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SECTION II
LILLY PULITZER AT FIFTY
BRIGHTENING CLOSETS AND SPIRITS FOR HALF A CENTURY
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
SECTION II
WWD.COM
WWD SPECIAL REPORT
In the Land of Pink and Green
Lilly Pulitzer’s team brings a modern touch to a venerable niche.
The headquarters in King of Prussia, Pa.
By Julee Kaplan
IT WAS JUST ANOTHER DAY IN 1993 FOR
Scott Beaumont and James Bradbeer Jr. The two
Pennsylvania businessmen were working a trade
show representing Eagle’s Eye, a preppy sportswear
label run by venture capitalist Christopher Burch. It
was there, where Bradbeer said, he experienced an
“a-ha! moment.”
“We were at this trade show and saw that the
Lilly Pulitzer brand was for sale and that Lilly
wanted someone to resurrect it,” Bradbeer said.
“For me, it seemed like a no-brainer. I grew up with
Lilly since my mom was such a big fan. She wore it
— she even worked in a Lilly store — and I remember how sad she was when the brand was retired
back in the Eighties.”
So, Beaumont and Bradbeer took the idea of purchasing the brand to Burch. He wasn’t interested.
“We decided pretty much right away that we were
going to do this ourselves,” Bradbeer said. “So we
did. We spun off.”
Both men lived in King of Prussia, Pa., so they
decided to set up shop there — Beaumont would be
chief executive and Bradbeer, president. While it was
far from sunny Palm Beach, Fla., where the brand
was founded and Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau still lives,
Beaumont said that she was all for the idea of headquartering in King of Prussia and encouraged them
to open outside of a major city — in a more low-key,
suburban area.
“She thought it would be better for us to stay focused without the distractions of a city,” Beaumont
said. “After all, she started the brand in a small town,
so it made sense for us to follow that path.”
Today, the brand does operate a showroom in New
York on the 21st floor of 550 Seventh Avenue, but it
is still headquartered in a 100,000-square-foot pink
stucco building in King of Prussia. Surrounded by
traditional white and gray office buildings, the pink
and white Lilly Pulitzer headquarters is a beacon of
the tropical lifestyle.
And inside is no different — Beaumont and
Bradbeer have created a little piece of Palm Beach,
complete with sand-colored carpeting, wicker furniture with Lilly-printed pillows, photos of models
wearing the brand on the beach and a canoe anchored in the entrance way.
Upon entering the building, visitors are whisked
into a world where everyone who passes is all smiles
— dressed head-to-toe in Lilly, from the ceo on down.
Employees are the best walking advertisements for
the brand. They — and, by extension, their families —
live the Lilly lifestyle to the fullest. Pictures of their
children decked out in Lilly hang in sun-drenched
cubicles (10 percent of the staff happens to be expecting soon-to-be-Lilly-wearing babies), and designers anticipate a new fabric shipment like kids look
forward to Christmas morning.
Central to the headquarters is a huge glassed-in
courtyard, made to look like Palm Beach’s iconic Vias
shopping area. In this courtyard are fully grown palm
trees, cozy bright pink couches and chairs upholstered in Lilly prints, an array of dining tables with
pink and green chairs and even a giant juice stand
(which doubles as a fully stocked bar for events). The
atrium serves as the main gathering point for meetings, lunch and a place where anyone in the company
can go to relax before heading back to work.
In addition, there’s a tremendous warehouse,
filled with product ready to ship to retail — partnered and company-owned stores, as well as to a roster of wholesale accounts including Bloomingdale’s,
Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman
and Harrods in London. In a nod to customer care,
a team of people in the warehouse steam and iron
the clothes, in assembly line fashion, before packing
them into boxes.
This is also the place where legions of Lilly Lovers
from around the country flock to for the brand’s biannual warehouse sale. It’s then and there that they
Continued on page 4
Scott Beaumont and
James Bradbeer Jr.
PHOTOS BY TALAYA CENTENO
2
4
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
SECTION II
WWD.COM
WWD SPECIAL REPORT
Life in Lilly Land
Continued from page 2
get the best deals on new merchandise,
but it’s also the perfect time for these
devotees to gather and catch up with
each other.
“They literally spend the night in
the parking lot,” Bradbeer said. “They
love it, they look at pictures of each
other’s kids, catch up on each others’
lives and then we open the doors and
they clean us out.”
It’s these dedicated fans of the
brand (hundreds of thousands of them
worldwide, according to Bradbeer)
who keep the company growing. Today,
industry sources estimate the Lilly
Pulitzer brand brings in about $75 million in wholesale volume annually.
That’s quite a feat for a company that
had a sluggish start — the second time
around — back in 1994.
“We had our best year in business
in 2001, especially in the months following Sept. 11,” Bradbeer said, noting
that it’s the brightly colored printed
clothing that brings its wearers to a
“much happier place.”
