A Shore Thing - WWD

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WWDTUESDAYReady-to-Wear/Textiles

Women’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’ Daily Newspaper • January 6, 2009 • $3.00

The better market is setting sail for summer with looks that have classic nautical details and pops of color.

Here, August Silk’s silk and nylon cardigan over DKNYC’s

silk dress and Jones New York Signature’s cotton shirt. Barbara

Bui belt and Stuart Weitzman shoes. For more, see pages 8 and 9.

A Shore Thing

See Pakistan, Page 21

Pakistan’s Textile Crisis: Sector Mulls Shutdown To Protest Rising CostsBy Mahlia S. LoneLAHORE, Pakistan — The Pakistani textile industry is on the verge of a national shutdown to protest the country’s energy and interest rate policies.

The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association has called an extraordinary general meeting of all its regional offices countrywide on Friday to gain consensus for, as advertised in a local newspaper, the “immediate and orderly closure” of the country’s textile sector.

The reasons for the shutdown are given as the nonavailability of electricity and gas; high energy prices despite the steep decline in global oil and natural gas prices; the world’s highest financial charges, and government support for the sector in countries such as China, India and Bangladesh.

Global Issue

Launching January 8 in WWD with the

Pitti Uomo PreviewWWDMEN’S Thursday ReportsIntroducing

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WWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 2009

By Vicki M. Young

The reTail graveyard appears To have claimed its first victim of 2009: goody’s, the mod-erately priced family apparel retail chain oper-ating primarily in the southeastern U.s. sources told WWd on Monday that the company has de-cided to liquidate.

The Knoxville, Tenn.-based chain emerged from bankruptcy oct. 20, but in early december was said to have exhausted its cash, credit and restructuring resources.

in the days leading up to Christmas and New year’s, the company had circulated a plan to try to save the chain, but credit sources said credi-tors nixed the proposal. one source said the feeling among some creditors was that “goody’s should never have come out of bankruptcy.”

sources said vendors were told in a confer-ence call Monday morning that the company decided to liquidate. The sources also said the company was expected to conduct an auction of its inventory as early as Monday afternoon with potential liquidators.

a spokeswoman for goody’s declined comment.Founded in 1953, goody’s was known as

goody’s Family Clothing inc. The chain targets value-conscious consumers with an average an-

nual household income of $55,000. it became pri-vately held in January 2006, and when it exited bankruptcy proceedings last year began operat-ing as goody’s llC.

goody’s key national brands include adidas, levi’s, dockers, Chaps, reebok, lee and alfred dunner. The chain’s private label brands include ivy Crew, Mountain lake, duck head Jeans Co., and Kid Crew. The company also offers exclu-sive fashion brands such as ashley Judd.

also losing out from the anticipated closure of goody’s is the local community outreach pro-grams. goody’s provided $500,000 annually to schools through its good deeds for schools grant program. proceeds from the ashley Judd apparel line also help benefit the grant program. its stores and corporate office together raise more than $1 million for Children’s Miracle Network and affili-ate hospitals each year, according to goody’s.

“Unfortunately, goody’s was highly leveraged and lost its merchandising focus. The customers didn’t understand it anymore,” said Walter loeb, a retail consultant.

When the chain emerged from bankruptcy, it closed on a $175 million revolving exit credit facility provided by ge Corporate lending and Bank of america. The company also secured $10 million and $35 million exit term loans from gB Merchant partners llC and pgdys lending llC, respectively. pgdys lending, which owns goody’s, is managed by private equity firm prentice Capital Management lp.

Compounding the timing of its exit was that consumers had pulled back even further on their spending after the financial crisis. one credit source said the sales gains goody’s had planned on never materialized. When goody’s exited Chapter 11, its total store count was 287 sites in 20 states, with an annual revenue of over $800 million.

like many retailers combating soft sales this holiday, the company has recently promot-ed heavily. its Web site had been offering a 25 percent off coupon; an extra 15 percent off for customers age 55 and over; a 30-day layaway plan, and 90 days of no payment and no inter-est for customers spending $100 or more on their goody’s credit cards. The Web site currently fea-

tures $17.99 denim for young men and juniors, and noted new price reductions were taken, bringing savings of up to between 60 and 80 per-cent off original prices.

goody’s woes heightened even as retail shares broke rank with the market overall on Monday, rising 1.3 percent on what was gener-ally a down day. however, some firms, such as saks inc., saw declines after coming under the microscope of Wall street.

The standard & poor’s retail index in-creased 3.75 points to 294.75, as the dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.9 percent, or 81.80 points, to 8,952.89.

despite the boost to start off the week, there is still plenty of trepidation about what will be revealed when retailers report december com-parable-store sales on Thursday, which will show just how dismal the holiday season truly was.

Better than expected traffic at saks stores prompted Barclays Capital equity analyst robert drbul to adjust his estimate for the firm’s december comps to a 7 to 9 percent drop, compared with the 10 to 12 percent decline previously expected.

“While we believe sales came in above expecta-tions for the 2008 holiday season, we believe that significant promotional activity more than offset the sales benefit,” drbul said in a research note.

The analyst cut his 2008 projection for saks to a loss of 50 cents, from the previously expected 45 cent deficit. in a separate report, drbul lowered his 2008 earnings projections for Target Corp., to $2.90 a share from $2.95, and Macy’s inc., to $1.25 from $1.30.

shares of saks closed down 12.9 percent to $4.40, but Target’s stock was up 4.4 percent to $36.14, and Macy’s rose 6.2 percent to $11.66.

The analyst predicted december comps at broad-line retailers would fall 0.9 percent, compared with the 0.5 percent he previously penciled in.

among specialty stores, FBr Capital Markets analyst adrienne Tennant said the post-Christ-mas sales surge was likely “too little too late.”

“We continue to see the most risk to [fourth-quarter] earnings for the misses’ sector and higher-end retailers,” Tennant said in a re-search note, singling out annTaylor stores Corp., J. Crew group, The Talbots inc. and Urban outfitters inc.

all four of those stocks declined, with Talbots down 10.3 percent to $2.34; J. Crew, 5.8 percent to $12.79; Urban outfitters, 3.9 percent to $15.19, and ann Taylor, 3.1 percent to $6.01.

Talbots inc. said after the markets closed that it has entered into revolving credit agreements with Mizuho Corporate Bank ltd.; sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and The Norinchukin Bank to convert each of their existing uncom-mitted working capital lines of $75 million, $50 million and $25 million, respectively, to commit-ted lines, effective immediately.

including Talbots’ existing $50 million commit-ted facility with aeon (U.s.a.) inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of aeon Co. ltd., and the majority share-holder of Talbots, the specialty chain has secured $200 million of its $215 million total working capi-tal borrowing capacity as committed facilities.

Talbots also said it is in discussions with a fourth lending bank to convert the remaining $15 million uncommitted facility to a committed facility.

Meanwhile, Charming shoppes inc., which was down 7.2 percent to close at $2.18 in over-the-counter trading, named Maryellen Macdowell president of Charming outlets. The company said she succeeded Jeffrey a. elliott, who left the company to pursue other opportuni-ties, the retailer said.

“Consumers will be bargain hunting for the foreseeable future, and retailers are likely to oblige with increased promotions,” Tennant said.

The gainers on Monday included Zale Corp., up 20.7 percent to $4.84; dillard’s inc., 14.8 per-cent to $4.90; pacific sunwear of California inc., 6.9 percent to $1.86; american eagle outfitters inc., 5.2 percent to $10.42, and Nordstrom inc., 4.5 percent to $15.20.

— With contributions from Evan Clark

Goody’s Said Liquidating

WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2009 FAIRCHILD FASHION GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 197, NO. 2. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in January, May, October, November and December, two additional issues in April, June and August, three additional issues in March and September, and four additional issues in February) by Fairchild Fashion Group, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast Publications: S. I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, President/CEO; John W. Bellando, Executive Vice President/COO; Jill Bright, Executive Vice President/Human Resources. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6 POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615–5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions and reprint requests, please call 212-630-4274 or fax requests to 212-630-4280. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is [email protected], using The individual’s name.

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8FASHIONDesigners in the better market are turning out seaworthy fare with everything from quirky anchor embroidery to nautical stripes.

GENERALthe pakistani textile industry is on the verge of a national shutdown to protest the country’s energy and interest rate policies.

RTW: Designers and executives have taken last year’s economic lessons to heart and plan to put them to good use in the year ahead.

TEXTILES: New york textile show organizers said registrations are holding steady, but expect buyers to come in with budgets slashed.

president-elect barack obama hunkered down with congressional leaders to work on his economic stimulus package Monday.

With the economic slump projected to deepen worldwide this year, projections are for a falloff in global trade and increased protectionism.

Waterford Wedgwood, maker of Wedgwood tableware and Waterford crystal, placed its U.K. and Irish units into the equivalent of Chapter 11.

EYEthe chic set employed a simple strategy this financially dismal season when it came to planning their vacation: hit the beach.

