mary-kateandashley brand

the main question that mary-kate and ashley would get from their fans is : where do you get your clothes. none of the fashions the girls wore were available, because they bought grown up clothes and had them tailored down. in 2000, the girls teamed up with their stylist judy swartz and launched the mary-kateandashley fashion line. the line is targeted at teens and tweens, and sold at walmart, so that the audience can actually afford it. the line is very popular, and still has new collections each seasons seven years later.

in 2002, the line branched out to different countries. it is being sold in numerous countries: the usa, canada, france, uk, brasil, spain, australia, etc.

 
THE ROW

in the fall of 2006, mary-kate and ashley launched their high fashion line, the row. This is mostly Ashley's work. Below is an article on the Row.

By Khanh T.L. Tran, WWD
BEVERLY HILLS — Ashley Olsen, in stilettos and wearing Ray-Bans, navigated a brick courtyard to a banquette in the back of the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel here, and diners did discreet double takes at the sight of the petite blonde.

This was a new Ashley Olsen, evolving her fashion identity to a sophisticated, sexy look that also is a business strategy as she and her twin sister, Mary-Kate, orchestrate the full launch of their new high-end label, The Row.

Carrying a vintage Fendi crocodile tote and pairing a tight black Wolford tank dress worn as a miniskirt with a snug chocolate-colored leather jacket by Rick Owens, Olsen upturned the bag lady look she helped popularize.

For fall, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, with the help of four staff members in production, sales and public relations, doubled the number of The Row’s offerings to include $3,220 Tuscan lamb-fur coats, $1,700 cashmere tuxedo jackets with three-quarter sleeves, $875 banded strapless dresses and $360 legging-style pants.

They also expanded distribution worldwide to 29 premium retailers, including 10 Corso Como in Milan, Maria Luisa in Paris, Harvey Nichols in London, Jeffrey in Atlanta, Isetan in Tokyo, DNA in Saudi Arabia and Holt Renfrew in Toronto and Vancouver. In comparison, the spring collection featured 28 knitwear pieces, such as silk Modal tanks retailing for $150 and floor-length Modal cardigans selling for $655, sold at Barneys New York across the U.S. and Maxfield in Los Angeles.

Fourteen years after founding their company, Dualstar, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen face the challenge of evolving the business as they grow older and new competitors, such as pop-star/actress Hilary Duff, launch their own clothing brands targeted at tween girls. Privately held Dualstar, based in Culver City, Calif., doesn’t disclose sales figures, but an industry expert in 2004 estimated that the company rang up $1 billion in retail sales in almost a dozen countries.

Unlike their tween brand, mary-kateandashley, which markets clothes, furniture, cosmetics and other products to mass retailers, including Wal-Mart, Claire’s and Albertsons, The Row is the first business that the former child stars, who turn 21 on June 13, didn’t license out to another company. Estimated by Forbes magazine to have earned $40 million last year, the sisters are financing and running The Row by themselves because they want more control.

“We want to control its image and each piece and each collection,” Mary-Kate Olsen said in a phone interview. “The Row is very separate from everything we’ve done so far.”

Later, in the Polo Lounge, her sister said, “It’s definitely in a different marketplace.”

Indeed, executives at Dualstar, which oversees the mary-kateandashley label and develops the D.C. Sprouse brand for twin brothers Dylan and Cole Sprouse, said The Row was incubated at the parent company two years ago before being turned into a separate venture. “That is their baby,” Dualstar chief executive officer Diane Reichenberger said of The Row.

Ashley Olsen said she and her sister were “very selective” in everything, from listing the retailers they wanted to carry The Row to choosing celebrities to receive a gift of the same sheer silk Modal T-shirt she wore under her Rick Owens jacket. For instance, one recipient was former model Lauren Hutton. “She’s a classy lady and has a beautiful sense of style and self,” Ashley said.

