MAXWELL’S NEW HOME: Brandon Maxwell is opening his very first store in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
During a resort collection preview, the New York luxury designer said he’s focused on growing his namesake brand, and that since launching his label, he’s had strong business in the Middle East. The flagship soft-launched in May, with plans for a grand opening event in the fall.
“I am honored to partner with the Alyasra family to begin our retail expansion strategy throughout the Middle East region. The Alyasra family values align with our core brand tenants and we share their enthusiasm for bringing fashion and innovation to the world through this region,” Maxwell said of his partnership with Alyasra Fashion. “I began working with clients from the Middle East when I launched my first collection. This store is a natural segue as those relationships have been built throughout the years.”
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“We will continue to expand within the U.S. as we build out our distribution through our wholesale partners, d-to-c [direct-to-consumer] and direct retail,” he added. The brand is planning to open more stores, both domestically and internationally.
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Located in the new retail development, Via Riyadh, Maxwell’s flagship sits among the likes of luxury fashion labels Tom Ford, Elie Saab, Zimmermann and more, as well as accessory labels, fine dining and entertainment. A combination of his resort and spring 2023 collections fill the more than 3,000-square-foot space, and will soon receive his pre-fall 2023 deliveries. The store, designed by architect Sr. Duccio Grassi and his team, features a salon and open store design and will additionally offer a selection of fashions exclusively designed and created for the Riyadh customer, alongside Maxwell’s main collections. — EMILY MERCER
LORO PIANA TAPS SPERANDIO: Loro Piana has named Giuseppe Sperandio image and communication director, reporting to chief executive officer Damien Bertrand.
Sperandio joins the Italian luxury brand from Dior, where he arrived in 2018 as worldwide press, events and celebrities director for menswear. He was then appointed international press and PR director and corporate communication for the womenswear, Baby Dior and Dior Maison collections.
He has built his career at the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton group, which also controls Loro Piana, as he first joined the French conglomerate in 2005 as press product manager for Louis Vuitton Italy. There, he held roles of increasing responsibility, first coordinating press, events and celebrities, and then as South Europe zone press director. In 2013, he moved to Fendi, holding the position of worldwide press director.
At Loro Piana, Sperandio will be responsible for consolidating and further promoting the brand’s image in sync with its overall strategy. He will also coordinate and align the communication and visual merchandising functions, collaborating also with the regional teams.
Bertrand told WWD in March that he was set on changing the image of the brand’s communication, evolving its advertising, “to make the representation of the image more modern but at the same time also more varied.” He has been emphasizing the brand’s craftsmanship, use of precious fabrics and “obsession for quality, which is sustainable.” — LUISA ZARGANI
VF’S PAY PACKAGE: When Steve Rendle retired as president, chief executive officer and chairman of VF Corp. last year — which the company described as “by mutual agreement with the board” — he left some potential large equity payouts on the table.
Rendle forfeited stock and option awards valued at $9.9 million when he left in December, according to VF’s proxy statement, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Rendle did receive a salary of $943,562 and other compensation of $624,475 — including $47,957 to cover paid time off not taken and $456,438 related to a Protective Covenants Agreement he signed. Under the agreement, Rendle agreed to not compete with VF for one year following his Dec. 2 retirement.
Stock and options are typically the biggest chunk of the pay CEOs see, but it is also their most theoretical compensation since the amount of value they actually see depends on how the company and its stock performs.
And VF is going through a tough time right now. Its stock is down nearly 60 percent over the past year after the company struggled with Vans, repeatedly cut its outlook, wrote down the value of its Supreme business by $735 million and ultimately trimmed its dividend payment.
Now the company, parent also to The North Face and Timberland, is being led by interim president and CEO Benno Dorer, the former Clorox Co. chief and longtime board member.
In his new role, Dorer received a salary of $427,397, stock awards valued at $2 million and other compensation of $610,168, as of the end of the fiscal year on April 1.
In May, the interim CEO told analysts: “Fiscal ‘24 will be a year of transition and progress positioning us to accelerate profitable growth in fiscal year ‘25 and beyond. We have an appropriately balanced plan in place for this fiscal year considering our organizational transition. We will show progress in several areas with sensible revenue projections, increased marketing investment and a sharp focus on margin, leading to solid operating profit growth and cash flow generation.” — EVAN CLARK
LEADING SWEATY BETTY: Wolverine World Wide Inc. has appointed Melissa Mullen global brand president of Sweaty Betty, the premium women’s activewear brand acquired by Wolverine in August 2021.
Mullen has held various senior executive roles with fashion, athletic, and footwear brands. Since 2019 she served as vice president and general manager of U.K. and Ireland for Jo Malone London, which is owned by the Estée Lauder Companies. She was responsible for all commercial operations in those two markets, including stores, e-commerce and wholesale.