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“What I have learned from the last year is that every

day is a gift and you can’t take anything for granted, whether it be business, health or anything else.” — Designer Dennis Basso on the lessons of 2008. Page 10.

QUOTEDAILY

TODAY ON

.comWWDAdrian Grenier swims with the dolphins on vacation.

s

WWDTUESDayReady-to-Wear/Textiles

A resort look from Doo.Ri.

• More photos of designers and

celebrities on holiday• Featured images

• Global breaking news• Daily stock prices

Sources told WWD on Monday that Goody’s has decided to liquidate.

—Jennifer Garner

11—Jennifer Garner

AN AMERICAN ICON SINCE 1939

When I think Glamour, I think…

WWD.COM4 WWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 2009

For more, see WWD.com.

Call it denial, Call it esCapism, Call it a Craving for the holidays-as-usual. Whatever the reason, the chic set em-ployed a simple strategy this financially dismal season when it came to planning their vacations: hit the beach (the exception being Kate Hudson, who skied in aspen with her family, as she does

most years). for the fashion pack, though, not just any plage will do. ritzy st. Barth’s drew Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Stephanie Seymour and Lily

Allen, who nuzzled her new beau Jay Jopling. Jude Law and his chil-dren defected to Brazil, while Kate Moss returned to one of her favorite locales, phuket, thailand. if their destinations didn’t reflect these restrained times, their pared-down sartorial choic-

es of t-shirts and shorts did (even president-elect Barack Obama opted for nondescript white cotton and khaki to play a round of

golf in Hawaii). in fact, some designers — Marc Jacobs, Donatella Versace and Giorgio Armani — decided to make it a real vaca-tion by eschewing most clothing altogether, opting instead to show off their hard-won bods in skimpy swimwear.

Marc Jacobs in St. Barth’s.

Kate Hudson in Aspen.

Amy Winehouse and a friend in St. Lucia.

Chloë Sevigny

in Miami.s President-elect Barack Obama in Kailua, Hawaii.

Stephanie Seymour and her daughter

Lilly in St. Barth’s.

Giorgio Armani in St. Barth’s.

Lily Allen and Jay Jopling in St. Barth’s.

Jay-Z and Beyoncé in St. Barth’s.

Jude Law and his children Iris, Rudy and Rafferty in Rio de Janeiro.

s Kate Moss in Phuket, Thailand.

Travel Agents

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—Diane von Furstenberg

Glamour reader since 1976

11—Diane von Furstenb


berg


By Sophia Chabbott

Gedalio “Gerry” GrinberG, founder and chairman of movado Group inc., the Paramus, n.J.-based watch company, died Sunday in new york at age 77.

The company did not reveal a specific cause of death, but noted it was of natural causes.

The native cuban, who was instrumental in turning americans on to luxury timepieces starting in the Sixties with brands such as corum, Piaget and omega, had announced plans last fall to step down from his post Jan. 31. his son, efraim, will take on the role of chairman, while continuing on as president and chief executive officer of the firm, which has annual sales of $560 million.

The elder Grinberg long had an affinity for timepieces, telling WWd in october: “Watches measure time, and i have always been fascinated by what a person does with their time.”

Grinberg entered the business by selling alarm clocks in cuba until he fled fidel castro’s regime and moved to miami, where he became a community fixture. Soon after emigrating to the u.S., Grinberg began dealing in more serious timepieces along the lines of omega, corum and Piaget. in 1965, he founded the north american Watch Group, now known as movado Group. concord and ebel were later acquired by movado.

one of the defining moments in Grinberg’s life was reading Vance Packard’s “The hidden Persuaders,” a book on how people’s thoughts and feelings are manipulated by business, media and politicians. americans in the Sixties were not privy to the world of Swiss timepieces like europeans were; they wore more utilitarian styles such as those from Timex. it was all about function, not so much fashion or status. Grinberg saw an opportunity to grow the fine watch business.

“[Packard] used the model of cadillac because mercedes and today’s other luxury brands had limited availability,” Grinberg regaled in october. “he said we were developing a higher-income market and the people in this market needed products to show their new sta-tus in life. a cadillac in the driveway was a symbol of their new status.”

as a result of his newfound knowl-edge, Grinberg began to advertise and grow Piaget from $175,000 in sales to more than $30 million in sales in luxury watches in the eighties.

an avid art collector, Grinberg made art a part of his life and work. he be-came a close friend of artist andy

Warhol, with whom he traded corum watches for art-work. in addition to the sculptures and canvases that stud the company’s headquarters, Grinberg took much pride in an assortment of 250 kitschy cookie jars Warhol collected.

one piece of design became the company flag-ship’s icon: the museum dial. Grinberg took an in-stant liking to nathan George horwitt’s bauhaus-inspired museum Watch. The revolutionary dial was without markings except for a dot at the 12-hour mark. but it wasn’t easy to get the design rights from horwitt, Grinberg once exclaimed.

“i wanted this watch in my collection very badly,” he said in 2008. “i was obsessed like a little child. however, it belonged to movado….it took me almost 20 years to get the company.”

movado celebrated the 60th anniversary of its iconic style in 2007. Grinberg also tapped favorite artists such as James rosenquist, arman, max bill and Warhol to de-sign watches for the firm’s artists’ Series.

Through movado, Grinberg also supported several pres-tigious cultural institutions such as lincoln center, the John f. Kennedy center for the Performing arts and the american ballet Theatre. he was also a patron of TimeSculpture at lincoln center, designed by the architect Philip Johnson.

movado has recently revamped two brands in its roster, ebel and concord. both are going more upscale and exclusive. concord has gone to doing only mechanical movements with

prices as high as $320,000, and ebel also has some proprietary movements that are in demand by collectors.

movado also owns eSQ and through licensing agreements produces watches for coach, Tommy hilfiger, hugo boss, lacoste and Juicy couture.

“my father was a great man who touched many lives through his generosity as a business leader, a philanthropist and a patron of the arts,” said efraim Grinberg. “he will be sorely missed by his family, his friends, employees and customers. my father’s entrepreneurial spirit, leadership and remarkable ac-complishments led to his distinguished 60-year career, which was honored when he became the first recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Jewelry information center. he established movado Group’s heritage as a brand builder with distinctive imaging across a powerful portfolio of brands and geographic markets.

“my father’s passion for the watch industry and for our business will live on. We will continue to apply the knowledge and wisdom that we’ve learned from him since starting our company in 1961 as we remain focused on positioning movado Group as a leader in the watch industry.”

before his death, Grinberg saw the trying economy as both a problem and an opportunity.

“every crisis brings new creativity and we will see this happen, as in the past,” Grinberg said. “in recent years, highly complicated mechani-cal watches have become very im-

portant and successful in the watch industry. We have a company that covers many segments of the market and have brands that we develop in the field. This business is impor-tant worldwide because in many markets people buy extremely expensive products as a hedge against inflation, and so far, we are doing well in this market.”

in addition to efraim, Grinberg is survived by his wife, Sonia; another son, alex, who is president of concord; a daughter, miriam Phalen,

and six grandchildren.a memorial service

will be held Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., at the Park avenue Synagogue, 50 east 87th Street, in manhattan.

Gedalio Grinberg, Founder of Movado


OBITUARY

Gedalio “Gerry” Grinberg

“Watches measure time, and I have always been fascinated by what a person does with their time. ”

— Gedalio “Gerry” Grinberg

“My father’s passion for the watch industry and for our business will live on.

We will continue to apply the knowledge and wisdom that we’ve learned from him since starting our company in 1961 as we remain focused on positioning Movado Group as a leader in the watch industry.” — Efraim Grinberg

A Movado Museum Dial watch.

Efraim Grinberg


—Christiane AmanpourGlamour reader since 2005

11—Christiane Amanpour



8 WWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 2009

By Land Or

By SeaDesigners in the better market are turning out

seaworthy fare with everything from quirky anchor embroidery to nautical stripes on sexy cuts.

— Antonia Sardone

Donna Degnan’s rayon, nylon and Lycra spandex hooded jacket, WDNY’s cotton tank with sequin embroidery and cotton and spandex cropped pants by Peace of Cloth-Panticular. Bo’em shoes.

WWD.COM9WWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 2009

Cotton and Lycra spandex jacket

and cotton, nylon and Lycra shorts,

both by Jones New York Signature,

and Kenneth Cole’s polyester top.

Calvin Klein belt.

Calvin Klein’s linen and

rayon jacket and Spense’s

rayon and nylon dress.

Stuart Weitzman

shoes.

Calvin Klein’s linen and

rayon jacket and Spense’s

rayon and nylon dress.

Stuart Weitzman

shoes.

ECI New York’s stretch cotton blouse over WDNY’s cotton tank

and Adrienne Vittadini’s

modal, cotton and spandex

pants.

Silk georgette scarf top and cotton and spandex pants, both by Ellavie.

Jennifer Behr headband.

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By Rosemary Feitelberg

Retail analysts have waRned that one of the lasting effects of 2008’s fiscal upheaval will simply be consumers’ memory of it.

