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Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.

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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



    Oh well - your loss (pun intended), Sucks!



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

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
  • hanajibu
    Senior Member
    • Jan 2007
    • 158

    #2
    Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.

    I think it has been mentioned on this forum already, but their fall menswear Yohji buy is pretty adventurous (compared to Barneys anyway) ? but nothing in a size 1! Faust, they need need you.

    Comment

    • Faust
      kitsch killer
      • Sep 2006
      • 37852

      #3
      Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



      [quote user="hanajibu"]I think it has been mentioned on this forum already, but their fall menswear Yohji buy is pretty adventurous (compared to Barneys anyway) ? but nothing in a size 1! Faust, they need need you.[/quote]



      It absolutely was! I'm the one who said it, I think. Yea, no small sizes = stupid.

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

      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

      Comment

      • rach2jlc
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2006
        • 265

        #4
        Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



        I can't say I'm surprised by the falling profits; as was discussed on Style Forum, too, Saks distribution for their items is really odd. I don't think the problem is too "adventurous" collections, but the exact opposite. In NYC, you all are spoiled by having a very good Saks with things you'd actually want. Outside NYC and, perhaps, LA, the vast majority of Saks are filled with crappy Ed Hardy, Michael Kors, and Hart Schaffner Marx suits. Oh yeah, and some made in Vietnam Prada sneakers. No thanks!



        If only they would hire you, Faust, then I could have a steady stream of Yohji even here in the heartland!

        Comment

        • Faust
          kitsch killer
          • Sep 2006
          • 37852

          #5
          Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



          Hell yea - I'd make that dinosaur into a michel phelps in no time.



          You are absolutely correct - they've overextended themselves, and now they are paying for it. I know it sounds like blasphemy to them - but your brand name isn't everything.

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

          StyleZeitgeist Magazine

          Comment

          • rach2jlc
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2006
            • 265

            #6
            Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



            Overextension... EXACTLY! I guess that they figured, as you said, that the cache of their name would mean that middle-American buyers would flock to see their stuff, but even those in the heartland aren't stupid. No, they probably won't buy a pair of $900 Lanvin or Yohji pants, but they are also smart enough to realize that a subpar quality $290 Michael Kors button-down isn't the way to go, either. Saks really would have been smarter to keep the stores centered and focused on core areas of the country and really invested in making them great. Fashionistas who aren't near a great store will TRAVEL to get to one when they can. But, instead, the "suits" sort of placed smaller, lackluster Saks stores all over the place and so are now stuck with them to the point that, really, I couldn't care less abouts Saks in general.



            For example, my local Saks never has more than about 10 people in it at any one time... and most of them are heading to the LV boutique in the corner. Menswear is like a ghosttown, as is most everything else.



            If we can get you the job, Faust, please hire me to be your bulldog. I'd love to go around the country "cleaning house." ;)

            Comment

            • Faust
              kitsch killer
              • Sep 2006
              • 37852

              #7
              Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



              Totally - we'd be a dream team. [86]



              I am now watching Barneys with a bit of weariness - and wondering if they are doing the same thing. Yes, it was smart of them to differentiate the Co-Op, but I don't know if that's enough. Not that they care now - since they are owned by bottomless-pockets Dubai, but still - they are opening too many stores, too quickly. Seriously, who the fuck is going to buy Rick Owens in Vegas? Ann Demeulemeester in Boston? Will the cookie cutter co-ops attract the audience that shops in other cookie cutter stores? Do we really need a Barneys in the meatpacking district and one on Wall St. in addition to the flagship on Madison and Co-ops in Chelsea, Soho, and the Upper West Side?



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

              StyleZeitgeist Magazine

              Comment

              • Real Real
                Senior Member
                • Feb 2007
                • 619

                #8
                Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.

                I'd like to see a store like Saks or Barneys (maybe at one of the subsidiary locations) change the way they structure their departments.



                Instead of having a 'designer' area, an 'expensive but poorly made casualwear' area, etc, it'd be interesting to see one of these places try to break down their clothing retail areas into four or five different 'edits' or mini-stores.



                You'd have a 'modern americana' section, a 'goth ninja' section, a 'rock and roll' section (hopefully with more interesting concepts), and each section would contain an edited variety of clothing from the designers the overall store carries. Some designers would be carried in multiple sections, but with different colors and styles that fit into each edit. It'd be like packing 3 or 4 cool specialty stores into one location.



                I think that approach would end up being more successful, particularly in locations like Boston and Vegas, where people need more direction, and where I doubt the designers are able to sell themselves.



                I also think it would work better with this new wave of guys who are willing to drop money on clothing...not trying to generalize here, but I can imagine an average heterosexual lawyer dude seeing a Rick Owens jacket and thinking it was bad-ass, but only if it was presented to him in the right way. Putting the Rick Owens jacket next to a Rick Owens cashmere cape (or a rack full of Dsquared) would scare him off.



                I know that a place like Bergdorf, for example, already has stores-within-its-store, but they're designer specific, and I don't really understand the point of that. Maybe the numbers say it's worth it, but I have a hard time understanding why there is a Tom Ford mini-store in Bergdorf Goodman, when Tom Ford's own store is 15 blocks up Madison.

                Comment

                • JonathanStrange
                  Junior Member
                  • Aug 2008
                  • 23

                  #9
                  Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



                  "I'd like to see a store like Saks or Barneys (maybe at one of the subsidiary locations) change the way they structure their departments.

