Online Shopping Brokers: Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney will present collection of handbags for LeSportsac

The spring season 2008 will be marked by the next fashionable collection - designer Stella McCartney will present the debut collection for accessories’ brand LeSportsac. Judges of McCartney‘s original style will not be disappointed, as, according to Stella, collection for LeSportsac will be created in the same style, as accessories of the designer for her own brand.

The basis of lifestyle-collection will do bags for trips. These accessories will be available in LeSportsac’s and Stella McCartney’s boutiques, and also in a few largest shops. It’s all about the collaborations nowadays, everyone likes to get designer stuff at an affordable price. After the successful collaboration Stella McCartney had with H&M, she has joined forces with LeSportsac to release a series of 30 to 40 styles of limited edition bags to be launched in Spring 2008. The bags average at $200 to $250, the deal lasts up to 18 months and is renewable. This collection only sold at selective high-end department and specialty stores worldwide, including three Stella McCartney boutiques (NY & LA), and only five LeSportsac stores, no worries if you’re not near one, they will be available for purchase online. I can’t wait to see how this collection of bags will look like, hopefully its something fresh!

McCartney to Design Line for LeSportsac
By Samantha Conti, wwd

LONDON — Stella McCartney is joining forces with LeSportsac to design a limited-edition accessories collection to be launched in spring 2008. The collection will focus on multipurpose travel bags, luggage, baby accessories and totes for mothers with young children. The company plans to make an official announcement today. The Stella McCartney for Le­Sportsac collection will be sold in high-end department and specialty stores worldwide. It will also be sold at the three Stella McCartney boutiques — here and in New York and Los Angeles — and the five LeSportsac stores, and will be available online.

The collection initially will have 30 to 40 styles, and the average price of a bag will be $200 to $250. The deal with LeSportsac is for 18 months, and is renewable. “LeSportsac has a strong history of making iconic nonleather goods, and this is a unique opportunity for Stella McCartney to address a new category of accessories for the busy woman of today,” said Marco Bizzarri, chief executive officer and president of Stella McCartney. Bizzarri told WWD the new collaboration was a way for the brand to create a worldwide audience for Stella McCartney bags. “It will give her bags a wider appeal.”

McCartney has a nonleather accessories line, part of her ready-to-wear collection, that was launched for fall 2006. The LeSportsac deal is the latest in a string of partnerships the designer has formed to boost her brand’s profile as well as the bottom line. Other collaborations include a line of activewear for Adidas, and a one-off capsule collection for H&M in November 2005. McCartney also has two fragrances and will launch her skin care line in the U.S. on Feb. 15.

Steve Jacaruso, chief operating officer and president of LeSportsac, said the brand wanted to “tap into Stella McCartney’s creative vision and take (Le­Sportsac) to the next level of high-end design and style.” He said the line would be innovative and versatile and the bags would appeal to a variety of women, whether or not they’re toting children around. A Stella McCartney spokesman said the company would report its 2006 financial results in the late spring. Bizzarri said sales were exceeding expectations. As reported, PPR, which through its Gucci Group subsidiary holds 50 percent of Stella McCartney and has majority stakes in Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Sergio Rossi, said the brands were “well in advance” of reaching their breakeven targets in 2007.

Hot off the press, today from Womens Wear Daily

Stella McCartney is joining forces with LeSportsac to design a limited-edition accessories collection to be launched in spring 2008. The collection will focus on multipurpose travel bags, luggage, baby accessories and totes for mothers with young children. The company plans to make an official announcement today. The Stella McCartney for Le and shy;Sportsac collection will be sold in high-end department and specialty stores worldwide. It will also be sold at the three Stella McCartney boutiques — here and in New York and Los Angeles — and the five LeSportsac stores, and will be available online.

The collection initially will have 30 to 40 styles, and the average price of a bag will be $200 to $250. The deal with LeSportsac is for 18 months, and is renewable. "LeSportsac has a strong history of making iconic nonleather goods, and this is a unique opportunity for Stella McCartney to address a new category of accessories for the busy woman of today," said Marco Bizzarri, chief executive officer and president of Stella McCartney. Bizzarri told WWD the new collaboration was a way for the brand to create a worldwide audience for Stella McCartney bags. "It will give her bags a wider appeal."

