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D


Hermes

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Jessica Simpson: Fashion’s Next Billionaire? Um, No.
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http://blogs.forbes.com/clareoconnor/2010/12/08/jessica-simpson-fashions-next-billionaire/


Jessica Simpson: Fashion’s Next Billionaire? Um, No.

Dec. 8 2010 - 2:27 pm | 3,328 views | 1 recommendation | 9 comments
By CLARE O'CONNOR
Jessica Simpson

Image via Wikipedia

There’s been no shortage of headlines this week proclaiming erstwhile actress and singer Jessica Simpson a billionaire thanks to impressive annual sales figures for her eponymous empire. Clothes bible Women’s Wear Daily called her “fashion’s billion-dollar baby” in its story on her brand’s $750 million in sales this year — projected to rise to $1 billion in 2011. People magazine described Simpson as “sitting at the helm of a nearly $1 billion empire,” while various blogs are welcoming her to the billionaires club.

So, is Simpson poised to join the Forbes 400 rich list?

Errr, no.

While the clothes, shoes, and bags marketed under her name might indeed make $1 billion next year bolstered by the launch of a new sportswear line, the starlet only banks a small sliver of that amount for herself. As one of my Forbes colleagues noted in a story on savvy celebrity businesswomen, Simpson sold the master license to her clothing brand — the right to market her name worldwide — to fashion brand developer the Camuto Group in 2005 for a reported $15 million. While she earns royalties on top of that advance, she’s nowhere near a billionaire. My colleague Lacey Rose estimated her earnings last year were more like $20 million.

This isn’t meant to disparage Simpson in any way: her brand is a huge success, she’s cleverly crafted a marketing-friendly ‘everywoman’ image and she’s making far more cash than she ever did in her pop career. Maybe she’ll one day join the ranks of fashion billionaires like Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, but not just yet.



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Boots


Gucci

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Ooookkkaaayyyyy.

I think my main issue is the fact that the article mentioned Jessica Simpson in the same breath as Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani.  Two fashion designers .

Not to take anything away from Jessica as a business woman.  Good for her to have her name linked to a sucessful brand.  But as far as I know, she has no hand in designing any of the pieces.  And I think most people will agree that there are days when she has issues with even dressing herself. 

Full disclosure: I actually own a pair of Jessica Simpson boots and while I had to go up a size to make my duck feet fit in, they are comfortable and pretty cute.


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Hermes

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You know, I have some of her shoes too, and they're really cute (but never comfortable so I have to size up too!)

You're right - she is not a designer. That is poor writing to place her in their company.

I worked at one of the largest global retailers in the buying department. All the celebrity branded items were simply name-use. They had no hand in design or selection of pieces for the line.

An exception to this might be Mary Kate and Ashley -- I think they're quite involved in their fashion line.

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kenzie


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All she did was license her name to the products. Last I checked, that's not design. I even balk at calling her a good business woman. She licensed her name because companies asked for it, and she leveraged her celebrity. Being a business person requires much more than that. You can bet the marketing messages were not created by her. Marketing execs and product developers took her likeable persona and capitalized on it. She's pretty much along for the ride, from what I can see.

And D, I agree, I read somewhere that Mary Kate and Ashley actually do a lot of their own designing and are very involved in the creative process. I think possibly Justin Timberlake and his design partner also do most of their own design for William Rast, too.




-- Edited by kenzie on Thursday 9th of December 2010 12:36:29 PM

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kenzie wrote:



I think possibly Justin Timberlake and his design partner also do most of their own design for William Rast, too.




-- Edited by kenzie on Thursday 9th of December 2010 12:36:29 PM


I read an article on William Rast and I think you're right.  Timberlake and his buddy (who strikes me as the more designer of the pair) seem to have an input in the overall look of their collection.  In the article, they didn't pretend to have actually created the pieces, but had very specific ideas of what articles they wanted to produce and how they wanted the pieces to look & fit.   

 



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