MR Magazine: April 2015

MR A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 5

Retailer of theYear HUDSON’S BAY and LORD & TAYLOR PLUS: SPECIALTY STORE SURVIVAL MARK WEBER TELLS ALL SPRING ’16 PREVIEW TULUM RETREAT

Our warmest congratulations to

LORD & TAYLOR AND

HUDSON’S BAY MR Magazine’s Retailer of the Year

APRIL/MAY 2015 | VOL. 26 NO. 3

Departments 12 14

Editorʼs Letter Profile

16

Specialty Store Survival

21

Furnishings Report

61

Fashion

68

MRQ

Brian Spaly, Trunk Club NW Buyers Seminar Optimism Amid Challenges La Riviera Maya Mark Weber

2015 Retailer of the Year: Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor 28 30

Three And A Half Centuries Of Heritage An Aggressive Stance Liz Rodbell

32

Seeking The Next Level MaryAnne Morin

38

Making Moves Wayne Drummond, Tom Eckrich, Jim Monteiro and Nelson Mui

48

Spreading The Word

50

Endless Opportunities

52

Brand Builder

56

Industry Accolades

Michael Crotty Andrea Wasserman Peter Rizzo

Cover: BILLY REID sportcoat and pants; JOHN VARVATOS shirt; BRUNELLO CUCINELLI pocket square; BRIXTON hat; FLORSHEIM shoes; TATEOSSIAN bracelets; BREITLING watch.

This page: CANALI sportcoat, vest, and sweater; 7 FOR ALL MANKIND pants; TOY WATCH watch; TATEOSSIAN bracelets.

8 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

THE MAGAZINE OF MENSWEAR RETAILING A BUSINESS JOURNALS PUBLICATION

PUBLISHING Stuart Nifoussi Publisher Emeritus (212) 710-7407 Stunifoo@MRketplace.com

BUSINESS JOURNALS, INC. Mac Brighton Chairman & COO

Lizette Chin

Britton Jones

Publisher (212) 710-7414 LizetteC@MRketplace.com

President & CEO

Christine Sullivan

EDITORIAL Karen Alberg Grossman Editor-in-Chief (212) 710-7422 KarenA@MRketplace.com

Elise Diamantini Managing and Market Editor (212) 710-7429 EliseD@MRketplace.com

William Buckley Fashion Director (212) 710-7424 WilliamB@MRketplace.com

Harry Sheff Web Editor (212) 710-7436 HarryS@MRketplace.com

Jillian LaRochelle Copy Editor (212) 710-7442 JillianL@MRketplace.com

William Kissel

Chief Financial Officer

Lizette Chin Vice President, Menswear

PRODUCTION Peggy Eadie Director of Production (203) 663-7838

Business Office: 50 Day Street Norwalk, CT 06854 (203) 853-6015 Fax: (203) 852-8175

ADVISORY BOARD Mario Bisio President/Owner, Marioʼs

Editor at Large (805) 693-5838

Erik DeFruscio Fashion Assistant (212) 710-7488

ART/DESIGN

Wayne Drummond SVP, Hudsonʼs Bay Company

Doug Ewert Chief Executive Officer, Menʼs Wearhouse

Hans J. Gschliesser Creative Director

Cynthia Lucero

Dan Farrington GMM, Mitchells Retail Group

Art Director

David Fisher Jean-Nicole Venditti

Senior VP/GMM, Bloomingdaleʼs

Designer

ADVERTISING Michelle Brown Associate Publisher (212) 710-7413 MichelleB@MRketplace.com

Chelsea Richardson Account Executive (212) 710-7440 ChelseaR@MRketplace.com

Samuel Johnson Director of Operations (212) 710-7421 SamuelJ@MRketplace.com

Donna Doyle Advertising Coordinator (212) 710-7417 DonnaD@MRketplace.com

Ken Giddon Owner, Rothmans

Jonathan Greller President, Outlets, Hudsonʼs Bay Company

Tom Ott SVP/GMM, Saks Fifth Avenue

David Witman Executive VP/GMM, Nordstrom

SUBSCRIPTIONS CUSTOMER SERVICE: Please email your request to MRM@kmpsgroup.com or fax it to 1-866-658-6156 or

New York Office: 1384 Broadway, 11th Fl. New York, NY 10018 (212) 686-4412 Fax: (212) 686-6821

Connecticut Office: 50 Day Street Norwalk, CT 06854 (203) 853-6015 Fax: (203) 852-8175 10 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

mail to: MR Magazine, P.O. Box 47370, Plymouth, MN 55447.

Or you can call us at 1-800-869-6882.

CONGRATULATIONS Victorinox Swiss Army congratulates Hudson’s Bay / Lord & Taylor for being named MR’s Retailer of the Year.

MAKERS OF THE ORIGINAL SWISS ARMY KNIFE | VICTORINOX.COM

editorial

POSITIVE ENERGY! A

s this endless winter gradually melts into spring and we in the Northeast can finally venture outdoors without layers of hats, scarves, sweaters (and those ubiquitous quilted jackets), Iʼm feeling much positive energy in the more temperate air. Although too little of this energy has yet translated to big sales increases, Iʼm nonetheless excited about menswearʼs future due to many factors. These include: 1) Favorable indicators like lower gas prices, lower unemployment and a strong dollar (meaning prices out of Italy should soon deflate somewhat); 2) Growth rates in menswear exceeding those in womenʼs in virtually all channels; 3) A definite shift to men shopping for themselves (from 30 to 50 percent in dress shirts over the past few years, according to David Sirkin at PVH); 4) Continued collaborations between designers/celebrities and menswear makers (every-

“Growth rates in menswear are exceeding those in womenʼs in virtually all channels.” one wants a piece of the action); 5) A big increase in style blogs and educational material on the web, leading to 6) A notable growth in online purchasing, now estimated at 17 percent of total menswear sales and projected to grow at a rate of 15 percent annually over the next five years; and 7) A welcome shift to more fashion/less commodity, even in traditional stores.

Among department stores successfully capitalizing on these shifts is this yearʼs Retailer of the Year, Hudsonʼs Bay/Lord & Taylor. Despite the inherent challenges of being a moderate store that is neither the cheapest nor the most upscale, HBCʼs talented management team is carving out new niches, giving their two department stores a decided edge in fashion, value and service, not to

mention strong omni-channel initiatives, gorgeous new menswear floors, terrific print and digital marketing campaigns and some truly credible store brands (becoming even more trend-right under luxury veteran Peter Rizzo). Weʼre also very impressed with the synergy between the two menswear merchandising teams (under the steady direction of Wayne Drummond), each making the other even better than before. On behalf of the entire menswear industry, we at MR are delighted to honor these exceptional merchants.

A small example of how they mean business: I recently received some above-and-beyond service from a sales associate at Lord & Taylorʼs flagship store, who searched the stockrooms to locate a few specific sizes and patterns in Black Brown dress shirts. (Note to self: next time try shopping online!)

When I asked him for his business card, he handed me a Lord & Taylor card printed with the phrase, “#OBSESSED with customer engagement.” The back of the card reads, “Tell us about your visit” with a website address, 800 phone number and a space for the associateʼs name. (My selling floor hero was Scorpio.) When Liz Rodbell told me during our interview that sheʼs maniacally focused on service and truly values customer input, she apparently wasnʼt kidding.

A final thought on our 2015 Retailer of the Year from Morris Goldfarb at G-III: “Richard Baker should be nominated to the Fashion Industry Hall of Fame.

He took a huge risk in acquiring Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay at a terrible economic period in our country. Their shareholders, vendors and customers are grateful for all that has been accomplished.”

Editor-in-Chief

12 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

PHOTO BY WILLIAM BUCKLEY

The stars are aligned for some unprecedented growth in menswear.

profile

IN THE CLUBHOUSE Trunk Club founder Brian Spaly talks about the Nordstrom acquistion and how innovation in sales and service are key to growth. By Elise Diamantini

eʼve heard it a million times: guys hate shopping. Thatʼs why Brian Spaly, founder of Trunk Club, created a service that helps men look great without stepping foot in a store. When a guy joins Trunk Club, heʼs matched with a personal stylist who hand picks apparel and accessories based on his lifestyle. A trunk filled with these stylist-selected items are shipped to him, he keeps what he wants and sends back what he doesnʼt (and is only charged for what he keeps). In addition to this subscription service, Trunk Club opened five brick and mortar “clubhouses,” giving guys the opportunity to try on and buy in person, and in August 2014, Trunk Club was acquired by Nordstrom. Last July, Nordstrom Direct president Erik Nordstrom told us, “What Trunk Club is doing in the personal styling space is a natural extension of our core business. One of the pillars of our long-term growth strategy is to integrate the online and offline customer experiences; the personal styling space is a great example of how these two worlds are coming together.” Here, we talk to Spaly about plans for growth and why he hates the word athleisure.

How has business changed since Nordstrom acquired Trunk Club?

Not much. Itʼs fantastic to have the resources and support of such a successful brand, but Trunk Clubʼs company goals and day-to-day operations have not changed. Weʼre utilizing Nordstrom to enhance our growth plans, but doing so in the Trunk Club way.

What are you excited about for fall 2015?

I am forced to admit that we spend almost zero time thinking about items and trends at Trunk Club. I think thatʼs part of whatʼs driven our success̶we obsess about hiring the best people we can and about serving our customer. We also spend a ton of time trying to dial into the rich mix of human interaction and technology in the process of serving

W

14 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

up new gear to our members. All that being said, Iʼm fired up about the RL Purple Label Collection we are bringing in, and also the increased partnership with Fabric Brand, my current go-to denim.

Who are your biggest competitors?

We donʼt see anyone else providing the same type of service. It kind of surprises me, but the lack of competition reflects that it is hard to pull off a fully assisted, stylist-driven experience. Iʼm proud of that! Maybe itʼs best to say we compete with apathy and legacy. Apathy: guys can be lazy and just stick with their current wardrobe, which often leaves much to be desired. Legacy: guys have been shopping at the same places for decades out of habit, but not because they love the results. When we conquer those traits and emotions we are highly successful. Iʼm most proud of helping guys who didnʼt used to care about clothes, but now take pride in their outfits. It builds self-esteem and helps people achieve their life goals. Looking good is feeling good.

What does the menswear industry need to make business better?

Innovation in the channel and the sales approach. Itʼs hard to do anything thatʼs new and different on the design and trend side.

What does athleisure mean to Trunk Club and its consumer?

We cringe at that word. We believe a grown and prosperous man should not be prancing around in yoga pants. We shudder at the tech executive wearing a hoodie. We advise our members that athletic gear is precisely that̶made for the pursuit of sports and exercise.

How will Nordstrom A typical ownership help trunk from Trunk Club achieve whatʼs next for Trunk Club?

Trunk Club is coming off of a year of major expansion. In 2014 we launched new clubhouses in Washington DC, Los Angeles and New York. These markets are key to our business, and weʼre focused on perfecting the experience at each location while maintaining the highest level of service for our members receiving trunks. Nordstrom has opened so many doors for us in terms of expanding our capabilities in supply chain management, logistics, IT and other operational resources. Theyʼre allowing us to accelerate quicker towards our long-term goals.

What have you learned from launching the business?

Iʼm baffled at the lack of innovation in our industry. I also co-founded Bonobos, which taught me there was room in consumersʼ hearts for an upstart brand that was not driven by fashion industry insiders and ossified design calendars and paradigms. At Trunk Club, weʼve found a way to serve a key segment of the market in a delightful way. The biggest challengers remain driving growth and acquiring great new customers, while maintaining financial discipline. If start-ups can nail that recipe they will be successful.

What are your hobbies outside menswear?

I live in Dallas and greatly enjoy its Mexican cuisine and barbecue.

When Iʼm at our Chicago HQ I try to get out on the ice and play hockey.

Iʼm fascinated by the secular decline of southern Europe and enjoy following the Tour de France. Tokyo is my favorite city to visit, with an honorable mention to Stockholm, where we buy shirts from Eton.

Where do you see yourself in five years? 25 years?

I remain hopeful that the Trunk Club story is still early in the telling.

Weʼre building a lot of cool features and looking to expand from five markets to 10 in 2016. That should keep me busy. Nordstrom is based in Seattle, rapidly becoming the hottest soccer town in the U.S.̶I could get excited about a tour of duty in the Emerald City.

info@ghbass.com

PHOTO: JOHN GRAUPMANN, CREEK VIEW IMAGES

retail roundtable

Standing: Mike Hensley, Hensleyʼs Big & Tall Outfitters, Urbandale, Iowa; Al Kurtzman, The New York Store, Lancaster, NY; Karen Alberg Grossman, MR; Ronnie Brown, Ronnieʼs Menswear, Cowarts, Ala. Seated: Ben Graham, Grahamʼs Style Store for Men, Dubuque, Iowa; Scott Winterbottom, The Foursome, Plymouth, Minn.; Dick Stallone, Stalloneʼs, Anchorage, Ark.