McCartney has a nonleather accessories line, part of her ready-to-wear collection, that was launched for fall 2006. The LeSportsac deal is the latest in a string of partnerships the designer has formed to boost her brand's profile as well as the bottom line. Steve Jacaruso, chief operating officer and president of LeSportsac, said the brand wanted to "tap into Stella McCartney's creative vision and take [Le­Sportsac] to the next level of high-end design and style."

He said the line would be innovative and versatile and the bags would appeal to a variety of women, whether or not they're toting children around. A Stella McCartney spokesman said the company would report its 2006 financial results in the late spring. Bizzarri said sales were exceeding expectations. As reported, PPR, which through its Gucci Group subsidiary holds 50 percent of Stella McCartney and has majority stakes in Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Sergio Rossi, said the brands were "well in advance" of reaching their breakeven targets in 2007.

After Stella for H&M, Stella for Adidas, Stella for Bendon and more recently Stella for Barney’s, is there anyone Stella McCartney isn’t designing for? Last week, the British designer debuted her exclusive limited-edition 17-piece collection for LeSportsac, which includes camera and computer cases, hobos as well as luggages. As expected from the socially and environmentally-responsible designer, the entire line is eco-friendly, meaning that all fabrics, hangtags and packaging are created from 100% recycled materials.

Limitless possibilities of shopping online might soon be over

Maggie Clark, aka Shopaholic

The Internet creates the idea of endless freedom and convenience for the shopping world.

Whether you are purchasing clothes, electronics or vacations the Internet allows you to comparison shop and purchase from home. However, there are purchasing restrictions that one faces while shopping on the Web.

When you buy tickets to a sporting event, concert or other high-demand event, it is common to see a restriction on the number of tickets one customer can purchase.

When shopping for tickets such as the Rockies World Series tickets, there typically is a maximum ticket per purchaser. Is this really necessary? Venue holders fear that one customer purchasing more than 10 tickets to a single event may be trying to make a profit from them. Most events have a limit of eight tickets per single purchaser; very high-demand events might have an even lower maximum buy. This is to help regulate ticket scalping.

This policy now is extending to luxury accessories.

While the Web gives the impression of endless opportunity, our weak dollar has many luxury stores feeling threatened. This is causing some stores to take precautionary measures.

High-end shoppers may be in for a surprise when they go to purchase multiple colors or styles of one designer item. The high price tag on a designer item might restrict the typical shopper to only one luxury item. However, there is a restriction that even endless money cannot bypass. Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman now have a policy that applies to designer handbags, like Prada's latest ruched nylon styles that cost $1,290, Bottega Veneta's signature woven leather hobos at $1,490 and the new rectangular Yves Saint Laurent clutch that goes for $1,395.

Do these restrictions keep the exclusiveness of the product? This might be the case but there is an ulterior motive to these policies as well. Their motivation stems back to the current status of our U.S. dollar. There is fear that foreign buyers will hoard the bags then resell them in Europe or Asia where the same items in Prada and Gucci stores typically cost 20 percent to 40 percent more. The popular Yves Saint Laurent Downtown bag, which is restricted to three per customer at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, costs roughly $300 less (900 pounds) at Harvey Nichols in London.

While foreign shoppers warmly were welcomed by many retailers last month, it is a slightly different story for luxury stores. Gucci and Prada have spent the last decade trying to reach those customers in their own countries by opening expensive new shops throughout Asia and Europe. An online researcher searching for a high-end bargain might be costing these select stores.

For now, the policies at Saks, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman apply to online sales only of handbags and shoes. Many foreign shoppers were boarding planes to the United States with the intent to bargain shop less than one month ago. This may result in these policies losing 100 percent effectiveness.

Maggie Clark, aka Shopaholic, is a Coloradoan advertising sales executive. She does not write about her clients. She never met a bargain she could pass up and she always can find room in her closet for another pair of shoes.

