KILLICK DATTA IS POISED TO MAKE SOME NOISE—AGAIN • EUROPEAN TREND REPORT • HOW TO GET SHOPPERS TO ‘F-ING LOVE’ YOUR BRAND
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SEPTEMBER 2015
Caroline Diaco Publisher Greg Dutter Editorial Director Nancy Campbell Trevett McCandliss Creative Directors EDITORIAL Tara Anne Dalbow Fashion Editor Kirby Stirland Associate Editor Laurie Cone Associate Editor Kathy Passero Editor at Large Melodie Jeng Contributing Photographer
F E A T U R E S
Judy Leand Contributing Editor
12 American Original Talking shop with American Giant’s Bayard Winthrop, the man who brought Made in the U.S.A. back to life and has written a book about it. By Kathy Passero
ADVERTISING/ PRODUCTION Jennifer Craig Associate Publisher Capri Crescio Advertising Manager
14 For the Love of the Game Killick Datta, CEO of International Brand Partners LLC, describes Ccilu’s niche appeal and other buzzworthy brands set to join the company’s portfolio. By Greg Dutter 22 European Trend Report The GDS show in Düsseldorf, Germany, set the stage for a deluge of fashion innovations, enticing colors and bold silhouettes for Spring ’16. By Tara Anne Dalbow 32 La Vie en Rose A pastel palette lends sweet charm to an array of feminine styles. By Tara Anne Dalbow
Tim Jones Deputy Art Director Production Manager Allison Kastner Operations Manager Bruce Sprague Circulation Director Mike Hoff Digital Director OFFICES Advertising/Editorial 36 Cooper Square, 4th fl. New York, NY 10003 Tel: (646) 278-1550 Fax: (646) 278-1553 editorialrequests@ 9Threads.com
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Editor’s Note This Just In Scene & Heard This Just In Trend Spotting Shoe Salon What’s Selling E-beat Upclose Dress Last Word
Xen Zapis Chairman
On the cover: Laurence Dacade floral print sandals, dress by Maje. This page: Betsey Johnson bow stilettos, Viva Aviva ruffle blouse, skirt by Clu.
Photography by Trevett McCandliss; Fashion Editor: Tara Anne Dalbow; stylist: Claudia Talamas; hair and makeup: Michelle Coursey/Next Artists; model: Taylor Y./Major Model Mgmt.
FOOTWEAR PLUS ™ (ISSN#1054-898X) The fashion magazine of the footwear industry is published monthly (except for bimonthly April/May and October/November editions) by Symphony Publishing NY, LLC, 36 Cooper Square, 4th fl., New York, NY, 10003-7118. The publishers of this magazine do not accept responsibility for statements made by their advertisers in business competition. Periodicals postage is paid in New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Subscription price for one year: $48.00 in the U.S. Rates oustide the U.S. are available upon request. Single copy price: $10.00. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to FOOTWEAR PLUS, P.O. Box 8548, Lowell, MA 01853-8548. Publisher not responsible for unsolicited articles or photos. Any photographs, artwork, manuscripts, editorial samples or merchandise sent for editorial consideration are sent at the sole risk of the sender. Symphony Publishing NY, LLC, will assume no responsibility for loss or damage. No portion of this issue may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. ©2008 by Symphony Publishing NY, LLC. Printed in the United States.
Lee Zapis President Rich Bongorno Chief Financial Officer Debbie Grim Controller
E D I TO R ’S N OT E Diversity Training
STATES OF FASHION America is a melting pot of peoples, cultures and, to some extent, fashions.
I LIVE ON an exotic island—Manhattan. It’s a place where the natives often dress quite differently from Americans residing in other states. I’m quickly reminded of this fact whenever I leave its confines, within which black is a wardrobe staple. The hue is so prevalent it can skew my broader fashion perspective. Even in the summer, when sauna-like humidity levels match 90-degree temperatures, heat-absorbing black attire reigns supreme in the “Baked Apple.” Say what you want, but when it comes to fashion, many New Yorkers are color consistent, dangerous heat indexes be damned. Whenever I leave the island I’m met with a kaleidoscope of colors and fashions. It’s especially the case during summer, which also happens to be tradeshow travel season and a great opportunity to check in on what people are wearing. And while it’s increasingly easy to paint with broad strokes—thanks, in part, to the nearly instantaneous way trends cross the country in the age of online shopping—regional nuances and peculiarities still hold their ground. We may be one nation under God, but we are not all wearing the same uniform—yet. Take the Outdoor Retailer show in Utah last month, for example, when thousands of outdoor types from all over the country overran Salt Lake City. Many of the men sported khaki cargo shorts and loose-fitting button down shirts that Jimmy Buffet might wear (minus the Hawaiian prints) paired with trail runners, sport sandals or flip-flops. Women’s attire ranged from a “Heidi chic” outdoorsy aesthetic to yoga-inspired ensembles often paired with colorful sneakers. The accessory of choice for both was the backpack, of course. This utilitarian outdoor-meetsurban staple also happens to be ideal for air travel. Another noticeable Salt Lake City look sprinkled through the outdoor fashion crowd was old-school Brit punk: think Dr. Martens 1460s, ripped T-shirts and plenty of plaid. Perhaps the city is a last stand for diehard punkers. Or maybe the look is a sartorial rebellion against the region’s Mormon culture, where modesty is always in fashion. Whatever the case, I saw the style more in Salt Lake City than I do every day along New York City’s St. Mark’s Place, a block from our offices and once the epicenter of the American punk scene. Now I’m more apt to see designer-clad NYU students strolling by en route to the street’s numerous sushi restaurants and yogurt shops. Speaking of upscale fashions, the preppy look is alive and well around
6 footwearplusmagazine.com • september 2015
the coastal Connecticut home of my in-laws. It’s as if the area’s schools list The Preppy Handbook as required reading. At my family’s recent mini golf outing in Old Saybrook, a majestic course setting where the Connecticut River meets the Long Island Sound, tykes and teens alike sported attire on par with the pros who play Augusta. Popular logos included Brooks Brothers, Vineyard Vines and Ralph Lauren often paired with Sperry Top-Siders. The fashions I recently spotted walking a mini golf course on New Jersey’s Long Beach Island couldn’t have been more different. The guys leaned toward jeans, muscle shirts and plush hi-top kicks. Many of the women sported what could only be viewed as the latest in stripper fashion. Who wears pumps to putt? This may sound like stereotyping, but many of them looked like they were heading to a nightclub, minus the golf clubs. This general fast fashion aesthetic was reaffirmed during an evening stroll about 50 miles south, along the boardwalk in Wildwood a few weeks later. As we wove our way through the crowds perusing the numerous T-shirt shops, arcades and fried food emporiums, I wondered if a Motley Crüe concert, circa 1988, had just let out. Many New Jerseyans evidently retain an iron-fisted grip on hair band fashion. And to those tattooed legions of stonewashed jeans-wearers, I raise my (figurative) lighter in salute and say, rock on! Because whether I personally like early-era Bon Jovi attire or any of the other aforementioned looks, I’m a diehard fan of fashion diversity. Even if it’s as simple as sporting a team’s logo (a look I see often during my annual New Hampshire vacations, where New England Patriots gear apparently is the required uniform), I love the mosaic of styles that make up these United States. Similarly, I hope regional accents, local delicacies and unique customs endure despite an increasingly globalized economy. It may run counter to efficiency, but in my opinion uniformity in any of these areas wouldn’t represent progress. I believe diversity from state to state is a source of creativity and strength. Here’s hoping that what one wears in Peoria won’t always play nationwide. Greg Dutter
Editorial Director
THIS JUST IN
READ ALL ABOUT IT With rich textures, exaggerated proportions and eye-catching embellishments, black and white contrasts were front page news during Paris Fashion Week. Photography by Nicole Comeau 8
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SCENE & HEARD
Chain Reaction YOU COULD SAY that giving back is literally woven into the fabric at Bernie Mev. The comfort footwear brand, know for its stretchy woven shoes, is partnering with cancer organizations MyLifeLine.org and Sharsheret for a charity campaign launching this month. As part of Weave The World Together, 100 percent of the net proceeds from sales of Bernie Mev’s Catwalk Braid flat (in silver/rose gold and pewter/fuchsia) will go toward supporting cancer patients. Through attending footwear trade shows with her parents, Bernie Mev designer Rachel Carmi and CEO Itamar Carmi, 17-year-old Leeron Carmi was struck by the industry’s collective passion for helping those in need. “When I think of shoes, support is the first thing that comes to mind,” says the big-hearted teen. “The footwear industry has the power to support a lot more than just feet. Connecting people together forms a network of strength and support and that is the goal of the Weave The World Together campaign.” The charities Bernie Mev has linked up with share this goal; MyLifeLine.org is an online community that offers support for cancer patients and their caregivers, while Sharsheret is a Jewish non-profit organization that focuses on breast cancer. Bernie Mev intends to keep spreading the love to a variety of causes by teaming up with different charitable organizations each year to coincide with new product releases.