“I don’t know whether to be happy
or sad about the downturn in the economy,” Bradbeer said. “Traditionally for
us, it’s times like these when our business is quite good.”
So, Bradbeer said, as the company
celebrates the 50th year since Pulitzer
opened her juice stand in Palm Beach,
he is planning for growth next year of
about 20 percent. And while he admits
that the brand always want to serve
those dedicated Lilly Lovers (who regularly send him letters offering their
own ideas of what the company should
do), now is a time to “celebrate our
past, but concentrate on moving the
company forward.”
As brands such as Tory Burch, Milly,
Tibi and Trina Turk leapfrog Pulitzer
in terms of growth, the company’s owners are planning an aggressive expansion to stay in the game.
(Burch, incidentally, is the ex-wife
of Christopher Burch. Her business,
a direct competitor of Lilly Pulitzer,
started in 2004.)
“There are brands out there that are
just eating our lunch,” Bradbeer admitted during the company’s Jubilee celebration at the famous Breakers hotel
in Palm Beach last May. “But we are
ready to compete with them head-on.”
To create some big buzz, the brand
has partnered with several other “great
American companies,” including Jeep
Wrangler, which last month launched a
floral-print, limited edition Lilly Pulitzer
The atrium at the headquarters.
model. About 70 of the Jeeps were preordered and, at $25,000 a pop, some of
the Signature store owners will not only
be driving one, but they are also able to
sell them to their customers. (The Jeep
dealer nearest to the store will provide
all proper paperwork and support).
Also in the works are a pink-andgreen printed Steinway & Sons piano,
a Hasbro Monopoly “Lilly-opoly” game
(where a player can buy property in
Palm Beach before “shifting” to the
next space) and a Florida’s Natural orange juice carton decked in Pulitzer’s
famous prints. One million of the limited edition cartons will be distributed
to grocery stores nationwide.
The idea, Bradbeer said, is to continue to be a leader in their arena and to
keep creating new things that honor the
heritage begun by its founder, but still
excite a new group of shoppers as well.
“Lilly was an innovator, a great
American designer who made her way
by being who she is,” he said. “Our job
is to keep doing just that, but in a modern way.”
Bradbeer acknowledges that the
brand will never be for everyone, but
the firm is finding new ways to extend the brand, including its licensed
categories. Currently, there are four:
Eyewear with Kenmark, Sleepwear
Shoes and bags are
produced in-house.
with Carol Hochman, a new stationery
deal with Lifeguard Press, and three
fragrances, with PulsePoints LLC, that
are ready to hit the market. (See related story, page 14).
Its shoes and handbags, two products that are often licensed, are produced in-house.
That’s just a fraction of what the
company has in the pipeline. Now hitting retail for resort, which is traditionally the brand’s strongest season, the
apparel has undergone a transformation. To help with this, Bradbeer has
brought in several seasoned designers
as consultants.
Gordon Thompson, former corporate
vice president of design and global creative director at Nike Inc. and former
executive vice president and creative director at Cole Haan, has joined Pulitzer
as a creative consultant, and Jeffrey
Chow has signed on as a women’s wear
design consultant. Besides designing his
own ready-to-wear line, Chow was a designer at Pucci and Perry Ellis.
The result is a collection segmented
into three categories — Jubilee, Day
Lilly and resort collections. Jubilee comprises high-end product for women, men
and children, including beaded and embroidered silk gowns and dresses, cashmere sweaters and tunics, with some sig-
nature Pulitzer prints throughout. This
collection, wholesaling between $24 and
$425, is offered in limited edition runs.
Jubilee influences the less-expensive
merchandise meant for more everyday
wearing in the Day Lilly group.
Day Lilly represents the biggest
change for the brand. There are many
prints seen throughout, but overall,
they are not as busy as traditional Lilly
designs — for example, there are tan
and brown giraffe-print safari dresses,
elephant-print tops, a blue and coral
medallion-print silk dress and cotton
tops in solid navy, white and pink. This
collection, Bradbeer noted, was made to
become the “modern Lilly collection.”
The resort line, which will be sold
year-round, focuses on traditional and
iconic Lilly prints — mostly in pink
and green, but some blue and yellow
manages to slip in as well. It includes
sportswear, swimwear and dresses.
As time goes on, Bradbeer said he
plans to continue to carry on Lilly’s legacy, and he looks forward to providing
Lilly nation with new ideas. Now a father of four sons, it seems ironic that he
is president of all things pink and green
and girly.
“I have four boys at home, but Lilly
was my first child,” he said. “Lilly’s my
first girl.”
Steinway & Sons’ colorful piano.
The floral-print, limited edition
Lilly Pulitzer jeep.
TM & 2008 © Lilly Pulitzer ® /Kenmark Group.
Congratulations on 50 Years of Colorful Life!
