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Juicy Couture news and facts history

Gela and Chris Nash and Skaist-Levy and Michaela Anisco founded a company called Travis Jeans which specialized in maternity wear, especially comfortable jeans. This evolved into Juicy Couture,

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Juicy Couture opens in Milan

Juicy Couture is opening its first European flagship in Milan today. For the popular Californian fashion label, entering the chic Italian market is a big step. “Italy in many ways is the epicentre of fashion and the European country that initially best responded to our product,” co-founder Gela Nash-Taylor told WWD. “We were so excited when we found out that we had a space on Via della Spiga, my favourite street in Milan, that I couldn't stop jumping up and down.” She added that she and her partner Pam Skaist-Levy were “mesmerized” by the elegance of the Milanese women, who dress in predominantly dark colours. “But we think we can definitely put Juicy Couture on the map with its combination of LA glamour, universal fit and casual luxury,” she said.

The Milan store covers 3,000 square foot of retail space, divided over two floors. The interior contains many rock elements melded with old-style English elements. Exclusive to the Milan store are the white marble floors, white stuccoed ceilings and lacquered wood fireplace frame. The store offers Juicy Couture for men, women and children, accessories and the brands upmarket collection, Couture Couture.

Next on the agenda is a flagship store in the UK. Company executives could not be reached for further details.

www.juicycouture.com
16 February 2007

Juicy Couture goes uptown

Juicy Couture is opening its first store on Manhattan 's Upper East Side . The new location on swanky Madison Avenue demonstrates how far the Southern Californian brand has come. Starting off as a purveyor of pastel coloured velour and terrycloth tracksuits, the company has morphed into a lifestyle brand with its own couture line, Couture Couture. The store encompasses 2,000 square foot over two stories, with a “Madison Avenue meets Alice in Wonderland” feel to it, according to co-founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor. The design concept will provide a blueprint for other Juicy Couture boutiques.

“Pam and Gela 's influence is stronger than ever in this store,” said Philip Johnson, Juicy Couture's visual director. “We are really starting to infuse their taste level into the design of the stores, and we will begin to update the existing Juicy stores accordingly.” By the end of this year, the company will have 19 stores worldwide and 20 more are planned for 2007. These will include locations in Milan , Hong Kong , Chicago , Malibu and Palm Beach .

The rapidly growing business will soon add cosmetics and home products to its offering of watches, shoes, swimwear, fragrance, baby and pet apparel and, of course, ready-to-wear, casual wear and couture.

www.juicycouture.com
6 October 2006

Juicy in Japan

Popular Californian brand Juicy Couture opened its first flagship store in Tokyo last week. Co-founder Pamela Skaist-Levy was there for the store's official opening in the Aoyama district.

“In Ginza there are so many tall buildings, and Shinjuku's atmosphere is different from what Juicy Couture is looking for,” Skaist-Levy told WWD, commenting on the choice of location. “Aoyama has a special atmosphere. This is the place for Juicy Couture to show the entire world of the brand.”

The new store offers women's and men's wear and accessories like shoes, sunglasses, bags, dog apparel and iPod cases. Juicy Couture now counts 10 Japanese points of sale. The company also opened shop-in-shops in Yokohama, Chiba, Niigata and Sapporo this year. Japanese distributor of the brand, Sanns Freres, is hoping for a total of 50 stores.

The store offers the first ever Juicy Couture men's corner, which include graphic printed shirts by Duran Duran member John Taylor (also husband of Gela Nash-Taylor, the other half of Juicy Couture).

Paul Charron, chairman and chief executive of Juicy's parent company Liz Claiborne Inc told WWD the brand had surpassed expectations and “is now a phenomenon”. The company would not, however, reveal sales projections for the store. Charron did say that “the business increase has given us confidence for further expansion.”

He added that the brand has grown from $50 million at wholesale at the time of Claiborne's acquisition in 2003 to $300 million at present. “We've done it without opening new points of distribution other than a couple of stores. This year, we will open 17 shops, including flagships in San Francisco and New York. Having the flagship in Aoyama at this time means a lot,” he said. He added that despite having launched several of its brands in Japan, “the business is still underdeveloped” and said that introducing Juicy Couture in Tokyo was an important test for the group.

Juicy Couture is also planning to launch watches, fragrance, infants' and children's wear and a cosmetics and home collection.

www.juicycouture.com
18 April 2006

Juicy Couture continues expansion

In another move to expand its offerings, Juicy Couture has signed a licensing agreement with Movado Group Inc. to design, produce and distribute a collection of watches. It is the fourth deal in recent months for contemporary brand Juicy Couture, including the launch of footwear licensed to Schwartz & Benjamin, the debut of sunglasses under a license with Safilo Group and the introduction of the Couture Couture 20-piece designer-price collection.

The footwear, sunglasses and designer range will begin retailing in spring, while the watch assortment under the Juicy Couture name will hit select high-end retailers and Juicy Couture boutiques in the U.S. next fall, with distribution in Europe and Asia to follow. Watches under the Couture Couture name might come down the road.

