New Look goes to market

Fashionista has been getting braver and is loving taking the occasional fashion risk of late, be it a quirky bit of shoulder action or a touch of 80's revival. Never one to shy away from a new look, Fashionista knows that often the best way to flesh out and re-style those all important investment pieces is to use the high street.

And apparently its not just Fashionista's appetite that has been revived recently, investors and stockbrokers are recovering their risk appetite (although lets hope the pin stripe and braces look remains in recession). As a result the stock market is apparently enjoying an 11 month high and equity investors are sure to be perusing the fashion world for a suitable investment piece of their own. They should not be disappointed. If rumours are to be believed New Look (Fashionista's occasional high street saviour for a last minute Friday night outfit fix) are currently considering a flotation of their shares on the stock market (otherwise known as an Initial Public Offering or IPO).

Not the top strategy choice for a large proportion of companies given the increased compliance requirements and increased time and costs pressures. There's also the increased answerability to public shareholders and who knows what those shareholders might say? So while we are enslaved by the new Spring/Summer 2010 collection, New Look could find themselves a slave to their shareholders. Might Lily Allen be finding a different collaborator all of a sudden?

The upside for New Look is likely to be a cash injection allowing them to pay off their existing reported £1.1billion of debt (which makes Fashionista feel a whole lot better about her credit card balance).

Its not the first time New Look have considered this option as a flotation was considered in 2007. New Look may find they are setting a different kind of trend as other companies who fared well in the economic downturn follow suit and may also look to an IPO to fill a much needed gap in investment requirements. Who knows, much like shoulder pads, maybe this will fare better for them second time around…..

New look, no mark

Weymouth (UK) based fashion house New Look has made quite a name for itself, but it's not an easy name to keep to itself. Last week the Court of First Instance dismissed its appeal against the failure of its application to register the words NEW LOOK for a whole raft of fashion items and accessories as well as a store name for its retail trade. Said the court, the words were

"a banal expression which is part of everyday English and does not present any linguistic difficulty. That expression will thus be understood to mean ‘new appearance’ by a public who are native English speakers, but also by people with a basic knowledge of English as such a level of knowledge is sufficient, in the present case, to understand the sign applied for".

What's more, New Look couldn't show that its name had become distinctive of its business throughout the territory of the European Union, the trading zone that the Community trade mark covers. This decision only covers the words NEW LOOK: it doesn't affect the eye-catching logo at the top of this post.

Fashionista says, choosing the right name for a label is a tough call. Names that send out a strong and attractive message are often those easiest to market, but their very strength as a message to shoppers is a weakness because messages like "new look" are kept free for all traders to use.