Escada

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Escada AG

Type of Company	Public
Founded	1976, Munich, Germany
Headquarters	Munich, Germany
Industry	Retail
Products	Women's fashions, accessories, fragrances, handbags, scarves
Website	[1]

ESCADA is an international luxury fashion group in women's designer fashion. In thirty years, Escada has become a leading name in women's fashion, often seen sported to red carpet events by celebrities.

[edit] History

Margaretha and Wolfgang Ley founded this international fashion powerhouse in 1976. Their designs remained popular locally and quickly attained wide success in Europe in less than five years after its inception. The brand began as an upscale sportswear designer named Escada Sportliche Eleganz by SRB, however was shortened to Escada the following year.

By 1980, Escada established its name as the leading designer in luxury sportswear. Noted for its quality materials, Escada successfully widened its clientele and by 1981 established a name in many categories of womenswear, specializing in formal wear and knitwear. In 1982, the company opened their first store in the United States on Fifth Avenue in New York City and opened its first store in Asia the following year in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong boutique became a worldwide landmark, marked for its use of gold in the store's design. The entryway to the Hong Kong flagship boutique was gold-framed.

Though debuting in America in 1982, Escada did not gain national prominence until 1984 when the leading fashion and women's wear magazine Vogue published an entire edition devoted to promoting Escada. Its worldwide prominence led its 1986 IPO on the FSE to be highly anticipated and Escada's debut on the stock exchange marked the headlines in hundreds of major newspapers worldwide.

Today, Escada has 201 of its own shops and 303 franchise shops/corners in more than 60 countries.

In the United States, the company has 20 boutiques in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Washington.

[edit] PLAZA ESCADA

Escada has opened several larger stores carrying various fashion lines including Escada Couture, Escada Sport, and St. John Knits. The largest of these stores is located in Vancouver, Canada, and is 16,000 square feet.