Specialty Store Survival What stores must do now!

By Karen Alberg Grossman

Established in 1920, NW Buyers comprises a diverse group of independent specialty stores across the country. At their fall ʼ15 membersonly trade show in Bloomington, Minn., we hosted a panel discussion about challenges, opportunities and change.

Letʼs start with an overall assessment of current business and how itʼs changing.

Ronnie Brown, Ronnieʼs Menswear: Iʼm not a technology person; thank goodness I have a son who is. But weʼve changed our business notably by replacing print mailers with e-mail. Our ad expenses are way down and our end-season clearance events are now much more profitable.

Dick Stallone, Stalloneʼs: Weʼve added a few niche businesses that are proving highly successful. For the past 10 years, Iʼve been selling coffee beans, a brand I discovered on vacation in Colorado. I contacted the company and asked if I could carry their beans (with no idea how much I could sell). Itʼs been a homerun: once customers get hooked on this coffee, they keep coming back.

16 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

I did something similar with chocolate. I tasted this phenomenal chocolate bar at the Chicago airport so I called the company and started carrying it. This Christmas, I ordered small boxes of two truffles and handed them out to the ladies as a thank you for shopping with us. Itʼs amazing what a little piece of chocolate can do! It even cuts returns since they feel too guilty to bring things back.

Other niche businesses are womenʼs fragrance, readers and whatever I find that season at trade shows. You canʼt go to trade shows and not come back with at least one great new item!

(Iʼm on my sixth reorder of Mission Belts.)

Scott Winterbottom, The Foursome: After 80 years in business, we opened a new store five years ago, 10, 000 sq. ft. versus 25,000 previously. This has forced us to focus and more carefully edit assortments and itʼs been good for business. In the new location, the demographics are younger, so I believe itʼs more important than ever to take risks. Of course, buying has to be planned out and numbers-driven, but itʼs crit-

ical to be out in the market finding new things.

Donʼt be afraid to cut back on the old and try something new. I remember selling 50 pairs of Leviʼs a week 10 years ago; now weʼre down to 20 but weʼve more than made up for it with 100-plus pairs of 34 Heritage at $185 retail.

I think weʼre at a tipping point for specialty stores based on the consolidation of department stores. We can react more quickly to market finds and have real impact. For example, I discovered Canada Goose last year and did well with it; this year we did four times the volume and who knows where it could go next year.

And Iʼm talking about an $800 down parka! So my message is: never be afraid to elevate assortments. Weʼre never going to win on price.

Ben Graham, Grahamʼs Style Store for Men: My great-grandfather started a menʼs store; nine years ago we brought in womenʼs and itʼs become the money-making part of the business. So get out there and find great stuff! Be a sponge, a student of the business. Go out there and discover interesting items.

Alan Kurtzman, The New York Store: We try to change with the times. We recently brought in B&T and itʼs been a real positive addition. I go to markets, look around, talk to people and on the last day, I always buy something bizarre.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnʼt, often Iʼm a year early. But even then, customers remember that they saw it first in my store.

Mike Hensley, Hensleyʼs B&T Outfitters: I spent many years in the restaurant business, then opened a big & tall store in Des Moines. I canʼt tell you how many people advised me to go back to the restaurant business. But Iʼm doing fine! Iʼve learned to partner with vendors to get what I need. For example, Iʼm now selling regular-sized pants, and since I canʼt sell modern fit, weʼre getting things cut to our specs. Communication is key, and we canʼt be afraid of having inventory.

Can we bring in the audience on tactics theyʼve tried that are working?

Eric Faulk, Weinʼs, Clarion, Penn.: Weʼre in a small university town and a number of years ago we started selling cigars. Itʼs become a huge traffic builder, bringing in guys who were never in the store before. We have a big cherry humidor and guys are spending $400 a month on cigars. We also have a huge womenʼs shoe business in our basement: Iʼm thinking of downsizing that business and contacting some local wineries to negotiate prices on wine. Iʼll call it Weinʼs Wine Cellar; I know our ladies like wine.

Steve Eickhoff, Paulʼs Menswear, Evansville, Ind.: Our greatest success has come from charity events in our district: from farmerʼs markets to canned good drives to gumbo cook-offs, these bring young people into our district and they end up shopping. (During the 14 weekends of farmerʼs markets, our Saturday business was up 20 percent over the previous year.) Of course we sent out 1,500 e-mails and told our customers to share with their friends.

Alma Sehic, Emsudʼs, Lincoln, Neb: Weʼre doing a nice wedding business̶weʼre selling suits (starting at $199 retail), not renting tuxedos. Weʼve learned that when young people get married they spend money like crazy, so this is a good time to get them in the store. We also alter the suits so they have to come back in, and when they do, they often buy shoes, jeans, T-shirts. We started with a few dozen weddings and, by word of mouth, the business has grown exponentially. We show at wedding shows; weʼve done photo shoots with our florists and other partners that are picked up by various blogs. Itʼs a great business because once you make a bride happy, she loves you forever (and she likely has five friends getting married within the next two years).

Brian Kaufman, Kaufmans, Great Falls Mont.: Ours is a fourth-generation business and we have a full-service tuxedo rental shop.

Weʼre also selling suits for weddings: brides live on Pinterest and they donʼt always want tuxedos! They see guys in khaki pants, white shirts, suspenders and bow ties and thatʼs what they want their groomsmen to wear.

We used to spend $600 to $800 to print prom flyers for local high schools: this year we promoted on Facebook and on our website and itʼs been great. We call the schools, they pick up our images, and then have contests among the classes. For every rental, we donate money back to the school. This energizes the staff and helps promote our store.

To what extent are independents selling broadly distributed national brands?

Hensley: We feature our own label as much as possible. Most people come in to see whatʼs showing at Hensleyʼs, not at Tommy Bahama.

That said, we carry some big brands to bring in those customers who want the names. In sportswear, we carry very few department store brands. We look for labels that are a bit different so we can get better margins.

“Never be afraid to elevate assortments.

Weʼre never going to win on price.” ̶Scott Winterbottom, The Foursome Graham: When I started out, we brought in the well-known brands to validate our store and show up on search engines: Allen Edmonds, Tommy Bahama, Original Penguin.

And weʼve learned that the Millennials are not buying crap! They see Allen Edmonds, they want to know about the heritage, the construction; then they come back a month later with cash in hand.

Winterbottom: Unlike many of you, we are mostly branded. Some are limited-distribution brands, but brands are important to us. For example, although Tommy Bahama has stores in Mall of America and Ridgedale (five minutes from us), we continue to buy it because our customers continue to want it. Theyʼre looking for quality and reassurance. Of course, Iʼm cautious and always analyze the business so we donʼt back up. And I try to buy the brands in a way thatʼs different from Macyʼs.

Stallone: Although weʼre fairly isolated from the lower 48, weʼre still concerned about brands that are over-distributed. My advice to retailers is simply this: donʼt be afraid to drop a brand; youʼre not going to go out of business

with one less line. I remember back in the ʼ70s, I got into a dispute with Leviʼs and was so afraid to drop them but when I did, our jeans business kept growing with other brands. I recently dropped our largest suit maker because Iʼm tired of competing with Menʼs Wearhouse and Joseph Bank. I now offer less-distributed suit lines and do even better than before.

Brown: Anyone got a Joseph Bank in your area? Well we opted to go on the offensive so we did a TV commercial that says if something seems too good to be true, it probably is...

Then we talk about the advantages of our store: broad selections, free alterations, unique items, etc. Weʼre always looking for brands that donʼt sell department stores (to boost our margins) and for special items.

Right now, T-shirts are really hot: we found great ones at the Charlotte market.

Any audience comments on branding? On whatʼs working?

Joe Ross, Cavaliers, Havre, Mont.: If I post something unique on Instagram, I get a great response from across the country. People see it and order it!

Bert Harrison, Barkleys, Ohio: Iʼm still using snail mail for selective mailings and it works well for me. People are so inundated with e-mails: I donʼt want to become someoneʼs junk.

Winterbottom: One of our best marketing tools is our Legacy program. Customers pay a one-time fee of $50 to join and they get various discounts throughout the year. Weʼve discontinued ROP in favor of Instagram and Twitter; we have 5,000 people on our mailing list who we can target and we have a strong online business, both direct and through Amazon.

Steve Walker, Lancaster, Wisc.: I fell into something by accident: we keep 23,000-plus pairs of shoes in stock and we were triple shipped on one particular style̶a Saucony running shoe. So we tried Amazon and were truly amazed: the shoes sold out in two days.

We shipped to 32 states plus Canada and India! We collected new e-mails and put our fliers in the boxes. But we learned that Amazon is not your friend: they track what you sell and jump right into the hottest items, at a reduced price of course!

John Stern, Strauss, Fargo, N.D.: We discovered the power of Facebook about two years ago when I posted an Austin Reed blazer on my personal page. They didnʼt do much on the store page, but sold out on my personal page.

All told, thereʼs been a real positive mood in the market these past six months; a lot of young people are opening stores and they seem to be gaining traction. This is an exciting time to be in menswear.

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 17

furnishings

OPTIMISM AMID CHALLENGES Dress shirts are doing well, but neckwear is a more complicated business: down some places, up in others, and full of intriguing niche opportunities.

By Harry Sheff

A

lthough most retailers are loathe to admit it, furnishings business has been tough for many, both large and small, over the last year. PVHʼs David Sirkin called the past year “challenging,” but noted an increased sense of optimism for spring. And thereʼs more good news: “Whereas two years ago, 65 to 70 percent of menʼs dress shirt purchases were made by women, itʼs now down to 50 percent. Men are taking ownership of how they look; theyʼve connected to the fit message and they are out there shopping.” And yes, Sirkin adds, itʼs mostly younger men̶which is also good news for future business.

According to brand president Scott Norris, Menʼs Wearhouse business has been strong in both dress shirts and neckwear, and dress shirts are planned up for fall. “Our exclusive brands are driving our dress shirt business,” he told us. “Exclusive brands are a significant piece (75 percent) and Abboud is 25 percent and growing.”

Norris adds that blue and white make up half of all dress shirts and small checks and

plaids are doing well. Spread collars drive sales at Menʼs Wearhouse and cutaways are growing.

Sirkin notes that slim-fits are now fully half the dress shirt business. “But the challenge lies in communicating a consistent message, since different brands use different terminology,” he explains. “So with both fit and performance, we need clarity in messages.

Performance fabrics are 70 percent of everyoneʼs selling floor, be it wrinkle-free cottons, non-iron or easy care. Retailers expect it; some carry nothing but performance fabrics.”

On the specialty store side, retail consultant Danny Paul noted in a trend report that for the independent retailers he works with, dress shirts were up but neckwear was particularly difficult: “Neckwear sales have drifted lower for five out of the last seven months,” he wrote.

“Neckwear business has been adversely affected as more casual dressing has taken hold.”

Not every retailer is seeing casual trends squeeze neckwear though. Online menʼs accessories retailer The Tie Bar, which has qui-

etly become a major force in neckwear, has noticed a different sort of trend. “Once the requirement to wear a tie was lifted, I think guys started wearing them for fun,” says Allyson Lewis, VP of merchandising. “They saw ties as a way to express their personal style. Itʼs now okay to care what they look like. Theyʼre spending money on apparel and grooming, and I think neckwear is a key part of that.”

The Tie Barʼs under-$20 price tag for neckwear (they recently raised prices from $15 a tie to $19) has helped fuel their fashion business. “Weʼve given him much more freedom to experiment,” Lewis continues. “Iʼll hear customers in our Chicago store saying, ʻI wouldnʼt normally wear this, but itʼs cheap enough that Iʼll try it.ʼ Itʼs an accessible price point, so heʼs more apt to experiment than he would at a higher price point.”

Seasonal fabrications are where much of that experimentation is happening, and itʼs happening everywhere.

“There isnʼt this assumption that ties have to be 100 percent silk anymore,” notes Maria Humphrey, VP of design at MMG Neckwear.

“The industry is open to new fabrications like wool and cotton now. If itʼs right for the brand, it doesnʼt matter what the material is, which opens up a lot of new opportunities.”

“Although not a large percentage of the business, I believe it is important to show seasonality in neckwear,” says Norris at Menʼs Wearhouse. “For spring, we carry cotton and linen blends, and wool blends for fall.”

Between 3 and 31/8 inches seems to be the norm for most brands, says Sirkin. Norris at Menʼs Wearhouse concurs: “About half the business is 31/8 inches or narrower with the most growth coming at 3.” The Tie Bar now has four different widths: 3½, 3, 2½ and 2 inches. “We see a lot of growth in our skinnier widths,” says Lewis. “Even in the past year our 2-inch width, which is super skinny, has seen tremendous growth.”

