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Jil Sander Launches
A Lower Priced Label

Jil-sander-navyA welcome surprise comes from Jil Sander this morning (that's Jil Sander the company, not the designer herself). The label has announced that starting with Spring 2011, it will be launching a new label called Jil Sander Navy (pictured at left) priced 40% lower than the main collection.

While the brand has changed hands a couple of times over the past ten years -from the designer herself to Prada to current owner Onward Holdings Co. Ltd. of Japan- it has always maintained its high-end designer price points and exclusive distribution, so this is its first experimentation with diffusion lines that we can recall. Don't expect to see it at every Macy's just yet. The line will initially be sold at existing points of sale for Jil Sander (which,among its 54 US doors, would potentially include Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Jeffrey and the brand's own two boutiques here in New York), but there will be a focus on launching it in the U.S. and Japan, two of the largest markets for the label. It will consist of a sportier, more casual assortment including shoes and accessories and incorporate more prints and patterned fabrics. The label's creative director Raf Simons tells WWD, “I will continue to open up the Jil Sander brand by pushing its boundaries and introducing new elements to reinforce and widen the attraction to the house.”

We can't help wondering if the designer herself, now long separated from her namesake label, inspired the new move along with the obvious economic concerns of the moment. Since leaving her company, and waiting out a non-compete period, her first project has been the very successful +J collection she designs for UNIQLO, which, as anyone who reads this blog knows, is sold at radically lower price points than the designer label she originally created. Its success has shown that the her sleek, innovative aesthetic can be translated to a much less expensive product without sacrificing prestige or the interest of the fashion community. While +J is priced much lower than Jil Sander Navy will be, its success can't have escaped the notice of those who are now running the designer's original label.

WWD doesn't specify whether the collection will be limited to it's women's division, or cover all of Jil Sander's product lines, but we are assuming (and hoping) that it will be produced for both men and women. Sander fans should expect to see it in stores this coming January.

Jil Sander Launches New Line (WWD)
Jil Sander (Official Site)

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