By JOELLE DIDERICH

PARIS — Hermès International said it will slow the pace of store openings in 2012 and focus on boosting production after a record-breaking year that saw it struggling to keep up with demand for leather bags and silk squares.

The French luxury firm’s shares closed up 2.3 per-cent at 249.80 euros, or $323.45 at current exchange, on Thursday after it reported that net profits rose by a better-than-expected 41 percent in 2011.

Hermès said it will ask its annual general meeting on May 29 to approve a dividend of 2 euros, or $2.58, a share, up from 1.50 euros, or $2.09, last year. It will also propose a one-off dividend of 5 euros, or $6.47, a share.

That should come as welcome news not only to Hermès family shareholders, who collectively hold some 72 percent of the firm’s capital, but also to lux-ury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which owns a 22 percent stake.

“We thought the time had come to make a gesture towards our shareholders,” Hermès chief executive officer Patrick Thomas told a meeting of analysts and journalists at the company’s Paris headquarters.

The maker of Birkin bags and silk scarves report-ed net income of 594.3 million euros, or $827.6 mil-lion, in 2011, including a gross capital gain of 29.5 mil-lion, or $41.1 million, from the sale of its 45 percent stake in the Jean Paul Gaultier label.

Operating profits totaled 885.2 million euros, or $1.2 billion, up 32.5 percent on the prior-year period. All dollar figures are calculated at average exchange for the period in question.

The current operating margin widened by 3.4 percentage points to 31.2 percent in 2011, its high-est level since Hermès went public in 1993. “It’s not an operating margin, it’s an exceptional margin,”

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Warnaco’s $4B Goal

SEE PAGE 12

By DAVID LIPKE

NEW YORK — The Warnaco Group Inc. on Thursday laid out a five-year plan that calls on the maker of Calvin Klein underwear and jeans to grow sales by 10 percent a year, hitting $4 billion in revenue by 2016, up from $2.5 billion in 2011.

Key pillars in the strategy include dramatically growing the direct-to-consumer channel; ramping up international expansion; gaining market share with its heritage swim, sportswear and intimates brands, and managing cash to enhance shareholder value, said Helen McCluskey, president and chief executive offi-cer of Warnaco, during a presentation to analysts here.

The company is actively seeking a major acquisition to leverage its global infrastructure and experience. “We are well-equipped and well-positioned to make an acquisition of scale and consequence,” said Stanley Silverstein, executive vice president of international strategy and business development. The company has an underleveraged balance sheet and cash flow of $1 billion over the next five years to finance a deal.

Warnaco has been in active discussions with poten-tial targets and is looking at both established brands and younger brands that would bring fresh talent, competencies and business models to the company. Access to capital has gotten easier in the current banking climate, but one hurdle to potential deals is the increased valuations for private companies, with some emboldened by the stock market run-up of Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. shares, noted Silverstein.

The company is considering opening a slew of new Calvin Klein underwear stores in the U.S. There are currently two stores — in New York and Washington, D.C. — and Warnaco could open 50 new units in key

FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012 $3.00 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY

PHOTO BY THOMAS IANNACCONE; STYLED BY AMY LOMACCHIO

Lancôme is harnessing the power of rose stem cells in its latest skin care launch, Absolue L’Extrait. Due in April in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and in the U.S.

in June, the product could generate as much as $60 million at retail globally in its first six months on counter. For more, see page 6.

PLUS:CHANEL’S PARADIS:

VANESSA PARADIS

WAS AMONG THE

STARS TURNING

OUT IN TOKYO FOR

CHANEL. PAGE 9

EAU DE ADAM

ADAM LEVINE ON FASHION, MUSIC — AND WHY HE’S

LAUNCHING A FRAGRANCE AFTER ALL. PAGE 6

2 WWD friday, march 23, 2012

China’s Li-Ning Turns Eye on U.S.

To e-mail reporTers and ediTors aT WWd, The address is firsTname_lasTname@fairchildfashion.com, using The individual’s name. WWD IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT ©2012 FAIRCHILD FASHION MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.VOLUME 203, NO. 60. FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012. WWD (ISSN 0149–5380) is published daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional issue in May, June, October and December, and two additional issues in February, March, April, August, September and November) by Fairchild Fashion Media, which is a division of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Shared Services provided by Condé Nast: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, Chief Executive Officer; Robert A. Sauerberg Jr., President; John W. Bellando, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer; Jill Bright, Chief Administrative Officer. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40644503. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. 886549096-RT0001. Canada Post: return undeliverable Canadian addresses to P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Cre, Rich-Hill, ON L4B 4R6. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615 5008. FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS, OR BACK ISSUE INQUIRIES: Please write to WWD, P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008, call 800-289-0273, or visit www.subnow.com/wd. Please give both new and old addresses as printed on most recent label. Subscribers: If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year. If during your subscription term or up to one year after the magazine becomes undeliverable, you are ever dissatisfied with your subscription, let us know. You will receive a full refund on all unmailed issues. First copy of new subscription will be mailed within four weeks after receipt of order. Address all editorial, business, and production correspondence to WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 750 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. For permissions requests, please call 212-630-5656 or fax the request to 212-630-5883. For all request for reprints of articles please contact The YGS Group at condenast@theygsgroup.com, or call 800-501-9571. Visit us online at www.wwd.com. To subscribe to other Fairchild Fashion Media magazines on the World Wide Web, visit www.fairchildpub.com. Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that we believe would interest our readers. If you do not want to receive these offers and/or information, please advise us at P.O. Box 15008, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5008 or call 800-289-0273. WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RETURN OR LOSS OF, OR FOR DAMAGE OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO, UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED TO DO SO BY WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE.

on WWD.CoM

the Briefing Boxin Today’s WWd

Hermès International said it will slow the pace of store openings in 2012 and focus on boosting production after a record-breaking year. PAGE 1 The Warnaco Group Inc. on Thursday laid out a five-year plan that calls on the maker of Calvin Klein underwear and jeans to grow sales by 10 percent a year. PAGE 1 Adam Levine, the Maroon 5 front man and judge on “The Voice,” a past critic of celebrity fragrances, has done an about face with a deal to create his own scents. PAGE 6 Salvatore Ferragamo has brought the worldwide rollout of its new Signorina fragrance to the U.S. in a bid to attract new, younger customers. PAGE 7 Eva Longoria’s second fragrance, EVAmour by Eva Longoria, is the sultry counterpart to her lighter, fresher namesake scent. PAGE 8 Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel team brought a dose of chic, retro travel to Tokyo. PAGE 9 Randi Zuckerberg, the former head of marketing at Facebook and sister of its founder Mark Zuckerberg, is getting ready to go out on her own. PAGE 9 Tom Brady, Ed Burns and Swizz Beatz visited the Park Avenue Armory in New York to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. PAGE 10 J Brand, which earlier this year expanded into ready-to-wear from its enviable base in women’s and men’s premium denim, is preparing for its next move. PAGE 11 Stella McCartney and Adidas unveiled a series of environmentally friendly uniforms for Britons taking part in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. PAGE 12 Lululemon Athletica Inc. on Thursday posted double-digit gains in profits and revenues for the fourth quarter and full year. PAGE 12

On the runway at the Né-net show.

TOKYO FASHION WEEK: See the latest reviews at WWD.com/runway.

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By Karyn Monget

Li-ning, the $1.23 biLLion Chinese activewear brand, wants to conquer the U.S. market.

the company, which is often referred to as China’s equivalent to nike and is the world’s third largest ac-tivewear company, officially launched its Digital Li-ning brand Web site Wednesday with an assortment of men’s and women’s athletic footwear and apparel.

the digital launch, which is headed by indus-try veterans from the brand management, digital and consumer marketing fields, was created and organized by the U.S. division of Li ning Co. Ltd. in Chicago, where the Chinese megabrand has had a joint venture with digital marketing firm acquity group LLC since 2011.

Since a soft launch in December, the li-ning.com site has garnered a 425 percent increase in unique monthly Web visitors representing a nearly 600 per-cent increase in daily Web traffic, said ray grady, general manager of the U.S. opera-tion. the results have been achieved through a combination of impactful im-ages on the site that “enables consumers to feel the personality of the brand” as if they were in a brick-and-mortar store, as well as endorsements by profession-al athletes such as baron Davis of the new york Knicks and evan turner of the Philadelphia 76ers.

grady said the philosophy of the brand and the site reflects the strength and character of its found-er Li ning, who won six medals at the 1984 Summer olympics.

“not a lot of people knew much about China in 1984, but he burst onto the scene and became an olympic hero and a national hero, and he parlayed that into a multibillion-dollar company be-cause he wanted to make sure his countrymen wore Chinese gold medal garments. he’s a very compel-ling figure and has a lot to tell.…When we launched in the U.S., we wanted to be very respectful of the man and what he’s done with the brand.…We want-ed to portray a humble voice but a polished voice and a big brand, a global brand,” explained grady.

he described the U.S. market as a “huge oppor-tunity” for the 22-year-old Li-ning brand because consumers want new and different options in sports apparel and other categories. he targeted digital sales as the key portal for a “challenger” brand.

“Consumers want to wear something their peers don’t have. they want to teach and educate them, es-pecially their Facebook and twitter followers,” said grady. “We are launching into the [digital] retail land-scape at a time when retail is evolving and changing — gap is shuttering stores while amazon is wildly successful.…our target demographic skews younger, Millennials or even if they are not Millennials, they are open to change. We thought we would start off with a very digitally focused company from the first day of business so people could understand it.”

he noted that the number of followers on Facebook has jumped from 100 to 50,000 and twitter is on the same fast track. the company is also partnering with digital brands and blogs to build exposure for the brand.