BOW TIES Bow tie business exploded several years ago and has̶for some retailers̶become a significant business. At Menʼs Wearhouse, Scott Norris says itʼs almost 10 percent of neckwear. For The Tie Bar, itʼs more than 10 percent: “Bow tie growth in the last three years has been phenomenal,” says Allyson Lewis. “Before that, it was the ʻbow tie guyʼ who wore them to stand out. Now itʼs become much more of a mainstay for us.”

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 21

furnishings

Clockwise from top left: Eton shirt, Eton tie; Kiton Shirt, Calvin Klein tie; Ermenegildo Zegna shirt, Ivy Prepster tie; Ike Behar shirt, Alexander Olch tie; Canali shirt, Marwood tie.

22 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

Clockwise from top: J Lindeberg shirt, Kingsman by DrakeĘźs tie; John Varvatos shirt, Charvet tie; Burberry shirt, DrakeĘźs tie; Hickey Freeman shirt, Tommy Hilfiger tie; 7 For All Mankind shirt, Brunello Cucinelli tie.

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 23

furnishings Culturata

KNIT TIES: A HOT TREND OR A SMALL NICHE?

A

t the January trade shows, a half dozen brands were excited to show me something new: knit ties.

Culturata, an Italian-made brand known for sport shirts, introduced knit ties ($95 retail for wool, $125 for cashmere) last season. “We would never push a silk tie!”

Culturata owner Jacques Haggiag told me. “A half dozen clients sold out in a week. Theyʼre back with a vengeance.”

Orley, a luxury knitwear brand that was just nominated for an LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, added knit neckwear ($165 to $175) to its collection. Edward Armah showed wool knits, as did Domonique ($105), a new menʼs accessory collection heʼs backing.

“Knit business has been really good, particularly with solids,” says Dana Dean at Gitman. “Weʼve been adding seasonal colors to our silk knit line ($110 retail, made in Italy, 10 colors in stock), but this time we decided to make cashmere ties ($195) as our seasonal addition. Men are wearing a lot of patterns and checks, so weʼre sticking with solid knits.”

July 21−23, 2015 Javits Convention Center New York, NY

NEW YORK

MY TEXWORLD Co-located with ApparelSourcing Home Textiles Sourcing 24 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

Southern Tide

At Southern Tide, founder and president Allen Stephenson told me heʼs launching silk knit ties for fall. “I wanted to get away from printed ties and the Hermès and Vineyard Vines look,” he said, noting that both his retailers and customers are asking for them.

But not everyone is so excited.

PVHʼs Sirkin calls knits, “A small and regional business.”

“We continue to introduce knits under the Rooster brand because thatʼs where it fits̶itʼs what the brand was known for at one point̶but in general the reception hasnʼt been the greatest at retail,” says MMGʼs Humphrey. “It really hasnʼt taken off, but we continue to try.”

“The perception of knit ties in the industry is that itʼs a much bigger business than it actually is,” says The Tie Barʼs Lewis. “Because theyʼre loved by the fashion press, we see a disproportionate amount of knits in magazines and blogs. People will say to us, ʻWow, knit ties must be a huge portion of your business,ʼ but theyʼre not. Itʼs a nice solid business, but itʼs not a huge percentage at all and I wouldnʼt call it a growth category for us.”

So which is it? Itʼs probably a matter of how you look at it. For a small brand that either never sold neckwear or sees it as a smaller category, knit ties might make a big impact. And for the fashion and southeastern customer base, it will continue to be a viable niche, but perhaps not much more.

July 21−23, 2015 Javits Convention Center New York, NY

Free entry online www.apparelsourcingshow.com April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 25

THROAT THREADS APPAREL CONGRATULATES

on being

MR MAGAZINE’S RETAILER OF THE YEAR.

T H R OAT T H R E A D S A P PA R E L

|

T H R OAT T H R E A D S . C O M

RETAILER OF THE YEAR

For embracing the future while respecting their pasts; For some aggressive, but not imprudent, moves; For valuing and implementing customer feedback; For eschewing floors filled with “stuff” in favor of well-edited assortments; For building store brands that actually stand for something; For partnering with their vendors without arrogance; For building a team of true professionals; For offering exceptional fashion, value and service; For believing in, and investing in, menʼs fashion; For all this and more: MR is proud to honor Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor as our 2015 Retailer of the Year!

Black Brown 1826 from spring 2015ʼs Menʼs Style Guide

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 27

retailer of the year

THREE AND A HALF CENTURIES OF HERITAGE

By Karen Alberg Grossman, Elise Diamantini and Harry Sheff HUDSONʼS BAY COMPANY Hudsonʼs Bay Company, one of the oldest in North America, was founded in 1670 through a charter granted by King Charles II, giving it a fur trading monopoly over about 1.5 million miles of land around rivers that drained into Hudson Bay, or about 40 percent of what is now Canada. The company had sought the backing of the English king because American and French groups werenʼt interested. The powerful fur trading company merged with its biggest rival, the North West Company, in 1821, expanding its reach to most of modern Canada. With the British North America Act in 1867, Canada became a self-governing country. Two years later, Hudsonʼs Bay Company signed the Deed of Surrender, in which it sold its land back to England, which in turn transferred them to the new country of Canada.

By the dawn of the twentieth century, Hudsonʼs Bay Company had transitioned out of the fur trade and into retail. At the recommendation of Harrodʼs chairman Richard Burbidge, Hudsonʼs Bay restructured its operations, making retail a separate division in 1910. This gave way to the launch of the companyʼs six original department stores in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

Hudsonʼs Bay grew over the subsequent decades through acquisitions of retailers, including Cairns in 1921, Morganʼs in 1960, Freimanʼs in 1970, Simpsons, Fieldʼs and Zellers in 1978, and Woodwardʼs in 1993.

In 2006, American billionaire Jerry Zucker acquired Hudsonʼs Bay Company, taking the 336-year-old company private for the first time in its history.

NRDC Equity Partners CEO Richard Baker, who joined the HBC board that same year, bought the company in 2008 for $1.3 billion.

FAST FACTS

Governor and Executive Chairman: Richard Baker CEO: Gerald Storch President, HBC Department Store Group: Elizabeth Rodbell 2013 revenue: $5.2 billion Lord & Taylor: 50 stores and 4 outlets Hudsonʼs Bay: 90 stores and 2 outlets Hudsonʼs Bay Company also operates 67 Home Outfitters store, 38 Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 79 Saks Off 5th off-price stores.

28 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

LORD & TAYLOR Samuel Lord and George Washington Taylor, two English immigrants, opened Lord & Taylor in 1826 as a womenʼs hosiery and shawl shop on Catherine Street in Manhattan. After a few moves and a lot of growth, Lord & Taylor moved to its current Fifth Avenue flagship and headquarters in 1914.

Lord & Taylor is known for a lot of firsts. It was the first retailer to install an elevator and the first to make windows decorated for Christmas a holiday tradition. With its Manhasset, Long Island store in 1941, it was the first department store to open a branch store. Lord & Taylor president Dorothy Shaver became the first woman to lead a major retailer in 1946.

From the 1970s through the 1990s, Lord & Taylor grew to a peak of 86 stores across the country; in 2003, it closed 32 of them. In 2005 the chain was acquired by Federated, which in turn sold it to NRDC Equity Partners a year later for $1.2 billion.

THE NEW HUDSONʼS BAY COMPANY Since NRDC took over Hudsonʼs Bay Company, it has been a constant dealmaker. The company sold the leases to all of its Zellers stores in Canada to Target in 2011 for $1.8 billion (but Target closed all 133 of the stores it opened after two years). It acquired Saks Inc. in 2013 for $2.9 billion. Last year, the company began a strategy that it says unlocks the real estate value of its stores. It started with the $650 million sale/leaseback of its Toronto Hudsonʼs Bay flagship and continued with the $1.25 billion mortgage on the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship. And in February, it made joint real estate venture deals in the U.S. and Canada with Simon Property Group and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, respectively.

NAUTICA CONGRATULATES LIZ RODBELL AND TEAM

AT HUDSON’S BAY AND LORD & TAYLOR AS RETAILER OF THE YEAR

retailer of the year

AN AGGRESSIVE STANCE Liz Rodbell is making big changes, many of them in menswear.

F

rom childhood, Liz Rodbell knew that fashion was her destiny. After working on the selling floor at Albert Steiger in Springfield, Mass. during high school and earning a degree in merchandising from Wood Tobé-Coburn in New York City, she started out in the executive training program at A&S, soon moving to Lord & Taylor where she was named dress buyer in 1985.

“I fell in love with New York City, with the fashion industry, with the people, with the excitement,” she recalls. “Fashion retailing is about never-ending change: it continues to drive enthusiasm for our teams here at HBC, and for me.”

Chief merchant since 2012 and now president of Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor, Rodbell lives in Manhattan with her husband Mitchell, a dress designer, and their two teenaged daughters. Sheʼs in Canada three times a month, and has taken both of her HBC teams (500 people) on field trips to watch the Blue Jays.

After 30 years at Lord & Taylor, what do you see as the key changes under HBC management?

The environment today is highly innovative, inspiring creativity within the organization. Thereʼs a tremendous sense of pride about the strong cul30 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

tures of Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor, but our goal is to uphold the history of both stores with a focus on the future. Itʼs a really exciting time for us as we look forward to whatʼs next: from the time Richard purchased Lord & Taylor and then Hudsonʼs Bay, to going public and then buying Saks, weʼre very excited about the whole organization, the synergies and what we can learn from each other.

Weʼve got great momentum going: we recently announced a new CEO, Jerry Storch, whoʼs a very talented addition to our senior leadership team. Heʼs a well-skilled, astute executive whoʼs very strategic.

How would you define that strategy? Whatʼs the mission for Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay going forward?

Our mission is to be the best retailer in North America. Weʼll do this by continuing to lead with fashion, offering real value, and constantly evolving our service model. Our goal is to offer memorable service in all of our stores and at all touchpoints to the consumer.

As our digital business continues to be on fire, there needs to be a seamless experience. Since our focus is on that consumer who is truly time-starved, we have to ensure that we are servicing him/her as effectively as possible whenever, wherever, however he or she chooses to shop. Itʼs a very big mission on my plate: to evolve that service experience to the highest level.

And how do you do that? How do you attract the caliber of sellers youʼre looking for? Are commissions the answer?

I believe in a blended service model: everything from commissioned sellers to personal shoppers to ambassadors greeting customers at the door to our larger core associate population. We use various metrics and lots of analysis and customer feedback. We are very focused on this: we love customer feedback and we evaluate customer reviews by store level. We have new technology to facilitate this. In fact, effective this fall weʼre integrating IT from Saks into our system; we have top executives working on this as itʼs a primary focus for all of our stores.

How would you define your competitive advantage at the department store level?

We see everyone as competition, not any individual store. And we view competition as

positive: it keeps us on our toes. The retail landscape is changing, especially in Canada with Saks and Nordstrom coming in. But we certainly have the benefit of Hudsonʼs Bay leadership coast to coast. We are the national department store in Canada, and weʼre really winning in menswear where our growth has been a bit outsized. Over the past three years, menswear increases have been especially strong in footwear, modern suit separates and premium denim. We dominate in these categories and weʼve also got the number-one dress shirt share in the country.

“Our new customer growth rate is actually higher in menʼs than womenʼs.” ̶Liz Rodbell

So our current goal at Hudsonʼs Bay is to have the most dominant e-commerce business, to broaden the spectrum of offerings to create that endless aisle. (Online business has been less advanced in Canada than in the States.)

The mission for Lord & Taylor, a regional player in the northeast, is to capitalize on our opportunity to localize assortments and connect well with our demographic, to take the time to curate assortments more effectively.

We are focusing on expanding menʼs with more real estate: weʼve renovated Fifth Avenue, Boston, Westchester; weʼre about to do Stamford; weʼre looking at Garden City. Weʼll continue to invest in menʼs as it continues to be a growth opportunity for us.

Would you discuss your strategy regarding price promotions? Do you envision a time with fewer sales, coupons, off-price events?

Thatʼs an interesting question because one of our primary focuses is value: ensuring that we

give our customers a quality product at the right price, which might be the ticket price or it might be on sale. We want to focus on what works best for our customer and not be stuck in one place, so weʼre looking at a blended model that might also include some concessions (like we have with BCBG in womenʼs); weʼre certainly open to leased models with certain brands as an opportunity. It really depends on the category, but the reality is that our customers are expecting value and we want to deliver what they expect.

A great example of regular-price potential is menʼs skincare: itʼs a very small business for us today, but itʼs not promotional so we see it as a niche opportunity for us to grow sales and margins.

Does this mean youʼre attempting to trade up?

I donʼt know that trading up or down has anything to do with price promotions. Our mission is to continue with the types of assortments youʼre seeing now. We offer an array: in flagship stores and gateway cities we can certainly sell higher price points; in some we can go very high. We have the ability to offer a fairly broad spread in price ranges.

