Paying less for fashion Essay Example for Free

Paying less for fashion Essay Mr. Rubel, a director of SUPERVALU since 2010, serves as a Senior Advisor with TPG Capital, a leading global private investment firm with $49 billion of capital under management. Until 2011 Mr. Rubel was the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Collective Brands, Inc., the holding company for Payless ShoeSource, Collective Brands Performance Lifestyle Group and Collective Licensing International and a leader in lifestyle, fashion and performance brands for footwear and related accessories. Mr. Rubel joined Collective Brands in 2005 as Chief Executive Officer and President. Among many qualifications, Mr. Rubel brings significant retail and branding experience and experience as a chief executive officer of a large public company, including managing a significant business transformation. Mr. Rubel is a Director and serves as Chairman of the Governance Committee for The Hudson Bay Company. From 2005 until 2011, Mr. Rubel was a director of Collective Brands, Inc., and from 2006 to 2008, Mr. Rubel was a director of Furniture Brands International, Inc., a company that designs, manufactures, sources and sells home furnishings. It is perhaps one of the most representatives CEO of the last years in the fashion world. Her task as leader of Payless has made this company become one of the largest distributors of shoes worldwide. He has managed to position it as one of the most attractive companies to work by the most renowned designers. His work in difficult times was very good and is redeemable know how tackle these big problems could redesign and rethink a new strategy in order to give it another go to Payless. Lela Rose After graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1993, she went to work with two esteemed designers, Richard Tyler and Christian Francis Roth. There she honed her love of couture fabric as well as fanatic attention to detail. In 1998, Lelas vision and passion compelled her to create her signature collection, Lela Rose. Through intricately designed and finely detailed separates, dresses and jackets, Lela has established herself as a renowned designer. The Lela Rose collection is built on a design philosophy of creating hand finished clothes that exude a casual luxury and refinement. The beautiful embellished fabrics are the foundation of this innovative collection and speak to the elegance of its personality with a nod to the era of glamour. Lela Roses collection has garnered her a following of trendsetters across the country. Lelas ready to wear apparel under the Lela Rose label is sold in more than 75 specialty stores nationwide, as well as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and internationally in Canada, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Taiwan and Japan. In Fall 2006, Lela Rose launched the Lela Rose Wedding collection. The collection is a pairing of unconventional fabrics and techniques that are trademarks of the designer. The impeccable quality and couture sensibility of these gowns make them one of a kind. The Lela Rose Wedding collection can be found in bridal boutiques nationwide as well as internationally. With the success of both collections, the Lela Rose brand expanded into footwear in the Fall of 2007. Rose partnered with Payless Shoesource to create the Lela Rose for Payless brand of fashion forward shoes at an extremely affordable price. This collection was followed up by Unforgettable Moments by Lela Rose, a collection of dyeable special occasion shoes that launched late in 2008. Both collections can be found in Payless stores nationwide. In 2009, Lela Rose announced she was launching Lela Rose Bridesmaid, a partnership with the Dessy Group. The Lela Rose Bridesmaid collection can be found in over 200 bridesmaid stores nationwide as well as in Canada and in the United Kingdom. Stacey Bendet. Stacey â€Å"Staceypants† Bendet was born Stacey Wiener in Chappaqua, New York. She graduated from Horace Greeley High School and went on to the University of Penn where she was a member of the gymnastics team. Stacey turned to a life of fashion after an interview on Wall Street. She rollerbladed to the interview in â€Å"orange pants and a fur bomber jacket† only to leave immediately after seeing her competition. Stacey then turned to the internet where she designed web sites for fashion houses. That designing led her and a friend to start â€Å"Alice + Olivia† with their first show involving models wearing â€Å"pants with Partridge Family–style vertical stripes and not much else besides some strategically placed bouquets.