“our approach is candidly what our competitors are trying to reinvent themselves with.…We have a pilot campaign with Pandora and we are currently in talks with other brands.…the brand is also show-ing up in sneakerhead blogs, a huge [basketball] subculture, and when we talk to the running catego-ry it’s a slightly different voice with a biographical, philosophical approach. We are also doing online periodicals like runnersworld.com,” said grady.

he added that two campaigns on youtube have been hits: one features turner as he recaps milestone moments on his birthday, and another video depicts Davis and his rebirth into the new york scene.

assessing the potential for the Li-ning brand in the U.S., the parent company’s chief executive officer,

Zhang Zhiyong, said last year that long-term, international sales are projected to account for 20 percent of total revenues by 2018, with

half of that coming from the U.S. market.“We have been very successful in

China, and we’re confident that we’re going to have our target audience and market share in the U.S. We have a track record of winning against adidas and nike,” Zhiyong had asserted.

Meanwhile, grady singled out the women’s fitness market in the U.S. as a “very important” segment.

“We’ll be doing a female running cam-paign online in the next 30 days across multiple channels including e-mails.…it will be about running because we don’t want to just hang our hat with athletes. it’s a huge opportunity for us with natural silks and bamboo [apparel] and the green side fit-ness apparel like yoga and pilates,” he said.

regarding other marketing venues in the future, he singled out major events such as the nba all-Star game, Mother’s Day and the Summer olympics in London.

“We launched with an exclusive line and we see the line rounding out.…We’ll be doing mar-keting events on the ground in London during the olympics and online in the U.S. as well,” he said.

Suggested retail for men’s basketball apparel is $35 to $80 and athletic footwear is $100, while run-ning tights are $80 and running shoes are $75 to $80. Women’s fitness apparel is priced $30 to $70.

a first-year wholesale sales projection was not available, but Li-ning has a market capitalization of 9.57 billion hong Kong dollars, or $1.23 billion.

During the six months ended June 30, the compa-ny’s revenues slipped 4.8 percent to 4.29 billion yuan, or $655 million at average exchange for the period, and profits attributable to shareholders declined 49.5 percent to 293.7 million yuan, or $44.9 million.

the company has been taking steps to revitalize its brand and reform its distribution.

Li ning’s 2010 revenues tallied 9.48 billion yuan, or $1.4 billion at average exchange.

By arnoLD J. Karr

groWth in aLL geographic markets but Japan and tight cost controls helped nike inc. expand its third-quarter profits more than expected despite continuing pressure on margins.

in the three months ended Feb. 29, the beaverton, ore.-based athletic footwear and ap-parel giant expanded net income 7.1 percent to $560 million, or $1.20 a diluted share, above the $1.17 analysts’ estimate as well as the year-ago mark of $523 million, or $1.08. total revenues were up 15.1 percent, to $5.85 bil-lion from $5.08 billion, as nike brand footwear sales rose 16.7 percent, to $3.35 billion, and ap-parel volume was up 12.2 percent to $1.46 billion.

gross margin fell 200 basis points to 43.8 percent of sales from 45.8 percent a year ago, but the effect on the bottom line was muted by a decline in sell-ing, general and administrative

expenses to 30.8 percent of sales from 32.2 percent a year ago.

the company’s closely watched global futures orders for the nike brand, for footwear and apparel scheduled for delivery through July, were $9.4 billion, 15 percent above the year-ago level. that fig-ure was reduced by 3 percentage points by unfavorable foreign cur-rency translation, nike said.

Charlie Denson, president of nike brand, noted that, on a con-stant currency basis, “We grew rev-enues in every geography except for Japan, which is still recuperat-ing from that devastating event last year, and all seven of our key cat-egories increased [revenues], with five growing a double-digit rates.”

the brand’s direct-to-con-sumer revenue increased over 20 percent, he said, including a more than 25 percent boost in on-line sales.

operating income for the nike brand rose in all markets except Japan, where it dropped 22.6 percent to $24 million, and Western europe, where it was

down 8.6 percent to $149 million. in descending order of profitabil-ity, north america was up 18.4 percent to $496 million, greater China up 28.2 percent to $273 million, emerging markets up 24.3 percent to $215 million, and Central and eastern europe up 1.7 percent to $60 million.

Mark Parker, president and chief executive officer, said he expects unemployment, debt and currency issues to remain a prob-lem through the current fourth quarter and beyond. “While some raw material costs are starting to ease, we have not seen them re-treat to their previous levels,” he said. “For other input costs such as labor, upward pressure con-tinues. that said, i believe there is some stability easing into the broader marketplace as consum-er confidence moves higher in most parts of the world.”

For the year to date, net in-come rose 8.8 percent to $1.67 billion, or $3.56 a diluted share, as revenues added 17 percent to hit $17.66 billion.

Sales Growth, Cost Controls Push Nike Net Higher

A look from Li-Ning sports apparel.

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WWD.COM3WWD friday, march 23, 2012

By LUISA ZARGANI

ROME — “Culture is impor-tant for the country. There is no growth without culture nor any development,” said Gildo Zegna, chief executive officer of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, following the unveiling of a work commissioned from artists Lucy and Jorge Orta, “Fabulae Romanae,” and presented on Wednesday at the Maxxi, Rome’s National Museum of the 21st-Century Arts.

“The public opinion is tak-ing more interest in culture. Customers want to know more, it’s more than just about fash-ion,” Zegna added.

The project, part of the new ZegnArt venture revealed earli-er this month, is entirely in line with the identity of the group. “This is not a marketing tool, it’s about customer experience and delight, and beyond selling a product,” explained Zegna in

an interview at the brand’s bou-tique on Via Condotti here.

Zegna silk ties and fabrics are juxtaposed with military blankets and flea-market shirts in a site-specific art installation, inspired by Rome’s history and contempo-rary life, and hinging on themes dear to the Ortas, such as sustain-ability, extreme living conditions and preservation of the land — similarly to the Zegnas and their investment in Italy’s Oasi Zegna, for example.

“I enjoy working with tex-tiles, the association of fabrics and colors, and different tex-tures,” said Lucy Orta, who until 12 years ago worked in fashion.

“I feel that the Medicis are back. Luckily we have people that through culture know they can see the world in a different way,” declared Orta.

Zegna declined to provide fi-nancial details about the invest-ment in ZegnArt, which includes three divisions: Special Projects, such as the collaboration with

Maxxi; Public, which combines the commission of a public work with an international institution in a selected emerging country and a residency to a local artist invited to study in Italy, and Art in Global Stores. The executive underscored ZegnArt is a medi-um- to long-term project with an international perspective, noting that for this reason it’s not only a financial investment, which he defined as “relevant,” but also one in terms of time and human resources.

“Both are very valuable. This is a serious project that needs backup support and dedicated activities. We are sure to invest more in time,” he said.

For the Maxxi presenta-tion, the company organized a 900-guest event the same eve-ning, following a dinner for 100, including members of the press, the previous night.

Zegna conceded there will eventually be some kind of return as the firm

will expand ZegnArt internation-ally. For example, the first country chosen for the Public division is India, with the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai as a partner, which will be followed by Turkey and Brazil, all markets with growth potential for the group.

Asked about business in India, Zegna characterized it as “slower than expected and not too easy. It will take a few de-cades.” The group has six stores in the country and will open a new unit in Mumbai between May and June.

As part of the Art in Global Stores area, on May 2 Zegna will present in its New York bou-tique a work commissioned from American artist Emil Lukas, who works with yarn threads. “I met him at Art Basel and bought one of his pieces, then asked him to create one with silk threads — they are richer and shinier. It’s going to be fantastic,” Zegna said excitedly. The U.S. is the group’s second-largest market after China,

and Zegna was upbeat about the performance in that region, citing double-digit increases at retail, which accounts for 50 percent of revenues there and solid gains in the wholesale channel, too.

He expressed “confidence” for 2012 and pointed to the re-vamping of the Los Angeles and South Coast Plaza stores and ex-pansion and refurbishing of the Chicago venue this year. These follow openings in Las Vegas, Short Hills, N.J., and Manhasset, N.Y., last year. There are also plans to unveil a new store in the Miami Design District “in the near future.”

Zegna said group sales to-taled 1.12 billion euros, or $1.55 billion at average exchange, in 2011, which he said was “a re-cord year.” Profit figures will be released in April. Given Italy’s lackluster consumer spending and difficult economy, Zegna was especially grateful for ex-ports, which accounted for 85 percent of business. “It’s going to be a challenging year, with peaks and downs, unexpected situations, currency fluctuations and countries slowing down. Japan is flat and Europe is a question mark,” he remarked. “I’m more positive than last year, but it’s hard to predict.”

He was “very pleased” with Italy’s new Prime Minister Mario Monti’s reforms. “He has a great team, he’s taking action, and it’s a credible gov-ernment, but the country is in recession.”

Once again, Zegna dis-missed any interest in a public listing for the family-owned, 102-year-old com-pany. “There is no reason to list. We are growing organi-

cally, we are financially solid, there are many op-portunities and the fam-ily is united,” he said.

BY ELLEN SHENG

HONG KONG — Li & Fung Ltd. said net profit for the full year 2011 rose 24 percent, driven by acquisitions, synergies gained from its three-year growth plan and strong growth in Asia.

