Sears Places a Huge Bet on the Kardashian Sisters' Fashion Sense
John Goodman, EVP of apparel and home for Sears (SHLD) is placing a major bet on the Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian. Goodman's banking that come August, Sears' exclusive Kardashian Kollection is going to magically reverse the struggling department store chain's fortunes. But the Kardashians' track record might come back to bite him.
It wasn't that long ago that Bebe (BEBE) began peddling the 'Bebe-Kardashians' collection. Though right in line with the chain's super tight, sexpot styles, the Kardashian assortment failed to boost revenues. Instead, Bebe's sales and comps continued on a double-digit downward trajectory.
That didn't stop Bebe's CEO Manny Mashouf from (ahem) embracing Kim Kardashian's proposal to do a line of jewelry for the stores last May. Not only are sales and comps still down (albeit only single digits now) at the end of Bebe's fiscal second quarter, but to add insult to injury, Ms. Kardashian and her jewelry design partner Pascal Mouwad simultaneously got to work creating a signature line with the same three themes she shilled to Bebe -- to be sold at other retailers.
Bruno!
And the something similar is afoot with the apparel collection. Back in August I reported that the Kardashian sisters were stepping out of collaboration with Bebe and starting up their own atelier. Khloe, Kim and Kourtney teamed up with Australian designe Bruno Schiavi to launch a ready-to-wear collection of clothes, accessories, lingerie, swimwear, and shoes. Perhaps the trio tired of simply selling other labels at their own boutique Dash. Whatever the reason, the assortment was to launch this year at retail.
Schiavi has parlayed his brand savvy into several lucrative deals, one of which was a high-profile licensing deal with NBC's hit weight loss show, The Biggest Loser for a line of athletic apparel. At the time of the announced partnership, Schiavi boasted that Kardashian threads could ring up as much as $40 million across categories in the first year. Now he tells WWD that Sears' Kardashian Kollection could generate as much as $300 million in its first year.
Or maybe not
Schiavi may have to adjust his projections a bit. Sears most recent results show a 5.3 percent decline in total sales. The only (feeble) bright spot was in footwear and jewelry. Though Sears doesn't break out the financial performance of its apparel segment, analysts estimate its stores ring up around $4 billion a year in apparel. That would make the Kardashian Kollection responsible for almost 10 percent of that pie. And it won't even be sold in every store.
Or maybe the sisters just need to plan to make lots (and lots, and lots) of in-store appearances. Hundreds of fans lined up to see Kim (and buy Kardashian-endored Fusion lip gloss) when she landed at Nordstrom. Or maybe the sisters just need to hit Sears after their next shopping spree.
Though WWD reported Kourtney insists she and her siblings patronize the chain, her quote --
We love Sears. There is a Sears right near our house. It's such a great store that is part of America's retail history.
-- sounds a lot like Tina Fey's spoof of Sarah Palin. (You know, where the ersatz VP boasted that she was well-versed in foreign policy because she could see Russia from her house.)
The Sears sartorial steamroller
Despite this, Sears' steamroll into new sartorial territory continues apace. First up in 2011 is the debut of another licensed collection. UK Style by edgy, London-based French Connection will hit the racks of specially-branded boutiques at 500 locations -- 300 of which are reportedly refreshed -- in March. Let's hope they installed better lighting and dumped those ancient metal fixtures to show off that assortment.
All of this will unfold under the watchful eye of Sears' newly-minted apparel chief Lana Cain Krauter, the other wild card in this whole apparel game. The former Sears' vet who swore off the chain when it doffed apparel to focus on hardlines, Krauter's fresh off a stint at Bealls, the Florida chain that's more frumpy than fashion-forward. And Talbots (TLB) is a shining example that even the most sincere efforts to dump the frump can be thwarted.
Image via Steal their Style CC 2.0
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