Isabel Marant Opens Store in Soho

Isabel Marant; the label whose bootie launched a thousand knockoffs has announced that it will open a store on the corner of Greene and Broome Streets in NYC's Soho. (WWD)

Fast Fashion is Looking Fashion Forward During This Recession

Fast fashion chains such as Zara and H&M have done pretty well during this global recession, but it seems that the big player in fast fashion is Uniqlo (according to www.forbes.com):

Fast Retailing sees record profit on Uniqlo boom

"Globally, budget fashion retailers like Spain's Inditex's Zara and Sweden's Hennes & Mauritz are weathering the downturn better than mid-priced rivals, but Uniqlo's monthly same-store sales growth have been much bigger than these chains.

The company said Uniqlo stores overseas have been posting strong sales growth, both in Asia and Europe, where it opened a large-scale store in Paris this month.

'The reason for our strong performance is that we have won recognition globally as a new Japan-born brand, different from H&M, Zara and Gap ( GPS - news - people ),' company CEO Tadashi Yanai told a news briefing."

Uniqlo is a chain that provides quality goods such as cashmere sweaters at a more affordable price point.

It is different from fast fashion chains such as Zara, Forever 21, Topshop, and H&M because it does not attempt to sell inspired versions of high fashion. It just sells luxurious basics in every color you can imagine.

"'Fabrics like heat-tech will remain a very niche strength to compete with those Western players who focus only on fast fashion and don't really care about the quality of the fabric as much,' said Jeanie Chen, retail analyst at CLSA, referring to Fast Retailing's fabric that helps keeps users warm."

However Uniqlo has attempted to branch out of its basics to some more fashion forward designs. It is learning lessons about collaborations from chains such as Target and H&M. It is planning on unveiling a collaboration with Jil Sander this month in its stores.

So far Uniqlo has its SoHo store in the United States. According to the article in Forbes, there may be some more aggressive expansion into the United States. Will we be seeing a Uniqlo near you soon?

Recessionistas must be rejoicing everywhere!

UPDATE: Forever 21 Settles With Trovata

It seems that Forever 21 has not arrived...

In the lawsuit we have all been waiting for with bated breath comes.....a little disappointment. While all of us nerdy types were hoping for some type of legal resolution when it came down to legal reasoning for fashion design protection. It seems we will have to wait since Forever 21 has settled the lawsuit with Trovata (please see previous posts).

More details about the settlement soon.

Counterfeits Make an Appearance On The City

(Photo Courtesy of MTV)

Wouldn't it be lovely if all of us had a glamorous job at Elle Magazine where all we did was help stylists, offer ideas about photo shoots and buy purses?

Well Olivia is a pseudo reality star who gets to do just that on the show The City. While most people with a normal pulse would be able to get with the program, it seems that Olivia just does not get it.

On an episode of The City, she is sent by her boss to buy counterfeit bags as part of a lineup of purses for a morning show segment. Instead of getting excited for some time out of the office to do some sanctioned shopping, she whines about how she lives in TriBeca and there have been counterfeit raids.

Obviously, her boss tells her that she is clearly overreacting and needs to do her job. When she actually finds a counterfeit bag seller, she acts like a fugitive (see the picture above). Who knew that counterfeit shopping could feel so illicit? Is it really hard to buy a bag (albeit a fake one)?

Make sure to check out more episodes of The City (these girls seem like professional train wrecks!) I love it!

Lawsuit of the Weak: Coach Vs. Target

Coach is suing Target for $1M over trademark infringement. Coach claims the discount retailer started selling bags that are similar to their Patchwork and Ergo Lines.

"Target is not authorized by Coach to manufacture, distribute, advertise, offer for sale and/or sell merchandise bearing the Ergo designs or the Signature Patchwork designs," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit includes claims of trademark infringement and unfair competition.

"We are currently looking into this situation and working with our vendor partner," a Target spokeswoman said in a statement Monday. "It always has been - and continues to be - Target's policy to respect the intellectual property rights of others."

This is not the first lawsuit that Coach has filed against Target. They dropped a lawsuit that they had filed against Target back in 2006 when the brand claimed that Target was selling knockoffs at their Florida stores. Target claimed that it bought the purses from a discount retailer and that the bags were legitimate Coach merchandise (Please see above).

NYT's Review of Fashion Includes Knockoffs

Defying Knockoffs and Inviting Them


The article details how Alber Elbaz of Lanvin acknowledges that his work gets copied and how he deals with it:

“I don’t care if people copy me — well, I do care,” Mr. Elbaz said. “For me, I create prototypes. They can copy yesterday but they can’t copy tomorrow.”

Banana Republic Knocks Off Miu Miu's Banana Flat

I was at a local Banana Republic store when I saw a pair of leather flats with jewel embellishments that were arranged in such a way that I felt like it was deja vu.

It then occurred to me that Miu Miu did a banana flat in a gold color (see above) that looks just like the current fall offering at Banana Republic (see above).

Hmmmm seems like Banana Republic is hiring designers who are too lazy to design their own shoes. If you are going to knock off a shoe, at least wait more than a year to do it right? Otherwise you just anger consumers who know better!