Prior to joining Jo Malone London, Mullen worked at Nike for more than eight years in a variety of e-commerce and merchandising roles in Europe, Asia, and North America. These included serving as senior director of Nike Direct Retail in the U.K. and Ireland, and as senior director of Nike.com global expansion.
Mullen will report to Isabel Soriano, president of Wolverine Worldwide’s London-based International Group, aligning the brand with the company’s other international businesses and enabling the teams to leverage strengths and resources across functions. She succeeds Julia Straus, who as previously announced, is returning to the U.S. with her family.
“Melissa’s proven track record with consumer-obsessed global athletic and fashion brands makes her the ideal leader to help propel Sweaty Betty forward,” said Soriano in a statement Monday. “Her deep omni-channel experience and industry knowledge will help position the brand for long-term success.”
“Wolverine Worldwide’s strategy includes focusing our efforts and investments on Sweaty Betty and other key brands within our portfolio,” Brendan Hoffman, Wolverine Worldwide’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “I’m confident Melissa will help unlock Sweaty Betty’s global growth potential and forge even stronger connections with its consumers around the world.”
“When the opportunity arose to lead Sweaty Betty, a brand rooted in purpose and deep consumer connections, I knew I had to be part of the next chapter of its story,” said Mullen. She said her mission was to grow the business and empower women through fitness.
Wolverine made its first major foray into women’s apparel by purchasing Sweaty Betty in an all-cash transaction valued at $410 million. Wolverine acquired the shares of Lady of Leisure InvestCo Ltd., the entity that owns the Sweaty Betty brand, from private equity firm L Catterton and other shareholders. L Catterton invested in Sweaty Betty in 2015.
Aside from Sweaty Betty, Wolverine’s portfolio of brands includes Merrell, Saucony, Sperry, Saucony, Sperry, Hush Puppies, Wolverine, Chaco, Bates, HYTEST and Stride Rite. Wolverine is also the global footwear licensee of Cat and Harley-Davidson. — DAVID MOIN
BOYLSTON DOES FASHION: Splits59, the Los Angeles-based activewear brand founded by Jonathan Schwartz, has partnered with Isabella Boylston, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, on a ballet-inspired collection that launched online Monday.
The collection features Splits59 classic pieces with a ballet-inspired twist such as the Airweight jumpsuit, Airweight leggings, Airweight shorts, daisy T, and Airweight bra with ruching, in black, white, heather gray and rose.
The 11-piece offering retails from $58 to $158 and is sold exclusively at splits59.com.
“We really wanted to launch our ballet collection taking a truly authentic approach. We carefully considered the lifestyle of a dancer and what pieces she would need on a daily basis. In order to further this concept, we decided to go to the source and were so happy that Isabella wanted to collaborate on it,” said Shannon Quarantino, vice president of e-commerce at Splits59.
Quarantino had started to see a ballet trend recently, she said. “When we started working on this capsule, we simultaneously started searching for the perfect partner. When Isabella showed interest in working with us, we jumped at the opportunity,” she said.
Boylston was brought in and shown the collection after it was designed to ensure that it would make sense for her day-to-day life as a ballerina, Quarantino said. “When she gave her stamp of approval we knew we had created something for the lifestyle of both a ballerina and our active core consumers who wear Splits59 for every aspect of their life.”
This is the first time that Splits59 has partnered with a ballerina, “but hopefully not the last,” she said. Their current arrangement is just for this season, “but we do have something special coming out around the holiday season, and hope that we can collaborate again,” she said.
Boylston will appear in images on Splits59’s website, in advertising and on their social channels.
Boylston, who was born in Sun Valley, Idaho, started dancing at the age of 3. She joined ABT Studio Company in 2005; the main company as an apprentice in May 2006, and the corp de ballet in March 2007. She was promoted to soloist in June 2011 and to principal dancer in 2014.
Her upcoming ABT performances including playing the title role in “Giselle” on July 17, Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake” July 10 and Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” July 19 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. — LISA LOCKWOOD
SKIMS AT SELFRIDGES: Kim Kardashian’s Skims has taken over Selfridges Corner Shop.
This is the brand’s first European pop-up and will run until July 8.
The space is a collaboration with French-Canadian creative director and designer Willo Perron of Perron-Roettinger, featuring diving boards and palm tree structures.
Chin Chin Labs will provide ice cream for shoppers at the Corner Shop.
“Our customers in Europe have been asking for a Skims pop-up experience since we launched our first pop-up two years ago, so I’m thrilled to bring Skims Swim to London for the first time ever and take over The Corner Shop at Selfridges with our most conceptual pop-up experience to date,” said Kim Kardashian, cofounder and creative director of the shapewear brand.
“We have followers all over the world. As we enter the next phase of Skims retail, I look forward to connecting with these customers through innovative shopping experiences on a global scale,” she added.
In April, Ice Spice made her debut as a Skims model appearing in her very first campaign for the brand.