Sole Cycle ONE PERSON’S TRASH is another’s fashion. The latest company to get in on the eco-friendly action by creating consumer products made of repurposed waste is The Office of Angela Scott. The luxe label’s eponymous designer partnered with recording artist Will.i.am for the latest installment of his Ekocycle project with Coca-Cola, an initiative that sees brands like Adidas, MCM and H Brothers giving new life to recycled materials—as clothing, shoes, accessories and more. The Office of Angela Scott x Ekocycle collection includes four styles of men’s and women’s brogues with uppers made from 100 percent RPET (a.k.a. recycled plastic). The shoes also feature Goodyear welt construction, leather soles and cork insoles. Each pair is equal to approximately one Coca Cola bottle. Prices 10 footwearplusmagazine.com • july 2015
range from $565 to $575; the shoes are available exclusively at British department store Harrods, as well as on the store’s website. “I am constantly seeking ways of living a more waste-free life, and the idea of being part of a group of like-minded individuals creating luxury products that can educate and empower the consumer about the importance of sustainable lifestyle choices was a no-brainer,” explains designer Angela Scott. Response from luxury-driven and eco-conscious consumers alike has been strong, and looking ahead, Scott hopes to expand the offering to include more silhouettes for the U.S. and Japanese markets. “I think we are becoming more conscious of living less wasteful lives,” she says. “Purchasing a product that is made from upcycled materials is better for our future.”
THE OLD COLLEGE TRY WHETHER CLEARING LITTER from a mountain trail or fostering career development and networking throughout the industry, Two Ten Footwear Foundation lives up to its motto of “shoeTwo Ten President Neal people helping shoeNewman people.” Its latest effort will help propel hundreds of footwear employees and their family members toward brighter futures by awarding $870,000 in college scholarships to 310 students from 43 states and 119 footwear companies nationwide. Two Ten has provided scholarships for undergraduate degree programs to eligible students for more than 40 years. In that time, scholarship funds have totaled nearly $20 million. Two Ten reportedly received a record number of applications this year and was able to meet that demand—by increasing the scholarship spend from $2,500 to $3,000 per student per year— thanks to the magnanimity of the industry. “College debt is a substantial public policy issue,” says Two Ten President Neal Newman. “When you’re comparing an historic issue of an industry that cares about education with a current issue—that higher education is becoming unaffordable for working families—the scholarship program is made even more important.” That goes for traditional college scholarships, but also niche programs, like Two Ten’s new Footwear Warriors initiative, which awards funds to military veterans returning to footwear positions. Newman sees a trend toward specialized scholarship programs in areas like athletics, environmental studies and manufacturing. “There’s ample scope for us to grow both the traditional higher education [scholarship programs] and also some specialized areas that will be of greater benefit to the industry overall,” he says.
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American Original Talking shop with American Giant’s Bayard Winthrop, the man who brought Made in the U.S.A. back to life. BY K AT H Y PA S S E RO
thinking and their tastes. Already, American Giant’s hooded sweatshirts are being hailed by a legion of ardent fans as the best ever made. Devotees say they’re the kind of garment not seen in decades, the kind you can wear forever without wearing out. Winthrop, who started his career in corporate finance before spending almost two decades running consumer products companies, says American Giant’s priorities are simple. First, make the basics right— every time. (Not long ago the firm rejected a whopping 1,600 sweatshirts coming off the assembly line for having imperfect stitching.) Second, sell direct to customers online, bypassing traditional distribution channels in order to put money and attention into what matters most to shoppers: quality, cost and that little label assuring them that their hoodie was homegrown. (American Giant uses cotton grown, finished and dyed in North Carolina and factories in California, not far from the company’s headquarters.) Widespread interest in his approach to business recently prompted Winthrop to pen the book I F**king Love That Company: How a New Generation of Brand Builders Is Defining the Post-Amazon World, cowritten with Randy Komisar of the California-based venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Here, he shares his views on the future of retail and his secret for making customers fall head-over-heels for your store or your brand. How did the title of your book come about? There’s a difference between a company that you like, and a company you f**king love. The “love” part is what we’re referring to in the book title. We believe that companies, and the values that they live by, that resonate with their customers will be the brands that succeed in the post-Amazon world.
SKEPTICS SAID IT couldn’t be done, but Bayard Winthrop showed them—and everyone else—that companies can produce well-made, affordable clothing right here in the U.S.A. This year his San Franciscobased online apparel company American Giant was named one of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company magazine, and that might be just the beginning. Winthrop and American Giant could do for wardrobe staples what chefs like Jessica Prentice and Alice Waters did for the eat local, eat organic movement: change American consumers’ 12 footwearplusmagazine.com • september 2015
The title suggests a passion for products and brands— something that has waned in consumers in recent years. Would you agree? If so, why do you think that’s happened? I agree that some of the big, iconic brands that used to have a really strong message and value proposition have faltered over the years. The brands I grew up with like Levi’s and Champion that made great, affordable product and were distinctly tough and made in America have absolutely changed. We’re also competing in a world of infinite choice, so customers are less loyal and more able to try new brands that they are drawn to. What are the best ways to ignite customers’ passion for a brand or store? Tell us how you’ve done this at American Giant. It sounds basic, but I think the best way is to really listen to what the customer is asking for. I >45
HOODIE MANIA GIVEN AMERICAN GIANT’S online business model, it’s fitting (if you’ll pardon the pun) that an online article started a frenzy over the company’s sweatshirts. In 2012, American Giant CEO Bayard Winthrop asked Slate.com writer Farhad Manjoo to try one of the company’s hoodies. His company, he explained, had hired a former industrial designer from Apple to rethink every aspect of the garment and tried dozens of prototypes before coming up with the ideal offering. At first skeptical, Manjoo donned one of the hoodies and became a fan. A BIG fan. He penned a 2,000-word valentine to the garment, singing its praises as the “greatest hoodie ever made.” “When you wear [it],” he wrote, “you’ll wonder why all other clothes aren’t made this well.” His piece went viral and suddenly American Giant’s stock sold out. Their curiosity piqued, shoppers decided to see for themselves if a hoodie could be all that…then found themselves waiting months to find out. Since then, inventory has rebounded, but demand—and praise—for Winthrop’s interpretation of an iconic American silhouette are still soaring. So, what makes the $79 staple a standout? đ Heavyweight cotton (polyester blends shrink and fade more easily) đ Double lining for warmth đ Fitted silhouette so it won’t slouch đ Stretchy side panels for mobility đ Spandex in the sleeves to keep them from bagging đ Metal grommets on the hood’s drawstrings đ Heavy-gauge thread for all the seams
For the Love of the Game Killick Datta, CEO of International Brand Partners LLC, makers of Ccilu, on how the company is just getting started: Expect more brands, plenty of killer styles and a whole lot of buzz in the very near future.
