Missoni CEO on plane missing in Venezuela

ARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Rescue crews used boats and aircraft on Saturday to search for a small plane that disappeared off Venezuela carrying the CEO of Italy's iconic Missoni fashion house and five other people.
But more than a day after the BN-2 Islander aircraft disappeared from radar screens on its short flight from the Venezuelan resort islands of Los Roques to Caracas, no sign of the plane had been found, officials said.

"We have no other news" about the plane carrying Vittorio Missoni, the head of the company; his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni; two of their Italian friends; and two Venezuelan crew members, said Paolo Marchetti, a Missoni SpA official. He spoke briefly to reporters as he left company headquarters in the northern Italian town of Sumirago on Saturday afternoon.
Missoni's younger brother, Luca, who is active in the family-run business, was reportedly traveling to Venezuela on Saturday to monitor search efforts.
"We're holding onto a glimmer of hope," said Oswaldo Scalvenzi , a relative of Elda Scalvenzi, one of the Missoni friends aboard the flight. "Until we can see the wreckage" hope will remain, Scalvenzi told Italian state TV on Saturday night.
Search teams were using a plane and a helicopter, working together with the Venezuelan coast guard, Venezuela's National Civil Aviation Institute said in a statement Saturday.
The twin-engine plane had enough fuel on board for a three-hour flight, said Francisco Paz Fleitas, president of the civil aviation agency. Paz said the plane took off at 11:39 a.m. on Friday and had been expected to arrive at Caracas' Simon Bolivar International Airport 42 minutes later.
The civil aviation agency said the authorities declared an alert after the plane didn't make contact with the control tower at the Caracas airport or with the tower in Los Roques.
"The last position registered in radar data and those supplied by a system on board the aircraft" was about 11 miles (18 kilometers) south of Los Roques, the agency said in the statement.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Venezuelan aircraft, boats and helicopters took off at dawn Saturday to resume the search for the missing plane, which had been suspended on Friday night.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol announced that the plane was missing hours after it took off from Los Roques, a string of islands popular for scuba diving, white beaches and coral reefs, and where the Missonis and their friends were on vacation.
Reverol said on Friday that two navy patrol boats were involved in the search and that a specialized oceanographic ship, the Guaicamacuto, also had been deployed.
Vittorio Missoni is the eldest son of the company's founder, Ottavio, who at 91 still follows the business.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that Ottavio and his wife Rosita were at their home in Italy, along with their daughter Angela, waiting for information about the search. Rosita Missoni designs housewares for the company, and Angela is the company's creative director.
The Missoni fashion house, with its trademark zigzag and other geometric patterns in sweaters, scarves and other knitwear, is one of Italy's most famous fashion brands abroad. It is scheduled to display its latest menswear creations at a fashion show in Milan later this month.
Vittorio Missoni played a key role in marketing the Missoni family creations in Asia, especially in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea as general director of marketing for Missoni SpA. He also spearheaded a push for the company's products in the United States and France. His efforts to expand the brand abroad led Missoni to be dubbed the company's "ambassador."
Vittorio Missoni has been described as an active sportsman and lover of the outdoors. He and his wife and their friends from northern Italy were scheduled to fly back from Caracas to Italy on Friday after spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays in the islands.
The plane disappeared shortly after takeoff on a flight of about 95 miles (150 kilometers) from the islands to the Caracas airport.

Other small planes have gone down or vanished on flights between the archipelago and the mainland.
On Jan. 4, 2008, a plane on a flight from Caracas to Los Roques disappeared with 14 people aboard, including eight Italians. The body of the plane's Venezuelan co-pilot later washed ashore, but despite a search lasting weeks no other victims or the wreckage were found.
In 2009, a small plane returning from Los Roques with nine people aboard plunged into the Caribbean Sea, but all survived.

Zilli to open in Washington, D.C

Zilli, the luxury French men’s wear brand that opened its first U.S. flagship in Manhattan in 2009, is set to open its second U.S. store this week in the Washington, D.C., area.

