Perry Ellis (brand)

Perry Ellis is a clothing brand owned by Perry Ellis International and founded by designer Perry Ellis.

History

After finding praise for his previous women's sportswear line, called Portfolio, Perry Ellis, together with The Vera Companies' parent company, founded his own fashion house, Perry Ellis International, in 1978. He opened his showroom on New York's fashionable Seventh Avenue. As the company's chairman and head designer he later developed Perry Ellis Menswear Collection — widely successful, and marked by "non-traditional, modern classics". Step by step, he added shoes, accessories, furs and perfume that all bore his name. For his designs, Perry Ellis won eight Coty Awards between 1979 and 1984 (the last year that they were given) and a Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award in 1983.

Throughout the 1980s the company continued to expand and include various labels such as Perry Ellis Collection and Perry Ellis Portfolio. By 1982, the company had more than 75 staff. In 1984, Perry Ellis America was created in cooperation with Levi Strauss. In 1985, he revived his lesser-priced Portfolio line. In the early 1980s, wholesale revenues had figured at about $60 million. By 1986 that number had risen to about $250 million.

In early 1986, Robert L. McDonald, a former film producer and close friend of Ellis, succeeded Laughlin Barker, Ellis' domestic partner, who had died in January of that year as president of Perry Ellis International. After Ellis' death in May 1986, McDonald announced that under the terms of Ellis' will he had full control of the company in trust for Ellis' heirs. "Perry wanted us to continue, of course", he then said of the fashion house's future. McDonald successfully guided the company through setbacks and challenges in the years to come. Recommended to McDonald by the fashion director of Bloomingdale's at that time, the young designer Marc Jacobs, a Parsons graduate who would start his own label in 1993 and become head designer of Louis Vuitton in Paris in 1997, designed for the house of Perry Ellis from 1988 to 1993.

Since then, the company has changed hands several times. In 1986, Manhattan Industries, the parent of The Vera Companies (the owner of Perry Ellis), was sold to Salant, a licensee of Perry Ellis. From then, Perry Ellis was acquired by Supreme Inc., a Miami-based textile concern, in 1999. Supreme was then renamed Perry Ellis International. In 2003, in turn, Perry Ellis International acquired Salant. The corporation has since then acquired various other textile companies, such as Original Penguin and golf brand Ping Collection, among many others. The company, eventually, was transformed to a complete licensing and marketing firm for the Perry Ellis name.

Corporate Information

*As of March 1, 2007, Perry Ellis International operates 40 Perry Ellis retail outlet stores located primarily in upscale retail outlet malls across the United States, as well as five Original Penguin retail stores located in upscale demographic markets. In addition, the Company leverages its design, sourcing and logistics capability by offering a limited number of private label programs to retailers. It licenses its brands through 45 domestic and 94 international license agreements. The Company maintains a portfolio of 27 brands that it either owns or licenses. [http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/fullDescription.asp?rpc=66&symbol=PERY.O Reuters] ]

*The CEO of Perry Ellis International is George Feldenkreis. [http://www6.miami.edu/campaign/donors/donors_dp_feldenkreis.html George Feldenkreis] ]

*Perry Ellis International stock is traded at the NASDAQ (symbol: PERY).

Perry Ellis

*These days, Perry Ellis is the fifth largest men’s designer brand in the United States. With retail sales of over $1 billion, Perry Ellis clothing for men, women and boys is sold through major retailers and department stores in the US and Canada.

*Hollywood actors Paul Rudd and Jerry O'Connell have been featured as models in the advertising campaigns for the Perry Ellis meanswear line. [http://www.jerryoconnellfansite.com/photog/joc/suit.jpgO'Connell ad] ]

*Perry Ellis provides the wardrobe for Alex Trebek on the TV Game Show "Jeopardy!".

Designers

In early 2003, Public Clothing Company, a New York fashion manufacturer, acquired the license for women's sportswear from Perry Ellis and relaunched the label on the New York runways. Patrick Robinson, a Parsons graduate and former Giorgio Armani Le Collezioni and Anne Klein designer, was appointed Creative Director to produce a moderately priced collection for Public Clothing Company and a higher-priced collection for Perry Ellis International. His Spring 2005 collection was critically acclaimed and still, it was decided that the line be not produced for profitability reasons. A previous midscale line by Robinson had not sold well. Robinson disappointedly left his post in December 2004 for French fashion house Puig and was made creative director at Paco Rabanne in 2005. There is no high-end womenswear line currently being made at Perry Ellis. In 2003, Jerry Kaye became creative director for the high-end Perry Ellis Signature menswear line. The designer has worked with Perry Ellis for more than ten years. However, the men's Signature line was incorporated into the regular men's collection line with the Spring 2006 offering.

In the Fall of 2006, John Crocco took over the role of Creative Director. Since that time, Crocco has created 2 successful seasons of Perry Ellis runway Collections. John Crocco has made a huge effort to design the Collection as the late Perry Ellis would have- creating a wearable Collection consisting of "new classics". In the Spring 2007 runway show, John even paid homage to the designer in the final look through a tee shirt worn on model.

Fashion designers Isaac Mizrahi, Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford were all employees with Perry Ellis: Mizrahi apprenticed with the company from 1982 to 1984 and was best friends with Mr. Ellis. Jacobs joined Perry Ellis in 1988, created, among many other items, a Freudian (underwear) 'slip' imprinted with Freud's face and lost his design job again in 1993 over what came to be known as his 'grunge collection'. Ford briefly worked as design director for Perry Ellis womenswear under Marc Jacobs in 1988.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.perryellis.com/ Perry Ellis - e-commerce site]
* [http://www.pery.com Corporate web site of Perry Ellis International]
* [http://hivlearning.tripod.com/images/bios/ellis_perry.jpgPicture of Perry Ellis (early 1980s)]
* [http://www.fashioncenter.com/WalkofFame/Images/EllisPlaque.jpgPicture of Perry Ellis' plaque on the Fashion Walk of Fame in New York]
* [http://www.newyorkmetro.com/fashion/fashionshows/2006/spring/main/newyork/runway/perryellis/ Perry Ellis Signature Collection - Spring 2006]
* [http://models.com/fashionweek/view_album.php?set_albumName=SS06PerryEllis Behind the scenes of the Menswear SS06 collection]
* [http://www.style.com/fashionshows/powersearch/results?&designer=design_house199&site=style&event=show1261 Perry Ellis womenswear - Spring 2005]
* [http://www.men.style.com/fashion/collections/F2007MEN/review/PEMEN Perry Ellis Collection - Fall 2007]

Sources

* [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50715FC3F550C728FDDAC0894DE484D81 Announcement of Perry Ellis' death in the New York Times - May 31, 1986]
* [http://prod-style.advancepubs.net/w/feat_story/060501/ 2001 W magazine article on Tyler Alexandra Gallagher Ellis, Perry Ellis' own daughter]
* [http://wwhsalumni.com/valivingFashion.pdf Perry Ellis Fashion shoot at his high school, Woodrow Wilson]