Can You Be Too Fashionable? - New York Times

Story about Vera Wang going to Kohl's. This could be disastrous for both sides. Other than money, I'm not sure what Vera Wang gets out of this. If really well executed, this could do well, but when are things really well executed? The other thing is what about Kohl's? Do people that shop there want to spend $100 on a hat or $75 on a skirt? Like they said in the story, they did a ton of quantitative research, but in the end are price points too high? The risk-reward in this venture is not favorable.

My favorite trend is is the H&M/Forever 21 model of selling clothes. Buy now, we'll be sold out later. It's cheap, yet very fashionable. If you have a terrible season, your risk is low because you didn't spend any money on stock or name designers (I'm not sure how H&M gets around this). You stole it from the runways anyways. This is the way that Department stores have got to attack the fashion/stock problem. I'm not sure how long its going to take to kill Macy's (not too far away if this Saturday's stroll through State Street is a sign), but they have got to get in shape fast.