Haute Couture Houses:

è Operates in a house rather than a commercial building

·         Firm whose designer semiannually creates and presents for sale a collection of original designs that are then duplicated for individual customers on a made-to-order basis.

·         Houses are located in Paris & Italy

·         Founder of Haute Couture- Charles Frederick Worth established in 1858

·         Couture- IMPLIES clothes made to measure for individual customers.

·         Made from the finest, and most luxurious fabrics, superb needlework, great deal of handwork, astronomical prices. Nothing in the US resembles European Couture

·         QUALIFICATIONS TO BE IN THE COUTURE BUSINESS & THE CHAMBRE SYNDICALE

·         Submit  a formal written request for membership in the Chambre Syndicale

·         Employ at least 20 people for the production in their own studio

·         Present a collection each year for spring/summer (jan) and fall/winter (july) to the media

·         Create a collection of 50 ensembles, consisting of both day and evening designs

·         Present the collection to a clientele of the couture house in place that are arranged for the purpose

·         Store Retailers- (instore retailers) operate fixed point of sale location designed to have a high volume of walk-in customers

·         Nonstore Retailers- reach consumers through broadcasting and infomercials- door to door soliciting, direct-response advertising, electronic catalogs, ect.   

·         Department Stores- carry a wide range of merchandise lines, 1) men and women apparel 2)furniture and household appliances 3) household linen and fabric. They come with a wide variety of special services for consumers – Credit cards, deliveries, restaurants, beauty salons,

àDepartment store Characteristics

§  Soft/hard goods

§  One stop shopping

§  Organized into departments

§  Centralized buying

§  Sales have declined 14% since 2000

·         Centralized/Decentralized in the Department stores

o   Centralized

§  One-look-fits-all

§  Standardized look

§  Central buying office

o   Decentralized

§  Make sure stores cater to local tastes

§  Determine by store which items are popular and which are not

§  Recognize local events such as the start of little league or hunting season

o   Brand Stores- when a store opens an additional facility in another and operates from the original flagship store.

o   Private Label- goods produced exclusively for one retailers.  

retailers that specialize in tremendous assortments of a single kind of merchandise; Get their name by destroying competitors who sell the same merchandise

·         Known as “Big Box” retailers

·         Examples:  Home Depot, Toys R’ US, Barnes and Noble, ect

with so many specialty stores closing annually, malls are filling their spaces with Big Box stores. Big Box Anchor stores are surrounded by specialty stores.

Corporation that owns a number of autonomously operated retail organizations. Each store division retains its own local identity and independence, has its own branches, buyers, merchandise mix, operates under own name and presents itself to customers much as if it were still an independently owned institution.

either deals in a single category of merchandise (shoes, furniture, jewelry) or specializes in retail categories of merchandise-clothing and accessories for men, women, children or different home equipment.

·         Retailtainment: Disney, Lucy Lou, Nike (experiential marketing),

·         Retail brands/ private label

·         Types:

o   Large departmentalized: Nordstrom

o   Boutiques: Kimberly’s, Fred Segal

o   Chains: Gap

                àCater to a particular type of consumer and carry narrower lines of merchandise with a large assortment within each line that is specifically geared for a well defined target customer.

è Vary widely in size/ single unit, mom and pop stores, units of chains, and some are large departmentalized stores

·         Coach, Aeropostale, Chico’s, Urban Outfitters

strategy used by retailers in which they develop a list of preferred vendors who can supply the products, services, and pricing that retailers need to execute their respective strategies.

                àThose suppliers not on the matrix are unable to sell to the retailers.

Financial penalties retailers demand of vendors for various reasons.

à Retailers continue to demand chargeback’s for often minor offences

Operate without stores-one that sells merchandise by contacting customers through either door to door approaches or some form of in home party plan

                àWWII – silk hosiery and custom made garments sold this way

focus more specifically on management and market research area, specializing in the softgoods and consumer goods distribution industries

Consulting firms- focus more on helping companies with management issues, such as broad strategic  planning, market strategy analysis and planning, merchandising, and operation strategies- RATHER than product.