Exclusive Licensee of Lilly Pulitzer Sunwear and Eyewear.
6
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
SECTION II
WWD SPECIAL REPORT
‘It’s Always Summer Somewhere’
Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau’s accidental business was as much about a resort spirit as about clothes.
By Sarah Haight
LONG BEFORE “LIFESTYLE DRESSING” WAS DE
rigueur, before Ralph and before Tory, there was an
eyeliner-loving, toga-wearing lady named Lilly Pulitzer
Rousseau. Today, she lives in a sprawling bungalow in
her beloved Palm Beach, her raucous entertaining
days over — in the Sixties and Seventies, the Pulitzer
family’s kitchen sat 26 for dinner — but her trademark
nonchalant wit intact.
Perched on a chinoiserie-covered bench awaiting
guests, the 77-year-old designer wears white slacks
and a vintage Lilly shirt printed with white and yellow
daisies, her feet bare but for the bright coral polish on
her toes. (Rousseau never wears shoes unless she absolutely must, which means, begrudgingly, to restaurants
and public functions.) “Time means nothing to me,”
she said cheerfully by way of introduction. “Ten years,
15 years — I can’t believe that 50 years have gone by. I
am what age I am, and it’s scary as hell!”
Whether Rousseau can believe it or not, a half century has indeed passed since she launched the preppy
girl’s warm-weather wardrobe — simple shifts, capri
pants and tennis skirts in splashy pastel patterns —
out of a little juice stand on Palm Beach’s Via Mizner.
She sold the label in 1993 but continues to serve
as a consultant to the company. The brand is now
celebrating its Jubilee, complete with capsule collections for resort, spring and summer featuring bejeweled silk dresses and embroidered blouses, as well
as a retrospective of vintage pieces and photographs
that this spring will tour major department stores and
the company’s 20 boutiques (one stop will be its first
Manhattan outpost, which opened on the Upper East
Side in May).
“I can’t believe people are still interested in this
story,” Rousseau said with a sigh. Never one to play
by the rules (she considers underwear as much a nuisance as shoes and lined her Lilly shifts with muslin to
encourage women to go au naturel), she would much
rather talk about her three children and seven grandchildren, “pretty linen” or her overgrown landscaping
and the family of raccoons lurking in it than the business that made her name iconic. Nevertheless, with a
bit of coaxing, she jumps right in.
“It was a total change of life for me,” Rousseau
said of starting her line. “I entered it with no business
sense….It was just something that I all of a sudden
took over.”
Rousseau’s story has been often told over the
years: Born the middle of three daughters into a socially prominent family in Roslyn, N.Y., Lilly McKim
attended all the right schools (Chapin, Miss Porter’s)
with all the right people (Jacqueline Bouvier was a
schoolmate at Miss Porter’s) before eloping in 1952,
at age 21, with newspaper scion Peter Pulitzer. The
pair moved to Palm Beach, where Pulitzer operated a
successful citrus grove business, and they quickly had
three children: Peter Jr., Liza and Minnie. The couple
threw fabulous parties, famously tossing water on the
tiled kitchen floor of their great big house overlooking
Lake Worth so that everyone could do the twist after
dinner. Lilly herself became known for “not giving
a whit,” according to her longtime friend Susannah
Cutts, accruing a menagerie of dogs, cats, monkeys
and even a calf (“Those awful animals,” Rousseau
now reflected). But then, in 1958, Lilly’s sunniness
began to fade. “I had terrible anxiety attacks,” she
says, “so I went to the nuthouse.” The nuthouse was
a psychiatric hospital in Westchester County, N.Y. —
“I can’t really remember how long I was there, but
my cousin was there too, so that was nice” — and she
returned home armed with but one piece of medical
advice: Get a hobby.
“Peter said, ‘Well, why don’t you sell my oranges?’”
recalled Rousseau, who promptly started pulling her
station wagon up her tony neighbors’ driveways, delivering fruit. The stand quickly followed, though Lilly
discovered her crisp white shirts and shorts were becoming ruined with juice stains.
“So I went to the five-and-dime, bought some fabric,
took it to the seamstress, and she did it up,” Rousseau
said, noting that she wanted dresses that were “col-
Lilly Pulitzer at her shop in the Seventies.
orful and cotton and cool,” with slits up the sides for
bending over. The bright pattern hid the juice stains.
She even hung a few in the stand, selling them for
$22.50 apiece.
The town went wild. “I couldn’t keep up with all the
orders!” she marveled. Soon Lilly was flying regularly
to Key West, where she created the prints along with
a “gay as your hat” designing couple who ran a textile business called Key West Fabrics. Together they
dreamed up lime green palm trees, bursting sunflowers and sky blue shells, all whimsical motifs plucked
from Lilly’s sun-dappled life.
