collection of style: h&m’s new brand

The other day I was in H&M wondering when their prices became comparable to what boutique prices were just a few years ago. I mean, really, $59.90 for a polyester dress? From H&M?

The prices are going up even more at Collection of Style, H&M’s new store concept. The first store opens this spring in London, and 10 stores will follow in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere in the UK. I’m imagining COS will be similar to Zara in price and quality; much higher than that and you’ll send shoppers to boutiques (because, really, if you’re going to spend $125 on a shirt, why not spend $150 for one that’s made better?). I’m looking forward to seeing its first line, and though I thought I’d sworn off London town for at least five years, I now have a flimsy excuse to hop into Heathrow… let us hope that COS is no POS.

In other H&M news, they’re launching a home collection and shoes for spring. Home will be online-only for a while, and shoes will be in 200 stores.

blind item

WHICH women’s fashion e-commerce site is rumored to be purchasing a rival site, also from the Midwest? The buyer has a veritable river of financial backing, so the end result could become a behemoth in the world of online boutiquing.

(I feel so Liz Smith!)

attention label whores: the prada mobile phone has landed!

This, my friends, is the Prada mobile phone. Like Apple’s iPhone, it has a touch screen. Unlike the iPhone, though, it will make you look like an a-hole of the highest degree. Can you imagine seeing someone whip this thing out? I would wonder whether this person had been adequately nurtured as a child. What else would compel you to buy a phone with a brand name emblazoned on its front?

retail markups

I love receiving look books that list wholesale prices, because it’s a healthy reminder that retail is for suckers. If you buy something for full price, you are doing a very kind thing for the shopkeep (listen to me, “shopkeep,” like I’m in Merry Olde England) but it’s a dunce move for your finances.

Retailers don’t have a very fancy plan in place for marking up their merchandise. Usually they “keystone” the items, which is French for “make a large markup.” Essentially, the retailer doubles the wholesale price, and that’s what shoppers pay. Occasionally, though, retailers will do more than that; for instance, the handbag line that sent its lookbook suggests a markup of 110 to 120 percent.

What this means is that boutiques are unlikely to mark anything down below 50% unless it’s completely cluttering up their backstock or they think it won’t sell. It also means that in some cases, especially if you pay with cash, you can ask for 10 or 20% off the marked price. I don’t do this unless there’s a snag in the fabric or something like that, but some people do. They may be cheap, but at least they’re not paying retail…

piperlime

Piperlime is the newest branch of the Gap Inc. family. It’s… an e-commerce shoe site. For shoes that you can already buy elsewhere. And the shipping, though free, takes “four to seven business days.” The shoes are allegedly chosen by Gap employees (ooh, Dr. Scholl’s!), and the editorial voice is trying to do Lucky and failing miserably. Like I said before: Gap just doesn’t get it.

the next designer for target?

In Australia, Target has tapped Alice McCall (yay!), Tina Kalivas (enh) and TL Wood (again, enh) to design one-off collections–much like we’ve had Luella, Paul and Joe and Behnaz in the States. Since these koala huggers have already worked with Target Down Under, wouldn’t it make sense to bring one of them to the States to follow Behnaz Sarafpour’s collection?

In an ideal world, here’s who’d be considered: Tsumori Chisato. Zimmermann. Alice Temperley. Matthew Williamson. Charles Chang-Lima. Jussara Lee. Alexandre Herchcovitch. And I’d be very happy if Vanessa Bruno decided to do a line for Target as she did for La Redoute, but I’m not holding my breath…

on affordability

Lately I’ve been going to shops–just to browse, as I am seriously low on funds–and the result is that I’ve felt, well, kind of poor. It’s not that I struggle with poverty or really would ever spend $500 on a handbag if I had the cash, but when you live in an allegedly artsy neighborhood whose boutiques are filled with these items, it’s hard not to wonder

why the gap doesn’t get it

Did you know that the Gap–oh, excuse me, that’s just GAP–isn’t doing so well financially? And that it hasn’t been for some time? The parent company, Gap Inc., has been struggling to raise both its profile and stock price, but it still hasn’t found success. You can make Audrey Hepburn rock out Lazarus-style all you want, but that’s not enough to make people want to shop there. And here’s why: