Word: high-end
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...Russians Are Back In the mid-1990s, in the first flush of economic and political freedom, you couldn't walk into a high-end store in Davos without tripping over some Russian businessman's "executive assistant," usually decked out in a sumptuous fur coat...
...London's surging financial-sector fortunes go beyond just its booming stock markets. For evidence of that, take a look down the plush streets of Mayfair. Across town from the city's traditional financial quarter, and nestling between the art dealers and high-end jewelers, London's hedge-fund industry is quietly putting down roots. The city's share of the $1.23 trillion global industry had climbed to around 26% by June last year, up from 21% a year earlier. (In France, Europe's next largest market, assets came in at just 1.7% of the world total.) By clustering close...
...Pressler's penny-pinching may have turned off the Gap's core customers. Sweaters that were once 100% cotton or wool, for example, showed up in stores as acrylic blends, and people noticed. Banana Republic tried to woo the same high-end consumers as J. Crew but didn't go far enough in offering luxury fabrics, like cashmere, that those shoppers wanted. In 2005, while department stores couldn't sell enough $100-plus premium jeans, the Gap skipped denim and tried to push khakis. "Pressler went too far in focusing on costs at the expense of merchandising," says Christine Chen...
Sometimes the next big opportunity is continents away; at other times it's in the backyard. In Paris, word has it that the high-end children's-wear brand Bonpoint is in play. Several luxury purveyors?including the Pinault family, whose retail holdings include Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent?have expressed interest. Bonpoint, the quintessential Parisian brand, is known for meticulous detailing and classics with a fizz in sizes 0 to 16. The company is both desirable and underexposed, and the Pinaults are well placed to observe the little consumers-in-training?their family mansion near the Luxembourg Gardens overlooks...
...diapers. Most items must be washable, and they must be comfortable?no scratchy fabrics or seams allowed. Even when pants cost $89, knit tops $76, parkas $356 and astrakhan pieces go for $763, as they do at Bonpoint, the profit margins are lower than those for grownups, since high-end customers seek top-quality fabrics and subtle trims and detailing but expect children's clothing?even expensive children's clothing?to cost significantly less than their own. And there are fewer opportunities for high-margin add-ons. Even the most precocious Bonpoint customers have little need for leather handbags, although...