Yet with all the excitement in menʼs, you are still known as a womenʼs store; what are you doing to change this?

Youʼve seen the expanded assortments and broader offerings in contemporary product.

Weʼre matching that with an expanded spend in menʼs marketing: great fashion books, a lot of events. And customers are responding.

In fact, I was recently at a meeting that examined the last two yearsʼ data on customer acquisition. Our new customer growth rate is actually higher in menʼs than it is in womenʼs.

We need metrics to show us what works best regarding networking, marketing, storytelling, and of course this is a journey, not a destination. We will continue to evolve our messaging and expand our reach.

Who have been your key mentors in your journey and what have you learned?

Iʼve had many along the way, but Iʼd have to say that my father, although not in our industry, has inspired me the most. From him, I learned to go after what I believe in, to focus on making things happen. His message: not everything will be easy but with determination, you can do it!

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 31

retailer of the year

M

aryAnne Morin is back in menswear as chief merchant of Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay. After many years focusing on womenʼs, sheʼs bringing a fresh and dynamic perspective to the menswear team.

Letʼs start with a little background: I was pre-law all the way through college: I did an internship in the Houses of Parliament in London my junior year; I came back for my senior year ready for law school. I took my LSATs, applied, got in and then felt this need to take a little break. So I convinced my parents, deferred acceptance and negotiated a year off.

Once back, I was in the book store the day before orientation pondering my long list of all the books I needed when it hit me that I really didnʼt want to go to law school. Thank goodness my parents were able to stop payment on the check. But they werenʼt happy, so I needed to find work immediately. I took a job with the executive training program at Lord & Taylor.

With a short hiatus on the vendor side and a few years at Macyʼs, Iʼve been at Lord & Taylor for a total of 22 years.

SEEKING THE NEXT

LEVEL MaryAnne Morin is truly a merchantʼs merchant.

Do you have any mentors?

Liz Rodbell is such a dynamic leader! Itʼs rare to find someone who is so well rounded in so many aspects of the business. First and foremost, sheʼs a product person but sheʼs also an incredibly savvy business person. Sheʼs a wise marketer and very good at managing interpersonal relationships, both internally and externally. I also learned a lot from Marshall Hilsberg and Gary Kellman in my first DMM job in menʼs furnishings. I believe mentors appear at all levels and itʼs natural to find them when you look up. But I learn a lot from the more junior people around me. Some might be really good at a particular aspect of the business; others might have a passion that proves contagious.

What are your objectives in your new position as chief merchant?

In the competitive landscape that we live in, we have a couple of different objectives. At Hud32 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

Lord & Taylor Menʼ s Style Guide

sonʼs Bay, weʼre a dominant force in Canadaʼs retail environment: weʼre the big fish. And that gives us opportunities that are not quite the same as on the L&T side. So if I were to answer you in two parts, our goal at Hudsonʼs Bay is to continue to build on the amazing foundation we already have, to continue to push differentiation, to continue to challenge ourselves to be really good editors, and to anticipate what the next move will be. We do have the luxury of more floor space so we have the opportunity for more breadth, but we donʼt ever want to forsake depth. We believe in the editing process, in making strong statements on what we truly believe in. We want to be able to service the customer in all phases of his life: if itʼs the professional guy whoʼs time-pressed, we need to give him an efficient shopping experience for his business wardrobe and also suggest things he can wear on the weekends.

CONGRATULATIONS TO HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY AND LORD & TAYLOR FOR BEING HONORED AS RETAILER OF THE YEAR

retailer of the year

So itʼs deciding where we want to play, and constantly asking ourselves whatʼs new?

Whatʼs next? Just as importantly, and this is where we sometimes falter: What do we cut to make room for what weʼre adding? Itʼs always easy to layer on, but how do we get credit for what weʼre adding if we donʼt eliminate something else? Iʼm talking about editing within lifestyles, not eliminating entire categories. So being great editors, constantly challenging ourselves without over-assorting, is the key goal at Hudsonʼs Bay. On the Lord & Taylor side, we live in tighter real estate, so the editing process is even more important. But we have so much opportunity in menswear based on how this consumer segment is evolving. Candidly, for a number of years our growth in womenʼs outpaced menʼs, so now weʼre in a catch-up stage. Weʼve made tremendous progress: most people who walk onto our menswear floors on Fifth Avenue are amazed at the changes. We need to push ourselves to continue evolving in this manner, to give more of our branch stores the look and feel of Fifth Avenue in a smaller footprint. As we renovate stores, we spend lots of time talking about the elements that will move our business forward. Weʼve always had these conversations in womenʼs; itʼs become just as relevant and important on the menʼs side.

What are these elements that will move business forward in menʼs?

Weʼve probably excelled a bit more in the dress up, classic side over the years so now itʼs about understanding this consumerʼs total lifestyle. The word contemporary has a certain edgy connotation, but itʼs really more about a casual lifestyle. Weʼre having tremendous growth in shoes; weʼve just scratched the surface in what that can mean. We still have work to do with the selling environment and the sales associates, but in those stores where weʼve expanded menʼs shoes, weʼre absolutely getting the rewards. So itʼs more about figuring out what we want the new formula to be, then tweaking it as we understand whatʼs working, what isnʼt, and what we still need to do. And then pushing ourselves to get to the next level.

Because of Lord & Taylorʼs historically strong womenʼs business, your penetration of menswear is a bit below the department store average. How are you fixing that?

Weʼre letting it find its own level. Weʼre trying a lot of different things in a lot of different stores: bigger menswear footprints, smaller footprints where sportswear has more space, where shoes have more space. We want the customer to vote and tell us how to push it.

34 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

But to me, coming back to menswear after many years away from it, the real excitement is the types of fashion conversations that are going on today. As the outsider looking in, thereʼs a fashion component thatʼs driving current menʼs business that didnʼt exist in the ʼ90s.

Itʼs hard to compare where weʼve been to where weʼre going because the menʼs business is actually evolving faster than womenʼs right now.

Itʼs becoming more about wardrobing, about

have had one core brand five years ago, they probably have several in their arsenal today.

Often, itʼs about the partnership with the vendor: If X is not working the way weʼd all like it to work, we can keep throwing money, time and effort after it or we can figure out how we can take it to the next level, to where our customer wants to go. So thatʼs probably the hardest part: editing down and having those conversations.

“Itʼs not easy to have the conversations we need to have with our brands when something that might have worked five years ago is not working today.” ̶MaryAnne Morin

guys shopping more like women, which is truly exciting. Of course the media has had a lot to do with it: theyʼre showing different lifestyles and lots of exciting influences. So weʼll see what the consumer tells us, how he votes, and weʼll constantly tweak the formula. As we renovate stores, weʼre able to try lots of different ideas.

Whatʼs a typical day for you?

There is no such thing. Every day is different, every day is fast-paced and dynamic. I donʼt have a nanosecond to be bored. You have to thrive on a fast-paced environment to do what we do. And you have to love it.

Whatʼs the most challenging part?

Editing assortments. Itʼs not easy to have the conversations we sometimes need to have with our brands when something that might have worked five years ago is not working so well today. The good news is that most of our manufacturers are also evolving: they might

Whatʼs the most rewarding?

Well one great thing thatʼs happened to us in the last few years is the growth of e-commerce.

As that becomes a bigger percent to total, it gives us breadth and depth opportunities that we didnʼt have when limited by store real estate. There are no constraints on e-commerce, so we can add more styles, more colors, more sizes. Weʼre in the process of rolling out drop shipping, so weʼll get to the point where weʼll have categories for the guy online that we donʼt offer in store. Weʼre having a lot of those conversations now. For example, we can now service extended sizes that we donʼt have room for in-store. The goal, as we try different things online, is to discover categories that we should go after in our stores. The idea is to maximize everything we can online, where we donʼt have space constraints, and then add the right categories to brick and mortar.

We congratulate Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor on being honored as MR’s Retailer of the Year.

Liz, MaryAnn, Wayne, Tom...

Thank you for your outstanding partnership.

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retailer of the year

Another example: Iʼve worked in womenʼs shoes forever; a few years ago we added a small amount of extended-calf business. To our surprise, weʼve tripled the business each year! We get a 95 percent sell-through, and we still donʼt know how big is big. And thatʼs the great thing about e-commerce: we can try things, we can course correct, maximize and figure out how we can bring it back into the store. The great news for us is that weʼve always been integrated, weʼve never had a separate e-commerce team.

Weʼve grown up fully integrated, which gives us insights and opportunities and speed in the fulfillment process. We can make decisions, particularly in smaller stores, that weʼre not going to carry a business, but we can service those customers by fulfilling either out of another store or online. When you talk omni-channel and endless aisle, itʼs all about a seamless experience.

A big benefit of being integrated is that Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor were at different points of e-commerce development when we merged. (It was no fault of Hudsonʼs Bay, but simply that e-commerce in Canada wasnʼt at the same stage it was in the U.S.) So we were able to move very quickly to maximize the growth of e-commerce at Hudsonʼs Bay. And the customer continues to surprise us with what businesses theyʼre responding to online.

What have you learned from Richard Baker?

Richard is all about innovation: thereʼs no such thing as status quo with him. He approaches every situation with an open mind; always asking why not?

Itʼs interesting: when youʼve been doing something a certain way for a while, you obviously view the world through your history.

And there have been moments when Iʼd be listening to Richard in meetings and think, wow thatʼs kind of out there. But then once I sat back, absorbed and really thought about it, Iʼd start to think, why not?

Bottom line: Richard has an infectious enthusiasm for the business. Heʼs pumped up and motivated every single day, always asking what else can we do differently. What else can we do better? How can I help us get there? Itʼs hard not to be smiling in his presence because heʼs so excited all the time. And he has such passion for the business.

What keeps you up at night?

I worry about managing the pace of change since things are evolving so quickly. There used to be some quiet periods in our calendar; these days, other than the week between Christmas and New Yearʼs, thereʼs no down time at all. Technology has played a significant role in this: when the customer can shop 24/7, it alters the whole dynamic of our business.

36 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

“Store brand is a huge opportunity for us in menʼs: weʼre not looking to simply sell another label; weʼre looking to create exciting and relevant product.” ̶MaryAnne Morin

Hudsonʼs Bay Premium Book

I also worry about building our future leaders. We have to be very cognizant of supporting, training and providing the framework in which young executives can flourish. One of the great things about retail is that youʼre usually given a lot of meaningful responsibility at a fairly young age. So Iʼm always asking: Do we have the right people? Do we have the right teams in place? What else should we do?

Weʼre very fortunate that based on our reputation, we attract great candidates. But how do we keep them happy and motivated?

Can you tell us a little about yourself personally?

My husband and I love to travel. We have a place in Palm Beach, Florida and during the winter we try to escape as often as possible (which this winter with my new job was not too often). As much as I love retail, I love decompressing. Iʼm passionate about music and use music to uplift my spirits and to calm me down.

We are big fans of the great outdoors so I love to be on the beach, hiking, enjoying nature. We live in Westchester and I love the greenery.

Any final thoughts?

Iʼm working with a tremendous team here: our merchants love what they do and it shows. As much as thereʼs been significant change, thereʼs also been longevity, which absolutely helps: we can virtually anticipate each otherʼs moves.

But the main thing thatʼs kept me passionate about retail all these years is how it continually evolves. You might argue that this is frustrating because the consumer is always changing on us, but it does keep the job extremely relevant.

It also means that we never stop learning.

And I truly believe, and this is a phrase I learned from Gary Kellman when he was GMM of Lord & Taylor menswear, that we must always be students of the business.

retailer of the year

The menswear team takes fashion forward.

T

he menswear team at Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor is on a mission to take these heritage stores into the future. Here, we talk to the execs who are making it all happen: Wayne Drummond, group SVP/GMM ladiesʼ sportswear, menʼs, kidsʼ and luggage, Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor; Tom Eckrich, DMM Lord & Taylor; Jim Monteiro, DMM Hudsonʼs Bay; and Nelson Mui, menʼs fashion director, Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor.

Whatʼs the current mission for Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor?

Wayne Drummond: Our mission is simple: to create an exciting and inclusive shopping experience for men. We want our guy to feel that our stores are his stores. Many have been undergoing renovations; the most recent is our Queen Street store. We want to create a loft-like environment so guys feel comfortable, hang out and shop. We spent a lot of time on our target customer and we define him by his lifestyle rather than his age. We offered three style lanes in our menʼs world: classic, contemporary and we

38 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

bring it all together with denim. Our approach is the same at Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor, but our competitive advantage in Canada is the ability to trade in every price zone.

“We have some of those benchmark brands that arenʼt moving fast enough, and weʼre challenging them.” ̶Wayne Drummond What are the core price zones?

Jim Monteiro: If you break down our lifestyles by classic/updated/contemporary, and our pricing profile by good/better/best, then the bullseye would be better/updated.

