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  • laika
    moderator
    • Sep 2006
    • 3787

    Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto



    I know I said I was stepping away but....



    [:|][:|]



    wwd



    Yohji's 'Coming Soon': Designer Joins the Rush To Launch Second Lines



    Published: Friday, September 14, 2007

    By Miles Socha with contributions by Akira Miura

    PARIS ? Even esoteric designers like Yohji Yamamoto are joining the contemporary stampede.



    Yamamoto is launching his youngest, most affordable offering yet,
    called Coming Soon. The "supercasual" collection, licensed to Italian
    manu­facturer SINV SpA, is designed to propel the Japanese designer
    into the big-volume leagues. The partners, who signed a 10-year pact,
    expect that the women's and men's collection has the potential to
    generate wholesale volume of 200 million euros, or $276 million at
    current exchange, over the length of the contract.



    Yamamoto's new line is the latest sign of a vibrant market for designer
    second collections ? often positioned in the hot contemporary zone and
    aimed at aspirational customers. During the past year, the likes of
    John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Vera Wang and Daryl Kerrigan all have
    entered the fray with lower-priced collections. Meanwhile, Giorgio
    Armani, Chloé and Dolce & Gabbana all have fine-tuned or
    repositioned their second brands in recent years, seeking to kick-start
    growth and access a broader base of consumers. And brands such as
    Quiksilver, Imitation of Christ and Hollywould are jumping into the
    contemporary market, which has been a popular category at retail from
    Dallas to Dubai.



    Designer firms ? recently focused on ultraexpensive, exclusive products
    in a booming luxury climate ? are now keen to reach younger customers,
    too, and are less reticent about assigning licenses for the sportswear
    category. For example, Galliano partnered with IT Holding's Ittierre
    unit, a pioneer in launching designer jeans and younger lines in the
    early Nineties, while McQueen signed up with SINV, which also produces
    and distributes See by Chloé, Moschino Jeans and Red Valentino.



    "See by Chloé will be a major priority for us in the coming years,"
    Ralph Toledano, chairman and chief executive officer of Chloé, said
    Thursday. "In the last two years, the See by Chloé growth has been
    really impressive."



    Toledano said he would soon extend the See by Chloé brand into new
    categories, unveiling an in-house leather goods line in January and a
    footwear collection in July. "Sunglasses will probably be the next
    project," he added.



    Massimo Braglia, ceo of privately owned SINV, said the company shifted
    its focus in recent years to fashion-driven collections, a move which
    drove 2006 revenues up 44.5 percent to 164 million euros, or $226.3
    million. Sales are projected to climb to 175 million euros, or $241.5
    million, this year.



    But the fact that Yamamoto and SINV decided not to use the designer's
    name on the Coming Soon label suggests that it is creative content, and
    not only the status factor of a label, that is driving the second-line
    business today. "We believe that the design should be more than
    enough," Braglia said.



    Yamamoto's first Coming Soon collection, with some 350 references and
    an emphasis on jeans and knitwear, will be unveiled to the trade in
    January during men's fashion week in Milan.



    "It should be quite an affordable line. It's young and contemporary,"
    Braglia said. "I think a line like this could have a really great
    potential."



    In an interview, Keizo Tamoto, Yamamoto's executive vice president and
    ceo, said Coming Soon is targeted at young consumers looking to trade
    up from streetwear to "something with a little bit of elegance, a more
    simple way of dressing."



    Tamoto allowed that Yamamoto's signature collection, mostly tailored,
    is often so singular that, "if you buy a Yohji jacket, you need Yohji
    pants and maybe you need also a Yohji shirt and shoes. It's a very
    dangerous line." By contrast, Coming Soon is described as a
    mix-and-match collection of easy-to-wear styles, from blouson jackets
    to T-shirts and accessories.



    The partners said the new line could be sold in as many as 800 doors in
    Europe, mostly independent specialty stores, which compares with about
    250 for Y's, Yamamoto's main sportswear collection. In America, Braglia
    is gunning for about 100 select department stores and specialty
    retailers over three years. Yohji Yamamoto Inc. will handle Japanese
    distribution.



    Prices have yet to be finalized, but Tamoto said most jeans would
    retail from 150 euros, or $207, to 230 euros, or $317, with knitwear
    averaging from 120 euros, or $165.60, to 200 euros, or $276. T-shirts
    will start at about 70 euros, or $96.60.



    Over the past five years, Yamamoto has been broadening the reach of his
    brand with new apparel lines and product categories, including his Y-3
    sportswear collection with Adidas, his luggage and accessories line
    with Mandarina Duck and his fine jewelry with Mikimoto.



    Yamamoto also has been expanding his retail network, with his largest
    store in the world slated to open later this month in Antwerp, Belgium,
    showcasing his signature line, the Y's range, fine jewelry and Limi
    Feu, the collection of his daughter, who is showing her spring
    collection during Paris Fashion Week. Next up is a unit on Gansevoort
    Street in New York's Meatpacking District, slated to open in January,
    followed by a three-level unit on Rue Cambon in Paris in March.



