Fashion industry being hit hard by economy

FASHION/POLITICS - The recession in the United States is affecting the fashion industry and results are dire for some of the big fashion brands and for new designers alike.

In Canada retailers and consumers are pondering one big question: Will Canadian fashion designers survive today's tough economy? And if some fail, who will survive?

Arthur Mendonça, one of Canada's most promising designers, is closing business. A casualty of today's uncertain economy and "big brand" era, Mendonça's luxurious clothes once made him a stylish find at Holt Renfrew and other select Canadian boutiques. His sexy designs were often worn by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado.

"What happened with Arthur is not uncommon for young start-up designers," says Barbara Atkin, Holt Renfrew's Vice President of Fashion Direction. "Arthur's announcement came out, unfortunately, at the same time that the economy started to make a downturn. But the problems started long before that."

Those difficulties, says Atkin, mimic the age-old David and Goliath story. Huge monopolies now run the world's major design houses. Smaller designers simply cannot compete with the resources, marketing campaigns and brand awareness these giants generate around the world.

Carried in Holt Renfrew's World Design Lab, which is devoted to small, innovative collections that lack "big brand" financial backing, Mendonça earned a strong Toronto following after he launched his label in the fall of 2003.

Outside of the Toronto market, however, Mendonça's success was modest.

"You need a big company and a marketing machine behind you that can tell the world who you are," says Atkin.

Inevitably every designer's career will be tested. When that happens, "you go away and refine who you are and what you're doing," says Atkin.

"Look at Marc Jacobs. He opened and closed his business several times before he became the Marc Jacobs we know today. The same can be said of Izaac Mizrahi," she says.

"I'd like to say that talent always wins out. But that's not so today," says Atkin. "Until we get out of this grand brand era the problems will continue for small designers with little financing."

Start-up designers battle big challenges around the world.

Whether other Canadian designers follow Mendonça remains to be seen. It's something that Sandra Pupatello, Ontario's Minister of International Trade and Investment, hopes won't happen.

"Half a billion dollars of Ontario's GDP comes from the fashion industry," says Pupatello.

"That may not compare to manufacturing but it is significant in terms of what it represents," says Pupatello. "Ontario is known for the level of innovation it brings to design in all areas. Fashion design plays a huge role in how people think of Ontario."

Attending the L'Oréal Fashion Week - the third largest show in North America - for the first time last week, Pupatello says, "The fashion industry faces the same challenges all over the world in this economic climate. I don't think Ontario is any different than what designers are facing elsewhere."

Those challenges are impossible to avoid even for industry giants, says Dana Thomas, author of "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster."

"The bankers running today's luxury design houses want a fast return on their investments. That mentality is having devastating long-term effects," Thomas said from her home in Paris, France. "Look at Bill Blass in the United States. He went under. Halston is barely hanging on. Valentino will likely take a hit. These are big companies we're talking about. Even they're feeling the impact of today's economy."

Some luxury brands continue to do well, however, by selling middle-market goods to the emerging rich in China, India and Russia. "These virgin markets are filled with people who want all the trappings of luxury. It's helping to make up for losses companies are experiencing in the United States and Europe," says Thomas.

Yet as plunging markets continue to evaporate retirement accounts around the world, funds, not fashion, will concern people more, says Thomas.

"Clothes are necessary. Fashion is not," says Thomas, who predicts that consumers will dial back on unnecessary spending for the foreseeable future.

Real solutions for today's fashion industry?

For Calgary-based designer Paul Hardy, one of Canada's success stories, tough times mean greater opportunities.

"It is possible to be creative within challenging financial times. But you need to think outside the box and turn obstacles into possibilities," says Hardy.

Coming from four generations of bankers, Hardy and his advisers foresaw the economic depression on the horizon. They implemented strategic plans to withstand it, beginning with restructuring Hardy's knitwear, a collection staple.

"In lean times consumers tend to purchase more 'investment upgrades' versus 'fashion updates' says Hardy, who operates in the heart of Canada's gas and oil industry - a plus, he says, for sustaining his business.

"The reality is that Canada is not widely known for fashion," says Hardy, who would like to see government-subsidized agencies support a collective of Canadian fashion designers showing in Paris and New York rather than in separate shows in various provinces.

"It would be good for the country...It might expand the designers' brands internationally and make them more financially feasible," he says.

Any measures that help recapture the strength of Canada's fashion industry from the 1950s through the 1970s would be welcome.

