Callanen International, a company within the Timex Group B.V, is the manufacturer under license of watches by Nautica, Mark Ecko, Guess and Guess Collection Watches and Jewellery. Together, these brands sell between 5 and 6 million pieces annually. An undisputed leader and trendsetter in the creation of ‘fashion’ watches, Guess and Guess Collection watches alone account for somewhere between 4 and 5 million watches of this total.
Cindy Livingston, the President and CEO of Callanen International, recently took time out from her hectic schedule to talk to Europa Star.




Cindy Livingston

TIMELESS BEAUTY
Amber Chia wearing a Timeless Beauty watch designed for the winners of the Timeless Beauty Guess Watches model search. Stainless steel watch decorated with Swarovski crystals, croco-grained leather strap, multi-function textured dial.


Europa Star: Does each brand within Callanen International have total freedom in its approach to both the marketing and design of its watches?

Cindy Livingston: Each brand must coordinate all of their product and marketing concepts with the ‘Parent Brand’ [Guess] so that each of the respective designs or ideas are in sync with the overall heritage of their specific brand. Everything that we create goes through a formalized approval process. The word ‘freedom’ as it relates to the licensing business is really oxymoronic.

E.S: Does each brand have its own designer and is there a liaison between the different brands as far as design is concerned?

C.L: Each of our brands has its own individual design team that is headed up by individual brand managers. I like them to be as separate as possible to avoid duplication and sameness – but still create a team of people who are supportive of all the brands we do – with a ‘hint’ of competitiveness amongst them. I think that the individuality of each brand is absolutely imperative. I refuse to take on brands that have overlap in product. I have to be able to close my eyes and clearly see exactly what the brand can look like or represent in product and marketing concepts before we take it on. There’s way too much product out there today that’s the same.

E.S: How many collections do you bring out each year for each brand?

C.L: The number of collections varies slightly between the brands, but for the most part, there are two main collections per year and two small introductions of ‘newness’ that we inject just to make sure we always have a little excitement at the counter.

E.S: Founded in 1983, Guess is certainly the leader of your group in terms of recognition, trends and turnover. Can you explain the process in the development of new models?

C.L: We have two brand managers and an entire design team who travel all over the world looking at fashion trends. They work 9 to 12 months out on design briefs and continue to ‘tweak’ the products – dials, bands, colorations, etc. – until the day before we actually preview the collection. My people are all product maniacs and they drive the design team to the brink to make sure we’re ahead of the pack on fashion. I sometimes wonder throughout these 20 years, how we haven’t killed each other by now. We have great continuity in the Guess team – some of our designers and one of our brand managers have been here 19 of our 20 years of existence. I like to believe that’s one of the reasons we’ve been around this long, even though we continually add new design talent every year as part of our process.

E.S: How many different collections are there in the Guess brand?

C.L: We run six different classifications (collections) of product within the Guess brand. We monitor the percent that each of them represents to our total every season, and expand or contract the number of designs in each based on sell-through information that tells us weekly what the consumer is buying. We can have major swings in classifications over a 6-month period – and we continually adjust our go-forward design briefs to reflect what’s happening at retail.

E.S: How is this sell-through information obtained?

C.L: Sell-through information is basically a luxury that we have in the United States with our big box department - store groups and key specialty stores like Guess Inc. Every Monday morning, we get all of our sales and stock information transmitted to us from the prior week from each account. Systematically, all that information is down loaded and put into category formats that allow us to analyze what is actually sold through to consumers vs. what we sold into our retailers. We have basic re-order systems in place with all of our major accounts that allow us to automatically re-order our bestsellers and stop ordering product that has stopped selling or that has slowed down in their stores. It's a little more complex than my explanation, but it's the reason that we are able to maximize key selling items better than anyone else in the world. In essence, we have see-through capabilities on 90% of our business in the U.S.A and we are just now attempting to realize that information on some of our businesses overseas.

E.S: What countries are you in with the different brands and are some more successful in some countries than others?

C.L: We’re everywhere with Guess – and I can say proudly after many years, that we have a well-balanced business in terms of the U.S., Europe, Middle East, Far East, and Australia. Europe was the last bastion, and I can tell you that our growth over the last several years has been remarkable. The Guess Collection business is most strongly penetrated in Europe and the Middle East based on the jewellery store channels that exist. Nautica is pretty much spread equally, but has an unusually strong penetration in Mexico due to the apparel business. Ecko is the newest ‘kid’ on the block and is billed as an urban brand back in the U.S., but overseas, we’ve positioned it as a brand for the ‘trans-global’ youth culture. We wondered how this brand would migrate outside of the U.S., but believe me, there’s an underground youth culture in every country of the world. The trick is thinking out-of-the-box on how, when, and where you’re going to position the brand in each specific country – because this IS an area where you see deviation from country to country.

