Issue What question must be answered in order to reach a conclu

Issue: What question must be answered in order to reach a
conclusion in the case? This should be a legal question which,
when answered, gives a result in the particular case. Make it
specific (e.g. "Has there been a false imprisonment if the
plaintiff was asleep at the time of 'confinement'?") rather than
general (e.g. "Will the plaintiff be successful?") You may make
it referable to the specific case being briefed (e.g. "Did Miller
owe a duty of care to Osco, Inc.?") or which can apply to all
cases which present a similar question, (e.g. "Is a duty owed
whenever there is an employment relationship?") Most cases
present one issue. If there is more than one issue, list all, and
analyze all issues raised.
Rule: The rule is the law which applies to the issue. It should be
stated as a general principal, (e.g. A duty of care is owed
whenever the defendant should anticipate that her conduct could
create a risk of harm to the plaintiff) not a conclusion to the
particular case being briefed, (e.g. "The plaintiff was
negligent.")
Application: The application is a discussion of how
the rule applies to the facts of a particular case. While the issue
and rule are normally only one sentence each, the application is
normally paragraphs long. It should be written debate - not
simply a statement of the conclusion. Whenever possible,
present both sides of any issue. Do not begin with your
conclusion. The application shows how you are able to reason
on paper and is the most difficult (and, on exams, the most
important) skill you will learn.
Conclusion: What was the result of the case?
With cases, the text gives you a background of the facts along
with the judge's reasoning and conclusion. When you brief
cases, you are basically summarizing the judge's opinion. With
case problems, the editors have given you a summary of the
facts of an actual case, but have not given you the judge's

opinion. Your job is to act as the judge in reasoning your way to
a ruling, again using the IRAC format.
Review
Reviewed Work(s): Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution
by Susannah Handley
Review by: Robert W. Rydell
Source: The Business History Review , Spring, 2001, Vol. 75,
No. 1, Computers and
Communications Networks (Spring, 2001), pp. 210-212
Published by: The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3116573
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Book Reviews / 210 Book Reviews / 210
technological choice generally. Here he provides a useful
analysis of
California's 1990 legislation, creating a mass market for so-
called zero-
emission vehicles, as well as automobile makers' varied
responses. Fi-
nally, Kirsch frames several policy insights, responding to the
general
concern that technological "lock in" can occur prematurely and
freeze
out promising designs. Perhaps Kirsch's sensible consideration
of a
"failed" technology will upend the truism that influential policy
is de-
rived only from "successful" technologies.
Thomas J. Misa is associate professor of history at Illinois
Institute of
Technology in Chicago. His book, A Nation of Steel: The
Making of
Moder America, 1865-1925 (1995) was awarded the Society for
the
History of Technology's Dexter Prize. He is presently finishing
a wide-
ranging interpretation of technology and social and cultural

change
since the Renaissance.
Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution. By Susannah
Handley. Bal-
timore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. 192 pp.
Photographs,
notes, bibliography, index. Cloth, $29.95. ISBN 0-801-86325-
2.
Reviewed by Robert W. Rydell
During the twentieth century, according to Susannah Handley,
a "silent
synthetic revolution" occurred that transformed social and
economic
relations around the world. At the cutting edge of this
revolution was
nylon, a synthetic substance that the Du Pont Company took
eleven
years to research and develop before exhibiting it at the 1939
San
Francisco and New York world's fairs. Nylon, Handley tells us,
was im-
portant because it allowed the company to polish up the
tarnished rep-
utation it had acquired as a "merchant of death," following its
shady
munitions dealings during the First World War. The new fabric
also
profoundly altered the way people represented themselves
through
fashion.
How did nylon weave its way into the fiber of global cultures?
The

story begins with long-standing efforts by European merchants
to
break the Chinese silk-production monopoly. By the early
nineteenth
century, chemists were becoming convinced that a quasi-
synthetic sub-
stitute could be produced. By the close of the century, these
dreams
had become reality. In 1904, the English firm Samuel
Courtauld and
Co. gained exclusive rights to the "viscose" process of
producing
artificial silk. Then, in 1910, the Du Pont Company in the
United
technological choice generally. Here he provides a useful
analysis of
California's 1990 legislation, creating a mass market for so-
called zero-
emission vehicles, as well as automobile makers' varied
responses. Fi-
nally, Kirsch frames several policy insights, responding to the
general
concern that technological "lock in" can occur prematurely and
freeze
out promising designs. Perhaps Kirsch's sensible consideration
of a
"failed" technology will upend the truism that influential policy
is de-
rived only from "successful" technologies.
Thomas J. Misa is associate professor of history at Illinois
Institute of
Technology in Chicago. His book, A Nation of Steel: The
Making of
Moder America, 1865-1925 (1995) was awarded the Society for

the
History of Technology's Dexter Prize. He is presently finishing
a wide-
ranging interpretation of technology and social and cultural
change
since the Renaissance.
Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution. By Susannah
Handley. Bal-
timore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. 192 pp.
Photographs,
notes, bibliography, index. Cloth, $29.95. ISBN 0-801-86325-
2.
Reviewed by Robert W. Rydell
During the twentieth century, according to Susannah Handley,
a "silent
synthetic revolution" occurred that transformed social and
economic
relations around the world. At the cutting edge of this
revolution was
nylon, a synthetic substance that the Du Pont Company took
eleven
years to research and develop before exhibiting it at the 1939
San
Francisco and New York world's fairs. Nylon, Handley tells us,
was im-
portant because it allowed the company to polish up the
tarnished rep-
utation it had acquired as a "merchant of death," following its
shady
munitions dealings during the First World War. The new fabric
also
profoundly altered the way people represented themselves
through

fashion.
How did nylon weave its way into the fiber of global cultures?
The
story begins with long-standing efforts by European merchants
to
break the Chinese silk-production monopoly. By the early
nineteenth
century, chemists were becoming convinced that a quasi-
synthetic sub-
stitute could be produced. By the close of the century, these
dreams
had become reality. In 1904, the English firm Samuel
Courtauld and
Co. gained exclusive rights to the "viscose" process of
producing
artificial silk. Then, in 1910, the Du Pont Company in the
United
��128.104.46.196 on Mon, 06 Dec 2021
16:47:15 UTC��
All use subject to https://about.jstor.or g/terms
Book Reviews / 211
States began devoting its considerable resources to improving
the Cor-
tauld product. Fifteen years later, Du Pont coined the name
"rayon"
for its product and began to expand the markets for its array of
under-
garments and clothing accessories to the masses of ordinary

Americans.
Although it was an important step toward "the promised
chemical-
clothes utopia" (p. 28), rayon, at base, still depended upon
chemically
reconstituted organic matter for its production. The final step
toward
synthetics manufactured by humans occurred in the pure
science divi-
sion of Du Pont. First established in 1924 by Charles Stine, Du
Pont's
chemical director, the pure science division acquired the talents
of
Wallace Hume Carothers from Harvard. With a small fortune in
unre-
stricted, in-house research dollars at his disposal, Carothers'
lab first
produced a synthetic fiber in 1934. Three years later, Du Pont
filed for
a patent. The timing, as Handley makes clear, was perfect.
At the time of this synthetic fiber's discovery, the popular press
was
heaping scorn on Du Pont and other munitions makers, calling
them
"merchants of death." Fearing a public relations disaster, Du
Pont
turned to advertising impresario Bruce Barton for advice.
Barton's
company came up with a new slogan for Du Pont, "Better
Things for
Better Living ... Through Chemistry," and encouraged Du Pont
to
spend $650,000 to clean up its sullied public image. The

scheme they
concocted was brilliant. Armed with Carothers' discovery, Du
Pont de-
clared war on imported silk, promising American women
indepen-
dence from foreign, primarily Japanese, producers. Du Pont
launched
a two-pronged attack. First, the company worked to coin a
catchy name
for its product, jettisoning some 400 suggestions before settling
on "ny-
lon." Second, they began to promote it in the context of
futuristic vi-
sions of a technological and scientific utopia that animated the
world's
fairs of the 1930s. Their efforts paid off. On May 15, 1940, or
"N-Day,"
nylon stockings were distributed to national retailers, and
780,000 pairs
were sold over the course of one day. The nylon revolution had
arrived.
Over the next three decades, synthetic fabrics became a
mainstay
of American culture. Equally important, as Handley's fine
account
makes clear, was the upward mobility of synthetics, as they
rose from
the lowly status of material for undergarments to the heights of
Pari-
sian couture. Even more impressive is the author's account of
how this
utopian fabric simply fell out of fashion by the close of the
1970s, as a
"back-to-nature" movement generated a backlash, sending the
postwar