Nelson Mui, Wayne Drummond, Jim Monteiro, Tom Eckrich

With styles moving to the right (classic is getting a little more updated, updated a little more contemporary and contemporary a little more modern) then weʼre pushing better/updated. Thatʼs whatʼs keeping us current.

What else is working?

Monteiro: At Hudsonʼs Bay, we continue to do exceptionally well with denim. I keep thinking that denim will hit this wall but itʼs hasnʼt. Itʼs been a huge success for us and continues to grow year after year. Weʼre introducing active as a new element to round out the assortment, but we still think our big opportunity is to touch on contemporary from a better/best perspective. The important thing for us is the cool factor. There are lots of options in classic whether youʼre a good or a better customer. If we keep focusing in on those areas, weʼll continue to win because we have a very strong base in the classic and updated.

Tom Eckrich: Denim has been a huge growth area for Lord & Taylor, particularly on the premium end with brands like 7 For All Mankind, Hudson, Joeʼs Jeans, G-Star, Diesel and True Religion, and we just added AG. Denim retailing

PHOTOS BY KEITH BARRACLOUGH

MAKING MOVES

retailer of the year

NELSON MUI

Menʼs Fashion Director, Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor Prior to his career in fashion, Nelson Mui was an attorney and a member of the New York and Massachusetts Bars. He attended Central Saint Martinʼs MA fashion program and is a former reporter at Fairchildʼs DNR, style editor of Travel + Leisure, and VP of marketing at David Chu Design.

On his other interests: As a published travel writer, I still maintain an interest in travel. I love skiing and Iʼm “addicted” to bidding in auctions, particularly for home/furniture.

On his mentor: I worked for David Chu for five years and got to be his right hand in some projects and his sounding board. He is an incredible entrepreneur. Most importantly, he taught me that everything in life is about the journey and not the destination. He is energized by the love of what he does and taught me what itʼs like to be engaged in work, and to see each project as a chapter with lessons to be learned.

On his road not taken: Since I love style, interiors and travel, it would be amazing to be a real estate developer of boutique hotel projects or unique hospitality ventures. for just under the $200 threshold is where we get the biggest bang for our buck. Slim/straight styles are our best-selling silhouettes and washes are trending towards dark, but we have a wide variety. Weʼve devoted so much more space to this business with our Fifth Avenue renovation (it used to be a few thousand square feet and now itʼs about 10,000 square feet), and itʼs been a huge win. So from a sportswear perspective, weʼve effected the most change with denim and everything that surrounds it for a much more contemporary feel.

Nelson Mui: A lot of our premium denim brands feature a large offering of non-denim five-pocket colored trousers and thatʼs been really strong. Younger men are more adventurous in their style choices, and one thing thatʼs been creeping into contemporary is this influence of streetwear. We already had a huge matrix of core streetwear brands at Hudsonʼs Bay (Obey, Stussy and Billionaire Boys Club), and at Lord & Taylor, weʼre picking up brands like Eleven Paris. Weʼre finding it to be a complement to the denim brands that weʼve been growing. At Hudsonʼs Bay, we carry brands like Opening Ceremony, which has elements of this street influence̶whether itʼs a longer T-shirt or bold graphics and sport numbering̶itʼs sort of crept into all aspects of contemporary.

Itʼs even stronger at the designer level, so it will continue in contemporary.

40 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

The buzz today is all about altheisure. How are you representing it at Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor?

Mui: Itʼs definitely trending: youʼre seeing a more sophisticated take on it at the premium level. I cover the collections in London, Florence, Milan and Paris and then we go as a team to Vegas. Itʼs being shown on runways and in presentations. Itʼs something thatʼs registered, and thereʼs definitely a valid customer for it, but it remains to be seen whether it can become a mass thing at the premium level.

What does the growth in contemporary mean for tailored clothing?

Monteiro: Suit separates have grown dramatically at Hudsonʼs Bay simply because weʼve been offering slimmer models. Now weʼre probably 70 percent slim vs. 5 to 10 percent four or five years ago. So slim is not new anymore, itʼs just the norm and thatʼs why suit separates have taken off the way they have.

And the sportcoat is not a traditional sportcoat anymore; itʼs shorter, more fitted and less constructed. Itʼs starting to gain some traction in Canada and it hasnʼt even gone as far as everyone has been hoping. Weʼre selling everything that goes with the jacket, from denim to the new slim-fit twills, and if youʼre more adventurous thereʼs the jogger pant. The hipster guys know how to pull it together with the right shoes. When we first saw Zanerobeʼs jog-

ger 18 months ago, it felt years away, but weʼve been selling it for a few seasons now and itʼs tracking nicely.

So thatʼs the changing dynamic, and as Nelson mentioned earlier, thereʼs a lot more creativity going on with men who understand fashion and can pull it together. When slim first started happening, a lot of guys didnʼt think it was for them. But then they tried it on and realized it wasnʼt skinny, it was actually a better fit. So thereʼs a comfort level that will come when guys want to know what bottoms to wear with a sportcoat.

Eckrich: Weʼve been on a long winning streak in tailored clothing and there have been lots of reasons why. Specifically, weʼve done quite well differentiating our sales with brands like Black Brown and Tallia. Weʼre also moving towards more suit separates; itʼs just the writing on the wall. From a fashion standpoint weʼre creating items that are exclusive to us in order to differentiate. And weʼre using tailored as a home base to pull in more lifestyle categories.

The guy today wants to wear a jacket, a cotton pant and a shirt with no tie, so weʼre pulling that together to give him options in the tailored clothing department. Weʼre showing customers that you can add color to your wardrobe in more ways than just a tie.

“One thing thatʼs been creeping into contemporary is this influence of streetwear.” ̶Nelson Mui

For example, linen will be very important to us across many brands this spring. Itʼs a business that Lord & Taylor had for a long time, but now itʼs trend-right, so itʼs becoming very big. Formalwear has also done well for us: itʼs still a small part but the trends are amazing, so weʼre pulling together all the elements to create that look. We have several blue tuxedos featured in our spring style guide. And weʼve gotten a lot of traction from our prom mailer.

Mui: I would add that seasonal suiting (seasonal colors and weights) has also been strong.

Drummond: Seasonal clothing is working because guys are invested in themselves; theyʼre making some bolder styling moves. The other two categories that have been explosive are

retailer of the year

WAYNE DRUMMOND

Group SVP/GMM ladiesʼ sportswear, menʼs, kidsʼ and luggage, Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor Wayne Drummond started on the selling floor of Hudsonʼs Bay, where his father John Drummond worked for 42 years. He then moved on to various other roles within the company (buying, marketing, strategic planning), and then spent three years at Zellers before returning to Hudsonʼs Bay, and now Lord & Taylor.

On his interests outside of work: I enjoy skiing with my family in the winter. My wife Vanessa and I have four children and everyone skis. In the summer we enjoy boating.

On his mentors: I have been privileged to have a few, however the greatest mentor is my father. Heʼs a patient listener, and a wise advisor. He taught me to lead by example. I have learned this not so much by what he has said, but by what he has done. I admire my father greatly. accessories and footwear. Take Tom for example: today heʼs wearing a lapel flower. So whether itʼs pins, pocket squares, bracelets or colored socks, our customer is confident accessorizing. As for footwear, Jim likes to say that men used to have a pair of black shoes, a pair of brown shoes and one pair of sneakers; now they own the closet in terms of shoes.

Footwear is an expression of his style and his look, so thatʼs been a category weʼre having a lot of fun with.

Eckrich: Weʼre also having success with bags.

There are lots of different shapes (the backpack is huge) and occasions to use them: heʼs bringing it to work, heʼs using one on the weekend. Bags are really up and coming and we think itʼs just the beginning.

Monteiro: Even outerwear. My dad, probably like many dads, had one coat that heʼd wear all winter. Now guys are wearing a different coat for each change in temperature. So thatʼs the fun part: there are lots of coats in menʼs closets these days.

With so much excitement, which categories are disappointing?

Drummond: Where weʼre having the most challenge is with brands, predominately classic, where thereʼs a lack of newness and change. As Jim said, everything is moving to the right. If youʼre too traditional today then youʼre off the radar tomorrow. Itʼs moving

42 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

very quickly. So weʼre challenging the brands that are not moving fast enough to meet the needs of our current customer, who is getting more confident to style himself, or the very quickly emerging Millennial, who has a specific taste. We have some of those benchmark brands that are not moving fast enough, and weʼre challenging them.

Monteiro: Those classic brands are very important to us, but weʼre basically managing them versus the updated contemporary brands that weʼre building. And thereʼs a difference.

As fashion moves to the right, is price moving with it?

Drummond: Not necessarily. The Millennial isnʼt solely consumed with premium; theyʼre consumed with a specific style choice. Our nine-box matrix specifies where we want brands to fall within price and style parameters. Weʼre continuously evaluating to determine where we have opportunities, where we overlap, where we need to slow something down or begin to pull back. We all know where the filters are and we use that as our guide to make decisions.

Monteiro: Itʼs evident by the growth of stores like H&M and Topman that affordability is a factor. We have Topman exclusively in Canada so we can offer that price level. Of course if they want to spend more money, we have product in that zone too.

Mui: Thereʼs a more disposable concept with the Millennial generation: they want this now and itʼs going to be obsolete soon anyway. Menʼs fashion is getting much faster and moving closer to the speed of womenʼs. Thatʼs why weʼre seeing this explosion in menswear right now.

Does faster turn mean higher markdowns?

Monteiro: It can, but the reality is that we know we have a business to run, so we know which programs to focus on. We have an internal mix that we work with that ensures we have healthy margins.

Can you discuss your promotional strategy?

Monteiro: Our promotional strategy was much different when we were “the Bay” vs. Hudsonʼs Bay today. Weʼre now much more strategic with our big events like Christmas and Fatherʼs Day. We go after those key events in terms of specific product we want to offer. We also believe, because we have new styles coming in every month, that we should go through that 8, 12 week cycle of in and out through our regular markdown cadence, which keeps us relevant.

Weʼre using markdowns in-season as a strategy rather than end-season clearance. Weʼre not using Off 5th, but that doesnʼt mean we wonʼt: thatʼs still to be discussed.

Menswear by Category

Tailored Clothing

30%

Accessories, Shoes, Furnishings

Sportswear

50%

20%

Eckrich: Weʼre not really using Off 5th either but thatʼs probably going to change soon.

Weʼve been hearing that the growth in menswear is outpacing the growth in womenswear. Are you finding that to be true?

Eckrich: The pace of change is remarkable. It used to be that there wasnʼt that much new happening in menʼs̶maybe there was color change̶but now thereʼs an enormous amount of change every season. Younger people are used to seeing that change and wearing different kinds of things. Itʼs not as uniform-ish as it used to be.

We congratulate our dear friends at Hudson’s Bay - Lord & Taylor for being honored as Retailer of the Year.

We appreciate your partnership and wish you success in the future.

PEERLESS CLOTHING

retailer of the year

TOM ECKRICH DMM Lord & Taylor

On his life outside of Lord & Taylor: My family is my number-one priority. I love spending time with my wife Marie and our two sons Thomas (12) and Matthew (9). I coach them both in Little League baseball and theyʼre learning to play golf.

On his mentor: My mother and father have long been mentors to me. My father taught me the importance of listening and my mother is the most compassionate person I have ever met. Together they continue to make me be a better person.

On his road not taken: A teacher. I get enormous satisfaction from being involved in teaching and mentoring. I love watching someone take that knowledge to grow and succeed.

Monteiro: The Millennial consumer, which is now the largest demographic, is putting a lot of thought into what he wears. Heʼs on his phone constantly, heʼs reading blogs and sees

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how celebrities dress. And as Wayne mentioned, we have a core customer that weʼre going after, and itʼs not necessarily an age, but more of a youthful mentality.

Mui: Thereʼs a certain amount of fashion literacy with the younger generation. You canʼt go backwards, you canʼt unlearn. Theyʼre getting all of these ideas from their peers and from the media. Thereʼs so much more menʼs fashion content and fashion news out there that people suddenly want to try, and the younger generation embraces it. The media is where theyʼre getting all their information first, and then they shop. Itʼs not like they wander a department store to browse; they go with purpose. They know in advance they want this kind of jogger or that kind of high-top. They get all the information first and then shop for it.

Monteiro: Nelson will ask, “How do I know Iʼm doing a good job forecasting fashion?” and I say, “When Iʼm feeling uncomfortable with what youʼre offering, then you know youʼre doing a good job.” Tom was talking about the newness and freshness that we need, and my fear has always been getting too predictable.

If weʼre predictable, weʼve failed. When you renovate a store itʼs easy to look new, but how do we keep that excitement every season? So every season, especially for fall, we have to offer something new, fresh and innovative.

retailer of the year

JIM MONTEIRO DMM Hudsonʼs Bay Jim Monteiro got his start at Tip Top Tailors in Canada. He didnʼt plan on going into menswear retail, but says he always loved clothes. He started at Hudsonʼs Bay in 1998, left in 2006 to work for Joe Boxer and returned in 2008.

