Entry #1 - Women’s Wear Daily – January 12, 2012

Too Faced Cosmetics Gets Investments by Rachel Brown

LOS ANGELES — Weston Presidio has acquired a majority stake in Too Faced Cosmetics.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but industry sources pegged the price for the private equity

firm’s stake at roughly $170 million.

Founded in 1998 by Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson as a feminine, flirty and fun antidote to

serious makeup artist brands, Too Faced was one of the oldest privately held cosmetics brands of

its size that hadn’t been snapped up by a strategic or private equity buyer. Although Too Faced

declined to break out its revenue figures, president Lynda Berkowitz revealed they have

increased nearly 40 percent year-over-year, which would put the brand’s annual retail volume at

close to $100 million, calculating from previously reported approximations of its performance.

“We certainly think cosmetics — skin care and beauty, in general — is an incredibly attractive

category for investment largely because of the industry’s characteristics: the frequency of

purchase, the importance of brands and the growth aspect of retail,” said Jeffrey Mills, a partner

at Weston Presidio who will sit on Too Faced’s board. Addressing Too Faced specifically, he

added, “We really view Too Faced, even post our investment, as an independent brand run by the

team that founded it, built it and will continue to run it. There aren’t many brands of that scale

and of that caliber that we see in the most desirable channels, which are Sephora and Ulta.”

Until recently, Blandino remarked that Too Faced never seriously considered linking with a

partner. However, he said the brand realized lately that an investor could “maximize our

potential and take advantage of the many opportunities that continue to present themselves.

“We met with a very select number of hand-picked potential partners and quickly chose the

group at Weston because they perfectly fit our family and philosophy,” said Blandino, noting the

deal only took a few months to complete.

Weston Presidio, which has offices in Boston and San Francisco, typically targets lower middle-

market companies in the consumer, industrial and business services sectors with investments of

$10 to $50 million, and has managed five funds totaling more than $3.3 billion since it started in

1991. Its active portfolio includes jewelry retailer Robbins Bros. Jewelry Inc., stationery

specialist Papyrus’s parent company Schurman Fine Papers, sandwich shop chain Jimmy John’s

LLC and infant product manufacturer Evenflo Co. Inc. Weston has seldom dived into beauty, but

did sell Sassaby Inc., known for its Jane makeup line, to Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. in 1997 for an

estimated $50 million.

Blandino, Johnson and Berkowitz, who joined Too Faced in 2009 after holding executive posts

at Perricone MD Cosmeceuticals and Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, are retaining their positions at the

company, which will remain in Southern California. “What Weston Presidio offers us is strong

strategic guidance, as they have an impressive track record with regards to partnering with high-

growth consumer branded companies. It’s the perfect time for Too Faced,” said Berkowitz.

Too Faced is distributed through 1,200 retail doors in the U.S. and another 500 abroad, most

notably Boots, Sephora, Ulta and Macy’s. In fact, Too Faced is so tight with Sephora that

Johnson consulted with Sephora USA chief executive officer and president David Suliteanu

when considering possible buyers. Suliteanu advised him “to go with his gut and choose a

partner who was as committed to the brand’s future as Jeremy was,” recounted Blandino.

Too Faced has about 120 stockkeeping units, and the top five products are its Natural Eye

Shadow Pallette, Naked Eye Shadow Pallette, Shadow Insurance Eye Shadow Primer, Primed &

Poreless Skin Smoothing Primer, and Lash Injection. The eye category accounts for almost 45

percent of Too Faced’s business, followed by face, representing 30 percent of the business. The

remainder of Too Faced’s sales is split about evenly between lips, tools and holiday sets.

Blandino and Berkowitz pointed to international markets as significant future growth drivers for

Too Faced, which does 20 percent of its sales abroad now. This year, the brand is also focusing

on key launches such as the $32 Tinted Beauty Balm containing SPF 20 with four shades in the

spring designed to prime and smooth the skin, while providing antiaging and sun protection

benefits, and Better Than False Lashes, a $35 nylon lash extension system meant to be a fake

lash alternative, coming out in the summer.