† The show was a success with requests from celebrities and stores like Fred Segal and Barneys, where she went on to be a pants designer, came pouring in. As with all of New York’s elite, rumors fly, but Bendet herself is responsible for the one about attending her yoga classes drunk. Also, some say she is reaping the benefits of her parents money and her partner is actually the talented one, while Bendet yells, makes people cry, and takes laxatives all day. Oh, the price one pays for being rich and famous. On the good side, Bendet reportedly does charity work for organizations like the New York Pubilc Library and Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Organization. Designer Stacey Bendet, designs the Alice + Olivia womens and kids collections in addition to a shoe collection for Payless. She has been on the Vanity Fair Best Dressed list for two years in a row. Last year, she was married to Eric Eisner, and the couple had their first child, Eloise Breckenridge Eisner, on November 24, 2008. Cristhian Siriano Designer old Christian Siriano hails from Annapolis, Maryland, and was educated at Baltimore School for the Arts and The American Intercontinental University, London. Inspired by McQueen and Westwood, he is a freelance designer who travels from New York City to Los Angeles to work with designer Rosetta Getty. Siriano’s career in design began when he was 13 years old, as he worked for a local salon where he created costumes for the yearly hair show competition. Upon graduating from the Baltimore School for the Arts, he moved on to study at the American Intercontinental University in London and consequently showcased his small collection on 2005’s London Fashion Week in Fall. He was then given the opportunity to work with Vivienne Westwood, and was consequently given a position at Alexander McQueen. Christian Siriano was one of fifteen hopefuls on season 4 of Bravo’s reality fashion competition, Project Runway. He won three challenges throughout the season: What are The Skinny, En Garde, and The Art of Fashion. At the reunion show, Christian won $10,000 as this seasons Fan Favorite. On the final episode, Christian was named the winner of Project Runway and guest judge Victoria Beckham asked him to design an outfit for her. They have since worked together and he has designed several outfits for her. He has been incredibly successful after the show, teaming up with Puma, Gaia Online, Payless Shoesource and Victoria’s Secret. Aside from launching his own make-up line, he has also penned a book called Fierce Style: How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self. He later appeared on even more shows, including Make Me a Supermodel and Ugly Betty. In 2010, he starred in his own Bravo special called Christian Siriano: Having a Moment, which chronicled the time he spent preparing his collection for Fashion Week. Maxine Clark Maxine Clark is one of the true innovators in the retail industry. During her successful retail career, her ability to spot emerging retail and merchandising trends and her insight into the desires of the American consumer have generated growth for retail leaders, including department store, discount and specialty stores. In 1997, she founded Build-A-Bear Workshop ®, a teddy-bear themed retail-entertainment experience. Maxine was the Chief Executive Bear until June, 2013. Today there are more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-owned stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Mexico and the Middle East. The company extends its in-store interactive experience online with its award winning virtual world atbuildabearville.com. Isaac Mizrahi Isaac Mizrahi holds the distinction of being one of todays best-known American fashion designers. His fame comes from far more than his runway creations, however: Mizrahi is a bona fide celebrity who has applied his abundant energy to a number of diverse projects. In 1995, early in his career as a designer, he was the subject of a widely praised film documentary titled Unzipped. During 1997 he published a collection of three comic books under the title Isaac Mizrahi Presents the Adventures of Sandee the Supermodel. Two years after the 1998 closing of his high-priced clothing design business, Mizrahi explored his love of theater by crafting and starring in a one-man Off-Broadway cabaret show called Les Mizrahi. The following year he began hosting his own offbeat talk show, fittingly called The Isaac Mizrahi Show, on the cable network Oxygen. During 2004 Mizrahi returned to his fashion-design origins with the launch of two new ventures appealing to very different members of the buying public: an affordable yet fashionable line of clothing for discount retailer Target, and Isaac Mizrahi to Order, a company creating high-end custom-made clothing for consumers willing to spend $20,000 on a single dress. Through all of his various projects, Mizrahi has displayed a fun-loving, humorous, and adventurous style, proving that even high fashion need not take itself too seriously. Karl Lagerfield Is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He is the head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel as well as the Italian house Fendi, in addition to having his own label fashion house. Over the decades he has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects. He is well recognized around the world for his trademark white hair, black glasses, and high starched collars. Isabel Toledo Isabel Toledo was born in Cuba and moved to New Jersey where she attended high school and met her future husband and collaborator, Ruben Toledo. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (NY) and Parsons School of Design (NY) where she studied painting, ceramics, and fashion design. An avid seamstress from a young age, Toledos work reflects not only a distinct design sense but a keen understanding of garment construction and appreciation for the geometric intricacies of pattern shapes. In 1985, Toledo presented her first collection. In 1998, she stopped presenting biannual collections, instead choosing to create on her own schedule. Toledo was named creative director of Anne Klein in 2006 after more than twenty years of working solely under her own name. Toledo made her debut with Anne Klein at New York Fashion Week in February 2007.