On his interests outside of Hudsonʼs Bay: Music (I love to sing even though I'm told I shouldn't), movies, hockey and golf.

On his mentor: My father. He was a very honest and caring person with strong core values. He was very courageous too. He came to Canada for a better life, leaving a new bride and my six-month-old brother behind, not knowing it would be two years before he would see them again. I can't imagine ever being able to do that.

On his road not taken: A rock star of course.

My friends and I have formed a band, but none of us play an instrument.

How do you test emerging brands?

Monteiro: Weʼll try it in our top doors. In Canada, Queen Street and Vancouver will be the first two that we try. And if weʼre going to test something, we make sure that we test it big and feature it prominently.

With so much crossover in both stores, why have separate buying teams?

Drummond: While thereʼs a lot similarity between our customers, we have very distinct DNA. Both Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor are deeply rooted in their own heritage. With Lord & Taylor, I like to say that weʼre set up to behave like a specialty store inside the body of a department store, whereas Hudsonʼs Bay is Canadaʼs largest department store. We have the bandwidth and the responsibility to offer moderate to luxury. So there are very distinct differences that we would not want to compromise or dilute. We have enough cross leverage: our management during the first two years of our integration built a lot of bridges and transferred a lot of intelligence across our two organizations. We found out that we were under-penetrated on certain things at Hudsonʼs Bay whereas we had strong penetration at Lord &

“If weʼre predictable, weʼve failed.” ̶Jim Monteiro

Taylor, and vice versa. So weʼve been able to leverage that and now itʼs about taking all the intelligence we gleaned in the early stages of that integration and driving it into each of our banner propositions. Thatʼs why we keep the two banners separate.

How is Lord & Taylor menswear different from Macyʼs menswear?

Eckrich: Itʼs vastly different. We strive to look for brands, categories and items that we can push to a much larger penetration of our total business. If you look at Macyʼs, a brand might be in 15 to 20 doors which is nothing to their total; we might be in 15 to 20 doors and thatʼs almost half of our doors. While itʼs difficult in the U.S. to secure exclusive brands, weʼre working with brands on creating exclusive product. We think itʼs a big differentiator and weʼre having much success where we can pull that together.

46 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

retailer of the year

W

ith more than 25 years of retail experience including marketing positions at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, Michael Crotty brings plenty of creative thinking and innovative ideas to Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay. He joined the team in 2013 as CMO and EVP, and is responsible for the two brandsʼ 150-plus stores, which combined generate more than $3.5 billion in sales. He splits his time between New York and Toronto, overseeing omni-channel marketing, creative and strategy. Here, we talk to Crotty about how heʼs elevating the image for both banners.

Whatʼs your mission for Lord & Taylor?

About a year ago, when Liz was building her team at Lord & Taylor, one of the first things we did was define what the brand stood for.

We looked at our heritage and where we sat in the competitive marketplace, we looked at our strengths and weaknesses, and we decided Lord & Taylor would always lead with fashion, deliver great value and extraordinary service.

And thatʼs important to us because we donʼt want to be a building full of “stuff.” We are an edited fashion destination for men and women. We want to make it easy for a guy to find something to wear to work on a Tuesday

SPREADING THE WORD As CMO and EVP for Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor, Michael Crotty elevates the message.

Hudsonʼs Bay Premium Book

or out on a Saturday night. Because when you look your best, you feel your best, and we want to help guys with that. Our price points are not at the highest end, but we donʼt go that low either. We actually have a very good mix of price points and a really good edit for all aspects of his life today whether itʼs work, evening or the weekend.

As far as defining this, we didnʼt get hung up on age: I think anyone who talks about age today is a little out of date. Itʼs more about a mindset̶whether heʼs 25, 45 or 55, we have options for him. We also have the value part of the equation, which is an important distinction. We have a really good fashion point of view but our model is promotional. We are going to deliver great value, so we appeal to a customer for whom thatʼs important and we follow it up with service. If youʼre looking for 48 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

a suit or exploring new areas in denim, thereʼs someone there to help you. Thereʼs someone who will help you get fitted as opposed to someone just taking your money at the register. Our sellers do a great job, and thatʼs where we shine.

How are you communicating your new mission and updated image to your customers?

We spent the past six to nine months elevating our marketing materials across all customer touch points; we looked at how weʼre telling our story digitally. How are we telling it with our important catalogs? In print and digital ads? We studied everything and found some inconsistencies, but we knew we had an opportunity to tell a more holistic story and tell it in a more elevated, modern way.

For spring 2015, we shot our menʼs book in Palm Springs. We sent it to a segment of our

male customers and women who buy for men.

Weʼre using it for prospecting both in print and digitally where itʼs a little more efficient.

Weʼre featuring great brands with amazing styling and storytelling to connect with a new guy. We have nine full-page color ads running in The New York Times and three are menʼs.

This is an impactful branding campaign.

How are you telling the story for Hudsonʼs Bay? Lord & Taylor is a regional department store; Hudsonʼs Bay has 90 stores across Canada, serving a wider audience from Vancouver to Toronto. There are lots of similarities between the male shoppers and the brand matrix is somewhat similar. Our marketing approach is not that different: itʼs getting the message across that we have great brands, great fashion at a great value for all aspects of a guyʼs life. When guys come in, they see an extremely clear edit, which makes it a lot easier for marketing to tell the story. Weʼre taking an elevated, editorial approach to tell guys that weʼre a modern department store.

Then we took it a step further by creating a premium book for the more advanced customer who lives in cities like Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. For a 344-year-old department store, this book is very modern and it gets peopleʼs attention. We send these to women, who might not buy the product, but it changes her impression of the store and she wants her guy to shop here.

The menʼs book has a circulation of over one million. The premium book is more targeted because the product is mostly in top doors. To spend the money to get it out in the middle of the country doesnʼt make sense, but itʼs good for positioning in those key markets.

Can you discuss your digital strategy?

E-commerce continues to be one of our biggest growth areas and weʼre able to add some of the newer brands online that might not be in all doors. Thatʼs the beauty of e-commerce: it opens selling opportunities for our sales associates in our stores. We have a program where we can auto-locate anything in any door and ship it for free. So letʼs say a guy sees this ad while traveling, but canʼt find the item in his home store. We can look it up in our POS and ship it to his home for free. We do a lot of digital marketing. We use all the traditional channels like paid search marketing and affiliate programs, but we do quite a lot of campaigns too. We work with Thrillist, GQ.com and NYPost.com, prospecting with these sites because we know thatʼs what our customers are reading.

Do you still advertise in New York taxis?

Yes! We just shot our new spring video. Basically, every time we do a photo shoot, we shoot video too. Weʼre using the videos on our website, with some of our online partners, and in taxi cabs where appropriate.

How do you break down digital to print to broadcast?

We forced ourselves to look for ways to direct more of our budget towards digital. So we are spending proportionally more digitally today than we were two years ago for sure. Weʼve been methodical about how we invest digi-

the floor to people who might not have shopped with us before.

You just launched Beacon Technology in all doors. Can you tell us about this strategy?

The idea came from wanting to try something new. We all know that everyone walks around with phones these days. Customers who download the Beacon app to their phones are opting in and actually want some kind of communication from us. It doesnʼt cost them or us anything so itʼs really quite simple. If a consumer downloads the app and walks into the store, the technology notices if youʼre near

“We donʼt want to be a building full of “stuff.ʼ” ‒Michael Crotty

Lord & Taylor Menʼ s Style Guide

tally. Itʼs driving our e-commerce business and itʼs driving our store business. When we find it works, we shift. So itʼs a pretty organic process. But we havenʼt backed away from print because it does three things: it positions our brand, it tells our story and it drives people into the store and online.

What events entice your male customers?

We have an interesting model that we call Guyʼs Night Out. It was widely successful for Lord & Taylor, so we took it up north to Hudsonʼs Bay. Itʼs a party atmosphere with food and drink: we get great vendor participation and we have professional athletes attend.

Guys will come and bring their girlfriend or partner and everyone has a fun time experiencing the brand. We do a lot of business that night, but most importantly weʼre exposing

Hugo Boss for example, and it sends a notification that says Hugo Boss ties are on sale. It just pushes a message to your phone. It could be a coupon, an offer, a piece of news or informing you of a GWP. We tested a little of everything, and you can opt out so you manage it yourself.

What are your interests outside of work?

I grew up in Virginia and I love horses. Iʼm a big equestrian and I do competitive jumping.

My colleagues hear about it all the time because itʼs a big part of my personal life. I was a founding board member and vice chairman of Shop.org, the e-commerce division of the National Retail Federation. Iʼm also a member of the board of Stonewall Kitchen and a frequent speaker at industry events on retail marketing.

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retailer of the year

ENDLESSOPPORTUNITIES

SVP of e-commerce Andrea Wasserman oversees both thebay.com and lordandtaylor.com, making sure the sites function as sales, service and marketing tools 24/7.

A

ndrea Wasserman started her career covering retail for Merrill Lynch as an analyst before working for several emerging fashion designers. After an MBA from Columbia and a stint with retail financial consultant Dana Telsey, she joined Nordstrom, where she worked in various womenʼs categories before building the bridal business. She left Nordstrom to become CEO of online retailer Sole Society in 2013, and was next tapped to lead e-commerce for both Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor.

Youʼve been in your position since October̶ what are some of the challenges so far?

Weʼre constantly focused on improving our website to make it easier and more pleasurable for customers to shop. Weʼve improved 50 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

checkout and weʼre also working on making it easy to search the website and to be able to sort and filter results efficiently. Weʼre really looking at the merchandise assortment and making sure we have the right product in the right quantities at the right times.

Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor have different personas. How do they work together? Do they have separate e-commerce strategies?

Theyʼre separate to reflect the separate businesses those stores run, and to focus on the customer whoʼs shopping in each of them. Itʼs been great learning about the Canadian market and our Canadian customer. Weʼre being very careful to target him in the Canadian marketplace for thebay.com, and weʼre working on being consistent between thebay.com and Hudsonʼs Bay stores. And that can all look different from what the Lord & Taylor stores or site would look like.

Are there separate buying teams between the two stores and the two websites?

Thereʼs one merchandising organization that covers both stores and online, and covers both Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay. How much does the assortment differ between the site and the stores?

Thereʼs a lot of overlap, and intentionally so.

We know that itʼs a similar customer shopping both channels.

For e-commerce, how do you make that connection with the customer when you donʼt interact in the store?

In a lot of cases, we are interacting with them in the store. So we think about our business as being omni-channel. We know that customers who are on our site have shopped in the store, or theyʼre pre-shopping and weʼre about to interact with them in the store. So we donʼt think about it just as how we interact with them online, but how we interact with them as a company and a brand.

Most of your career has been focused on womenʼs. How do you handle working with both menʼs and womenʼs now? Do they shop differently?

I started learning about this when I was running bridal at Nordstrom. The scope of my

role there was across customers and categories̶it was men, women and kids. As you pointed out, we sell more womenʼs than menʼs, but menʼs is a fast-growing area thatʼs really important and exciting to us. Itʼs hard to generalize and say, “Men always do X and women always do Y.” We see that men are more likely to shop by product category whereas women are more likely to shop by brand. But we also think that the idea that men are very intent-driven and donʼt want inspiration and donʼt want to research is not entirely true. So weʼre focused on making sure men can get inspired. We see a lot of engagement with content like our “must-haves” and hit lists of what you need. Men are looking to us for that point of view and fashion authority.

The way men shop has really changed over the last several years.

Yes, and part of that is because retailers are doing a better job of giving men credit for caring.

Theyʼre realizing that men do want to look good.

And the same way that women have sought out editorial content over the years, if we give men the content, theyʼll want to engage as well.

What are men buying online?

Boots have been a strong seller for us. Chukka boots are something weʼre seeing proliferate, and they look great even on a sunny warm day.

Tailored clothing is very strong right now, and coats. And weʼve had a couple of great seasons for outerwear. The cold doesnʼt hurt, but not everything is about a heavy coat̶leather jackets and peacoats are strong items as well.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I like shopping, both personally and for research, so whenever thereʼs a new opening or a concept being explored, I like checking it out. And then restaurants̶the latest and greatest of whatʼs opening in New York. My husband and I live downtown, and thereʼs so much change and newness in both retail and restaurants. The waterfront down there is great for running, which I also enjoy. And we take international trips as often as we can. I was in Shanghai over the summer and we have Italy on tap for this spring.

retailer of the year

PHOTOS BY KEITH BARRACLOUGH

BRAND BUILDER

SVP design, menʼs private brands, Peter Rizzo on how heʼs turning Black Brown 1826 into a household name.