ILLICK DATTA LOVES every aspect of the footwear industry. It’s been his life’s work since his Oxford University days when he was hired before receiving his MBA to work for Nike’s international marketing division. Soon after, he was recruited by Brendan Foster, then the Managing Director of Nike Europe, to come to the company’s Beaverton, OR, headquarters to head up international business development. Career stops after that included executive positions 14 footwearplusmagazine.com • september 2015
at L.A. Gear, Wolverine Worldwide, Brooks Sports, Skechers and, perhaps most notably, branching out on his own with the launch of Global Brand Marketing Inc. (GBMI), which was led by the Diesel footwear license. The brand became a fashion-athletic hybrid juggernaut that peaked at $500 million in annual sales in just 10 years. Throughout his career, Datta has been an astute student of the shoe business. A voracious reader, he’s always up to date on what’s hot, what’s not, who’s cool, who’s out and what’s next. What’s more, it’s a global perspective. If Datta is anything, he is a well-traveled footwear exec who puts George Clooney’s character in the movie Up in the Air to shame. (At last count, he’s visited 170 countries on business and, at the time of this interview, had just walked in the door to his Singapore home after a 14-hour flight from Berlin.) In addition to being an expert on sourcing and international trade issues, having served on numerous related boards and committees, Datta is a walking, talking industry scorecard. He possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of leading brands and retailers. He knows the key players, their stats, their hits and misses and their strengths and weaknesses. And he is quite complimentary of his colleagues who continually hit it out of the park. In that sense, Datta is as much a fan of this business as he is a key player himself. “I’m passionate about this industry. I’ve never seen it as just a job,” Datta says. “It‘s something that I love doing.” He concedes that this might sound like what one is “supposed to say,” but stresses it’s the truth. “I absolutely enjoy what I do. Nearly everybody I know is in this industry, and I can go from country to country meeting friends I have done business with for years.” Datta continues, “I just love this industry. It changes every six months, and the good companies are able to change with it and do even better.” Now Datta finds himself in the embryonic stages of launching another good footwear company. It consists of Ccilu, a street fashion-athletic hybrid brand steeped in injection-molded constructions. Soon to join the portfolio (the deal is expected to be finalized this month) will be the license of a $1.2 billion health and wellness brand for a line of related footwear and apparel. Datta has great expectations for this performance brand and what he sees as enormous untapped market potential. Also in the works is an upscale fashion license that should be finalized later this fall. Like GBMI, which involved multiple brands, Datta says there will be no product or market overlap. That philosophy hasn’t changed. What has changed is a portfolio
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O&A that won’t solely consist of licensed brands. Datta learned his lesson—in the hardest and most financially painful way when his Diesel license wasn’t renewed. It’s easily his biggest business-related mistake. “It’s like I was building on a rental property where I added new bathrooms, plumbing and bedrooms. I even retiled the kitchen—all for a 10-year lease,” Datta laments. “It was taken away and I was left with nothing.” But Datta doesn’t regret the experience. He says his team had a tremendous amount of fun, learned a great deal and What are you reading? As would do it all over again—under one much political news as I can get condition: “Make sure we have much my hands on to try and keep up longer-term license deals.” with all the chaos in the world. Ownership of brands, like the joint But I’m not really interested in partnership with Ccilu, is part of the how Jeb Bush might fare against International Brand Partners LLC Hillary Clinton. I’m more inter(IBPL) formula. But it’s a matter of ested in how the U.S. will deal finding the right brands. So far it’s with China or how the TPP been a case of quantity and not quality. trade pact will unfold. “I’m getting offers of about two brands a month and 99 percent of them are What is inspiring you most trash,” Datta affirms. In fact, Ccilu right now? How the world has didn’t even involve a formal offer. changed so much since I started Rather, the deal came about during a in business. People will tell you chance meeting with a Chinese shoe it’s all heading in the wrong factory owner (who provides a lot direction, but I don’t believe of components and molds for the that’s the case. Just in the 35 likes of Skechers, Nike and Crocs) years that I’ve been in business, by way of an old colleague. “They are Asia has completely changed the single largest injection-molded from being a mass of hungry, manufacturer in the world,” Datta poor people to now being the says, adding that the owner sought biggest market in the world. And to launch his own brand. But Datta probably, within our lifetime, says his team (which includes GBMI’s we’ll see the same thing happen former creative director Fiona Adams) in Africa. had zero interest in launching another Crocs-like brand. Ccilu, Datta says, What is your motto? “Never is nothing of the sort. It’s pure street take no for an answer.” I tell my fashion, like Diesel, only using today’s kids that all the time. But they consumer touchstones. “The sexiest just laugh because when I tell buzzwords in the industry today are them not to do something, they lightweight, cushioned, durable, flexare quick to remind me. ible and green (i.e. sustainable),” Datta explains, citing Nike’s Free and Flyknit But you practice what you collections and Skechers GoRun and preach? Yes. When I launched Memory Foam lines as examples. “It’s Diesel everybody said that it was the opposite of the days when you had the silliest thing I could do with to have a hulking outsole and a midsole my own money because no one that couldn’t collapse.” Datta adds that had ever succeeded in taking it’s also the opposite of Diesel, which an apparel brand into footwear. primarily involved distressed, vintagelooking styles that weren’t particularly lightweight. “Those days are long gone,” he says. Thanks to advancements in manufacturing capabilities, Datta says Ccilu is able to encapsulate all the of-the-moment product features in a shoe that is low-profile yet cushioned and super lightweight. Datta also believes there’s a street fashion niche that performance brands have not been addressing directly—at least not with the style of which he believes Ccilu is capable. What’s more, he believes the street fashion market is ripe for something new. “Street is pretty much Vans, Converse and Uggs,” he says. “I’m not knocking them,
as they are huge brands, but there has been nothing new in street fashion for quite a while.” It’s one of the reasons he believes consumers have been flocking to Skechers, Nike, New Balance and Under Armour—brands that deliver on the aforementioned buzzwords. “People are wearing Nike Flyknits and LunarGlides all day long,” Datta says. “There has to be an opportunity here for us to specialize in street fashion.” Perhaps the biggest takeaway from all this is the simple fact that Datta is People said I had a better chance about to get back into the footwear of launching a brand called game full force. His team’s proven Killick. What’s more, it was my track record for creating fresh confirst time starting a business. But cepts, building powerful brands and we grew it into a $500-million selling boatloads of shoes should brand. So I’ve always believed be welcome in a market that’s been that if you have sufficient ability drenched in heritage brands and style and are willing to work hard, reissues for the past few years. Most then you can succeed. retailers would surely sign on to be part of another Diesel-like run. Datta, What did you want to be when of course, makes no such guarantees. you were growing up? I always But he’s confident that if the product wanted to better my dad in busiis right, success will follow. “That’s ness. He was on the board of why I’ve always invested heavily in directors of one of the biggest product, designers and developers,” pharmaceutical companies in Datta says. “As long as our product is the world. But never in a million good, we will succeed.” years did I think I would get into the shoe business. You didn’t have to launch another company from scratch, so why What sound do you love? I did you? was recently on a farm outside You’re right, I didn’t have to. But I Paris and it was nice to hear a love this industry. Robert Greenberg few birds, a stream flowing and certainly didn’t have to start Skechers nothing else. It was the most after L.A. Gear. He could have just peaceful moment I’ve had in relaxed. But he is so driven—as much years. today as when he started. It’s just something about this industry that If you could hire anybody, who drives us. Besides, I don’t play golf would it be? Someone with and I don’t like to fish, so I had time the gut financial instincts of on my hands—and that’s despite still Phil Knight, a shrewd operator managing my celebrity branding comlike Robert Greenberg and, to pany, Universify, [represents Jennifer be completely biased, my work Lopez, among others], serving on ethic. I may not be the most talseveral industry boards, leading busiented or smartest, but I always ness lectures and consulting for a few felt no one could outwork me. athletic brands. I was also offered several jobs by headhunters where I Who is your most coveted dincould go back to being an employee ner guest? Bill Gates or Roger with a salary, benefits, a 401K, etc. But Federer. that didn’t really interest me. That’s when [in early 2011] the Singapore government presented a tax-free opportunity for me to launch a company headquartered there. That’s how the whole process of launching IBPL really started.
OFF THE CUFF
16 footwearplusmagazine.com • september 2015
Was there ever a time you thought you wouldn’t get back into the shoe business? After GBMI closed, I was very down for about a year and I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do or whether I wanted to start another company again. It was the first time that I had ever failed at anything in business. It cost me
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lot of money, many employees who had become friends lost their jobs and distributors who got rid of other brands to carry Diesel had to scramble to replace that business. We were in 150 countries and doing very well at the time. There wasn’t a single country where our shoes were being discounted. We had 11 shoes doing 1.5 to 2 million pairs each annually. So that hurt a lot of people. While the big retailers replaced Diesel—and I doubt they cried all that much—many independents got especially hurt. Unlike Nordstrom, whose strength is a clientele that comes to them because of who they are, in many cases Diesel was a driving factor as to why people were shopping those independent stores. What are the advantages of being based in Singapore? The corporate tax reasons aside, Singapore is an ideal operating base—I’m only an hour-and-a-half flight away from my sourcing base. I didn’t move here thinking about that, but it’s been a big, big help. I’m also in the middle of the fastest-growing market in the world, and it will continue to be for at least the next 15 to 20 years. Two-thirds of the world’s population lives within a four-hour flight of Singapore and nearly 70 percent of the global GDP will be in this region. Asia now represents the single largest market for any footwear brand. Even the luxury market is now heavily entwined with this region. The moment Indians or Chinese stop buying luxury goods, many of those companies start reporting bad quarters. It’s become that important of a market, and I’m in the middle of it all. Is IBPL meant to be GBMI 2.0? Is that the goal? First let me say, back when I started GBMI, I never once said we would one day grow to be $500 million in size. That said, I want IBPL to be successful and known as a player in the industry. I’ve had success being an employee of various companies, I’ve had success with GBMI and now I want to try to do it again. Now, whether that translates to a similar or bigger-size company than GBMI in terms of dollars, I cannot predict.