Zilli general manager Laurent Schimel said the label opted to take a 1,615-square-foot space in Tysons Galleria in McLean, Va., to appeal to the powerful men who call that area home. He added that Tysons Galleria is one of the most profitable malls in the country and draws many congressmen.
The Washington-area shop incorporates dark mahogany wood, leather and brass elements. “Our clientele is looking for privacy and great service when they shop,” Schimel said.
Targeting “men of power” between the ages of 30 and 60, Zilli has been posting double-digit growth in spite of a dour economic climate, according to Schimel.
Founded in 1970, the Lyon-based brand is known for its signature leather jackets that come in calfskin and lambskin suede and are priced at about $12,000. Dress shirts retail for $600 and shoes from $800 to $6,000 depending upon skins, which include crocodile.
Stateside, the label has a flagship in the Four Seasons hotel on New York’s 57th Street, and the line is also sold in two specialty stores in the U.S. Down the road, Schimel would like to have stores in Bal Harbour, Fla., California and Las Vegas, he said.
There are 45 freestanding Zilli units worldwide, in Asia, Russia, the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. Schimel said there are four new stores in the pipeline for 2013, including two in China.
He is projecting 2012 sales to increase 15 percent to 85 million euros, or $112 million at current exchange, and to rise to 100 million euros, or $131.9 million, in fiscal 2013.

Gaston-Louis Vuitton Book: The Trunk

Louis Vuitton’s grandson Gaston-Louis Vuitton was a trunk aficionado, as his collection of photographs and newspaper cuttings attest. It was these that 11 French writers were granted access to for inspiration. The resulting short stories — by Éliette Abécassis, Fabienne Berthaud, Marie Darrieussecq, Virginie Despentes, Nicolas d’Estienne d’Orves, Patrick Eudeline, David Foenkinos, Philippe Jaenada, Yann Moix, Véronique Ovaldé and Bruno de Stabenrath — have a narration that begins literally inside a trunk. Aptly, the pieces have been assembled in an anthology entitled “The Trunk.” 


Due out in March, the 356-page book is being published by Les Editions Louis Vuitton and Les Editions Gallimard. 

A limited-edition, leather-bound version will be available — in French, English and Japanese — in Louis Vuitton stores and through louisvuitton.com for 50 euros, or $66 at current exchange. The bookstore edition will be in French.

GAP BUYS INTERMIX!

Gap Inc. has acquired specialty retailer Intermix for $130 million in cash.

The transaction closed Dec. 31. The deal expands Gap’s presence in the growing global luxury retail market and comes at a time when the $15 billion San Francisco-based retailer, which has been in turnaround mode for more than a decade, seems to have found its groove again. It posted third-quarter earnings in November in which net income jumped 60 percent from last year.

Intermix’s senior team of Khajak Keledjian, cofounder and chief executive officer, and Adrienne Lazarus, president, will continue to operate the business from New York. Keledjian moves over to the role of chief creative officer. Both report to Art Peck, president of Gap’s Growth, Innovation & Digital division. Peck spearheaded the acquisition, working with Glenn Murphy, chairman and ceo of Gap Inc.
“Intermix has a distinctive position in this growing market with clear competitive advantage,” said Murphy. “Their record of merchandising with a keen eye towards mixing multiple designer labels, complemented with exclusive product, is appealing to their loyal customers. This strategy reflects the strength of their brand vision and leadership team.”
Keledjian expressed pleasure at the deal, adding Intermix has “found a partner that has the global scale and infrastructure required to support our vision for growth.”

Source: WWD

Christian Louboutin & Yves Saint Laurent; Fight OVER!

A Manhattan federal district court entered a final order Thursday confirming that Christian Louboutin has no further claims against Yves Saint Laurent over red monochrome shoes and dismissing the lawsuit.

