CK "Go Forward" Plan Began To Erase All Traces Of The Former Designers.

After breaking away with Raf Simons, PVH group can't wait to erase all traces left by the designer in Calvin Klein, which is cleaning the brand in an all-round way.

According to the fashion business news, Calvin Klein CEO Steven Shiffman suddenly announced a strategic plan called "Go Forward" yesterday. The process is expected to take 12 months, and the amount needed is about 120 million dollars, or about 810 million yuan. In addition to closing the flagship store in Madison Road, New York, which has been renovated by Raf Simons, it also includes labor compensation, inventory clearance, contract termination fees, rent and miscellaneous fees for 100 employees. In addition, the high-end Calvin Klein 205W39NYC of Calvin Klein will also be renamed and the design style will be comprehensively adjusted.

In order to better enhance profitability, PVH decided to merge Calvin Klein men's sportswear and Calvin Klein jeans business. At the same time, retail and electricity providers were classified as the same department, and the CMO department, called "consumer marketing organization", was established.

Steven Shiffman said in its announcement that it is more necessary than ever to promote the development of fashion and culture and create new products and experiences to meet the needs of consumers. These strategic initiatives will enable the brand to develop in a more modern, dynamic and efficient manner. He further stressed that in this critical period, the commercialization of Calvin Klein will create huge growth opportunities for the group, and annual revenue is expected to enter the $12 billion club in the next few years.

Industry personages pointed out that, with the Raf Simons turnover and brand strategy adjustment, Calvin Klein continued to shock this year. Less than two weeks after the departure of Raf Simons, Calvin Klein appointed Bvlgari's former executive Steven Waldberg as the vice president of consumer participation. This is a new position created by Calvin Klein. He will mainly be responsible for brand marketing, public relations, communication and corporate social responsibility.

It is reported that Calvin Klein executives also plan to follow the strategy of cooperation with Justin Bieber, Cameron Dollas and other traffic stars and network Hong, and deepen cooperation with the e-commerce giant Amazon, to launch online try jeans and other APP to attract more millennial consumers.

While announcing the new strategy, PVH announced its latest performance expectations, and expects that the 2018 Quarter Fiscal Year fourth quarter and full year revenue will reach 2 billion 400 million and 9 billion 570 million US dollars respectively. After the announcement, PVH shares rose 5% to 104 dollars after the market, closing at a market value of 7 billion 600 million dollars on Thursday.

At the very root, every new strategy formulated by Steven Shiffman emphasizes that he does not want to repeat the mistakes of Raf Simons. It is not hard to find that although Steven Shiffman still believes that culture and creativity are very important, the strategy of reorganization proposed by him almost runs counter to the practice of Raf Simons when it is in office, whether it is to close Madison Avenue flagship store or adjust the high-end series of Calvin Klein.

Steven Shiffman joined Calvin Klein in 2014. After working for nearly 25 years in PVH, he was a veteran of the group. As early as the end of 2017, when he interviewed, he pointed out the crux of Calvin Klein. Frankly speaking, Calvin Klein has been disintegrated as a brand. With the gradual decline of the correlation between jeans, underwear and perfume products, if Calvin Klein wants to continue to grow in the next 50 years, it must find a strong and suitable mainline to reconnect its business, while Raf Simons's efforts to make art are obviously out of date.

Emanuel Chirico, the CEO of Raf Simons, the chief executive of PVH Emanuel, admitted for the first time in the third quarter financial report that the input and output of Raf Simons were gradually unbalanced in creative marketing. "No matter the design fashion or the price, we have gone too far and too fast."

Some analysts say that the high profile breakup of Calvin Klein and Raf Simons highlights the contradiction between designer's creativity and business. 3 years ago, when Raf Simons left Dior, it was reported that six series of publications released him every year. He had almost lost the real "creative time" under such a dense schedule. However, after obtaining the maximum freedom from Calvin Klein, he still could not satisfy the ambition of PVH.

According to fashion headline data, in the third quarter ended November 4th, Calvin Klein sales growth slowed to 2% and recorded $963 million, and profits before interest tax depreciation dropped 15% to $121 million. During the period, the creative marketing cost of the brand increased by 10 million US dollars over the same period last year, and the total investment to the Calvin Klein 205W39NYC series was more than 6000 to 70 million US dollars. High marketing expenses have also dragged down PVH's performance. For the first time in two years, earnings fell short of analysts' expectations.

With the pace of fashion development and the showcase rush reaching new critical points, it seems that every designer inevitably has to encounter such a barrier of creating fatigue, even though most of the media believe that their departure is due to personal reasons or disagreements with the company. The contradiction between business machines and creative talents is constantly emerging, and the fashion industry can not continue to develop healthfully. This is a wake-up call for the industry.

What it means is that when Raf Simons was given the creative power by Calvin Klein, Raf Simons and Hedi Slimane were compared. Now, after Raf Simons left, the method of Calvin Calvin is similar to the decision of joining the post office.

At the beginning of last year, Hedi Slimane, who left Saint Laurent, was led by Celine by LVMH. After he took office, he immediately changed the brand Logo, and even emptied the Celine's stickers, pictures and works on the social media with the original creative director Phoebe Philo. The handbag products were also off the shelf, even the best selling Frame and Frame.

However, the extreme practice of Hedi Slimane has dissatisfied some Celine consumers. Phoebe Philo fans have registered a new Instagram account @oldceline, attracting 123 thousand fans at present. This can not help the industry to question whether the brand is important, but also the importance of the creative director.

Galeries Lafayette fashion director Alix Morabito said Celine should not worry too much, because the real consumers of Celine do not care much about who the designer is. On the other hand, many Hedi Slimane fans are beginning to turn their attention to new Celine, and the brand is also gaining new consumers at the same time.

People can not help but wonder that the two star creative directors are equally obsessed with the culture of youth, with the greatest degree of empowerment, but one is Raf Simons, which is repeatedly frustrated in business, and the other is Hedi Slimane, whose performance is closely related to fashion reviews. Unlike other brands who have been looking for a successful replacement before the departure of the creative director, Calvin Klein has not yet disclosed the successor of Raf Simons, and even a little bit of wind has not spread in the industry.

Some analysts believe that fashion brands need to think about how to ensure that more talents will not be lost in the future. But in the long run, the success of a brand is entirely attributable to a creative director. It is also not advisable. How to make the business machine operate properly is the most difficult problem of Calvin Klein at present.

Source: Fashion headline writer: Zhou Huining