Is any aspect of this partly to prove your former Diesel licensor wrong? No, not at all. I’ve actually come to the point where if I happened to run into [Diesel Founder Renzo Rosso], I would thank him for the opportunity. He awarded me the global license for Diesel footwear when I didn’t even have a company, basically. It was an incredible opportunity. So if I met him today, I would just say thanks. Shame it didn’t go forward, but it was incredibly fun while it lasted. How many brands do you envision in the IBPL portfolio? I never think along those lines, the same way I don’t think Proctor & Gamble or Unilever think in finite terms of how many brands they can handle. As long as a brand has potential and there is an opportunity in the market to exploit, that will determine the number of successful brands that we have in our portfolio. I expect that we will have at least three or four brands in our portfolio by this time next year. But I just don’t want to take on any brand. I can be a little more selective this time around. It has to fit a niche. It’s got to be unique and fill a market opportunity that’s not being adequately covered today in the upscale distribution channels. We first ask ourselves: what can we make of this brand? If all we can make of it is something that already exists in the market, then there’s no reason to do it. I don’t think the world needs just another brand in footwear. Speaking of which, what makes Ccilu unique? Ccilu is like an electric VW Beetle. We are bringing modern technology to street fashion via our lightweight and comfortable CciluCell technology. Our product is very technical, but we don’t sell that aspect because we are not selling performance athletic. I’m not seeking to go head-to-head with Nike, New Balance, Asics, etc. I’m quite happy saying we will be street fashion, but the product must look good and still perform. Who is the Ccilu customer? Basically, I want all the cool kids who are tiring of seeing all the uncool kids
wearing [Converse] Chuck Taylors and Vans. They are now wearing the same shoes as the uncool kids and I believe there have always been leaders who want to wear different stuff. Is the Ccilu customer similar to the Diesel customer? Not exactly. This customer is healthier and stays away from drugs. Diesel was much more underground and involving a club scene. Ccilu is a much cleaner kid who wants to look different but doesn’t necessarily want to wear Lacoste paired with Nike Flyknits. They want something different, which is what we’ve always done. Our products have always been unique, but we make them commercial. The key to great product is to make unique shoes that are still commercial. Designers can sketch completely outlandish shoes that might win an award from ID magazine, but that doesn’t make them successful at retail. What Nike does day in and day out is push the envelope creating new designs, but it’s always hugely commercial. Ccilu potentially represents a much bigger target audience than Diesel, correct? Yes, Ccilu has a much broader appeal. We’re not strictly luxury. We can sell it to Finish Line. We’re also in Macy’s, Nordstrom, Sportie L.A., Bloomingdale’s, etc. But the orders are still miniscule. We’re just been tested in these doors. Our first delivery to the U.S. was only this July. [Sales and distribution in the U.S. are being handled by LJP Int.] I’m happy to report that we’re getting reorders. It’s OK. I’m not going to lie and say it’s flying out like Diesel eventually did. But it’s been good enough that some of our retailers are increasing the number of orders for next season. How much might your past history play into this initial reception from retailers? My past allows me to get a foot in the door. But then the product has been unique enough for them to pick it up, look at it and say, “You know what,
this is interesting. This is different.” It’s different yet commercial. My point being that retailers aren’t buying Ccilu just because they might have bought Diesel from me in the past. Today, that buys me dinner or a coffee and “how’s the family?” The days of wining and dining to get an order are long gone. Fortunately, not a single retailer that has seen us has said they don’t know what the hell we are trying to do here. The product has caught their attention. And note that when we launched Ccilu in 2012 [in Japan] the brand was 90 percent strictly injection-molded styles. Today, maybe it’s only the outsole or a vamp that’s injection-molded and the rest consists of hybrid materials like leathers, nylons and knit fabrics. Along those lines, I’ve always felt that, at the end of the day, product makes the brand and it’s not the other way around. So even though Ccilu is still relatively unknown, it doesn’t bother me because I believe in our product. I’ve helped launch L.A. Gear and Skechers worldwide when both were unknown outside the U.S. I’ve been at the start of many new brands, and each time I’ve had to explain what the brand was going to be and let the product do most of the talking. Can we expect a similar approach to the launch of the (yet to be announced) health and wellness brand? I believe that brand will be the first premier fitness shoe company since Reebok and Ryka. That’s the pitch and what people will see in the product [launching for Fall ’16]. It will consist of men’s and women’s styles spanning their needs for cardio, yoga and Pilates workouts. This brand is going to be much more than an aerobics brand; it’ll be a health and fitness company, only with our element of fashion appeal. Health and fitness is a huge market. Today, everybody wants to be healthy and fit. And this brand is already huge; they sell a wide range of nutritional products and have instructors and training programs. And now it will have the footwear and apparel aspects to go with it all. Where do you envision IBPL in five years? I want us to be recognized for making great products. Like at GBMI, >47
THIS JUST IN
BAGS, LADIES Shoes play second fiddle—for once—to handbags that run the gamut from kitschy to classic. Photography by Nicole Comeau 20 footwearplusmagazine.com • september 2015
FLEXIBLE ESPADRILLES 46 SIZES & 4 WIDTHS
SPRING 2016 • ALL REGIONAL SHOWS • 1-800-970-VITA
THE EUROPEAN REPORT: SPRING ’16
GDS Show Gives More IRMLY SETTLED IN its redesigned format, three seasons on, the Spring ’16 edition of GDS in Düsseldorf, Germany, was a hot spot for information, inspiration and, of course, plenty of gorgeous shoes. Pointed-toe oxfords, white lug soles, lace-up sandals and a plethora of pastel hues led the spring collections of 900 brands presented before a crowd of 15,000 attendees. GDS’s new standing as the industry’s kick-off event of the season inspired Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, CEO of parent company Messe Düsseldorf, to focus on providing exhibitors and buyers with a comprehensive overview of the current retail climate. In addition to trend forecasting services, initiatives included merchandising inspiration and business model development. Expanded features included Trend Spots, striking exhibits built to illustrate five key trends with shoes and artful objects; Forum Touch, where visitors could touch and feel the most innovative textiles; and Digital Craft, a series of presentations on the newest digital technology affecting the industry, including a 3D printer demonstration. “We’re trying to give retailers something more— more information, more inspiration,” explains GDS Director of Project Development Ute Windhausen-Kiss. GDS also made a strong social media push in an effort to increase buyer interest and promote newsworthy stories and collections. This included a press walk, where exhibitors had the opportunity to present their collections to members of the international press, and a featured testimonial blogger, Nina Schwichtenberg from Fashiion Carpet reporting live on her blog for the duration of the show. “This creates consumer excitement and shows the retailer that we care about them and their business,” notes Windhausen-Kiss. Dornscheidt reports that their efforts paid off: visitor satisfaction was up and the feedback was positive regarding the expanded content offerings. According to a visitor survey, 80 percent of attendees stated that they used GDS as a source of information for the upcoming season. The next edition of GDS is slated for Feb. 10-12, 2016. In the meantime, here’s a review of the biggest trends that were on display. —Tara Anne Dalbow
Laurence Dacade
Thomas Rath
Varnishing Act High-shine patent leather finishes on block heel Mary Janes and slingback pumps make a mod comeback for Spring ’16. Round toes, square heels and lustrous sheens combine to bow unfussy, feminine styles. Beira Rio
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Taking Wood Stock The ’70s movement is still going strong as flowing gossamer gowns and macramé midi-dresses beg to be grounded by chunky wooden soles. Clogs continue to carry collections into the future with a keen eye on the past. Suede uppers and towering platform soles reflect archival design aesthetics while new innovations like foam insoles and weightless faux wood materials help lighten the load.
The Primaries
WXY
Sunshine yellow, emerald green and cobalt blue make bold statements for spring. Pulling a page from Mondrian’s sketchbook, these primary colors pop on stilettos, especially when colorblocked against black, white and nude.
