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New York Business Journal
The National Beat: Tinder founder's $60M mood ring venture, flying with Bezos and eyelash robots
In this week's National Beat, we look at a mood ring venture from a founder of Tinder, as well as a look inside Meta's secretive space in Pittsburgh that's shaping the future of virtual reality. THIS ARTICLE IS FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. Continue reading with your subscription. Access 4 weeks of...
Kiton to Open a New Womenswear and Casual Menswear Store on Madison Avenue, New York
This Naples-based luxury fashion brand will soon have a store on Madison Avenue in New York. Since 1968, the year of its creation, Kiton has proven to be a strong player in the industry bringing high-end clothing to both men and women. A Little Bit About Kiton This is a fashion brand that currently has 750 employees all around the world and operates five different production sites. This includes, among other things, a knitwear factory in Fidenza. In 2010, the company acquired a stake in Biella, a textile mill Carlo Barbera, a top yarn manufacturer. Kiton’s Home Office is in the Palazzo Ferre (former headquarters of Gianfranco Ferre) in the city of Milan. In parallel, Kiton runs 60 stores in 25 different countries and a robust wholesale business with retailers like Mitchells Stores and Bergdorf Goodman. They are also very successful, showing a 38% increase in sales in comparison with last year, even though they lost one of their most important markets. They mainly target Asia, Japan, and Korea. The tailoring company was founded in Milan by Ciro Paone, who came from a long line of Italian fabric merchants. In 1956 he established his own label called CiPa, which would eventually be changed to Kiton because the previous name reminded him of the word “cheap”. In the beginning, Paone used to sell fabrics to the local tailors, but this was not enough for an innate businessman like Ciro Paone. Thus, he traveled to England to offer his fabrics and soon realized that he could do the same in Italy. This is why he st arted to approach bigger factories. Wanting to take the Neapolitan sartorial style and the fine Italian fabric craftsmanship to an international level was reason enough to change the company's name to “Kiton”, in 1968. This is when the brand was formally created. Since then, the growth has been practically unstoppable offering all kinds of outfits and fashion products including accessories, footwear, ties, outerwear, shirts, and suits. Ciro Paone died in 2021, but luckily his legacy lives on through his company and through his descendants who run it. A great example of this is the opening of a brand new store on East 62nd street. The Journey Towards the New NYC Store The new Kiton store will have women as the main characters. Focused mainly on selling womenswear, this store is expected to complement the existing one on E. 54th Street. The management staff at Kiton are excited about this new step and told us how they got here. Although it was a very difficult time for everyone, Kiton expanded its horizons during the pandemic, opening and scaling up stores in Milan, Rome, and Dubai. The reason behind this decision was that they needed more space to showcase Kiton’s wide collection of womenswear. Everything seems to indicate that this was a good decision because the sales went up immediately. The Milan store saw an increase from 5% to 35%, while the brand-new headquarters in Rome and Dubai enjoy a 50% and a 30% increase respectively. Apparently, “making room” for the ladies is bringing more profit to Kiton, and this is why they decided to do the same in New York City. While the current NY store displays the whole collection, the one on Madison Ave will be focused on women. Thus, clients will be able to see the women’s collection on the ground floor and the men's sportswear line will be in a smaller section on the second level. The CEO announced that after seeing the great results in Rome, Dubai, and Milan, they felt that the next step was to take this concept to the American market. As a result, the store is to open this summer. When it comes to women’s line success, numbers speak for themselves. Before the pandemic, this niche only accounted for 5% of the overall sales volume, but today it has reached 20% and the goal now is to take it to 50%. Most of the company’s current stores only offer menswear, so the brand is trying to open new units to also house the women’s collection. After this new store in New York, the next targets are Paris and London. The History of the Women’s Collection Kiton owes its vast women’s collection to Maria Giovanna Paone, Ciro Paone’s daughter. From early childhood, she developed a taste for fashion looking at her father's work and going to Neapolitan ateliers with her mother. In the 90s, Maria introduced the women’s line at Kiton, with the goal of taking it to the same level as the men's collection. Now, she is a creative director and president of Kiton’s womenswear division. Maria is truly proud of her father's work and her goal in life is to protect Ciro Paone’s legacy while pursuing her own interests. Since Kiton makes top-quality clothing for men, then why not do the same for women, Maria says. This was the beginning of the women’s collection at Kiton, a line that keeps growing and is soon to be displayed on Madison Ave in New York. Contacts Marketing manager: Irina Proskurina Email: Irina.proskurina@kitonus.com Instagram: @kiton.