E.S: The final of Timeless Beauty International Model Search hosted by Elle and Guess Watches at BaselWorld 2004 was a hugely successful event.
The two winners – Marvy Rieder and Amber Chia – are very beautiful, new faces on the modelling scene. How much use will Guess have of them?

C.L: The Guess Watch / Elle Magazine Timeless Beauty event was an amazing worldwide marketing campaign that drew in over 20,000 applications from women in over 75 countries. From all of these applications, 15 finalists were chosen to come to the BaselWorld 2004 where Paul Marciano selected not only one but two winners. Amber Chia of Malaysia and Marvy Rieder of The Netherlands were selected at the Gala event as the new Faces of Guess Watches.
After Basel, Amber and Marvy flew to New York where they were shot by Gilles Bensimon of Elle Magazine. They then went out to Los Angeles for a photo shoot with the team of Paul Marciano’s photographers – specifically, Odette Sugerman.
Their pictures were featured in the Elle USA September issue and will also be featured in all international Elle December 04 issues.
They are also being featured in the Guess Fall and Holiday 2004 point-of-sale display material, shopping bags, watch catalogue, and gift-with-purchase 15-month calendar.
Both girls have gained a great deal of internat-ional recognition as a result of Timeless Beauty. They have each signed modelling contracts with major modelling agencies. During the fourth quarter of this year, Amber and Marvy will both be participating at in-store events in major retail locations around the world to promote the Holiday Guess Watch collection and for the personal signing of the Timeless Beauty 15-month calendar.
Amber Chia has appeared as the cover girl for many magazines and is also the spokesperson for Stila Cosmetics in Malaysia. This October, Amber began shooting her role for a Malaysian-made Mandarin movie alongside popular singer Nicholas Chen.
Marvy Rieder has been signed by the international modelling agency, ONE Model and has been doing a great deal of fashion runway shows in both Europe and New York for brands such as Ralph Lauren, Ellen Tracy, Imitation of Christ, and Betsy Johnson. She has appeared in many magazines including Elle and has made several television appearances.




GUESS ‘20TH ANNIVERSARY’ WATCH
Paris Hilton wearing a stainless steel watch with a textured dial and decorated with Swarovski crystals. Croco-grained leather strap available in 8 colours.

DESERT ROSE
Amber Chia wearing an oblong Guess stainless steel watch with a tooled leather strap and matching dial.



E.S: In the design world, what might work in the U.S.A doesn’t always work in say, Europe or the Far East. How do you approach the different markets?

C.L: We struggled with this for many years, but it seems to me that the product that sells around the world moves closer together each year. We sell in over 70 countries around the world, and our true bestsellers are the same everywhere. Colorations in dials or straps or plating might differ slightly, but the top watches translate around the world. The only time that doesn’t happen is usually because a distributor pre-judges the style and determines that they can’t sell that style in their market. They usually find out they’re wrong after they missed a season of bestsellers. In addition, when we design a line, we design the line to an international standard that includes basics, moderate fashion, and forward-fashion product. Each country can pull down styles that are appropriate for their own markets. The U.S. is treated the same way – they’re just another one of our markets.

E.S: A final question: how do you feel about the watch industry today?

C.L: When I think back through the 20 years (and I’ve been here for 16 of them), I can honestly say that every year gets more exciting. People sometimes say that the old days were more fun when the business first started and there were fewer brands and much less product in the market, but when I look at how far the original business model has come in terms of design, quality standards, distribution, and all the systems analysis we have today, it has become a much more sophisticated business that still offers great opportunities. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss the journey!




DUAL COOL
Also known as the Univers, this Swiss Made watch comes from the Guess Collection. Stainless steel case equipped with dual time with a second crown at 7 o’clock and date at 3 o’clock and croco-grained strap.

CREST by Mark Ecko
Stainlesss steel case and bracelet, 3-hand movement, applied Ecko Crest Graphic on dial in rose gold plating, genuine Swarovski crystals in gradient colour tones on bezel. There are also black leather/black dial and white leather/white dial versions.

NAUTICA DIVER
Titanium case (46 mm) and bracelet with screw-down signature crown at 9 o’clock, date at 12 o’clock, luminous hands and numerals, screw-down caseback, water-resistant to 200 metres.



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