The sourcing giant posted net profit of $681.2 million, compared with restated earnings of $548.5 million a year ago. Revenue for 2011 rose 26 percent to $20.03 million. Results exceeded what analysts had expected. Analysts, on average, forecast net profit of $617 million.

Speaking at a press conference, Bruce Rockowitz, Li & Fung’s chief executive officer, said he expects continued growth as the company grows organically and continues to capture synergies from its expansion plan. He also said the U.S. market is “doing pretty well” and expects the economic recovery to continue gathering strength. The European mar-ket is more grim, he said, although it has likely hit bottom.

Li & Fung’s better-than-expected results come a year after the company unveiled an ambitious restructuring plan that included a shake-up of its top management and the division of the company’s businesses into three seg-ments: trading, logistics and distribution. As part of the three-year plan, the company set a target of reaching $1.5 billion in core operating profit by 2013, with trading, logis-tics and distribution contributing $700 million, $100 million and $700 million, respectively.

The company’s core business, its trading business, posted the strongest results in 2011, Rockowitz said, with $565 million in net profit, a 31 percent increase from a year ago, and 16 percent growth in revenue. Results from Li & Fung’s logistics business were boosted by its acquisi-tion of IDS (Integrated Distribution Services Group). The unit posted a net profit of $13 million and revenue of $446 million, a 510 percent increase. Net profit in Li & Fung’s distribution business was under pressure because of rising costs. Net profit rose just 2 percent to $304 million while revenue rose 61 percent.

Rockowitz said the company didn’t pass on some of the higher costs to customers, preferring to hold on to mar-ket share rather than preserve profit margins. He expects price pressure to ease this year.

Operating costs were on the high side in 2011, increas-

ing 14 percent in the trading business, 61 percent in dis-tribution and 398 percent in logistics (but mainly due to the acquisition of IDS). Rockowitz acknowledged that costs were higher but that increases were actually slowing and are expected to moderate.

“Lots of the heavy lifting was done in 2011,” Rockowitz said. As part of the three-year growth plan, the company

needed to build a bigger network. The company did a lot of that building out in 2010 and 2011, Rockowitz said, explain-ing the company will grow into its overhead. Barring any large acquisitions in the future, overhead costs should be trending down, he said.

Li & Fung had a “very acquisitive year” with six new acquisitions and 13 small roll-up deals. The company dis-closed three new deals on Thursday, saying last September it acquired True Innovations, which sells business furniture through retailers such as Costco and Office Depot. It also ac-quired smaller companies in roll-up deals: Midway, a licens-ee for Disney products in China and elsewhere in Asia, and Catalyst, a company that makes electronic tags for clothing.

Asia has become an important growth platform as brands and retailers around the world are increasingly fo-cused on the region, the company said. While the company has always done most of its sourcing in Asia, it’s now sell-ing more in the region, and global retailers are eyeing the area. Li & Fung said that 12 percent of its revenue in 2011 came from Asia, compared with 4 percent in 2010.

“If you look historically at Li & Fung, our reliance on the U.S. was always 65 to 70 percent. It’s now 60 percent, which we’re happy about. We’ve always produced in Asia, but in this case, the market to sell to is Asia,” Rockowitz said.

Li & Fung also said sourcing in China continues to be key. “In spite of what you hear about China, for us it’s been

very important,” the ceo said, adding that sourcing in China has actually increased. As prices have gone up, the company has shifted to higher-end business in China, he explained. “The lower margin businesses have left China,” he said.

While China remained the number-one sourcing destina-tion for the company, Bangladesh jumped two spots to be-come the second-biggest sourcing destination. Production in Bangladesh jumped by 41 percent and exceeded that of Vietnam and Indonesia in 2011, the company said.

Zegna Puts Arty Side on Display

Lucy and Jorge Orta and works commissioned as part of the ZegnArt venture.

Strong Growth in Asia Fuels Li & Fung G-III in China Venture For Calvin PerformanceG-III APPAREL GROUP LTD. has entered into a joint venture agreement with China Ting Group Holdings Ltd. to open and operate wom-en’s Calvin Klein Performance stores in China and Hong Kong.

Under the terms of the agreement, G-III will retain a 51 percent ownership stake. G-III will op-erate the stores, which are expected to open this fall, under a license granted to it by Calvin Klein Inc. in December. The agreement gives G-III the right to open the stores in the U.S., China and Hong Kong, with rights to expand to additional countries. The first Calvin Klein Performance store opened in the U.S. last month in Scottsdale, Ariz. CKI is a wholly owned subsidiary of PVH Corp. G-III has had the women’s wholesale Calvin Klein Performance license since 2007.

The products offered will be women’s active apparel in the athletic and performancewear categories developed and produced under G-III’s license from CKI. They include pants, ca-pris, shorts, tank tops, T-shirts and hooded jack-ets suitable for yoga, running, tennis and biking.

Morris Goldfarb, chairman and chief execu-tive officer of G-III, said, “With strong relation-ships and an excellent track record, G-III and China Ting are well able to serve the market op-portunity in China. China Ting has a precise un-derstanding of what is necessary to successfully penetrate one of the most dynamic markets in the world. We are excited to take this step and further our strategic initiatives to diversify our company through global opportunities.”

Tom Murry, president and ceo of CKI, said, “G-III has demonstrated that they understand our consumer and can steward the brand across a number of important categories. We are excited to see G-III build upon the work they have done in the United States to further expand Calvin Klein Performance at retail in China and Hong Kong.”

� —��Vicki�M.�Young

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4 WWD friday, march 23, 2012

Calvin Klein’s Sleek Sweep for Fall

By WWD Staff

tOKYO — Japan fashion Week wraps up today here, where designers showed an assortment of interesting looks for fall. Some of them were wackily wonderful — cue Né-net’s amusing animal motifs — while others took on a more edgy, dark vibe, i.e., Christian Dada’s all-black lineup.

Dressedundressed: takeshi Kitazawa and Emiko Sato showed a monotone collection for men and women. there were plenty of slim, high-waisted black trousers and fitted, crisp white shirts, some with zippers replacing traditional buttons. Black wool coats were also prevalent, from simple tailored versions to classic trenches.

Motonari Ono: Inspired by the most recent edition of fashion’s Night Out, and

how “fashion can change the world,” Motonari Ono showed clothes that contrasted strong power and gentle femininity. Key looks included a short mustard-yellow leather dress and a longer one with a black lace top and tiered skirt.

Né-net: Not known for subtly, Né-Net’s Kazuaki takashima turned out another wacky collection for fall, rife with animal motifs and alpine knitwear. the show kicked off with models wearing balls of shrubbery on their heads, setting the tone for the eclectic landscape print dresses, garments with mice head-shaped pockets and even a sweatshirt decorated with a Pinocchio head, complete with a 3-D nose.

Anrealage: In a similar vein to his pixilated collection two seasons ago, Kunihiko Morinaga showed a strong anrealage offering of artistically wearable

pieces. Both prints and silhouettes were stretched, smudged and distorted for an effect reminiscent of a photocopy moved midway through the process.

Christian Dada: Masanori Morikawa, whose résumé includes making stage costumes for Lady Gaga, showed a Christian Dada collection of dramatic men’s and women’s looks. the all-black pieces looked interesting with their unconventional combinations of silhouette and texture, such as a long velvet gown with jacquard sleeves.

Fur Fur: Koichi Chida’s fur fur lineup included brown coats tied with oversize black ribbons worn over long ivory skirts and a series of blush pink flapperlike styles in tulle and chiffon. they all were done up with lots of layers, folds, drapes, gathers and the occasional embellishment.

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aLthOuGh ShOCKING colors and prints were key for spring, Kevin Carrigan, global creative director of Calvin Klein, took the brands (better, jeans, performance, underwear and accessories) in a more graphic, sleek direction for fall. Color-blocked dresses and skirts were done in neutral tones with pops of red, while much of the outerwear was men’s wear inspired. Carrigan also played on a structure-versus-softness juxtaposition with, for instance, a slouchy suit in bold red.

for men, looks were clean

and tailored, worked in a subdued palette of mostly black, gray and white. a matte puffer coat came in a suit fabric with a waterproof coating, while a variety of layering pieces were shown under suit coats for an urban aesthetic. Steel blue, brown and black jeans were treated with a waxed finish (women’s, meanwhile, were sexy and skinny in “liquid metal” golds, silvers and bronzes), and classic underwear was updated in a silvery gray microsheen stretch fabric.

Dressedundressed Motonari Ono Né-net

Anrealage Christian Dada

Fur Fur

FALL 2012

JAPAN FASHION WEEK

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w23a004a;7.indd 1 3/22/12 5:26 PM03222012172715

For a full list of speakers: wwd.com/beauty2012

Sponsored By:

José BarraTarget

E. Scott BeattieElizabeth Arden Inc.

John Paul DeJoriaJohn Paul Mitchell

Systems

Ste

ph

an

e d

e B

ou

rgie

s

Jean-Paul AgonL’Oréal

John DemseyThe Estée Lauder

Companies Inc.

Virginia C. DrososThe Procter & Gamble

Company Inc.

Patrice Jean Louis LouvetThe Procter & Gamble

Company Inc.

Joseph C. MagnaccaWalgreens

Marigay McKeeHarrods Ltd.

Marc PuigPuig

Chuck RubinUlta Beauty

Zhuo (Joe) WangShanghai Jahwa United

Co. Ltd.

CEO Summit 2012

Leading in a New World | May 14 - 16, Palm Beach

By Jennifer Weil

PAriS — lancôme will launch what it calls “the miracle cream,” Absolue l’extrait, starting in April.

