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WSJ.com - Making Fashion Faster http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB1077585004798372...1 of 4 2/24/2004 10:36 AMFebruary 24, 2004MARKETINGMaking Fashion FasterAs Knockoffs Beat Originals To Market, Designers Speed The Trip From Sketch to StoreBy CECILIE ROHWEDDER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNALWhen Salvatore Ferragamo's fall collection hits the runways in Milan this week, modelswill wear muted colors, such as oyster pink and winter white, mixed with masculinefabrics such as flannel. But long before the fall fashions arrive in Ferragamo boutiquesthis July, knockoffs of the designs are likely to hit the racks of so-called fast-fashionretailers who copy, manufacture and ship them to stores much faster and cheaper thanestablished designer brands.To eliminate that edge, the Italian fashion company has been investing heavily behind the scenes to speed up its productioncycle. By improving information technology and streamlining itssupply chain during the past year, Ferragamo has shaved about20% off the time it takes a product to get from sketch pad to store,bringing it down to about 10 weeks from three months.Europe's elite fashion houses once dismissed purveyors of cheap chic as irrelevant to theirhigh-end trade. But the growing influence of retailers such as Inditex SA's Zara, Hennes & Mauritz AB's H&M and even Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is undeniable and is starting todrain away sales from the high-end designers from Milan to Paris that are their inspiration.The fast-fashion retailers like H&M and Zara are changing customers expectations forspeed and variety, and showing them that style can be had at low prices. Even high-endshoppers loyal to designer labels are starting to mix high fashion with fast fashion.Attracted by the speed at which new styles are in stores and the fun of buying 10 cheapknockoffs for the price of one authentic jacket, many wealthy consumers are becomingloyal to fast fashion as well."Dressing head-to-toe in designers is uncreative and can make you look old," saysCornelie Boesel, a 50-year-old German woman who works for a real-estate managementfirm. While Ms. Boesel, who wears mostly Prada and Gucci, will continue buying the topWSJ.com - Making Fashion Faster http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB1077585004798372...2 of 4 2/24/2004 10:36 AMdesigners, she has started mixing in items from H&M and Zara.DOW JONES REPRINTSThis copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit: www.djreprints.com. • See a sample reprint in PDF format • Order a reprint of this article now."Once it was embarrassing to be seen entering these stores. But now, not at all," FrancaSozzani, the editor in chief of Vogue Italia, told a luxury-goods conference in Milan lastfall.As a result, high-end designers now are feeling pressured to compete. Although mostluxury-goods makers vow to keep quality and prices high to differentiate themselves fromfast fashion, they are competing on speed."We are improving the [production] process in a hundred different directions," saysFerrucio Ferragamo, the company's director general. "We have the weapons lined up. Wejust have to use them."Some European design houses are reacting by speeding up manufacturing and deliveringnew merchandise to stores more frequently than the twice-yearly schedules of the past.Ferragamo has linked its central computer with those of its leather, fabric and othersuppliers to speed up the process of commissioning prototypes and reordering sold-outmerchandise. It also has brought much of its world-wide inventory into a centralizedstockroom: As a result, each store has less in stock and turns over merchandise morequickly, while the central stockroom can react to the market."What luxury brands can learn from these companies is their short time to market andconstantly new merchandise," says Fabio Gnocchi, director of world-wide operations forfashion house Etro SpA of Italy. "Even in theluxury business, customers want new merchandise all the time."Designers at Etro divide their product line into different themes and color schemes from themoment of conception. The fashion house thenships the collection in monthly installments,each with a distinct look and dominant color,providing a constant flow of new merchandise.Etro merchandisers help retailers display theWSJ.com - Making Fashion Faster http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB1077585004798372...3 of 4 2/24/2004 10:36 AMA pink tweed dress from Zara echoes its designerequivalent (inset, left) from a Chanel ready-to-wearcollection.fresh styles to create a constant sense ofnewness. "Each time you walk into the Etro boutique at Bergdorf Goodman, you're in adifferent place," says Etro's Mr. Gnocchi, whose16-year-old son wears both Etro and H&M.Germany's Escada AG, which already issues 10 to 15 lines a year, recently added what it calls"hot fill-ins," minicollections reflecting trendsthat develop midseason. Since last winter, Escada stores have been receiving newmerchandise every two or three weeks. "It is a reaction to the ever-faster fashion cycle and toretailers like H&M and Zara, who react to new trends very quickly," says a spokeswoman,Sabine Eisenreich.The threat of knockoffs is pushing the fashion establishment to rethink the way designers'collections are shown. Didier Grumbach, president of the French Fashion Federation,recently called the Parisian fashion-show calendar "collective suicide" because it allowsmass marketers to copy catwalk creations long before designers can get them into stores.To keep out copycats, Mr. Grumbach has proposed staging private shows for retail buyerswith separate media events taking place shortly before clothes hit stores.In addition, Mr. Grumbach says fashion houses need to be quicker on their feet, usingtechnology to adjust orders or capture new trends. "Giving away your innovation to theentire planet without being first to exploit it is stupid," he says. "You don't speak about thewine before it's in the bistro."Not everyone agrees on how serious the fast-fashion threat to luxury goods has become.Domenico De Sole, chief executive of Gucci Group NV, says fast fashion consists oflower quality than authentic designer creations and caters to a different consumer. RobertoCavalli, designer of the Italian label that bears his name, says fashion houses will maintaintheir creative


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