synthetics industry into a tailspin from which it is only just
beginning to
recover. What about the future of synthetics? Handley
concludes her
book with a revealing investigation of the pioneering research,
initiated
��128.104.46.196 on Mon, 06 Dec 2021
16:47:15 UTC��
Book Reviews / 212 Book Reviews / 212
by Japanese industrialists and fashion designers, into
microfibers,
which are already propelling people around the world to buy
"smart
clothes." Among the advantages of this new category is their
capacity to
ward off harmful magnetic fields and offer protection from
microbial
infections.
These projected changes in fashion, Handley argues, and I
agree,
are not terribly far-fetched, especially in a world that values
technolog-
ical and scientific solutions to problems that are often political
and eco-
nomic. Handley concludes with this observation: "the sickness
of the
twentieth century is the deadening uniformity of things, the

spreading
homogeneity and the shrinking choice that has accompanied
global
mass production" (p. 181). She is pretty much on target, but I
would
maintain that the sickness to which she refers is of a second-
order vari-
ety. The real sickness is not so much the "deadening uniformity
of
things," but the political economy that nurtures their
production and
consumption. On this count, Handley's otherwise fine book
falls short,
especially as she shifts her analysis toward synthetic fashions
at the end
of the twentieth century. What political and economic forces
are driv-
ing the resurgence of synthetics? What about the social and
political
spaces occupied by fashion models and the fashion industry?
These
criticisms notwithstanding, Handley has produced an
impressive book
that deserves a wide audience among business and cultural
historians.
Robert W Rydell is professor of history at Montana State
University-
Bozeman. He has written many books and articles about world's
fairs,
including Fair America: World's Fairs in the United States
(2000),
which he coauthored with John E. Findling and Kimberly D.
Pelle.

Henry Rand Hatfield: Humanist, Scholar, and Accounting
Educator.
By Stephen A. Zeff. Stamford, Conn.: JAI Press, 2000. Cloth,
$89.00.
ISBN 0-762-30622-X.
Reviewed by Richard Vangermeersch
Accounting is a field of numbers, not of names, and accounting
text-
books may leave students with the impression that the field has
devel-
oped without the intervention of individuals. Few accountants
are fa-
miliar with Henry Rand Hatfield, a leading accounting scholar
in the
United States during the first forty years of the twentieth
century.
Stephen A. Zeff took up the challenge of critiquing the life and
writings
of a man whose name would be recognized by very few
Americans.
by Japanese industrialists and fashion designers, into
microfibers,
which are already propelling people around the world to buy
"smart
clothes." Among the advantages of this new category is their
capacity to
ward off harmful magnetic fields and offer protection from
microbial
infections.
These projected changes in fashion, Handley argues, and I
agree,

are not terribly far-fetched, especially in a world that values
technolog-
ical and scientific solutions to problems that are often political
and eco-
nomic. Handley concludes with this observation: "the sickness
of the
twentieth century is the deadening uniformity of things, the
spreading
homogeneity and the shrinking choice that has accompanied
global
mass production" (p. 181). She is pretty much on target, but I
would
maintain that the sickness to which she refers is of a second-
order vari-
ety. The real sickness is not so much the "deadening uniformity
of
things," but the political economy that nurtures their
production and
consumption. On this count, Handley's otherwise fine book
falls short,
especially as she shifts her analysis toward synthetic fashions
at the end
of the twentieth century. What political and economic forces
are driv-
ing the resurgence of synthetics? What about the social and
political
spaces occupied by fashion models and the fashion industry?
These
criticisms notwithstanding, Handley has produced an
impressive book
that deserves a wide audience among business and cultural
historians.
Robert W Rydell is professor of history at Montana State

University-
Bozeman. He has written many books and articles about world's
fairs,
including Fair America: World's Fairs in the United States
(2000),
which he coauthored with John E. Findling and Kimberly D.
Pelle.
Henry Rand Hatfield: Humanist, Scholar, and Accounting
Educator.
By Stephen A. Zeff. Stamford, Conn.: JAI Press, 2000. Cloth,
$89.00.
ISBN 0-762-30622-X.
Reviewed by Richard Vangermeersch
Accounting is a field of numbers, not of names, and accounting
text-
books may leave students with the impression that the field has
devel-
oped without the intervention of individuals. Few accountants
are fa-
miliar with Henry Rand Hatfield, a leading accounting scholar
in the
United States during the first forty years of the twentieth
century.
Stephen A. Zeff took up the challenge of critiquing the life and
writings
of a man whose name would be recognized by very few
Americans.
��128.104.46.196 on Mon, 06 Dec 2021
16:47:15 UTC��

Contentsimage 1image 2image 3Issue Table of ContentsThe
Business History Review, Vol. 75, No. 1, Spring, 2001Front
MatterRendezvous with Information? Computers and
Communications Networks in the United States: [Introduction]
[pp.1-13]Inventing Information Systems: The Systems Men and
the Computer, 1950-1968 [pp.15-61]Robert Noyce and Fairchild
Semiconductor, 1957-1968 [pp.63-101]Not Only Microsoft: The
Maturing of the Personal Computer Software Industry, 1982-
1995 [pp.103-145]Government, Business, and the Making of the
Internet [pp.147-176]Announcements [p.177]Book
Reviewsuntitled [pp.179-181]untitled [pp.181-183]untitled
[pp.184-186]untitled [pp.186-189]untitled [pp.189-192]untitled
[pp.254-257]untitled [pp.257-260]Back Matter
I
n September, at the
third annual Green
Carpet Fashion
Awards Italia, fiber
producer Aquafil
provided a design showstop-
per—a sustainable carpet
made with Econyl regener-
ated nylon that is created

from discarded fishing nets
and other nylon waste.
Covering Milan’s Piazza
della Scala, the green carpet
spanned more than 21,000
square feet and welcomed
celebrity guests including
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna
Wintour, fashion designer
Stella McCartney, actor
Colin Firth and actress
Sophia Loren.
The event celebrated fash-
ion houses’ commitment to
sustainability as they work to
embrace rapid change while
preserving the heritage and
authenticity of small-scale
producers. As in previous
years, the Econyl carpet was
produced in collaboration
with the Danish Company,
European manufacturer Ege
Carpets, and for the second
year, designed by Vogue
Editor Hamish Bowles.
“We are privileged to
partner with the Green
Carpet Fashion Awards
Italia for the third year run-
ning”, said Giulio Bonazzi,
Aquafil president and CEO

“Honoring the endless possi-
bilities offered by our Econyl
regenerated nylon, which
can be used both in fashion
and design, Aquafil is turn-
ing a waste problem into
exceptional solutions.”
Each year in the U.S., four
billion pounds of carpet
is tossed in landfills. Most
carpets are made primarily
from finite resources such as
oil-based plastics that could
be recycled, yet only 5% of
carpet waste is recycled. To
tackle the issue, Aquafil’s
Econyl fiber is 100% regen-
erated nylon yarn from
waste that is used widely in
commercial carpeting. To
make its fiber, the company
rescues waste from a number
of sources including fishing
nets, carpets, fabric scraps
and industrial plastic.
To help these recycled
fibers, Aquafil has a carpet
recycling plant in Phoenix
that opened in 2018 and has
the capacity to collect and
aQUaFiL WriTEs a nEW sTOrY

ECOnYL rEgEnEraTEd nYLOn OFFErs OFFErs
arCHiTECTs and dEsignErs nEW sOLUTiOns
Above: The NeoCon 2019
Plaza featured carpet tile
designed and supplied by
Interface and made with
Econyl yarn.
28 December 2019 + floortrendsmag.com
treat 35 million pounds of
carpet each year. Econyl con-
tributes to LEED v4 points
in four main categories:
Integrative Process
Aquafil shares its knowl-
edge and experience creating
sustainable materials with
project teams to collectively
enhance human comfort and
environmental benefits.
• Indoor Environmental
Quality—Econyl is a low-
VOC emitting material.
• Materials and Resources—
In terms of Building Life
Cycle Impact Reduction,
Econyl has an 80% reduc-
tion on global warming

potential compared to
virgin nylon. And regarding
Sourcing of Raw Materials,
Econyl comes from 100%
waste material of which a
minimum of 50% post-
consumer waste is certified.
• Innovation—Econyl fos-
ters advancement of the
circular economy through
nylon regeneration, going
beyond recycling.
“Today, about 55 million
pounds of fiber are used in
the fashion and apparel busi-
ness,” Bonazzi said. “If we do
nothing, in 10 or 20 years,
this number will be at least
three times bigger. There are
market studies that say that if
we continue like that today,
the emissions coming from
the fashion industry account
between two to 3% of the
global initiatives and it could
be between 25 to 30% in
few years. We believe that if
we wanted to have a bright
future, we have to make
products in a different way.”
The company reports that

for every 10,000 tons of
Econyl raw material, 70,000
barrels of crude oil are saved,
and 57,100 tons of CO2
equivalent emissions are
avoided. Econyl is also UL
and Cradle-to-Cradle certified.
Since the carpet industry
takes so much inspiration
from fashion, the companies
must take a leading position
in changing their ways.
“We have to work together
with the carpet industry to
start collecting carpets from
the end user,” said Franco
Rossi, Aquafil USA presi-
dent. “If we start making
carpets in a different way so
that the life is a little easier,
it will mean a cost over
lower cost and bigger possi-
bility for turnover. To date,
the carpet industry has been
a little resistant to the idea,
but I think we are going to
change with time. We will
realize that for carpet to
become great again, it needs
to look at the future and
not at the past—as it does
now.” ft

