here's a new girl in town at The Roc.
The company, best known for its Rocawear clothing line owned and operated by Jay-Z, will launch a new brand, Bella Roc, for fall 2007 selling.
While Rocawear's junior collection is targeted to a 16- to 25-year-old, Bella Roc is geared for a customer in the 25- to 45-year-old range.
"Jay really wanted to develop a new line to hit a broader customer base," said Alain Lafontant, vice president of sales for Rocawear juniors and Bella Roc. "And since the company does well with the men's custom line, Jay said he wanted to do something similar for women."
Although Bella Roc will not be a full line of limited-edition products, the company plans to introduce some limited-edition pieces in each collection. To test the label, the company sold three styles in the brand's temporary store, The Roc Pop Shop, which was open for two weeks through fashion week in New York last month. The company made 100 pieces to sell in the store, including a crystal-encrusted hoodie (retailing for $395), a tank top ($195) and jeans ($500), all of which sold out.
Licensed to Signature Apparel, which also produces the Rocawear junior collection, Bella Roc will be launched as a premium brand, wholesaling from $125 to as much as $4,000. Rocawear wholesales from $28 to $700.
"Price really isn't much of an issue," Lafontant said. "Jay wants us to have freedom to be creative with this brand, to come up with new ideas. This line will really stand out."
Design is in the early stages, so Lafontant said he couldn't give much of a read on ion would look like. He did say that the designers are inspired by Japanese fabrics and would use them in the collection. The designers will pay great attention to details, like crystal embellishments and metallic gold stitching on jeans. Eventually, the Bella Roc brand will include a full line of sportswear and outerwear and may even expand into other product categories.
Lafontant said this line will be treated as a separate entity, with nothing to remind the customer of Rocawear. The brand will not even be seen in the same stores as Rocawear. Bella Roc is being targeted for high-end specialty stores like Fred Segal and Scoop.
"This is a whole new brand; it's not Rocawear at all," he said. "We are going to do things we've never been able to do in juniors."