“[it’s] the most noble, the most ex-pensive and certainly the most effi-cient piece of the Absolue equity,” said Youcef nabi, president of lancôme international, referring to the brand’s uberluxurious franchise.

Ten years ago, the l’Oréal-owned brand invested in a laboratory focused on plant stem cells using biotechnology. “The idea is to use the vegetal cells as a source of actives,” said nabi, who added the lab investigated how plant stem cells act on human skin. Specifically, they began working on the lancôme rose, which was created in 1973 and is the em-blem of the lancôme brand.

“This rose was selected from about 20,000 species because it was the most resilient and has a very strong ability to resist all aggressions — cold, insects, any-thing that could harm it,” continued nabi.

Through a new biotechnological co-cooning procedure called fermogenesis, scientists transformed a cell of the lancôme rose into a rose stem cell.

“These rose stem cells are the first identified actives that act on the re-generation of stem cells that are in the [human] dermis,” explained nabi. Such cells, which are found in the deepest lay-ers of skin, are essential to its overall

renewal since as people age they have fewer and less active dermal stem cells.

“it is a kind of [the skin’s heart],” con-tinued the executive. “if you touch this place, you can really rejuvenate your skin down and up, at 360 degrees.”

each jar of Absolue l’extrait contains two million rose stem cells.

“Once you put these rose stem cells in contact with the human stem cells, you have 63 percent more of these cells in the skin that stay at their optimum level, which is really a first,” said nabi. The executive explained there is an effect on signs of aging, including facial contour, pigmentation and wrinkles.

Also in the new cream are other active ingredients, such as Proxylane, which are said to help epidermal regeneration.

in a press document, nabi describes Absolue l’extrait as “the most precious of lancôme creams because it is, without a doubt, the most effective cream that has ever been developed by our researchers. The miracle cream. The real one.”

Absolue l’extrait’s jar design takes a cue from that of nutrix, which was intro-duced by lancôme in 1936. Both products’ containers are colored black with gold.

nabi claimed Absolue l’extrait is “the first cream that transforms on your skin into a serum.” The texture purportedly helps release the rose stem cells.

lancôme created a tool for applying the product and for massage, as well.

Absolue l’extrait is to be launched in April in europe, Asia and the Middle

east. it will be carried in the U.S. begin-ning in June in 90 sales points — mainly Saks fifth Avenue, neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman — and online.

in the U.S., the 50-ml. jar is to be priced at $350.

lancôme executives would not dis-cuss sales projections, but industry sources estimate Absolue l’extrait will generate $60 million at retail in its first six months worldwide.

The cream can be used by people of all ages at any time of day or night on faces, around the eye area, plus on hands or chests.

Julia roberts is the face of the

Absolue line and will appear in visuals in-store and in multipage advertorials for Absolue l’extrait, especially in Asia. elsewhere, there will be single- and dou-ble-page ads featuring the product.

Absolue is lancôme’s third-largest franchise, although in regions such as Asia it ranks first due to its premium positioning, said nabi. There, in early in 2011, lancôme created Absolue-dedicated corners and now has almost 400 such locations.

“Our aim is to go to 800,” said the ex-ecutive, adding the concept has started to be rolled out elsewhere, beginning with Harrods in the U.K.

6 WWD Friday, March 23, 2012

Lancôme’s Kiss From a Rose

Adam Levine on Scents, Singing and Style

beauty

By JUlie nAUGHTOn

WOMen Aren’T the only ones allowed to change their minds. rock stars are, too.

Adam levine, who has in the past been an unusually outspo-ken detractor of celebrity fra-grances, tweeted the following on March 5, 2011: “i also would like to put an official ban on ce-lebrity fragrances. Punishable by death from this point forward.”

On March 7 of this year, as reported, he did an about-face by announcing that he planned to do a fragrance masterbrand called 222 by Adam levine, due out in May 2013 — and fellow celebrity fragrance creator and “The Voice” cohort Christina Aguilera quickly ribbed him with the following tweet: “Haha @Adamlevine. What a differ-ence a year makes.…Welcome to the celebrity fragrance family!”

Singer-songwriter and Maroon 5 front man levine, who celebrated his 33rd birthday March 18, takes the teasing in stride: after all, he opines, many celebrity offerings have been, in his words, “lame.”

“i’m not going to lie, i cringed the first time i heard about [the offer of doing my own fragrances],” he said in a recent phone interview with WWD. “All i have to compare having a fragrance to are all of the other fragrances. But at the end of the day, i thought that it was a cop-out to say, ‘Oh, that’s lame. i don’t want to do that.’ i love

fashion; there are a lot of things i’d like to express creatively in the world. i like to think that i have decent taste, so why not try it and do a good version? Just to say no and not to try to elevate this is a cop-out.

“i’ve seen cool, sexy, inspir-ing things in fragrances,” he continued, mentioning Dior Homme as a favorite. “if i’m em-ulating those things, then i love it. if i’m not putting any effort into it, if i’m cashing in and just letting it go and having nothing to do with the creative process, i’m not interested.” levine’s fra-grance licensee, iD Perfumes, is

headed by ilia lekach, who has had extensive experience in ce-lebrity fragrances, and whose current company also holds Selena Gomez’s scent license.

And, of course, there are the financial benefits. “People do

this to make money, i’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “Obviously, there’s a financial part to this as well. But there are other things that come into play, too, and i’m not just going to sign off on something if i don’t love it. i want to tailor it to me as much as humanly possible.” levine loves “architec-tural, very basic crafts-manship — simple and elegant. This will reflect that, absolutely.”

While most celebri-ties launch with one scent, levine decided to do two, one for men and one for women — most-ly, he said, because al-though he embraced the idea of unisex, it didn’t quite work in practical application. “The occa-

sional anomaly aside, men and women are too different,” he said. “So we’re going with men’s and women’s scents.” Jokingly, he promised, “They’ll be the scents of greatness.” The men’s and women’s scents are expect-ed to be sold in department and specialty store doors in the U.S., as well as duty free. eventually, they could expand to Canada,

Mexico, South America, the U.K., europe, the Middle east, Asia and the far east, where iD Perfumes distributes. While iD Perfumes isn’t discussing juice details yet, the eau de parfum will be sold in 1-oz., 1.7-oz. and 3.4-oz. sizes, for $36, $45 and $65, respectively.

Could the stylish singer turn to fashion next? levine doesn’t rule out doing an ap-parel line one day, but it’s not on the front burner. “i don’t re-ally feel the need to do a cloth-ing line as long as Tom ford exists, because i can just wear his clothes,” levine quipped. Turning serious, he said, “i don’t want to spread myself too thin — i’m already in danger of that. i’m trying to just focus on the things i can really do my best. You start multitasking too much, and the quality of what you’re doing starts to diminish.”

Among levine’s current projects: a new album; nBC’s “The Voice” and, of course, the fragrances — and he is also reportedly developing a sec-ond TV series for nBC that in-volves karaoke. He is also said to be in final negotiations to star in the second season of fX’s “American Horror Story.” Overcommitted? Probably, but “having a somewhat casual at-titude about doing it [all] has probably made me capable of doing it,” he said. “i’m doing these things because i’m en-joying them, and i’m pushing myself harder and harder to re-ally go the distance with every-

thing,” levine added. “i guess, at this point, i’m incapable of not trying my best.”

He calls “The Voice,” on which he is a vocal coach for what is nBC’s version of “American idol,” “a blast.”

“This show has inspired me in amazing ways i never thought possible,” said levine. “it has given the band sort of a second life that we never really saw coming. i live a very charmed life that i don’t ever take for granted. i wake up in the morn-ing and feel like the luckiest man in the world. i’m a confi-dent person — but i still think, confidence aside, [success] has a lot to do with timing, making the right decisions and being lucky. All i know is, it’s a lot of fun. if you’re lucky enough to stumble upon these types of things, to not embrace them with open arms is a waste.”

Although levine has released a few tweets regarding Maroon 5’s upcoming album — chief among them that the album will be “very self-aware” — he re-mains fairly mum on the release, tentatively slated for a summer launch. “You spend a lot of time playing in a band together with all these guys, and we thought, let’s really go for it. every record is a chance to outdo yourself.”

And that, he said, is at the heart of everything: “i’m in a band. All these wonderful things on the periphery are fine, but i want to be in a band. i want to go on tour. That’s what i do. i can forget that sometimes.”

The ad for Absolue

L’Extrait.

Adam Levine

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WWD.COM

NEW YORK — E.l.f. Cosmetics wants to grow up.

After debuting online in 2004 with just 13 items, the brand’s revenues hit $20 million in less than two years. Now, E.l.f., which stands for ‘eyes, lips, face,’ is expanding its store distribution in a move that puts the brand on track to reach more than $125 million in retail sales this year, according to in-dustry sources.

The goal is to expand door count by 30 to 35 per-cent this year in both the U.S. and on a global basis. E.l.f. currently is the num-ber one mass brand in terms of share of beauty traffic online, according to the company. Founder and chief executive officer Joey Shamah said more merchants are experiencing the pull of the value brand, as most items are less than $5.

To take it to the next level, E.l.f. recent-ly tapped former Markwins International senior vice president Shawn Haynes for the newly created role of vice president of sales. Retailers credit Haynes, a 15-year

veteran of the beauty business, with helping reinvigorate Markwins’

brands, including Wet ‘n Wild.E.l.f. also has the financial

backing to expand, thanks to TSG Consumer Partners, a private equity firm that ac-quired a minority stake in the firm last year. TSG, no strang-er to beauty, was the investor

in Smashbox prior to its sale to the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc.“We really matured as a com-

pany between 2010 and 2011,” said Shamah. “We are ripe to continue growth online and in stores. Shawn brings a unique skill set and an invaluable sea-soned approach in selling to traditional beauty outlets.”