Entry #1 - Cosmetic Industry Article Summary

Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson, founders of Too Faced Cosmetics one of the oldest privately held

cosmetic brands, has yet to be bought by a strategic or private equity buyer. In the past Too Faced never

considered connecting with a partner, based on what Lynda Berkowitz, President of Too Faced

Cosmetics, has implied they have never had too. But lately the brand has realized that an investor would,

“maximize our potential and take advantage of the many opportunities that continue to present

themselves.” After meetings with a select few hand-picked prospective partners they were able to choose

the group at Weston. Weston Presido usually targets lower middle-market companies in the consumer,

industrial and business services with investments from $10 to $50 million. Though Weston in the past has

rarely invested into beauty, but did sell Sassably Inc. to Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. back in 1997 for $50

million.

Since Too Faced has never had an investor before, Weston seems like a good pick. Though the group has

not invested in the cosmetic industry much, based on their numbers they seem to know what they are

doing. Though it is implied that the company does not necessarily need an investor, it won’t hurt them

now that they have one. The investment for Too Faced will surely do what they expect it to do, and be

able to reach their full potential and take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves.

Entry #2 - Business Week – March 29, 2012

Why Wal-Mart Is Worried About Amazon by David Welch

Five years ago, the world’s largest retail chain didn’t have to worry much about the world’s

largest online mall. Only about a quarter of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) customers shopped at

Amazon.com (AMZN), according to data from researcher Kantar Retail. Today, however, half of

Wal-Mart customers say they’ve shopped at both merchants. That’s leaving the mega-retailer—

which long ago bested local brick-and-mortar merchandise stores and supermarkets across

America—with a massive online competitor that is too tough to ignore.

Threatening Wal-Mart’s dominance are two trends: The discounter’s traditional customers—

bargain hunters making less than $50,000 a year—are getting more tech-savvy, and more-

affluent shoppers who began frequenting Wal-Mart during the recession are returning to Amazon

as their finances improve. Amazon has moved into merchandise categories that Wal-Mart

traditionally has sold, from diapers to vacuum cleaner bags. In its last fiscal year, Amazon posted

41 percent revenue growth, to $48.1 billion, vs. 8 percent at Wal-Mart. The chain’s 2011 online

sales amounted to less than 2 percent of its $264 billion in U.S. revenue, says Kantar. “Amazon

is always in our sights,” says Jeremy King, chief technology officer at the retailer’s @

WalmartLabs skunkworks in Silicon Valley. “My biggest issue is playing a catch-up game.”

In the last year Wal-Mart has increased its investment in its online business. The company has

spent more than $300 million acquiring five tech firms since May and hired more than 300

engineers and code writers in the U.S. and India. Wal-Mart is also launching a program to allow

the 20 percent of its customers without credit cards or bank accounts to make online purchases.

Wal-Mart’s acquisitions include Kosmix, a social-media firm, and iPhone app creator Small

Society. The company hopes the newcomers can find a way to stop shoppers from engaging in

scan and scram. That’s when would-be customers use their smartphones in stores to scan an

item’s bar code and then buy it online from a rival merchant. The chain’s tech team also is

working on a concept called Endless Aisle, which would let shoppers immediately order from

Walmart.com via smartphone if an item is out of stock. “You can’t ask people to leave their

phones at the door. So you have to give them value and an experience,” says Venky Harinarayan,

@WalmartLabs’ senior vice president of global e- commerce. The former Amazon executive

joined from Kosmix.

Wal-Mart is trying to improve links between its store inventory, website, and mobile phone apps

so that more customers can order online and pick up their purchases at stores, which half of Web

customers do already. Wal-Mart is trying Web-based shopping tactics, like its Pay With Cash

program for Wal-Mart customers who don’t have credit cards. The new program allows them to

reserve products online and pay cash at their nearest store. To cater to its affluent customers,

Wal-Mart is selling more expensive items—for example, high-end televisions from Sony (SNE)

and Samsung—only online.

