Samantha Thavasa's Got Luxury In The Bag
Thursday, October 12, 2006JEFF YASTINE: Japan is one of the world's prime markets for luxury products. Until recently, its retail sector has been dominated by western brand names like Coach and Louis Vuitton. But as Lucy Craft reports from Tokyo, a new label has proved that, in the universe of snob appeal, even a domestic player can thrive.
LUCY CRAFT, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Champagne, chandeliers and sharing a stage with the smart set. For fashion entrepreneur Kazumusa Terada, it's a typical evening. But there's nothing typical about Terada's brain child, an aggressively expanding empire of boutiques that's defying conventional logic about luxury retail. For many Japanese girls and young women, probably nowhere is closer to heaven than the (INAUDIBLE) interior of a Samantha Thavasa shop and nothing more coveted than a bangly Samantha Thavasa bag or piece of bling bling.
TRANSLATION OF: SALES GIRL: This looks like a leopard fur, but if you look closer, it's actually the Samantha logo and you can use this chain as a denim accent.
CRAFTR: Spurning the restraint of established luxury design, Samantha caters to consumer who prefer cute to elegant. Only 15 years old, theupstart brand has stolen a march on venerated foreign houses like Louis Vuitton and Chanel.
TRANSLATION OF: KAZUMUSA TERADA, PRESIDENT, SAMANTHA THAVASA JAPAN: Being a European brand doesn't automatically guarantee success in Japan anymore. So I decided even a Japanese brand could compete in this market.
CRAFT: Ex-Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, the Hilton sisters, Beyonce and other headline icons have been leveraged to burnish the brand's aura of youthful glamour.
TRANSLATION OF: MISO ITOH, FASHION JOURNALIST: Samantha Thavasa doesn't just sell handbags. They're selling fantasy and dreams.
TRANSLATION OF: KAZUMUSA TERADA, PRESIDENT, SAMANTHA THAVASA JAPAN: Not just any celebrity would work. It's what their message is. If they're happy, that's a message. For example, Maria Sharapova is 19. She loves fashion and trains hard at tennis. (INAUDIBLE) she puts across a message.
CRAFT: But style at an affordable price isn't the only force behind Samantha's meteoric rise. Instrumental to its competitive edge is what's behind the counter. Virtually unheard of among the still chauvinistic ranks of corporate Japan, Samantha Thavasa's 600 plus employees are overwhelmingly young and female. In fact, the company is biased toward female hires.
TRANSLATION OF: MISO ITOH, FASHION JOURNALIST: These young women work their tails off because the president is charismatic and good at motivating them. He pays them well so I think the company is well managed.
CRAFT: Samantha Thavasa which expects to ring up over $100 million in sales this fiscal year, shares a feature with admired and egalitarian American workplaces like Google and Genentech.
TRANSLATION OF: KAZUMUSA TERADA, PRESIDENT, SAMANTHA THAVASA JAPAN: Japanese companies tend to be hierarchical, but our organization is completely flat. Our PR department, sales team and store managers are all equal so communication among departments is extremely good.
CRAFT: Samantha Thavasa has hit on the perfect formula for opening the wallets of Japanese fashionistas. Whether they can replicate this success overseas will be put to the test in November. That's when the company is scheduled to open its first boutique in New York. Lucy Craft, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Tokyo.