Current Handbag Affairs: Limiting designer handbag sales & heavy purse concerns

Photo. Tano Handbags are eFashionHouse.com's best selling designer handbag. Click here to read more.

by Anna Miller

January 2008 Designer handbag woes of the month. Warnings are on Television, online and on the news. Everywhere you surf or shop, you can read about or hear about two current issues concerning a woman's handbag:

1. Health issues concerning women who carry a heavy handbag.

2. Limiting designer handags sales imposed by the department stores.

Do you think it's a coincidence? First, we hear about how unhealthy handbags are becoming, and then we are told we can't buy as many as we want. It is all quite humorous.

FIRST issue - Health Concerns and A Heavy Handbag.

The concern of health related issues around carrying a heavy handbag has been on T.V. talk shows, the news and online. When was the last time anyone wrote a story or news flash about the weight a Pharmaceutical Salesperson lugs around on his/her Doctor office visits? These folks use bags on wheels the load is so heavy! And, they do it everyday from the trunk of a car or van, up flights of stairs, on elevators, down long hallways, through crowds and some even inside and out of taxis. Or, what about the lap top industry taking notice about the weight people carry around all day to do their jobs? Most women carry a large bag because they commute to work and need extra items to make it through the day. Or, they are too busy to clean out the bag before they leave the house. Students have been lugging heavy book bags for year. What's their health concerns? You may think it is a joke, but some women like carrying a large purse because it makes them feel smaller. There are a lot of big women who think they look strange carrying anything less than a large bag. A bag plus normal contents equals normal handbag weight.

There are many large handbag styles that weight little. Chanel handbags, even with long chain straps, uses light weight lamb leather and vinyl in its designs. The USA brand of Tano all-leather bags are light weight considering their size. Gucci uses monogram fabric in their construction making the bag weight tolerable.

Women who commute and travel to and from work everday enjoy taking a bottle of water, a book to read, some munchies and female essentials. These women either carry a small purse and a second tote bag/briefcase or one large attractive designer handbag. This does not mean the same weight in a purse is carried out to dinner on a Saturday night or when shopping at the grocery store. There's a purpose behind the heavy handbag, and it hasn't caused any life-threatening disease. We may want to look closer at these "handbag rental" companies who pass along germs and viruses from person-to-person instead. Yuck, just the thought of using a handbag a stranger has carried is repulsive. Renting a designer handbag poses more health issues than carrying a heavy bag!

SECOND issue - Limiting designer handbag sales by the department stores.

This is such an unrealistic predictor of designer bag sales. Most of the websites in question have had a limit on the number of designer items they would sell regardless of the "breaking news." Plus, it won't hurt the sale or resale of designer purses. Women will buy what they want and figure out a way to get it regardless of anyone's rules! What we should really be focused upon is the prices women pay for their fashion icon purchases. Seems like there's a much bigger issue here than quantity. The issue should be quality and cost. The weakness of the USD plays an important part, too. Some handbags sell for the same price as a new car! That's what we need to look at. Not, how many we are allowed to purchase, but rather how much we have to pay to own one.

The best materials come from Europe. Italy's leather and designs have ranked the highest over the years. However, if the same bag was assembled in a more cost-effective manner, the price would be less. The hype about Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Burberry, etc. is all just a matter of taste, style and design. Some of the design houses are notorious about pricing. Others, focus more on production and distribution. Then, the counterfeit market jumps onboard and screws it up for all of us. In the end, it doesn't matter how much women are allowed to purchase, it's how they can figure out a way to manipulate the system to get what they want.

The best example is the Hermes Birkin bag. The bag is large, heavy, hand-held and high-priced. Most women who want one figure out a way to get it even though they are rarely available through Hermes. Look at eBay. There are sellers on eBay who list 10-15 Birkin bags. Where are they getting these bags if Hermes limits the manufacturing, distribution and resale of the coveted Birkin? Someone figured out a way to buy them regardless of the Designer's decision for limiting sales. Honestly, most women who carry a Birkin suffer from hand, wrist and neck pain due to its weight. Even Jane Birkin herself reports she stopped carrying the bag because over time it became too painful. The empty Birkin bag outweighs any other handbag filled with a person's daily essentials.

