Filippa K, a minimalist men's and women's brand from Sweden, is pushing ahead with plans to open its first U.S. store in San Francisco next month and its second in Los Angeles next year, despite the shaky economy.A rendering of a store Filippa K plans to open in San Francisco.
The 15-year-old label, now sold in the U.S. at upscale chains like Barneys New York, acknowledged the awkward timing. "When we started to plan the San Francisco project, the financial market and economic situation in the U.S. were not this bad," said Patrik Kihlborg, Filippa K's interim chief executive. "We believe there is a strong market and demand for Filippa K," he added.
The label, named for founder and creative director Filippa Knutsson, is one of a number of Scandinavian brands that have gained currency among U.S. fashionistas, helped by an under-the-radar mystique and prices that are lower than European labels. Filippa K men's sport coats, for example, range in price from $325 to $575, compared with starting prices of $1,000 for Armani Collezioni and Versace. Filippa K currently has 41 stores around the world.
A New Look for the Holidays
Saks.com, the Web site for luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, is getting a makeover just in time for the holidays.
The site, which will be relaunched early next month, will feature easier and faster navigation, with more products per page and larger images.
The changes come as many luxury retailers are upgrading their Web sites, which are expected to outperform brick-and-mortar stores over the holiday season. To entice shoppers over the past year, luxury Web sites including Saks.com have begun offering free shipping. Saks.com will also be introducing a monogramming service so consumers can personalize gifts.
Over the past year, Saks.com has added more multimedia features, such as video trend reports, virtual trunk shows and interviews with emerging designers such as Richard Chai, Thakoon and Brian Reyes. By promoting new designers, Saks.com hopes to attract younger customers. The average age of shoppers at Saks.com is now 40, compared with 50 at Saks stores.
Designing Kids
A Startiste storefront
Teen retailers are giving kids a chance to design duds themselves.
Startiste, a store that opened last month at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y., lets teens and tweens create and personalize their own handbags, jewelry and cosmetics. At Fashionology LA, which opened recently in Los Angeles, tweens can design their own clothes, including hoodies and pants.
It's part of a broader trend of customization that in recent years has hit everything from Ralph Lauren Polos to stuffed animals at Build-A-Bear Workshop. "Build-A-Bear definitely showed that real-time personalization and the make-your-own buying process is possible," said Startiste founder Cathy Taylor, a former American Express and hedge-fund marketing executive.
Sartiste customers can personalize purses, perfumes and watches.
Ms. Taylor plans to open two more stores in the next year and hopes to have about 50 stores in four years. Next week, shoppers will be able to create and buy items on her Web site, www.startistegirl.com.
A new Web site called Celebstyle.com, which launched Tuesday, aims to be an online database that catalogs outfits worn by characters in more than 50 TV shows. It also includes links to retailers, ranging from Kohl's to Neiman Marcus, that sell either those items or pieces that look like them.
The site is similar to others such as Seenon.com, which directs shoppers to online retailers selling items that look like the ones worn on TV. Such sites have gained popularity in recent years as shoppers have turned to TV shows and movies for style tips.
Celebstyle.com was created by San Francisco-based Sugar Inc., which operates 22 social-networking Web sites geared to women. Chief Executive Brian Sugar says he decided to launch it because "the No. 1 question" his staff was getting from Web shoppers was "What was so and so wearing on 'Gossip Girl' or '90210?' " The site also allows shoppers to upload their own pictures of items that they believe resemble the Hollywood versions.
The site's matches sometimes miss the mark. On a page featuring a neon-yellow, off-the-shoulder blouse that actress Jessica Szhor wore in "Gossip Girl," Celebstyle.com suggests a butter-yellow sleeveless blouse that barely resembles the original. "Not everything that people wear on TV is buyable," Mr. Sugar says. "We find the closest item to it that we can."
From now on, Brooks Brothers says, it will consider a factory operated by Ballantyne before all other suppliers when producing its cashmere knitwear collections. Ballantyne got its start in Scotland in 1788 and says it used to outfit famous customers including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
The arrangement is the result of a partnership Brooks Brothers formed with Ballantyne and Massimiliano Zegna Baruffa, the former chief executive of Italian yarn company Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia. The new venture, J.J & H.B. 1788 Cashmere Mills Ltd., will also make its production capabilities available to other luxury brands, allowing Ballantyne, which makes products under its own name and has its own retail stores, to expand its customer base.
Under the deal, Brooks Brothers now has a 25% stake in Ballantyne's factory, Mr. Zegna Baruffa has a 55% stake and Ballantyne retains a 20% stake.
