Saks Fifth Avenue has thrown its muscle behind the trendy Scandinavian label
Sand.
The
upscale retailer recently installed a shop for the Copenhagen-based men’s brand
on the seventh floor of its Fifth Avenue flagship, and results have been
“explosive,” according to Tom Ott, senior vice president and general merchandise
manager of men’s wear. “We’ve been working with [the brand] since the fall of
2011, and we love it. So we put in a shop for this season.” He said the line’s
use of colour, fancy detailing and “great design and silhouettes” has been
embraced by the store’s customers and ties in perfectly with Saks’ move to
attract a younger man. “We think it’s a great line for a younger-thinking
consumer,” Ott added. “It’s our plan to make the product assortment timely and
youthful. We’ve found that old guys want to look young and young guys want to
look cool.”
Ott said
Sand is carried in all Saks doors and he is looking for opportunities to open
additional shops outside New York City.
Creative
director and chief executive officer Søren Sand, who creates the line with his
wife Lene from a villa in Como, Italy, launched men’s wear in 1989; a women’s
collection followed in 1991. The line developed a following in Europe and
entered the Canadian market five years ago and the U.S. three years ago. The
brand operates showrooms in Toronto and New York City and is carried in 65
independent stores in Canada, including Harry Rosen, according to Rian Gardiner,
executive vice president of Triluxe, Sand’s North American distributors. It is
also stocked in 120 boutiques in the U.S., including Traffic Los Angeles, Rand +
Statler in San Francisco, Mitchells in Westport, Conn., M Penner in Houston and
Syd Jerome in Chicago.
The
brand offers three distinct sublabels: the colorful Pink label, the more-tonal
Black label and the modern and sometimes over-the-top Red Carpet collection.
“The design speaks to the 25- to 40-year-old head-set,” Gardiner said. “We’re
Scandinavian, and it’s all about design in Scandinavia,” Sand said, pointing to
the architects and other creative types who hail from that region. “That is our
roots, but we also love the values in Italy and the sartorial way they do
tailoring. So we bring the two worlds together.” The price points are also
appealing to a younger guy, Ott said. “There’s a real fashion-value
relationship,” he said, noting that suits retail from $895 to $1,100 and feature
semicanvas construction, pick stitching and fancy detailing. “For us, this
provides a new and exciting point of view and adds to the equation. The modern,
updated, cool way of dressing is what’s working at Saks,” Ott concluded. Last
year Sand partnered with Michael and Sara Dovan, founders of Traffic, to open a
2,500-square-foot store in West Hollywood, which has performed well, and
Gardiner said the plan going forward is to expand in the U.S. through additional
in-store shops, freestanding retail stores and further development of its
women’s line, which currently represents 35 percent of the brand’s $200 million
in global sales. Volume in the U.S. is $20 million, Gardiner
said.
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