Mezeh Mediterranean Grill signs 15-year lease at 845 Third Avenue
The Midtown East location will be Mezeh's fourth in New York City.
Bizspotlight
VMLY&R today announced the promotion of Rafael Pitanguy to deputy global CCO. In this newly created role, he will be based in New York and work directly with Global CCO Debbi Vandeven. As a primary responsibility for VMLY&R, Pitanguy will lead creative for key client account Coca-Cola. In addition, he will continue to look after creative for the agency’s Brazilian market on key accounts. “Rafa has been celebrated on the most respected global stages for his ability to push our agency and brands to do high-impact, positive work for both business and the world. This promotion is a testament to the leadership and creative vision he brings to everything he does, and we’re thrilled to celebrate his continued growth with VMLY&R,” said Vandeven. With a career spanning more than 20 years, Rafael Pitanguy arrived at VMLY&R (then Y&R) in 2016 and has since transformed the agency into one of the foremost creative agencies in Brazil and worldwide. VMLY&R Brazil was named Cannes Lions Agency of the Year for two consecutive years, in the tracks For Good (2021) and Entertainment (2022). Earlier this year, Pitanguy received top honors for the agency’s work with Greenpeace Brazil in “Los Santos +3ºC,” imagining a climate-impacted Grand Theft Auto. In 2021, Pitanguy took home Brazil’s first-ever Glass Grand Prix for Starbucks’ “I Am.” VMLY&R Brazil was also named Agency of the Year at Effie Brazil and won the Grand Effie, the Professionals of the Year at Rede Globo, the GP of the Creation Club (Black Star) and the YouTube Works. Meio & Mensagem named Pitanguy among the 10 Communication Professionals of the Year for this work, as well as his advocacy and work on diversity initiatives within the agency. A graduate from PUC-Rio in advertising and publicity, and from UERJ in language and literature, Pitanguy previously served as creative vice president at Africa, and worked at both TBWA\ and Fischer in Portugal. Over the course of his career, he has worked with leading brands such as Vivo, Visa, Via, Colgate, Ambev, Itaú, Santander and Dell. In his free time, he works as a screenwriter and has had a feature film pre-selected by the Sundance Festival. He is also a teacher at Miami Ad School and is a Conar Board Member. Sleyman Khodor has also been promoted to deputy CCO in Brazil, supporting Pitanguy in the market. Khodor has worked with major domestic and global sponsors such as Brahma, Budweiser, O Boticário, Itaú, Santander, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Nissan, Marisa, Vivo, Claro, and Oi – and has won the market's top awards, among them, Lions in Cannes, Grand Effie, D&AD, One Show, and Professionals of the Year. Khodor built his career in many of Brazil’s largest ad agencies: he was a copywriter at Africa, JWT (now Wunderman Thompson), AlmapBBDO, and Talent Marcel, where he was creative director. In 2020, he was creative leader at Lew’Lara\TBWA, becoming one of the key names in the agency's transformation process. In March of this year, he joined VMLY&R as executive creative director and now takes on the challenge of becoming the agency's deputy CCO, leading a team of more than 125 creative and production professionals alongside Pitanguy.
CVS, Lidl ink long-term leases at Brooklyn development site
CVS and Lidl will be housed in a 180‐unit residential rental development that will include approximately 67,000 square feet of retail/commercial space as well as a parking garage. THIS ARTICLE IS FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. Continue reading with your subscription. Access 4 weeks of business news and insights.
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