Style Expose Blog

7/8/2010

Fashionista talks about Emerging Designer Investment

Designers ask us weekly where they can find early stage investment, aside from their friends and family. Chicago is full of angel and venture capital but many investors are weary of investing in fashion brands because of the nature of trends- they don't last. Fashionista.com wrote about 10 investors today who have been known to invest in early stage fashion companies. Those investors and Fashionista's insights are written below:

1. Andrew Rosen: The Theory founder and CEO is also an investor in Alice & Olivia, Rag & Bone, and Helmut Lang. He invests publicly and privately in brands.

2. Marvin Traub, Marvin Traub Associates
While Traub, best known for his years at Bloomingdale's, mostly consults for big companies, he is also a partial investor in brands like Rachel Roy and Matthew Williamson. (Sources say that at this moment, Traub is not looking to invest in more labels. But who knows what 2011 will bring.)

3. Sage LLC: This Los Angeles-based private equity firm invests in small to mid-market labels. (Since this is L.A., that means lots of denim.) These are the people you reach out to when you've built a successful business and want to take it a step further.

4. Caroline Brown and Chris Burch, J Christopher Capital: This private equity firm is currently invested in Tory Burch, as well as non-fashion brands like Jawbone.

5. Ramez Toubassy, Brand Sense Partners: This firm mostly does brand consulting for big corporations, but it recently invested in a few fashion and lifestyle companies, including label Canvas and Tribe.

6. Serge Azria: Azria backs trouser label Joie; more recently he has invested in the relaunched Equipment (shown on Carine, left), as well as Current Elliott.

7. Jeffrey Aronsson, Aronsson Group: In the past, former Donna Karan CEO Aronsson has invested in Ginny H.—Ginny Hilfiger's collection. (She's the sister of Tommy Hilfiger.) He also partnered with Traub to invest in Matthew Williamson and Rachel Roy.

8. Seventh Capital: This New York-based investment firm's main focus is small and mid-sized companies. The interest is in e-commerce, so if you're not a designer but have an idea for an online retailer, or if you sell your goods primarily on the web, it might be worth looking into.

9. Permira: This London-based private equity firm picked up the Valentino Fashion Group a few years ago, along with Proenza Schouler, but have had difficulty selling off both.

10. Bartel Family: This European family made its fortune off of a travel website, but now it's making loftier investments. First up? Lanvin and Devi Kroell. Who's next? Who knows….



So what do you say Chicago fashion designers, are you picking up the phone to call an investor?

6/3/2010

Government Sponsored Fashion Programming

Mayor Daley took on fashion as an initiative close to his heart over 5 years ago. The initiative was created to keep local design talent in the city, supporting the local economy, creative jobs and ultimately tax revenue.From this sprung the Mayor's Fashion Council, Fashion Focus and the Chicago Fashion Incubator. The city fiscally supports local designers through most of these programs and many designers attribute their success to this support.

Fashionista.com reports today on some of the other fashion communities and how their respective governments support sustainable fashion communities. NYC for example has an over $200,000 budget for the CFDA's Fashion Incubator. The City of London awarded the British Fashion Council a £4.2 million (about $5.2 million), 4 year grant in 2007.

With the way the economy has been acting for the past 2 years, government support has become one of the few ways that initiatives like this can be financially supported. It will be interesting to see if corporate support for these programs picks up as corporations begin to loosen their belts.

6/2/2010

Stitches Fashion Newsletter: June 2010

Click on the image for more detail. To subscribe to the Stitches Newsletter, email elise@chicagolandec.org.

5/26/2010

Borrow a Dress Couture Hosts 1st Annual Fashion Statement Soiree

Join Borrow a Dress Couture this Friday(5/28) at Bon V at 9pm for to celebrate their 1st anniversary. Complimentary drinks from 9-10pm and a fashion show with some guaranteed good dresses at 10pm. Don't forget to enter the raffle for a months worth of dress rentals! It's wedding season. You are going to need it!

RSVP at www.shopbadc.com

Bon V
1100 West Randolph Street

5/13/2010

Chicago Fashion Incubator to be Honored at State of Style Awards

Alongside Fern Mallis, formerly of IMG and queen of New York's Mercedes Fashion Week, our own Chicago Fashion Incubator and Lara Miller are being honored at the First Annual State of Style Awards on Thursday, May 20th. The State of Style Awards are part of the two day Fashion Advocacy Campaign, presented by the Greater Washington Fashion Chamber of Commerce.

The day is surrounding the new Congressional Apparel Manufacturing and Fashion Business Caucus which is working towards protecting the rights and designs of fashion designers. To learn more about the campaign or to join in the fight, visit stateofstyleonthehill2010.eventbrite.com/