Juicy Couture - Brand Development

Brand Development

From 1996, after establishing their company and needing to get public attention for the brand, Nash and Levy started to send their completed designs to celebrities. In 2001, the famous Juicy tracksuit was introduced and custom designed for Madonna; and Madonna turned the velour tracksuit into a trend. The public appearance of clothes by celebrities made the brand famous almost instantly. Madonna was the first big break through celebrity endorsement for the company. Later, in 2004, the velour tracksuit once again became very popular among celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton. Juicy Couture then became a brand known around the world for the image of being the outfit of the “new money”. Juicy Couture, which was a very limited brand being available at very few locations until the late 2000s, established exclusive boutiques and flagship stores.

An informed "guesstimate" put Juicy sales at about $200 million in one year. Vogue noted the company's growing — even exploding — popularity, saying, "The time may have come when Seventh Avenue’s lofty vantage point suddenly seems less relevant than the ground-level perspective of the designer as consumer."

Although the company hired consultant Erin Fetherston to design a new collection of dresses to launch the holiday season, retailers alleged that the designs were stale, on top of the fit issues noted in October 2010. Many major retailers have either dropped Juicy Couture clothing or cut back on orders for the fall season. WWD breaks down the losses: "A spot check of stores revealed that Saks Fifth Avenue dropped the Juicy Couture line at the New York flagship for fall; Bloomingdale’s flagship cut way back on its Juicy department on the contemporary floor; Nordstrom passed on the apparel line for fall; Bergdorf Goodman no longer carries the line, and Neiman Marcus has dropped the line in several stores, such as White Plains, N.Y. and Beverly Hills."

On November 1, 2010, LeAnn Nealz was named President and Chief Creative Officer. In this position, she would be responsible for all creative elements of the business including product design, marketing and store design and will report to Edgar Huber, Chief Executive Officer of Juicy Couture. Former Vogue accessories director Michelle Sanders was also hired to handle new licenses for jewelry, handbags and swimwear.