Target's "Go International" with Luella Bartley

lucy92

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WWD reports

http://www.wwd.com/notavailable/dotcom?target=/issue/article/102046&articleId=102046&articleType=A&industryKw=issue

Targeting Fast Fashion: Discounter to Showcase Global Designer Lines
By Katherine Bowers
BOSTON — Target is trying to polish its image in fast fashion's heady realm, showcasing limited-edition collections from international designers.

The Minneapolis-based discount retailer is launching Go International, which will kick off in February with the young British designer Luella Bartley.
 
i dont have a subscription so i cant access more information. but i think it sounds great so far.

i really liked targets designs with stephen sprouse.
 
here's the article...thanks for bringing it in :flower:

Target is trying to polish its image in fast fashion's heady realm, showcasing limited-edition collections from international designers.

The Minneapolis-based discount retailer is launching Go International, which will kick off in February with the young British designer Luella Bartley.

"Our greatest strength is our trend leadership and our ability to anticipate what our guests want next," Target president Gregg Steinhafel said during a presentation to investment analysts in New York on Tuesday.

For holiday, Target will also have a 60-day run of merchandise from the oft-recycled Fiorucci label and a limited-edition gift assortment of luxury apparel. Among the items are a cashmere sweater beaded with Swarovski crystals and a silk scarf. For men, the assortment will include silver cufflinks, cashmere sweaters and $29 silk jacquard ties.

Target did not give details about other designers, or the Bartley, Fiorucci and holiday collections, and did not return calls seeking comment.

Steinhafel told analysts that the planned limited-edition collections would temporarily displace a small amount of Mossimo and private label Xhilaration apparel.

Target is well positioned to "participate in the affordable luxury space," said Jeffrey Klinefelter, retail analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. "With savvy marketing and design, they have created a halo for this brand that allows them to sell a $29 tie and have people perceive it as a great value. This would have been inconceivable 10 years ago, and it's simply an unbelievable accomplishment for a discounter."

"We believe great design gives Target a sustainable competitive advantage," Michael Francis, executive vice president of marketing and a creative force behind the bull's-eye brand, told the analysts. "Design for all is our declaration of independence."

The Italian fashion house Fiorucci is known for its Technicolor sensibility, denim, and use of materials such as gold lamé and plastic. Bartley, a fashion journalist-turned-designer, showed a spring runway full of punked-up preppy ensembles and cheeky nautical looks, such as red-and-white striped shirts and eyelet minidresses laced with rope.

Given that Go International will focus on limited-edition collections, the program seems to be as much about generating excitement as about driving sales. Target derives most of its apparel sales from design partnerships with Mossimo, Isaac Mizrahi, Cherokee and Liz Lange in addition to private label brands Xhilaration and Merona. Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig design a line of home decor and loungewear.

"We use public relations buzz to amplify our message" and "level the playing field with competitors who outspend us," said Francis.

Klinefelter said Go International "probably won't generate billions in revenue, but the idea is really to put a focus on the apparel offerings in their stores...It creates the momentum to talk about apparel and for the customer to visit frequently for higher-margin goods."

Events like its vertical fashion show, which featured acrobats wearing Target fashions at New York's Rockefeller Center this summer, and its virtual trunk show presenting Mizrahi's fall collection online "create thousands of media impressions," capture the public's imagination and vastly outstrip the value of advertising dollars, Francis said.

Target, which has been flirting with Manhattan shoppers for years with floating barge stores and other sensational promotions, said it would build a three-level store near Brooklyn College. Chairman and chief executive officer Bob Ulrich described the location as a triangular property near Long Island Rail Road tracks. The store will have a street-level lobby and small, local retailers on the first floor. Target will occupy the second and third floors.

Ulrich said the chain had not yet found an economically feasible Manhattan location, though Target believes there is significant unmet demand in urban areas.

