DALLAS — Victoria Royal could easily wax nostalgic about 50 years of making party dresses on Seventh Avenue, but company executives prefer to look ahead at how to bolster its $14 million business. Focusing on younger styles and evening sportswear is a key strategy.
Alan Sealove, co-owner and chief executive officer, explained, “What’s driving our future? A greater emphasis on modern, chic and younger-looking clothing.”
Sealove’s brother, Elliott Sealove, is co-owner and president. Their father, George Sealove, started Victoria Royal in 1955 with a small group of sequined dresses that wholesaled for $59 and quickly found favor with better specialty stores.
Now more than 550 specialty and department stores, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor, carry styles from its three divisions: Victoria Royal dresses, which wholesale from $199 to $599; Vie by Victoria Royal evening sportswear and separates, at $59 to $199, and Mary Bays, a contemporary evening sportswear line, for $59 to $190.
At retail this spring, the Sealove brothers and Kathlin and Megan Argiro, who are sisters, will launch a new daytime dress company, called Sisters by Kathlin Argiro. It is a separate company from Victoria Royal that is owned by the Sealoves and the Argiros. First-year wholesale volume projection for Sisters by Kathlin Argiro is $6 million, and wholesale prices range from $64 to $95. The collection includes mostly short cotton print dresses.
In the meantime, Victoria Royal continues to see sales climb. The company has had 20 percent sales gains for the past two years, since stores and consumers are responding to updated fit and styling, according to Alan Sealove. For 2005, the firm projects it will generate $20 million in wholesale volume.
“For fall, our collections will more than ever appeal to a broader age spectrum of women, from 20-year-olds to those 60 and beyond. Aging Baby Boomers have changed and want the latest looks, and we’re definitely addressing that need,” he said. “Many 60-year-old women work out and have a body much like their daughters, and we’re keeping this in mind.”
In addition, the company’s design archive with more than 4,000 styles continues to be a source of retro-glam inspiration for its designer, Mary Bays.
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The 150-piece fall Victoria Royal dress line includes a healthy dose of opulence, beading and jewel-tone colors and a spectrum of styles, from sleek, short and sexy cocktail shakers to long, fitted A-line ballgowns.
“We’re doing rich embellishment such as beading, fur trim and embroidery for sure. But there are also clean and more simple product to give retailers a greater selection of merchandise and offer women more options for their wardrobes — including short, midcalf and long hemlines, and black as well as jewel-tone colors,” said Sealove.
“Much of our fabric is imported from Europe and includes silk taffetas, brocades and metallics. Women are dressing up again and aren’t apologizing for spending money and going all-out. It’s chic to have parties again.”
The company will get its own chance to party Friday when it is honored for 50 years in business by FashionCenterDallas, which also has named Victoria Royal guest designer for the market. In October, the AmericasMart in Atlanta will bestow similar honors. Both fetes will include runway shows featuring past and current Victoria Royal pieces.
In line with its growth plans, the company moved last year from a 3,500-square-foot showroom at 550 Seventh Avenue into an 8,000-square-foot showroom at 148 West 37th Street.