Apparel | Saturday, May 15, 2010

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SUPIMA IN THE NEWS: Premium brands in PR Week

By Greg Wang

NEW YORK—It’s whole new game for luxury brands.

And some are playing it better than others.

Recently the trade journal PR Week called out Supima’s example in a story called “Premium brands respond to recession with value message.”

In a section headline “Redefining Value,” here’s what that journal’s reporter Aarti Shah had to say:

Buxton Midyette, VP of marketing and promotions at premium cotton company Supima, introduced the brand’s Spring 2010 collection. The collaboration with Brooks Brothers puts added emphasis on the performance of the fabric.

“It allows us to tell a different part of the Supima story,” he says. “For 10 years, we’ve positioned it as a luxury fiber. But in 1911, it was developed as an industrial fiber, so we’re talking more about the durability and strength of the fiber. It’s luxury, but not fragile like a cashmere. The current economic situation has provided us the opportunity to talk about this aspect. We can easily promote it as performance rather than luxury.”

Opportunities have emerged, in part, because of movements that sprouted during the recession. Supima cotton accounts for about 3% of all cotton grown and 95% of it is grown under California’s environmental laws.

“We have a sustainable story,” Midyette says. “This cotton goes into [long-lasting] products; it’s meant to go into a man’s or woman’s wardrobe and stay there. [We] need to focus on disposable clothing’s environmental impact.”

Still, he notes, people look to luxury to make them feel good. The fabric is typically 25% to 30% more dense than regular cotton, so the brand continues to emphasize Supima’s softness, along with durability and value.

To read the rest, go to www.PRWeekUS.com.