But designers and other industry executives have also taken last year’s lessons to heart, and plan to put them to good use in the year ahead. whether out of ne-cessity, a fighting spirit or an overcrowded marketplace, a few indicated they are inspired by the challenges this new year poses. thakoon Panichgul simplified the task at hand with “change is growth.”

“the thing that sticks out the most coming into 2009 is the need for change: change in politics, change resulting from sobriety of the economy, change in the way we think, the way we work, they way we view the world — a complete reevaluation. when you accept change, you can really learn and grow,” he said.

doo-Ri chung did some memorable traveling last year and “met some of the most eclectic and interesting people in dubai, seoul and Paris.”

“what inspired me was the depth of knowledge — whether it be poli-tics, art, or current events — that each group possessed. what i have learned by all this is that you learn a lot just by listening. this is some-thing i hope to carry into 2009,” she added.

debi greenberg, president of louis Boston, painted a more sober picture. “what i learned last year was something that i already knew: there are too many luxury stores with too much merchandise and not enough customers. Unless the luxury market contracts, there will be no luxury market.”

operating on the premise that luxury is defined by “some-thing that is not accessible, or readily accessible, appreciated and enjoyed,” greenberg said she will continue to refine her selection and seek out hard-to-find designer labels, which she declined to name for competitive purposes.

Robert Burke of consulting firm Robert Burke associates said the importance of being diversified was what he and his team “walked away with from 2008.” to that end, he emphasized the need to operate with a variety of companies and price points internationally and domestically. Personally, his firm is targeting opportunities in south Korea, china and Brazil, and is recom-mending clients follow suit.

skittish as many people are about their business prospects, there is a great deal of opportunity for those who are positioned to go after them. “there are going to be significant opportunities in 2009 due to the economic conditions, and some incredible values in acquiring and investing in companies,” said Burke.

he also expects the current business climate to sharpen the indus-try. “everyone is going to end up being smarter about their businesses and will be looking at where they can trim away and to what extent.”

Brazilian designer carlos Miele is banking on his native coun-try to be a growth opportunity, and expects the american market to bounce back in 2010. “People are very stressed with the economy and the war. i think this is a good opportunity for america to reorganize. that’s going to help america grow again,” he said.

Provided Miele’s forecast holds up, he plans to introduce casual men’s wear to highlight the Brazilian lifestyle and launch a children’s collection next year.

Peter arnold, president of cynthia Rowley, said, “we learned in 2008 that now is not the time to hold back and wait for change. in 2009, we are looking for new territories to expand in, signing new licensing partners and continuing to open new retail stores in the U.s. and with global partners.”

he said the company’s new store in charleston, s.c., is doing “extraordi-narily well” and is “a good example of our continued strategic retail rollout.”

“we’re continuing to grow our licensing business to add core apparel categories as well as other global programs with endemic — and even non-endemic — partners,” arnold said.

nanette lepore said she will make a point to see to it that everything

she puts out in her line is “valid, de-sirable and of good value.” she has reduced the number of styles in her monthly shipments by 10 to 20 per-cent. her runway collection has also been trimmed. having shown up to 50 styles in the past, lepore aims to have 27 looks on the catwalk for fall.

“i’m paying closer attention to everything i design. there became this need for more, more, more. that doesn’t matter anymore,” she said.

one thing that could make a differ-ence is domestic production, which provides 80 percent of her offerings. “that is one of the reasons we are better off. we have better inventory control and great quality control be-cause we have the ability to walk into our factories. that gives me an added advantage,” lepore said.

christian Knaust, president of carmen Marc valvo, said, “what we learned from the last year is to be flexi-ble. there are no plans that you can set in stone. you have to be able to change as things change. you also need to plan for the worst case scenario even if that doesn’t happen. you need to always look ahead and think, ‘if this happens, what will i do? if that happens, what will be my next move?’”

Being able to reinvent your brand a bit without losing sight of its core is also important, he said. to that end, he and valvo have “stepped on the gas” with licensing — something that they have pursued with caution for years. the de-

signer’s first lingerie collection with cosabella launched for resort, handbags will be rolled out with essential Brands in March or april and a fragrance deal is on the cusp of being signed, Knaust said. in addition, valvo will introduce his first home

collection on Qvc this spring.there are also plans to expand the brand in arab countries, Russia, europe

and asia, Knaust said. stateside, the company plans to skip the full-blown fashion show for 1,100, which it has done for years, in favor of a fashion presentation and

cocktail party for a couple hundred people in a to-be-determined site. Rebecca taylor has improved its supply chain to reach the selling floor faster and

provide a longer full-priced selling window, according to chief executive officer Beth Bugdaycay. the company has also improved its turnaround time for new developments, which allows for ample time to determine the best means of production “to achieve the highest quality result at the lowest cost,” she said.

“that gives our customer a better product at a lower price. to that end, our average wholesale price decreased by more than 5 percent for spring ’09,” Bugdaycay said.

cinzia Rocca has seen consistent weekly sales, despite the ailing economy, “but the cus-tomer is spending wisely,” according to denise Bongiorno, managing director. well aware that many department store shoppers are buying items on sale, the company has had to consider this price-cautious consumer when approaching 2009. “so we reinvented luxury at an affordable price....every piece has a purpose; every coat had a reason,” she said.

dennis Basso, who will once again show in the tents in Bryant Park during new york fashion week, is approaching the year one day at a time. “what i have learned from last year is that every day is a gift and you can’t take anything for granted, whether it be business, health or anything else.”

By Marc Karimzadeh

NEW YORK — like the artist and designer who inspired the new collection, louis vuitton is heading downtown for its new stephen sprouse collection.

this week, the company’s boutique on soho’s greene street will be transformed into a sprouse destination in time for the collection’s arrival.

“soho is a special place for the entire launch of the sprouse collection,” said daniel lalonde, louis vuitton north america president and chief executive officer. “it’s in the proximity of where stephen sprouse hung out, so we are going to give the entire store a stephen sprouse feel. it will have a lot of reminders of stephen sprouse. we will be giving it a new identity.”

for instance, the company is wrapping the store in vinyl and spray painting neon graffiti all over the fa-cade. the window display will feature a 6-foot neon light installation in sprouse’s Rose motif. the store’s interior, enhanced with black brick wall facing, will also be sprayed with the neon graffiti.

the collection will launch in its entirety at the soho boutique on thursday. the complete worldwide launch will follow on feb. 2, though the Rose pieces will be avail-able at louis vuitton stores worldwide starting friday.

for the launch, the luxury goods company is also

creating two limited edition pieces, which will only be available at the soho location: a stephen sprouse graf-fiti skateboard replete with a hard case monogram skate-board trunk, and a stephen sprouse “Roses” t-shirt. the company hopes to sell three graffiti skateboards with trunks for $8,250 each, and 70 t-shirts for $250 each. “i don’t expect them to last very long,” lalonde said. “By friday, there probably won’t be any more left.”

Proceeds will benefit free arts nyc, which pro-vides underserved children throughout new york city with special arts programs. vuitton is also making an undisclosed donation to the sprouse estate, as well as the stephen sprouse Memorial scholarship fund at the national academy for design here.

sprouse became known in the eighties for his graffiti art and fashion designs. in 2001, vuitton artistic direc-tor Marc Jacobs collaborated with sprouse and created an instant must-have accessories collection with the Monogram graffiti collection. sprouse died in 2004, and vuitton made its first donation to the fund in 2006 when Jacobs created a scarf in sprouse’s honor, using one of the collaboration’s leopard prints.

vuitton will honor the late artist with three events this thursday. the night will kick off with cocktails at the vuitton boutique on greene street, with a simulta-neous event at nearby deitch Projects’ wooster street

gallery for the opening of the “Rock on Mars” sprouse retrospective. afterwards, vuitton and Jacobs will host a bash at the Bowery Ballroom, featuring a performance by sprouse’s friend debbie harry, followed by dJ Jus ske. the venue is expected to have a sprouse feel, with a spe-cial graffiti-and-neon decor.

“it’s something new from vuitton to start the year off,” lalonde said of the collection. “the product, design, and expression are uplifting and rejuvenating. that’s the feel we try to provide for the evening and for the collection.”

Ready-to-Wear Report

Taking Stock in Lessons Learned

Louis Vuitton Heads to SoHo for Sprouse Launch

s Louis Vuitton’s limited edition Stephen Sprouse skateboard and skateboard case.

Nanette Lepore is refining her offerings.

s A resort look from Doo.Ri.

WWD.COM11WWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 2009

By Ross Tucker

NEW YORK — Organizers of international textile shows here next week said registration levels are holding steady, but are preparing to face buyers whose budgets have been slashed as economic con-ditions worsened.

Buyers will have one fewer show to fit into their schedules. Texworld USA typically runs concur-rent with Première Vision Preview and Prefab: The Supima Premium Fabric Show. However, be-cause of scheduling issues with the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, this year’s show will take place more than two weeks later, from Feb. 3 to 5.

