In Other News: Behind the Scenes at Saks and Trunk Club

The Saks Fifth Avenue men’s team was the subject of a behind-the-scenes story by the Wall Street Journal’s Ray Smith this week. Smith tagged along as Saks men’s GMM Tom Ott met with Etro in Milan. Ott and men’s fashion director Eric Jennings spent 10 hours a day going to fashion shows and showrooms during Milan’s fashion week.

“It is people like Mr. Ott who help translate runway fashions into clothes that men will want to wear,” writes Smith. “The buzz takes place on the runways—like Etro’s, with its spectacular backdrop screen of marble-lined Italian palazzos where exotic animals roamed. But the business is done in the brands’ offices and showrooms, where merchants decide what to order and request changes to make theatrical runway looks more accessible.”

Read the whole story here.

In a less detailed but more visual behind the scenes story, the National Retail Federation created a short video profile of Trunk Club, the Chicago-based online menswear personal stylist service that was acquired by Nordstrom last year. VP of sales Michael Barkin says Trunk Club has about 100,000 customers and 400 sales people.