NEW YORK — Onward Kashiyama is attempting to transform the method by which fashion collections are designed. Nave, the company’s contemporary brand launching for spring, is the realization of this new concept .
The idea behind Nave is to construct the collection as a retailer would merchandise his specialty boutique. In other words, the core collection is accentuated with pieces from contributing designers. Nave’s core collection features Richard Chai at the helm, serving as consulting creative director, but other designers will sign on to create collaborative mini collections to round out the line.
Additionally, the collection will be launched simultaneously in the U.S. and Japan in February, but will be tailored to each market. In the U.S., Nave will launch with collaborations from Borne, a New York-based contemporary line specializing in tops; Add, a Milan-based contemporary collection that will produce a line of outerwear for Nave, and Rohka, a Milan-based contemporary collection specializing in dresses, tops and skirts.
In Japan, however, collaborations include a pants line, designed by Alice + Olivia, a contemporary brand based here, and a collections of graphic knits produced by the New York-based contemporary line Barking Irons; Ed Hardy, a contemporary line based in Los Angeles; Industry Rag, a Los Angeles-based line, and Lincoln Mayne, a contemporary line based here. The New York-based designer Steven Alan will also collaborate on a collection of woven shirts.
The emphasis in the U.S. market will be placed on Chai’s core collection, but in Japan, the collaborations are the draw and serve as a way to keep up with the demand of the shipping schedule that boasts 52 deliveries per year. The collaborations, which include about three to five pieces per collection, are co-brandings, so labels inside the merchandise will read, for instance, “Alice + Olivia for Nave,” or “Borne for Nave.”
Every season, Onward Kashiyama will select new designers to work on the collaborative efforts so an ever-changing roster of designers is in play, adding to the exclusivity of the merchandise. Those designers who wish to work on collaborative collections repeatedly will also be considered, but the company will constantly be on the search for the trendiest and newest designers from around the world.
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“The concept is very close to the nature of our business,” said Hiroaki Sumi, president and chief executive officer of Onward Retail LLC, the U.S. division of Onward Kashiyama. “We have the experience in distributing brands in Japan, like Calvin Klein and Missoni, but the next step is to expand our business globally. The contemporary market is hot and is not the mass market, it’s for fashion. Even though the market is crowded right now, we see there is some room. Everybody is looking at the West Coast, but we’re focusing on New York.”
Onward Kashiyama looked to Chai to create a casual, yet tailored collection representative of this urban style.
“Consumers today are so educated in the market,” said Chai. “For Nave, there is one focal point, and it is young and item-driven, but others who specialize in their area are injected into the collection.”
Chai is responsible for defining the color palette and the theme of the collection each season. “They’ve been very respectful of my point of view,” he said. “This collection is about the easiness of New York style. It’s not about rules. It’s about taking casualwear and making it elegant.”
For spring, Nave’s core collection features about 35 looks including tailored blazers, Bermuda pants, skirts, blouses, knits and trenchcoats. The wholesale price range of the collection is between $68 for tops and $220 for coats. For the launch, the distribution is limited. The core collection will be distributed to top-tier department stores and specialty boutiques in the U.S. and Japan. Sumi said he expects the U.S. wholesale volume of Nave to reach between $5 million and $8 million in the first year.
“We’ll never enter more than 50 doors. We’ll never go really mass. Keeping it exclusive is one characteristic of Nave,” Sumi said. Doors in Japan will be limited, too, and distributed similarly to the U.S. Additionally, an 1,800-square-foot freestanding boutique is slated to open during the first quarter of 2006 at 159 Mercer Street between Houston and Prince Streets. The store will house the complete collection, including Chai’s designs and the collaborative efforts.
While Chai has his hands full with his own designer collection, he said he is no stranger to working simultaneously on two very different projects. From 1998 to 2001, for instance, he was the design director of Marc Jacobs and was instrumental in launching the Marc by Marc women’s and men’s collections. “I love the challenge of it,” Chai said. “My collection [Richard Chai] is about the evolution of my woman and my craft, but this is oriented toward another aspect of fashion. It gives me the opportunity to work in another market.”
Onward Kashiyama is the top apparel company in Japan with a worldwide network generating net sales of roughly $2.5 billion in 2004. Onward designs, manufactures and distributes its own brands such as J.Press, as well as licensing global brands for distribution in the Japanese market. As part of its current global push, Onward acquired the British retailer and fashion collection Joseph in May and the wholly owned Onward subsidiary Gibo, an Italian manufacturer, acquired the Italian footwear company Iris.
The launch of Nave will be supported by an advertising campaign in both the U.S. and Japan. The campaign will be developed by Douglas Lloyd of Lloyd + Co., who also worked on the general concept and brand identity for Nave. The U.S. media is handled by ADK America, an advertising and marketing agency, based in New York. An advertising campaign is slated to hit women’s fashion magazines and lifestyle magazines in March.
“Basically, we’re taking the notion of a well-edited shop and putting it into the notion of a brand. We’re thinking of it in the way women actually shop and wear clothes,” said Lloyd.