Julian Hakes
Gant Softclox
Karma of Charme
Flat Line
With the Band
Minnetonka
Fringed sandals, embroidered booties and beaded gladiators hit the right notes as festival fashion continues to top the charts. Part boho, part retro, Coachella’s influence is worldwide. Suede and crochet speak to hippie roots, while fringe and turquoise stones pay tribute to the Native American influence. Western-inspired booties and intricate macramé thongs inject the category with fresh verve.
Pedro Miralles
Part wedge and part flat, designers try their hand at the polarizing flatform. Mixed materials and high-shine embellishments make a bold statement while sleek, tonal styles neutralize the chunky soles. Even men’s shoes get a raise, with thick soles tacked onto monk strap loafers and Velcro-closure sneakers.
Homers
2015 september • footwearplusmagazine.com 23
THE EUROPEAN REPORT: SPRING ‘16 Point Taken
Marni
Narrow toe boxes afford menswear styles a feminine fit. Brogues, derbies and oxfords all come to a point for spring. Realized in luxe materials with stacked heels and chunky platforms, the dressedup derby is poised to be a key style.
Loft 37
Pastel Persuasion On the heels of the candy-colored fall apparel collections, footwear designers go heavy on the sweets for spring. Shades of powder blue, mint green, soft lilac and (the most popular) dusty rose were found in almost every collection at GDS. Chalky hues play the perfect foil to man-tailored styles and look fresh on platform heels and sneakers.
Alain Tondowski
Charline De Luca
Tying One On Lending simple shapes, like ballet flats, a polished-yet-flirty feel, leather laces look dramatic styled around the ankle or up the leg. Pointed-toe flats and block-heeled sandals benefit from the lace details and offer a chic alterative to the ubiquitous gladiator sandal.
Marc O’ Polo
Clarks
Marc
One for All
Kangaroos
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Monochromatic styling has been circulating through the apparel industry for the last few seasons and it’s made its way to footwear for spring. Tonal styles appear dip-dyed with everything from the last to the rubber outsoles saturated in a single shade that spans from all white to rainbow brights.
Whitewash Riding on the athleisure trend, white lug soles give silhouettes spanning sandals to pumps a sporty infusion. A high-tech riff on fashion’s current penchant for footbed sandals, these amped-up designs meet the consumer’s need for comfort and style—and play to that Stan Smith appeal.
On the Edge Casamadre
Mario Pini
Laurence Dacade
In an effort to highlight innovative footwear—and spark echt creativity in buyers and brands alike—GDS culled 20 designers for its Design Trendsetter exhibition. Pushing the limits on form and function, the styles on display proved that the ability to break new ground in shoe design is alive and well.
Caroline Holzhuber
Alain Tondowski
Easy Access Stealing a page from kids’ designers, men’s and women’s sneakers and sandals embrace Velcro closures. These easy-on/off styles, realized in graphic silhouettes and bold colorways, make a sleek statement that feels modern in a sea of retro slip-ons. Mirrored metallics and contrasting colored soles are balanced by minimal shapes and simple design details.
Uenobe
Mario Pini
United Nude
Finsk
Chau Har Lee
Future Perfect
Prospekt
Running counter to the boho trend is an emerging focus on the future. Architectural shapes with clean lines and sharp angles are elevated with iridescent accents, techno metallics and futuristic materials. Lucite heels, exaggerated hardware and bold white-toothed platforms add otherworldly interest to towering stilettos and sneakers. 2015 september • footwearplusmagazine.com 25
T R E N D S P OT T I N G
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Wing Man
Perforated details add subtle interest to contemporary men’s brogues. 1. Artola Brooklyn 2. Hush Puppies 3. Rockport
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PH OTO GRA P H Y BY TI M J ON ES
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Jeans Scene Classic summer styles receive an all-American update with denim in an array of washes. 1. Naot 2. Flogg 3. BC Footwear 4. Keds 5. Mootsies Tootsies
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Playing the Blues Cobalt hues strike a power chord on sneakers, mocs and sandals. 1. De Blossom Collection 2. Coolway 3. Bearpaw 4. Kork-Ease 5. Keds
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SHOW INFO & HOTEL RATES
FFANY365.COM
@FFANYSHOESHOW FFANY.ORG
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X Factor
Cross-strap styles give wedge heels a slim, streamlined silhouette. 1. Nicole 2 Geox 3. Seven Dials 4. Hispanitas
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Let’s fight breast cancer. One step at a time. Cheryl Burke knows that dancing is easy if you break it down into steps. So is fighting breast cancer. Step One: Shop QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale.” Step Two: Get beautiful shoes at half the manufacturer’s suggested retail price*. Step Three: A minimum of 80% of your purchase price** will benefit breast cancer research and education.
Cheryl Burke
Cheryl is wearing Nine West Fertado Suede Peep-Toe Heels (S7871) created especially for QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale..”
Shop QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale® ” Tune in Thursday, October 22 6-9pm ET on QVC®
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FFANY SPECIAL PINK BENEFACTORS: NINE WEST GROUP, CALERES, CAMUTO GROUP & MARC FISHER FOOTWEAR
NINE WEST GROUP: ANNE KLEIN, BANDOLINO, EASY SPIRIT, ENZO ANGIOLINI, NINE WEST // CALERES: NATURALIZER, DR. SCHOLL’S®, LIFE STRIDE, RYKÄ, SAM EDELMAN, FRANCO SARTO, VINCE, VIA SPIGA, DIANE VON FURSTENBERG, FERGIE FOOTWEAR, CARLOS BY CARLOS SANTANA // CAMUTO GROUP: VINCE CAMUTO, LOUISE ET CIE, JESSICA SIMPSON, BCBG MAXAZRIA, BCBGENERATION, LUCKY BRAND // MARC FISHER FOOTWEAR: SIGERSON MORRISON, BELLE BY SIGERSON MORRISON, GUESS, ISAAC MIZRAHI, IVANKA TRUMP, MARC FISHER, TOMMY HILFIGER // BENEFACTORS: CHARLES DAVID LLC: CHARLES BY CHARLES DAVID / H.H. BROWN: BØRN, HERITAGE, ISOLÁ, KORK-EASE, SOFFT, SOFTSPOTS / NEW YORK TRANSIT INC.: ANN MARINO, NEW YORK TRANSIT, SPLENDID FOOTWEAR / WILL-RICH SHOE COMPANY LLC: ADRIENNE VITTADINI // DOUBLE PLATINUM: DECKERS OUTDOOR: UGG AUSTRALIA / JIMLAR, A DIVISION OF LF USA: CALVIN KLEIN, COACH FOOTWEAR, FRYE / MICHAEL KORS / WOLVERINE WORLD WIDE: CAT, CUSHE, HUSH PUPPIES, KEDS, MERRELL, SAUCONY, SPERRY TOP-SIDER, STRIDE RITE / YALEET: NAOT FOOTWEAR // PLATINUM: AEROSOLES CHINESE LAUNDRY / CLARKS / COLE HAAN / DANSKO / DEER STAGS PRIME / MATISSE / NOSOX / SAN ANTONIO SHOEMAKERS / TITAN INDUSTRIES / VIONIC WITH ORTHAHEEL / WHITE MOUNTAIN SHOE OF THE DAY: VIDA SHOES: ANDRÉ ASSOUS, ESPIRIT / BELLA VITA BY EASY STREET / BLOWFISH / CAPARROS CORPORATION / CORSO COMO / EARTH BRANDS / HIGHLINE UNITED / MIA SHOES NINA / SEYCHELLES / SPRING STEP / YELLOW BOX // QVC.COM: CAPE CLOGS / COBB HILL BY NEW BALANCE / EASTLAND / IVANKA TRUMP KIDS / MICHAEL MICHAEL KORS KIDS / POLO KIDS / STUART WEITZMAN KIDS // SPECIAL THANKS TO CHERYL BURKE FOR HER SUPPORT. *Based upon supplier’s representations of value. No sales may have been made at this price. A public service announcement. Show dates, times, offers, and availability subject to change without notice. **Purchase price excludes shipping and handling charges and tax. © 2015 QVC, Inc. QVC, Q and the Q Ribbon Logo are registered service marks of ER Marks, Inc.
POWDERY PASTELS CAST SPRING STAPLES IN A PRETT Y, POLISHED LIGHT. PHOTOGRAPHY BY TREVETT MCCANDLISS t STYLING BY CLAUDIA TALAMAS
Seychelles oxfords, Tracy Reese blouse, skirt by BCBG Max Azria. 33
Clu top, vintage feather bolero. Opposite page: Maguba clogs, Zara dress.
