Valentino Group buys a stake of Proenza Schouler

[seanutbutter]

but i would like this so much better if it was more in the way of backing and not an actual purchase of their label. as i stated,i completely understand the financial struggles but nobody just seems to want to take that chance of supporting talents in that way these days.

I second this. Your last sentence is something I especially agree with, however sad of a thought it may be.

 

[lucy92]

Great expectations for Proenza Schouler
By Suzy Menkes

Friday, September 7, 2007
International Herald Tribune

Lazaro Hernandez picks up a military hat - the kind of plumed helmet a colonial soldier might have worn - and pulls out the clump of feathers with a big, infectious laugh. In the space goes a pompom bigger than the tail of the little dog that is running round the loft studio in New York's Chinatown.
"It's insane," said Hernandez, explaining how he and his partner, Jack McCollough, berated the milliner until he got the idea of hats with alternative decoration as the crowning glory of the runway show on Friday.
The design duo, both 29, go under the name of Proenza Schouler, coined from their mothers' maiden names. It might not trip easily off the tongue but it is the name in the news, especially because this is the first show under their new partnership with Valentino Fashion Group. Even if the two designers with an edgy, modern take on couture had not been hot since they founded their fledgling business five years ago, the current drama of Valentino's resignation has put them in the limelight.
"There are more expectations," said McCollough. "But a sense of relief business-wise."
After selling a 45 percent stake in the business for $3.7 million, the |Proenza Schouler duo are in a stronger position, no longer having "to scout for sponsorship - such a grueling process," as Hernandez puts it. But the designer also admits that the new investment brings them to a turning point of "being kids and now adults."
"We have to hang on to some sort of freedom," Hernandez said. "But we're growing up. Visually, how do you translate that idea into a narrative?"
Proenza Schouler has, from the start, represented sharp-edged contrasts: an uptown sensibility but with a raw energy and dense decoration contained in a taut silhouette. This season, the colonial soldiers are uniform and correct, but with savagery just around the corner.
"A wild animalistic quality," said McCollough, showing fabric that looks like tribal feathers but is in fact raw silk, its threads pulled and dyed with an animal print. Like a vest in a lush fabric that is turned inside out to show its cotton lining, or the feathers that captivate both designers treated to look like fur, these are clothes with a depth of texture within the firm outline.
"A lot of our aesthetic is based on the idea of contrasts," Hernandez said, emphasizing that their joint love of haute couture in its 1950s heyday comes through the prism of the recent era of grunge. "We're kids of the '90s," he said.
With their new backing, Proenza Schouler is the first house of its generation to be embraced by the fashion establishment. Their story is already legend: two friends at Parsons School of Design in New York who started working together; and a chance airport encounter with Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue, in which Hernandez, emboldened by his mother, gave Wintour a paper napkin on which he wrote in lipstick-red crayon of his fashion hopes and dreams. Wintour enabled an internship for Hernandez at Michael Kors and for McCollough at Marc Jacobs. They went on to win fashion awards in the United States and to have a smash hit last spring with a low-priced line for the mass-market retailer Target.
Apart from giving the name to the company, their mothers have played a key role.
"Every young boy who is interested in fashion - the first memory of clothes is your mother," Hernandez said. McCollough has just reignited his experience as a small boy living with his parents in Japan by going back to that country and merging memories of his mother's elegance and her Chanel No. 5 perfume with Japanese fishermen's work wear. The result is slender outfits with kimono sleeves in woven fabrics.
The two work together, both sketching. (McCollough works on computer paper and with a bolder hand than the more delicate details from Hernandez.) McCollough says that both are equally inspired by their fetish book of Christian Dior from 1947-1957, looking at the Irving Penn images of high fashion at the beginning of each season.
"Libraries are our thing," said McCollough, explaining that they are not into flea market vintage clothes. Although they like to escape to the country, where McCollough's dog is as huge as his partner's is tiny, the clothes, with their sensual built-in bras and beaded embroideries, look like part of a cityscape.
"Our sensibility leans more towards urban," Hernandez said. "But we like things that are aged and have a patina. Urban doesn't have to be slick. We are not catering to 'uptown' customers - we are not into definitions. We want to avoid being pigeonholed."

 

[lucy92]

Proenza Schouler Designs
A New Financial Model

By VANESSA O'CONNELL
Wall Street Journal

When the fashion designers behind the Proenza Schouler label send their spring collection down the runway in New York today, an important new fan is expected in the front row: Stefano Sassi, chief executive of Italy's Valentino Fashion Group SpA.
The company, home to the Valentino label and the Hugo Boss men's fashion house, in July bought 45% of the five-year-old Proenza Schouler (pronounced pro-EN-za SKOOL-er) for $3.7 million.
The deal is the latest in a new model for promising young designers seeking to expand yet keep at least some degree of control of their names. They are wary of problems like those faced by Helmut Lang, Jil Sander and Joseph Abboud, who could no longer use their own names after parting ways with their new owners. At the same time, investors are more willing to be creative in deals with designers.