[1] Toledo and Anne Klein parted ways later in 2007. ORGANIZATION INVOLVED COMPETITIVE COMPANIES Walmart: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., branded as Walmart, is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the worlds second largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2013, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and is the largest retailer in the world. Walmart remains a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own a 48 percent stake in Walmart.[5][6] It is also one of the worlds most valuable companies. â€Å"Shoes Cost Less at Walmart From womens shoes, mens shoes to athletic shoes for the whole family, youll find all the shoes youre looking for at Walmart.com. Whether youre checking out the seasons hottest womens sandals or trying to find new kids shoes for their ever-growing feet, our selection of shoes has got it all covered. You can shop our shoes by category to discover everyday low prices on sneakers, styles under $10, work shoes and more. You can also shop our list of best-selling shoes to see the most popular trends of the season. So shop shoes at Walmart.com — and save† Target The Target Corporation, originally the Dayton Dry Goods Company and later the Dayton Hudson Corporation, is an American retailing company, founded in 1902 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, Walmart being the largest. The company is ranked 36th on the Fortune 500 as of 2013 and is a component of the Standard Poors 500 index. Its bullseye trademark is licensed to Wesfarmers, owners of the separate Target Australia chain which is unrelated to Target Corporation. The first Target store was opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota. Target grew and eventually became the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation, culminating in the company being renamed as Target Corporation in August 2000. In 2013, Target expanded into Canada and now operates over 100 locations through its Canadian subsidiary. â€Å"if you’re looking for the latest styles in women’s shoes, Target has you covered. It’s a shoe–in! Pump it up with our wide selection of peep toes,slingbacks, heels and pumps that come in a variety of heights. Indulge in cool neutrals, or select styles in colors designed to pop. Want toshow off that kickin’ pedicure? A pair of strappy sandals will definitely give it the attention it deserves. Sandals with multi–tone designs, glamaccents or uber–cool prints–you name it, we have it. If you have a serious case of FLAT–itude, we also have a large collection of ballet shoes,moccasins, flats, boat shoes and more. Execute a perfect cha-cha or samba in footwear that screams endurance and comfort.† Kohls Kohls Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating 1,146 stores in 49 states as of February 2013. In 1998, it entered the SP 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500 (#146 in 2012). The chain was the 20th-largest retailer in the United States in 2013 in terms of revenue I.n 2011, Kohls was the second largest U.S. store company by retail sales. ASSOCIATED BRANDS Keds: Is an American brand of plimsoll-style canvas shoe with rubber soles. Keds were introduced in 1916 by U.S. Rubber (later known as Uniroyal, then Uniroyal Goodrich, and finally acquired by Michelin). The shoe brand was later acquired by Stride Rite Corporation and is currently owned byWolverine World Wide. When choosing a name, the initial choice was Peds, from the Latin meaning foot, but that name was already a trademark. Keds were first mass-marketed as canvas-top sneakers in 1960. They became known as sneakers because the rubber soles allowed sneaking around silently. In the 1960s and 1970s, Keds added to its range of casual shoes a line of athletic shoes called Pro-Keds for more serious use, specifically forbasketball. Keds have been used by many athletes. In countries like India or Soviet Union, Keds has been transformed into a generic brand and until recently any athletic shoe was customarily called a Keds. Keds are a staple at physical training classes in the school curriculum, and usually the students are needed to compulsorily wear the basic white Keds for their classes. â€Å"today, Keds is a head-to-toe fashion lifestyle brand fueled by a passion for imagination, inspiring a new generation of girls to stay authentic, optimistic and brave.† Sperry Top-Sider On an icy winters day in 1935, Paul Sperry watched in amazement as his cocker spaniel Prince ran across the icy New England landscape without slipping. Sperry, a former naval officer, avid sailor and part-time inventor, had been trying to design a proper shoe to safely navigate the slippery deck of his sloop, Sirocco. Nature and Princes paws provided the ultimate answer. Tooling a pattern in a rubber outsole similar to the wave-like grooves on Princes paws, Paul Sperry created a truly sea-worthy boat shoe. The first Sperry Top-Sider Authentic Original was officially launched and the worlds first boat shoe was born. Over 75 Years later, Sperry remains the vanguard of the nautical lifestyle. From the worlds first boat shoe to todays product collections featuring iconic design details, enduring style and the latest performance technologies, Sperry Top-Sider