Frederick's of Hollywood, the warhorse that made risque lingerie that tickled the fancy of gray-haired men, is coming back from bankruptcy with a new image designed to attract younger shoppers.
Nearly killed off by permissive times and the competition, the company has switched its plain packaging to shiny Barbie pink and remodeled its stores with leopard carpeting and red velvet curtains, all in anticipation of a Nov. 6 hearing before a bankruptcy judge. Linda LoRe, its chief executive, hopes to come out of Chapter 11 ready to restore the company, which really is based in Hollywood, to its rightful status -- as a spicier alternative to Victoria's Secret.
At the hearing, LoRe will present an improved picture of the company -- a portfolio that includes a US$40 million debt restructuring by the new owners, a consortium led by Credit Agricole, brand new merchandise, and a US$1.5 million holiday marketing campaign that, to some degree, takes Frederick's back to its raunchier roots.
While the company anticipates good news at the hearing, the task of succeeding in this already-weary retail climate will not be easy; LoRe admits that the lingerie company has a formidable competitor in Victoria's Secret -- the 500-pound gorilla wearing a silk teddy.
But there is a difference, LoRe insists.
"They carry flannel," she said. "We're more real, more sexy-raunchy. In the past, Frederick's chased Victoria's Secret and chased the department stores, but the company swung the pendulum too far; they stopped being a Frederick's brand -- the `anti-establishment lingerie.'
"We're reaching for a younger audience," she said. The company's latest advertisements are being shot in "a hip new club, with young people buying the sexy stuff."
To attract teens and young people in their 20s, Frederick's has already introduced a "Get Cheeky" line of cotton panties, not only bikinis but the hipper boy-style briefs. "They're so cute," said Jennifer Lowitz, a spokeswoman. "They're like little BVDs, with, like, `Booty Queen' and `Dangerous' and `Bombshell' written on them."
Sexier bustiers and thongs are also being introduced, but the biggest difference is probably the packaging. The maribou-trimmed high heel slippers, for example, once arrived in a dirty-looking plain cardboard box.
Now, color photographs of the slippers are plastered on the box. And the company has repackaged its "edibles" (things definitely not found at Victoria's Secret) in pink, illustrated with hip-looking cartoons.
RSS