Haynes said his experience in under-standing the mass market would help E.l.f. navigate the peculiarities of selling to mass retailers.

Target was among the first to give E.l.f. a shot in a limited store test, and have since rolled it out chainwide. E.l.f. also is sold in Kmart and Meijer and is gear-ing up to launch in Wal-Mart. Its online presence offers the chance to test prod-uct performance before taking it to the stores. “We have over 1,300 stockkeeping units online and we launch new items every month,” said Haynes. “We have the ability to spot a trend, test it and bring it to market faster than any other brand in our space.” One collection that has been a success online and is now being rolled out to stores is Studio, a more upscale line that includes a new lengthening mascara. A bevy of new items are hitting shelves and cyber retail including a zit zapping concealer, a glitter eye shadow, a face line filler, shimmer sheets and lotion wipes.

By COURTNEY SMITH

SALVATORE FERRAGAMO is banking on its new women’s fragrance, Signorina, to live up to its youthful name and lure a new generation of young consumers to the stately brand.

So far, the results have been encour-aging, according to Luciano Bertinelli, chief executive officer of the Ferragamo Parfums division of the Florence-based Italian fashion house. The fragrance has been launching in stages around the world since December, and this week Signorina made its New York debut with a party at Julian Schnabel’s Palazzo Chupi in the West Village. During the party, which was enlivened by a performance by singer Coco Sumner and her band, I Blame Coco, Ferragamo executives portrayed Signorina is the right vehicle to raise the fashion house’s global fragrance profile.

Michele Norsa, chief executive offi-cer of the Salvatore Ferragamo Group, pointed out that a youth-oriented fra-grance with a light formula is the best bet to appeal to markets around the world, especially in sidestepping the usual con-tradiction with Asian tastes, which nor-mally shun the heavy formulas favored in the West. Bertinelli added that Signorina was chosen as the springboard to give Ferragamo a more hip image.

It is the first time the house is investing in national magazine advertising in the U.S., he pointed out, and is putting money into p.r. to generate blog-driven buzz. True to his word, on Monday the company will unleash a social networking digital feature, “The Girls About Town,” which will track the daily doings of some of the Ferragamo partygoers — the ad-vertising face Bianca Balti and her friends Rachel Chandler Guinness, Alexandra and Theodora Richards and Lauren Remington Platt — as they wan-der through their favorite hot spots. The digital content will be available on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr.

Signorina was launched quite differently from typical global introductions, For maximum im-pact, distribution was unrolled in successive stages with a series of parties around the globe, be-ginning in Moscow in December, then Dubai and now New York. Next up is Mexico City in the last week of May, according to Bertinelli. The last stop will be

in July, either in Shanghai or Beijing, he added. Early this month, the fragrance began rolling out in the U.S.

The distribution list adds up to 272 doors and includes Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor, macys.com, Ferragamo’s boutiques and Neiman Marcus. After a week of selling at Bloomingdale’s Howard Kreitzman, vice president and divisional merchandise manager, said, “We are quite pleased with the initial results.”

The global rollout began last December with Holt Renfrew in Canada and Harrods, which had a three-month U.K. exclusive. In February, the fra-grance went on sale in Russia and in the DFS chain of travel retail stores. The fra-grance went on counter this month in the Aerporti di Roma store in Rome’s airport and in outlets in Dubai. Bertinelli said the Mexican launch is set for the end of this month, with the full Latin American rollout planned for August. Signorina is due in China in September.

“So far, so good” is how Bertinelli summed up the early selling. At Harrods, “we almost doubled our budget,” and the business at DFS “almost doubled our ex-pectations.” In Russia, Signorina is being sold in the 400 doors of the E’Toile chain, where the fragrance ranks second with 12,000 pieces sold in a month.

Bertinelli explained the positioning of the new fragrance. “Signorina is the first step for a young lady into the world of Salvatore Ferragamo’s fine fragrances,” he said, citing the fragrance’s core de-mographic of 18- to 30-year-old women. “It’s an evolution of the brand image,” he continued. “We really wanted to make a strong statement and upgrade our fra-

grance image, which is sophisticated in the true Italian style.”

To complement Signorina’s sophisti-cated, youthful positioning with an auda-cious streak, perfumers Sophie Labbé and Juliette Karaguezoglou of International Flavors & Fragrances created a cheeky eau de parfum in the floriental fruity ol-factive family. Juicy top notes burst with currant and pink pepper, surrounded by a heart of fresh jasmine, rose and peony petals with a soft drydown of patchouli, panna cotta and musk.

Two grosgrain bows in contrasting, light-pink pastel colors dominate the packaging. “It’s a play on Salvatore Ferragamo’s iconic symbol, the Vara bow,” said Bertinelli. A square glass fla-con is evocative of a jewel box, embossed with the Salvatore Ferragamo logo and topped by a pink-gold bubble that refer-ences similarly colored frames on the outer packaging. Price points open at $74 for a 1.7-oz. eau de parfum, $98 for a 3.4-oz. version and $42 for 6.8-oz. body lotion.

For the advertising, Italian top model Balti appears in a single- and double-page print campaign shot by Mikael Jansson.

A film campaign directed by Sonia Sieff features Balti as the protagonist who wakes up in an opulent bedroom, reads an anonymous love letter and playfully dresses for a romantic en-counter with a faceless date.

Ferragamo executives declined to break out ad budgets. But according to industry estimates, the company will spend about 2.5 million euros, or $3.3 million, on its U.S. media campaign.

Since its creation in 2001, Ferragamo Parfums division has more than tripled business, which Bertinelli credits to an optimization of market support and an increase in direct presence. “We’ve opened subsidiaries in Italy and the USA, along with local offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Miami,” he said.

During the first nine months of

2011, the fragrance division accounted for 6.7 percent of total Ferragamo turnover, up from 5.9 percent in 2010, which closed to the tune of 781.6 million euros, or $1.03 billion at current exchange, in total rev-enue. Bertinelli said recently he would like to eventually build the fragrance di-vision’s share of Ferragamo turnover to 10 percent of the total.

Executives would not disclose sales targets for Signorina, but industry sourc-es estimate that the company is aiming for first-year global sales of 35 million to 40 million euros, or $46.3 million to $53 million, at retail, with 5 million to 6 mil-lion euros ($6.6 million to $7.9 million) of the that total generated in the U.S.

Signorina is the latest introduction to follow the September 2011 global launch of its male fragrance, Attimo Pour Homme, part of the woody oriental olfactive fam-ily created by noses Alberto Morillas and Ilias Ermenidis, and faced by 47-year-old Roman actor Alessandro Gassman. The worldwide launch was forecast to reach 90 countries and cross 15 thousand doors. Attimo Pour Homme was given an ex-clusive preview in July 2011 at Harrods, which surpassed expectations. Bertinelli noted that more than 1,000 bottles had been sold despite a drop in store visitors.

Annalise Quest, general merchandise manager for beauty at Harrods, noted that, in 2011, fragrance was one of the fastest growing categories in beauty at the department store. “Ferragamo Attimo Pour Homme has performed well and is amongst the top five male fragrance launches at Harrods in 2011,” she said.

“Fragrance has two main values: first is that it’s a significant business — it’s a little more than 6 percent of our total turnover,” said Norsa. “Second, through communications, it allows us to reach a much larger and younger audience with the advantage of using media — television and Internet — in a different way.”

— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PETE BORN

7WWD FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012

Signorina Arrives in the U.S.

Retail Expansion Fuels E.l.f.’s Growth Spurt

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Coco Sumner performing at the Signorina launch party.

Signorina, the fragrance.

Assorted E.l.f. Lip Stain colors.

WWD.COMWWD friday, march 23, 20128

Longoria Launching Sultry Second Eaubeauty

By Rachel BRown

as GaBRielle solis, the feisty former model turned scheming suburban wife who tempts the men of Fairview, eva longoria turned up the heat on aBc’s “Desperate housewives.” now, the ac-tress is doing the same for her fragrance franchise.

longoria’s second fragrance, eVamour by eva longoria, is the sul-try counterpart to her lighter, fresher namesake debut scent, which, in 2009, was licensee Falic Fashion Group’s en-trance into the celebrity fragrance arena. Perfumer annie Buzantian at Firmenich composed the floral, fruity musk.

“You have different fragrances for dif-ferent moods,” said longoria, speaking last week between scenes on the set of “Desperate housewives.” “if you are feel-ing seductive and sophisticated, wanting to go out and make a bolder statement, you wear the second one. if you are work-ing around other people in an office, the first one might be more appropriate.”

when she started in fragrance, longoria, whose allergies had frequently been aroused by perfumes, explained it “was born out of necessity. i wanted to create a perfume i could wear, so it grew it out of some selfishness.” with eva by eva longoria accomplishing that goal, she set her sights on developing a deeper fragrance to round out her scent offerings.

