Going for growth

The introduction of Michael Kors watches into travel-retail and a brand new shop-in-shop concept are among the latest developments from timepiece giant Fossil. David Davies finds out more from travel-retail director Diane Harrington

Established 24 years ago in the Texan city of Richardson, Fossil has developed over time to become one of the world’s most successful suppliers of watches, jewellery and other accessories. In more recent years, a burgeoning travel-retail business has emerged to augment the company’s strong presence in countless domestic markets.

Integral to this success in both retail channels has been the company’s ever-increasing portfolio of licensed brands. Burberry, DKNY, Emporio Armani, Diesel and Michele are among the major players to have approached Fossil over the years to design, manufacture and distribute branded timepieces. The most recent development in this regard concerns the introduction into travel-retail of a range of watches from Michael Kors, the well-known American fashion designer whose clothes have found favour with a long list of celebrities including Heidi Klum, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Garner.

“The designs and colour are inspired directly by Michael Kors himself,” Fossil’s director of travel-retail, Diane Harrington, tells Frontier Brands. “Details and elements such as stitching, hardware and fabrics are shared across ready-to-wear and handbags. There are four major platforms within the collection to meet every consumer’s needs – mixed material, dress metals, dress leather and men’s – with prices starting at $90.”

Fossil is also continuing to expand its interests in other categories – accordingly, the company is now in the process of introducing its jewellery into TR. “Fossil Jewelry’s design aesthetic is Modern Vintage – modern styling using vintage-looking materials,” says Nikki Meeker, design & development manager for Fossil Jewelry. “The look of the jewellery is youthful, casual and easy to wear. Materials used are semi-bright metals, wood, leather, resin and touches of genuine stone, while our big ideas for Fall are Big Bold Color, Mixed Metals and Bling.”

Shop-in-shop concept

Meanwhile, on a TR-wide level, Fossil is taking steps to roll-out a new shop-in-shop concept that encompasses all Fossil-branded merchandise, including watches, jewellery, handbags, men’s and ladies’ accessories, and sunglasses.

“We want to create a lifestyle concept,” confirms Harrington. “We have just opened up two new shop-in-shop concepts at JFK Airport in New York, and are currently working on several projects in Latin America.”

Summarising the company’s overall ambitions in the channel, Harrington says that Fossil “will continue to enhance its presence in travel-retail by working closely with the stores to make sure that they are carrying the majority of the product lines that Fossil has to offer (where applicable), including our licensed brands… We will continue to focus our efforts with the cruise lines, Caribbean and Latin American [markets] and our duty-free locations. We continue to tune to perfection the Fossil brand by offering the customer a great product at a great value.”