H

is fervor for design and fashion is immediately apparent. Before we even sit down for our interview, Peter Rizzo is running around the studio, gathering samples to show us his imprint on the Black Brown 1826 collection for fourth quarter. Brought in this past January to build the store brand business for Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor, Rizzoʼs luxury background and luxury taste level are being put to good use. Explaining the elaborate storyboards, he shows us an early sample of an ultra-expensive looking softshoulder, Italian-made, super 100s sportcoat with a surpisingly affordable suggested retail of $695. Here, we speak to him about building and expanding the Black Brown label.

We can see youʼre already adding your design aesthetic to Black Brown. Tell us how you got to this point in your career.

I spent 25 years at both Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman as president and head merchant. After that I went to wholesale for a denim company that was unofficially in bankruptcy; I got the stock up from 39 cents to $7.42 in about 18 months. I was there for about four or five years.

After doing a few different things, I wrote Steve 52 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

Sadove and Ron Frasch a note that said, “For all of the traveling youʼre doing, I think youʼre missing one of the most important brands.” Within 30 minutes̶and itʼs impossible to get those guys to respond within 30 minutes̶they said, “Can we come to you or can you come to us to talk about it?” And thatʼs when I came up with a business plan for Saks private brand. I started

“Three brilliant men handed the baton to me.

Itʼs an honor to pick up from there.” ̶Peter Rizzo the full line and we took it to a solid $30 million.

And then Steve asked if I could help Rob Walsh at Off 5th and we took a $12 million menʼs business to between $85 and $90 million when I left in December. When the companies merged, they wanted to greatly expand Off 5th with brands,

not private brand. It was a very smart strategy implemented by Jerry Storch and Richard [Baker], so thatʼs when I was asked to work on private brands for Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay. Iʼve spent a lot of years building brands, but Black Brown was packaged quite nicely from the beginning. I donʼt have much time to play golf anymore, but if I did, thatʼs the crest Iʼd be wearing on the golf course.

From a design standpoint, how would you describe Black Brown 1826: where it is and where youʼd like to take it?

Three brilliant men handed the baton to me: Richard Baker, Joseph Abboud and David Lipman. Itʼs an honor to pick up from there. Lord & Taylor has always had an upscale image: with Black Brown, I want to create a certain sophistication and taste level but at value prices. Itʼs a very interesting time for the brand. It essentially started as a weekend casual line but itʼs quickly moving into some dress and dress separates. Interestingly enough, weʼve always had a good furnishings business, even without the jackets and suits.

Itʼs this new concept of weekend separates: if we can create this aesthetic at prices that are really easy, then I think weʼve got something. We design with price in mind. We go through it by classification, always looking for the buy-in price. We build around the first price and fill in a nine-box grid.

Could you define the target customer?

Weʼre targeting two types: the International Classicist and the Global Modernist. Unlike other store brands, weʼre not American traditional. If you look at Joe Abboud, his style is suave and sophisticated, what weʼre calling International Classicist. Joe was never typical Ivy League and the brand starts with his DNA. But where weʼre moving is toward the Global Modernist: more cropped jackets, softer shoulders.

The cool Millennial customer is wearing this type of modern look. In the past, Black Brown was devoid of any sort of global modernism.

Going forward, weʼll appeal to both customer types but in a very refined way.

Is made to measure in Black Brownʼs future?

Iʼd love to do it. I had my dreams about what the Black Brown clothing business could be and when I think about the competition, you see mostly Indian and Chinese-made clothing selling for $500. Weʼll be selling made in Italy for only 20 percent more. And I donʼt know of another full-price menʼs store that can do this. Weʼre going to factories and building our own patterns.

Do you have plans for other private labels?

There are other worlds that weʼre talking about, the key is to cover the spectrum, and you canʼt do that with one brand. I think we have Black Brown pretty much where we need it to be. If we go more advanced or more classic, weʼll likely create different labels.

retailer of the year Black Brown 1826 from the spring 2015 Menʼs Style Guide

You mentioned your love for golf. What are your other interests?

I am a collector of rare and out-of-print books: WWII, Civil War, poetry and photography. My three-and-a-half-year-old son has been a blessing beyond description so whatever spare time I have is given to him and my wife Katherine.

Do you have a mentor?

Although Iʼve been fortunate to have worked with the worldʼs best talent, I wouldnʼt be here today without my years with Fred Pressman at Barneys. He, by far, is the best menʼs merchant Iʼve ever come across and was brilliant regardless of subject matter.

WAYNE DRUMMOND ON THE BUSINESS OF BLACK BROWN

B

lack Brown was about 20 percent to total menswear three years ago, and I would say that our blend is consistent. Our overall menʼs business has grown substantially at both Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor, but so has private brand.

When we first introduced Black Brown to Hudsonʼs Bay, it penetrated very quickly. Today, itʼs actually more penetrated at Hudsonʼs Bay (25 percent to total) than at Lord & Taylor (20 percent), especially in dress shirts and clothing.

The beauty of private brand is that itʼs our story, our differentiator, which weʼre passionate about driving and developing. Peterʼs been amazing in his short window here, focusing on our vision. The Millennial generation is going to surpass the Boomer generation this year and we see a need for providing solutions for them, so there will be a private brand for it. We just launched Hudson North and that was a huge opportunity to drive extraor-

dinary value in the moderate category with key fashion basics, which we expect to do huge business with.

Within Black Brown, we have some very lofty goals for footwear, dress basics and accessories, which we really havenʼt tapped into until now.

Will you wholesale the Black Brown Collection?

We donʼt have plans for wholesale because we want to tell our story. Our door is always open, but the biggest opportunity right now is to conceive and build it as our brand.

Will it be available in outlets?

Saks Off 5th buys some of our end-season clearance now, but theyʼre working on their own off-price strategy. Certainly, within our family of brands, weʼll work closely with them to leverage opportunities for Black Brown within their strategy, and Peterʼs been great for this. We have a close collaboration with Saks in terms of design and sourcing. It makes a big difference.

ITOCHU Prominent USA LLC Global partnerships for Global success

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We congratulate Hudson’s Bay/Lord & Taylor for MR magazine Retailer of the Year award

& Wish them continued success ...

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HU D S O N 'S B A Y

retailer of the year “When you reflect back on the long history of these organizations, itʼs amazing how many years PVH has worked with both Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay. I believe our relationship dates back to the 1800s!

“That said, the changes that have occurred at Lord & Taylor in recent years are remarkable. They have a whole new identity, transforming their menswear floors into exciting, young, modern spaces. Theyʼve also done an exceptional job managing their store brands with dignity, which is not so easy at the department store level.

“And the team is so impressive. Liz Rodbell is one of those rare iconic leaders: she knows product, is totally involved with merchandising, she knows operations, sheʼs good with people and is a great partner whoʼs never afraid to speak her mind. Wayne Drummond is also a strong leader: heʼs a good communicator, doesnʼt micro-manage but is always there to support his team. He understands where they need to go.”

“Finally, when you consider what Richard Baker has accomplished in his short tenure, youʼve got to give the guy tremendous credit. The merging of their department store divisions appeared seamless; we look forward to many more years of working together.” ̶Ken Duane, PVH

INDUSTRY ACCOLADES “Richard Baker is a visionary: the way heʼs combined and transformed two disparate retail organizations to bring out the best in both is pure genius! When he first came on board, people questioned his merchandising expertise because he wasnʼt a retailer. But heʼs smart: he knows how to assemble a team and create a corporate culture. His people all speak highly of him: his vision, his work ethic, his leadership.

“Of course, much of the credit goes to the team itself: Bonnie Brooks, Liz Rodbell, Wayne Drummond, MaryAnne Morin and their respective merchants. And Peter Rizzo brings an incredible taste level to their private brand strategy.

“I virtually grew up with The Bay and when I walk the floors now, be it Vancouver or Queen Street, Iʼm in awe of the level of luxury, the upscale product and the great brands. The same is true for what Liz and her team have done at Lord & Taylor: 10 years ago, no one thought theyʼd even survive; now theyʼve recaptured their carriage trade image but in a modern way.

“Itʼs a testament to what can be done if you have a vision and the right team to execute. (Still, theyʼre somewhat conservative in their execution: they have their own process for testing̶first in 10 doors, then performance is measured̶but weʼve learned to be patient.)” ̶Oscar Feldenkreis, Perry Ellis International “Liz Rodbell is a brilliant merchant with endless energy̶the Energizer bunny! She is smart, savvy, innovative, honest and direct. She is creating differentiation by bringing in new designers and niche brands. Sheʼs also focused on newness and ʻexperienceʼ throughout the store. One such idea is her ʻbirdcage conceptʼ in women's, located by the highest traffic area in the store̶women's shoes. She is a dear friend and a dynamic leader who inspires her team and the entire industry.” ̶Karen Murray, VFC/ Nautica

56 MR | www.MRketplace.com| April/May 2015

“Hudsonʼs Bay and my buyer in particular, Erin Thompson, have always been great to work with.

Theyʼve fostered a true sense of partnership. Iʼm appreciative of retailers like them because too many large ones (I wonʼt name names, ha!) try to take advantage of their position of power. Iʼve never felt that Hudsonʼs Bay has done that with me.”

̶Micah Cohen, Shades of Grey

Hudsonʼs Bay Premium Book

“Weʼve had the extreme pleasure of working with the Hudsonʼs Bay Company for over 70 years and Lord & Taylor for the past 25 years.

“Both companies have been extraordinary partners and we are very proud of their ongoing support and absolute commitment to innovating, elevating and growing year after year.

“We very much cherish the many wonderful

“Hudsonʼs Bay is successfully evolving and reengineering their business for the future. Fundamentally, life accomplishments are based on aspirations to succeed coupled with the intelligence to analyze and strategize. Wayne Drummond recognizes this and has done an outstanding job building the team and providing the leadership necessary to succeed in todayʼs competitive marketplace. Throughout our tenure of 21 years with Hudsonʼs Bay, we have been able to collaborate with great merchants like Mark Pittman and Jim Monteiro, always striving towards mutually rewarding goals. We are appreciative of and thankful for our partnership.” ̶Russ Fearon, Throat Threads

relationships we have developed with their talented and entrepreneurial management team including Bonnie, Liz, Wayne, Jim, Tom and Mark.

“We congratulate Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor for being named Retailer(s) of the Year, and we look forward to exciting new challenges ahead as they continue to blossom into a world-class retail organization under Richard Bakerʼs brilliant helm.”

̶Jordan Lipson, American Essentials

“When you think about how much more modern and exciting their selling floors look today than 10 years ago, you realize how far theyʼve come. They are clearly attracting younger, more affluent customers without losing their moderate base.

“And it all starts at the top: Liz Rodbell is incredibly

Hudsonʼs Bay

aggressive and fast! (She moves so quickly you can hardly see her.) And the entire menʼs team (Wayne, Tom, Zack Safe) is equally aggressive: they understand fashion, theyʼre willing to try new things.

(In the old days, they were much more conservative: they wouldnʼt touch a brand that ended in a vowel.)

They understand that when you test, you win, so theyʼre keeping ahead of the curve.”

̶Ron Wurtzburger, Peerless

“Lord & Taylorʼs success rests solely on their peopleʼs abilities. Liz Rodbellʼs vision and leadership complemented by wonderfully talented people who really understand the business is a winning formula for success. They are honest as the day is long, have a willingness to listen, are upfront with vendors and overall great to deal with.

“On the menʼs team, Wayne Drummond is a terrific merchant and a real gentleman. Tom Eckrich and Jim Monteiro know their markets and have done a great job evolving their businesses. As we launched the Vince Camuto menʼs business, they have been extremely supportive from day one.

“We are proud to be partners with Hudsonʼs Bay/Lord & Taylor.” ̶Dan Orwig, Itochu

“About 20 years ago there was a young sportswear buyer who viewed the collection I was representing. He loved the line and pushed hard to bring the brand to Canada. He trusted his instinct and fashion sense and went out on a limb to make it happen. His name is Wayne Drummond and he is a forward thinker with excellent taste. Under his leadership, Tommy Bahama has had great success at Lord & Taylor and we canʼt thank him enough for his continued support.

“Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay are fine retailers who operate with a high amount of integrity and professionalism. We value our partnership, which is open and honest and extremely profitable for both companies.

We thank them for representing Tommy Bahama with style and grace, and we look forward to continued growth and success.” ̶Peter Leff, Tommy Bahama

“Iʼve known Wayne Drummond for over 20 years as a man of impeccable taste, not only in clothing but also in people. He has built one of the finest management teams in the menswear industry. This crew includes seasoned players Mark Pittman and Jim Monteiro, who vie not only for the best comps and margins (where they fare well), but also for the lowest golf scores (where there is room for improvement). Wayne has also drafted the best young talent Iʼve ever met.” ̶David Chivers, Randa Accessories

"Diesel North America is proud to be a partner of Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor, and we congratulate them for being named Retailer of the Year. Diesel embraces their visionary approach for the North American market and is committed to reshaping the retail landscape as strategic business partners." ̶Tommaso Bruso, Diesel April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 57

retailer of the year “Weʼre not a huge supplier to Lord & Taylor/ Hudsonʼs Bay but I have tremendous respect for them. Theyʼve been outstanding in their mission to reinvent themselves, and although theyʼve struggled several times over the years, they still keep trying, often going against the grain (upscale when the trend is downscale, and visa versa). I totally admire their tenacity and their recent successes.