“i’m not used to something that is so layered, and the second one is pretty lay-ered with some pink lady apple and red currant. The first fragrance is a little sim-pler,” said longoria. “it is like when you start drinking wine. i started with white wine and have gone into the more com-plex, red wine. i am taking baby steps into the more complex notes.”

longoria is not taking baby steps with her career, however. “Desperate houswives” will end its eight-year run in May. as that phase of her career winds down, longoria has been taking to the big screen in a larger way and will be seen soon in movies like “long Time Gone,” co-starring Virginia Madsen and sam Trammell, and “cristiada” with andy Garcia and Peter o’Toole. she also is a national co-chair for President obama’s reelection and plans to go on the road campaigning for him.

although she won’t be at a loss for things to do post-“Desperate housewives,” longoria doesn’t sound quite ready for the show to wrap. “i haven’t really put a lot of thought into it because we have two more months of shooting, but i do think i will be a total mess on the last day of shooting,” she said. “it has really given me all the op-portunities that i have now. it has given me the global platform and global recog-nition to be able to do something like a perfume and movies and produce and my advocacy. i’m really grateful for the ride.”

in the manner of Mary J. Blige,

Mariah carey and Jennifer lopez, longoria is heading to hsn for eVamour by eva longoria’s exclusive U.s. launch with five hours of program-ming on March 29, a day dedicated to beauty on the home shopping channel. The launch strategy represents a shift for the Falic Fashion Group, which kicked off eva by eva longoria with a department store rollout.

“we have seen many successful celeb-rities go on home shopping and know-ing how eva is — her personality and friendliness — i just am very positive about how she is going to be with an au-dience, talking to the customers directly about herself and the fragrance,” said Jerome Falic, chief executive officer of Duty Free americas, parent company of hollywood, Fla.-based Falic Fashion Group, the fragrance licensee for Jennifer aniston and longoria.

industry sources estimate eVamour by eva longoria, which will retail for $45 for a 1.7 oz. eau de parfum, could gener-ate upward of $15 million in first-year retail sales volume, similar to what eva by eva longoria was estimated to have generated during its first year on coun-ter. outside the U.s., Falic is opting for traditional retail distribution, and the fragrance will ship to south america and the Middle east, among other regions, in 60 to 90 days. social media marketing will support the domestic launch, while magazine ads will break abroad.

Betsy olum, general manager of beau-ty and merchandising strategy at hsn, said eVamour by eva longoria’s perfor-mance on the channel “can be up there with Mariah carey and Jennifer lopez.” she enthused, “when we saw it, we just fell in love with it. it really reflects who she is. it is very seductive, but there is also this playfulness to it that plays off her personality. The red colored bottle represents what she stands for in terms of women, power and amour. it all ties back to who she is, and i love when there is that deep connection between the fra-grance and the person.”

and what will hsn viewers get to know about longoria when she pres-ents eVamour by eva longoria? “i’m the exact opposite of Gabrielle,” she re-vealed. “They expect to see some man-eating, crazy person, but they will see the real me.”

A visual for the new scent.

w23a008a;8.indd 1 3/22/12 6:05 PM03222012180649

fashion behind closed doors.

FALL/WINTER 2012 SEASON

Coming Next Week

ISSUE 02

WWDSTYLEMEMO PAD

MEDIA MOMENTS: ‘The Hunger Games’

star Jennifer

Lawrence compares

real-life media

scrutiny to the big

screen. PAGE 11

Touchdown Tokyo

TOKYO — Karl Lagerfeld brought the Chanel plane, last seen at the house’s January couture show in

Paris, to the Japanese capital, along with Vanessa Paradis, Sarah Jessica

Parker and a few more of his regular travel companions, as the

designer continued his visit. For more, see page 10.

PHOTO BY STEPHANE FEUGERE

THAT OTHER ZUCKERBERG: Randi Zuckerberg, the former head of marketing at Facebook and sister of its founder Mark Zuckerberg, is getting ready to go out on her own. She left the social media giant in August and started R to Z Studios, “a new kind of media company,” that she’s not ready to talk about. She said it’s in stealth mode. “In Silicon Valley, that means you almost know what you’re doing but you’re not quite sure, so it’s mysterious and sexy and shrouded in a level of secrecy.” As of Thursday, the Web site only had a logo and the company’s Twitter feed had 29 followers.

Zuckerberg said she’ll reveal more about R to Z in a few months, before the launch this summer, but in the meantime she’s traveling the country and giving speeches to companies such as Condé Nast. On Tuesday, she stopped by 4 Times Square to speak with the publishing side of Brides magazine, which is undergoing a transformation of its own. The title will unveil a redesign in May.

Since this was a speech to the sales side of the title, Zuckerberg focused her comments on marketing and the top trends in social media. “We just fixed this list before we got here, because it’s constantly changing. The sharing economy is big in social media,” said Zuckerberg, adding that people want to live a luxury life on a budget. “It’s rent the runway, or private jets where you can rent a seat or rent a luxury home for a fraction of the cost.”

She said crowd sourcing is important, noting that Sports Illustrated did this with its cover and Target turned to Facebook to ask shoppers how to give away $5 million to philanthropic causes. “Target saw a 2 million increase in its ‘likes’ because of this,” she said. Some businesses, such as Gilt Groupe, are growing their loyalty programs through social media. On Gilt’s Facebook page, those who “like” it, get a one-hour preview to select sales.

One of the reasons Zuckerberg left Facebook was due to the success she had with Facebook Live, a live-stream interview format that within nine months of launching had President Obama hosting a town hall. “We were like, where do we go from here? Justin Bieber?” She’s now repped by CAA and her company apparently has a production arm to it. “We were nominated for an Emmy and I found out two months after it happened,” she said. “We lost to Anderson Cooper reporting live from Haiti in a ditch. So, I guess that’s OK.” — AMY WICKS

A BIT MORE FROM CARINE: Carine Roitfeld, in Tokyo for various Chanel festivities, said she is flying to New York today to work on the September launch of her new magazine. Although she couldn’t be pressed on the name, she said it will come out twice a year and resemble a book. There will be no “front of the book” section and its emphasis will be “fashion with a lot of freedom.” — AMANDA KAISER

MOVING ON UP: Louis Vuitton North America promoted Lesley Thompson Vecsler to director, public relations. Thompson Vecsler joined the U.S. arm of the French house as advertising assistant in 2004 and most recently served as senior p.r. manager, women’s. Prior to Louis Vuitton, she worked in investment banking at UBS and in advertising sales at Vanity Fair. Thompson Vecsler succeeds Tara Hannert, who left Louis Vuitton. The company also tapped Katie Greer as corporate communications manager from Ralph Lauren Corp., where she was brand management director, and, before that, corporate communications manager. Both Thompson Vecsler and Greer report to Nancy Murray, senior vice president, communications. — MARC KARIMZADEH

AN INTELLECTUAL and creative crowd descended on New York’s Del Posto Wednesday evening for the Lunchbox Foundation’s Bookfair auction, including Salman Rushdie, Jay McInerney, Chuck Close, Michael Stipe, Philip Glass, Carla Gugino, Piper Perabo, Parker Posey and Alan Cumming, who performed a mash-up of Katy Perry, Adele and Lady Gaga hits and “Cabaret” standards.

A beaming Topaz Page-Green, Lunchbox’s founder, had persuaded her friends to contribute one-of-a-kind handmade books to raise money for the charity, whose mission is feeding impoverished and at-risk school children in South African townships. “I was struck by her passion,” said Rushdie. “In the beginning, it started with me giving some money. I became a member of the board of advisers. All of us did it because it’s a great cause. We were sucked in by the incredible gravitational pull that is Topaz.”

Most of the books were being sold through a silent auction that began at the event and continues through March 31 on eBay. Three went under the live mallet. Rushdie’s story with illustrations by Francesco Clemente sold for $17,000,

Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s book with Paul du Toit’s art, went for $11,000 and Close’s color Polaroid triptych, “The Story of Topaz,” fetched $110,000.

“It’s amazing what she’s accomplished,” Close said prior to the auction. “And she doesn’t look bad either.”

Event lead sponsor, healthy aging expert and nutritionist Dr. Nicholas Perricone, compared Page-Green’s work with his own efforts in Brazil, where he works with street children. “I started a school and clinic there,” he said. Estée Lauder

group president John Demsey had Occupy Wall Street on the brain. “I hear they’re coming to Midtown,” he said. “We’re occupying Del Posto for Not Occupy Wall Street.”

— SHARON EDELSON

10 WWD FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012

Time Out

AIR CHANEL has landed. Karl Lagerfeld’s team brought

a dose of chic, retro travel to Tokyo, re-creating the futuristic airplane set he used for his cou-ture show in Paris to reprise the same spring collection. The mas-sive set made its home in a large park, surrounded by manicured gardens and the first hints of cherry blossoms.

“I think it will be like it was a flight taking off from Paris and arriving in Tokyo. It’s an-other world,” the designer said on the eve of the show.

Chanel’s celebrity guests, who already made an appearance on Wednesday night at the opening of Lagerfeld’s photography exhi-bition “The Little Black Jacket,” included Vanessa Paradis, wearing a sheer black lace, knee-length dress, and Alice Dellal, who posed for snaps in a jinricksha, the Japanese equivalent of a rick-shaw, before entering the venue.

Sarah Jessica Parker, who wore an ivory tweed dress and swept her hair into a bun,

said she has been enjoying her fourth trip to Tokyo.

“We’re trying to just see towns more on the perimeter —very local communities,” Parker said. “We went to a beautiful town that has a lot of traditional little hardware stores. And we also went to [the temple] Senso-ji. It was beauti-ful,” she said, adding that the food was a particular highlight.

Parker, who is traveling with her young son, mentioned that she had also paid a visit to the iconic Tokyo toy store Kiddy Land.

Dellal said her time in Tokyo has been “so overwhelming” but she is enjoying herself.