Within a year, she was shipping orders to retailers from Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue to
now-defunct specialty stores like Nan Duskin and
I. Magnin. In 1961, a Lilly Pulitzer shop opened off
Worth Avenue. The unlikely designer’s fame was all
but cemented a year later, when Lilly’s school pal, first
lady Jackie Kennedy, appeared in Life magazine wearing the Lilly Pulitzer Classic Shift. (While most of the
dresses cost about $25, Lilly charged Kennedy $75 for
hers, “because that was made out of very expensive
curtain fabric.”)
The Palm Beach social swirl that Rousseau recalls
— in which counts sat next to carpenters at her dinner
parties and, as she relishes telling, Kennedy spoon-fed
John-John on her kitchen floor — has an almost mythic
quality, one she laments no longer exists.
“It was just a cozy bunch of people. It was a smaller
town,” said Rousseau, who divorced Pulitzer in 1969
and later married Cuban lawyer Enrique Rousseau.
Though Rousseau credits a confluence of timing and
luck for her success — with the Kennedy clan vacationing in Palm Beach those days, “the light was shining in this spot” — an unflinching stubbornness clearly
served her label well.
Told by one retailer that she had to start making fall
clothes, Rousseau replied, “Oh, but you don’t understand, it’s always summer somewhere.”
Thus she introduced what just may have been
one of the first resort collections, a year-round summery lineup that grew to include men’s, children’s
and swimwear, with sales peaking at $15 million.
Ever mindful of her own days as an idle stay-athome mother, Rousseau shrewdly opened Lilly
Pulitzer boutiques in towns that her friends had
moved to, moneyed locales like Philadelphia’s Main
Line and La Jolla, Calif.: “Their husbands would be
shipped out to some city or town for their jobs, and
then what is the poor girl gonna do? She needs a job!
She needs a Lilly shop!”
By the early Eighties, however, the working-girl
wardrobe and a neutral palette had taken over fashion; sales were flagging, and Rousseau shut the whole
thing down in 1984.
“I just thought it would be nice to take a long
snooze,” she said, shrugging. “Before, I never concentrated much on my kids — I mean, I was always
very much a part of their lives, but that kind of turned
around [when the business closed].”
And then in 1993, the year her husband died,
Rousseau was visited by Philadelphia businessmen
James Bradbeer Jr. and Scott Beaumont. There had
been a generational shift, said Bradbeer, and the
daughters and granddaughters of Lilly lovers were
eager for those snappy prints and fl atter-everyshape frocks.
“I think the customer wanted it to wake up,” said
Rousseau with a laugh; she sold the Lilly Pulitzer license to the pair’s firm, Sugartown Worldwide Inc.
After a slow start, the revived label found its footing, surprisingly, in the months after 9/11. “It was our
best year,” claimed Bradbeer, “because people wanted something happy, and the Lilly attitude is always
‘We’re pressing on.’”
As for the original Lilly, these days she is most
happy at home, where she still hosts Thanksgiving
for nearly 50 on picnic tables near the pool (exes and
strangers welcome). Asked if she misses the business,
Rousseau shakes her head. “No one could tell me what
to do or what not to do, because it was all up here,” she
said, pointing to her temple. “And I don’t know if you
could do what I did today, because it’s more competitive, and obviously you need a lot more education than
I had.” She smiled mischievously: “But, oh my God, I
had a terrific time.”
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
7
I entered it with no
“business
sense….It was
just something that I all
of a sudden took over.
”
— Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau
At home in Palm
Beach in October.
SHOP PHOTO BY HOWELL CONANT/TIMEPIX; PORTRAIT BY STEFAN SVEENSSON
WWD.COM
8
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
SECTION II
WWD SPECIAL REPORT
Lilly Pulitzer surrounded by prints,
circa the Seventies.
Spring 2008
Color My World
No matter the year or season,
Lilly Pulitzer’s calling card is
cheerful designs.
Spring 2007
▼
The Jubilee
collection.
Lilly in a seashell dress.
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
Resort
2006
9
WWD.COM
2006
▼
▼
Resort 2007
Spring 2005
Swimwear and cover-ups
from 2004.
▼
Spring
2004
The fall 2008
Day Lilly collection.
▼
▼
Spring 2007
10 WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
SECTION II
WWD.COM
WWD SPECIAL REPORT
The Design Room
IT’S FRIDAY AFTERNOON AT THE LILLY
Pulitzer headquarters in King of Prussia, Pa., and
a group of five young designers is gathered around
a table with piles of photos from magazines, blank
white canvases and every shade of watercolor paint
imaginable. It looks a little like summer camp, but
this is no typical arts-and-crafts session — this is just
one of the many ways the design team experiments
and finds new ways to translate vintage Lilly prints
into fresh, modern designs.
