Word: vecchio
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...while, Del Vecchio kept returning to the company's history. When Brooks was on the verge of getting kicked out of the tony Americana Manhasset mall on Long Island, N.Y., he spent an entire day talking to the owners about the firm's heritage and convinced them that the quality of merchandise and service would return. And Brooks designers and merchants still travel frequently to the archives, which are kept by a company called the History Factory in Virginia. "There are so many ideas," says creative director Simon Kneen, "you have to pace yourself...
...probably not a bad idea that Del Vecchio is finding growth in new places?like abroad. Brooks has had stores in Japan for years but now is breaking into new markets, from Paris to Seoul to Santiago to London. "We want to grow in a healthy way," says Eraldo Poletto, Brooks' president of strategic development and international business. And moving into countries where people have shown interest by ordering from the Brooks website is thought to be sounder than loading the U.S. market with 100 more stores...
During Del Vecchio's tenure, women's wear overall has gone from 12% to 20% of Brooks sales, a real spike at a store that for most of its 189 years downplayed the fact that women wore its clothes. These days Brooks is paying much more attention. Take, for example, the classic button-down, which is now specially designed with a narrower placard and smaller collar and comes in four different cuts. Brooks has even opened some women's-only shops...
...company is also actively courting younger, more fashion-savvy customers. Slimmer, more stylish suits have been introduced alongside the classically American, rounded-shoulder versions, and last fall Del Vecchio signed cutting-edge designer Thom Browne to create 50 pieces a season. That doesn't mean, though, that Browne will stray far from the company's DNA. Dipping into the archives, he found inspiration in the cape F.D.R. wore at Yalta, and as a result, come September, Brooks will sell black twill capes with fur collars...
...history that Brooks likes to wave around, there is one chapter it prefers to ignore: the demise of corporate sibling Casual Corner. After early success at reviving the chain, Del Vecchio lost control of the enterprise, which he wound up selling to a liquidator in 2005. "You have to look at his record," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of retail consultancy and investment bank Davidowitz & Associates. "It's been, shall we say, mixed...