ON THIS DAY
Jil Sander was in growth mode when she, described by retailers as a perfectionist, explored new ways of expanding business without compromising her exacting standards, as seen in WWD on May 17, 1995. —
that the foot traffic in SoHo is about 15 times higher than in the Madison Avenue retail strip, where the current Schutz flagship is housed. “The Uptown girl was buying, but we were not reaching the younger Schutz [shopper],” Birman said. “Here, there are thousands of [customers] on this street every day.” (The Madison Avenue shop will close later this year, as the building where it is located undergoes a broader redevelopment.)
With an expanded focus on the U.S., Birman plans to spend more time in New York — and in the store itself, where he will have a special space dedicated to design.
In the meantime, the executive is staging Arezzo & Co.'s second “Pulsar” event in Brazil this week to kick off the new sales season. And he heads to Italy at the end of the month to visit factories there.
The company acquired the Made in Italy Paris Texas brand in March and is now expanding its production base in Italy to make select Birman styles.
First Step
Revo, the performance sunglass brand, has opened is first retail store, in Barcelona.
The 1,000- square-foot store is located on Baixada de la Llibreteria, in the Gothic Quarter, one of the city's highest traffic areas. It carries the brand's entire range of men's and women's styles including its NASAbased lens technology, its audio-capable sunglasses and its collaborations with Hall of Fame golfer Annika Sorenstam, Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller and Peloton instructor Kendall Toole.
All purchases made at the store will come in a complimentary, limitededition Revo Barcelona tote bag that will be available to purchase on the company's website starting later this month.
Although the company chose Spain for its first store, it is looking closer to home for its next unit.
“We are so excited to open our first retail store in Barcelona as it's a tourist gateway to the world,” said Revo vice chairman Gabor Kereszturi. “We look forward to expanding our global retail presence with a location in New York City under consideration as well.”
“We have high hopes for the success of the new Barcelona store; in the coming months, we will evaluate opening a location in the United States,” said Cliff Robinson, Revo's chief executive officer.
No location or timing has been revealed for the New York City unit but the company is looking on the Upper East Side and hopes to make a decision by the end of this year.
Revo was founded in 1985 by NASA astrophysicist and optical engineer Dr. Mitch Ruda, who proposed using the coatings that protect satellites as lenses on sunglasses. Since then it has been owned by Luxottica, Oakley and Sequential Brands before it was purchased by B. Robinson and a team of private investors in 2018.