 Centralized/Decentralized in the Department stores

o   Centralized

§  One-look-fits-all

§  Standardized look

§  Central buying office

o   Decentralized

§  Make sure stores cater to local tastes

§  Determine by store which items are popular and which are not

§  Recognize local events such as the start of little league or hunting season

Managment Consultants

-Technical

-Import and Export Specialist

·         Technical:

o   Information systems: consulting firms offer a range of assistance in specialized info.

o   Logistics: assisting businesses with the distribution processes involved in moving merchandise quickly and efficiently from the manufacturer to the customer.

·         Import and Export:

o   Import Brokers- coordinates details of importing merchandise made in other countries for US buyers

o   Trade Attorneys- legal assistance related to importing and exporting. Understand potential risks and cost involved.

o   Export specialist- help firms in marketing and to make sales in other countries and then in the technical details related to shipping merchandise once it’s sold.

o   Lobbyists- law/consulting firms that attempt to influence policymakers on trade policies that benefit the companies or groups that are paying them.

o   Labor Auditors- individuals/companies hired by apparel firms/retailers to monitor labor conditions in contractors production plants.

Trade Publications- A special field of journalism

§  Not advertised to the average consumer BUT to the professionals concerned with manufacturing and distribution of that merchandise.

§  They analyze fashion trends for their readers and show sketches or photos of actual merchandise, identifies as to sources and style number, to assist buyers and store owners in keeping abreast of the flow of new products. They also discuss business conditions and articles on how to manufacture, promote or sell the industries products.

§  Analyze and report markets in other countries, cover conventions and other meeting dealing with trade, report on legislative developments of interest, and write up merchandising and promotion operations of retail stores.

§  Example: DNR (daily news record) WWD (women’s wear daily)

§  WWD – Women’s Wear Daily

o   Founded 1890 by E.W. Fairchild

o   Published Five times a week

o   COVERS the fashion waterfront in the women’s fashion business- raw material, manufacturing, retailing, and how the trend setters among the consuming public dress.

o   REPORTS collections, trade conventions, fashion Events, new technical developments at all stages of production, personnel changes at the executive level, the formation of new fashion business- and the wardrobes and activities of prominent individuals

Current Events

o   1) Retailers reach out on cell phones. Retailers are using cell phones to market their company and draw consumers in. Retailers will be alerted when you walk into the mall and will send the consumer a coupon for their store directly to their cell phones to encourage you to go check out their stores.

o   2) Kim Kardasian- Twitters about Carls Jr. Everytime she twitters she gets $10,000 just for promoting the name and getting people excited and interested for it.

o   3) Ralph Lauren is setting up his own restaurant in Paris. The name is Ralph.

§  Role of Couturieres- Haute Couture

* look at the Haute Couture Slide

Couturier= Men /  Couturieres=Women

  Fashion Information and advisory Services

o   Information Services

§  Fabric: Nigel French

§  Forecasting: MGSN

§  International Fashion: The fashion service- (TFS) covers fashion info from all over the world.

§  Color: CAUS, The color box- Color trend information

§  RTW: Here & There, (as well as other collections are covered)

§  Kids: Karten (published 8/yr)

o   Fashion Consultants: independent individual hired by fashion producers to assit them in some phase of their fashion operations.

o   àOldest is Tobe to serve retailers. Merchandising Motivation

§  They send illustrated weekly brochures that have info. On current and coming trends, illustrated by specific style numbers and the name of producers and wholesale prices.

o   Schools: FIT, Parsons

  Fashion Merchandising, Consulting, and Trend forecasting organizations:

o   Once called “buying offices” now do little buying

o   Purposes:

o   Paid for information: currency

o   Assist in international market coverage, trends, executive searches

o   Product development: creates private label programs

o   Logistics related to importing

 Big Four of Retailing

o   Walmart- Continually adding more concepts= in store health clinic

o   Sears Holding Inc.: K-Mart

o   Target

o   JCPenney

o   Role: Report fashion news to the consumer. They balance reading fare, as well as the latest fashions, helpful hints, and advertising.

o   Magazine Editorials:

·         Editorial Credit- The mention, in a magazine or newspaper, of a store name as a retail source for merchandise that is being editorially featured by the publication.

