Italian fashion house Gianni Versace SpA in May will introduce its first mobile phone, entering a blossoming new high-price category for luxury fashion brands.
Donatella Versace, the designer at Versace, created the phone with ModeLabs Group SA, a French company that also makes phones for fashion house Christian Dior SA and watchmaker Tag Heuer SA.
"Before, brands couldn't imagine that a luxury telephone was possible," said ModeLabs Chief Executive Stéphane Bohbot. "Now, limited distribution and customized design have created a new interest for brands in telephones."
The new Versace phone will retail for more than Dior's phone, which costs €3,500, or about $5,000, and was introduced in 2008, Mr. Bohbot said. The Versace phone will reach the brand's boutiques as well as high-end watch and jewelry stores in May.
Versace said it plans to unveil the phone to its VIP clients at a couture presentation at Paris's Hotel Plaza Athénée next week. Versace said it is working with ModeLabs but declined to comment further.
Fashion houses have splashed their names on technology for the past few years. Motorola Inc. sold €200 million of its Dolce & Gabbana handset in 2008. Prada SpA and Giorgio Armani SpA also have developed phones with major phone makers. But until a couple of years ago, phones bearing fashion logos sold for well under $1,000.
High-end mobile phones costing thousands of dollars are competing with luxury watches for consumers, Mr. Bohbot said. The strongest demand comes from Asia, Russia and the Middle East, he said. For Versace, the mobile phone is part of a push into new areas to broaden its appeal beyond clothes. Over the past few years, the company has branched out into Versace-branded jets, sports cars and hotels. Ms. Versace first contacted ModeLabs in mid-2008 to discuss a Versace mobile phone, Mr. Bohbot said.
Versace has struggled to stay profitable since celebrated founder Gianni Versace was gunned down in 1997. Ms. Versace is his sister.
Engineers from ModeLabs visited Ms. Versace in Milan monthly to design the phone, which will feature high-end materials such as leather. ModeLabs also will customize the phones with specific colors and materials for individual Versace customers.
To keep up with the pace of new technology in products such as the Blackberry and Apple Inc.'s iPhone, ModeLabs will supply operating-system upgrades to customers.
By: Christina Passariello
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703626604575011142248650182.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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