“I love not knowing anything about the city I’m in,” she said. Dellal also mentioned that she hopes to have some time to do a bit of shopping before she leaves the Japanese capital. “I need to buy more useless stuff I’ll never need — but that’s what I love doing,” she said.

— AMANDA KAISER AND KELLY WETHERILLE

Japan Society

Lunchbox Largesse

FOR MORE PHOTOS, SEE

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Clémence Poésy

The Chanel runway.

Alice Dellal

Karl Lagerfeld

Carine Roitfeld

Sarah Jessica Parker

WHAT BRINGS Tom Brady, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiki Barber, Ed Burns and Swizz Beatz together in one room? A watch — specifically the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.

The brand feted the watch’s 40th anniversary in style Wednesday at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, where an exhibition devoted to the Royal Oak inhabited the venue’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall, where cocktails were held, followed by an Olivier Cheng-catered dinner.

Swizz Beatz made his way down the red carpet in an eye-catching pair of studded, monogrammed loafers by Christian Louboutin.

“We just did the Crazy Horse in Paris,” the musician said, referring to his collaboration with the designer. “Nobody expected us to get together and do that.”

While Beatz talked about his penchant for collecting, Schwarzenegger made a beeline past the assembled press and Brady, who rolled up the sleeve of his Tom Ford suit to reveal his own Audemars Piguet model.

“I have several [Audemars Piguet] watches. It’s the one piece of jewelry men do wear,” said Brady, who blushed when asked if he had been as interested in fashion before he met his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen.

“That’s the same question she asks me,” he said. “Yes, I just didn’t have as many bucks in my pocket then. Now, I can afford nicer clothes. I think I’ve always had an eye for it. Maybe a little bit of my creativity comes out in the way I dress.”

— ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

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Fashion scoops FABRICATED FITCH: Fake Abercrombie & Fitch Web sites came to light on Thursday when they highlighted a style of brown men’s cargo pants whose name included a racial epithet. Abercrombie-and-fitchoutlet.com is one of the more realistic-looking of the phony sites. The sites selling the offensive pants are reportedly registered to users in China. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. executives could not be reached Thursday evening, but a receptionist at the company’s New Albany, Ohio, headquarters said he was instructed to read callers a statement: “The offensive Web site is obviously not Abercrombie & Fitch’s. It is the work of a pirate, almost certainly offshore, seeking to trade on A&F’s reputation. This matter has just come to A&F’s attention and we have already started the necessary processes to have the site closed.” The letter was signed David Cupps, vice president of legal. — SHARon EDElSon

J BRAnD EYEInG RETAIl: J Brand, the Los Angeles-based company which earlier this year expanded into ready-to-wear from its enviable base in women’s and men’s premium denim, is preparing for its next move. Jeff Rudes, chief executive officer, told WWD that the company is looking to open its first stores, flagships in New York and London, within 15 months and has begun the process of exploring particulars such as store design and site location. Pressed to identify what other additions might be ahead, Rudes quickly pinpointed shoes and handbags, the latter perhaps not surprising considering the investment of Coach Inc. ceo lew Frankfort in the denim-centric company. “We got into ready-to-wear after six years in jeans,” Rudes said. “Retail wasn’t in our five-year plan. We move slowly. We aim for consistency.” — ARnolD J. KARR

nEIMAn’S CHInA MoVE: The Neiman Marcus Group said Thursday that it is taking a “noncontrolling” strategic stake in Asia-based e-commerce company Glamour Sales Holding by investing $28 million. This will be the American retailer’s first foray into China. Neiman Marcus said it intends to launch a full-price, luxury e-commerce Web site in China through Glamour Sales by the end of 2012. Part of Neiman’s investment will be used to help Glamour Sales expand its flash-sale business in China and part will be used to build Neiman’s new site in the country. Neiman’s will relocate executives to China from its headquarters in Dallas to work on the project.

Glamour Sales Holding was founded in 2009 by entrepreneurs olivier Chouvet and Alain Soulas. It operates the leading, authorized flash-sale Web sites in Asia. In 2009, Thibault Villet, the former president of Coach’s China operations, founded Glamour Sales China. The company also operates a flash-sale e-commerce site in Japan. — lARA FARRAR

TAlKInG THE TAlK: In Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” the blockbuster young-adult novel of televised blood sport in a dystopian future, the titular contest’s teen combatants face two crucibles.

There is, of course, the all-out battle to the death that comprises most of the narrative’s action. But before the fight gets under way, the contestants must also brave a pregame media assault that echoes, among other contemporary media trends, reality television, oprah-style confessional interviews and that eternal quest for total narrative oversight from the p.r. department. On Tuesday night at the School of Visual Arts Theater in

New York, the young actors of the book’s inevitable on-screen adaptation went through a scaled-back bit of the latter at a screening hosted by The Cinema Society and Calvin Klein Collection.

“I mean, there were a couple moments when I was reading the book and she was forced into these clothes and makeup and didn’t feel like herself and then had to get on camera and make people like her, where I was like: ‘Huh, I know how that feels,’” said Jennifer lawrence, who stars as the book’s fierce heroine Katniss Everdeen, as she walked the red carpet. “But, fortunately, I’m not dealing with a life-or-death situation.” — MATTHEW lYnCH

HIS oWn TRoUBlES: Lawyer Giampiero Martini suspended himself on Thursday from his role as administrator in the government-backed bankruptcy protection procedure of Mariella Burani Fashion Group, following house arrests that were not in connection with this post. According to a legal source, Martini was victim of an extortion and illegally used funds that he was managing in another case of bankruptcy.

The other two state-appointed MBFG commissioners, Francesco Ruscigno and Rossella Strippoli, will continue in their efforts to rescue the group as they expect binding offers for it to be filed by April 2. According to sources, Albisetti and Ittierre owner Antonio Bianchi has been kicking the tires of the group’s manufacturing facilities in Italy’s Cavriago.

MBFG produces the Mariella Burani brand and collections for Ungaro and Matthew Williamson under licensing agreements. The group was declared bankrupt two years ago. — lUISA ZARGAnI

MoDEl STUDEnT: The French Institute Alliance Française kicked off its annual “Fashion Talks” series in New York on Wednesday, with Reed Krakoff as the first of its three-designer series (Stefano Pilati speaks next Tuesday, followed by Dries Van noten on Thursday). Interviewed by Pamela Golbin, chief curator of the Musée de la Mode et du Textile at the Louvre, Krakoff riffed on much of the expected: his tenure at Coach, the challenges of establishing his own line and finding the right balance between the two. Yet one of the more exciting moments of the evening came when the designer

reflected on his schooling. “My parents would not let me go to Parsons unless I got a degree in economics, and I barely got it,” said Krakoff, who received his B.A. in economics and art history from Tufts University. And when he finally told his mother that he wanted to be a designer? “She said, ‘What if you’re no good?’”

— lAUREn MCCARTHY

ColE To BoDY SHoP: The Body Shop said Thursday that it has appointed British model lily Cole as its first global brand advocate. Cole appeared on stage at a Body Shop event in London Thursday night. “We were talking for a year and I can’t tell you how inspired I’ve been by the work that [The Body Shop has] done,” said Cole during the event. “I think they’re such an aspirational business, and an aspirational model to other businesses, to show that you can have a really positive attitude to the people, planet and animals and that you can also be really successful.” — nInA JonES

RACHEl RoY UnPlUGGED: Rachel Roy has challenged her team to join her in going technology-free — no BlackBerry, no iPhone, no laptops, nada. Their 24-hour digital fast will start at sundown tonight as part of the National Day of Unplugging. Without the near-constant distractions of Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and the like, staffers plan to reconnect with friends and family, which is just what their boss is hoping for.

Roy said, “I have urged them to stop the e-mailing, texting, tweeting and Facebooking for one day to notice the world around them. This will allow them to bring some balance to their increasingly fast-paced way of life and make time to connect with family, friends, the community and themselves!”

Her staff is so intent on holding out that a few wagers have been placed, according to Roy, who has asked Facebook fans to predict which employee will be the first to buckle. — RoSEMARY FEITElBERG

REISS IS THE WoRD: Reiss, a British brand beloved of the Duchess of Cambridge, is

expanding rapidly into the U.S., its popularity fueled in part by the new royal connection. Earlier this week, the British brand opened shops-in-shop at Bloomingdale’s in SoHo and Roosevelt Field in New York, and will open four more spaces at Bloomingdale’s stores later this month. By the end of the year it will have a total of 13 shops-in-shop. While the brand doesn’t quantify the “duchess effect” on sales, a spokeswoman said the young royal’s impact has been nothing short of phenomenal.

“We have noticed a significant increase in terms of brand interest and awareness globally, and it has strengthened our existing markets and attracted attention in markets we are yet to enter,” she said. Kate wore Reiss’ cream Nanette dress for her engagement portraits, and the caramel-colored Shola bandage dress for her meeting with the obamas last spring. The bright blue, double-breasted coatdress she wore earlier this week for her maiden speech in East Anglia was also a Reiss.

“From a sales perspective, both [the Nanette and Shola] dresses sold out very quickly online, and in the U.S. the Shola dress sold out before stores even opened their doors. People were calling our customer services number, and buying over the phone,” she said. With regard to the Shola, she said the surge in Web traffic caused the Reiss Web site to crash, and then the dress promptly sold out online within hours after the service resumed. It also sold out in all stores, including those in the U.S. “We reordered the dress and it sold out again very quickly,” the spokeswoman said.

