Branding the man: why men are the next frontier in fashion retail

When Andy Spade and his wife Kate sold Kate Spade, the company they founded together, I’m sure many wondered what could possibly be next. Andy held tight to Jack Spade, the bag company which always seemed like the wayward brother to Kate’s sugary Pollyanna collection of debutante accessories.

Andy then opened Partners & Spade, a company that is a triumvirate of all the things he loves: publishing, consultancy, and art-and-stuff-I-love gallery.

The Shophound tells us that now comes Jack and Jimbo Bike shop, a new shop in Manhattan devoted to vintage and custom bicycles from the famous Jimbo the Mechanic, Rapha Cycling Gear, and Landmark Bikes. Of course there will also be Jack Spade gear for sale as well. Jack & Jimbo’s Bike Shop at Jack Spade 400 Bleecker Street between West 11^th & Bank Streets, West Village.

---

In a recent “Complaint Box” in the New York Times, journalist David Sax writes a witty and sarcastic account of trying to get the attention of a sales associate.

“That’s why I came in here today,” he writes. “To trade money for goods and services. The way it works is: I ask questions about various products — in this case the clothes beautifully displayed around us — and you, in your role as service person, answer them, perhaps even leaving the spot behind the desk to physically touch the clothes and aid in my investigation and ultimate purchase of them.”

Sax does a great job of making the obvious, painfully funny — and true. He is like so many men, eager to learn how to look better and more than willing to pay for it. “I need guidance. Think of me as soft clay, ready to be molded in your image.”

When will retailers understand that perhaps every day, they lose a sale because of an incompetent or unwilling salesperson? Invest in your sales staff as if they were the very walls and floors of your store, the merchandise itself. Without top notch service, a store can simply not survive, even in the worst of times.

Read Patrick Sax’s entire piece

---

(NEW YORK) – The woman who conceived of Fashion’s Night Out did her best to encourage New Yorkers to shop.

After a circus of media and screaming fans at Bergdorf Goodman, Anna Wintour zipped over to the Meatpacking District in a black Cadillac Escalade, which paused in front of the Stella McCartney boutique.

By this time the crowd of press photographers had grown unruly and desperate for anyone who was even remotely a celebrity. Inside, a rather rumpled and ordinary assortment of guests waited for Something To Happen — anything — especially since they weren’t shopping and the bar was holding back on the champagne until some auspicious moment.

But it was Kate Hudson who made her entrance first and a sea of cellphones were raised as everyone tried to score an image of Ms. Hudson before the bodyguards ushered her into a fitting room in the back of the store.

It was Ms. Wintour, though, who sent them all into a true frenzy with some simply frozen in their tracks. She waded upstream through the photographers and citizen journalists, her trademark bob gleaming in the spark of flashbulbs. It appeared that her visit was unclear and unscheduled: was she to visit Kate in the dressing room? Where’s Stella anyway? And who do you have to &%$ to get a drink around here?

The decision was made after some murmers into a cellphone. We’re leaving. I managed to present her with a copy of my book, Branding the Man, which she carefully examined as if it were the cover of a magazine, and then thanked me, her eyes flashing beneath her bangs.

With Actress Lucy Liu at Alexander McQueen

The scene was more or less the same throughout the Meatpacking District, with revelers behaving like it was New Year’s Eve, but with better liquor. Indeed, the longest lines weren’t at the fitting rooms or cash registers, but at the bar. At Christian Louboutin, I half-expected people to start drinking out of the floor sample shoes. It was a blase group of young things who clearly had no intention of buying shoes, only of clearing out what was left of the mini-bottles of champagne.

Meanwhile at Alexander McQueen, Actress Lucy Liu looked stunning in head-to-toe McQueen. “It’s fierce, isn’t it?” she said to all who admired her, which was pretty much everybody. As Hostess with the Mostess, she did her best to talk about the clothes — in-between requests for a picture.

By Midnight the irritating drizzle sent everyone scurrying into any restaurant that would take them, while others just huddled in the hopes of finding a taxi.

A group of girls clutched ingenious little clutches with the word “Taxi” inscribed in neon letter (the purses, designed by Regine Bash, are available at www.2enlight10.com). They didn’t really seem to help them get a cab, but they sure looked cute trying.

---