Vera Wang's contemporary line Lavender Label is facing difficulties. WWD reports that Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue have dropped the line for spring and that Neiman Marcus is reducing its orders. Specialty boutique orders are also down. Industry sources say the problem is that the line is too expensive for the market it's targeting and that the line just isn't selling as well as it used to. The company is now rethinking the strategy for the line and is considering licensing the name out to someone else.
Industry observers noted that Lavender had taken a much harder aesthetic under Constance Darrow, the former president of Prada in the U.S., who joined Vera Wang as president of creative direction last spring. They said the line lost some of its happy, light spirit and had become less suitable for the contemporary environment.
Reached on Friday, Wang conceded the line's business had contracted, and said she is rethinking Lavender. That could result in a new pricing strategy, and the designer disclosed she is in talks to possibly license the label but wouldn't disclose names of potential licensing partners. "Going forward, there is talk of a bridge line as well," she said.
Wang launched Lavender for spring 2005 as a line of cocktail and evening dresses for dress departments, but repositioned it for spring 2007 as a contemporary business replete with separates. The contemporary area was booming at the time, and Wang aimed to bring a distinct designer aesthetic to it, picking up on her signature artsy aesthetic at more approachable prices than her main designer line. The line rapidly grew to over 400 doors and was estimated to generate over $50 million in wholesale volume.
"We were going with where we thought the business was," Wang said. "I didn't just hope for it to be a resource, but I wanted it to make a statement every season from a creative point of view.” She conceded that with the downturn in the economy, "We were in some cases overpriced for the landscape of contemporary."
She added, "For us, we are taking this as a good time to rethink what Lavender is, could be and will be. There are some other possibilities on the horizon on how we morph Lavender."
Bridge lines are third in the hierarchy of pricing for women's fashions, which generally are categorized from most expensive to least expensive as Haute Couture, Designer Ready to Wear, Bridge and Contemporary. Neiman Marcus has not ordered the Lavender contemporary line for fall, but Bergdorf Goodman said it will pick up Lavender for fall and will work with Vera on her proposed bridge line to be featured on Bergdorf's new bridge floor which will be unveiled in the fall.
