The Bay Slashes 1,000 jobs, Looks For Olympic Saviour
Only a day after reporting that Hudson Bay Company owner, Richard Baker, was in hot waters with his flailing retail purchases, The Bay announced a cut back of 1,000 jobs. This cut is part of a restructuring The Bay is undergoing, claiming it will refocus the department store. I’m not quite sure how you can offer better service if department staff are taking the axe though.
Today, the Globe and Mail reports that The Bay is relying heavily on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games to boost sales. The Bay is the official company who will be dressing the Canadian Olympic team and will reveal their corporate logo for the Winter Games next week.
Exactly how patriotic will Canadians be about the Winter Games of 2010? The Bay had released official Olympic products for the Beijing Games last year, and failed to make any significant retail waves. Jeff Sherman, HBC’s CEO, acknowledged the shortcomings of last year’s fashion flop and promised to “not make those mistakes again.” They’re apparently working on “sought-after designs” that should have better retail longevity.
What HBC really hopes to accomplish is to reproduce Roots’ Olympic success. According to the Globe and Mail back in Oct:
The Olympics work had helped put Roots on the world map after its poor boy cap created a sensation - and a selling frenzy - at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games.
Since then, Roots had been the official outfitter for the U.S. Olympic team until last year when famed American designer Ralph Lauren designed the team’s jackets. The collaboration also proved fruitful as sales were still strong on the retail floor even after the Beijing Games were done.
Were HBC have made a collaboration with a Canadian fashion brands like Pink Tartan or DSquared, as Adidas made with Stella McCartney, that could help boost visibility for The Bay with their exclusive Olympic line.
Last year’s fashion flop - Who would actually wear these?
Another problem are the numerous licensees who are developing other Olympic products as listed by Vancouver Sun in February 2008. The list of products also include clothing apparel, which could place it in direct competition with The Bay’s designs. Although, Olympic Canadian fashion doesn’t really whip up my style senses into a frenzy.
With the news of the global recession, the implementation of Lord & Taylor into the Canadian market has been scraped for now. It will be a slow and painful process for Richard Baker to turn around two department store chains in 2 different countries.
Image credits: HBC, official Vancouver2010.com muk muk plush
MFW Spring/Summer 2009 - Not Attending
Fall is just coming around the corner everyone, and you know what that means: fashion week madness for a month and a half. Of course as a small time blogger, one can only count to be so lucky to attend a local fashion week at all. Those who are full time fashion journalist get to do the merry-go-round the globe in four (sometimes five) different countries: New York, Milan, London, Paris and Tokyo.
On our Canadian end, we have Montreal, L’Oreal (Toronto), and Vancouver Fashion Weeks - no surprise here. The obvious difference between say NY Fashion Week and one of ours is the scale and size of the shows. NY has approximately over 70 designers last I counted, while as MFW had like - 12 designers to showcase. Also, I’ve noticed that the Canadian designers seem to showcase more so on functionality than full on glamour like the rest of the world. On one hand, this is good for buyers who own small boutiques and want to get past the flashing in fashion and get down to saleability. We’re also in an economically advantageous status as the US economy keeps going down the drain, American buyers are less likely to pick the more expensive European brands and might even give a break to local Canadian talent because - well, they’re cheaper, I’m afraid to say.
Tickets to Attend Fashion Week
This seems to be relatively new to the scene of L’Oreal and MFW for a couple of years. Both websites have posted possibilities to buy tickets to see fashion shows, unprecedented a few years ago as fashion week is usually a very restricted “media and professionals only” circle. My guess is that there are two reasons for it:
- Because Canadian Fashion Weeks aren’t as popular, media and buyers don’t fill up the entire seating chart of many shows. This I can attest, when there are smaller, unknown brands showcasing, it’s sad to see these seats half filled. Selling tickets will fill those seats and will generate extra income in the process.
- Fashion is a hot commodity thanks to magazines, reality shows, websites and blogs. The instantaneous 24/7 fashion wire can’t even compare to the “real deal” experience of a real fashion show. Going to one of these things is like going to see a concert of your favorite band, nothing compares to the real thing. Organizers know this, and they will play that card this year.
The big guns over at NY, London, Milan and Paris don’t need to sell tickets because people are just fighting to even have rights to get in in the first place. Everyone is just dying to see these shows, and bless the lucky souls who know others in the business to attend these prestigious fashion shows, they are something else all together.
This blogger is staying home this year
While the chances of bloggers attending fashion shows and events have risen over the last couple of years, fashion week is still a little out of our reach. But this may now slowly change with the likes of Inside The Tents making an initiative in helping bloggers get to these events. I’ve already attended 2 MFWs and quite frankly don’t think I’ll miss it much since I won’t be attending this year. It’s long hours, crowded, expensive (the food), and all too much brouhaha for a 20 minute show. I’ve only enjoyed 2-3 collections but there really isn’t much to say about them except describing their looks. That’s all what fashion week is about - describing a collection. 95% of the time it’s “fabulous” and a season’s “must-have”. We’re not really told why certain designers didn’t showcase this year or last year, most of the time it’s due to money constraints as they can’t afford to show at fashion week. Plus it’s a hassle to drag the numerous (useless) swag they give you, what am I to do with a plastic martini shaker and made-by-crocs shoes that don’t fit?
I suppose it’s another story if I were to go to the bigger venues since the usual suspects usually turn out more interesting pieces for show. I’d be happy to just attend one of each of the big shows just once in my life and I’d be happy enough.
I’ll be watching MFW from the comfort of my own home, in pajamas, lying on my couch with my laptop with pepsi and chips. Now that’s luxe.
Tattoos On The Wall
Having an affinity and appreciation of well designed spaces, I have long fancied turning my apartment into one of those slick, shiny clean pads with unique wall coverings like I’ve seen in Frame. So it’s to my delight that a small Canadian company contacted me about their specialty: wall tattoos.
The moment I loaded up their website, I was floored by their fun and colorful site, but also the fact that their modern take on wall design had me salivating with ideas.
Surface Collective is a Vancouver-based design company that offers a unique take on wall design. Their “tattoos” are made of vinyl, and go on the wall like huge stickers. The art is vector based, with urban trendy designs from elegant curves, leaves, and iPod-like silhouettes to adorn your abode. It’s ideal for a boutique owner to spruce up their space to attract young, hip, 20-something shoppers like myself. There have been lots of these designs in shops in Europe and Japan but have seen very little of it here in Montreal.
Prices are about $50-$200 a piece, depending on size, complexity of the design, and you can customize the color or design to match the walls. Currently they don’t have any retailers here, but they do ship worldwide.
Personal fav for the two above, I don’t have a real use for such images but I’d love to have one like that for one wall.
Image credits: Surface Collective