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Christian Siriano printed mid-heel pumps, top by Zara, Sandro shorts, necklace by Dinosaur Designs. Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Musse & Cloud clog, Bernardo lace-up flat, ballet flats by Sarah Jessica Parker, cork platform sandal by Poetic License, Melissa platform sandal.
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Betsey Johnson bow heels,Viva Aviva ruffle blouse, skirt by Clu. Opposite page: cut-out flat by French Sole.
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Viva Aviva blouse, vintage collar. Opposite page: Alexandre Birman ankle wrap kitten heels, Viva Aviva blouse, BCBG Max Azria skirt, vintage hat. Fashion Editor: Tara Anne Dalbow; hair and makeup: Michelle Coursey/Next Artists; model: Taylor Y./Major Model Mgmt.
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EDITOR’S PICKS
Match Point Sneakers skip the gym with pointed toes and luxe materials.
LAURA VILLASENIN
THE OLD ADAGE ‘opposites attract’ proves true for Laura Villasenin’s London-based footwear label, Miista. The brand melds heritage Spanish craftsmanship with new-age London styling. “I wanted it to be a combination of unusual elements and mixing things that don’t usually mix together,” Villasenin says. Even the name is a juxtaposition of two opposites: “Miista is a hybrid of Mr. and Mrs.,” she explains. Villasenin studied footwear design at the University of the Arts’ London College of Fashion before landing a job at Where, a fair trade footwear label out of India. “I was torn between product design and fashion design, so I decided on shoes because it merged my love for the two,” she says. Set on bringing her own unique point of view to fruition, Villasenin left Where in 2008 to launch Miista, a line of elegant yet unusual shoes conceived under the context of producing “measured madness.” It’s a mantra that informs the unexpected mixture of materials and moods found throughout each of the collections. “We’re unique because we combine design aesthetics that wouldn’t normally be paired together,” she states. For Spring ’16, Villasenin looked to nature for high-contrast design elements. Sand and stone, water and ice and sunsets and moonscapes are fused in the form of woven platform brogues and suede espadrilles built atop layered foam flatform soles. Supple suedes and buttery leathers are combined with tough metallic hardware, slick patent leather details and Lucite heels. A bright cobalt blue punctuates a mostly neutral palette of tan, white and saddle brown, while a luminous silver offers a subtle contrast to natural jute and sand-colored crepe. Elsewhere in the collection, silk bows soften sporty slides, cutout details elevate lace-up loafers and thick crepe soles lend suede booties a mod feel. “It’s Miista’s most experimental collection to date,” Villasenin offers. While Villasenin doesn’t design with a particular age group in mind, she knows her target customer inside and out. “It’s a subset of women who are independent, strong and curious, and are joined by their peculiar, eclectic taste,” she explains. “Someone who defies the odds of her very nature, but does it with elegance and grace.” —Tara Anne Dalbow
Gx by Gwen Stefani
Adrianna Papell
All Black
Where do you go for inspiration? Everywhere. I take a lot of inspiration from the streets of East London, music and travelling.
seeing how different materials look in different contexts and designs. Being handed a final three-dimensional product sample gives me a sense of amazement every time.
What are you listening to right now? At the moment I am listening to a lot of Trentemøller, and I will always love Kim Gordon.
What’s the biggest obstacle facing the shoe industry today? The biggest obstacle is reaching production minimums. They differ constantly, but it is quite a challenge to meet the minimum these days.
Which designers do you most admire? This changes with each season and each new collection. For right now, I am loving Satu Maaranen, anything denim and geometric sneakers. What part of the design process do you most enjoy? I find the sampling and material exploration the most rewarding. I love
What advice might you give young designers hoping to launch their own lines? Depends on the day. For today, I would say keep your head up. There will be ups and downs and you have to be prepared to be dedicated to it no matter if it’s a good or a bad day. Also, be prepared to integrate your vision into all aspects of your life.
E DI TO R’ S P I CKS PH OTO G RA P H Y BY T I M J ON E S
D E S I G N E R C H AT
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W H AT ’S S E L L I N G
Surf Specialty
Besides surfing, is there a sport that is especially popular now? We’ve seen a massive increase in paddleboard rentals this year. Ten years ago I only stocked three paddleboards and now I stock 60 and have 50 to rent. We laugh and say maybe Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres went paddleboarding together and, all of a sudden, everybody wants to do it. Would you say you have more of a local or a tourist clientele? Well, it’s both, but in the summer we’re overrun with tourists. The summer months are where the brunt of our income comes from. What challenges have you faced this year? We get a big influx of Canadians coming down to vacation and surfing is very popular with them. But this year, the exchange rate is horribly bad. Because of that, it’s noticeable that our numbers are down.
WHEELS N WAVES We l l s a n d O g u n q u i t , M E DOES SURFING IN MAINE sound insane? Even in the summer, the ocean temps aren’t exactly warm. Isn’t it better to eat lobsters than to swim with them? Not according to Vince Brazen, owner of Wheels N Waves, Maine’s oldest surf shop. And, he’s not alone in his daring (and chilly!) endeavors. “We have a pretty solid local surf community,” Brazen notes. “It’s grown over the years as wetsuits have become lighter, warmer and more affordable. We have more people surfing all year long.” In order to meet the needs of local daredevils and tourists alike, Wheels N Waves offers tons of surfboards, paddleboards, skateboards, wetsuits, beach accessories, shoes and sunglasses. But at its core, the shop is all about the waves. “We’re a real honest-to-goodness surf shop: We stock hundreds of surfboards,” Brazen explains. As a lifelong extreme sports fan, it’s fitting that Brazen now owns Wheels N Waves. While working as a writer and photographer for a snowboarding magazine, his agent told him that a buddy in Maine was selling a surf shop. Burnt out from trailing snowboarders, Brazen decided to live up to his last name and take a chance: “It was one of those ‘cash in every penny you have and hope for the best’ situations.” Brazen took the plunge, buying the now 41-year-old shop in 2000, and has been going strong ever since. The Wells location, a former bed-and-breakfast, serves as the flagship store, but three years ago, Brazen added to his offerings with a satellite shop in Ogunquit, specializing in rentals and accessories, like beach chairs and Frisbees. “We don’t act like we’re cool guys; we’re just here to give you information and provide the best product,” Brazen notes. He prefers to be fun-loving and that attitude extends beyond the shops’ walls: Wheels N Waves regularly hosts movie screenings and concerts at a local theater. And Brazen wouldn’t have it any other way: “I always say I don’t think I’ll ever get super rich off of this place, but I don’t think I’ll ever go out of business either.” —Laurie Cone
What makes your store unique among the competition? We do our own private label stuff; we have different apparel styles with various logos that have been designed based on our shop. We realized we don’t need to sell big brands to survive. There’s no sense in advertising for somebody else when you could be advertising for yourself. The key in our industry now is you have to develop yourself as your own brand. What are your goals going forward? Well, of course the goal is world domination. [Laughs.] I’d like to see more growth in the Ogunquit store and ultimately I would like to expand even further. We joke that once we open one more store, we’ll be a chain. •
What shoes brands do you carry? My heavy-hitters are Sanuk and Rainbow. We also sell Ocean Minded, DC and Globe. How’s your footwear business of late? It’s tough now. You’re basically a showroom. People come in to try on shoes and then go home and buy them for $5 less online. It’s especially rough in the skate shoe market, but it’s better with sandals. If people are coming to the beach, they’re going to buy sandals.