embodies a passion for the sea and the good life it represents. Tommy Hilfiger As one of the world’s leading lifestyle brands, Tommy Hilfiger delivers superior styling, quality and value to consumers worldwide. The band celebrates the essence of classic American cool and provides a refreshing twist to the preppy fashion genre. Since its debut in 1985, the Tommy Hilfiger Group has become a US$ 4.6 billon apparel and retail company by offering consumers a breadth of beautifully designed, high quality products including men’s women’s and children’s apparel, sportswear, denim, and range of licensed products such as accessories, fragrances and home furnishings. Kenneth Cole: Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (NYSE: KCP) is an American fashion house founded in 1982 by Kenneth Cole. He originally named the company Kenneth Cole Incorporated in September 1982 and planned to showcase his new line of shoes during market week at the Hilton New York Hotel. Finding that he could not afford to purchase a hotel room or showroom to exhibit his line, he borrowed a truck and asked the mayor’s office for permission to park two blocks away from the Hilton Hotel in front of a fancy shoe building. Upon learning that permits were only granted to utility companies and production companies shooting full-length motion pictures, Cole changed the name of the company to Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. and applied for a permit to shoot a full-length motion picture entitled â€Å"The Birth of a Shoe Company†. With Kenneth Cole Productions painted on the side of the truck, they opened for business on December 2, 1982, in front of 1370 Avenue of the Americas. They had a fully furnished forty-foot trailer, klieg lights, a director, a rolling camera, models as actresses, and two NYPD policemen as doormen. A velvet rope allowed a limited number of people into the trailers and in two and a half days they sold forty thousand pairs of shoes. The company remains Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. to this day to honor this unusual beginning In 1985, Kenneth Cole opened his first store on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan, followed shortly thereafter by another store on Union Street in San Francisco. Kenneth Cole retail and Company Stores can now be found worldwide in countries such as Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia, Israel,United, UnitedKingdom, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Australia and South Africa. Michael Kors Michael Kors (USA), Inc. designs and produces luxury accessories and sportswear for men and women in North America. The company offers dresses, tops, jeans and pants, skirts and shorts, outerwear, special sizes, swimming products, spring trends, and Michaels picks for women; handbags and small leather goods; shoes, including sandals, pumps, wedges, flats, and boots and booties; watches and jewelry; and accessories, such as belts and fragrance, and gifts. It also provides apparels, sunglasses, underwear, loungewear and sleepwear, and cologne for men. Michael Kors (USA), Inc. was founded in 1981 and is based in New York, New York with lifestyle stores in Edison, New Jersey; Paris, France; Vancouver, Canada; San Antonio, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; and Valencia, California. MAGAZINE ELLE Is a worldwide lifestyle magazine of French origin that focuses on fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the worlds bestselling fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hà ©là ¨ne Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means she. Today, it is the world’s largest fashion magazine, with 43 international editions in over 60 countries. Technologically speaking, the Elle brand is a global network encompassing over 33 websites. Subscriptions account for 73 percent of readers. There are 33 Elle websites globally, which collectively attract over 25 million unique visitors and 370 million page views per month[4] Elle reaches over 21 million readers. The vast majority (82 percent) of Elles audience are women between the ages of 18 and 49. Elle readers have a median age of 34.7 years. Forty percent of readers are single, and the median household income is $69,973. Our readers are young enough to think about life as an adventure and old enough to have the means to live it, said Robbie Myers, editor in chief. Elle owes its graphic signature to Art director Peter Knapp. Vogue Magazine is a fashion and lifestyle, which is published in many countries. It is a monthly publication aimed primarily at audiences interested in both fashion trends as lifestyle. It is considered the worlds most influential post that is published in 14 countries. The distributed Condà © Nast Publications, based in the U.S. city of New York. The first issue appeared on December 17, 1892. He began as a weekly, then biweekly, and monthly now. W magazine W is a monthly American fashion magazine published by Condà © Nast Publications, who purchased original owner Fairchild Publications in 1999. It was created in 1972 by the publisher of sister magazine Womens Wear Daily, James Brady. The magazine is an oversize format – ten inches wide and thirteen inches tall. Stefano Tonchi is the editor of W; Nina Lawrence is the vice president and publisher. W magazine has a reader base of nearly half a million, 469,000 of which are annual subscribers. 