Harinarayan’s team is also trying to tackle a new problem for Wal-Mart. Last year the chain was

the No. 1 destination for holiday shoppers, with 53 percent of U.S. customers visiting its stores.

That was down from 59 percent the year before. To lure gift shoppers, the techies have

developed a Shopycat feature that scans the social media preferences of a consumer’s Facebook

friends and suggests gift ideas sold on Walmart.com. About 150,000 users have installed the app.

To roll out more such innovations, Wal-Mart must improve its in-house e-commerce technology,

so King will hire 87 engineers and coders to bolster the links between the stores and the website.

“We’re starting from scratch to build a foundation,” says the EBay (EBAY) veteran. “Ideally,

we’d have this platform built a couple of years ago.”

The bottom line: Wal-Mart, which gets less than 2 percent of its U.S. sales online, aims to

bolster its technical capabilities to compete with Amazon.

Entry #2 - Business Week Article Summary

In the recent past, Wal-Mart Stores about a quarter of customers shopped in the Wal-Mart brick and

mortar stores. Today however, according to data from researcher Kantar Retailer, half of Wal-Mart’s

customers say they shop both there and at Amazon.com, who is now being seen as a threat to the brick

and mortar store. There are two trends Amazon has that threatens Wal-Mart. The first is Wal-Mart’s

discount hunting customers, are becoming more knowledgeable in the technology available to them.

These same customers are also more frequently shopping Amazon.com not only because of their gaining

intellect but also because their improving finances. In reaction to this, Wal-Mart has invested in its online

business. It has acquired five tech firms, employing an additional 300 engineers and code writers in the

US and INDIA in order to allow the portion of its customers to make online purchases without using

credit cards. They have also joined a social-media firm in order to create an iPhone app for new

customers to download, scan bar codes, and purchase the items online.

Since the majority of Wal-Mart’s sales come from their brick and mortar stores and not online, it a bad

idea to try and make their online site more relevant and accessible to their shoppers. However, I think that

they should keep their focus on their brick and mortar stores instead of investing so much into their online

store. Wal-Mart should have invested in creating better customer service, keeping their stores cleaner, and

give to their current employees.

Entry #3 - Vogue – Mach 2012

Tropical Punch

Entry #3 - Fashion Trend Article Summary

The big trends for this summer consist of super bright tropical colors, not only in clothing but also in

beauty products. On the spring runways along with color prints and fabrics were also a lot of brightly

colored makeup. Tim Quinn, creative director for Giorgio Armani Beauty, points out, “If you’re wearing,

say, a nude lip with a lot of these clothes, it almost looks like your forgetting something.” The article

then continues to give some examples as to how to mix in the colors into your beauty regiment. The first

example is putting on translucent shades of fuchsia and tangerine lip colors, like those from the new

Rouge d’Armani Sheers collection. Another example is using something more discreet, like peacock-

green colored eyeliner to the upper lash, like Lancome’s. The absolute necessity to tie in these tropical

colors is the variety of new nail polish shades.

I love all of the bright colors for this spring, and I’m especially looking forward to including them in my

beauty products. I think the subtle hints of them on your face or nails will really keep with the consistency

of the trends without going overboard on your face and potentially looking like a clown.

Entry #4 - GQ Fashion Observations

GQ – March 12, 2012

A very current trend for spring 2012 in men’s apparel is the “all American preppy look.” Polo

and t-shirts, denim pants, and brightly colored jackets seem to be what men will be wearing this

season. My observation was based on my findings from GQ’s spring 2012 trend report. These

can be compared to what is being seen in men’s departments of stores such as Macy’s who are

carrying similar looks. There aren’t a whole lot of major differences except there is a larger

variety or prints displayed throughout Macy’s men’s department.

Entry #5 – Five Trends at Macy’s

Five trends I found that stuck out in Macy’s have to do mostly with the silhouette and the fabric. They are

ombre, sheer, bright colors, floral pattern, and laser cut detailing. Several of these also crossed over into

different areas of the store. For example the laser cut detailing and sheer fabrics were found in the

junior’s, misses, and women’s departments; while floral patterns and various bright colors were found in

the junior’s, women’s and men’s departments.