The New York presentations of spring-summer 2010 fabrics, including print design shows Direction by Indigo and Printsource, are also taking place a week earlier than usual. That, coupled with fall fash-ion collections that are showing a week later than normal in February, means vendors could see a rise in immediates sales. Designers will have a bit more time to ponder their purchases and could feasibly work them into the upcoming fall collections.

With fewer shows to attend, buyers will have added time to focus on the more innovative and directional collections presented at Première Vision Preview that will take place Jan. 14 and 15 at the Metropolitan Pavilion. Laurence Teinturier, the North American representative of Première Vision Preview, said more than 2,500 buyers have preregistered for the show, which is about the same number as last year.

“And the phone this morning hasn’t stopped ringing, so it’s a good sign,” she said Monday.

Teinturier said mills exhibiting at the show under-stand the dire conditions facing the industry, and are viewing next week as an opportunity to form stronger partnerships with customers and designers.

Mills “have to come with new ideas and more than ever it’s important to meet with your vendors,” Teinturier said.

Prefab: The Supima Premium Fabric Show will re-turn to a two-day format at Gotham Hall on Jan. 13 and

14. Buxton Midyette, marketing director for Supima, which organizes Prefab, said registration for the sourc-ing show has been in line with previous editions. More than 50 mills have sent in collections to be displayed at the show.

“Most of the impact would be on the buy side,” Midyette said. “I think people will come. They’ll want to see what’s new and different out in the marketplace.”

Midyette said he has seen mills respond to the poor economy by becoming more focused on innovative de-sign and fabrics.

“It’s a focusing moment for the industry,” he said. “I see our mills really reaching and raising standards. That’s the only way for them to survive. It’s either that or a battle for the basement in terms of pricing, which won’t work for pima.”

Supima is also presenting its second runway show on the evening of Jan. 14. The show will feature the designs of 21 new designers who responded to an open call for entries in November and were selected by a panel of judges. The winners have been provid-ed Supima fabric to create a women’s wear piece.

The American pima cotton industry was hard hit in 2008 and is likely to see continued declines this year. Pima cotton, an extra long staple fiber signifi-cantly more expensive than conventional cotton, was priced at more than $1.26 a pound for December. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects 2008 pima production to come in at 444,000 480-pound bales, down 48 percent from peak production of 851,800 bales a year ago.

Kingpins, the premium denim trade show, is set for Jan. 13 to 14 at 336 West 37th Street.

Andrew Olah, chief executive officer of Olah Inc., which produces Kingpins along with Dow XLA, has expanded the roster of mills with some of the biggest names in denim. Cone Denim, Turkey’s Orta Anadolu and Spain’s Tavex will exhibit with Kingpins for the first time. Together with Kurabo, Kingpins will fea-ture four of the world’s denim mills.“I want the show in the long term to be a global

sourcing show and, above all, to make sense,” said Olah, whose goal is to expand the show with the top produc-ers in each of the top region’s of the world. This year’s show will feature 19 mills.

Olah is confident that trade shows can provide an in-valuable service to buyers in difficult times.

“I believe trade shows are one of the industries that these kinds of times are perfect for if you do them prop-erly,” Olah said. “People are cutting budgets, so if they want to stop traveling, interesting shows area a great way to save money and to make yourself intelligent about new product development.”

But Olah acknowledged that buyers are facing ex-treme pressure to reduce costs while delivering a qual-ity product.

“Everybody in every position is stressed,” he said.— With contributions from Court Williams

N.Y. Textile Fairs Brace for Buyers on Tight Budgets

Emroidery and beading will be prevalent at Direction and Printsource, like these styles from B. Grande and Splash Designs.

Textile & Trade Report

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WWD.COM14 WWD/global, january 2009

in brief

Financial for full daily stock changes, see WWD.com.

0.90 0.54 Casual Male (CMRG) - 1653890 0.85 +54.55

4.99 4.01 Zale (ZLC) - 1747690 4.84 +20.70

1.45 1.18 Bon-Ton (BONT) - 202461 1.39 +14.88

4.94 4.20 Dillard’s (DDS) - 1510048 4.90 +14.75

7.75 6.35 CBL (CBL) 13.1 3028890 7.48 +13.85

0.84 0.73 LJ Intl (JADE) 9.0 54027 0.81 +12.50

13.40 10.80 LaCrosse Footwear (BOOT) 10.4 4702 13.40 +11.67

19.86 16.50 Cherokee (CHKE) 10.5 38599 19.42 +11.29

0.30 0.30 Sport-Haley (SPOR) - 1000 0.30 +11.15

0.53 0.36 Hartmarx (HTMX) - 263384 0.41 +10.81

10 BEST PERFORMERS DAILY COMPANIES P/E VOLuME AMt

HIgH LOw LASt %CHANgE

0.14 0.10 Blue (BLHI) - 28000 0.10 -23.08

0.59 0.57 Birks & Mayors (BMJ) 0.6 1400 0.57 -13.62

5.00 4.20 Saks (SKS) - 1654113 4.40 -12.87

4.30 3.77 Chico’s (CHS) - 3678138 3.86 -11.06

0.77 0.65 Eddie Bauer (EBHI) - 137357 0.68 -10.53

2.64 2.12 Talbots (TLB) - 593835 2.34 -10.34

5.99 5.12 Christopher & Banks (CBK) 14.9 345079 5.38 -9.88

6.89 6.00 Charlotte Russe (CHIC) 8.5 320428 6.19 -8.16

0.51 0.48 Tarrant Apparel (TAGS) - 10795 0.48 -7.69

2.42 2.08 Charming Shoppes (CHRS) - 677360 2.18 -7.23

10 WORST PERFORMERS DAILY COMPANIES P/E VOLuME AMt

HIgH LOw LASt %CHANgE

* editor’s note: european stocks are quoted in the currency of their principal exchanges. Shares on the London Stock exchange are quoted in pence, richemont and The Swatch Group are quoted in Swiss francs and Hennes & Mauritz is quoted in Swedish kronor. All other european stocks are in euros.

By Kristi Ellis

WASHinGTOn — President-elect Barack Obama conferred with congressional leaders Monday on his economic stimu-lus package amid the fallout from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s with-drawal for consideration as commerce secretary.

Obama met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other key Democratic and Republican lawmakers to make the case for a recov-ery plan that could cost an estimated $775 billion over two years.

“We think it is very im-portant to have a balanced recovery and reinvest-ment package,” Obama said. “Part of it is going to be addressing consum-ers and making sure they have money in their pock-ets. Part of it is to provide incentives to businesses so they start investing in equipment that ultimately leads to jobs. Part of it is going to be investment in the kind of job-creating, growth industries…whether it’s health, IT or energy, that assure economic com-petitiveness over the long term.”

Obama’s transition team has begun to release details of proposals intend-ed to rebuild the nation’s infrastruc-ture and create three million new jobs. He is considering $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses over two years, representing about 40 percent of the overall package, a tran-sition aide said.

The plan will include a $500 tax cred-it for individuals and $1,000 for families. Instead of giving people more money through rebate checks to jump-start the economy, which the Bush adminis-tration opted for in a smaller package enacted in the summer, Obama would withhold less from workers’ paychecks. Businesses might get an estimated $100 billion in tax incentives over the next two years.

Democratic leaders said Sunday they probably won’t complete the legis-lative process for the stimulus package by Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, which was initially a target date for the bill’s passage. They hope to get it through the House and Senate soon after Obama is sworn in as the 44th president.

In addition to his session with law-makers, Obama convened a meeting

of top economic advisers at his tran-sition office here. Timothy Geithner, treasury secretary-designate; Peter Orszag, director-designate of the Office of Management and Budget, and Lawrence Summers, director-designate of the National Economic Council, were among those set to attend.

Notably absent from the group was Richardson, who said Sunday he was withdrawing from the new administra-tion because of a federal investigation into whether his office urged a state agen-cy to award a government contract to a California firm that had donated money to Richardson’s political action committees. Richardson has denied wrongdoing.

Industry lobbyists said Richardson’s decision spared Obama a lengthy and contentious Senate confirmation pro-cess, but it left a gap in a key position as the incoming president grapples with the recession.

“Richardson did the right thing to not slow down the nomination for the Commerce Department,” said Julia Hughes, senior vice president of inter-national trade for the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles & Apparel. “Particularly in these economic times, who is secretary of commerce is going to be a very important element in the economic recovery package.”

Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, said Richardson’s with-drawal will delay the appointment of the deputy assistant secretary for textiles and apparel, who chairs the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, an interagency group re-sponsible for factors that impact textile trade policy and for overseeing the imple-mentation of textile trade agreements.

— With contributions from Liza Casabona

Deutsche Bank Lowers Hermès ForecastBy Miles Socha

PAriS — With a worsening out-look for luxury, Deutsche Bank has cut its earnings forecasts on Hermès International by 10 percent and projects slim fourth-quarter sales growth of 7.5 percent, or 0.7 percent in organic terms.