                  Instead of having a 'designer' area, an 'expensive but poorly made casualwear' area, etc, it'd be interesting to see one of these places try to break down their clothing retail areas into four or five different 'edits' or mini-stores."




                  ---Actually, Saks' flagship store in NY used to do exactly this (prolly 10 - 15 yrs ago) Their menswear section was comprised of all different mini-stores which were either one single designer or groupings (such as Belgian) Was disappointed to see that they opened the whole floor up, have nothing but fluorescent lighting and made the entire floor look like an outlet. Have not been back since.




                  I could picture Barney's doing this. Loved when they only had the downtown location in NY and had an entire mensfloor of nothing but black clothes. Was totally tits on toast!!

                  "Skinny like me," in 1977 she decided to go underground and live incognito among the thin.

                  Comment

                  • Real Real
                    Senior Member
                    • Feb 2007
                    • 619

                    #10
                    Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.

                    Yeah. I just don't get how these department stores think they're providing value by displaying 20 different designers in 20 different areas. The value of the department stores is in their ability to see a hundred different collections, and then to edit them down into the coolest and most interesting stuff for their customers. A single "edit" isn't enough, though, unless the department store's only goal is to serve some sort of ridiculous 'fashionista' that will buy anything presented to them. These department stores need a handful/multitude of perspectives (Atelier provides a great example of one perspective), and they can use those perspectives to carve up their inventory into mini-stores they can present to their customers.



                    What are the counter-arguments against this approach?

                    Comment

                    • rach2jlc
                      Senior Member
                      • Sep 2006
                      • 265

                      #11
                      Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



                      I had a whole response worked out, but it said "OOPS, AN ERROR HAS OCURRED" and keeps deleting it. It only lets me post this short response. After five or six tries... I give up.





                      EDIT: Okee dokee, I'll try this again:



                      Realreal, I think your idea sounds wonderful and (personally) I'd love to see it tried. BUT, just to be devil's advocate, I can GUESS at two possible reasons stores might be opposed:



                      1) Label Whores: As you mentioned, the hysterical teenagers/label queens who want something only because of its label and that it has a high price want their goods (cough... Dior home "bee" monogram wallets and tees... cough) out front and prominently displayed where they can find them. Stores make a killing off these folks and will probably accomodate them more than you or I... who go searching for ONE or TWO superlative pieces.



                      2) Brands themselves: They have big egos (obviously) and perhaps wouldn't want to be displayed in the same section, or even on the same mannequin, as their chief competition. Try telling Tom Ford why it is a good thing for his $700 shirt to be displayed BENEATH a MMM blazer or a JIl Sander blouson.



                      Again, these are just the two ideas off the top of my head...

                      Comment

                      • Faust
                        kitsch killer
                        • Sep 2006
                        • 37852

                        #12
                        Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.

                        Sorry John - running out of database space again. Fixed now - hopefully we'll have a full new beautiful SZ tomorrow.
                        Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                        StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                        Comment

                        • Faust
                          kitsch killer
                          • Sep 2006
                          • 37852

                          #13
                          Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.



                          [quote user="Real Real"]Yeah. I just don't get how these department stores think they're providing value by displaying 20 different designers in 20 different areas. The value of the department stores is in their ability to see a hundred different collections, and then to edit them down into the coolest and most interesting stuff for their customers. A single "edit" isn't enough, though, unless the department store's only goal is to serve some sort of ridiculous 'fashionista' that will buy anything presented to them. These department stores need a handful/multitude of perspectives (Atelier provides a great example of one perspective), and they can use those perspectives to carve up their inventory into mini-stores they can present to their customers.



                          What are the counter-arguments against this approach?
                          [/quote]



                          One would be that it might actually be a disservice to those who know exactly which designers they like. Butter in Brooklyn (as well as Sien in Antwerp) breaks down their inventory by color, rather than designer - and I find that a bit annoying. When I go to Butter I am looking for Rick Owens and not for a black top. In Sien - I couldn't care less for Three as Four, but I wanted to see everything by Chalayan. Hell, I'm annoyed enough at Barneys for sticking Junya Watanabe in Co-Op, so it makes my visits longer. Again, it depends on the customer.

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

                          StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                          Comment

                          • Faust
                            kitsch killer
                            • Sep 2006
                            • 37852

                            #14
                            Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.

                            [quote user="rach2jlc"]

                            Realreal, I think your idea sounds wonderful and (personally) I'd love to see it tried. BUT, just to be devil's advocate, I can GUESS at two possible reasons stores might be opposed:



                            1) Label Whores: As you mentioned, the hysterical teenagers/label queens who want something only because of its label and that it has a high price want their goods (cough... Dior home "bee" monogram wallets and tees... cough) out front and prominently displayed where they can find them. Stores make a killing off these folks and will probably accomodate them more than you or I... who go searching for ONE or TWO superlative pieces.



                            [/quote]



                            Ooops....[86]

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

                            StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                            Comment

                            • rach2jlc
                              Senior Member
                              • Sep 2006
                              • 265

                              #15
                              Re: Saks profits fall again - still don't want to hire Faust as head menswear buyer.

                              ^It's your fault, Faust. I had a very nicely-worded, neutral, well-reasoned response all typed out and then your server kept deleting it and not posting it. So, after five times, you get a rant about Label Whores. So, there! ;)

                              Comment

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