After 18 months of wrangling, a New York federal appeals court in September backed the validity of Louboutin’s red-sole trademark but said the French shoemaker would only be able to protect its mark when it comes to red-soled shoes with contrasting uppers. That decision gave YSL the right to continue selling its monochrome red pump. Louboutin first sued YSL in April 2011. As the case moved back to a New York federal district court for further evaluation of YSL’s counterclaims, YSL a month later dropped its claims against Louboutin. Thursday’s court order merely confirms closure of the litigation between the parties.
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J. Crew's CEO Responds to New York Times' Op-ed

Listen; I agree with Mickey...There is so much going on in the world that NY Times felt it was "fit to print" a customer complaint.
 J. Crew Group chairman and chief executive officer Millard “Mickey” Drexler wasted little time in responding to Delia Ephron’s Dec. 23 op-ed piece in The New York Times that castigated J. Crew for a botched online gift order (wrong merchandise sent to the wrong people and places, no gift-wrapping, cards “buried deep in the packaging”), and asserted the shift to holiday e-commerce has made seasonal gift-giving “as mundane and problematic as all our Web purchases, which in my family include paper towels and toilet paper.”
Bemoaning “intimacy replaced by expedience,” Ephron has resolved to never order Christmas presents online again.


M. Drexler - CEO J.Crew















Drexler’s response, published Thursday, expressed surprise “that a customer complaint was elevated to an indictment of online retailing,” which, he argued, “offers convenience, saves time, adds value and provides access to goods and services that might otherwise be difficult to obtain.”
J. Crew has shipped more than a million packages worldwide since Thanksgiving, the ceo noted, and Ephron’s experience, however unfortunate, “is hardly the norm.
“We certainly acknowledge that what is warranted in this situation is a sincere apology, but not a generalized defamation of an efficient and valuable way of shopping today,” Drexler concluded.
GO MIKEY!!!!

source: WWD

Luxury: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

For the past few years, we’ve been hearing lots about the burgeoning luxury market and how strong sales have been for luxury brands, despite the recession ($40,000 backpacks, anyone?). Only now, according to analysts, have those numbers begun to wane for certain labels.
Brands like Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry all reported slow growth this quarter compared with years passed, in addition to seeing stocks fall this year.
But, why? According to a new report in the Financial Times, it’s because of an increasingly important factor in a luxury brand’s success: ubiquity.
Ubiquity is “the new buzzword for luxury” and, having too much of it is now “a major concern” for luxury brands, according to an HSBC analyst.

Perhaps the strongest example of a luxury brand that may be suffering from too much ubiquity is Burberry–a brand that has been heralded for its strong, clear brand message; outstanding social media presence; and success in attracting customers overseas.
But could those same characteristics now be hurting the British heritage brand? Burberry issued a profit warning in September after years of record-breaking sales.
Like most luxury brands, Burberry has been focusing on growing its Chinese customer base by opening stores and staging events, potentially at the cost of other, more discerning customers. “The need to reach new consumers is beginning to conflict with the perception among those consumers of what constitutes luxury,” writes Scheherazade Daneshkhu.



Other qualities contributing to ubiquity: retail availability, number of diffusion lines, and exclusivity by cost and product assortment.
Don’t pull out your investments just yet. Some brands are still doing fine. Hermes, for instance, remains the most exclusive of exclusive luxury brands and their sales and profitability targets have increased this year.
So what can brands do now to curb their ubiquity? According to the Financial Times, Vuitton is already making an effort by slowing Chinese expansion in favor of making their existing stores even more luxurious with VIP rooms and personalization. “You need the very unique pieces, not just logo,” said PPR CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, who may soon be investing in a new luxury brand.
It seems safe to say that in coming seasons, luxury consumers can expect more personal attention and expensive, limited-edition items. It will also be interesting to see if and how much these companies will be willing to slow down Chinese expansion, when the Chinese have just recently officially become the largest consumers of luxury goods in the world.
In addition to customers becoming increasingly discerning, perhaps this all goes back to the age-old idiom that we all just want what we can’t have.