Above: Inspired by Leonardo Da
Vinci in the 500th anniversary
year of his death, Econyl
carpet covering Piazza della
Scala paid homage the artist’s
aesthetic, which draws on his
exquisite works and Renaissance
tapestries.
floortrendsmag.com + December 2019 29
Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further
reproduction
prohibited without permission.
Independent Research Project Part 2: Annotated Bibliography
1. Moore, Christopher M., and Stephen A. Doyle. “The
Evolution of a Luxury Brand: The Case of Prada.” International
Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 38, no. 11/12
(2010): 915–27.
In this article, Moore examines the nature and form of fashion
retailing in Europe and focuses on the transformation of Prada,
which demonstrates the development of fashion and luxury, and
the attempt to market through nylon as anti-fashion. This is an
important basis for my study of the development of nylon in
fashion and fashions.
2. Sanderson, Rachel. “The Devil Wears Sustainable Nylon, as
Prada Heir Makes His Mark.” Subscribe to read | Financial
Times. Financial Times, June 25, 2019.
https://www.ft.com/content/df20b7b2-9669-11e9-9573-
ee5cbb98ed36.

URL: https://www.ft.com/content/df20b7b2-9669-11e9-9573-
ee5cbb98ed36
In this article, Rachel examines how Prada's successor, Lorenzo
Bertelli, has taken over and run Prada. One of the biggest
changes was the reintroduction of nylon, making the
introduction of Re-Nylon products the beginning of a new era.
This was an important basis for my research into Re-Nylon as a
development of nylon textiles and its significance for ecology.
3. Rydell, Robert W. “Nylon: The Story of a Fashion
Revolution. by Susannah Handley. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2000. 192 Pp. Photographs, Notes,
Bibliography, Index. Cloth, $29.95. ISBN 0-801-86325-2.:
Business History Review.” Cambridge Core. Cambridge
University Press, December 13, 2011.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-history-
review/article/nylon-the-story-of-a-fashion-revolution-by-
susannah-handley-baltimore-johns-hopkins-university-press-
2000-192-pp-photographs-notes-bibliography-index-cloth-2995-
isbn-0801863252/3D9BBB2852C4BAC560D8FCEEB00AAA2D.
In this article, Robert argues that politics and economics have
driven the resurgence of synthetic materials. Nylon, as a
substitute for silk, soared with the political and economic
changes. This is an important basis for my research into the
reasons for the creation of nylon and the changing application
of synthetics in apparel.
4. “Floor Trends - Aquafil's Regenerated Nylon Offers
Architects and Designers New
Solution
s.” Econyl, January 7, 2020.
https://www.econyl.com/press/floor-trends-aquafils-
regenerated-nylon-offers-architects-and-designers-new-

solutions/.
In this article, recycled nylon is made from waste materials,
saving a lot of raw materials and reducing CO2 emissions
compared to virgin nylon. This shows that recycled nylon is a
new material that will be developed in the future. This is the
basis for my research on the development of nylon and its
importance to human beings.
5. Audra J. Wolfe was the associate director of the Roy
Eddleman Institute and editor in chief of Chemical Heritage
(now Distillations). “Nylon: A Revolution in Textiles.” Science
History Institute, May 8, 2019.
https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/nylon-a-revolution-
in-textiles.
In this article, Audra describes the development and
manufacture of nylon, which was used extensively in women's
stockings in the 1990s and subsequently in military
applications. This demonstrates the importance of nylon.
Subsequently, nylon was used in fashion, which is closely
related to luxury goods. This is an important basis for my
research on the timeline of nylon development.
URL: https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/nylon-a-
revolution-in-textiles
6. PRADA NYLON FARM. PradaGroup. Accessed November
23, 2021.

https://www.pradagroup.com/en/perspectives/stories/sezione-
know-how/prada-nylon.html.
URL: https://www.prada.com/us/en/pradasphere/special-
projects/2018/nylon-farm.html
This film truly shows how Prada's signature material, nylon, is
made. The production of nylon requires not only original
artisanal skills, but also cutting-edge technology. I can compare
the latest nylon technology now with the previous technology
and conclude that nylon has developed and progressed.
The devil wears sustainable nylon, as Prada heir
makes his mark
Sanderson, Rachel . FT.com ; London (Jun 25, 2019).
ProQuest document link
ABSTRACT (ENGLISH)
[...]the 31-year-old eldest son of billionaire Prada owners and

co-chief executives Miuccia Prada and Patrizio
Bertelli says a decade spent on the racetrack is the perfect
preparation for the high-paced world of luxury goods. In
the first instance, it is launching six bags in a so-called Re-
Nylon collection made using synthetic fabric from
recycled ocean plastic, fishing nets and textile industry waste.
With social media upending luxury strategy,
communications and marketing has become the crucial
department at the point of convergence between the
designer, big data and the consumer.
FULL TEXT
It is two years since Lorenzo Bertelli, heir to the Prada fashion
fortune, switched between the seemingly
incongruous worlds of motorsport and luxury fashion by retiring
as a racing-car driver to join the family firm.
But the 31-year-old eldest son of billionaire Prada owners and
co-chief executives Miuccia Prada and Patrizio

Bertelli says a decade spent on the racetrack is the perfect
preparation for the high-paced world of luxury goods.
“You learn to fall off and get up. It was a great school of life,”
says Mr Bertelli of the years he spent travelling 200
days a year to compete as a professional Formula 2 rally driver
—narrowly missing out once on winning a
championship.
“At the beginning people said ‘you are the son of…’” he recalls
in his first face-to-face interview since entering the
family business. “But then I won a race in the world
championships and I was judged as a driver in my own name.”
Marked out as the planned successor to his billionaire parents,
who are 70 and 73 years old respectively, his role
as head of marketing and communications will be pivotal in
turning the family business round. His unexpected
arrival has staunched speculation that the family could sell to a

bigger rival, such as Swiss-listed Richemont.
It is also part of a wider generational change in Europe’s luxury
goods dynasties. From LVMH to Salvatore
Ferragamo and Ermenegildo Zegna, younger, often millennial,
offspring are taking on bigger roles at their family
companies.
Guido Corbetta, professor of family capitalism at Milan’s
Bocconi University, says globalisation and technological
disruption had forced a change of guard as an older generation
had struggled to keep pace.
The moves have coincided with a reassessment of the value of
family groups amid a widespread collapse of faith
in Wall Street-style shareholder capitalism. A recent Credit
Suisse report found that family-owned companies had
outperformed local peers by almost 5 per cent per year since
2006.

“I want to continue the family business,” says Mr Bertelli, who
has an easy-going charm that contrasts with his
aloof, cerebral mother and combative father.
Joining the family company “was never imposed on me”, he
says. He has a younger brother who is a sailor and so
far has remained outside the business. “I do not have a problem
with taking myself out of the running if I find I am
not up to the job,” he adds.
His first high-profile step towards taking over the running of
Prada, which also owns the Miu Miu, Church’s,
Marchesi and Car Shoe brands, was to this week unveil an eye-
catching push into sustainability.
By 2021, Prada intends to substitute its entire nylon supply
chain of 700,000 linear metres a year with a
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sustainable version. In the first instance, it is launching six bags
in a so-called Re-Nylon collection made using
synthetic fabric from recycled ocean plastic, fishing nets and
textile industry waste.
Wearing a denim jacket from the Prada menswear range and
seated in an all-white cube of a Prada office in
downtown Milan, he says: “Being a good entrepreneur means
considering the social value first.” Images from his
mother’s catwalk shows hang on one wall.
Prada’s decision to reboot its nylon sourcing has significance
beyond the ecological import. The Milanese fashion
house’s elevation of nylon into a luxury good defined its
emergence as a cutting edge brand in the 1980s. It has

been seeking to reignite that “cool” factor with consumers after
several years of falling sales.
Mr Bertelli calls the launch of the Re-Nylon products “the start
of a new era”, adding: “It takes time to do things
well,” in a reference to Prada’s broader business turnround.
Hong Kong-listed Prada, which is 80 per cent owned by the
family holding company, posted its first annual
increase in sales for five years in 2018. But the progress has
since been rocky. Slower Chinese spending
contributed toan unexpected dropin like-for-like sales in the
first quarter of this year.
Thomas Chauvet, analyst at Citi, downgraded Prada to a “sell”
rating this month arguing it had “failed to deliver on
high hopes of brand rejuvenation”. Nonetheless, he noted that
on a full-year 2021 price to earnings basis shares
still traded at a 50 per cent premium to the sector on
expectations of a rebound in sales and profit margins.