That feeling also sums up the fall collection, which was inspired by black-and-white photographs shot by Helmut Newton and Peter Lindbergh that were, in Ashley Olsen’s words, “really androgynous.” A blood red shocks the dominant palette of black, white and gray. Ashley, who had been an intern with Zac Posen in New York in 2004, started The Row as a T-shirt project before roping in her sister. She said the siblings collaborated with their childhood friend, Danielle Sherman, and her roommate, Tiffany Bensley, in designing the label. Staying true to the label’s namesake, Savile Row, where bespoke tailoring rules, they all focused on the fit so that women with different body types can wear the clothes.

Ashley Olsen said her personal favorite was the tuxedo coat with cropped sleeves that can be worn as a dress. “It was important to me that the shoulders were narrow,” she said, adding that woven items like the coat will number 10 to 15 per season while knits will form the line’s core. “You can see enough skin on top and enough skin on the wrist so that it’s sexy.”

Such sophistication in thought and styling appealed to retailers such as Stacy Kosene, who carries Balenciaga, Michael Kors, Thomas Wylde, Tory Burch and other contemporary and designer labels at her 10-month-old boutique, French Pharmacie, in Indianapolis. Joining other buyers who saw The Row’s second collection presented in late February at a rented apartment in Paris, Kosene bought the leggings, thin tunics and tuxedo jacket, among other pieces. Yet, she said she will refrain from telling her customers that the Olsens produce The Row because many people still associate the sisters with the trend of wearing rumpled, baggy clothes.

“The draw is wearing it and showing it,” she said. “I think we’ll sell out of everything.”

Ashley Olsen emphasized that The Row isn’t another celebrity fashion line. “It’s not our focus,” she said. “It’s not our name on it.”

Yet, her fame afforded the means to slowly build the business. “I thought I was going to wear the shirts myself,” she said. “I didn’t care if it sold. It wasn’t about building a business or making a statement.”

Though she disclosed that sales were “really healthy,” without citing specific figures, Ashley Olsen said The Row plans to introduce T-shirts and a small group of knitwear for men exclusively at Maxfield this fall. She also said a bag line could be ready as soon as the holiday selling season.

Whatever the Olsens do, John Eshaya, vice president of women’s wear at Ron Herman, said they have “a great point of view” and “amazing taste.” He said he bought the fitted dresses and banded skirts that evoked Azzedine Alaïa, Hervé Léger and Giorgio di Sant’Angelo for his Las Vegas and Costa Mesa, Calif., shops. And he liked that the sisters personally showed him the clothes in Paris.

“It looked as great as everything else I had seen in Paris,” Eshaya said. “You’re there with the real designers, so you can’t fool around.”

 

ELizabeth and James

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In June 2007, the contemporary line of the Olsens was presented, ready for fall selling. It is a contemporary sportswear line, for the young twenty something woman, a smart shopper who is interested in designer wear but with a lower budget.

The Olsens' Contemporary Movement
By Julee Greenberg and Khanh T.L. Tran

As if Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen weren't busy enough, the twins are on to a new venture — the launch of Elizabeth and James, a contemporary sportswear line, ready for fall selling.

Named after the Olsens' younger sister, Elizabeth, and older brother, James, the line is the latest addition to the extensive portfolio of brands managed by the twins' 14-year-old company, the Culver City, Calif.-based Dualstar Entertainment Group. For the new brand, the Olsens teamed up with L'Koral Industries, a Vernon, Calif.-based firm owned by partners Peter Koral and Jane Siskin. Best known for their multilabel junior business and the creation of the Seven For All Mankind brand, as well as contemporary label LaRok, L'Koral expects volume in excess of $200 million this year.


The latest launch comes just after the debut of The Row, the Olsens' directly owned high-end line consisting of $655 floor-length Modal cardigans and more than 25 knitwear pieces, selling at Barneys New York nationwide and Maxfield in Los Angeles. In the fall, the duo will expand distribution of The Row's $3,220 Tuscan lamb fur coats, $875 banded strapless dresses and other items to specialty retailers including 10 Corso Como in Milan, Harvey Nichols in London and Isetan in Tokyo.

As The Row rolls out, the 20-year-old fraternal twins (21 in just 14 days) have turned their focus to the contemporary market. In true twin form, the sisters completed each other's sentences when describing the line in a telephone interview.

