Eileen Fisher hosted editors and influencers Tuesday morning for breakfast at 1 Hotel Central Park in New York City to showcase the company’s new design direction for fall, as well as an accompanying ad campaign titled “Generation Neutral.”
The idea behind the campaign and the collection is to offer timeless pieces that endure and are relevant for multiple generations, said Lisa Williams, chief executive officer of Eileen Fisher. The company aims to challenge the brand’s perception as only for older people, or “your mom’s brand,” said Williams. The tagline of the campaign is, “We design clothes for every generation.”
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The company took the opportunity to introduce the brand’s design team that includes Julie Rubiner, vice president of design; Marie Shinohara, senior director, product and technical design, and Sasha Zwiebel, senior manager, design concept (and Eileen Fisher’s daughter, a graphic artist who left an architecture career to join her mother’s company), who spoke about designing clothes for every generation.
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“I kind of have this sense that we’re moving into a new era,” said Eileen Fisher, the company’s founder. About a year ago they started thinking, “Where are we going, what’s happening with the brand, and what’s the future?” she said. She gathered the teams and brought 30 people, including leaders and creatives, together to brainstorm. “I always love mixing the leaders and the creatives because two different things come out of that moment.” Basically what came out of it was Fisher gave “permission to the next generation to design what they love,” because for years it was always what she loved.
When Fisher hired Williams as CEO four years ago, she decided to step back from running the company to focus on creative design. She said she was ready to transfer “the soul of the company,” which is creative. She feels confident that her design team, who has been with the company for several decades collectively, love the DNA of the brand, the essence, they care about the deep mission and sustainability, “and they just care deeply about the history and the future of the brand.”
“I can stay home, they’ve got it,” quipped Fisher, who plans to work on other brand activities and the Eileen Fisher Foundation.
What also came out of the brainstorming was the need to be bolder in their communication. The brand has appealed to an older customer, who grew up with it. While they love their customers and want to honor them, they also want to bring in the next generation. They hired model Stephanie Cavalli to appear in the “Generation Neutral” ad campaign that will run digitally, out-of-home and in print in the fall. “It’s putting us out there in a larger way,” said Williams.
Rubiner, who’s been with the company nearly 18 years, said they started thinking about who is the Gen X woman. She said the Eileen Fisher design team spans this generation and younger. The collection includes simple shapes with modern proportions, designed to be versatile and flattering for a broad range of customers. There are slouchy wovens and forgiving knits and sweaters, long jackets, thigh-length tunics, wider and full pants, A-line minis, and some sexy evening dresses and suiting — all designed with a younger, chicer vibe. Outerwear continues as an important aspect of the line.
The designers said the collection includes pieces that are designed to be keepers with the potential to be passed down to loved ones.