Mr Bertelli’s rolewill be decisive as to whether the reboot
works. With social media upending luxury strategy,
communications and marketing has become the crucial
department at the point of convergence between the
designer, big data and the consumer. Ironically, it was his
parents failure to spot the disrupting effect of
technology on luxury sales that caused Prada to lose some of its
grip on consumers.
Sustainability has become a flashpoint in the luxury industry,
according to consultants Bain. That is particularly
the case with Mr Bertelli’s fellow millennials who are driving
industry growth by shopping on their smartphones for
the likes of €2,000 Prada Matinee handbags and €950 Prada
Block combat-style boots.
Analysts also put the industry-leading success of brands such as
Gucci down to sophisticated processing of big

data which gives immediate feedback on what consumers want,
be it more sustainable fashion or thick-soled
sneakers.
Mr Bertelli is sceptical about being too data driven, arguing that
if all the brands follow the same data they end up
sheeplike, all producing identical collections. He wants to
renew a push to put Ms Prada, his award-winning mother
and one of the few remaining founder designers, front and
centre.
“We need to have the courage to not just make decisions that
are marketing driven. You need to use insights and
data to avoid big errors, to allow the creative space to create,”
he says.
His latest role, he says, is part of a “comprehensive” path
through the business agreed with his parents from
“valley” to “summit”. Although he declines to give a timeframe
for when they plan for him to reach the top.

Before getting his new job, Mr Bertelli took his initial steps at
the family business in another new frontier for new
luxury: haute food and beverage. Prada bought Milanese coffee
and cake shop, Marchesi, in 2014, shortly after
LVMH was snapping up another Milanese coffee institution,
Cova. Mr Bertelli says Marchesi will open 10 to 15
coffee stores in key cities. Last month, it opened in London’s
Mayfair.
He says his father has also asked for his advice about Prada’s
product lines targeting Generation Z buyers aged 20
to 25 years old: Linea Rossa, a sportswear brand relaunched last
year, and the sneakers business.
The biggest influence from his parents, he says, came from
growing up “in a house where I learnt a love of details
and a love of doing things in the right way. A love of beautiful
things made well”. It is a quality, he argues, that is as

relevant to learning about a race-car engine as to a nylon
knapsack made of fishing nets.
Crédito: Rachel Sanderson in Milan
DETAILS
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Subject: Parents &parenting; Sport fishing; Coffee; Fashion
designers; Sustainability;
Tournaments &championships; Luxuries; Clothing industry; Big
Data; Marketing;
Consumers; Family owned businesses; Succession planning;
Capitalism
Business indexing term: Subject: Clothing industry Big Data

Marketing Consumers Family owned businesses
Succession planning Capitalism; Industry: 54149 : Other
Specialized Design Services
31192 : Coffee and Tea Manufacturing
Location: Europe
People: Bertelli, Lorenzo
Company / organization: Name: Prada SpA; NAICS: 316210,
316992, 316998, 448110, 448120
Classification: 54149: Other Specialized Design Services;
31192: Coffee and Tea Manufacturing
Publication title: FT.com; London
Publication year: 2019
Publication date: Jun 25, 2019
Publisher: The Financial Times Limited

Place of publication: London
Country of publication: United Kingdom, London
Publication subject: Business And Economics
Source type: Trade Journal
Language of publication: English
Document type: News
ProQuest document ID: 2246535490
Document URL:
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http://about.proquest.com/go/pqissupportcontactThe devil wears
sustainable nylon, as Prada heir makes his mark
The evolution of a luxury brand:
the case of Prada
Christopher M. Moore
Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University,
Glasgow, UK, and
Stephen A. Doyle
Department of Fashion, Marketing and Retailing,
Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. In its initial
stages it undertakes a review of the key
fashion industry-related themes emerging from the IJRDM.
Subsequently, it reflects upon these

themes in the context of luxury fashion brand Prada and in so
doing identifies four key change phases
in the evolution of the brand.
Design/methodology/approach – Review of literature spanning
20 years.
Findings – The paper identifies five overarching general
themes. These comprise fashion retailer
brands, the internationalisation of fashion retailing, the
emergence and challenges of on-line fashion
retailing, changes in the supply chain and changes in
consumption.
Originality/value – The paper provides a valuable overview of
the main research themes within the
context of fashion retailing. In addition, it provides a critical
insight into the changing nature of Italian
luxury fashion brand Prada.
Keywords Fashion, Marketing, Brand-management, Luxury,
Growth
Paper type Case study

Introduction
European research in the area of fashion marketing and retailing
is a relatively recent
activity and significant research pace in the area extends back
no more than 20 years.
That does not discount previous studies as unimportant. Indeed,
the work by
Lualajainen (1991, 1992) on Hennes and Mauritz and Louis
Vuitton contributed much
to our understanding of the international market expansion of
what have become global
fashion retailers. Similarly, Treadgold (1990, 1991) provided
invaluable insights into the
increasing shift towards internationalisation of retailers in
general and in particular the
internationalisation and philosophy of Laura Ashley and the
impact that this had upon
the company’s foreign market entry methods. Yet, while these
major fashion retailers
were considered, the focus of these studies was precipitated
more by an analysis of
international strategic development rather than the specific
nature, form and experience
of particular fashion companies.

While European fashion retailing research pre-the early 1990s
was barren, it was
significantly more advanced in the USA. Emerging often from
researchers based within
consumer science departments or food/agricultural/textile
science faculties, these
studies were dominated by consumer choice/consumer
behaviour considerations and
quantitative methodologies reliant upon college student
samples. Crucially, American
researchers’ define, describe and categorise fashion as apparel
and the majority continue
to do so. In contrast, European research used clothing, then
fashion as the collective
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0959-0552.htm
Evolution
of a luxury
brand

915
International Journal of Retail &
Distribution Management
Vol. 38 No. 11/12, 2010
pp. 915-927
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0959-0552
DOI 10.1108/09590551011085984
term. It could be argued that this distinction is not accidental.
The difference marks
a distinction in the way that fashion is “played out” within the
American and European
retailing markets. Apparel indicates and represents a functional
viewpoint that
understands the sector objectively – driven by interests in
product performance,
manufacturing processes and merchandising techniques. And 20
years ago,

functionality was largely the principal characteristic of the
American clothing sector.
For it could be argued that the fashion retailer as “brand” – per
se – is a relatively recent
phenomenon in the mass market of the USA fashion sector. It
has only been with the
loosening of the strangle-hold of department stores on clothing
distribution and the
emergence and success of brand-led fashion retailers – such as
The Gap, Abercrombie
and Fitch and Victoria’s Secrets that the fashion retailer as a
brand has had any
relevance in the USA. Consequently, consideration of the
American fashion retailer as a
brand in its own right is a relatively recent phenomenon and this
is reflected in a
literature that little account either of the business models of
fashion retailers in the USA,
or of the role that its own-brands play in the securing of
competitor advantage.
From the early 1990s, the literature began to consider the
nature, form, structure and
activities of fashion retailers within Europe. This emergence is
inextricably linked to the

supportive contribution of the International Journal of Retail &
Distribution
Management (IJRDM) and in particular the advocacy of the
journal’s editor, Professor
John Fernie. The journal is not exclusively European in its
perspective, but it has
provided a distinctive platform that reflects the European
fashion retailing situation.
Reviewing the fashion retailing related IJRDM articles in the
past two decades; it is
possible to identify five research themes that have dominated
thinking and debate in the
area. These are as follows.
1. The fashion retailer as brand: the fashion brand as retailer
Perhaps marking the most distinctive feature of the European
fashion retailing sector,
the brand has emerged as a pre-eminent strategic
communications device to signal the
values, positioning and identity of the retailer and its products.
The literature has
explored these issues in a number of ways in the journal, such
as on a case study basis.
For example, Vignali et al. (1993) work on Benetton, Lea-
Greenwood’s (1993) review of

