NEW YORK — After pushing two of its bridge brands into uncharted — and unsuccessful — modern sportswear territory, Liz Claiborne Inc. is steering Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman back on track.
Sigrid Olsen, which had a rough spell due to separate issues from the other brands, is also being fixed, according to Trudy Sullivan, Claiborne president. Sullivan says Ellen Tracy has already turned around, and she predicts Buchman and Olsen are a season behind.
“It’s the fashion business. You take a risk and push the envelope, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” she said. “Now we are reengaging the core consumer.”
Sullivan said Claiborne had shaped Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman to the requests of its retail partners during the fall 2005 season.
“We were influenced by what was happening in the marketplace, and we were trying to react to the comments of our retailers, who were looking for bridge-contemporary or bridge-modern,” Sullivan said. “We pushed these lines to be a little too modern, young and pricey. What we learned is that when you push these lines out of their identity, they don’t work. You can’t be Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman for years, and then wake up one day and become a contemporary resource.”
At Bloomingdale’s, where “‘bridge’ has become a bad word,” according to Frank Doroff, senior executive vice president and general merchandise manager for ready to wear, the bridge department is now called “A New View.”
Bloomingdale’s has looked to the contemporary department for inspiration, but Doroff says bridge is “not contemporary, it’s not too young, it’s not stodgy, it’s modern.” Elie Tahari, Eileen Tracy and DKNY are the ideal brands for that retail segment, Doroff added.
“The merchandise had become very stodgy and safe in bridge, and the industry needed a wake-up call,” Doroff explained. “Every manufacturer walks a fine line between trying to attract new customers and not chasing away the old customers. Both [Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman] may have gone too far in trying to attract new customers. The business was difficult last year, but they have made great improvements.”
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Paul Charron, Claiborne chairman and chief executive officer, blamed poor performance of Claiborne’s bridge and better business for the company’s 27 percent profit decline in the second quarter in a July 26 conference call.
“This is called shooting yourself in the foot,” Charron said in announcing second-quarter earnings last month. “It is something of an occupational hazard in the fashion business. We have lived through this before, and we’ll do so again.”
Catherine Sadler, president of the New York–based marketing firm Catherine Sadler Group, called the problems with the three brands “basic fashion missteps.” She said they could possibly be the result of the company “taking its focus off the ball,” while its leaders were preoccupied with management issues, including the search for Charron’s successor.
After replacing Ellen Tracy’s design team, which “wasn’t consistent with the brand’s core heritage,” in April 2005 with Escada’s George Collins Sharp, “who has recaptured the heritage of Ellen Tracy with a more luxurious design,” Sullivan said the bridge brand recovered by spring/summer.
Dana Buchman shared Ellen Tracy’s problem of becoming too modern for its core client, but it is at least a season behind its fellow bridge brand’s progress. Sullivan pointed to the spring launch of the already planned, more casual db LIFE line as a successful step for the brand.
“With Dana, we thought we could get a little edgy and contemporary, and we messed with some of the fits. When you have things that you know work, like fits, that’s sacrosanct. You shouldn’t be fooling around with things that consumers have shown they love,” Sullivan said. “But we’ve fixed the fits and returned to the core, and the consumer has come right back.”
Jill Doneger, a market analyst for the New York–based Doneger Group, the large buying office, agreed the two better brands are recovering.
“I do believe they both, especially Ellen, are back on track,” Doneger said.
Better line Sigrid Olsen suffered a separate set of problems. Sullivan pointed to “fit issues, product missteps, delivery issues and getting a little experimental for the brand.” The fits are back, the products are new, and now the brand can react within 12 weeks, she added.
“We went through a rough patch, but we think Sigrid is an extraordinary brand,” Sullivan said. “It targets the coveted boomer customer, but with a unique point of view in a sea of sameness.”
Andrea Goldreyer, another Doneger Group market analyst, said she saw the brand go off track in fall 2005 and predicted it will see a full recovery by spring 2007.
“The prices got very high, and they didn’t evolve the formula that was working for them, giving their customer the novelty she has always loved from Sigrid,” Goldreyer said. “They have a very good pant base, and they have obviously addressed the fit of the pant, and business has improved with the uptrending of their pant side. They still have a very strong customer base, and we have great hopes they will be back on track.”
Claiborne has learned its lesson: stick to its brands’ signature looks to meet its ultimate clients’ demands.
“We are brand managers that keep the ultimate consumer in our focus all the time,” Sullivan said. “Sometimes that can mean saying no to a retailer.”