“Who they are as an organization is exemplified by Tom Eckrich. He is always open to look, open to talk, open to try, open to buy.

And heʼs always a consummate gentleman. As for Liz Rodbell, sheʼs aggressive, very smart and she empowers her people. They are a terrific team.” ̶Alan Rubin, Lanier “From their inception in the 17th century, Hudsonʼs Bay has focused upon creating a highly efficient supply chain, nurturing relationships with great trading partners and providing superior value to their customers. With Liz, MaryAnne, Wayne and todayʼs remarkable team at Hudsonʼs Bay, that legacy is in excellent hands. Under their leadership partnerships will grow, the supply chain will be well leveraged, and consumers will benefit from an extraordinary shopping experience. I look forward to sharing their incredible and continuing journey.” ̶David J. Katz, Randa Accessories

“Lord & Taylor was my very first account, 18 years ago. When they say ʻvendor partnershipʼ they really mean true partnership. Weʼve been in this together the entire time. Their teams consistently show excitement for great product as illustrated by the Lord & Taylor commitment to their Black Brown brand. Fashion fresh, yet Lord & Taylor classic, new without being scary, they invest time, money and passion on making every product compelling to their customers. And they succeed. I want to thank Tom and his team for their outstanding partnership.” ̶Moe Paradiso, Randa Accessories.

Lord & Taylor

“Richard Baker should be nominated to the Fashion Industry Hall of Fame. He took a huge risk in acquiring Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay at a terrible economic period in our country. He then sold part of his retail real estate portfolio in Canada for an amazing amount of money, which helped ensure his permanence in the department store business. Richardʼs sale of stores in Canada to Target will be remembered by his partners as a huge win, and by Target as a huge failure.

“Richardʼs purchase of Saks and Saks Off 5th is turning out to be equally brilliant as Richard has found untapped value in its real estate.

Richard must stay awake all night. He calls at 7 a.m. to get thoughts on yet another unique strategy for improving profits.

“Liz Rodbell, equally impressive on the merchandising and strategic front, keeps the business focused on product and strategic growth opportunities. This partnership is exciting to watch and also profitable for the vendor. They are addressing retail silos that span from luxury to off-price.

“Their shareholders, their vendors and their customers are grateful for all that has been accomplished in a short time. We wish them continued success, and we at G-III are grateful that we can play a role in helping build all of their assets.” ̶Morris Goldfarb, G-III

“Lord & Taylor does a fantastic job of making a department store feel like a specialty store, with a menswear team that understands special product, value and trends.

While a challenge of department stores today is attracting younger customers, Lord & Taylor, with some cool brands and great presentations, is managing to attract this contemporary segment. We work with Tom, whoʼs a really good guy and an astute merchant: he knows the market well and knows just what Lord & Taylorʼs customer needs. His team, including Will and Kyle, are totally on top of the trends. Theyʼre a great team doing all the right things!” ̶Ron Rheingold, Weatherproof Vintage

58 MR | www.MRketplace.com| April/May 2015

“While most of us acknowledge that Richard Baker is a brilliant real estate strategist, he is an equally astute retail visionary who possesses tremendous leadership and people skills. I congratulate Richard on hiring, promoting and inspiring some of the best retail minds and talent. And in so doing, building an amazing and cohesive management team that has embraced and executed the new vision. They sincerely and strategically ʻwalk the walkʼ of partnership, and as such, the team has deservedly earned the support and respect of our entire industry by implementing the new direction of the company with great focus and integrity.” ̶Al Israel, Triluxe “Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor have been great partners. They believe in the brand and are excited it's continuing to grow.” ̶Pria Titus, G-Star

MR MAGAZINE’S

RETAILER OF THE YEAR

CONGRATULATIONS HUDSON’S BAY AND LORD & TAYLOR

FROM YOUR PARTNERS AT

&

retailer of the year “Clearly Hudsonʼs Bay/Lord & Taylor are on a mission to deliver a better all-around experience for the consumer. Because they utilize outlets to clear through residual inventory, their messaging is less confusing than their competitionʼs: their execution is better and their brand assortment is more differentiated.

“At the Bay, the new Queen Street renovation that combines Saks and HBC is very elevated and modern, in a premier location.

“The Lord & Taylor men's team led by Tom Eckrich is collaborative, open and easy to work with. Tom is as transparent as they come, very honest and straightforward. He makes an effort to get in front of any potential issues. He listens and will give us credit if he feels we are right on a position we might disagree on.” ̶Electa Varnish, VFC/Nautica

“Weʼve had a close-knit relationship for over 25 years with Lord & Taylor and Hudsonʼs Bay. They are terrific partners, and weʼve enjoyed watching them grow their business through the years. We continue to work with them to add newness in both fashion and brands throughout their stores. Theyʼre always looking to see what more we can do together. They have an outstanding team that understands their consumerʼs wants and needs. They pay attention to every little detail, from the fit to the buttons.”

̶Rich Wurtzburger, Peerless

"For years, Levi Strauss & Co. has partnered with Hudson Bay Company on both our Levi's and Dockers brands. Over the

“Iʼm very impressed with the progress Hudsonʼs Bay and Lord & Taylor have made. Most notable is how theyʼve transformed their menswear business, creating a much more modern and contemporary feeling in both the assortment and the aesthetic. Their menswear floors look terrific.” ̶Todd Bernstein, Lacoste USA

past five years, we've been impressed with the complete transformation of their business witnessed through their visual brand environments and the creation of an elevated consumer shopping experience across Canada. There is a shared commitment to our heritage, as well as attention to fully integrating and engaging the consumer." ̶Mary Ann Shannon, Levi's and Dockers

“What we value most about Lord & Taylor/Hudsonʼs Bay is the pride they take in their work and their cachet to global consumers. British culture is now more visible than ever before. The pride we share in bringing an iconic British brand with a sharp London style to the U.S. and Canada embraces and strengthens a core partnership.” ̶Rich DeVilla, Ben Sherman North America

60 MR | www.MRketplace.com| April/May 2015

fashion

YA A M A R E I V I R A L

With the season’ s suits and sportcoats both deconstructed and in luxe lightweight fabrics, a stylish escape is more effortless than ever.

Production and styling byWilliam Buckley Photography by Benjamin Stelly

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 61

BOGLIOLI suit; LUIGI BIANCHI MANTOVA vest; TODD SNYDER shirt; MARWOOD tie; CANALI pocket square.

Previous: TALLIA sportcoat; ETRO shirt; RODA scarf; BURBERRY pants; SANTONI shoes.

62 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

STEPHEN F sportcoat and pants; MASSIMO ALBA sweater; OLIVER SWEENEY shoes; RODA scarf; TATEOSSIAN bracelets; NAUTICA watch; BRIXTON hat.

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 63

FLYNT sportcoat; HICKEY FREEMAN shirt; THE KOOPLES pants; SANTONI espadrilles; BRIXTON hat; ROSS AND BROWN sunglasses.

Opposite: NIKKY sportcoat; CANALI vest; ONIA shirt; NAUTICA pants; ALEX MILL scarf; RODA pocket square; TOY WATCH watch; TATEOSSIAN bracelets.

64 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

Shot at luxury eco boutique hotel, SANARÁ TULUM, nestled between the YUCATÁN JUNGLE and the CARIBBEAN SEA.

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 65

IBIZA sportcoat; BOGA vest; CHAPTER shirt; BILLY REID pants; TO BOOT NEW YORK shoes; TATEOSSIAN bracelets; HAMILTON watch.

66 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

LUIGI BIANCHI MANTOVA jacket; L.B.M. 1911 vest and pants; BRUNELLO CUCINELLI shirt, pocket square and belt; MARWOOD tie; SANTONI espadrilles.

April/May 2015 | www.MRketplace.com | MR 67

ALWAYS IN FASHION Former CEO of PVH and LVMH, Mark Weber shares some insider secrets in his new book. By Karen Alberg Grossman Youʼve just published Always in Fashion: why this book, why now?

Iʼm a storyteller. When my boys were small and theyʼd ask questions, Iʼd never give them a simple answer. Iʼd make them look it up or else Iʼd respond with a story that taught a lesson. When I knew I was leaving LVMH, one of my sons suggested that my stories would make a good book, so I approached McGraw Hill because theyʼd already published another book Iʼd written. Itʼs been really well received, even licensed for translation and publication in China and Japan.

I was surprised how candidly you tell the story of your termination from PVH; was that hard to do?

You know, Iʼd never talked about it publicly and I donʼt know that the board ever talked about it publicly but it happened, they treated me fairly, and it was a learning experience. Even these many years later, and as devastated as I was, I respect their actions.

Can you sum up what you learned in 33 years at PVH? When you work for a big public company, there are systems in place, preordained ways of doing things. Itʼs very structured, with terms borrowed from the military, so it can be intimidating. But it works, and itʼs fair. You need the right attitude and a real desire to succeed.

You have to become a standard bearer, share information, help the people around you succeed and always put the company first. If you do that, they take good care of you.

Any other lessons for young people starting out?

I list 45 of them in my closing chapter. But here are two: 1) Find mentors. 2) Learn everything you can, not just about your own job, but about everyone elseʼs. When I started at PVH as one of many designers, weʼd present our ideas and a team of execs would decide yes or no. So as good as I might have been (and I was good, not great), I soon learned that I was not in control of my fate. They had information I didnʼt have (selling histories, retail inventories, etc.), so I made it my business to learn what they knew.

Based on your time at LVMH, what are some differences between U.S. and French corporations?

The intelligence level of LVMH executives is off the charts. Every manager is closer to brilliant than smart. The French are far more concerned about education, about economic and social status. They want people who went to the best schools, who speak several languages, who truly understand luxury. French companies are also more patient: theyʼre less worried about the next quarterly report and more about the long-term future, about the next generation. Unlike American companies, they sometimes seem more concerned about image than profit. You wouldnʼt believe the money spent on ads, on windows, on art, on protecting and nurturing their brands.

What in your career are you most proud of?

That I was able to make a comeback̶as CEO of LVMH̶after my very difficult (and very public) exit from PVH. And then write a book about it.

What would you do differently if you could go back?

I wish Iʼd taken up golf earlier in my life (Iʼm about a 12 handicap, but canʼt beat my sons). And I wish Iʼd gone to an out-of-state college: I was so unworldly as a young man, but in a way, my modest background proved an asset in that I never took anything for granted.

When I could finally afford a nice car, I washed it myself (not trusting a car wash) and never parked near another car. Iʼve always taken great pride in what I own.

I remember from one of our early interviews that you had a wardrobe of white shirts, navy suits and black shoes. Has that changed?

Iʼm still a conservative dresser: when you have a big personality, you donʼt want your clothes to take center stage. But one difference these days, after working at LVMH: my shoes are now Berlutti and my shirts Thomas Pink, both amazing brands.

So youʼre a luxury shopper?

Not necessarily. I have to admit that after I left PVH, I no longer felt like wearing my Izod golf shirts, so I picked up some Merona knit polos at Target. They came in 12 great colors at a ridiculously low price; Iʼve worn them 50 times now and theyʼve held up beautifully.

What do you miss most about the corporate world?

Well, Iʼm not out yet: Iʼm doing consulting with my company, Mark Weber Advisory Group, and after my book tours, Iʼll likely be back. I miss talking to people, recruiting great talent and mentoring for success. Iʼm not sure whatʼs next for me but hopefully my ego wonʼt push me to run another big corporation.

MR ISSN 1049-6726 is published six times a year (January, February, April/May, July, August and November) by Business Journals, Inc. 50 Day Street, Norwalk, CT 06854. Periodical Postage paid at Norwalk, CT and at additional mailing office. Publications Mail Sales Agreement No. 143678. Subscription for the U.S. $34 one year, $53 two years; Canada $63 one year, $95 two years (Canadian currency). Foreign $102, Air Mail. Single copies: U.S. $4.00; Foreign $4.00 plus postage. Claims for undelivered copies not honored after 30 days from publication (90 days for overseas). Copyright 2015 Business Journals, Inc. Address correction requested. Postmaster send address changes to MR, P.O. Box 47370, Plymouth, MN 55447-0370.

68 MR | www.MRketplace.com | April/May 2015

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MR APRIL/MAY 2015 ■ VOL. 26 NO. 3 ■ THE MAGAZINE OF MENSWEAR RETAILING

A BUSINESS JOURNALS PUBLICATION