River Island and Moore and Birtwistle’s (2004, 2005)
evaluation of the business models
of luxury fashion retailers Burberry and Gucci. Alternatively,
survey-based approaches,
such as that by Moore (1995) have sought to delineate more
broadly the features of
fashion retailers’ branding strategies. What is common to all of
these studies is the
realisation that fashion retailers, especially within Europe, have
assumed the brand
creation, development and distribution roles. This direct
involvement has provided
direct control over design, distribution, communications and
pricing. The benefits of this
involvement have been well identified elsewhere (Fernie et al.,
2003) but pre-eminent
among these are those relevant to securing brand exclusivity
and the attendant
advantages of customer loyalty.
2. The internationalisation of fashion retailing: globalising the
fashion branding
Fashion retailers are among the most international of companies
(Moore et al., 2010). The
IJFDM output in the past two decades has tended to focus upon

two specific stands. The
first is the role of the brand in supporting foreign market
growth (Wigley et al., 2005).
This is particularly evident in fashion retailer cases studies,
such as Per Una in Taiwan
IJRDM
38,11/12
916
(Wigley and Chiang, 2009); the now defunct childrenswear
brand Adams in Spain
( Johnson and Allen, 1994); the expansion of Debenhams in the
Middle East ( Jones, 2003)
and Marks and Spencer in Hong Kong ( Jackson and Sparks,
2005). The influence of the
brand to consumer perceptions of internationalising retailers’
market entry is also
recognised in very recent studies (Alexander et al., 2010). The
second strand is concerned
with retail market structures in places such as India (Halepete
and Seshadri Iyer, 2008);

Spain (Gold and Woodliffe, 2000); Korea (Choi and Park,
2006), Brazil (Alexander and de
Lira e Silva, 2002) and in particular the features of the fashion
retailing environment in
these markets.
3. E-fashion: style on-line
Online fashion specialists, such as Net-a-Porter and ASOS have
provided compelling
evidence through its growth and profitability that fashion is not
excluded from online
opportunities. Furthermore, the fashion retailers, Top Shop, All
Saints and Gant have
been able to combine a strong retail and online presence to
generate significant brand
growth opportunities. Despite the significant growth of online
fashion selling, the
literature remains under-developed in this area. Murphy (1998)
and Marciniak and Bruce
(2004) provided an early analysis of the fashion e-commerce
and noted the tentative
development of a web presence by European fashion brands;
while Ashworth et al.
(2006) considered the means of securing online advantage
within the lingerie sector.

With respect to the fashion retailers’ perspective, the lJRDM
has remained largely silent
since then. Greater attention has been given to the behavioural
dimensions to the online
fashion shopping (Newman and Foxall, 2003); considering the
impact of technological
advances (Kim and Forsythe, 2007), consumption behaviour
across distribution
channels (Goldsmith and Flynn, 2005) and connected to the
latter, the significance of
brand trust upon shopping behaviour (Hahn and Kim, 2009).
Opportunities for retailers
to use the internet as a means of customer segmentation via
customization have recently
been considered by Cho and Fiorito (2009). Yet, despite the fast
pace of e-fashion sales
growth, fashion e-tailing has been under-represented in the
literature and there is
significant opportunity for investigation from both a corporate
and consumer
perspective.
4. A new fashion supply chain: cheaper, better, faster
The fashion supply chain has undergone seismic change in the
past generation.

Previously, fashion supply chains were characterised by its
inflexibility, a dependence
upon long term predictions and commitments and a tendency to
source from specific
locations over long time periods. One Spanish fashion
conglomerate has done much to
change old strategies. Inditex, and specifically its most
financially important fascia,
Zara, has at the very least altered perceptions of how a modern
fashion supply chain
should be configured. As a vertically integrated business, Zara’s
control over the design
to retail cycle has provided the critical advantage of speed.
Where previously, the trends
of high fashion took at least six months to percolate to the high
street, now Zara can
service a high-street interpretation within six weeks.
5. Fashion consumption trends: with brand, therefore I am
While there has long been an intrinsic understanding that
fashion brand choices are
used a means of self-definition, self-demarcation and self-
communication the intensity of
Evolution

of a luxury
brand
917
competition and increase in availability has created a more
fashion aware and informed
group of consumers. In respect of this, the role of fashion style
and brand choices as
coded identifiers (McCracken and Roth, 1989) has similarly
intensified. Significantly,
Wigley et al. (2005) highlighted the relationship between brands
and consumers as being
based upon mutuality of perceptions whereby the brand and the
consumer have
synergistic characteristics. This highlights the need for brand to
develop and manage
what may be termed a consistent, appropriate and desirable
“back-story” to which the
consumer can ally themselves and interpret within the context
of its own identity.
Woodruff-Burton (1998) stressed the constructed nature of the

self from a
post-modernist perspective, indicating that how consumers
represent themselves is
through an amalgam of “selected and edited cues, comprising
amongst other dimensions
fashion brands”. In respect of this, there is therefore clear
alignment between this view of
the consumer and fashion brands as entities that are created,
managed and sustained
through an array of tangible and intangible devices. Bakewell
and Mitchell (2003) and
Bakewell et al. (2006) delineate the generational and gender
challenges for fashion
companies in its studies of generation Y consumers. Not only do
these studies support
the basic premise that consumers engage and utilise brands to
for both private and
public reasons, but they also serve to stress the complex role of
fashion brands in
communicating dimensions such as attractiveness, seriousness,
status and success.
In undertaking this review of the literature spanning two
decades and demarcating
the key, over-arching themes that emerge the significance and

influence of the IJRDM as
a venue for fashion retailing research becomes evident in terms
of breadth and depth. In
addition, it establishes a valid framework for the consideration
of fashion brand
marketing and management that is simultaneously historical and
contemporary and as
such facilitates an evolutionary review of fashion brands from
its early stages through to
present day. In respect of this, revisiting the fashion related
research that has comprised
the IJRDM provides an insight, both historic and contemporary,
into the nature and
influences of change manifest within the sector. Reflecting upon
this changing fashion
landscape and its impact upon the organisations that comprise
it, the subsequent section
of this paper will analyse Italian, luxury, fashion brand Prada
and the change stages that
characterise its evolutionary phases.
Prada: then and now
Established in Milan in 1931 by Mario Prada, Fratelli Prada (as
the business was
originally named) immediately claimed a premium market

positioning in the Italian
accessories market. This was achieved in two ways. First, the
company opened its first
boutique in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele shopping arcade.
The arcade, named after the
first king of the unified Italy, connects the Piazza del Duomo
with the Piazza della Scalla,
which sits as the foreground to the city’s famous Opera House.
Since its opening in 1877,
the Galleria has been inextricably linked to premium retailing.
While in more recent
times the space has become an important Milanese tourist
attraction and also home to
some fast foods chains; luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton,
Tods, Gucci and Prada
still retain a highly visible presence there. Second, Fratelli
Prada’s product focus of
leather travel accessories was from its inception, targeted to
match the lifestyle needs of
the elite consumer. This link with the higher echelon was
formally recognised by Italian
royalty, when Fratelli Prada was designated an official supplier
to the Royal Household.
This gave Prada the right to incorporate both the coat of arms
and the knotted rope

IJRDM
38,11/12
918
insignia of the House of Savoy into its trademark logo. These
emblems remain part of the
Prada brand livery (Prada, 2009).
Both Fratelli Prada and that other great Italian luxury
accessories firm, Gucci, shared
some similarities but exhibit some striking differences. Both
were founded within ten
years of each other (Gucci in 1921) and both within two
important commercial and travel
destinations (Gucci in Florence) and each focused upon
accessories for a customer
segment made rich by commerce and for whom impressive
travel accessories were of
importance. But three important differences distinguish its
business approach over the
next 50 years.