Entry #6 – Five Trends Supported by WGSN

Here are visual reinforcements found on WGSN for the trends found in Macy’s.

Floral Floral

Geometric Laser Cut Detailing

Bright Colors Bright Colors

Ombre Sheer

Entry #7 – Fabrics and Color Trends

Fabric Trend #1: Digitally Printed

Printing on fabrics is an extremely old art which was developed and created in Egypt during 5000 BC.

However it wasn’t until the 1994 that it could be done digitally and efficiently. Digital printing can be

done on almost any kind of fiber content.

Fiber Trend #2: Nylon

Nylon originated in 1931 in the United States. It is chemically formed and made up of caprolactam along

with a compound acid and an amine

Fabric Trend #3: Cotton

Where cotton was originally grown is unknown, but scientists know it is at least 7,000 years old. Cotton is

also a naturally grown fiber.

Color Trend #1: (Glidden Name) Caribbean Sea

Pantone 299 C

Color Trend #2: (Glidden Name) Fresh Tangerine

Pantone 1665 C

Color Trend #3: (Glidden Name) Canary Song

Pantone 100 C

Entry #8 – WGSN – March 2012

Predominant Global Trends:

London

o Feminine silhouettes, like peplum skirt

o Prints ranging from hand-drawn butterflies and flowers to little or large-scale

polka dots, florals and scarf prints on everything from skinny jeans to skirts and

from blouses to tops

o Aztec and geometric graphics infused with sportswear influences

o Vintage prints and pastel colors on t-shirts

Tokyo

o Primary colors mixed with feminine styling for tailored blazers and pleated knee-

length skirts

o Animal prints and large scale florals in hot pink for blouses and partywear

o Boxy outwear and shift blouses channeling the 1960s trend in duck egg blue,

beige, and cream tones.

o Ombre shading and directional tailoring creating an 3D optical illusion effect for

blouses

Paris

o Femininity added to sport looks by adding lace and pastels

o A focus on tailoring in monochromatic suits and shirts

o Feminine silhouettes through puffball outerwear with large placement bows and

cinched-in styling

o 1960s inspired shift tops and dresses in cobalt and tangerine colors

My predictions for the next two seasons include lots of femininity, whether it is an infused in

sportswear and tailoring or it is straight forward feminine shapes. I also am predicting the next

two seasons will also involve a lot of large-scale shapes and patterns. Based on what is relevant

in prominent global trends now, is a good idea for what is to come. I also think that tailoring and

details are going to become more and more important in fashions, and gradually less and less on

large patterns and prints. I believe this mostly because of what is being seen right now in Paris,

there is more focus on details rather than prints.

Entry #9 – Visual Displays

The Cellar Display in Macy’s

There isn’t too much I don’t like about this display. The first thing I love is that the form is

supposed to look like its standing on a small tower of pots. I think it’s a simple yet creative touch

to catch someone’s eyes. Another thing I really like about this is how the use of warm colors and

that you’re seeing it through a window.

Prom Dress Display in Macy’s

My favorite part about this display is how the mannequin on the table is sitting. I love how she

looks like her legs are curled up under her and because of that the dress is draping more naturally

off of the table. I also like how they added the disco-ball above the dresses to really give off that

they are at prom.

Display at Maurice’s

What I like most about this display is the use of color. Everything from the table to the

mannequins is eye catching. It is also balanced so it is easy to look from one part of the display

to the other and feel like nothing is out of place.

Display at Maurice’s

The best part about this display is that everything is cohesive. Walking around the table at this

display I found it was easy to mix and match the clothing that was out. This is important to me in

a display because this one display can give a customer so many different options of what they

can wear.

