Karl Lagerfeld Licensing

Mayra Gonzalez

FM 324-

“Karl Lagerfeld Sets February Launch for Watches”

By Miles Socha

Women’s Wear Daily

The main focus of the article is that Karl Lagerfeld will be introduced into the watch market in February. In this case, Karl Lagerfeld will be the licensor and Fossil Inc. will be the licensee. The debut will be on February 28th, which actually coincides with the next Paris Fashion week, as well as the opening of his store “World of Karl” located on the Boulevard Saint Germain.

The collection will carry seven core styles, in an assortment of sizes and colors. It is no coincidence there will be seven styles because it has always been Lagerfeld’s favorite number, One of the styles will include the Karl Zip, which is a cufflike watch that can be zipped and unzipped into several widths. It will be a great advantage to the consumers, as they will be able to change the look of their watch without having to purchase multiple. There will also be other features such as stainless steel bracelets, metallic leathers, as well as pyramid-shaped studs and bold chains. The retail prices of the collection will range from $150 to $595. As for the packaging, it will be housed in special packaging and sport engraved case backs.

The chief executive of Karl Lagerfeld, Pier Paoo Righi, stated that the watches’ positioning will be “accessible luxury” which will allow a fairly broad distribution. They will be launched initially in about 50 doors in North America, Europe and Asia, with a goal of 500 doors by the falls season of 2013. Some of their retail partners that will be carrying the watches will be Colette and Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Selfridges in London, Watch Station in Asis, and Bloomingdale’s in the United States.

Righi praises Fossil’s advanced technical capabilities, which made them ideal partners for the collection. For instance they are able to allow a chain to encircle the casing of one style. The collection represents both the fashion...