As far as inspiration for the collection, Mary-Kate, who shares the title of design consultant on Elizabeth and James with her sister, said, "We wanted it to be based on a relationship between a young girl and a boy and tell the story through the clothing."

"It's a clash between masculinity and femininity," Ashley added.

While they named the line in honor of their siblings, Ashley said they haven't put a face to the label. Still, the young woman they have in mind when they're designing is in her "early 20s, figuring out life and just experimenting," she said. "It's a sophisticated woman with a playful side and is still chic. It's someone who understands fashion and understands details and expects that as well."
Mary-Kate said they approached Siskin a year ago to become a partner in the label, which she hopes will fill "a void in the market that we thought we could definitely excel in."

Siskin said when she met with the girls, they seemed to be on the same page almost immediately.

"It was at the same time that we were thinking of launching another contemporary line at Koral, so the timing was perfect," Siskin said. "Since our meeting, the development of the line has really been a natural process and we all work together so well. The girls are all about detail, where I see the big picture, so it's a nice combination."

The result is a full contemporary collection that is a play on masculine verses feminine and casual versus dressy. There's the Elizabeth blazer, which is tailored for a woman's figure, and the James blazer, which has more of a boyfriend-inspired boxy fit. There are washed leather jackets; a stretch twill military-inspired top and the same top available in taffeta, for a more feminine look; supersoft shrunken T-shirts as well as oversize T-shirts; pencil skirts; cashmere sweaters; chunky knit swing jackets; oversize fur jackets, and cashmere coats. For a dressed-up look, the line includes silk dresses and a sequin minidress that was inspired by one of Mary-Kate's vintage finds.
Siskin declined to give first-year sales projections for the brand, but said they plan to take growth slowly without oversaturating the market.

While acknowledging there may be a slight overlap between the Elizabeth and James line and L'Koral's LaRok brand, Ashley dismissed any concerns there would be an inter-company rivalry between the two businesses, partly because the price points are different.

"I think it only benefits us because they have so much experience with LaRok and the contemporary market through Jane and Peter Koral and their resources and marketing strategy," Ashley said. "They can only help teach us about the contemporary market and guide us in the right direction."
Ashley emphasized that Elizabeth and James won't share any designs and fabrics with mary-kateandashley, their exclusive clothing collection for Wal-Mart, or The Row.

"They're all parts of different companies," she said, noting the mary-kateandashley brand is produced under license with various companies that work with Dualstar, while The Row is funded and run by the twins. "They all stand alone. They all represent a different place in the market."

At a time when many shoppers pay more attention to trends than brands by mixing bargain purchases from fast-fashion retailers such as H&M with contemporary and designer labels, Ashley said the consumer has become more sophisticated. With wholesale prices ranging from $40 for T-shirts to $452 for a fox-fur trim coat, Elizabeth and James is intended for a woman who wants a designer garment but cannot afford it, she said.by
"It's a sophisticated, but a smart, shopper. It's someone who understands the design aspects of fashion [and] the designer product, but also doesn't want to pay designer prices," Ashley said.

Ashley said Elizabeth and James will launch domestically with four collections for spring, fall, holiday and resort in limited distribution.

"A lot of [retailers] were very interested," she said. "We were just interested in going into business with someone who wanted to be partners and grow the brand and brand awareness."

In the end, Elizabeth and James is about their vision.

"We're always going to stay true to ourselves and what we believe is chic and flattering and fashionable," Mary-Kate said. "That's something that we really look at in the line, whether it's color or themes or fabrics. We really think about the customer."

For Bergdorf Goodman, which picked up the line for fall along with Neiman Marcus and Intermix, Roopal Patel, senior women's fashion director at Bergdorf's, said the Elizabeth and James collection should fit in on the contemporary floor quite well.

"The look of the line is very modern with an urban approach," she said. "It's fresh, appealing and very eclectic. I think that customers will notice that it will reflect their own personal styles without taking over their look by being supertrendy. The line shows a great balance of vintage meets masculinity and rock 'n' roll, which makes it unique."