Kurz Disappears From the Helm of Seven for All Mankind

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Seven for All Mankind LLC is all about the perfect fit.


And the premium jeans manufacturer seemed to have found one in its chief executive, Andreas Kurz, an apparel industry veteran who had done stints at Polo Ralph Lauren, Diesel and Hugo Boss. Kurz had joined the company after Bear Stearns Merchant Banking took a 50 percent stake in Seven.


Less than a year later, however, Women’s Wear Daily reports that he’s abruptly stepping down.


The reasons for Kurz’s departure are a mystery. Kirsten Sharett, a spokeswoman for Seven, said in an e-mail, “At the moment we have no comment.” Bear Stearns Merchant Banking also declined to comment.


Seven is no stranger to high-level turmoil. Peter Koral, the company’s chairman and president, feuded with former co-owners Jerome Dahan and Michael Glasser over rights to the brand. The legal battle was settled about a year ago, but only after Dahan and Glasser launched rival jeans company Citizens of Humanity.


Seven appeared to have put that turmoil behind it when Bear Stearns infused the company with $80 million last year, and Kurz was brought on. At the time, Koral, who retains the 50 percent of Seven not controlled by Bear Stearns, was positive about the direction the company was headed.


“Our engines have started running and Andreas is pushing the accelerator,” Koral said in an interview with WWD.


Kurz put forward aggressive plans to expand Seven’s reach beyond its denim core by diversifying with tops, jackets, shoes, belts and handbags, among other items. The aim was to create a lifestyle brand that would allow Seven to push additional products into its existing store base, which includes upscale department store heavyweights Bloomingdale’s Inc., Nordstrom Inc. and Neiman Marcus Group Inc.


With the plans in place, Kurz was quoted last April as envisioning double-digit sales growth at Seven in four to five years. Last year, the company racked up an estimated $240 million in sales, up from $90 million in 2003.



Coffee Market


Starting next month, Ralphs shoppers won’t have to stray too far from the grocery aisles to get their ice-blended mocha fix.


International Coffee & Tea LLC has inked a deal with Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., the parent of Ralphs, to put Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores inside Ralphs locations in the next three years. Plans currently call for 34 Coffee Beans in Ralphs stores, and the number is expected to grow.


The Ralphs deal is evidence of International Coffee’s push into on-site food service, a relatively new venture for the L.A.-based company. Most of International’s 379 stores are company-owned stand-alone units, with U.S. operations concentrated in California, Arizona and Nevada.


“It is an area that we are expanding,” said vice president Tami Clark, adding that airports, universities and hospitals are also being considered as sites. International Coffee isn’t new to Ralphs. International Coffee replaced Seattle’s Best Coffee at Ralphs in-store delis in the middle of last year. Several of the new Coffee Beans in Ralphs will also replace Seattle’s Best units.


The on-site Ralphs locations, at 400 square-feet and without extensive seating, don’t require as much staff as the typical 1,500-square-foot stand-alone stores and will have built-in customer traffic.


In the supermarkets, the Coffee Bean stores are Ralphs-operated franchises with Ralphs employees who will be trained to handle Coffee Bean beverages. Ralphs will pay International Coffee a percentage on sales, which Clark wouldn’t disclose.



Teaming up


A big hitter is stepping up to the plate to help Hollywood’s W hotel and residential project deal with mounting expenses.


Thomas Hicks, chairman of Dallas-based Hicks Holdings LLC and owner of Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers and pro hockey’s Dallas Stars franchises, has formed a joint venture with Gatehouse Capital Corp., also based in Dallas. Gatehouse is the largest third-party developer of W hotels, including the one planned at Hollywood and Vine.


The undisclosed amount of money Hicks will plow into Gatehouse’s hotel projects is crucial for the Hollywood development, which has seen its price tag rise to $400 million from initial estimates of $213 million.


Other entities involved in the project are Foster City-based Legacy Partners and Norwalk, Conn.-based HEI Hospitality.


The W hotel and residence project’s signature piece is a 300-room W hotel facing Hollywood Boulevard. The complex is also slated to have 375 apartments, 150 condos and about 60,000 square feet of retail stores and restaurants.


The project is expected to break ground in the third or fourth quarter of this year, with a 2008 opening scheduled.



European Styles


Los Angeles’ wait for H & M; Hennes & Mauritz AB is over.


The savvy European retailer built anticipation in the Southland by opening locations on San Francisco’s Powell and Post streets late last year. Now, stores are planned for Beverly Center and Old Pasadena on Colorado Boulevard.


Lisa Sandberg, a spokeswoman for the Stockholm, Sweden-based company, said a 25,000-square-foot store in Beverly Center and a 12,000-square-foot, two-level outlet in Pasadena will both open in the fall.


They could be joined by up to three other local locations, to be determined. Before that, two more H & M; locations will open in Northern California in the spring.


The San Francisco openings created a stir among shoppers: More than 1,000 people lined up to enter the first store before its cash registers began ringing.


“The customers out there have been waiting for an H & M; for a while,” said Sandberg. “H & M; really suits the West Coast. We have gotten a fantastic reaction.”



*Staff reporter Rachel Brown can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 224, or by e-mail at

[email protected]

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