“Worsening luxury news flow, in particular from the U.S., sug-gests to us that Hermès will see a rapid slowdown in growth rates,” analyst Warwick Okines wrote in a report released Monday.

The investment firm also trimmed its 2009 forecasts on Burberry Group plc by 12 percent, while saying it has “more con-fidence” in the London-based firm “relative to other luxury stocks since the business is not coming off peak margins.” It also ex-pects further cost-saving initiatives.

Burberry is due to release its third-quarter sales in mid-January, with most other luxury players reporting fourth-quarter figures in the weeks that follow.

Deutsche Bank expects Hermès to post an organic sales decline of 3.7 per-cent in 2009, versus an estimated 10 per-cent gain in 2008.

Hermès has been one of the most im-mune of Europe’s big luxury players, cit-ing no material slowdown in the U.S. in the third quarter, when it posted organic growth of 17.9 percent. Deutsche Bank maintains a “sell” rating on the stock, with a price target of 63 euros, or $87.38 at current exchange.

Obama Starts Outlining Stimulus Plan

• Li & fUnG On Kb TOYS: Hong Kong-based sourcing giant Li & Fung Ltd. said Monday that it “suffers” an exposure of about $5 million to KB Toys, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. “As one of the largest creditors of KB Toys, Li & Fung will seek proper recourse from the bankruptcy courts and has approached most of the affected factories to meet with the group to discuss how it can help them to deal with the bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S.,” Henry Chan, Li & Fung’s executive director, said. “In addition, Li & Fung, with its long and harmonious his-tory of working with a large community of suppliers worldwide, is committed to rendering appropriate assistance to all KB Toys suppliers, especially the SME fac-tories, which may need help in specific instances.” Li & Fung was acting as buying agent for KB Toys, managing the production of its orders.

• rOberT GrAHAM LiCenSe: Robert Graham has finalized a deal with Paramount Apparel International, which will make accessories for the brand under license. The Bourbon, Mo.-based manufacturer will produce men’s and women’s headwear, scarves and gloves under the Robert Graham name starting for spring 2010. The accessories will be distributed in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Best known for its lively printed sport shirts, Robert Graham has licenses for dress shirts, belts and small leather goods, neckwear and cuff links.

• PinT SiZeD: The Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Skechers brand has signed a li-censing agreement with New York’s Adjmi Apparel Group to produce a line of Skechers branded children’s apparel. The line, which is planned for a fall launch, will consist of casual clothing for boys sizes 12 months to seven years, and girls 12 months through 16. Under terms of the agreement, Adjmi will design, distribute and market the line, targeted to department and specialty retailers that already carry the Skechers line of children’s footwear.

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nancy Pelosi and barack Obama

WWD.COMWWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 200916

By Sharon Edelson

NEW YORK — Marc Jacobs is getting ready to ex-pand his West Village empire, even as he tinkers with the existing store lineup.

Jacobs, the first designer to plant a flag in the neighborhood in 2000, has amassed five units in the vicinity and opened the floodgates for design-ers such as Cynthia Rowley, Lulu Guinness and Ralph Lauren to open stores.

Robert Duffy, president of Marc Jacobs International, revealed the company has signed another lease for a large space on Bleecker Street. The site, which has a tenant, will be vacant by the end of the year, said Duffy. “It’s a new concept for us,” he said. “It’s something we’ve never done before.”

Duffy declined to divulge the exact location of the store or give details about the concept.

In the meantime, the company has shifted con-cepts between stores, play-ing a game of retail musical chairs intended to maximize profits and productivity. The Collection store at 301 West 4th Street is now a Marc Jacobs men’s store. The Little Marc store at 298 West 4th Street has be-come a men’s accessories store. Little Marc will take up residence in the old Marc Jacobs men’s store at 382 Bleecker Street. Meanwhile, the West Village Collection store has joined the orig-inal Collection unit on Mercer Street in SoHo.

“Our business has doubled in every store on Bleecker Street during 2008,” said Duffy. “The men’s store was a very small store and it doubled business in the last year. We ran out of

space. There wasn’t even a place to sit down and try on shoes.”

Duffy said the reason for the changes was “purely dollars and cents. If one store has po-tential, why not move it to a larger space? That’s what I like about those stores — you can move them around.”

Since the economic downturn, the women’s Collection business never took off in the same way the men’s did, Duffy said. “The Marc by Marc Jacobs women’s store is unbelievable,” he added. “The Marc by Marc handbag business has

doubled in the last year. The only thing that didn’t work on Bleecker Street was the women’s handbag Collection business. Globally, business is far ahead in 2008.”

This isn’t the first time Duffy has shifted concepts. “I always switch things around,” he said. “I look at Bleecker Street as my own little depart-ment store. I look at it as the old Henri Bendel Street of Shops,” where customers en-counter interesting shops that may or may not be there on their next visit.

Marc Jacobs has been crit-icized by locals for making Bleecker Street chic for other designers, which in turn has

raised the rents in the area. “I never thought of it as a designer row,” Duffy said. “For me it was a neighborhood store and it grew. We are also very much a part of the neighborhood. We plant the whole three blocks with [flowers].”

The phenomenon of Bleecker Street has been repeated elsewhere. “The same thing happened to us on Melrose Avenue” in Los Angeles, Duffy said. “When we opened, there weren’t any ready-to-wear stores. Now we’re surrounded.”

By Jennifer Weil

PARIS — Paco Rabanne is the latest fragrance franchise plotting a fashion comeback.

The French brand, owned by Puig Beauty and Fashion Group, has appointed Vincent Thilloy as vice president, overseeing its fra-grance, fashion and accessories businesses. It is a new position. The news comes two-and-a-half years after the firm said it would stop the main Paco Rabanne ready-to-wear line, which had been designed by Patrick Robinson since 2004.

“I’m thinking about a new business model for the fashion,” said Thilloy, who explained it could take the form of licenses and said the review process might last up to four months. (Already, Paco Rabanne has licensed watches and eyewear, and there’s a license for rtw in South Korea.)

Procter & Gamble recently took the licensing route for Rochas fashion. In October, P&G signed a global licensing agreement with Italy’s Gibò Co. SpA to manufacture and distribute Rochas rtw. The license was signed two years after P&G shuttered the Rochas fash-ion business.

Rochas’ fashion revival followed that of the Thierry Mugler line. In the summer, Groupe Clarins, owner of the Mugler brand, resus-citated its women’s wear collection and came out with what was dubbed Thierry Mugler Edition for spring.

Thilloy said he thinks the time is ripe for Paco Rabanne to ex-pand its offer, in part because the fragrance business has taken off exponentially, largely due to the success of its 1 Million and Black XS scents. Sales of Paco Rabanne Parfums have doubled in the past two to three years, he said. Although Thilloy would not reveal fig-ures, industry sources estimate the business rings up 400 million euros to 450 million euros, or $542.4 million to $610.2 million at cur-rent exchange, in retail revenues yearly.

Thilloy is keen to establish a real universe for the brand and give it coherence and longevity. He continues to run Paco Rabanne’s fragrance business for which, until Jan. 1, he served as director. Thilloy joined Puig Prestige Beauté’s Paco Rabanne in 2001 as di-rector of marketing. Prior to that, he worked at YSL Beauté and at L’Oréal’s Cacharel.

Paco Rabanne’s fashion focus went through numerous itera-tions in the past. Robinson arrived in December 2004, replacing Rosemary Rodriguez as the house’s design director.

Jacobs Makes Moves in West Village Paco Rabanne Taps Thilloy, Set to Expand Its Offering

Marc Jacobs was the first designer to locate to Bleecker Street.

FIRST AND LAST: If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy during Paris couture week later this month, you’re in luck — but you might have to stay an extra day. Although France’s glamorous First Lady has yet to attend any high fashion shows, she’s confirmed as special guest and sponsor at the annual Sidaction benefit gala at the close of the week on Jan. 29. Bruni-Sarkozy, whose brother died of AIDS in 2006, has been active in fighting the disease for the last few years, and she officially confirmed her engagement as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS ambassador last month. WRITERS’ BLOC: Pierre Bergé has come up with a wordy initiative: an anthology of prefaces penned by authors. The 290-page French-language tome, titled “L’Art de la Préface” and published by Gallimard, groups 17 of Bergé’s favorite childhood prefaces, including novelist and political agitator Maurice Barrès’ reflections on Rachilde’s “Monsieur Venus” and Giono’s provocative introduction to Homer’s “The Iliad,” in which he sides with the Trojans.

KIMMEL’S HAPPENING: Adam Kimmel is drawing on the art-fashion link once again. The New York-based men’s wear designer, who counts high-profile artists and poets among his entourage, has chosen the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac for his men’s wear presentation and Paris Fashion Week debut on Jan. 22. But don’t expect to see models racing down a runway — Kimmel will present his fall/winter collection as an installation.