First, Gucci identified the power of celebrity for brand status
enhancement by being
associated with the greatest American and Italian movie stars of
the 1940s onwards.
Prada’s image was more sedate than celebrity.
Second, buoyed by the demand generated by its celebrity status,
Gucci engaged in
an aggressive international expansion, focusing upon important
cities including
Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York, Beverly Hills, Chicago
and London. In
contrast, Prada remained largely a domestic business.
Finally, while Gucci engaged in a prolific brand extension
strategy through many,
varied licensing agreements (which by the beginning of the
1980s had almost ruined its
brand status), Prada did not.
By the early 1980s, Prada was a business that was little known
outside of Italy. With
its reliance upon imported finished goods, largely from
England, Prada’s product range

was indistinguishable and a distinct brand identity was
indiscernible. The literature on
fashion brand revitalisation has recognised the importance of
individual(s) whose vision
and creativity brings about a transformation of the brand’s
status and success (Moore
and Birtwistle (2005) on the impact of Tom Ford at Gucci). For
Prada, that transforming
individual was the founder’s granddaughter, Miuccia who took
over the company in
1978 from her mother.
The four phases of change
Reviewing the Prada business model under Miuccia’s 30 years
of leadership, it is
possible to identify four distinct phases of the brand’s
evolution. These phases are
delineated in Table I and explored thereafter.
Phase 1: the search for a differential
When Miuccia Prada took over the business, it is claimed that
she was a reluctant heiress
of this somewhat moribund business. However, with the support
of her partner (who
subsequently became her husband), Patrizio Bertelli, the two

recognised the need to secure
a distinction for the brand. With a highly localised distribution
network, dependence
upon third party products and with no recognisable design
signature, she recognised
the need to offer a radical and different proposition within the
luxury goods sector.
Phase Title
1 Search for a differential
2 Establishing a growth platform
3 Aspiration and acquisition
4 Retrenchment and consolidation
Table I.
The four phases of
prada’s brand evolution
Evolution
of a luxury
brand

919
Bertelli’s family business was also in the leather accessories
market and through the
integration of his production capability and Miuccia’s creative
expertise; the
groundwork for the creation of an international luxury Group
was set (Prada, 2009).
In the early 1980s Miuccia began work on an utilitarian
collection luggage collection
that was stark yet technically advanced. Totes, holdalls and
backpacks made from
industrial black nylon cloth were developed and these were
branded clearly but discretely.
The black triangle shape of the Prada insignia placed against the
black of the nylon
provided an understated but potent branding device. These new
products, distinct both in
its design and branding, were a startling counterpoint to the
logo-branding excesses and
the ostentations product designs that dominated the luxury
market at the time.

Furthermore, in promotion of the range, Miuccia drew from her
academic background (she
has a PhD in Political Science) to claim an almost philosophical
tone for the brand, placing
it as an intelligent and discerning alternative to the vacuous
excesses of competing
businesses (Craven, 2008). As such, the brand was pitched to
attract the cognoscenti rather
than the celebrity-pack. By 1984/1985, her hardwearing, subtly
branded nylon bags had
generated not only significant demand, but also fashion
credibility.
Miuccia Prada’s utilitarianism, combined with an ethos of
sophistication, technical
competence and controlled extravagance provided Prada with a
differential in the
crowded luxury goods sector. This is explained by Bertelli: “To
be Prada is to be
perfect in every way. The process of making a contemporar y
product demands a new
level of commitment to both handicraft and technology” (Prada,
2009, p. 90).
Phase 2: establishing the growth platform

Having developed a new, modern and highly distinctive
accessories collection, Miuccia
in collaboration with her husband, Bertelli, sought to put in
place the elements critical
for the future international development of the Prada brand. The
starting point was to
secure wholesale accounts within the leading department stores
and fashion boutiques
in the USA and Europe. This provided an opportunity to
establish brand interest and
awareness at minimal cost and risk.
The next step was the creation of a new store design – one
distinctly different in
terms of identity and feel from the Prada store in the Galleria
Vittorio Emanuele.
Designed by the renowned architect Roberto Baciocchi and
opened in 1983 at the Via
della Spiga in Milan, this store became known as The Green
Store, by virtue of its
distinctive pale green colour scheme. Sleek, austere yet
sophisticated, the Green Store
provided a blueprint for the opening of an international network
of Prada stores.
Reminiscent of Hollander’s (1970) “New York. London, Paris

syndrome”, the company
opened a fleet of “Prada Green” stores beginning in the New
York in 1986, followed by
Paris, Madrid and London. A domestic store network was also
established; the first
opening in Florence.
Yet, while the company developed its international store
network based upon the “Prada
Green” concept, there was also recognition of its need to retain
an individuality and distinct
character. Over the past 20 years the company has developed a
particular perspective on
retail space which the company expressed in a series of maxims
in 2009 as follows:
(1) Variety among stores: “Shops should not be identical”.
(2) A variety of spaces: “Prada can be big in small spaces. Nike
can only be big
in large spaces”.
IJRDM
38,11/12

920
(3) “Space is a marketing tool”. A brand can convey a sense of
exclusivity by the
perception of its store in the host country.
(4) “60 per cent of a business identity remains constant, while
40 per cent changes
continually”.
(5) The introduction of non-commercial typologies, “Cultural
events could be
hosted in stores [. . .] Activities other than shopping could take
place after store
hours” (Prada, 2009).
With strong customer demand established by the wholesale and
retail network, Prada
recognised the opportunities to be had from extending the
product range. Furthermore,
its new stores required additional product lines to fi ll the
spaces. A womenswear line,
designed by Miuccia, was launched in 1988. The design

handwriting of the womenswear
collection was consistent with the luggage and accessories lines.
With a limited colour
palette and an emphasis upon the simplicity of the form, the
range was distinctive for its
juxstaposition of fabrics and textures. The unexpected coupling
of fabrics highlighted
the technical capability of the business and provided a
justification for the high prices.
With its own factories and a large network of third party
suppliers based across
Italy, Prada was able to extend its brand presence into adjacent
product categories
with relative speed and ease.
In the five years after the launch of the womenswear line, the
Prada brand was
extended to shoes, fashion accessories and menswear. By 1992,
the company sought to
extend the coverage of its business through the launch of Miu
Miu as a diffusion brand.
Named after Miuccia’s nickname, the second line – comprised
of ready-to-wear, leather
accessories and shoes, was targeted at a younger, fashion-

forward female customer.
Less expensive than the mainline collection and with a more
vibrant colour identity,
the business replicated a similar development strategy as was
adopted for the Prada
brand. Leading fashion stockists were recruited as wholesale
stockists and an
international retail network of stores was rolled-out.
The push for growth was given further pace in 1997 with the
launch of the Linea
Rossa (Red Line) collection. Ostensibly a leisure and
sportswear line, Linea Rossa (the
premium line of the Prada Sport range) provided a showcase for
Prada to showcase its
technical dexterity through the use of advanced performance
fabrics created through
complex production techniques. This range, sold within Prada
mainline stores, provided
a vehicle for the business to engage in sports participation and
sponsorship, specifically
in the area of competitive sailing. By the end of the 1990s,
Prada had transformed from
being a marginal, domestic and small-scale firm to a multi-
national, multi-segment

business with a reputation as a leading influence upon fashion
trends and consumer
taste. This transformation gave the business confidence and
appetite to enter a further
phase of development – one driven by the aspiration to become
a global luxury
conglomerate.
Third phase: aspiration and acquisition
An early indicator of Prada’s ambitions was evidenced in its
acquisition of just over
9 per cent of Gucci shares in the summer of 1998. The company
had no intention of
securing a control of Gucci but instead was participating in a
defiant alliance with the
mighty Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH) group in the
latter firm’s attempt to
secure Gucci. Prada sold its shares to LVMH the following
January at a profit exceeding
Evolution
of a luxury
brand

921
$100 million (Weisman, 1999; The M&A Journal, 2002). Yet,
while the LVMH aspirations
to secure the Gucci brand ultimately proved unsuccessful, this
did not stop Prada and
LVMH collaborating once more in a luxury brand alliance. In
October 1999, Prada joined
forces with LVMH (Menkes, 1999) to purchase a 51 per cent
stake in Fendi, with the
Fendi family retaining the other 49 per cent. The Rome-based
luxury goods company
had originally been an acquisition target of the Gucci Group.
However, the Prada/LVMH
joint bid put paid to that aspiration. Subsequently, again Prada
sold its 25.5 per cent
Fendi share stake to LVMH in November 2001 to give the
French conglomerate full
ownership control (New York Times, 2001; LVMH Annual
Report, 2002).
In parallel with these acquisition developments, Prada, perhaps
encouraged by the

conglomerate development activities of its near rivals, Gucci, as
well as its allies at
LVMH, sought to develop its own multi-brand strategy to
enhance, support and
compliment the Prada and Miu Miu brands. A first independent
acquisition was a
51 per cent stake in the New York based Helmut Lang brand in
March 1999. The rational
for this purchase – which was increased to 100 per cent in 2004,
was unclear. The brand
was small and relatively unknown. And while it was known for
its use of high-tech
fabrics and complex designs, the value that it would bring to
Prada was unclear. And
while Lang was recognised as a talented designer, other than the
benefits available from
common sourcing and production, the Helmut Lang business
was insufficient to provide
Prada with any meaningful protection from the vagaries of
consumer taste. Further,
relations between Lang and Prada were strained from the
beginning and within five
years, he had left the company. This purchase was then followed
by its securing of a
75 per cent stake in August 1999 in the Jil Sander brand

(Goldstein, 1999). The New York
Times reported that the acquisition would provide Prada with a
stronger foothold within
the German market ( Jil Sander was born in Northern Germany)
and would provide an
opportunity to combine stores. Perhaps most importantly, it
provided access to the
design and creative talent of the brand’s founder. However, in
many respects, the
features of Sander’s design character were very similar to that
of Miuccia Prada. Both
were defined by an austerity and purity and each focused upon
the use of premium
fabrics. If the House of Prada hoped to leverage Jil Sander’s
design talent, then its hopes
were short-lived. Internal disputes between the designer and
Bertelli resulted in her
resignation in four months after Prada’s acquisition. The
relationship between Sander
and Bertelli improved sufficiently for her to return to the role of
Creative Director in May
2003. Her return was short-lived however, and she left the
business for a second time in
November 2004.

