How Will The Fashion House Designers Inherit The Problem?

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, many of the most influential American

Under the leadership of the founder, we are now working hard to solve the problem of succession in the future.

New York, USA, except for Diane von Furstenberg, perhaps no designer is so closely related to her brand.

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The wrapped skirt, which defines the fashion of 1970s, is now regarded as a classic.

But about 5 years ago, the 71 year old von Furstenberg decided to shift her daily focus to charity. As she said, "this is my third career."

In May 2016, Jonathan Saunders, a Scotland designer who was good at printing and color and consistent with the vision of von Furstenberg, joined the brand as its chief creative officer and took over the creative power of the company.

"I have been thinking about this appointment for quite some time," von Furstenberg said. "I remember that when Jonathan was just beginning to take the lead in the industry in 2000s, I fell in love with his works almost instantly. It was really new.

I like his eyes, his designs and his sense of color.

Last year, when I found out that he could come to work for me, I immediately contacted him.

After Saunders took office one year later, from the decline of wholesale mode to the rise of new brands popular in social media, the brand faced many challenges through the exhibition to convey the original design of Brand Symbolic life art.

"He changed the brand Logo and changed the appearance of the store. He did a lot in less than a year, but he didn't know why. They were very DvF," she said. "This is just like getting married. You really have to rely on luck."

But marriage is not always smooth.

In November 2016, Paolo Riva, the CEO of von Furstenburh, called the "successor" and CEO of the company in the next few decades, resigned with other senior staff members.

Saunders's DvF has also been faced with the most severe challenges of many famous brands. The founder of many years of brand spotlight has always surpassed the product itself.

In response, Saunders always insisted that her creative vision was different from that of von Furstenberg and insisted that she was not involved in his first exhibition of brands.

"He won't let me in, and I want him to do so.

But anyway, it always feels a little strange, "she recalls the pition period." this is the right thing to do.

Of course, it is very dangerous for a founder of a brand to do so. This is not very simple.

The brand is closely related to the founder and the life of this person.

In the next few years, DvF may be able to set up a positive example of a founder driven.

How can the brand introduce elegantly and respectfully into the new leadership while avoiding the brand DNA mutation that can not be reversed?

Many of her peers are "stumbling" on this issue.

From Ralph Lauren to Carolina Herrera, many top American fashion companies are working hard to face the reality that their founders will not always work for brands.

Although in the near future, several European fashion houses including Versace and Chanel will be faced with the problem of inheritance of the creative power of the current designers, there are few fashion houses that are still led by the founder of the brand except Armani.

But unlike Europe, European fashion houses have a long history. Many of them are still small in scale during the past 30 years when they were bought by luxury magnates. In the United States, most of the fashion houses are billions of dollars worth of businesses, and there is not much direct relationship with consumers in finance, such as concentrated in low-end market franchising or distribution in the public market.

The American fashion house also tends to focus on wholesale business, but European luxury group is more directly controlling the sale of direct sales and the corresponding real estate business, occupying a larger proportion of business.

"In Europe, some fashion houses have developed to the sixth generation of designers," says Lewis Alexander, an executive and corporate framework for luxury brands. "American fashion houses make business a driving force.

In many companies, the business sector is more powerful than the creative sector.

Now, they have to upgrade their evolution, otherwise they can only collapse. "

The inevitable wave of "inheritance" is coming at the current challenge of American fashion: at present, the way of production, distribution and distribution of clothing and accessories is undergoing tremendous changes.

Many of the biggest brands in the industry are struggling to survive.

Calvin Klein retired from the company shortly after he sold the brand to PVH group (PVH Corp.) in 2003, but most of his contemporary designers and brand founders are still leading the brand development.

Ralph Lauren has long managed its company's creative and commercial work. The company generated a net income of $7 billion 400 million in fiscal year 2016, but this figure has also seen a sharp decline (compared with the 2015 financial year report) by 3%.

In November 2015, Ralph Lauren hired Gap Gap (Inc.) and H&M veteran Stefan Larsson as the chief executive of the brand, aiming to reverse the downward trend in sales and profits.

Larsson has been part of the Way Forward's turnaround plan, including the closing of poorly performing stores and divestiture of redundant management posts.

But he worked for less than a year and left the company in May 2017 because of differences with the company's founder in the strategic direction.

"Stefan and I share the same love and respect for brand DNA, and we all recognize the need for upgrading," Lauren said in a statement announcing the decision. "But we find that we are different from each other in the way of creativity and consumer oriented evolution.

After many talks between the two sides and the board of directors, we agreed that we should be separated.

Larsson has been away for quite a few weeks. Ralph Lauren announced that Patrice Louvet, the veteran of Procter & Gamble, will be president and chief executive officer in July 2017.

"Louvet is a skilled business leader who has a deep passion for consumers and a deep understanding of the establishment of an international brand," Lauren said in a statement. "Plus his good cooperation, rich experience accumulated in the pformation period and highly oriented personality will lead us to a stronger position."

(the company declined to comment in this article.