80 percent of the magazines readers are female and have an average household income of $135,840. STRATEGY First, the company should focus on better understanding the customer and their needs. More research is needed regarding what the customer experience in stores and what else do they expect the company to deliver them , as the management of fashion products , can become boring for customers at some point and in some way go out of style to them , which will lead to other products in the competition. This as the company is focused on customers between 20 and 30 years who purchase a larger quantity of shoes, but also change their minds more often and is more difficult to retain segment. On this issue, it is important that the company generates strategies that allow customer loyalty so that they seek only Payless shoes and accessories in decreasing the risk of direct competition, the above is feasible to achieve to track the companys participation in fashion shows of the major cities , advertising in magazines and also a coupon , preferred customer cards and other attractions that help customers generate a high recall brand . On the other hand , it is important that the company also locate a focus on new segments and improved product offerings for men, older women, children and in general for the whole family . The company currently has an image of offering products for young people and their strategies focus on delivering products to other segments the sales of the company can significantly increase and improve margins for partners. The renewal of collections should go together a wide range of products throughout the time in which the collection is current , otherwise , customers come to the stores at the beginning of the collection and will be for them a novelty, but after half the time of the collection or the end of the sales may be affected because customers will not find novelty in products, then to keep sales constant is important that the company has a good assortment innovative shoes and accessories in the duration of each collection. This can be tricky to achieve particularly in relation to the management of production costs and also in terms of the distribution chain, in order to minimize these risks is of great importance generates a strict planning and control each of both design processes, such as production and distribution throughout the supply chain, which will have or maintain its current competitive advantage. Furthermore, the company must generate sound policy management of its human resources not only in their stores but also in the factories that produce as this can generate greater prestige to the business and attract more customers by empathy policy development on human resources and social responsibility. Question for Discussion 1. Which of the different product mix pricing strategies discussed in the text applies best to payless new strategy? Payless For two handled ways of pricing strategy. The first is the competitive pricing strategy, because the large surface chains were entering the business, had to maintain low costs with the mood of even remain competitive and thats when entering the second pricing strategy is the strategy. The psychological price was instrumental in the development of the new corporate strategy. The stores became much more comfortable and much more brands hired additional recognized and trusted, which generated a positive perception approaching clients. The company is returned much more competitive and achievement to establish a business model focused on the distribution of brands and innovative shoes thanks to the hiring of renowned designers worldwide. 2. How do concepts such as psychological pricing and reference pricing apply to the Payless Strategy? In what ways does the strategy deviate from these concepts? Customers know that when arriving at Payless can find brands and models of shoes from famous designers at prices much lower than in the normal market, but not only that determined the success of the company. Trust, responsibility, environment model shops and sell their shoes which have made ​​people detect a unique and innovative model to its most direct competition. The strategy can deviate from these concepts through customer care. People often need greater customer care and the fact that a model which provides the self does start losing attention to the wishes of the client. On the other hand need to have a large amount of supply. People seek innovation and variability Payless therefore has the obligation to renew its product portfolio much faster than the competition or their dealers themselves in order not to lose the appeal against their clients. http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/designers/stacey-bendet/ http://www.forbes.com/profile/matthew-rubel/ http://www.buddytv.com/info/christian-siriano-info.aspx http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Li-Ou/Mizrahi-Isaac.html http://www.walmart.com/cp/Shoes/1045804 http://www.target.com/c/women-s-shoes/-/N-5xtd2 http://www.keds.com/store/SiteController/keds/us_keds http://www.sperrytopsider.com/store/SiteController/sperry/History_sperry http://global.tommy.com/int/en/About/overview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Cole_Productions http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1007367 http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogue_(revista