NEW YORK — Retailers are receiving the first shipments of three reincarnated women’s better sportswear lines, and soon consumers will get their own introductions.
Sizable ad campaigns for the fall relaunches of Liz Claiborne, Nautica and Calvin Klein collections will make their debuts in September issues of magazines such as In Style and O the Oprah Magazine. Apparel executives hope the campaigns will prompt customers to take a fresh look at the newest incarnation of brands that have struggled in past lives.
“In the past, these brands haven’t delivered on Baby Boomers’ expectations. But now, they have a better understanding of who their customer is and what she wants — modern, trend-appropriate clothes that balance casual and career, with a bit of fashion thrown in,” said Catherine Sadler, president of the Catherine Sadler Group brand consultants here.
LIZ CLAIBORNE
Ninety-seven percent of consumers may know the Liz Claiborne brand, but the trick is getting them to buy it. In the hope shoppers will give its first-born child another chance on its 30th birthday, Liz Claiborne Inc. is returning its flagship line to its designer roots and is tripling spending on the brand’s fall ad campaign.
“Everyone knows who Liz Claiborne is, but some women may have drifted away over the years,” said Pamela Thomas-Graham, group president for better and moderate apparel of Liz Claiborne Inc. “We hope the campaign will make them give Liz a fresh look and come back.”
The ads, created by Gotham Inc., feature black-and-white photos with “Liz Is” scrolled in orange caps across them. “It shows people ‘Liz is’ a lot of moods and occasions and is constantly moving,” Thomas-Graham said. The ads were photographed by Pamela Hanson.
The model, Basia, is in her early 30s, a mother of three and a New Yorker with a “real” figure, said Thomas-Graham.
“We wanted the campaign to reflect the authenticity of the brand — that’s why we moved away from the supermodel,” said Richard Ostell, vice president and creative director for Liz Claiborne Apparel. “I am not interested in dressing celebrities; I am interested in dressing real women. There are a lot more real women than there are celebrities.”
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Although the Liz Claiborne brand is just one of 43 owned by the apparel giant, its products do more than $1 billion in annual sales, representing a quarter of the parent’s $4.85 billion portfolio. Executives would not divulge the total spent on the campaign to redefine the Liz brand, but TNS Media Intelligence estimates that the company spent $5.6 million last fall for all Liz Claiborne-brand products.
Ten-page inserts on stiff paper will break in September issues of In Style and O, followed by ads in magazines such as Redbook and Vogue (Vogue, like WWD, is owned by Condé Nast Publications). The company is also covering New York, Chicago and Atlanta with everything from billboards to in-store appearances by Ostell, who joined Claiborne in 2005.
Reflecting on the Liz brand’s history, Thomas-Graham said, “Because the brand is sold only through wholesale channels, we didn’t have full control, and department stores more and more bought casual pieces from the line. Over time, the brand came to be perceived only as a casual resource.”
Today’s collection emphasizes career and occasion looks. Most pieces still wholesale between $25 and $100 to department stores including Macy’s, Dillard’s and Belk. Some higher-priced, limited-edition pieces will sell at top doors.
CALVIN KLEIN
The new Calvin Klein better women’s line, for which Kellwood Co. has the license, reflects not only the signature Calvin Klein look but that of its brother better line, too. And so do its ads.
“The men’s side has been strong since day one,” said Tom Murry, president and chief operating officer of Calvin Klein Inc. “In the past, there was a disconnect between the men’s and women’s better lines, but this collection is more consistent with the men’s aesthetic.”
The coherence between the two sides of the better business allows both lines to be publicized together. Although past campaigns have included shots with women and men dressed in Calvin Klein better lines, this is the first season where the couple imagery is driving the campaign, which the company hopes will further the lifestyle positioning of the brand.
Photographer Mikael Jansson shot models Doutzen and Gabriel Aubry for the ads, which will run in women’s and men’s magazines, ranging from Real Simple to GQ.
Calvin Klein Inc., which spends about $200 million annually on advertising, does not comment on spending for individual lines, but said total company ad spending was flat from last year.
The cohesiveness of the women’s and men’s better lines results from teamwork between Chris Jackson, vice president of design for Calvin Klein women’s better sportswear, and Kevin Carrigan, the creative director of the women’s better collection, the men’s better line and ck Calvin Klein, the bridge line produced by G.A.V.