In May, New York designer Narciso Rodriguez sold a 50% stake in his name to apparel giant Liz Claiborne Inc. for $12 million. Liz Claiborne created a new company to develop the brand, with Mr. Rodriguez as creative director. Designer Peter Som, whose label is eight years old, is close to a deal with NRDC Equity Partners, the retail developer and owner of department-store chain Lord & Taylor. Mr. Som wouldn't sell his name outright. Instead, NRDC would take a 65% stake in a new company that would license the designer's name. Its investment is expected to be less than $10 million, according to people with knowledge of the deal. "People are accepting now that designers don't want to sell their name entirely," says Gail Zauder, managing partner at Elixir Advisors, an investment bank specializing in luxury brands.
Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, both 29 years old, say the Valentino investment will allow them to start selling handbags next year, while expanding their shoe collection, adding fragrances and opening some boutiques. "We jump on the power bandwagon now," Mr. Hernandez said in a recent interview at the designers' studio in Manhattan's Chinatown.
The two used their mothers' maiden names for their label so they would have the option of using their own names later. "We didn't know what was to happen," Mr. Hernandez said.
Valentino's Mr. Sassi, who met the duo at a Paris textile fair in February, says he respects their desire to keep control of their company. "We saw these two guys, so fresh, so enthusiastic, so open-minded," he says. "They weren't at all prima donnas."

The designers had some leverage. In June, they won the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America's Womenswear Designer of the Year award, in a tie with Oscar de la Renta. Actresses including Chloë Sevigny, Kate Bosworth and Kirsten Dunst have been photographed in their designs. Known for polished, chic apparel aimed at young, urban women, the designers' fall looks include a $3,750 double-breasted shearling-collar coat with puffed sleeves and a $1,150 blazer over a $1,425 shift dress in gun-metal wool. Their apparel is sold in around 50 stores in the U.S., including Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, and another 30 internationally.
The duo met in the late 1990s as students at Parsons the New School for Design in New York. While in his junior year, Mr. Hernandez noticed Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, sitting in the first-class section of his flight from Miami to New York. He approached her, but she was sleeping. He slipped a note under a glass on her tray, saying he loved fashion and hoped she would pass along his name for an internship at a New York design house. Some weeks later, the office of Michael Kors called, offering Mr. Hernandez a job. Ms. Wintour is now a big booster of the Proenza Schouler label.
As seniors, Messrs. McCollough and Hernandez joined to create a collection, using money from their parents. It won the school's competition, and Barneys New York bought the line. Markus Hofels, a German venture capitalist, put up enough money to fund production for the next year. From there, Mr. McCollough says, "it started snowballing." Growth was strong, but the business was still losing money.
The designers faced other hurdles.The Italian mills and factories that produced most of their clothes gave preference to larger brands such as Ralph Lauren and Chanel, resulting in delivery delays for Proenza Schouler. That meant their clothes faced a greater risk of being marked down because many consumers buy high-end clothes at the beginning of a season. Retailers in Japan and other countries wanted the merchandise even earlier, which presented huge logistical challenges.
A turning point for the label came a year ago when they signed on to do a guest collection for Target Corp. for an undisclosed fee, which industry observers estimate at $1 million or less. They created 65 low-priced pieces, plus some accessories, and promoted the line in TV and magazine ads.
The line, which included a $49.99 version of their famous bustier in silk, sold out quickly at many Target stores. Some items even resold later on eBay for much higher prices -- such as $255 for a $35 top.
With the money from Target, the designers bought out Mr. Hofels and began a search for a new investor who could give them an edge in strategy.
By working with Valentino's factories, and having a new Proenza production manager in Italy, the designers expect to produce their collections faster and get deliveries to stores sooner. Valentino's distribution channels will also help Proenza get into more stores in Europe and Asia, the designers say.
Their goal is to reach $25 million in annual wholesale sales in five years, up from about $6 million now, says Shirley Cook, the label's 27-year-old chief executive and partner, who will keep her job as part of the Valentino deal. A new line of sunglasses, priced at $250 to $500, will be shown on the runway today. They intend to open a smattering of boutiques around the world.
Valentino's Mr. Sassi says his company's recent ownership change -- private equity fund Permira Holding bought a 60% stake from the Marzotto family and other investors and is launching a bid for the rest -- doesn't affect his plans to help expand Proenza Schouler.
"Europe and Asia are huge opportunities for them," he says. But "the first priority for now is to support them, regardless of whether they break even or do better than that."

 

[gius]

Oh is this for their new collection?
It sounds really interesting... raw and wild, hmm...

Thanks for bringing the articles in, lucy92

 

[Benn98]

Kering Might Be Trying to Buy Valentino

Rumor has it that Kering might be trying to buy Valentino. Apparently Marco Bizzarri (head of Gucci) approached Valentino’s parent company, Mayhoola, about buying the brand last year, but was turned down. But Mayhoola is said to be “open to listening to proposals,” and has apparently resumed talks with Kering in recent weeks.