While Prada’s acquisition of fashion design brands did not
prove successful, its
purchase of renowned shoe brands proved more successful. In
addition to its purchase
of the upmarket Italian brand, The Car Shoe Company, Prada
also secured ownership of
English shoe company, Church for £106 m in September 1999
(News.bbc.co.uk, 1999).
These acquisitions perhaps made more strategic sense. Both
companies were well
established, enjoyed an excellent reputation for quality and
were not linked to the
machinations of any particular creative director. Arguably,
given the importance of
shoes to the Prada business, these two acquisitions provided
access to complimentary
design, technical and production skill set that would serve only
to enhance the Prada
core shoes business. Furthermore, it also allowed for a
spreading of market risk across
two other brand territories.
IJRDM
38,11/12

922
As an international company, operating an ever-expanding
network of stores, Prada
faced an important challenge. It recognised that store expansion
inevitably results in
predictable duplication and that this undermines any claim of
brand creativity. This
form of incremental expansion, the company recognised, could
“reduces (brand) aura
and contributes to a sense of familiarity” (Prada, 2009, p. 420).
More positively, the
company realised that expansion may also provide for a
redefining of the brand and
produces the opportunity to introduce two kinds of stores: “the
typical and the unique”.
Its unique store concept, they named the Epicentre store. Its
function, according to Prada
was to “become a device that renews the brand by counteracting
and destabilizing any
received notion of what Prada is, does, or will become” (Prada,
2009, p. 421).

The first Epicentre commission was given to the renowned
Architect Rem Koolhaas,
of the office of metropolitan architecture (OMA). Prada
commissioned Koolhaas to
review trends in global shopping, provide new concepts of new
retail tools and apply
these to new kinds of stores. A total of three stores were created
to be distinct from the
“Green Store” typology. These Epicentres were to serve as a
laboratory for experimental
shopping experiences, through the application of emerging
technology, and the
promotion of the retail space as a civic meeting space that
would contribute to the
cultural landscape of the location through the hosting of
concerts, exhibitions and other
public events (Prada, 2009, pp. 420). The first of the epicentre
stores was set in a former
Guggenheim museum space in New York’s Soho district in
December 2001. The
estimates for the development costs associated with this store
(and the two others that
followed), have varied widely. Marcus Field, reporting for the
London Evening Standard
proposed one of the more conservative levels at $40 million. In

2003, the second store,
designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron opened in
Tokyo: probably Prada’s
most important market in terms of revenue. The six floor
building, with a green glass
façade, includes retail selling space, lounges and public event
space. The third and last
thus far of the Epicentre stores was opened the following year
in Los Angeles. OMA were
once again commissioned to design the store on Rodeo Drive,
Berverly Hills. One of the
most distinctive features of this store is that the storefront is
completely open. An air
curtain provides a climate control since the space open directly
on to the street. Without
question, the Prada Epicentre stores have contributed
significantly to advancing
thinking with respect to retail store design. With the direction
of some of the world’s
most influential architectural practices, the Epicentres have –
once more – set Prada
against the luxury mainstream. These are intellectual stores;
sophisticated, potent and
possibility ahead of its time. However, in the decade since the
first Epicentre was opened,

many of the technological inventions pioneered in these stores
have been abandoned and
viewed as unworkable. Furthermore, these have architectural
experiments, like the
firms acquired by Prada, have placed a significant debt burden
on the company. It is
somewhat ironic that the initiatives devised to support the
growth of Prada have had a
detrimental impact upon its corporate progress. Consequently,
since 2005, the company
has entered a radical retrenchment and consolidation phase.
Phase 4: prada in retreat – retrenchment and consolidation
Having sought to establish a luxury brand conglomerate in the
late 1990s, the inability of
Prada to secure commercial success for its highest profile
acquisitions required that they
radically tidy-up its balance sheet by off-loading its non-profit
making businesses.
Initially, a 45 per cent stake in Church shoes was sold to private
equity fund Equinox in
April 2003. But more radical action was required to reduce
company debt.
Evolution

of a luxury
brand
923
In early 2006, Prada sold the Jil Sander business to British
equity firm Change Capital
Partners. While, some three weeks later, it was announced that
the Helmut Lang brand
would be sold to Japanese company, Link Theory Holdings after
six years of consecutive
losses at Helmut Lang.
As a means of reducing the debt directly, a 5 per cent stake in
Prada was sold to
Banca Intesa for e100 million in December 2006 (Financial
Times, 2007). The extent of
the financial challenge brought about by these unsuccessful
acquisitions and the
exuberant Epicentre store developments was clearly evidenced
when, by the end of
2008, the company faced a net debt in excess of e1.1 billion.

As Prada has sought to recover from the crippling impact of the
debt, it has focused
upon protecting, maintaining and developing its core
businesses. With the buy-back of
the stake in Church shares two years after its initial partial sale,
the company has
invested in its core Prada, Miu Miu and Church brands. As a
relative late comer to the
lucrative fragrance market (its first ladies fragrance was not
launched until late 2004
and developed in partnership with the Spanish fragrance house,
Puig), the company has
significantly extended its participation in this market through
development of
fragrances for men and women, as well as from the launch of
cosmetics and skincare
ranges. When the perfume range was launched, Miuccia Prada
told The Times
newspaper that she had resisted launching a perfume for a
decade because of her
aversion to mass marketing – “That requires mass banality”, she
said (TheTimes, 2005).
Exploiting the potential of a strategic brand alliance for the first

time, the company
collaborated with LG to launch the Prada mobile phone. Within
the first year of launch,
more than one million units were sold; providing Prada with a
lucrative and much
needed revenue from the license agreement (Newsweek, 2009).
In many respects, Prada, the luxury brand, that had sought to
distinguish itself from
the luxury pack, by being almost anti-fashion within its nylon
products, and
anti-marketing with its discrete and subtle branding, has had to
embrace the essential
ingredient of the “mainstream” luxury business model. In order
to finance design
creativity, to support the international distribution network and
to make possible the
extravagant store experiences, most luxury brands must engage
in some form of
product democratisation. Product democratisation: a process
whereby the brand is made
more widely accessible through the provision of cheaper goods
such as perfumes,
sunglasses and fashion accessories, is undoubtedly the
sustaining lifeblood of luxury

fashion. For Prada, with a significant debt burden still in place
and the possibility of an
imminent IPO in doubt as a result of the recession, the adoption
of more mainstream
luxury marketing activities is inevitable if the company is to
retain its presence in
78 countries and 7,000 employees (Prada, 2009).
Concluding comments
As the review of the main themes of the fashion retailing
literature demonstrate and
the analysis of Prada’s evolution from a single store business to
a major global brand
indicate, the “system” of fashion retailing has become complex
in response to changing
consumer tastes, an extended competition base and advances in
marketing technology.
While the past 20 years of the IJRDM have provided a much
needed platform for the
dissemination of thinking with respect to the condition of
contemporary fashion
retailing, there is still a significant need for more close-case
analysis of the strategic
development of the world’s most important fashion retailers.

IJRDM
38,11/12
924
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Further reading
(The) Independent (2004), “Miuccia prada: the feeling is
Miuccia”, The Independent, Saturday,
21 February.