The Nanette was a slightly different story: It was no longer available by the time the official engagement portraits came out, but Reiss rereleased it due to customer demand. “We sold out very quickly online. At one point we were selling one per minute for a few hours until the dress sold out,” she said.

As for the Trina — the blue dress that Kate wore earlier this week — that was from the autumn 2008 collection. It’s no longer for sale, but Reiss said there was a “significant uplift” in its online traffic as soon as the pictures of the duchess were published. — SAMAnTHA ConTI

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McCartney Does the Games

Hermès Income Spikes 41% in 2011

Lululemon Q4 Profits Rise 34.2%By VICKI M. YOUNG

LULULEMON Athletica Inc. on Thursday posted double-digit gains in profits and revenues for the fourth quarter and full year, noting that it reached the $1 bil-lion revenue mark for the year.

For the three months ended Jan. 29, income attributable to Lululemon rose 34.2 percent to $73.5 million, or 51 cents a di-luted share, from $54.8 million, or 38 cents, in the year-ago quar-ter. While gross profit for the quarter rose 45.7 percent, it fell by 2.2 percent as a percentage of net revenue to 56.3 percent from 58.5 percent. Revenue rose 51.4 percent to $371.5 million from $245.4 million. The company

said comparable-store sales rose 26 percent, while direct to con-sumer revenue increased 103.6 percent to $50.1 million. Diluted earnings per share reflect the two-for-one stock split on July 8.

For the year, profits were up 51.1 percent to $184.1 million, or $1.27 a diluted share, from $121.8 million, or 85 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose 40.6 percent to $1 billion from $711.7 million.

Christine Day, chief execu-tive officer, said in a conference call to Wall Street analysts that the company’s e-commerce site, launched last April, now repre-sents 11 percent of total sales.

She added that the goal in the fourth quarter was to “enter 2012 with a strong inventory po-sition to break the cycle of chase

and we are pleased to say that in [the first quarter of 2012, we have] strong sales momentum due to a clean inventory and strong flow of products.”

Day emphasized that the com-pany has “found the right bal-ance” between delivering strong growth and maintaining its focus on innovation and execution.

The company expects first quarter diluted EPS between 28 and 29 cents on a revenue range of $265 million to $270 million.

For the year, Lululemon ex-pects diluted EPS between $1.50 and $1.57 on a revenue range of $1.3 billion to $1.33 billion.

Shares of Lululemon rose 2.5 percent to close at $75.95 in over-the-counter trading on Thursday.

Thomas joked, saying that he expected the operating margin this year to come in somewhere between 2010 and 2011 levels.

Hermès previously reported that sales rose 18.3 percent in 2011 to 2.84 billion euros, or $3.95 billion, on the back of a better-than-expected performance dur-ing the crucial year-end holiday season, adding that it expects revenues to con-tinue growing at a double-digit rate this year, depending on how well it can keep pace with demand.

“Globally, worldwide, I can’t say that we have felt any real dip anywhere. The trends remain positive,” Thomas said, commenting on the performance in the first few months of 2012.

The luxury house is opening two leather goods factories in France this year and plans to hire at least 600 addi-tional people, more than half of them in its workshops, to cope with bottlenecks that have curbed sales of some items, such as leather goods.

Brandishing some of the company’s re-cent bestsellers, such as the Toolbox bag and a Graff silk square designed by street artist Kongo, Thomas said the priority this year would be to adapt the company’s output to higher-than-expected demand.

“Of course, we won’t tamper with the standards of quality and excellence of the house, but we will go as fast as we

can with production capacity. This is par-ticularly true for leather goods,” he said.

However, the executive noted, the firm is able to bring on stream only 20 artisans a month on average, meaning sales of leather goods should increase by only 10

percent in 2012. Consequently, Hermès will open just

three stores in 2012 and renovate 12. Last year, Hermès opened 13 units, renovated or enlarged eight stores and took over four concessions.

“We believe that we have a reser-voir of organic growth with our exist-ing activities, but this is also true of our stores, who complain of not hav-ing enough Hermès products to sell, so the first mission is to supply them,” Thomas said. “There is no point open-ing stores if you can’t supply them. It’s a bad investment.”

Hermès plans to increase prices by an average 3 percent in 2012, reflecting a rise in the cost of raw materials such as gold, silver, cashmere and silk. This com-pares with an average 1 percent rise in 2011, he said.

Asia, including Japan, remained the brand’s biggest market in 2011, with 45 percent of sales.

Among the major openings this year will be a Maison Hermès flagship in Shanghai, incorporating retail and cul-tural spaces, as well as a restaurant. Greater China accounted for 19 percent of sales in 2011, up from 17 percent the previous year, while continental China represented 7 percent, Thomas said.

In the first concrete indication of the performance of Hermès-backed Chinese luxury brand Shang Xia, he said its first store in Shanghai, opened in 2010, had a turnover of around 2 million euros, or $2.8 million, in 2011. As reported, Shang Xia is due to open additional stores in Paris and Beijing this year.

By SAMANTHA CONTI

LONDON — Stella McCartney made history at the Tower of London Thursday as the first fashion designer to create the uniforms for Britain’s Olympic athletes.

McCartney and Adidas, the official sportswear partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB, unveiled a series of environ-mentally friendly uniforms for Britons taking part in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

McCartney, creative direc-tor on the project, and Adidas displayed performancewear for the more than 900 athletes who will be taking part in 46 different events in London this summer. The pieces, which have been engineered to suit the individual sports, all fea-ture an abstract take on the Union Jack in blue and white, with red details.

“It was important for me to stay true to that iconic design, but also to modernize it and present it in a contemporary way. Ultimately, we wanted the athletes to feel like a team and be proud with the identity we created,” said McCartney in an interview.

Some 30 Olympians includ-ing heptathlete Jessica Ennis, swimmer Ellie Simmonds, and the triple-jumper Phillips Idowu showed off the uniforms during a launch event at the Tower.

McCartney has been work-ing on the project for more than two years and has created training kit, presentation suits, footwear, and accessories in addition to the event uniforms.

The designer said creating the uniforms was a challenge.

“The athletes have so many different needs and disci-plines, and the technology that Adidas uses can also be chal-lenging: You can’t print over

certain seams, for example, and the scale of what you are designing differs with each sport,” she said.

Adidas used materials in-cluding Techfit PowerWeb, which is designed to mirror mus-cles’ movements, and Climacool, which draws heat and moisture away from the body.

McCartney said she’s par-ticularly proud of having added a dose of femininity to the wom-en’s wear: Jackets are belted and gently flared at the waist, gymnasts’ leotards feature se-quins, and hockey shorts are disguised as tiered miniskirts.

“In the past, I think the women were handed men’s jack-ets and that was it — the look was very masculine,” she said.

McCartney said the jackets for men and women all have de-tachable linings and ticker tape messages inside saying: “Only the best for the athletes.”

The collection also has its green credentials. McCartney said tennis player Andy Murray’s shirt is made from 100 percent recycled polyester, and the equivalent of 500,000 plastic bottles has been used for other fabrics and trims.

Replica ranges of the British team uniforms will go on sale next month, including soccer, tennis, cycling and swimwear.

{Continued from page one}

Warnaco Plots Five-Year Planurban street and mall locations in the coming years. A rollout would revive a previous retail plan that was shelved due to the 2008 financial crisis and reces-sion. McCluskey said Warnaco has been heartened by the per-formance of the SoHo unit in New York, which has been “ter-rific over the last 18 months.”

Asked by an analyst about the rationale for exiting its European ck Calvin Klein bridge business, which will be taken in-house next year by PVH Corp., McCluskey said Warnaco had been losing money on it. Due to the anemic econo-my in Europe, Warnaco did not want to open 50 stores for the brand, as required under the license. Warnaco was failing to meet minimum sales thresh-olds under the license, forcing it to pay “sizeable” penalties to Calvin Klein Inc., a unit of PVH.

Under the five-year plan laid out by Warnaco executives, op-erating margin will advance from 11 percent last year to 14 percent in 2016, as earnings per diluted share climb from $3.96 to $8, a 15 percent compound annual growth rate, or CAGR.

Over the next five years, Warnaco’s Calvin Klein un-derwear and jeans business is mapped out to grow from $1.9 billion last year to $3.1 billion in 2016, international sales from $1.5 billion to $2.8 billion, direct-to-consumer sales from $700 million to $1.7 billion and heritage brands — encompass-ing Speedo, Chaps, Warner’s and Olga — from $600 million to $900 million.

Asia will double in size by 2016 to become the company’s largest market, said newly pro-moted chief commercial officer Mark Whyman. This year, China will surpass South Korea as the

company’s largest Asia market and become the second biggest market globally for the compa-ny, after the U.S. By 2016, China will account for $400 million in revenue, with store count there jumping from 129 today to 280.

Warnaco’s direct-to-con-sumer channel is expected to grow from $700 million in 2011 to $1.7 billion by 2016, with a CAGR of 18 percent. The com-pany operates 1,760 stores, a number slated to swell to 2,710 in five years. Asia and Latin America are the prima-ry areas of store growth, with Europe focused on improving store productivity.

Warnaco’s chief financial of-ficer Lawrence Rutkowski point-ed out the company’s share-holder return over the past five years was 97 percent, beating out Ralph Lauren Corp. (81 per-cent), VF Corp. (81 percent) and Coach Inc. (47 percent).

A McCartney-Adidas jacket

for British Olympians.

{Continued from page one}

Hermès plans to slow the pace of store openings and focus on boosting production to meet demand.

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