“Aren’t they amazing?” asked Janie Schoenborn,
design director for print, pattern, accessories and
footwear and creative advisor at the company. “Our
biggest challenge is always to take something familiar and make it look new. But that’s what we do — we
add just enough newness, whether it’s by tweaking a
fabric or adding a new style with a classic print.”
Another challenge, she said, is coming up with
ideas for fall seasons. Typically, fall isn’t the best season for the brand, especially since it’s known for its
beachy pink and green sundresses, tunics and bikinis. Schoenborn, who also works closely with Linda
Bradbury, senior vice president of product,
finds a way to get around that with her
bright pink cable-knit sweaters and
animal-print winter boots — lined
in bright pink, of course.
To recharge and stay inspired,
Schoenborn said she and her
team like to visit Lilly Pulitzer
Rousseau’s home in Palm
Beach, Fla., as much as possible. Her home is filled to the
brim with kitschy tchotchkes
— from a giant fish-shaped
soup tureen to a giggling monkey statue, and even her own
Statue of Liberty in her backyard. Any of these items can
easily inspire a new pattern — a
An
inspiration
board.
PHOTOS BY TALAYA CENTENO
Coming up with new riffs on the famous prints.
Designers at play: experimenting with color, pattern and design in the atrium; Linda Bradbury,
and Janie Schoenborn (inset).
swaying palm tree on a plate
in her kitchen, for example,
inspired the embroidered
palm trees on a pair of corduroy pants.
Schoenborn also stays inspired by working in her print
room at the headquarters — a
space filled with thousands of vintage Lilly dresses and print swatches
from years past. Each print, Schoenborn
pointed out, has Lilly’s signature hidden
somewhere in them.
“People love to find the name in the prints,” she
said. “Some of them are hidden really well.”
Schoenborn, a seasoned designer and self-proclaimed Lilly Lover, joined the firm about three years
ago. She used to own and run her own handbag company called Buzz by Jane Fox but decided to close it
when James Bradbeer Jr., president of Lilly Pulitzer,
came knocking.
“Lilly didn’t have handbags,” Schoenborn recalled.
“I am such a fan of the brand, so I made my own bags
to go with my Lilly wardrobe.
“I thought I would never leave my own company,
and I certainly never thought I would move away
from New York, but it’s the best decision I’ve made.
I’m really in my dream job.”
But with the dream job comes a bit of pressure
from the hundreds of thousands of Lilly Lovers who
keep in touch with Schoenborn.
“When we make something they don’t like, we
hear about it,” she said. “They complain about the fit,
or that we cut the style in the wrong print — they are
a very vocal group of women.”
On the flip side, Schoenborn said it can also be rewarding, since she hears a lot of positive feedback
as well. Schoenborn said she often hears stories of
women who wear a Lilly dress for their wedding,
dress their babies in the brand to go home from the
hospital or simply do not go a day without sporting
something Lilly.
“It’s crazy to think that we can change people’s
lives, make them happier, with these clothes,” she
said. “But we really do.”
— Julee Kaplan
Do the Bright Thing
LILLY PULITZER HAS TEAMED UP WITH A SERIES OF CELEBRITIES TO LAUNCH A
Colorful Cause: Celebrity Designer Program. Lilly-supporting celebrity moms — Gwyneth
Paltrow, Brooke Shields, Debra Messing, Marcia Cross, Angie Harmon, Bridget Moynahan,
Catherine Bell, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon — have come together
in honor of the brand’s milestone to create limited edition, one-of-a-kind pieces to raise
funds and awareness for epidermolysis bullosa, a rare inherited skin disease that affects
young children.
These celebrities each worked with the company’s design team to create limited edition
mother-daughter/son looks using iconic Lilly Pulitzer prints. From dresses and tunics to
swimsuits and cover-ups, the coordinating ensembles are meant to capture the spirit of the
brand. The exclusive designs created for A Colorful Cause are part of the brand’s summer
2009 Jubilee collection and a percentage of proceeds from sales of the designs will support
the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation.
“Lilly Pulitzer’s support, as well as the participation of all the moms, will go a long way
in our continued efforts to find a cure for EB,” said Andrea Pett-Joseph, executive vice
president of EBMRF.
“Through this program and the designs these women have created, we’re able to give
Lilly Lovers a look toward our next 50 years,” Bradbeer said. “We are honored to have these
influential celebrities as partners in our Jubilee, but we are more humbled by their efforts to
help raise funds through A Colorful Cause for our friends at EBMRF.”
— J.K.
Debra
Messing’s
designs.
Looks
created by
Gwyneth
Paltrow for
the EBMRF.
12 WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
SECTION II
WWD SPECIAL REPORT
The Whole Package
Staying on-message in Lilly Pulitzer stores.
By Cecily Hall
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A CRISIS
in Lilly Pulitzer’s world.
With a brand as bright and colorful
as this, what could possibly shake things
up? A global financial meltdown? Nope.