Skims, founded in 2019, continues to grow, attracting a loyal following (currently 5.1 million people on Instagram) and drawing attention to the larger shapewear industry, even as it expands into other product categories, such as bras and loungewear. Kardashian has also hinted that she would like to expand into men’s basics and shapewear, but no date has been set.
“I’m thrilled to open our first international pop-up experience at the iconic Selfridges Corner Shop. We expect demand and buzz to be high as this is the first time Skims Swim will be available in retail outside of the U.S,” said Jens Grede, cofounder and CEO of Skims.
“The pop-up experience will set the tone for the future of Skims in London, as the cultural and fashion destination is a key market for our global expansion,” he added. — HIKMAT MOHAMMED
ELLE OF A CAFÉ: For years as an editor, Whitney Robinson has been at the intersection of design, fashion, travel and architecture. He is bringing those worlds to life with a new hospitality concept from Elle Magazine, Café Elle, which just opened its first location in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “Think of an elevated café, the places that we love to eat as fashion people, like Hotel Coste….Bergdorf’s,” explains Robinson, describing the idea behind his latest creation.
“There are a lot of parallels I take from my magazine career,” says the former editor, who stepped down from the top post at Elle Décor in 2020 to focus on brand and real estate development projects.
“To think about hospitality as a platform is a new concept, but we are serving an audience in the same way we are serving a reader,” says Robinson. “I love to create environments that spark joy and inspiration.”
Café Elle’s interiors are straight out of a magazine spread — swathed in rich velvets, blush pinks with black-and-white marble with brass accents. The café boasts tabletop settings by Milanese brand La Double J, the first Assouline library in the kingdom and uniforms inspired by Saudi Arabia’s heritage designed by Project Runway finalist Kristina Kharlashkina.
“This project has a great energy of collaboration,” Robinson said, explaining one of the café’s objectives is to provide women and local artists opportunities in hospitality, from the design of the space to the art on its walls and the uniforms and table settings.
Robinson cherry-picked the location for the concept, the luxurious Via Riyadh development.
“[Saudi Arabia] has exploded in the last couple years, and we are seeing this meteoric interest in Western brands,” Robinson said.
Café Elle’s neighbors in Via Riyadh include other famous hospitality names, including the first Raoul’s outside of New York and outposts of Parisian favorites Ferdi and Les Deux Magots as well as London’s swanky Gymkhana. “My friend Brandon Maxwell is also going in here, so the development is really representative of this mélange which we see Café Elle very much a part of,” says Robinson, who envisions the café as a place for brands to host events and tell stories, just like in the pages of the magazine.
Robinson is already scouting locations for the next Café Elle in Doha, Qatar. “I hope to bring them everywhere from London to Lahore,” says Robinson, who holds the license for the Café Elle globally through his company, Whitney Robinson International.
Robinson previously partnered with Ralph Lauren to bring Ralph’s Coffee trucks to the Middle East for the first time with locations in Qatar. “My company’s goals are amusement, education and inspiration. I hope people keep coming back because they want to discover more, whether it’s new tablewear or a fashion brand.” — RITU UPADHYAY
NEW AT RING: Ring Concierge, the growing direct-to-consumer label of engagement rings and other fine jewelry styles, has hired its first chief marketing officer.
Neda Whitney, former senior vice president and head of marketing for Christie’s in the Americas, is joining the company.
Whitney also worked at Spring Studios, Huge, and at ad agency R/GA, where she worked with clients including Tiffany & Co., L’Oréal and Amazon.
She will be tasked with setting a ground-up strategy for Ring Concierge’s marketing and communications activities.
Ring Concierge’s founder and chief executive officer Nicole Wegman said: “We are thrilled to welcome Neda, an accomplished marketing executive with an impressive track record in creating innovative marketing moments that engage both Millennial audiences and luxury consumers around the world.
“We’ve found successful marketing at Ring Concierge requires constant innovation and a willingness to push the envelope, both of which Neda regularly displayed throughout her career. As Ring Concierge continues to scale as one of the fastest growing fine jewelry brands in the U.S., marketing will play an increasingly central role in broadening our reach, appeal and impact.”
The executive added that it’s her goal for Ring Concierge, which she founded in 2013, to become one of the largest privately held jewelry companies in the U.S. The company is still privately owned and has not taken outside investment, it said.
Ring Concierge currently employs a staff of 60 and maintains two physical retail stores, both located in Manhattan. The brand said that year-over-year sales in 2022 grew 104 percent.
Whitney added of her appointment: “The opportunity to share Nicole’s female-founded vision for Ring Concierge, designing timeless fine jewelry pieces without brand-name markups, aligns perfectly with my passions as a marketer. As CMO, I look forward to working alongside her and the fantastic New York City-based team to expand that growth and take Ring Concierge to the next level through innovative marketing solutions and data-driven brand experiences.” — MISTY WHITE SIDELL