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From the Wall Street Journal. Link here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1222...cle-outset-box
SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
Antwerp's Fashion Rebels Get Serious About Business
By CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO
For two decades, Belgian designers have been the fashion industry anti-conformists.
Now, they're emerging as business forces as well, trying to balance their dissident identities with the increasingly commercial needs of the fashion world.
Maison Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten are opening stores and entering into licensing agreements in order to boost their sales.
But in an effort to differentiate themselves from ubiquitous marketing powerhouse labels such as Gucci, Prada or Louis Vuitton, these Belgian brands are still trying to preserve their niche value. They're opening stores off of main shopping streets, avoiding flashy logos and not using advertising. More significantly, their businesses are still focused on clothes rather than accessories, which are generally considered the more commercial, and profitable, end of the fashion industry.
"We can do all the things other brands do, but in a different way," says Giovanni Pungetti, chief executive of Maison Martin Margiela, the largest of Belgium's fashion houses, whose sales have multiplied five-fold over the past six years. "There are more intellectual consumers than we imagine, and they can understand an avant-garde product."
The Belgian houses are capturing the consumer zeitgeist. Around the world, the highest-spending fashion buyers are tiring of flashy logos and omnipresent names. As the economy worsens, wealthy consumers are still spending -- but moving towards less-ostentatious fashion, according to designers.
Starting on Sunday on Paris' catwalk, where Belgian designers show their collections, fashion watchers expect clothes that capture the current conservative mood of consumers.
"They're tough, edgy, austere, and the consumer really wants to go in that direction today. It's the right kind of aesthetic for this time," says Robert Burke, a luxury-goods consultant and former fashion director for Bergdorf Goodman, where he sold many of the Belgian brands.
One thing Belgian brands still need to work out is how to adjust their production and logistics to sustain growing sales. Retailers also say these houses haven't been as dependable in terms of products.
"They need to work on the fit," says Sheikh Majed al-Sabah, the founder of Villa Moda, the Middle Eastern luxury retailer. "Sometimes their products are not as comfortable as a Prada shoe."
The roots of Belgian fashion lie in common schooling. Many designers studied at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, a breeding ground for conceptual fashion.
"It's about being as creative as possible, pushing your limits and finding yourself," says Kaat Debo, the curator of Antwerp's Mode Museum, which is hosting a retrospective of Martin Margiela that runs until Feb. 8. "They have in common an approach to fashion that is not about performance, access or advertising."
For years, designers such as Mr. Margiela and Ms. Demeulemeester squeaked by, barely growing as they poured their energy into design. Mr. Margiela, who owned his brand along with Japanese and French investors, owned only three stores and designed for French luxury-goods house Hermès on the side to help make some cash. Ms. Demeulemeester for years only designed womens' clothes because she couldn't afford to make anything more.
Mr. Margiela was the first to break out. In 2002, he sold his namesake business to Italian denim magnate Renzo Rosso, the owner of Diesel. At the time, the Margiela brand was stagnant and unprofitable, recalls Mr. Pungetti, who says he ordered a round of layoffs and moved production from France to Italy. Mr. Margiela doesn't give press interviews.
The move was controversial. Fans worried that Mr. Rosso would turn Martin Margiela into a jeans brand. Mr. Pungetti poured money into opening new boutiques in London, New York and Milan, and worked with partners in Asia and the Middle East to open stores there.
"We tried to put in their head...a respect for the market and the client," says Mr. Pungetti. "Passing from art to commerce isn't always easy."
Mr. Pungetti expects Martin Margiela to ring in €70 million to €72 million in sales this year at the fashion house, which he says is profitable.
Ms. Demeulemeester perked up her namesake brand in 2004, when the label's chief executive, Anne Chapelle, and two other partners bought a majority stake in the house. The brand launched a line of menswear, which now makes up 20% of sales. Ms. Chapelle also pursued more wholesale clients, and dedicated a staff of four people to work with department stores to explain the product. The brand has also opened franchise stores in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul.
Sales have doubled to €23 million in the past four years. Ms. Chapelle, meanwhile, has also invested in other young Belgium-based designers, including Haider Ackermann. Ms. Chapelle says she gives each new company she invests in five seasons to break even.
Despite their new attention to growth, Belgian designers are still resisting the more commercial aspects of the business -- including logos and look-alike stores around the world.
A design from Dries Van Noten's autumn/winter 2008-2009 collection
Martin Margiela loosely attaches its label onto clothes using four simple white stitches that can easily be removed. Yet the four points have now become a status symbol for fashion insiders. Any dry cleaner who unknowingly cuts the tag out is likely to suffer the client's wrath. "It was an unintended side effect," says Mr. Pungetti.
Dries Van Noten, who owns his own label, tries to differentiate his namesake brand by making every store different. The designer stocked his one-year-old Paris boutique, located among the city's antique dealers, with knick-knacks he picked up at flea markets. The brand's stores in the Middle East, opened in partnership with Villa Moda, hold a similar potpourri of flea market trinkets.
"People get tired of seeing the same store, the same product" across the globe, says Sheikh Majed. "This is the power of the Belgians. The stores look like theaters, they sell dreams for customers."
Now, Martin Margiela is tiptoeing into a new field that was once off-limits from niche brands: licensing. Earlier this year, the house signed a deal with cosmetics giant L'Oreal SA to create a perfume, to be released next fall. It won't be an easy task for L'Oreal: how do you bottle the identity of a high-end fashion brand that has no real label or logo and whose predominant color is white?
SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
Antwerp's Fashion Rebels Get Serious About Business
By CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO
For two decades, Belgian designers have been the fashion industry anti-conformists.
Now, they're emerging as business forces as well, trying to balance their dissident identities with the increasingly commercial needs of the fashion world.
Maison Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten are opening stores and entering into licensing agreements in order to boost their sales.
But in an effort to differentiate themselves from ubiquitous marketing powerhouse labels such as Gucci, Prada or Louis Vuitton, these Belgian brands are still trying to preserve their niche value. They're opening stores off of main shopping streets, avoiding flashy logos and not using advertising. More significantly, their businesses are still focused on clothes rather than accessories, which are generally considered the more commercial, and profitable, end of the fashion industry.
"We can do all the things other brands do, but in a different way," says Giovanni Pungetti, chief executive of Maison Martin Margiela, the largest of Belgium's fashion houses, whose sales have multiplied five-fold over the past six years. "There are more intellectual consumers than we imagine, and they can understand an avant-garde product."
The Belgian houses are capturing the consumer zeitgeist. Around the world, the highest-spending fashion buyers are tiring of flashy logos and omnipresent names. As the economy worsens, wealthy consumers are still spending -- but moving towards less-ostentatious fashion, according to designers.
Starting on Sunday on Paris' catwalk, where Belgian designers show their collections, fashion watchers expect clothes that capture the current conservative mood of consumers.
"They're tough, edgy, austere, and the consumer really wants to go in that direction today. It's the right kind of aesthetic for this time," says Robert Burke, a luxury-goods consultant and former fashion director for Bergdorf Goodman, where he sold many of the Belgian brands.
One thing Belgian brands still need to work out is how to adjust their production and logistics to sustain growing sales. Retailers also say these houses haven't been as dependable in terms of products.
"They need to work on the fit," says Sheikh Majed al-Sabah, the founder of Villa Moda, the Middle Eastern luxury retailer. "Sometimes their products are not as comfortable as a Prada shoe."
The roots of Belgian fashion lie in common schooling. Many designers studied at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, a breeding ground for conceptual fashion.
"It's about being as creative as possible, pushing your limits and finding yourself," says Kaat Debo, the curator of Antwerp's Mode Museum, which is hosting a retrospective of Martin Margiela that runs until Feb. 8. "They have in common an approach to fashion that is not about performance, access or advertising."
For years, designers such as Mr. Margiela and Ms. Demeulemeester squeaked by, barely growing as they poured their energy into design. Mr. Margiela, who owned his brand along with Japanese and French investors, owned only three stores and designed for French luxury-goods house Hermès on the side to help make some cash. Ms. Demeulemeester for years only designed womens' clothes because she couldn't afford to make anything more.
Mr. Margiela was the first to break out. In 2002, he sold his namesake business to Italian denim magnate Renzo Rosso, the owner of Diesel. At the time, the Margiela brand was stagnant and unprofitable, recalls Mr. Pungetti, who says he ordered a round of layoffs and moved production from France to Italy. Mr. Margiela doesn't give press interviews.
The move was controversial. Fans worried that Mr. Rosso would turn Martin Margiela into a jeans brand. Mr. Pungetti poured money into opening new boutiques in London, New York and Milan, and worked with partners in Asia and the Middle East to open stores there.
"We tried to put in their head...a respect for the market and the client," says Mr. Pungetti. "Passing from art to commerce isn't always easy."
Mr. Pungetti expects Martin Margiela to ring in €70 million to €72 million in sales this year at the fashion house, which he says is profitable.
Ms. Demeulemeester perked up her namesake brand in 2004, when the label's chief executive, Anne Chapelle, and two other partners bought a majority stake in the house. The brand launched a line of menswear, which now makes up 20% of sales. Ms. Chapelle also pursued more wholesale clients, and dedicated a staff of four people to work with department stores to explain the product. The brand has also opened franchise stores in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul.
Sales have doubled to €23 million in the past four years. Ms. Chapelle, meanwhile, has also invested in other young Belgium-based designers, including Haider Ackermann. Ms. Chapelle says she gives each new company she invests in five seasons to break even.
Despite their new attention to growth, Belgian designers are still resisting the more commercial aspects of the business -- including logos and look-alike stores around the world.
A design from Dries Van Noten's autumn/winter 2008-2009 collection
Martin Margiela loosely attaches its label onto clothes using four simple white stitches that can easily be removed. Yet the four points have now become a status symbol for fashion insiders. Any dry cleaner who unknowingly cuts the tag out is likely to suffer the client's wrath. "It was an unintended side effect," says Mr. Pungetti.
Dries Van Noten, who owns his own label, tries to differentiate his namesake brand by making every store different. The designer stocked his one-year-old Paris boutique, located among the city's antique dealers, with knick-knacks he picked up at flea markets. The brand's stores in the Middle East, opened in partnership with Villa Moda, hold a similar potpourri of flea market trinkets.
"People get tired of seeing the same store, the same product" across the globe, says Sheikh Majed. "This is the power of the Belgians. The stores look like theaters, they sell dreams for customers."
Now, Martin Margiela is tiptoeing into a new field that was once off-limits from niche brands: licensing. Earlier this year, the house signed a deal with cosmetics giant L'Oreal SA to create a perfume, to be released next fall. It won't be an easy task for L'Oreal: how do you bottle the identity of a high-end fashion brand that has no real label or logo and whose predominant color is white?
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