Sept. 11? Nice try. In fact, the period
following 9/11 was a successful time for
Lilly, according to company president
James Bradbeer Jr., who noted that consumers were perhaps turning to Lilly’s
bright colors subconsciously in an effort
to turn their own moods around. Those
very colors are what have defined this
brand since its inception 50 years ago.
The retail story of Lilly Pulitzer, now
based in King of Prussia, Pa., began in
1958 in Palm Beach, Fla., when socialite Lilly Pulitzer started selling orange
juice from her husband’s groves at a
little stand. She created her own line of
colorful dresses to hide the juice stains
that inevitably splattered her clothes,
and they were noticed by such fashion
icons as Jackie Kennedy. To this day,
they are considered timeless, and their
devout consumer following is as large
as ever.
Fast-forward to 1994, a decade after
Pulitzer shuttered the business and retired, when two friends and entrepreneurs (and longtime fans of the brand)
James Bradbeer Jr. and Scott Beaumont
bought and reintroduced the brand
under parent company Sugartown
Worldwide Inc. One of the first steps?
Figuring out an effective retail strategy,
since neither executive had an extensive retail background.
“Brad and I no way pretend to be
great retail experts,” said Beaumont,
chief executive officer. “When we
formed the business, we knew we were
going to need help with our retail side,
because one of the things we found early
on was that this customer likes to shop
in a specialty environment, where she
gets good service and sees a high assortment of Lilly [merchandise].”
There are a couple of reasons for
that, he noted. Lilly is a specialty brand
in terms of distribution, the products offered and how consumers think about it.
But the customer likes to see Lilly with
a lot of assortment because it gives her
confidence that her party dress will be
unique — even if she’s in a place where
many other people may be donning
Lilly attire. “A lot of people who wear
Lilly congregate with others who wear
Lilly,” Beaumont said. “And Lilly herself always told us that, when you assort
the line, think in terms of people going
to a party where every person wants to
be in Lilly.”
The store at the King
of Prussia Mall in
Pennsylvania.
He also pointed out that Lilly consumers often will want a skirt in six different
patterns — or they’ll want the same pattern on six different pieces of apparel.
After opening its first companyowned retail shop in Key West, Fla., in
1996, Beaumont and Bradbeer made a
decision to begin introducing “signature
stores” — now called “Via Shops” — to
enhance the focus of its retail presence.
Via shops are run by independent retailers who apply and submit business
plans to open up their own store, much
like a franchise. Pulitzer management
has an evaluation process to determine
which retailers and plans are best suited for the job.
“The people we chose had to really
know this brand, have retail experience
and they’d have to know their community,” explained Beaumont. “Lilly is very
much a social-networking community.
People who seek this brand out to do a
signature Lilly store in their town are
© 2008 KPMG LLP, a U.S. limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. All rights reserved. 20680PHL
Your
noteworthy
performance
deserves
one word:
Here’s to 50 MORE years of Colorful Life
Happy 50th Anniversary Lilly Pulitzer®
us.kpmg.com
Bravo!
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
13
Lilly Pulitzer’s
Madison Avenue store
opened in May.
probably at the epicenter of their community of Lilly Lovers.”
Beaumont and Bradbeer chose to
open Via Shops in locations, such as
Palm Beach, Fla., Nantucket, Mass., and
Westport, Conn., where competition was
light and the brand was in demand.
Today, the company boasts 75 signature stores nationwide.
In 2004, Pulitzer launched a twopronged approach to retail that includes
company-owned and -operated units.
Beaumont said the idea behind the
company-run stores was to give the
firm the tools necessary to know their
customers better. And they also realized that their newfound knowledge
Totes and boots on display.
and skill set led them to assist the signature stores.
“We could put out a great catalogue,
get customers to our Web site, and help
our independent retailers with signage,”
he said. “These successes within our
own stores helped our independent retailers to do a better business, too.”
He added that they wanted some
stores to have flagship characteristics — larger square footage, different
merchandise and higher foot traffic
— like the current store at the King of
Prussia Mall.
In May, Lilly opened its first
Manhattan store at 1020 Madison
Avenue (3,600 square feet) along with
a shop in East Hampton, N.Y. Most recently, a Boca Raton, Fla., location was
unveiled. The total company-operated
store count now sits at 21 locations in
nine states. Average square footage of
these stores is 3,800 square feet, with an
employee count of about 10.
In general, retail prices average $150,
but merchandise ranges from fragrance
bottles at $48 to cocktail dresses for $428.
And their performance? “Most corporate stores do well in excess of $1
million per door, and overall growth in
the retail channel will be 9 percent this
year,” said Beaumont.