Entry #10 – Fashion Trend Prediction from Gossip Girl

Since the Gossip Girl series started, it has been a breeding ground for new fashion trends. In a recent

episode that aired March 9th, 2012, Serena (Blake Lively) is seen mixing and matching pattern along with

adding embellishments, like the mosaic embellishment found on her trench coat. Mixing and matching

patterns is nothing new, however adding these embellishments would be the next step in this trends

evolution. The mosaic-like embellishments I can see being very popular specifically because of the

different colors involved in the embellishment. This way it will be easy to pair up with mix and match

styles.

Entry #11 – Women’s Wear Daily – September 2011

Alice + Olivia Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

This design is from Alice + Olivia’s spring 2012 ready-to-wear collection. I think major

department store retailers might include this designer’s work. Alive + Olivia’s work really

appeals to the mass while still being high fashion. What I really love about this particular design

is the colors and shape. The beautiful mint top and jacket mixed with the soft yellow high

waisted skirt and coral shoes are absolutely stunning combination. The shape of the outfit put

together is also really appealing for women of different sizes.

Entry #12 – Responsibilities of a Fashion Designer, a Buyer,

and a Product Development Manager

Fashion Designer

Fashion designers have many responsibilities. First and foremost, they are the absolute decision

maker for a fashion house. They need to establish the image and create designs for the company.

Fashion designers are responsible for designing both ready to wear lines as well as custom

designs. They also have to make the decision as to whether or not they license the use of their

names to manufacturers of accessories, fragrances and cosmetics, and home furnishing.

Buyer

Buyers also have a number of responsibilities, for example they are responsible for developing

product assortments by using market trend analysis information. They also need to be able to

build strong relations with vendors. It also is not uncommon for buyers to have to travel to trade

shows in order to decide what the retailer should sell to their customers.

Product Development Manager

The product development manager is responsible for leading the product development team in

marketing and trend research in order to develop a final product. They also tend to team up with

merchandising, design and technical processes for various products. These the product

development manager’s services are used by both wholesale manufacturers who develop products

for signature brands and retails who use it for private label development at their own stores.

Entry #13 – Fashion Don’ts

Fashion Don’t #1: Kristen Stewart

What really ruins this look is Kristen Stewart’s loafers and blouse. If she replaced the button up blouse

with a cute tank and the loafers with a cute pair of heels this outfit wouldn’t be so bad. With a skirt and

blazer as cute as those, they deserve to be paired with shoes and top as equally cute.

Fashion Don’t #2: Nicki Minaj

There are a whole lot of reasons why Nicki Minaj’s outfit is a “fashion don’t” but there are a couple key

pieces that are that are more noteworthy. The first reason why is her fully studded hot pants. They do

nothing for her, but I don’t think there is anyone that these would flatter. The second reason is her fish net

top. Fish net, in general, should not be worn because again it is not flattering on anyone.

Fashion Don’t #3: Amy Lee, lead singer of Evanescence

I wish I could say that the dress worn here by Amy Lee was at least artistically appealing, but it’s not. The

dress looks thrown together and made out of a tablecloth, ruffled drapes and held together with a broken

corset. This look is incredibly unflattering for anyone, including Amy Lee.

Fashion Don’t #4: Katy Perry

If the sheer floral print dress wasn’t enough of a fashion don’t, Katy Perry decided to add a big bright

flower in the middle of her chest to top it off. The most flattering thing she is wearing is her matching set

of undergarments.

Entry #14 – Preferred Future Careers

Visual Merchandiser

The first career I’m interested in is visual merchandising. I really feel like this would be a

good fit for me because in a way I get to be involved in more than one area of the fashion

industry. I really like the idea of putting clothing on display, and having customers see it

and like it enough to buy what I put out for them to see.

Stylist

The second career I’m interested in is styling. I believe this is a good fit for me because it

isn’t uncommon for people I’ve met to ask me for my opinion, to help them choose

something to wear, or to entirely dress them from head to toe.

Buyer

The third career I’m interested in is being a fashion buyer. I think this would be a good fit

for me first of all because of my sales background. Being in sales has already given me

some basic selling, promotional, and merchandising strategies. I also really like the

thought of being able to be a part of making decisions on what a store does or should sell.