Has Disney finally gone off the deep end?

[LittleDollClaudia]

Okay, I had to post this, sorry it's so long but what do you guys think?

House of Mouse Couture
Disney experiments with designer fashion at its new Vault 28 store. The question is, how high-end can Mickey-wear go?
By Kimi Yoshino, Times Staff Writer
October 11, 2006

Forget those tacky, touristy T-shirts with Mickey Mouse slapped across the front.

Walt Disney Co. today opens its first high-end apparel store. Disney Vault 28, a reference to 1928, the year Mickey debuted in the cartoon "Steamboat Willie," opens its doors at Downtown Disney, a collection of shops and restaurants nestled between the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks in Anaheim.

At Vault 28, T-shirts aren't $20 or even $50. Most run about $75. For the fashion-conscious, there are pouty Tinkerbells and hard-to-find designer Mickey-wear once found only at trendy boutiques.

The Burbank-based entertainment giant hopes the designer concept will have a happier ending than the Disney Stores. Launched in 1987, the chain peddled mass-produced goods at 743 shops at its 1999 peak.

But profit at Walt Disney's consumer products division, which included the Disney Stores, fell to $386 million in 2000 from $893 million in 1997.

In 2004, after Disney closed more than half of its stores, the last 313 shops were sold to the Children's Place. Disney continues to operate World of Disney stores in New York, Anaheim and Orlando.

"This is the only one of its kind," said Marianne Sharpe, Disneyland Resort's vice president of merchandise and store operations.

"We constantly hear from our guests that they want something contemporary. They wanted products that were not readily available in many areas."

The company also will test products at its World of Disney stores before deciding whether to expand Vault 28.

Disney launched a vintage and couture line in 2004 but felt it wasn't capturing trendy teens and women. Up until now, those lines were primarily limited to hipster boutiques like Kitson and Fred Segal.

Vault 28 will be stocked with two new Disney brands, Kingdom Couture and DV28, as well as fashions from celebrity-favored designers such as Chip & Pepper, Paige Premium Denim, Tarina Tarantino and Red Monkey.

The goods don't come cheap. A pair of jeans costs close to $200. A King Baby leather belt with a skull and crossbones costs $900. Alice in Wonderland-printed panties designed by Kidada Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones, run $32.

Pricey products aren't new to Disney. Fans are willing to spend hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars on limited-edition art, watches and collectibles available inside the theme parks.

The concept can work if people are willing to pay the price, said analyst Kurt Barnard, president of Retail Forecasting.

"Disney is trying to achieve a store with a difference," Barnard said. "They may ultimately turn out to be right. The American public is being besieged with stores that all carry what? The same thing."

To succeed, the company will have to come up with something more appealing than its movie-centric Disney Stores, he said.

"Are enough consumers going to be sufficiently interested in the very high-end T-shirt they propose to sell?" Barnard said. "The jury's still out on that one."

This is not the first time Disney has sought a more sophisticated audience. In 1994, it launched a prototype Walt Disney Gallery at Westfield MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana. The store carried high-priced animation art, Lladro figures, flatware and dinnerware.

That store closed, although a Disney Gallery still operates inside Disneyland and a similar shop can be found at Orlando's Downtown Disney.

Unlike the Disney Stores, which banked on merchandise featuring animated movie characters and responded too slowly to changing trends, Vault 28 isn't a cookie-cutter operation, said Mary Murray, Disneyland Resort's director of merchandise and specialized business. Instead of relying on movie tie-ins, most of the clothing depicts classic characters: Mickey, Tinkerbell, Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire Cat.

"We can change the theme as trends change," Murray said. "We're going to be able to react."

Pirate-themed apparel is popular, with designers slapping skulls and crossbones onto belt buckles, jewelry, T-shirts, jackets and the like. And Disney has merchandise to reflect that, including some not related to its official "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie-licensed products.

The company also has been trying to reinvent Mickey Mouse and its other characters as trendy and urban.

When Disney relaunched the Muppets last year, Miss Piggy modeled for a British fashion magazine in a Prada dress. In 2004, Dolce & Gabbana featured runway models in Mickey T-shirts.

A thermal shirt sold at Fred Segal features "Pimp Mickey" complete with a gold-studded chain, rhinestone-rimmed glasses and a fedora.

Although Pimp Mickey isn't at Vault 28, that's the vibe the store is pursuing.

"It's really moved to a 'Mickey is cool' fashion appeal," Sharpe said.

Ummm, okay then..

[bpgstudios]

...

Don't they all complain that stuff in the parks is too expensive?

Heh, wow. I never understood the point of $75 shirts, $300 jeans, and a $80 belt youll never see under that $900 jacket. I don;t really want to know "what I'm missing" when it comes to wearing something worth more than a make in a week. Its clothing: as long as it keeps you covered, warm, and slightly protected, it is functioning properly. But I digress...