Evolution
of a luxury
brand
927
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Independent Research Project: Proposal and Historical
Questions
I wanted to look at nylon because I'm really interested in and
like Prada's nylon collection. At the very beginning, Prada
didn't want to use premium materials, she wanted to use

plebeian materials to challenge luxury, so she chose nylon. She
developed the use of nylon at the same time, because using
nylon to make it required a whole new technology than using
leather. Nylon has advantages that no other material can match,
which I will explore in my analysis. Now that nylon is a main
line and a popular product for Prada as a brand, I want to
explore how nylon came back into the spotlight and became
popular. I will start with the discovery of nylon and its use as a
textile until it became commonplace. I also want to analyze the
obstacles to the development of nylon, perhaps the development
of nylon as a textile material that people reduced or stopped
using. The complexity of nylon production and production
volume is also one of the measures of nylon as a textile
material. As well as the development of mechanized production
of nylon material. Finally until now, nylon reemerged as the
choice of people because of its material and advantages.
My question is what are the advantages of nylon that are so
popular now. What is so special about nylon compared to other
materials that makes this material stand out and become the new
choice for luxury goods and sell like hot cakes.
Comment: I think you will just want to sharpen up your
historical timeline on this project (so for example, when you
write things like "at the very beginning" when exactly do you
mean?)--it's not a problem if you are talking about relatively

recent history but you do want to try to use a historical
approach to your research such as considering change over time,
or explaining how the textiles or fashion you are studying are
situated in their historical circumstances. This should be very
achievable!
Independent Research Project: Final Project
Aims and Outcomes:
These assignments will contribute to some of the following
learning outcomes on this course, depending on the exact nature
of your research topic, the resources you use to explore that
topic, and the format you choose to convey your findings:
* Locate the history of textiles in a broader context of
environmental, social, cultural, political, and economic
circumstances of different times and places.
* Use methods of object-based learning to formulate historical
questions on the history of textiles.
* Identify appropriate source material to use as evidence for the
history of textiles.
* Analyze primary sources across a range of media (eg, written
texts, visual and material culture as evidence for the history of
textiles.

* Evaluate historical arguments and evidence put forward by
other scholars in the field.
*Communicate aspects of the history of textiles using a variety
of modes of expression (eg, academic and popular writing, peer
discussion, etc).
Preparation
*By the time you embark on the final project, you will have
already formulated a key question or questions that you intend
to answer, and will have completed a preliminary bibliography
to show the viability of the project.
*Continue to carry out your research in order to craft an answer
to your question. Remember that questions that start with “how”
and “why” (or other phrases such as “to what extent”) will
allow you to develop original interpretations and analyses from
your research more than questions that start with “who” or
“when” that might lead you more to a factual or narrative
structure. There is nothing wrong with facts and timelines, but
I’d love to see you stretch your skills of historical
interpretation.
*You are all working on very diverse topics, which will lend
themselves to different research strategies. That said, as a rough
guideline, I would suggest consulting c. 10-12 secondary

sources and, if it seems relevant for your topic, 3-5 primary
sources (including examples of textiles and/or other forms of
material and visual culture) to use as examples of your larger
points, but depending on your interests and approach, you could
shift the balance between primary and secondary sources. I am
happy to discuss this further with you in relation to your
specific topic.
Also remember that “consulting” secondary sources does not
necessarily mean reading every word of every book. You should
learn to hone your research to what is important to your own
area of inquiry. Think about the advice on searching for
sources; sometimes it is useful to start with a few broader texts,
especially to help you identify key examples to discuss and then
‘drill down’ into more specific areas. In addition to the library
or other online search tools, you might use the footnotes and
bibliographies of the works you are reading to locate other
relevant source material. (Also make good use of indexes—
often there are books that have useful information for your
research but only perhaps a chapter is relevant, or even just a
few pages—you only need to read what you feel is relevant to
your topic!)
Sometimes you will not find a lot of secondary texts on your
particular topic so you can think about the various strands of

the research and how best to access them; for example, if you
are interested in textiles and medicine, you might not find
specific articles with those combinations of keywords, but if
you read up on, say, the history of hospitals, you might find
information about bedding and the importance of cleanliness; or
you might read up on nursing to find information about
uniforms, etc.
*Organise your research materials into a clear plan for your
writing. Consider the question(s) you are answering and think
about how best to structure your final project so that it can
clearly answer that/those questions.
Final Assignment
*The final assignment may take one of four formats, discussed
further below: a written paper; an online exhibit or presentation;
a short film; or you may make a textile and write a short
reflection on how this act of making has incorporated your
research.
*Regardless of what format you choose, you should present the
argument you have crafted as an outcome of your research.
What did you learn? What evidence can you share to underpin
your argument? What are the significance of your findings?

*Again, the varied topics you all are pursuing might result in a
variety of approaches to structure, but there will be some
commonalities. You always should have an introduction to
explain to the reader/viewer what the project is about (eg, what
is the question that fuels your research) and why this topic is
significant (whether broadly significant or of interest to you, or
both). I often find it effective to lay out your argument at the
start of your project, and then explain how the rest of your
paper, presentation, or film will be structured to delve into this
further; we often refer to this as “signposting.”
*The body of your project can be structured in a variety of
ways, but think about the models of reading we have done so far
to guide you. So for example, you might divide your
overarching topic into a few questions that you want to answer
in turn, or you might have one framing question and you offer a
few different examples or case studies to address it. The body
of your project is not only where you answer your questions but
where you build a persuasive case for your answers; what
evidence have you found through your research to support your
argument?
*NB: It is fine at any point in your essay to indicate if there are
debates about the meaning and significance of your topic, or the
specific examples, and let us know how you evaluate this after

weighing up your readings. For example, perhaps another author
writes that your theme is of less importance, but you want to
take a stand for why you think it is important: that is grand. Or
if one author thinks that a particular kind of textiles is an
example of one thing and another author thinks it is an example
of something else, you can tell us what you find more
persuasive and why. You do not need to do this more
“historiographic” work, but if you ever find that your source
materials seem to be contradicting one another, that is not a
problem—that can become an interesting point of your research!
*At the end of your project you should have a brief conclusion
that focuses on the argument, and its contribution or
significance. You might also note further questions that arise
from the research you have done. As this is not a terribly long
assignment, you do not need to entirely recap the points you
have made in the body of your essay, but instead really try to
bring these different strands, examples, or case studies together
into a punchy final statement or section. For your conclusion
think about what you want the main “takeaway” to be for your
reader or viewer and state that clearly.
*Written Paper Option: If you choose to write an essay, it
should be c. 2000-2500 words (not counting referencing and
bibliography). Please make sure your work is referenced

properly. You may use whatever referencing system you choose,
as long as you use it consistently and thoroughly. I am always
happy to give guidance on referencing and citation.
*Short Film Option: Your film should be c. 5-7 minutes. Its
structure should replicate the approach of an introduction;
examples, case studies, or sub-questions; and conclusion, but
presumably will do so in a more visual way. In lieu of
footnotes/endnotes, you might include in either voiceover or
“text cards” (that are filmed for long enough for the viewer to
read them!) a brief comment on what scholars have been
influential to your thinking about particular points and/or your
might visually share your source material, especially primary
sources. With a film there will not be the same expectations of
referencing throughout as you would have in a written paper, so
it is important to include a bibliography on screen at the end of
your film (again, you can print this and film it) to show off the
research you have done.
*Online Exhibit or Presentation: This option is the hardest to
“quantify” in terms of number of slides or cards or images
because that will depend so much on what your specific topic is,
but basically, the exhibit or presentation needs to be long
enough to convey your argument, and the research that
underpinned it, in a robust way. So I think about this option in

terms of the structure or “storyboard” as opposed to length;
rather than having the paragraphs you might have in a written
essay, you will have building blocks of your presentation, so if
you think about a 2000-2500 word essay having maybe 8-10
paragraphs, this might have 8-10 blocks, but, much like an
essay, those might be grouped together in various ways. A
“block” might be one slide or card, or a few of them that fit
together (such as two images and some explanatory text),
depending on both your topic and the software you use.
You may use a variety of options for the software, such as
Sway, Canva, Prezi, or even Power Point, though I think the
first three may offer a bit more visual interest for a short
presentation that is not accompanied by other lecture materials.
Your presentation may be entirely visual, using text and image
to build your argument, or you may incorporate voice-over if
you want.
Similar to the film option, I do not have the expectation for
footnotes/endnotes in a presentation of this type but it would be
good to have captions for images and/or briefly mention any key
sources in your text/voiceover, or include them as visuals. You
should include a bibliography at the end of the presentation to
show off the research you have done.

*Making Option: Finally, you may choose to make a textile, or
textile-related object (eg, tools, images of textiles, etc), that is
based in the research you have done. This might be the
replication of a historical technique, or it might be an
interpretation of some past theme of textile history. If you
choose this option, you must also submit a short (c. 750-1000
words) essay that explains how your research underpins what
you have made; you still should have an argument derived from
your research that you are putting forward in your work and
your text. So for example, perhaps you are studying the textile
traditions of a certain place and time and find one particular
motif to be dominant and have learned reasons why that is the
case. You might create an object with that motif to represent the
crux of your research.

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