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E - B E AT
Join the Club
BUYER CHAT
Teresa Hu Koshka
Gemr harnesses the power of the social web to bring collectors together. BACK IN THE day, collectors—whatever the object of their obsession—had physical places to congregate with their ilk. Brickand-mortar meccas of fandom, like record stores and comic book shops, provided a place for aficionados to gather, show off (and add to) their collections and admire those of others. In today’s digitized world, enthusiasts are more likely to find their niche on the Internet. But while you can hunt for that coveted “holy grail” item on eBay or engage in lively debate on Reddit, finding a single destination that replicates the experience of hanging out in your favorite hobby shop is tough. That’s the dilemma Brannen Huske seeks to solve with Gemr, a social platform that lets collectors buy, sell, trade or just talk shop. “To paraphrase Winston Churchill, we are likely at the ‘end of the beginning’ of the massive digitization era where nearly everything is moving from the physical to the digital,” Huske, the company’s president, muses. “Gemr is the logical progression of that transformation; we are digitizing the collector’s space.” Gemr, which gets its moniker from those cherished “gems” in every fan’s collection, merges elements of sites like Instagram and eBay “both to modernize the forum experience and bring like-minded enthusiasts together in one place,” Huske explains. While Gemr hasn’t reinvented the wheel with its buying and selling model (membership is free and the site charges a 5 percent transaction fee and a one-time listing fee of 30 cents per item), it sets itself apart by aggregating the encyclopedic knowledge typical of fanatic collectors using its proprietary CrowdScore technology. With it, users can get and share real-time market feedback about the history and value of their items. Sharing an item on the site is easy and mobile-friendly—simply snap a photo with a smartphone and upload it. Items are organized into “clubs” focusing on different niches, including Grateful Dead goods, Pez products, sports memorabilia and, of course, sneakers. The value of a meticulously-assembled collection is hardly lost on footwear fans. According to Campless, a sneaker data tracking firm, the sneaker resale market is currently worth around $1 billion. Accordingly, Huske says Gemr homed in on the sneaker community when the site was founded in 2014 “because it has all of the makings of the audience we want to attract: engaged, technologically savvy and growing.” (Huske happens to be a sneaker collector himself, particularly of Nike Air Max styles circa the ’90s.) Among the shoes for sale on Gemr are Nike Galaxy Foamposites signed by former NBA star Penny Hardaway—along with a certificate of authenticity to justify the $1,600 price tag. Rare Adidas Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto Courtside 1s are going for $185. It seems Huske was right to bank on shoe lovers; he reports that the footwear community is one of Gemr’s best performing segments, showing double-digit growth month after month. He also suggests that the footwear industry should watch this space as Gemr gives brands and retailers a glimpse into consumers’ closets. “We know what people already own and are passionate about, which can provide insight into what is trending and help inform decisions about what to innovate and sell,” Huske says. —Kirby Stirland 44 footwearplusmagazine.com • september 2015
when it comes to footwear—the site carries about 15 brands— above all, her approach is firmly rooted in reality. In addition to seeking attention-grabbing design elements, she looks for shoes that are as comfortable as they are cool. “No matter how good a pair of shoes looks, if you can’t run around the city in them, they kind of don’t serve their purpose.” After all, she adds, “you want to be able to wear your shoes.” —K.S.
A LOT HAS been said about California girls, but Koshka, an L.A.based e-commerce site, embodies a more alternative brand of West Coast cool. Both Koshka’s worldly influence (by way of Berlin, where the site was founded in 2010) and its commitment to supporting up-and-coming local talent are apparent in its curated selection of on-trend apparel, footwear and accessories for women. Keeping that eclectic mix alive is Teresa Hu, who serves as both the creative director and the buyer for Koshka. Hu got her start buying vintage clothes, so it’s no wonder where she gets her keen eye for cool silhouettes and unusual details. Koshka’s footwear selection ranges from oxfords, boots and sandals from the likes of Miista and Sol Sana (for around $100) to more avant-garde styles from under-theradar international designers (for upwards of $300 to $500). “We’re pretty proud of our Japanese collection of boots and heels,” Hu notes, pointing out brands like Durbuy and Sonomitsu. “They’re made really well and will basically last you the rest of your life.” For the typical Koshka shopper who’s in the market for pieces that are at once laid-back and a bit edgy, labels like Cheap Monday and Y.E.S. “do a good job in staying relevant with trends but twisting them so they’re just cool shoes you’d want to continuously wear,” Hu adds. Though Hu admits she’s selective
Who’s the typical Koshka customer? She’s youthful and looking for fresh things to wear. There’s definitely a minimal and casual aspect to her dressing. For shoes, it’s all about comfort. So whether it’s a heeled boot or an oxford, they’ve got to feel good and let you move around. What are some key trends for Spring ’16? Minimal styles with subtle design details. We’re looking for classics, updated. Which designers should we keep our eye on? We just started carrying RAFA, who is actually a friend of ours from L.A. Everything is made locally and the textiles are vegan. New Kid, from Italy, is also really cool. They’re all about flat silhouettes that are amped up and they mix textiles really well. Intentionally Blank is great for shoes that play off nostalgic silhouettes from the ’80s and ’90s, but are updated and tweaked. Are there any footwear trends you’re tired of ? Not really. I think we all have a few pieces that we gravitate toward, even if we shouldn’t. Whatever makes people happy, you know? What’s your favorite part of your job? Finding new designers and seeing new designs. It’s exciting to watch a label and to see what kinds of ideas they produce. It’s inspiring.
continued from page 12/American Original noticed that consumers were increasingly looking for quality and transparService, quality and the human touch are all areas that a traditional retailency. In the apparel business this was only being solved by boutique brands er should be able to excel at, yet many retailers aren’t doing well in these selling $300 jeans in Brooklyn. That left the mainstream consumer out. aspects. Why do you think that’s happening? I wanted to address that mainstream consumer by making high-quality Traditional retailers have built their business models on enormously affordable clothing. At American Giant we don’t invest in distribution (by complex and expensive distribution and massive marketing programs. selling directly to our customers online) or massive marketing campaigns Supporting those aspects of the business is consuming, and attention to (no billboards in Times Square), so we can focus resources and attention service, quality and the human touch are expensive and are often sacrion what matters to us and to our customers: Highficed to support the other elements of the busiquality product, American manufacturing and excepness cost structure. It happens over time, little by STYLE FILE: tional service. little—we call it death by a thousand cuts.
BAYARD WINTHROP
Could a shoe store apply the same approach you’ve used at American Giant to succeed? Absolutely. We’re in what we call the “post-Amazon” era, when consumers can find almost anything online and care less and less about the store and mall experience. Cutting out retail costs allows any producer of a consumer product to channel more money into things that matter to customers. Great product gets people talking, no matter what category we’re talking about.
What do you think consumers want in a shopping experience? Can they find it at the local mall? Consumers are looking for a value proposition that resonates with them. That can look like Made in the U.S.A., or high quality product, or both, but as I mentioned, it’s less and less about all the bells and whistles of malls and stores. They might find it at the local mall, but just being available in the local mall is no longer a competitive advantage.
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You’ve also stressed the importance of focusing on what you do well and not getting distracted. Why is this crucial to success? Do you think this sort of distraction has contributed to problems in the retail landscape in general? It’s easy to get distracted. Particularly when you are managing massive real estate portfolios, huge marketing initiatives, etc. When you focus on those things it leads you to take attention and resources away from the product you’re selling. And I’d argue that is what your customer cares most about—particularly younger, emerging consumers. In the post-Amazon era, consumers can easily go somewhere else that’s providing that value proposition they’re excited about. At American Giant we try to always remember why we’re here, and what our objective is: Make great, affordable product in the U.S.A. and treat our customers the way we’d want to be treated. •
How would you describe your personal style? Wrangler jeans, American Giant hoodie and T-shirt. What’s your go-to shoe style? Work boots. What’s your motto? Don’t get comfortable.