Besides its Via and company-operated
shops, the collection also can be found at
stores, including Neiman Marcus, Saks
Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor. WWD
reported in March that the brand has
made a push internationally: Bradbeer
said at the time that the brand had
launched at Harrods in London, marking
its foray into Europe. The Lilly Pulitzer
collection at Harrods includes women’s
and children’s apparel.
While Lilly does have a couple of retail spaces under consideration for 2009,
at this point the brand is staying mum as
to potential locations. But lillypulitzer.
com has gone fully transactional. As of
last month, Lilly Lovers from anywhere
can purchase their favorite items from
the brand’s Web site.
HERE’S TO FIFTY
MORE YEARS OF
COLORFUL LIFE.
HAPPY 50TH
ANNIVERSARY
CONGRATULATIONS FROM
OBLON, SPIVAK
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
www.oblon.com | 703-413-3000
PHOTOS BY TALAYA CENTENO
WWD.COM
14
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
Sleepwear with
Carole Hochman.
SECTION II
WWD SPECIAL REPORT
All the Details
Lots of categories keep building the Lilly lifestyle.
Stationery with
Lifeguard Press.
By Julie Naughton
BRAND EXTENSION IS A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE GROWTH STRATEGY
for Lilly Pulitzer as it begins its second half-century.
Pulitzer offers a wide array of accessories, from shoes and boots to all sizes and
shapes of handbags, totes and wallets, scarves and some home products like pillows
and holiday ornaments. These, however, are all produced in-house.
“We have a great design team internally who really understands our consumer
and her needs, so we feel completely comfortable keeping certain categories, which
are usually licensed out, in-house. By designing for these categories in-house, we
are able to be consistent with our resort chic brand image,” said James Bradbeer
Jr., president of Lilly Pulitzer.
The brand’s licensing program is an intimate group: Sleepwear with Carole
Hochman, eyewear with Kenmark and the two latest, custom stationery and gifts
with Lifeguard Press and fragrances with PulsePoints LLC.
In September, Pulitzer licensed Lifeguard for invitations and stationery, party
goods and gifts, from wrapping paper and bags to partyware, cocktail napkins and
drink umbrellas, office accessories like desk sets, diaries, notebooks, frames and
calendars, among others.
“We’re introducing an entirely new category for our consumer…[and] telling her
we understand her lifestyle needs,” said Bradbeer.
Todd Ferrier, founder and ceo of Lifeguard, added, “We believe this line expresses Lilly Pulitzer’s innate sense of style and fun.”
Pulitzer leapt into the fragrance business just this fall with a trio of scents — and
the company is juicing the market for all it’s worth.
Dubbed Beachy, Squeeze and Wink, the fragrances began rolling into about 800
Fragrance with
PulsePoints.
Eyewear
with
Kenmark.
department and specialty stores in the U.S., including Bloomingdale’s and Lilly
Pulitzer Via Shops, in early November and will be in about 1,200 doors, including
selected Macy’s, by this spring.
Certainly it’s not business as usual to launch three scents at
once — particularly when the company has never even done one —
but that’s fine with Bradbeer.
“This launch is very specifically not like everyone else’s,”
Bradbeer said. “We’re not in the basics business — patterns and
bright colors are part of our DNA. Over the years, we’ve met a lot of
people who think they know Lilly as a brand, that come to us saying, ‘This type of fragrance is trendy now, this is what will sell.’ But
Alison Farn understood the brand, and like us, had a clear vision
of what could fill a gap in the market.”
Farn is president of PulsePoints LLC, which makes the scents,
and a longtime Lilly Lover. “This brand is so much about Lilly herself,” said Farn. “She was never doing it as a commercial enterprise, and this business is not as commercially driven as others.
This company has a real spirit and it is true to its roots. This wasn’t
about Lilly or us going out and looking for a license. It just became
the right time to do fragrances.
Lilly makes people smile — especially
in a tough economy — and we think
we’ve captured that in a bottle.
“
”
— Alison Farn, PulsePoints LLC
“Lilly makes people smile — especially in a tough economy — and
we think we’ve captured that in a bottle,” Farn continued. “We see this
as a very long-term and healthy relationship between PulsePoints and
Lilly Pulitzer. Signature fragrances are just the beginning.”
The scents are named for iconic Pulitzer moments. Wink is a flirty
floral named for one of Pulitzer’s favorite sayings — “Wear pink and
make the boys wink.” Squeeze, a reference to the juice stands at
which Pulitzer began selling her first shifts to friends like Jackie
Kennedy, is a citrus scent. And Beachy, inspired by Pulitzer’s Palm
Beach, Fla., residence, is intended to be reminiscent of the beach.