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FRUGAL FASHION TIPS

1) Don't limit yourself to second hand stores and garage sales only. You can find sales and good deals anywhere and everywhere. The trick is having a budget and knowing what you need. You still want quality after all.

2) Stay away from private labels at department stores. It may be brand name, but its not necessarily discount or a fair price.

3) Keep abreast of things at least 1 season ahead. That way when you spot something on sale that you'll need for next winter or summer you'll be ready to snap it up.

4) Take your Tween and Teen Fashionistas with you when you shop. Buying something they won't wear because their "mom bought it for them" isn't kewl. Take them with you and buy what they will wear.

5) Know when to buy. Pick a good time to buy, like during Back to School or Boxing Day Sales.

6) Know when to stop. Don't go overboard when you know you can't afford it.

7) Do It Yourself. Do your own manicure and pedicure. Color your own hair. Cut your childrens' hair. Maybe even make your own clothes. You'd be amazed at how much savings you can pocket.

Sarah Palin Fashion

UNITED STATES - Sarah Palin spent more than $150,000 on a fashion makeover in preparation for her vice-presidential campaign.

So what?

Critics have been down on Palin for a September spending spree, paid for by the Republican National Committee, which provided her with a complete wardrobe for the campaign, plus hair and makeup consultants, and a few extras for her kids and husband.

The governor of Alaska, who used to campaign wearing fleece, is now apparently donning designer duds, purchased at retail prices from high-end department stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, according to financial disclosure reports.

While a wardrobe costing $150,000 may seem over the top at first glance, style insiders say the fashion math makes perfect sense when you consider Palin's previous small-town lifestyle and wardrobe, the media glare that is focused so intensely on her appearance, and the high-powered global role she's going after.

"We hear the number and we say, `Wow, that's a lot of money.' And it is a lot," says image consultant Diane Craig, who as president of Corporate Class Inc. has helped political leaders style themselves for the campaign trail.

"But in the end, with the work she has to do, the people she has to see, the places she has to go, it's not unreasonable.

Even considering the hefty $150,000 budget, Palin is probably not buying at the high end of the designer scale, says Suzanne Timmins, fashion director for HBC.

Speculating that the vice-presidential hopeful might need 10 gowns, 40 suits, and 20 pairs of shoes for the arduous campaign, Timmins estimates Palin would have spent about $3,000 on each gown, $2,100 for each suit, and up to $500 on each pair of shoes.

"It's the starting point for designer labels," notes Timmins. "It's not design-design, like Chanel ... She's not buying Louis Vuitton."

Forty suits might seem like a lot, but Craig notes that repeats aren't necessarily practical on the campaign trail.

"It's not like you can send it to the cleaner. You've gotta have it the next day and you're in another town."

While agreeing it wouldn't be hard to spend $150,000 on spotlight-worthy clothes, Fashion magazine editor-in-chief Ceri Marsh says the amount Palin dropped on designer duds runs counter to the image she's trying to create.

"When you look at how she's trying to sell herself, there's a bit of a disconnect," explains Marsh. "When you are a conservative Republican, who has criticized (her opponents) for reckless spending, when you're painting yourself as queen of the hockey moms, you're opening yourself up to attack."

Whatever she spent, female politicos agree it's unfair to focus too much attention on Palin's wardrobe.

"Women are really judged much more on their looks than men are," notes Marsh, who admits she's a political junkie and has been following the U.S. campaign closely.

But whether Palin's high-priced makeover created a style that will go down in the history books is up for debate.

Craig calls her look "fabulous" and "appropriate for her." But others beg to differ. For example, Marsh's biggest compliment is that Palin hasn't made any major fashion errors.

"I don't love her new look," says Timmins. "She looks like she's trying to achieve a midwestern lady going to the PTA.

"I think Hillary Clinton was held to a different standard in her primary race," Palin said in an interview.

"Do you remember the conversations that took place about her, say superficial things that they don't talk about with men, her wardrobe and her hairstyles, all of that? That's a bit of that double standard."

"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," Palin said.

"That whole thing is just, bad!" she said. "Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are."

Frankly, to be brutally honest... I think Sarah Palin looks really badly dressed. She dresses like my mom and its embarrassing to think about how my mom dresses. Socks and sandals, that sort of thing. She looks like her fashion consultant is a redneck.

How she managed to blow $150,000 on clothes and still look like a redneck is amazing.