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UPCLOSE DRESS
Star Power Titan Industries debuts a collection from multitalented celeb Zendaya. TEETERING ON TOWERING heels, Zendaya is trying to get the perfect Instagram shot. The statuesque starlet has gathered a selection of shoes from throughout Titan Industries’ New York showroom and positioned them in a neat circle around a floral arrangement. Now, she’s contemplating standing on a chair to snap the photo from above. Sensing the potential for disaster, a publicist—mercifully, in flat shoes— steps in to assist. For the uninitiated, Zendaya is a 19-year-old entertainment industry juggernaut who rose to fame as K.C. Cooper on popular Disney Channel series K.C. Undercover. Since then, she’s achieved Platinum status with her single “Replay,” made it to the finals on Dancing with the Stars and become a bona fide style icon. And with the arrival of her new footwear collection, which launches for Spring ’16, she can now add “fashion designer” to her growing resume. Zendaya’s debut collection, created in tandem with her stylist, Law Roach, and licensed by Titan Industries, is dubbed Daya by Zendaya and will be sold in leading department stores on the order of Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s. “This is mine—it’s Zendaya through and through,” the star says of her new line. Accordingly, the collection is full of personal touches; the name, Daya, comes from Zendaya’s family nickname and the logo is composed in her aunt’s handwriting. Zendaya says inspiration for her designs comes from the many women in her life, like her college-aged niece and her sister, a working mom of two. “There’s a shoe for every woman,” she declares, pointing out the “squishy” cushioned soles that lend all-day wearability to even the highest heels in the line. Zendaya says she sought to create wardrobe staples that offer “an edgy spin on classic silhouettes.” The resulting collection runs the gamut from sporty slide sandals in eye-catching iridescent material to vampy black lace-up stilettos with triangular mesh inlays. While Zendaya admits she’s a heels devotee, her line includes several more down-to-earth styles, including strappy gladiators and lace-up pointed-toe flats. In order to appeal to a variety of consumers and lifestyles—from prom-going teens to young professionals to busy moms—there are also several different heel heights. While the collection includes pops of sunny yellow, bright cobalt, tropical turquoise and rich berry, it was coming up with the perfect nude that really took some effort. Zendaya describes the lengthy process that was required to create the ideal hue to suit every skin tone. The result? “Every woman can find herself ” in the Daya by Zendaya line, the designer states. No stranger to the red carpet, Zendaya is used to stepping out in designer duds, but acknowledges not everyone can afford to do the same. With Daya, she’s offering normal women the chance to feel like a celebrity. (The line will range from $125 to $175 retail.) “I don’t want them to feel like they have the knock-off or the ‘look for less,’” Zendaya says. “I want them to feel like they have the look.” —Kirby Stirland 46 footwearplusmagazine.com • september 2015
Italian Dressing Ahead of its 80th anniversary, Bruno Magli updates its menu. Ahh, Italy ... The pizza! The pasta! But in order to maintain your waistline, you may want to turn to the country’s handcrafted shoes rather than its decadent food. Enter Bruno Magli. For nearly eight decades the legendary label has been synonymous with luxury, Italian craftsmanship and style. “Those who know fine Italian quality know Bruno Magli,” declares Cory Baker, COO of Marquee Brands. (Bruno Magli is a portfolio brand within Marquee Brands.) “We’re not so much taking Bruno Magli in a new direction as we are adding fresh designs and perspectives to what is already a quality brand,” he says, noting that it starts by pumping up the label’s footwear—what he calls the “heritage and heartbeat” of the company. The man heading up the footwear makeover is Paul Vando, vice president of design and product development for LJP International, Bruno Magli’s distribution and product partner. “We want to maintain the brand’s heritage, but we want to extend our men’s traditional looks to be suitable for separates and denim,” Vando explains. “We’re using an artisan approach with hand-burnishing, embossing, welting and stitching on vegetable-tanned leathers.” Updated materials include calf suede and grainy napa leather in a range of colors like navy, cognac and bordeaux. Offerings range from high-end dress styles to a lifestyle collection that pairs well with separates to casual silhouettes that speak to today’s sporty fashion. For women, Vando says the collection includes a number of heel heights as well as boots and flats. Women can also expect a range of sporty styles alongside signature hardware, seasonal colorways and various leathers. But it won’t be all style without substance as Vando says, “Our women’s line is synonymous with comfort.” Baker is a big believer in the brand’s history and the narrative it provides, but he is also aware of the way consumers think these days. “We’re designing with a more aggressive eye,” he says, noting that a customer who’s willing to spend $400 on a pair of shoes is a fashion-savvy buyer. Baker believes consumers will buy Bruno Magli to say, “I understand luxury and I’m investing in it,” adding that the brand appeal is “more of a mindset than a demographic.” So far so good as the brand’s August FFANY debut of its updated men’s line was resoundingly positive, Vando reports. “Retailers said, ‘Wow! This stuff is amazing,’” he notes. “Bruno Magli has always been a staple, but we’ll be more competitive with fashion luxury brands now.” Marquee Brands has big marketing plans in the works to reignite Bruno Magli, spanning grassroots trunk shows to digital and print campaigns. In addition, the company will launch a Bruno Magli e-commerce site this month. “We’re putting muscle, attention and a powerful engine behind the brand,” Baker says. “There’s an incredible history and legacy to build on.” —Laurie Cone
O&A continued from page 19 making lots of money isn’t the primary goal. What really gives me great enjoyment is being in an airport, for example, and seeing one of our products walk by. Or when people in the industry compliment me for a great design. That has always made me feel good, whereas when someone said, “Hey, you guys are making tons of money…” You know what, that didn’t matter as much to me. Besides, how could you possibly say that when you look at Nike’s numbers? It’s all relative, right? But when someone says they love our product, it means the world to me. Product is king. I agree. I believe whether it’s a brand or a retailer, you have to offer great products. If you do, you are going to get clientele. Think of it this way: If you own a restaurant and just serve omelets and burgers, it’s probably not enough today. You’ve got to have something special on the menu as well. That’s why I believe there’s still room to open stores, but they must be destination stores like Colette in Paris and Atmos in Tokyo, which stand out because of their unique offerings. Similarly, as long as you can create great product you should be able to launch new brands. Where were H&M and Zara 15 years ago? It can be done. Speaking of menus, yours is pretty full with the launching of a handful of brands, managing your celebrity branding firm, lecturing university students… How do you find enough time in the day to do it all? You find the time if you are enjoying what you are doing. It’s like when you find a great book and you can’t put it down. Whenever you hate the work, that’s when you are repeatedly looking at your watch hoping it will end soon. Along those lines, the lectures are one of my passions. What are you telling your students these days? A lot of my lectures aren’t about footwear and apparel, specifically. It’s more
about international trade. Specifically, how much things have changed and how big the market has become compared to what it used to be. When I started in business we couldn’t ship shoes to China or India, for example. The only open market was Japan and they had quotas. Pretty much everywhere else we had to license the brand and there were restrictions to trade. You couldn’t move product around. By the time something became successful in the U.S. it would take about one year to get to Europe and there was more lag time for everywhere else. Today, thanks to the Internet and a loosening of trade restrictions, it’s nearly overnight. Everybody sees and hears about the latest trends. A cool kid in Japan looks the same as a cool kid in Paris and a cool kid in New York. Is that necessarily a good thing? It takes away some of the regional diversity. Local brands, retailers and uniqueness of products have suffered because of globalization. When I used to travel from country to country, I could always pick up some interesting shoes, clothing or books. Today, those differences are getting smaller and smaller. A store in Japan now looks identical to a store in New York. But I don’t think Nike or Skechers are crying about it because now they can truly globalize. Are you still having fun? I am, although there are days I have less fun than others. But as I said to you at the beginning of this conversation, this is what I do. I love the shoe and clothing businesses. They are the most dynamic and incredible industries. Where else does the whole product cycle have to change every six months? Not in pharmaceuticals and certainly not in anything my father wanted me to do. Candy bars, soda, cars…those industries feature plenty of great companies and brands, but they don’t have to come up with new items every six months. •
LAST WORD
Arduous Artistry
Caroline Groves, 2014
19th century Indian wedding padukas
Freed of London, 1948
Roger Vivier for Christian Dior, circa 1958-1960
Zaha Hadid for United Nude, 2013
17th century Italian chopines Andreia Chaves, 2011
GOING TO EXTREMES London’s Victoria and Albert Museum explores extreme footwear—historic and contemporary, painful and beautiful—in its latest fashion exhibition. By Laurie Cone TAKE IT FROM me: Most women have Band-Aids on hand for painful blisters incurred while wearing high heels. Yet, we still wear them. We willingly endure the pain, and we are not alone. According to the V&A’s Shoes: Pleasure and Pain exhibition, sponsored by Clarks, suffering in the name of fashionable footwear is nothing new. It’s been going on for centuries among men and women alike. Visitors can feast their eyes on more than 250 styles from around the world—many of which surely induced agony upon the wearer. To assemble the show’s offerings, curator Helen Persson searched the globe, mining other museum collections as well as the closets of private individuals. The results range from lotus shoes made for bound feet 48 footwearplusmagazine.com • september 2015
to 17 th century chopines (a type of platform) to ballet slippers to modern Christian Louboutin pumps to three-dimensional printed styles. Displayed alongside the killer shoes are designer sketches, materials and lasts to demonstrate how these dramatic shoe shapes came to life. As for why people throughout time have willingly tormented their feet, Persson offers, “[Shoes] are powerful indicators of gender, status, identity, taste and even sexual preference. Our choice in shoes can help project an image of who we want to be.” It appears little has changed over the centuries as shoes today remain powerful symbols of who we are, although how we are perceived sometimes still trumps how our feet feel. Shoes: Pleasure and Pain is on view now through Jan. 31, 2016.
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