Hey mom, we just spent $3000 on this vacation. Wanna buy me an outfit worth half of it?

[Panther007]

wow, im almost 16 (less then 1 month to go)

and i am perfectly fine with a cheap t shirt (some around $20) a pair of jeans on sale at target (under $20) and a pair of shoes on the clearence rack in target (the shoes i have been wearing for about 2 years were under $30)

i can get all the clothes i need for under $200

but i dont understand paying that much for those clothes

if it fits, feels good (not scratchey or anything), and dosent look nasty

then im perfectly fine with it

[BRWombat]

If they find a willing customer base with money to burn and can turn a profit, it doesn't bother me a bit. It's not for me or anyone I know, though.

But "Pimp Mickey" is just wrong.

[TinkerBelleRoo]

I think this is a really bad move on Disney's part. The groups that they are trying to reach with this aren't going to want anything festooned with disney characters. They'll save their money for the same goods by those designers without them.

The reason 'Pimp Mickey' and shirts with Tinkerbell sold at shops like Kitson is because there, they're novelty. They're a cute little $70 tee to go with the $900 dollar jeans. Something that the shoppers pick up as an after thought.

If they really want to improve their merchandise, or sales to this specific group, they should try and make designs that people would actually wear out of the house once out of the parks. I know whatever I usually buy to commenerate a trip winds up in the beach coverup, sleepwear pile since its not the most attractive to actually wear in public.

[mechurchlady]

Disney was a salesman and we see this in the Lionel toy trains and the watches tied into his products. The Matterhorn is related to a movie, Third Man on the Mountain while there are many rides and areas tied to Disney products. I think Walt Disney would approve of selling $500 jeans if people are so stupid as to buy them.

[Main Streeter]

Pimp Mickey?? & all this other high priced crap? If this doesn't raise dear Walt nothing will. Where the hell is the "Family Theme" in Pimp Mickey? No, this entire concept is just wrong! :mad:

[mechurchlady]

Need I mention Club 33. Remember when Walt was alive there was a pretty fairy that in the movie wore a micro-minidress, showed her panties in a scene, and the dress was strapless. How about the lady in the forest with 7 little men, woot what party animals.

[tacoboy]

Remember when Walt was alive there was a pretty fairy that in the movie wore a micro-minidress, showed her panties in a scene, and the dress was strapless. How about the lady in the forest with 7 little men, woot what party animals.

How about that film where elephants and children all over the world were taught about the wonders of alcohol.... :p:

[BirdMom]

I understand some don't get the concept, but you have to get that this product is not being made for or marketed to the "average" theme park visitor who thinks $20 is too high for a t-shirt. This is for ladies who live in Laguna Niguel and Coto de Casa, Pacific Palisades and Beverly Hills. The sort of ladies who think nothing of dropping $20,000 in a single afternoon's shopping trip to one store. They don't want a top with a DL logo on it like everyone else has. They want something edgier, but familiar that takes the characters they've known and loved in childhood and made them slightly naughtier. These are the women who are happy to wear a pair of $300 sweatpants emblazoned with the double-entendre "Juicy" brand accross their size 0 bottoms. This is fashion marketing at it's aspirational finest. The Lindsey Lohans and Nicole Ritchies of this world will eventually be photographed wearing these expensive Disney togs and spread over all the magazines that their fans buy. This in turn makes the Disney brand image seem more hip than it's been in a few years. It will also help sell more reasonably price-pointed merchandise because while Mom and Dad might not be willing to spring for a $90 t-shirt for their tween girl, there might be a shirt with a similar feeling, but lower price point at World of Disney that appeals to the pop-tart wannabe. It's a brilliant move on the part of the consumer goods department.

It's also similar to something that Eisner pushed back around '85/'86 when he was trying to put Disney back in the forefront of consumer goods. I still own one of the sweaters with the vintage Mickey knit into the front. Some of these goods were sold at the Hotel shops and some were sold at higher end department stores, but Disney licensed the images to J.G. Hook (which was a brand sold at Bullock's and Nordstrom back in the day) and a few other quality manufacturers who targeted upper-middle class consumers, and there were high end Disney clothes in a lot of major markets. There were goods that ranged from faux fur coats and ballgowns to better quality golf shirts than the company sells today. This was before the Disney Stores were founded - I was working in the Merchandise department at the time and remember these goods quite fondly. This was nothing like the cheapo souviners that you'd expect to find with Mickeys plastered all over them. Even Princess Diana was photographed with her two small boys wearing some of the oversized puffy sweatshirts that were part of this group of goods. The difference between then and now is that in the 80's the goods had classic Disney characters. Now they've tweaked the image slightly for more cynical times. It all makes perfect sense to someone with a merchandise background. You have to change the goods for both the changes in the times/society and in your target customer. In this case, the target customers are a smaller, wealthier, more privileged group than the mass market that Disney usually goes for. These are moms with kids in private schools driving Mercedes SUV's. Not moms like me driving old VW's.