"We have one store in San Francisco, and we could have 10," Ulrich said. "We have two stores in Chicago now; we could have 20. If there is second-tier department store fallout, there could be major opportunities" to buy up the real estate.

The company plans to open 110 stores in 2006. Most of the growth will be in California and New England, in metro areas.

Ulrich said the company would pick up some locations from the May-Federated merger, but does not expect the purchases to move the company ahead of its planned 8 to 10 percent annual square footage growth.
 
fashionweekdaily reports some news about luella's line

http://www.fashionweekdaily.com/scene/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=269492&itype=8488



Daily Spy!
Luella's top-secret Target line

Tuesday, November 08, 2005


(NEW YORK) You’d think it was a matter of national security. Last week’s launch of Luella Bartley’s new line for Target was so hush-hush, most editors weren’t even ushered past the red plastic gates.
Here’s a roundup of the mysterious line, as told to The Daily by our super-hot spy:
The Party
“The whole thing was laid out like a miniature airport. When you came in, they gave you a Baggage Claim ticket, and that let you pick up a Luella tote bag with red cherry print; inside it was a red leather coffee cup for travel.
At the bars, the guys wore captain’s hats like they were pilots, and when it was time for the runway show, it came out of a huge TWA world map. It was a really good show.
There wasn’t a lot of press there, it was a lot of Target businesspeople and all the Germans like Yanna K, the stylist, the Rogan kids, As Four…it was kind of weird. But also, it was a really long event, 6-10pm with four shows! It was never full because they kept moving people through, so there could have been lots of editors at the other sessions…”
The Clothes
“My favorites were citrus-colored skintight jeans, like stovepipe jeans, and they had Luella heart embroidered pockets on the back, really cute. Bright Hello Kitty-colored fitted polo shirts with the little Luella crest on the breast, black and white striped denim jackets with denim skirt, but it’s a really thick hand-painted stripe, and the skirt was mini.
There were amazing high-waisted little bubble skirts, really crazy, they sit right on the waist and they’re like only 13 inches, very small, bright colors and a really wide waist band with belt loops shaped with little arrows, gathered around the waist and puffed out. It was very YSL from Stefano Pilati’s first collection.
I also liked the little checked short-sleeve puff blouses with big bow collars; you tie them to make a bow at the neck, they were sweet. A leather jacket for $120 was the most expensive piece, and the cheapest piece is like $16…I don’t know what it was, maybe those little polos.
As for accessories, she did little tote bags with cherries on them, and little pencil case bags with cherries or apples. I know she uses apples a lot, but she was really into cherries this time.
But the thing most like her runway collection were these amazing black and white striped sequined tank tops, like fully sequined in thick stripes, just like from her last collection when she did a dress like that for the runway.
Oh, and there were two prom dresses, little taffeta side-ruched prom dresses with a side bow across the bust.
It was a really short collection, maybe 10 looks, but I loved it.”
You will too, when you finally see it!
FARAN KRENTCIL
 
i want the tote bags with the fruit emblazened on it.

i hope there is luggage of some sort.

i saw the Fiorucci stuff in a teen vogue advert spread. it is strictly for juniors.
 
fiorucci at target? :o

what, are they new old-stock pieces that didn't sell in 1983? :lol:
 
This is great! I wonder if they will carry it in all target stores (I honestly go there at least once a day).
 
by international....will they start to SHIP internationally??? Coz they don't right now.
 
check out the new issue of american elle magazine with madonna on the cover.

they have a three page story on the line with TONS of pictures.

the cherry tennis skirts look exactly like her apple skirts!

there is a green plaid prom dress for 55 dollars.
black dress with a bow for 45.
belted shirt coat for 30.
jeans with ruffles on the back of them
handbags
cuffs and sunglasses.
black and white stripes minis.
long sleeve polo tops. (these look sexy)
bowling jackets.
cherry bras and underwear (they may be swimsuits)
the collection will be available for 90 days and the next designer will be announced in march.

nothing is over 149.99

i can see people fighting over this stuff.
 

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