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In the next few years, Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors and other relatively young brands -- today's major American fashion players -- have to start thinking seriously about inheritance.

It is very likely that not all of these brands will survive, at least in this generation.

Donna Karan's namesake fashion house was shut down after being reorganized by former owner LVMH, although she continued to design Urban Zen for the brand.

In December 2016, LVMH displaced the Donna Karan International for 650 million dollars to the G-III group of garment enterprises. The brand is still in a dormant state, and the women's accessory line DKNY is now only sold in Messi's department store (Macy s).

Halston and Bill Blass, though they are contemporary designer brands with Oscar de la Renta, are no longer brilliant in the market.

Whether it is administrative or consumer oriented, there are many reasons for the failure of "inheritance", and the most prominent one is inadequate planning.

"Because it is only to deal with the sudden departure of former CEO, not because of the consideration of the process of enterprise structurization. Many companies only regard CEO succession as" once over ".

Such inheritance is usually only used for emergency response, and is separated from the larger leadership development and talent management system, "SA Bj Bj rnberg and Claudio Feser of McKinsey consultancy wrote in a 2015 report." this is a risky way: good potential candidates can not be enough time or lack of encouragement to improve their work, and those who have not been fully trained may be ignored. The company may not be good enough to help its management team develop. "

When the "changed man" is the creative leader or founder of the company, the emotional problem becomes even more prominent.

"As long as it's about the founders, the key is to find the right people, to get a balance between respect for the brand's historical wealth and to help the company enter the new era," explains Caroline Pill, vice president of global executive search at Kirk Palmer Associates. "If this fails, it will not succeed for everyone."

How to solve the problem is to face up to the situation and prepare ahead of time.

Bj rnberg and Fesser wrote in the foregoing report: "ideally, succession planning should be a structured process that has been linked to leadership development for many years."

In Oscar de la Renta, the succession plan started in October 2014 before the brand name designer and founder died.

De la Renta's successor, Peter Copping, joined the company in the same month.

But Copping did not work for two years and was soon replaced by Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia. The two veteran brands had left the brand to start their own brand Monse, and had worked as a consultant for Carolina Herrera brand during this pitional period.

"This process is very complicated, and it is also a very personal thing for Oscar himself.

He founded this fashion house and built the brand, "said Alex Bolen, chief executive of the company since 2004," (he is also a son-in-law of Oscar de la Renta).

"In order to balance family and career...

Are we doing this perfectly? No, no, but we are all working in this great place. Oscar will be very happy. "

Whether Kim and Garcia can contribute more to fashion houses remains to be seen, but they are also known for their success in business. They are responsible for the best selling series of the brand at Carolina Herrera.

When Kim played a role in Carolina Herrera, the contract split with the brand side, which eventually led to the famous lawsuit in the industry. It also revealed the tension between Herrera and its potential successors.

Although the lawsuit was resolved earlier this year, it also stressed that Herrera was eager to seek the successor's needs for the same fashion house. The company's annual sales volume exceeded $1 billion, mainly driven by the fragrance products and clothing franchise business.

The Herrera New York design workshop, which is responsible for the design of advanced garments and wedding dresses, requires a creative leader to support the vision and vision of the brand, and to sell more people in the future.

And finding the right creative leader is a difficult problem.

Although Emilie Rubinfeld, the new president of Carolina Herrera, was reluctant to comment on the future succession plan of Herrera, she stressed the importance of recruiting talents for New York workshops. This requires attracting a small number of high-level sewing technicians, print artists and designers.

"Carolina Herrera is equivalent to a set of specific style codes, which is a unique brand advantage," she said. "We are currently investing in designing teams and workmen, continuing to build and develop this business and shoulder our firm brand mission."

Because European designers have always been better at creative innovation, some American fashion houses are looking for talent abroad, such as Coach's Stuart Vevers and Calvin Klein's Raf Simons.

But the results of Copping's Oscar de la Renta show that such a practice does not guarantee success.

"American education pays no attention to creativity and focuses on business.

Americans can display themselves well and have more outstanding personalities, but Europeans are more artistic in comparison, "she said." but some people can break this habit, such as Jonathan Saunders, Joseph's Louise Trotter, Hedi Slimane or Raf Simons. These people's left brain and right brain are unbelievably developed.

They can make their voices heard by the outside world.

"Fashion training is going to Europe," Rubinfeld pointed out. "To put it this way, there are still many talents in New York.

We also provide apprenticeship programs so that young people in our workshops and studios can learn well.

Private Companies such as Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, it is not very luxurious to shut down and do business restructuring.

Pill said: "because there is no external voice and financing pressure, they may be better at achieving success in the long run."

But it may be a bit too long.

"My brand belongs to me, so it's easier to make such a decision, to some extent," von Furstenberg concluded. "Hiring Jonathan has proved to be a step in the right direction."

He is a real leader. My role now is to support him, hire people who work with him, and provide appropriate financing.

Of course, I am still superstitious and a little embarrassed to say it out - but I really believe he is my successor.

"Private Companies has plenty of time," Pill added. "This is the most different place."

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