Ivy Park Teams With Stan Smith, Lacoste Taps Hermann, Béis Pops Up at The Grove
BEYONCÉ’S NEW COURT: Beyoncé and Stan Smith — a match made in heaven? The Beyhive will undoubtedly vote an unequivocal yes.
On Friday, the entertainer, through her Ivy Park collection, will announce that her latest partnership with Adidas will be for the Super Sleek, a new sneaker silhouette from the ongoing Adidas x Ivy Park partnership. The shoe will be available beginning May 27.
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Called We Stan Summer, the shoe is a modern take on the classic Stan Smith, reimagining several references from the Adidas collection, including the Samba, as evidenced by its football-inspired tongue. It’s made from canvas and leather with green piping and a transparent gum-colored platform sole and features a three-strap closure and a T-shaped toe box.
To complement the shoe, the partners are offering three options of crew socks: two with Adidas’ signature trio of stripes and the Ivy Park branding, while the third features the Ivy Park monogram.
The sneakers will retail for $120 and the three-pack of socks are priced at $35. Both will be available on May 27 online and in select stores globally.
The first Ivy Park collection under Adidas debuted in January 2020 and sold out in minutes. Beyoncé initially launched the brand under Topshop in 2016 but parted ways with the company and assumed full ownership of the label before teaming up with Adidas in 2019. Since then, they have offered several collections including Ivy Heart, a capsule inspired by love that launched for Valentine’s Day in February.
Other collections have included Halls of Ivy, a line created for adults and children as a way to unite people regardless of background, color or creed, while celebrating each individual’s creativity, as well as others with themes centered around Black cowboys and rodeo, swimwear and ski-inspired apparel. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
HERMANN NEW GIG: Valérie Hermann has been appointed to the board of directors of Lacoste Holding, effective immediately, the company said Wednesday.
The entity of MF Brands Group, the Switzerland-based family retail company formerly known as Maus Frères, owns brands such as Lacoste, Aigle, Tecnifibre and The Kooples.
Courtesy of MF Brands Group
In a statement revealing her appointment, Thierry Guibert, chief executive officer of MF Brands Group, said the high-profile executive’s “knowledge and skills in the fashion world as well as her background will be valuable contributions to the board’s reflections.”
A graduate of elite business school HEC Paris, Hermann joined private investment firm EPI in 2020 as managing director of its fashion and luxury division, which includes Bonpoint and J.M. Weston, and is a member of its executive committee.
Prior to that, she spent six years at Ralph Lauren Corp., where she was most recently president of global brands. Earlier she was president and CEO of Reed Krakoff, and before that she was at Yves Saint Laurent in Paris as CEO. – LILY TEMPLETON
STAY AND SHOP: Béis, the luggage and accessories company created by actress Shay Mitchell, is opening a pop-up store at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles.
The 270-square-foot space, “The Béis Motel,” will be located in The Park across from Nordstrom, open May 25 to June 19.
“As a digitally native brand, in a historically brick-and-mortar category, there is no doubt the benefits of developing touch points with the consumer, both current and new, to interact with our product in person, and to personify the digital relationship and engagement that we have worked so hard to create,” Béis president Adeela Hussain Johnson told WWD.
Courtesy of BÉIS
The brand will unveil its limited-edition “Terry Collection” for summer — totes, a backpack cooler and cosmetic clutch in beige, black and lime green — and offer bestsellers in luggage, priced starting at $198 for “The Carry-On Roller,” in bags with the $98 “The Weekender” tote and travel accessories, ranging from an $8 refillable water bottle to a $78 packable poncho.
According to the brand, their top 20 core items represent 70 percent of their annual revenue. Last year, Béis sales were up 300 percent when compared to 2020, and 2022 is expected to drive about 200 percent growth.
“We are so excited to bring our brand to life and showcase our products front and center in a very Béis way,” continued Johnson. “The space is so creative, fun, cheeky and chic, all things our consumers have come to love, trust and expect of us.”
There will also be activations on-site, including happy hours with nonalcoholic slushies and Onda tequila seltzer on June 1, 11 and 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. All transactions will include a “Béis Motel” key chain, and shoppers with purchases of more than $150 will receive a special tote. – RYMA CHIKHOUNE
ALL ABOUT NEW YORK: In what appears to be a serious corporate home court advantage, Harlem’s Fashion Row will host its fourth annual designer retreat at Nike’s headquarters in New York City.
The athletic giant is the title sponsor for the three-day event that will provide networking and learning opportunities for 75 BIPOC designers. Like Harlem’s Fashion Row, which is committed to continuing to support underrepresented designers and emerging talent, Nike has also made diversity a priority in the corporation. There are a number of other inclusion-focused companies that will also be welcoming participants to their New York outposts.
Courtesy
The retreat gets underway today and will run through Friday. Nike did not contribute to any of the attendees’ airfare or accommodations, according to a spokeswoman for Harlem’s Fashion Row. The aim is to give designers of color access to individuals who can help shape their futures in the industry. Attendees will get to meet and greet key industry executives and creatives, and gain insights about the sector from leading luxury retailers, designers and other forces in the fashion industry.
The retreat will also include stops at other fashion powerhouses beyond Nike. Participants will also get a closer look at Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tory Burch and Bergdorf Goodman. The brigade of young talent will have the chance to speak with design team members and top-notch executives. Jarvis Sam, Nike’s vice president of global diversity and inclusion; Louis Vuitton Americas’ president and zone chief executive officer Lanessa Elrod and chief senior vice president of U.S. retail Thomas Haupt, and Kith chief impact officer and Liberty Fairs’ co-owner Sharifa Murdock will share their knowledge with the up-and-comers.
Brandice Daniel, chief executive officer and founder of Harlem’s Fashion Row and Icon 360, said Nike believed in HFR when she had the idea for the first retreat. “There was no proof that it would work, but they opened their doors and rolled out the red carpet for designers of color,” she said, adding that in the middle of the pandemic Nike “made the pivot with us to virtual.”
The brand has a lot of bandwidth. On average, analysts forecast that Nike will report full-year sales of $46.88 billion for the current financial year.
Just as participants will get an inside view of Nike, the mega-billion-dollar brand will check out their designs.
“We have a multiyear agreement for the Designer Retreat. This year, we are hosting a design combine to allow Nike to see the talent that exists within the community,” Daniel said, the competition is an apparent riff on the National Basketball Association Draft Combine, where college players show off their skills for NBA coaches, general managers and scouts in advance of the draft.
Daniel also said, “This retreat is a launching pad for the discoverable to be found, redirecting the trajectory of what the industry will look like in the near future.” — ROSEMARY FEITELBERG
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