CONCLUSION.

Are we concened? Is there something we need to worry about? Or, is the designer handbag industry looking for ways to sell more bags? The fashion bag industry is booming. In 2005, the average cost of a designer purse the major high-end department stores was about $2000. In 2007, the same item averaged about $3000. A woman's designer handbag wishes are here to stay regardless of health issues, availability and cost. Women get what they want, and in the fashion industry they suffer to look good! This is not going to change or fade away in the near future. So, go shopping and carry on....it doesn't matter how much you spend or how much it weighs. Every working woman deserves the designer handbag of their dreams!

ABOUT eFashionHouse.com.

Anna Miller is the President of i-GlobalMall.com, Inc. She operates the website http://www.efashionhouse.com/ and sells high-end authentic designer handbags and accessories at off-retail prices. eFashionHouse.com was named Best of the Web by People StyleWatch Magazine for Discount Designer Handbags and Purses. About.com named efashionHouse.com the top online reseller of Chanel handbags and accessories. eFashionHouse.com should not be confused with any other website selling a similar product or using a similar name. eFahsionHouse is the home of five fashion ecommerce stores: BrandsBoutique, LuxuryVintage, DesignersLA, ItalysOutlet, and ValueBags. Anna is considered an Internet Pioneer & Ecommerce Entrepreneur. She's been reselling high-end Designer Merchandise online since the early 90s.

The Author.

Anna Miller is the President of i-GlobalMall.com, Inc. She operates the website http://www.efashionhouse.com/ and sells high-end authentic designer handbags and accessories at off-retail prices. eFashionHouse.com was named Best of the Web by People Magazine StyleWatch for Discount Designer Handbags and Purses. About.com named efashionHouse.com the top online reseller of Chanel handbags and accessories. eFashionHouse.com should not be confused with any other website selling a similar product or using a similar name. eFahsionHouse is the home of five fashion ecommerce stores: BrandsBoutique, LuxuryVintage, DesignersLA, ItalysOutlet, and ValueBags. Anna is considered an Internet Pioneer & Ecommerce Entrepreneur. She's been reselling Designer Merchandise online since the early 90s.

Shoppers Leave Malls for Mice

Burlington, Vermont - November 26, 2007

It's one way to avoid the lines this shopping season-- and more and more people are doing it. "You don't have to go out, and you can get it done in a few minutes, instead of hours," says online shopper Sarah McNulty. Shopping online for your holiday gifts is fast becoming the easy way to pick up those hard to find items for the people on your list. The Monday after Thanksgiving traditionally kicks off the online retail season-- the online equivalent of Black Friday.

"Cyber Monday is an event that really started two years ago when online retailers noticed that there was a significant amount of shopping activity when people would return to work after the Thanksgiving holidays," explains Tasha Wallis of the Vt. Retail Association. And despite the fact that many retailers say Cyber Monday is just a product of media hype, many stores are still expecting to see a lot of online sales this holiday season. And it's not just big name box stores that expect to reap the benefits of the online holiday season. Many local shops are online too, hoping consumer dollars flow through the wires into business bank accounts.

"That's our biggest season of the year. We will probably do about 40 percent of our total online sales in the month of December alone, so it's a really important time of year for us," says Allyson Myers of Lake Champlain Chocolates. And it's working. According to the National Retail Federation, an estimated 50 percent of Americans went online Monday to shop for holiday gifts-- up almost 20 percent from last year. Shopping online has become the quick, efficient and easy way to shop.

"They have a lot of coupons, like online coupons-- they just have a lot more deals online than in the stores. I don't have to deal with large crowds," explains online shopper Nicole Pickering. Dayna Slocombe was online to help other people shop: "Well, actually it wasn't my shopping. It was more my Christmas list to have people buy things for me, and it just seems to be easier to kind of copy and paste the link to document, have somebody else look online for you." "I really don't like to shop. I don't like to get out into the crowds, that sort of thing. And I can usually find better prices, and it's more convenient," says Brian Holmes who shops online.
It's holiday happiness made easy with the click of a mouse.

Rachael Morrow - WCAX News

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