FASHION SCOOPS

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

Pierre Bergé

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AriAne Zurcher’s entrée into the jewelry business wAs decidedly unconventional. Although she had worked as a freelance knitwear designer and graduated from Parsons school of design (now known as Parsons the new school for design) in 1984, she left the industry for a career in advertising in the nineties, ultimately ascending to the role of creative director at long Advertising in new york. but in 2004 she had a life-changing event: her daughter, emma, then two, was diagnosed with autism.

“i stopped all work. i needed to find out everything i could about autism,” says Zurcher, who also has an eight-year-old son, nick. “it became my mission. i tried traditional therapies; i tried bizarre therapies; i tried alternative therapies. i think i read every book on autism that was published.” Meanwhile, her husband encouraged her to get back to her creative roots. what began with stringing a few beads together for fun and diversion grew into a fine jewelry collection of 18- and 22-karat gold baubles embellished with bold sapphires, tourmalines and rose quartz. “within three months, i knew that this was what i wanted to do,” says Zurcher, who works out of a studio in long island city.

there’s a freehand fluidity to Zurcher’s designs, which

retail from $2,400 to $45,000. her juno

collection, for instance, features flaxen squiggles dotted with gemstones and diamonds, which Zurcher calls “ribbons of gold dancing.” the dauphine lineup, meanwhile, with its

flowing lines, suggests Art nouveau.

“i love the ways in which you can manipulate gold by

linking and weaving shapes

together,” Zurcher says. “it almost becomes like a knit.”then there are her samadhi offerings, which nod

toward the Far east and are far less free-form. the pièce de résistance here is an 18-karat brushed gold-and-

diamond necklace made of linked shapes reminiscent of japanese river rocks. “there’s a sort of Zen quality to it,” says Zurcher, recalling that her parents once had a japanese sand garden in their bay Area home in california.

Family, in fact, plays a large part in any Zurcher narrative. her grandparents, elizabeth and walter Paepcke, were art

collectors who founded what is now the Aspen institute and helped transform the town into a cultural center. her dad was

curator of pre-colombian and African arts at stanford university. “i was very fortunate to be surrounded by so much art as a child,” Zurcher notes. “it gets in your blood. i think what happens is that, as an artist, all these influences just kind of come out organically.”

— Venessa Lau

Stone Bold“I love the ways in which you can manipulate gold by linking and weaving shapes together.”

— Ariane Zurcher

The designer.The designer.

Pieces from Ariane Zurcher.

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Vendor Spotlight Show Guide The Hottest Trends

WWD MAGIC Preview Supplement

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WWD.COMWWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 200920

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By John Zarocostas

GENEVA — With the economic slump projected to deepen worldwide in 2009, marked by hikes in unemployment and declines in output and consumer demand, projec-tions are for contractions in international trade, accompanied by calls for protec-tionist measures.

The textiles and apparel industry is not expected to be spared from the economic onslaught, but overall the sector is anticipated to be impacted less than more vulner-able ones, such as automobiles, housing, travel, machinery and other big-ticket items normally more affected by recessions, experts said.

Last month, the World Bank, in its report on global economic prospects for 2009, forecast world trade volume will decline for the first time since 1982, by 2.1 percent, down from 2008’s estimated 6.2 percent increase. The World Bank projected China trade to grow by only 4.2 percent, down from 10.1 percent expected for 2008.

Heiner Flassbeck, chief of globalization and development strategies at the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development, said he views the projections by the World Bank as “still overly optimistic,” and added he believes “China’s trade volume could be less.”

In a recent trade paper, Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Jeffrey J. Schott, senior fellows at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, argued that even with bold fiscal and monetary responses guided by President-elect Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke, “hard times are likely to endure until 2010.”

The recession, they maintain, “will give plenty of time for opaque, but harmful, protectionist policies.”

Aside from industrial subsidies, this could include, they said, resorting to policies such as boosting applied tariffs to higher-capped bound levels — India hiked its steel tariffs soon after the G20 summit on the financial crisis in Washington in November. Other measures could see World Trade Organization members imposing a variety of trade remedies to protect domestic firms from foreign competitors, such as antidump-ing and safeguard quota measures.

Munir Ahmad, executive director of the International Textiles & Clothing Bureau, said the economic slowdown will affect demand for all goods, including textiles and apparel. The chief of the ITCB, an umbrella group for textiles and apparel exporting nations, said trade “litigation is the big fear in 2009” and anticipated there will be

friction over textiles and apparel trade as competition heightens.As of Jan. 1, China’s textiles and apparel trade to the U.S. is free of quota restraints

agreed upon in 2005. On the troubled Doha round of global trade talks, Ahmad, echo-ing views shared by many top trade diplomats, said the negotiations will go on, but he expected “no breakthrough before early summer.”

People around the world are “uncertain about the future, in a wait-and-see mood. That’s why they’re not investing and withholding new investments all over the place. Wait until the dust settles,” said Flassbeck.

Formerly Germany’s state secretary for the economy, Flassbeck said not enough is being done by surplus economies such as the European Union countries, particularly Germany and Japan, to stimulate demand. However, he said the estimated $800 billion U.S. stimulus package being promised by President-elect Obama “is quite something” and worthwhile, and could see the American economy “come out of the recession first.”

“Sometime in the autumn of next year [2009], we’ll see a turnaround in the U.S.,”

he predicted, but added that it will take at least six months to get the money flowing.Flassbeck was more skeptical, however, about an early recovery in Europe and Japan.On Dec. 29, a report by the International Monetary Fund warned that the current

crisis, which started with the housing and financial sectors, “has now led to a strong fall in aggregate demand.”

To stem the slide, the IMF has suggested a fiscal stimulus package is needed equal to 2 percent of global gross domestic product.

Michael Finger, senior WTO economist, said domestic demand will continue to fall in the U.S. and other advanced economies this year, and the recent contraction of prices in the U.S. will continue in the first and second quarters, but will start to pick up in the third quarter.

“Business and consumer confidence indicators are all down,” Finger said. “The sentiment has to stabilize before it improves.”

By Katya Foreman

PARIS — Signaling a more fashion-focused era for travel retail here, the European Commission recently approved a joint fashion and accessories retail venture between Nuance Group, the Swiss airport operator, and French airport operator Aéroports de Paris.

Set to involve 40 stores, covering a surface of 54,000 square feet across Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airport terminals, the new retail development is due to open early this year, starting with monobrand outlets.

“Innovative” multibrand concepts will be added beginning in April, according to an Aéroports de Paris spokeswoman, who de-clined to specify which names are to be involved.

Pascal Bourgue, marketing director for Aéroports de Paris, said fashion and accessories are considered a major axis for develop-ment. “This partnership with Nuance Group will allow us to benefit from the expertise of a travel-retail leader and to improve the at-tractiveness of our commercial areas with a more innovative offer,” he said.

Aéroports de Paris is Europe’s second-largest airport operator in terms of revenues, which in 2007 amounted to 2.29 billion euros, or $3.14 billion at average exchange rates for the year. Nuance Group, meanwhile, operates 400 boutiques in 60 of the world’s airports.

Gloomy Outlook for Worldwide Trade

By Luisa Zargani

MILAN — Gruppo Forall, which manufactures and distributes the Pal Zileri men’s wear brand, has teamed with a partner, Arafa Holding of Egypt, in a bid to further develop its business.

Arafa has taken a 35 percent stake in Forall through a capital increase, at a total cost of 25.3 million euros, or $35.6 million. The deal values Forall at 72.3 million euros, or $101.2 million.

Arafa is listed on the Cairo and Alexandria stock exchanges and is one of the country’s leading fabric and apparel companies. It also operates retail chains in the U.K. and Northern Europe. Arafa, with sales of more than $300 million and net profits of $30 million, counts approximately 12,000 employees.

Production of Pal Zileri will remain in Italy, in the Vicenza area.

Forall, which was founded in 1970, expects to report 2008 sales of 140 million euros, or $191.8 million at current exchange. The com-pany has 36 directly operated stores and 221 franchisees, as well as a network of 1,300 multibrand stores in more than 70 countries.

Aronne Miola was appointed president of the board and Marco Barizza remains the group’s chief executive officer. Gianfranco Barizza takes on the role of honorary president.

Aéroports de Paris, Nuance Venture OK’d

Arafa Takes Stake in Gruppo Forall

According to Heiner Flassbeck, people around the world are “uncertain about the future, in a wait-and-see mood. That’s why they’re not investing and withholding new investments all over the place. Wait until the dust settles.”

Heiner Flassbeck

WWD.COMWWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 2009 21

Continued from page onePakistan was the second-largest supplier of textiles and apparel to the U.S.

in the first 10 months of 2008, the most recent data available from the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel, but countries such as India and Vietnam have narrowed the gap with continued growth of market share. China was the larg-est. Textile and apparel imports from Pakistan dropped 8.3 percent for the 10-month period ended Oct. 31 to 2.5 billion square meter equivalents.

