WSJ: Vera Wang's Idea of Empire: Marry High, Low, In Between

In my first International Management blog written after seeing “Bride Wars” again, I was happy to read about Vera Wang in today’s Wall Street Journal.  It is Fashion Week in New York City.  Writer Ray A. Smith discusses in the WSJ Marketplace section today “Vera Wang’s Idea of Empire…”  The article gives some tiny pieces of biographical information on Ms. Wang.  She is 61 with a 20 year closely held company having a three-tiered retail strategy in several locations throughout the United States and some in countries such as the Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.  In all there are a total of thirteen international locations.   One year ago, Mario Grauso joined Vera Wang as President (giving Vera more freedom for design) and the company gave a five year plan to expand in Asia and Europe as well as creating more affordable products.  The Wall Street Journal article was to provide information on Vera Wang and the decision to design for David’s Bridal, a three hundred store chain, mainly in the U.S.  David’s Bridal does have a few international locations. The line being created for David’s Bridal will be sold at prices ranging from six hundred dollars to fourteen hundred dollars.   Vera Wang has created other affordable products for retailers such as Kohl’s however this is a huge departure for Ms. Wang who has designed wedding gowns for such notable figures as Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Duff and Alicia Keyes (these most recently).

Mr. Smith further describes in this article a three-tiered retail strategy of products in a luxury line, a mid-priced and then a discount line.  He talks about how this strategy can be “tricky” by the fear of tarnishing a designer’s image.  The article concludes with the company’s plans to further expand the luxury locations and its dealings with celebrities. 

In conclusion, readers will need to stay tuned to find the additional locations that will favor Vera Wang’s styles.  As stated previously, she has thirteen international locations but only one in Asia (Taiwan) and none in Russia.  David’s Bridal only has locations in four countries but also has none in Asia or Russia.  There are huge cultural differences for weddings in many parts of the world and both Vera Wang and David’s would need to become very educated on those markets and strategize to meet those needs to become successful.