Carrigan and Jackson spent significant time in the Calvin Klein archives, settling on the early to mid-Nineties.
“Calvin has done everything, but we focused on the period he is really famous for — his minimal, sexy, architectural side,” Carrigan said. “People have a real identity of what Calvin is, and we wanted to be as iconic as possible.”
The new line also reflects trends in Calvin Klein Collection. “There is definitely a synergy with Francisco [Costa]’s line, but always a season later,” Jackson explained. “We echo his line without undermining his business.”
The fall collection is Kellwood’s first chance to tout its vision since it gained control of the Calvin Klein women’s better line license in September by purchasing G.A.V.’s interest. The companies previously had a joint venture, with Kellwood managing distribution, fabric purchasing, production, warehousing and finances, and G.A.V. handling design, sales, marketing and preproduction.
Kellwood learned from that venture and has made significant changes not only in the look of the line, but also in pricing and distribution. The old line boasted exclusivity, while this fall triples the door count. The collection will be carried in Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Dillard’s and Nordstrom, in addition to about 100 specialty stores — new for the brand.
“Wider distribution is important to grow the business,” said Stephen L. Ruzow, president of Kellwood’s Calvin Klein division. “Before we struggled to make minimums, so this enables us to source better.”
The company also is introducing lower-priced pieces.
“We still have the $248 jackets in our fabrication,” Ruzow explained. “Where we were able to do better is by buying a larger range of fabrics to also make a $198 jacket.”
Ruzow said orders have been impressive. “The retailer has voted, and now the consumer will vote,” he said.
NAUTICA
Nautica is focusing its newest line on “her,” which is also the title of the corresponding ad campaign.
The company, which VF Corp. bought in 2003, shifted half its advertising budget, about $15 million, to women’s magazines in 2004 — the same year it pulled its women’s Nautica Jeans line off the market. The company’s rationale: Most of its men’s purchases were either bought by or influenced by the women in those men’s lives.
“But now is the time to focus on her,” said Denise Seegal, president and chief executive officer of VF Sportswear Inc.’s Nautica and Kipling brands. “Instead of making her part of the men’s campaign, we decided to pull her out. We want to separate her and celebrate her and her life.”
The men’s ads in the women’s magazines will continue, and Nautica created a separate budget for its new women’s campaign, which will not include any men in the ads.
The ads will feature model Shalom Harlow. “We felt her look really embodied what we felt about our target female consumer and her attitude,” Seegal said. “When we thought about that type of person, she looked like Shalom. That dark hair, energetic, classic, timeless.”
The photographs, taken by Peggy Sirota at Lake Mohave, Nev. — in keeping with Nautica’s water heritage — are tightly cropped to create feelings of intimacy. In fact, some do not even show the clothes. They are overlayed with pastel-colored washes to add a nautical, feminine feel, as though out of a watercolor painting. Laird + Partners, a New York-based ad agency that also does the men’s ad campaign for Nautica, created the concept.
The ads will first appear in the fall issue of People’s Style Watch, which hits newsstands Friday, to be followed by national issues of September’s In Style and Marie Claire, regional issues of O and People, and local titles in the top 12 markets.
Known for its men’s wear, Nautica has attempted the women’s business before without much success. It hopes the third time will be the charm. The first go was a three-year licensing deal with Bernard Chaus, which ended in 1998. In 2000, it launched Nautica Jeans for women, a line it pulled in 2004 to refocus its efforts on the men’s apparel sector. Nautica already has sleepwear, home and accessories lines targeting female consumers, and it plans to follow this fall’s sportswear launch with a women’s fragrance. Seegal calls women’s wear “one of our greatest growth opportunities.”
The line will be distributed through the same paths as its male counterpart, to “all of the better department stores,” including Macy’s, Belk and Dillard’s, according to Seegal. But for the first season, instead of being carried at 1,000 doors, like the men’s line, it will be carried at 100.
The collection is built on classic pieces like “a great khaki stretch pant, a trenchcoat, soft sweaters, scarf print skirts — the very signature types of products that we are known for,” said Seegal. The pieces will retail from $60 for basic knits up to $300 for outerwear.