The majority of imports shipped to the U.S. from Pakistan are textiles and prod-ucts for the home, such as sheets and towels. Among the chief apparel categories are hosiery, men’s knit shirts, women’s knit blouses, men’s cotton trousers and women’s slacks. The greatest share of Pakistan’s year-to-date decline in October was in special-ized fabric, cotton yarn, sheets, pillowcases, nightwear and pajamas.

“We are building a consensus for an all-out voluntary textile industry closure to use as leverage with the government to resolve our energy and banking crises,” said Javaid Siddiqi, vice chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association and director of ICC Textiles Ltd., here.

“Since December ’08, the global financial meltdown pressure is building up here,” he added. “After a bad Christmas retail season in the U.S., our sales are down as well, orders have been canceled and goods on the high seas are being returned. Some clients want price discounts, whereas others are backing out completely from accepting the goods. To exacerbate the market problems of low demand, there are the high markup banking loans and scarcity and costliness of energy is-sues on the production side.”

The primary banking issue is the country’s high in-terest rates. The discount rate, set by the State Bank of Pakistan, is 15 percent, plus another 3 to 5 percent charged by banks as their spread, totaling 18 to 20 per-cent on most loans at a time when interest rates in most other countries around the world are being lowered be-cause of the recession, Siddiqi pointed out.

Partially as a result, Pakistani mills are facing seri-ous cash flow problems. Hemorrhaging cash, they are silently defaulting on both short- and long-term loans. Mills are either forced to shut their doors or are reduc-ing their hours of production, said Siddiqi.

Further exacerbating the crisis is the nation’s en-ergy shortage. There are two prime sources of energy for mills, Siddiqi explained. One is the utility company Wapda, which provides electricity to the majority of the country, while Kesce provides electricity to the city of Karachi. The installed capacity of Wapda is 17,000 megawatts, including the hydroelectricity generation component, the cheapest energy source, which has an installed capacity of 6,500 megawatts.

On Dec. 31, an average winter day, a total of only 7,000 megawatts were produced from all the company’s energy sources, including hydroelectric, thermal, nuclear and coal. Since Pakistan has a total demand for 10,000 megawatts of power each day, there is a daily energy shortfall of at least 3,000 megawatts, resulting in electricity load shedding of 8-10 hours a day. Additionally, electricity prices were increased by 45 percent last year, and the price of gas alone went up 8 percent on Jan. 1.

Hydroelectricity power genera-tion is only producing 200 mega-watts out of its total capacity of 6,500 megawatts — in the winter, water levels in the Mangla and Tarbela dams are at their lowest. The seasonal canal closure, which commenced earlier than expected this year in mid-December versus the usual Jan. 1, is expected to end by Jan. 20. Sources said that until then, hydro-electricity generation is expected to fur-ther decrease, and the total power shortfall is expected to reach 3,500 megawatts.

The other prime energy source for textile mills is their own captive power plants, which run on natu-ral gas. These generally are cheaper than using electricity or furnace oil, but in the winter the country faces a shortage of over 600 million cubic feet (MCF) a day of natural gas, owing to a threefold increase in demand.

This results in a loss of production, said Siddiqi, as well as a loss of quality. For example, in manufacturing fabric there are starting marks left on the fabric when the machines turn on and off. The power shortages and surges also impact the electronic components of the machinery, and the continual stops in produc-tion result in missed delivery times, leading to financial penalties. While most mills have backup generators, these usually are diesel powered, which are not only expensive to run but also have been designed to operate for only short peri-ods of time.

Siddiqi compared the situation in Pakistan to that in India and China, “Whereas 60 percent of the energy produced in India and China is from coal, though we have vast coal reserves in Thar, only a dismal 40 megawatts is produced from coal power generation. Moreover, India gets 9,000 megawatts just from wind power.”

Even as the nation’s textile sector buckles, there are limited alternatives for most firms. Pakistan has no formal bankruptcy laws, Siddiqi said, so mills are unable even to declare bankruptcy and are forced to go on as long as they can, regardless of losses. Public limited companies’ directors are forced to give banks personal guar-

antees — and so for fear of seizure of their personal assets by banks, they tend to camouflage the true financial state of their companies until there is no alternative but to shut the doors.

As a result, there are no industrywide statistics on the number of sick firms. When WWD contacted mills on the current situation, most declined to comment.

Siddiqi said the only statement he could make under the circumstances is that smaller companies have now mostly closed and larger ones are operating at only par-tial capacity.

An example of the seriousness of the situation is the case of Mian Naeem ul Haq, chief executive of Jaguar Private Ltd. in Faisalabad, which manufactures knitwear and hosiery products. Haq is threatening self-immolation to protest the imminent closure of his unit due to the continued power cuts and suspension of the natural gas supply to Faisalabad, a textile manufacturing hub. On New Year’s Eve, he told

his 3,000-strong workforce that instead of firing them, he would set himself on fire. Street protests by the workers ensued and the

power company has vowed there will be no more shortages. So far ul Haq has not carried out this threat.

Nonetheless, his attitude shows the desperate straits of the coun-try’s textile industry. Imran Iqbal, general manager, marketing, of

Active Apparels Limited, Lahore and Multan, said, “Our mills have expe-rienced a real disturbance due to the natural gas shortages more than the

electricity shortages,” Iqbal said. “Converting to alternate fuels really put us behind schedule for the summer ’09 business.“We are also expecting a considerable drop in our fall ’09 orders from U.S. brands

and department stores, though overall it may not impact us as much — because many years back, as a marketing strategy, we chose to sell our products to Wal-Mart,” said Iqbal.

“We feel there will be many more shutdowns in Faisalabad and Karachi. Lahore’s manufacturers have already shut down their nonviable operations,” he added. “Millions of workers will be unemployed here, and mills may move their capital to other competitive input cost countries, like Bangladesh and Egypt.”

Nadeem Saigol, vice president of operations at Matrix Sourcing in Lahore, said, “Today we find a ridiculous situation where gas and power is cut from textiles and given to fertilizer industries and consumers, which could decrease exports by as much as 20 percent.”

Competitor countries enjoy heavy incentives to encourage long-term investment, beneficial financing terms and education and training support.

“Our successive governments, in denial of these facts, have never been serious about exports, preferring their government policy of running to the International Monetary Fund rather than exporting to balance the books,” said Saigol. “The end re-sult has been an increase in the cost of doing business and a forever-increasing debt burden on Pakistan — the resulting inflation paid for by the public.”

— With contributions from Liza Casabona, Washington

Pakistan Textile Sector Faces Closure

“After a bad Christmas retail season in the U.S., our sales are down as well, orders have been canceled and goods on the high seas are being returned.”— Javaid Siddiqi, ICC Textiles Ltd.

ICC Textiles, seen here, is part of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, which is seeking an “all-out voluntary textile industry closure.”

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Lab SerieS Skincare for Men iS deLving deeper into body care with the aim of bolstering the brand’s hair and body portfolio. The estée Lauder cos. inc.-owned firm will launch two prod-ucts, active body Wash and active Hand cream, for spring.

The items, which are also meant to further round out Lab Series’ overall skin care assort-ment, fit into the Hair-body segment of the collection, which also includes the clean, Shave and Treat product ranges. active body Wash and Hand cream are due out in March.

The body wash and hand cream are the first such products within the brand, and they are formulated with electrolytes in-tended to fight skin de-hydration caused by en-vironmental factors.

active body Wash, $18 for 6.7 oz., also contains concentrated aloe, salicylic acid buff-ing spheres, pumice and carnauba wax beads, and is meant to be used daily to promote smoother, clearer and more evenly toned skin.

active Hand cream, $15 for 2.5 oz., is intended to repair dry hands, con-dition the skin and mini-mize the appearance of dark spots, which could appeal to a slightly older demographic.

clinical studies con-ducted on the products

indicated that 73 percent of men who tested the hand cream experienced an immediate improve-ment in moisturization, according to the firm. Some 94 percent of men said they had softer cal-luses, the company said, and 80 percent reported improvement in the condition of their cuticles.

“active body Wash and Hand cream are innova-tive examples of multibeneficial formulas that pro-

vide distinguished results,” stated Matthew Teri, vice president of corporate product

development at Lauder, “as well as to pro-mote younger, healthy looking skin.”

Lab Series products are carried in 1,699 doors in the U.S., including

nordstrom, bloomingdale’s and Macy’s stores, and online

at Labseries.com. The items will be launched globally, simultaneous with the U.S. intro-duction. With the ad-dition of the body duo, Lab Series will include 33 products in the U.S. market.

While Teri wouldn’t comment on sales projec-tions, active body Wash and Hand cream could combine to generate be-tween $2.5 million and $5 million in first-year retail sales worldwide, accord-ing to estimates by indus-try sources.

a promotional cam-paign, consisting of cata-logue advertising and di-rect mail activities, will be designed to support the introduction of the duo. other efforts will be aimed at highlighting the hand cream, samples of which will be distributed in store.

— Matthew W. Evans

Lab Series Gets ‘Active’ With Body AdditionsBEAUTY BEAT

Lab Series’ newest items.

