______ Zip: _____________________________________

Phone: _________________________________________________

Fax: _______________________________________________

Name: _________________________________________________

E-Mail: _____________________________________________

MARKETING SURVEY

Please fill out this form completely, answering ALL questions. Incomplete or inaccurate entries will not be considered. I certify that I am: oA Retailer__________________(signature) / oNot a Retailer

If a retailer, please tell about your store: Specialty: oMen oWomen oChildren

Age Group: oInfants And Kids oTeens o20-30 o30-45 o45+ Retail Price Point: oDiscount oBudget ($20-40) oModerate ($40-70) oUpper Moderate ($70-120) oLower High End ($120-$200) oHigh-End ($200-$400) oLuxury ($400+) Store Type: oIndependent oBoutique oDept. Store oChain Store 1-5 Locations oChain Store 5+ Locations Merchandise:

oShoes Only oApparel Only oAccessories Only oAll

Lifestyle:

oDress oCasual oAthletic oComfort oSpecial Occasions oWestern oDance oUrban oEthic oBeach oGothic/Alternative/Other __________________________________________________________________

Best Selling Brands _____________________________________________________________________________________ Notes About Your Store __________________________________________________________________________________

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Your Primary Business Sources (describe): o Trade Magazines __________________________________________________________________________________ o Consumer Magazines _______________________________________________________________________________ o Trade Shows ______________________________________________________________________________________ o Internet oCatalogs How Do You Find New Merchandise?: oAt Trade Shows oResponding To Ads oSellers Contact You At Trade Shows You: o Know Exactly What You Need And Who Sells It o Know Exactly What You Need But Don’t Know Who Sells It o Just Looking How Frequently Do You Purchase Merchandise For Your Store?: o Every Month oEvery 3 Months oEvery 6 Months Your Average Purchase Is: oLess Than $1,000 o$1-5k o$5-10k o$10k+ Your Priorities Are (Please RATE, 1 is most important): oPrice oFashion oBrand o‪Quality oOther _____________ RETAILER: Please name your 3 biggest headaches to which you want to find a solution: 1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Any Suggestions/ Comments to help FFR to become more helpful to your business? __________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________

December 2012

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If you wish to receive FFR regularly by subscription, filling out the Marketing Survey portion is optional

City: ___________________________________________________

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Focus on Fashion Retail is a direct mail business magazine, distributed ONLY to targeted audience. If you have received this copy of FFR with the mail, it’s because your business’ description matched the criteria set by our advertisers. Please fill out the marketing survey below to be included in our database for a consideration to receive FFR occasionally, regularly (or never again) - depending on marketing preferences of our advertisers (US retailers only).

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FEBRUARY 5–7 TUESDAY–THURSDAY

JUne 5–7

WEDNESDAY–FRIDAY

Hilton New York Hotel & Member Showrooms

Download FFANY’s iPad App to view the show directory Save the Date: August 5–7 Monday–Wednesday

FFANY.ORG

@ffanyshoeshow

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