Juicy Couture also plans to launch a fragrance late next year and intends to open 10 to 12 freestanding boutiques around the world over the next 12 months. "Juicy Couture is a great lifestyle brand that has remained fresh," said Efraim Grinberg, president and chief executive officer of Movado Group. "It's growing very quickly at retail in some of the best stores in the world, and we believe it has a tremendous opportunity."

www.juicycouture.com
25 November 2005

Juicy goes Couture

Californian casual women's wear label Juicy Couture will be launching its first couture line, appropriately named Couture Couture, in the spring of 2006. The line will consist of 20 designer pieces, which include a jewelled dress with organza underskirt and a strapless chantilly lace dress. Prices are decidedly higher, with the average retail price of $860 dollars (£480).

Juicy Couture co-founders and designers, Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, shot to fame with their now iconic, candy-coloured velour and terrycloth tracksuits which embodied the Californian lifestyle. However, they now feel that it is the right time to take their label upscale.

“Most lines start at the top and go down,” Nash-Taylor told WWD, while Skaist-Levy added: “We did the opposite. Everyone wants to do casual, but we want to go dressier.” And dressier they will go with a silk pleated ballerina skirt and a linen and steel silver suit and trench, among other pieces.

The new couture collection will be sold at top specialty and department stores, in the US as well as in Europe and Asia. US stores being targeted include Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, Fred Segal and Jeffrey. In Asia, stores include Isetan in Japan and Lane Crawford in Hong Kong. European stores include Colette in Paris, Harvey Nichols, Browns and Selfridges in London and Luisa via Roma in Italy, and in the Middle East, Villa Moda.

“The feedback we've gotten is such that the perceived value of the collection is there,” Rebecca Blair, the company's vice president and general manager of merchandise and sales, told WWD. “It's for a more sophisticated and urban customer and it will hang with other designer collections. We see Couture Couture as a designer collection. The consumer will know it's a different collection. It won't be branded ‘Juicy'.” Blair sees the new collection hanging alongside labels like Chloe and Marni.

Skaist-Levy and Nash-Taylor wanted a brand that would reflect their new lifestyles and Couture Couture is the solution. “Gela and I go to so many events now and we love – and wear – other designers, but we wanted to wear our own collection,” Skaist-Levy. Meanwhile, Nash-Taylor believes the timing for the launch is perfect, saying that women are increasingly dressing up and are not saving their best clothes for special occasions alone.

www.juicycouture.com
27 October 2005

Juicy Couture jewellery

The girls who single-handedly transformed the fortunes of the once reviled velour tracksuit have turned their hands to Jewellery. Yes, Juicy Couture jewellery has arrived at Harvey Nichols.

LA fashion princesses Gela Nash-Taylor and Pamela Skaist-Levy can do no wrong it seems. After the run-away success of their tracksuit, T-shirt and handbag lines, the next step was to design the coolest jewellery on the block, to add those all important finishing touches. So the range of Juicy trademarks that include a cute Scottie dog, a very royal looking crown, the heart logo and a winged horse (not to mention those in-your-face slogans for which Juicy is so well known) are rendered in sparkling, jewel-encrusted charms, bracelets, earrings and necklaces that are guaranteed to inject a bit of bold, Californian glamour into your most modest, casual looks.

www.juicycouture.com
www.harveynichols.com
16 August 2005

Juicy Couture To Expand Collection

American brand Juicy Couture usually conjures up thoughts of tracksuits, tee-shirts and of comfortable clothing. The range, however has been broadened into a much wider collection by its designers and will be more high-end from fall 2005. Next season we'll see Juicy Couture wovens, tweeds and wools and Prince of Wales checks." The collection will also feature tailoring and fur-accented outerwear. This fall the brand is also offering a more high-end selection of accessories. It will be the first season the firm uses real exotic skins like Louisiana alligator for handbags whereas the rest of its leathers are sourced from Italy.

In terms of jewellery, Juicy is expanding its collection beyond the signature charm bracelet. Big statement necklaces, hoop earrings and layered, busy-looking bracelets wholesale from $20 to $100. Semiprecious stones will be introduced for holiday. Last November, Michelle Sanders was brought in as vice president and fashion director. Sanders, the former accessories director at Vogue, focuses primarily on accessories for the company, but will act the 'eyes' of the company from New York, whereas the design team is based in Los Angeles.

Rebecca Blair, the company's vice president and general manager of merchandise and sales stated: "To me, Juicy is the Chanel of the contemporary world," Blair said. "If you stand on the floor of Bergdorf Goodman on a Saturday, you'll see women with their daughters and granddaughters buying Juicy. It's similar to the Chanel experience." Juicy is currently trying to lease showroom space in an historic building in the Mayfair section of London. And a handful of freestanding Juicy Couture stores are in the planning, of which the locations are yet to be decided.