·         à Example:  editors select garments/accessories that emplify fashion news. They photograph and show these garments in their pages, they identify the makers and naming one or more retail stores where a consumer could purchase the garment.

o   Fashion Magazines:

o   Boutique: (in French= Little Shop)

o   Before- referred only to the intimate shops within Paris Couture Houses where the customer could buy perfumes and accessories carrying the house label  

o   In USA- designates small shop that carries highly individualized and specialized merchandise intended for a narrow, well-defined customer segment.

o   Professional association of women who represent ever phase of fashion manufacturing, retailing, merchandising, advertising, publishing, and education. Organized in 1931 to serve as a national and international clearing house for the exchange of information about what is going on in the business of fashion.

o   “Global non-profit organization”

o   to advance professionalism in fashion and its related lifestyle industries, with a particular emphasis on the role and development of women

o   provide a public forum for examination of important contemporary issues in fashion and the business of fashion

o   global trends that have effect on the fashion industry

o   attain greater recognition of women’s achievements in business

o   A computerized partnership between different segments of the industry. Its purpose is to supply customers with products or services in the precise quantities required at exactly the right time.

o   Represent business with common interests/ these associations are composed of people of members who pay dues to support the operation of the group and to carry out the common goals of the members.

o   Role:

§  Disseminate trade and technical information

§  Research markets/methods of operation

§  Analyze relevant legislation

§  PR

§  Lobbying

Examples:

§  National Retail Federation ·    National Council of textile organixations ·    American apparel and footwear association ·    American apparel manufacturers association

*Chambre Syndicale De La Couture Parisienne

o   Restriction on the quantity of goods of a specific kind that a country permits to be imported during a specific time before the imposition of added duties.

§  A number of total good that can enter a country

o   Part of the Chambre Syndicale-

o   the membership in the Chambre Syndicale of designer-name ready-to-wear =Pret A Porter

o   Brand name image which is in a league with Couturiers (Chloe)

o   Very popular now since there is a decline in couture sales

Couture Fashion Show Costs

o   2x / yr. the cost of preparing the collection- $4-5 M –

Tent: 50,000-60,000/ Models $30,000 for top models/ video/ lighting/ seating/ hair/ makeup/ photography/ Music/ Flowers/ Refreshments/ dresser 

o   Some of the prepared cost of garments can range from 2,000-100,000 depending what is being purchased.

 Charles Federick Worth

o   CREATED HAUTE COUTURE IN PARIS 1858

o   Shopping center of mixed used commercial development that combines the traditional retail functions of a shopping mall but with leisure amenities oriented towards upscale consumers.

o   Given to a retailers primary location,  a store in a prominent location, a chain’s largest store, the store that holds or sells the highest volume of merchandise, a retailers most well known location , or the store that carries the most high-prices merchandise catering to the most upscale customers. Ex. Macy’s in NYC or SF.

  Headquarters for Asian Apparel Production

o   Newly Industrialized- Hong Kong, Taiwan, S. Korea, Singapore

o   Developing: China, Viet Name, Bangladesh, India

Publicity

o   The purpose is to Enhance the client’s sales and to appeal to customers. The publicity agent develops news stories around the clients product or activites and makes these stories available to editors and broadcasters.

§  Key word is NEWS! The first job is to create news value in a product, activity, or personality to be publicized. Next they can find this news of interest to their readers and writes the stories (press releases) in a form appropriate to the media that constitute the target.

  Public Relations

o   Supply expert advice on how to improve the client’s public image and may develop some potent but less-obvious ways of getting publicity for the client.- giving suggestions on how to get good attention – ex. speaker at conventions.

   Sourcing Countries

o   Newly Industrialized- Hong Kong, Taiwan, S. Korea, Singapore

o   Developing: China, Viet Name, Bangladesh, India

o   Central/ Eastern Europe (turkey)

o   Latin America

o   Caribbean Basin Countries