Shoes News: Sigerson and Morrison out at eponymous brand, Jimmy Choo back at Choo?
by Amanda Mull
It’s not often that anything in the shoe world actually rises to the level of “news,” but it seems like some big changes are afoot at some of your favorite brands. As such, it seemed like the right time to bring you our first installment of Shoes News, which we’ll run any time the footwear industry finds itself in some state of flux that could be potentially important to customers.
This edition brings us word of shakeups, either current or potential, at both Jimmy Choo and Sigerson Morrison and makes us wonder, what’s in a name? For details on how things are changing, and what it could potentially mean for your ever-growing shoe collections, kindly follow along with us after the jump.
Jimmy Choo to buy back Jimmy Choo? As many of you probably already know, the Malaysian shoe designer who put the Jimmy Choo in Jimmy Choo is no longer involved with the shoe line that bears his name. Choo founded the line jointly in 1996 with then-Vogue UK accessories editor Tamara Mellon, but sold his 50% stake in the company in 2001. Choo’s split from Mellon was nothing if not acrimonious, but now that TowerBrook, the majority shareholder in Jimmy Choo London (Mellon owns 15%) is looking to sell, Fashionista.com reports that Choo might be making a return to the label that bears his name.
Choo has hired Daniel Stewart as an advisor to help him find investors to place a £500 million bid for the controlling share of the company, and although others are also interested in bidding (most notably LVMH), Choo’s clout in Asian markets and his design background could make him a potentially attractive fit for the brand if his offer was financially sound. And if he returned to the company, Tamara Mellon would surely leave. Choo fans – what say you about this development? Would you like to see a creative shakeup within the line? I know I would.
Sigerson and Morrison out at Sigerson Morrison. Although the potential for a Jimmy Choo shakeup leaves me curious and optimistic, the news that Sigerson Morrison founders Kari Sigerson and Miranda Morrison have left the brand does not. The designers spent 20 years building the brand and its little sister Belle, but Marc Fisher Footwear, the label’s parent company, has announced their departure along with a planned restructuring of price points for both lines. Fall 2011 will be the founders’ last collection with the company, and New York magazine reports that they plan to stay together and pursue other footwear opportunities.
My guess is that Belle will be getting less expensive while Sigerson Morrison ups its price point a tad, and the differentiation in price structure is the only thing that I like about this news at all. Despite the fact that the brands were priced a bit too similarly for Belle to be looked at as a true diffusion line that could attract a different set of customers than the main collection, Sigerson and Morrison have done great work over the past several seasons and produced many a pair of covetable, well-made shoes. Hopefully they’ll find a new project to work on quickly.
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