TRYING AGAIN: Marie Claire is hoping the third time’s a charm. The magazine is getting ready to relaunch its Web site to offer more content channels and, more importantly, hopefully attract more advertisers. Marieclaire.com — which has been redesigned twice during the past two years since it broke off from iVillage — will make its debut Jan. 15 with ads from Chevy, P&G, Always, Alberto Culver (Nexxus), Kao Ban, P&G Clairol, Sears and Wal-Mart. “We are expanding from three channels to eight, and this will provide more inventory to sell against,” said Ashley Parrish, senior Web editor. “Basically all of the magazine will be online as well as extra material such as the blogs, daily giveaways and horoscopes.” Parrish also plans to feature more video coverage, which will include video clips of Marie Claire’s forthcoming foray into reality TV, “Running in Heels.” Traffic has increased since the site’s last redesign, with 3.8 million unique visitors in December, compared with 461,000 visitors in December 2007. There were 17.4 million page views, versus 3.3 million during the same time frame in 2007, according to Omniture. — Amy Wicks

ALEF’S NEW LIFE: Alef, the Middle Eastern fashion and lifestyle magazine backed by Villa Moda, has closed and will relaunch later in the first quarter, according to Villa Moda founder Majed Al-Sabah. Al-Sabah told WWD that Villa Moda’s new majority shareholder, Dubai International Financial Center, was consolidating Villa Moda’s businesses into separate divisions, and that Alef would be part of the new publishing arm. “We’re looking to relaunch Alef in March to coincide with Art Dubai, and I will personally be involved in the new project,” said Al-Sabah. “We are also looking to bring Alef’s headquarters back to the region. It’s silly for us not to have our head offices in the Middle East,” he said, adding the new offices may be in Dubai. Alef’s main office is currently in London, and the publisher and editorial director is Paul de Zwart. The last issue of the two-year-old Alef was in the summer. A notice on the magazine’s Web site alerts readers that publication has been suspended and that “Modern Middle East Publishing, the company which publishers Alef under license from Villa Moda, is unfortunately not in the process to give readers and advertisers news on a possible relaunch.” The notice adds that, “Despite showing a positive balance sheet and showing healthy growth, circumstances outside the publishing team’s control have led to its present suspension.” — Samantha Conti

By Rosemary Feitelberg

caLypSo foUnder cHriSTiane ceLLe iS back on the retail scene with clic bookstore & gallery.

Still tied by a noncompete agreement, she has turned her attention to photography and art with a shop at 189 Lafayette Street in new york. in february, the plan is to open a 2,000-square-foot gal-lery around the corner at 255 center Street. The new Museum, La esquina owner Serge becker’s new cafe Select and the Jil Sander store are helping to attract more people to the area, which happens to be where celle lives.

in late november, the first overseas outpost opened in St. barths, which was where calypso was started in 1992.

This summer clic bookstore & gallery will bow in east Hampton and in Montauk. a Hamptons regular and mother of two windsurfing and kite surfing sons, celle said she likes summering there but needs to work. “i’m not the kind of person who can do nothing. i need to work,” said celle, whose husband is pho-tographer antoine verglas. “i have always collected photography and art books, and i’ve always dreamed of doing something like this. but with calypso, i was always too busy.”

in april — seven months after Solera capital LLc bought the majority stake in calypso christiane celle — celle exited. What started as St. barths boutique had become a 34-store, $60 million operation. She still owns 47 percent of the company, with Solera capital LLc owning the other half. both parties clashed about the company’s future direction, and a legal dispute has not yet been resolved. “i have no interest for them to fail,” celle said.

but celle is “someone who does not look behind” and is focused on her new venture. She already arranged for her friend patrick demarchelier to do a book signing in the St. barths store late last month. Steidldangin publishers will release the book, which is named for the photographer, in the U.S. in february. but celle already has it in her St. barths store.

an exhibition of andy Warhol’s polaroids and a surfing one by Tony caramanico, a former peter beard staffer whom celle met years ago in Montauk, debuted in late december as well. clic published a volume of caramanico’s work to coincide with the ex-hibition’s opening, a combo celle plans to continue to do.

Christiane Celle Returns With Clic MEMO PAD

Clic Bookstore & Gallery.

Discover cost-effective resources for lines ranging from massmarket to entry-level designer.

February 3-5, 2009Javits Convention CenterNew York City

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WWD.COMWWD/GLOBAL, JANUARY 2009 23

By Nina Jones

LONDON — Waterford Wedgwood plc is the latest British firm to fall victim to the credit crunch.

The Ireland-based company that produces Wedgwood tableware, Royal Doulton china and Waterford crystal placed its U.K. and Irish divi-sions into administration and receivership, the U.K. equivalent of Chapter 11, on Monday.

The company, founded in 1759, manufac-tures its own lines of tableware and crystal glassware, alongside ranges created by design-ers including Marc Jacobs, John Rocha, Vera Wang, Jasper Conran and Martha Stewart.

Administrators at Deloitte said poor trad-ing conditions meant the company had not been able to complete its planned financial restructuring. The company also failed to find

a buyer, which finally forced it to seek admin-istrative protection.

A spokesman for Waterford Wedgwood told WWD Monday that administrators intend to run the business as normal while the com-pany continues to look for a buyer, and added there was “no reason why” the designers’ lines would be impacted.

The spokesman added the company’s U.S. division would not be affected by the U.K. and Ireland businesses going into administration.

“We will be continuing to trade the business as a going concern,” said Angus Martin, joint administrator at Deloitte.

“Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton are quintessentially classic brands that represent a high-quality product steeped in history,” he added. “The administration team will be work-ing closely with management, customers and suppliers during this time to ensure operations continue whilst a sale of the business is sought.”

The company has 19 stores in the U.K., along-side 120 retail concessions in the region. Its U.K. business employs around 1,900, while worldwide Waterford Wedgwood employs over 7,000.

Waterford Wedgwood was formed when British businessman Anthony O’Reilly merged Irish crystal manufacturer Waterford with icon-ic British china brand Wedgwood in 1986 in a drive to build a major luxury goods group fo-cused on home and related products. Waterford Wedgwood expanded into such areas as pots and pans through the purchase of All-Clad and O’Reilly claimed he saw potential to push into other luxury goods sectors such as leath-er goods. But the firm failed to realize those goals, All-Clad eventually was sold and much of Waterford Wedgwood’s production is now outside the U.K. and Ireland. O’Reilly and his brother-in-law, Peter Goulandris, who still own over half the company’s shares, have resigned as directors, as has the rest of the board.

In recent weeks such companies as Woolworths, Hardy Amies, Ghost, Allegra Hicks, Marchpole, tea merchant Whittards of Chelsea and china suppliers Royal Worcester and Spode have all gone into receivership. Woolworths is closing all its stores, having failed to find a buyer, while the other firms have found or are in the process of seeking buyers.

By Koji Hirano

TOKYO — Despite long lines and crowds at many retailers here, Japan’s discounting season is not getting off to a strong start.

Isetan’s flagship in Shinjuku saw revenues drop 8 percent year-on-year on Jan. 2, the first big day of the discount season, a spokesman said, adding the retailer expects the store’s January sales to slide 5 to 10 percent this year.

Rival Takashimaya said even though about 5 percent more cus-tomers visited its Nihonbashi flag-ship on Jan. 2 and 3, sales were down about 5 percent both days. A

spokeswoman said good weather and the fact that fewer people are traveling abroad brought more traf-fic to the store, but “spending per consumer was not high.”

Still, Fast Retailing Co. Ltd.’s Uniqlo chain is continuing to out-perform Japan’s weak retail mar-ket. The company said Monday that December same-store sales at Uniqlo boutiques in Japan rose 10.3 percent. “Warm clothes, such as down jackets and fleece jackets, sold well due to our massive sales promotion, including three TV campaigns,” said a Fast Retailing spokeswoman, adding that January sales are in line with expectations.

Waterford Wedgwood Files for AdministrationLOS ANGELES — Showroom Seven, the bicoastal fashion showroom co-founded by Karen Erickson and Jean-Marc Flack, said robbers stole near-ly $300,000 worth of merchandise from its Los Angeles office in the Cooper Design Space on New Year’s Day.

The pieces taken included bags by Orla Kiely and Jane August, Erickson Beamon jewelry and dresses by Akiko Ogawa. Amber Feld, a spokeswoman for Showroom Seven, said the burglars climbed a heating duct outside the building at 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 1 to break into a window of the mezzanine-level office between the first and second floors. Suspecting that the thieves were fashion-savvy insiders who had been inside the showroom before, Feld added that the office’s electronic equipment — including two laptop computers, one desktop computer, a DVD player and a plasma screen TV — remained untouched. A representative for Cooper Design Space said the thieves didn’t hit any other showrooms.

— Khan T.L. Tran

Burglary at Showroom Seven

Japan Retail Off to Slow Start“We will be continuing to trade the business as a going concern.”— Angus Martin, Deloitte

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