Wink has top notes of pear nectar, pink freesia and lush gardens; a
heart of rose bouquet, white lily and violet fields, and a drydown of
amber crystals and sensual musk. Squeeze’s top notes are of exotic
lychee, pink grapefruit and red currant; its heart is of lotus blossom
and wild rose petals, and its drydown is of sun-drenched woods and
water musk. Beachy opens with sliced watermelon, sunny citrus and
marine air accord; has a heart of jasmine blossom, tiare flower and
lush frangipani, and a drydown of salt crystals, golden amber and
sweet vanilla. Wink was concocted by Cecile Krakower, Squeeze by
Mathilde Bijaoul and Beachy by Karine Dubreil.
Each scent has eaux de parfum in two sizes, 1.7 oz. for $48 and
3.4 oz. for $68; a body lotion, $38, and a candle, $34. Packaging is
signature Lilly: for the line’s debut, Janie Schoenborn, design director for print and pattern, brand presentation, and accessories and
footwear for Lilly Pulitzer, created six patterns in signature colors
WWD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
15
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specifically for the fragrance collection.
The bottles themselves were inspired
by architecture on Palm Beach’s Via
Mizner, the site of Pulitzer’s original
juice stand, said Theresa Plavoukos,
vice president of marketing for
PulsePoints.
In store, Pulitzer-clad salespeople
sample the scents via scented ribbons
and vials on cards, said Farn. At counter, the brand serves juice — a play
on the industry jargon for scent, and
also a key reference to Lilly Pulitzer’s
juice-stand roots.
Industry sources estimated that the
collection could do at least $5 million at
retail in its first year on counter. While
it’s still early, Farn noted that the three
scents seem to be selling equally.
Lilly Pulitzer manufactures cosmetics bags — a business which the company entered in late 2006 — and Bradbeer
has said that he has his eye on other
categories. “We have additional [beauty] categories on our long-term list,”
he said in August, “but for now, we’re
going to concentrate on our fragrances
and making that business as strong as
it can be.” Such additions would be at
least 12 to 24 months out, he said.
Farn agreed. “We want this business
to be healthy 10 years from now,” she
added. “It’s not about coming out with
another flanker next year. We’ve entered the category with a strong statement, and we plan for these scents to
be classics.”
— With contributions from
Dianne M. Pogoda
They Are Saying: ‘Lilly’s the Real Deal’
IT’S OFTEN SAID THAT THERE’S VERY LITTLE THAT’S TRULY
original in fashion these days. But when Lilly Pulitzer first offered
her sunny prints, there wasn’t much like them anywhere, and they
turned into a fashion and lifestyle brand. Here, in honor of its
jubilee, the company collected thoughts from some designers and
fashion-world observers about the Lilly phenomenon.
“Lilly Pulitzer created a very distinct look — her personal style of
bright colors and prints has an important place in fashion.”
— Ralph Lauren
“Lilly Pulitzer had the fantastic idea to do her collection all in floral
cottons, which became timeless and classic for the summer.”
— Carolina Herrera
“Lilly Pulitzer is one of the few designers worthy of copying. You
can’t be an American designer without a little nod to Lilly.”
— Isaac Mizrahi
“Lilly Pulitzer was one of the first to take a personal look and
lifestyle and turn it into a brand. Her cheery and colorful prints are
much imitated, but she is a true original.”
— Kate Spade
“With her bold prints and sunny colors, Lilly taught the world about
Palm Beach style. Like a Levi’s 501, a Lilly shift can work on
everyone from age seven to 70. A true American classic.”
— Michael Kors
“Lilly understood her client and her lifestyle because she was an
inherent part of that world. Her enduring love for Palm Beach and
that society celebrated casual dressing and brought resort clothing
to ‘all’ of America.”
— Vera Wang
“Lilly Pulitzer…Palm Beach at its best — a timeless American style!”
—Diane von Furstenberg
“One of my earliest memories of fashion is my mom wearing a lime
green printed shift dress at our country club in Weston, Connecticut.
Lilly Pulitzer was a summer uniform and always defined summer style.”
— Reed Krakoff
“Wearing Lilly Pulitzer turns everyone into a bunch of flowers: What
could be more optimistic and fabulous than that?”
— Simon Doonan
“Lilly is an American original. She created a look that captured the
essence of a particular place, time and lifestyle. When you think
of classic American resortwear, you cannot help but think of Lilly
Pulitzer. Her embrace of color, print and pared-down silhouettes are
always an inspiration.”
— Trina Turk
“Lilly is an inspiration as a designer and business leader because
she managed to create an amazing lifestyle brand based on her own
life in Palm Beach and turned it into a success that still stands
out as unique and relevant. There are few brands today that are as
authentic as Lilly Pulitzer.”
— Holly Dunlap
“Talk about turning lemons into lemonade! From citrus libations to
the prettiest preppy creations, she created a sunny — and status-y
— world we all aspired to. Lilly is the true Pulitzer Prize.”
— Jeffrey Banks
“Lilly Pulitzer makes everyone look happier, richer and more funloving than they probably are. Lilly equals sunshine.”
— Jonathan Adler