    Tamoto noted that sales of Yohji Yamamoto and Y's in Japan have
    remained unchanged for the last few years, at around 9 billion yen, or
    $77 million. International sales total about 4 billion yen, or $34
    million, including retail and wholesale.



    While Yamamoto, 63, might not be considered a top-of-mind designer for
    young people, SINV executives said they were attracted by his
    international design credibility and the appeal of Japan's
    anything-goes, youth-driven fashion culture.



    And the Y-3 project underscored Yamamoto's keen instincts,
    foreshadowing tightening links between fashion and sport, Braglia said.
    "He understood first the potential of shoes and now how sport and
    fashion could be mixed together," he said.

    ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.
  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    #2
    Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto

    This is kind of sad...
    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine

    Comment

    • Casius
      Senior Member
      • Dec 2006
      • 4772

      #3
      Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto

      This could be a nice new offering from Yohji, I just hope it has influences from Yohji's mainline and it doesn't get turned into some bland 'jean' label.
      "because the young are whores. dealers come to carol to get the rock"

      Comment

      • Faust
        kitsch killer
        • Sep 2006
        • 37852

        #4
        Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto



        [quote user="Casius"]This could be a nice new offering from Yohji, I just hope it has influences from Yohji's mainline and it doesn't get turned into some bland 'jean' label.[/quote]



        Based on past experiences, it won't, although I hope it will. Even McQueen's diffusion stuff sucks.

        Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

        StyleZeitgeist Magazine

        Comment

        • laika
          moderator
          • Sep 2006
          • 3787

          #5
          Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto



          Well....I can't deny that the snob in me is very disappointed by this news.



          But I have to say, Yohji has yet to put out something that is not of impeccable quality....so it's possible that this could be ok.



          Also, doesn't he have a lot of different lines in Japan? Homewares and stuff?



          Not all diffusion is bad....H.Chalayan is excellent, design-wise, if not quite up to par in quality.





          [76]

          ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.

          Comment

          • Seventh
            Senior Member
            • Dec 2006
            • 270

            #6
            Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto

            Well if it continues to provide the capital so that Yohji can do what he likes with his other lines, then I guess it is OK--I mean he has kept his integrity despite working with Adidas...

            Comment

            • Faust
              kitsch killer
              • Sep 2006
              • 37852

              #7
              Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto

              [quote user="laika"]

              Well....I can't deny that the snob in me is very disappointed by this news.



              But I have to say, Yohji has yet to put out something that is not of impeccable quality....so it's possible that this could be ok.



              Also, doesn't he have a lot of different lines in Japan? Homewares and stuff?



              Not all diffusion is bad....H.Chalayan is excellent, design-wise, if not quite up to par in quality.





              [76]



              [/quote]



              I forgot H.Chalayan - this maybe the only line that's well designed. Still, depending on how much Yohji will be involved (and it really cannot be that much - one has to sleep), this maybe be fine or it may have nothing to do with Yohji. I wouldn't be surprised to see logo-emblazoned tees...

              Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

              StyleZeitgeist Magazine

              Comment

              • laika
                moderator
                • Sep 2006
                • 3787

                #8
                Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto



                ^ I see what you are saying Faust but, in this case, we can't really fetishize the hand of the designer. One of the brilliant things Yohji has done is build an amazingly well trained team (like Michiko Suzuki, ahem). Remember the last shot of Notebooks with all those hands?



                We just have to hope that the team behind this is as strong.

                ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.

                Comment

                • Faust
                  kitsch killer
                  • Sep 2006
                  • 37852

                  #9
                  Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto

                  [quote user="laika"]

                  ^ I see what you are saying Faust but, in this case, we can't really fetishize the hand of the designer. One of the brilliant things Yohji has done is build an amazingly well trained team (like Michiko Suzuki, ahem). Remember the last shot of Notebooks with all those hands?



                  We just have to hope that the team behind this is as strong.



                  [/quote]



                  Oh, no, I agree, and I certainly don't want to discount the team. Read it as, "how much will Yohji's team be involved?"

                  Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                  StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                  Comment

                  • nqth
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2006
                    • 350

                    #10
                    Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto



                    I don't know what to think about this. We should wait and see. But




                    a.it is not really a difusion line. I think the Y's , Red or Noir are the difusions.




                    b. they don't put Yamamoto's name in it, suggesting he doen't want his base clients to even look at these clothes. It's bad. I think one has to"sign" one's works.




                    I think I would liketo buy sth that isYamamoto, but done in a less expensive way, than sth that just looks like Yamamoto.



                    Comment

                    • matthewhk
                      Senior Member
                      • Jan 2007
                      • 1049

                      #11
                      Re: Coming Soon by Yohji Yamamoto

                      very skeptical about this...like others have said before, I see Y's as his diffusion line (The +Noir line I wouldn't even say is a diffusion...to me it's like the CdG Evergreen line in that it's more an extension of the signature label), I don't see what this adds to the Yohji legacy at all, other than for commercial purposes.

                      Comment

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