A store called the Banana Republic was opened in San Francisco in 1978 by Mel and Patricia Ziegler. Both the Zieglers worked for the San Franciso Chronicle, Mel was a writer and Patricia an illustrator.
Banana Republic specialized in casual Safari styles and Army Surplus clothing. Many of the utilitarian items had sturdy zips and snaps and were double-stitched and reinforced. The store sold desert army hats, sheepskin vests, shorts and other items of travel clothing to armchair travelers. The garments were designed by the Zieglers for people to wear when mountain hiking or rafting. Source

Jeffrey is a one-stop, easy shopping experience. The owner, Jeffrey Kalinsky, selects the most exciting pieces that fashion has to offer while emphasizing service. The company defines service as warm, fun, friendly, and educational for the customer. Each associate is trained to be a personal shopper for his/ her client.
Jeffrey likens his store as the perfect closet for any man or woman. Every season, Jeffrey and buyer, David Rubenstein edit each collection to feature the best of the best.
The philosophy of the store, can be summarized as providing the best service and the best product in a fun, positive, upbeat environment.

Liz Claiborne is a Belgian-born fashion designer. She immigrated to the United States in 1939, and was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She attended St. Timothy's, a boarding school then in Catonsville, Maryland. Rather than finishing high school, she went to Europe to study art. In 1949, she won the Jacques Heim National Design Contest, and then moved to New York City where she worked as a sketch artist at the sportswear house Tina Leser. She worked as a designer for Dan Keller and Youth Group Inc., before starting her own design company, Liz Claiborne Inc., in 1976. The firm grew from its origins designing affordable active sportswear for women and is now a multi billion-dollar enterprise. Source

Nine West or 9 West is a subdivision of Jones Apparel Group. Nine West is a women's fashion retailer/wholesaler with offices in sixty countries. There are chains of stores from Hawaii to Maine. It was co-founded by Jack Fisher. The footwear offices are located in White Plains, NY.
Distribution of all Nine West Goods in the United States is processed through 2 large warehouses both located in West Deptford, NJ. Source

Video: New York Fashion Week 2007 - DKNY Fall Runway Show

Simply stated, DKNY is the energy and spirit of New York. International, eclectic, fun, fast and real. DKNY addresses the real-life needs of people everywhere, from work to weekend, jeans to evening. Both fashionable and friendly, DKNY consistently delivers its unique mix of style around the world.

Fabulous furs is how this Paris Fashion, J. Mendel, name became known worldwide. Totally Parisian chic and elegance is the rebranding that has occurred with heir apparent, Gilles Mendel delving into the silks and wools that he is becoming famed for. Legendary application of design techniques with fur – effervescence and shimmering are not usual adjectives applied to fur, Gilles has broadened his father’s empire into a full line of fashions, available at his boutique on Rue St. Honore in Paris, and in his New York City atelier, Manhattan of course. Exclusive is his middle name, with boutiques only in New York, London, Paris, Moscow and the elite neighborhood of Chevy Chase, Maryland. White and Black are perennial favorites, but this Spring and Summer 2012 collection has blossomed into joyful yellows and hot tangerines, turning everyone’s head walking down Madison Ave. Relatively new to the scene, start watching red carpet fashions as celebrities and gorgeous actresses discover his flowing, tastefully revealing and sensual gowns. It is easy to see why Gilles has extended into a full line of women’s clothing. His love of the female form is evident in his artistic creations.

Noted for its quality materials, use of color, and elegant and femininine designs, 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.
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. 30 years later, Escada has established itself as one of the largest fashion houses in the world. Escada?s headquarters are based in Munich, Germany and Escada?s collections are available in nearly 500 locations in 60 countries. In the United States, the company has 16 boutiques in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Washington. Escada has opened several larger stores carrying various fashion lines including Escada, Escada Sport, and Couture and Accessories. The largest of these stores is located in Vancouver, Canada, and is 16,000 square feet.
Like many fashion houses, Escada also has a line of fragrances for both women and men. Source

The company, originally known in Italy as ("Prada Brothers"), was founded in 1913 by Mario Prada in Milan. In 1978, Mario's granddaughter Miuccia Prada inherited what was still a leather goods business from her mother, and led the company's expansion into couture.
In addition to the original Prada line, the company introduced the Kelsie Jones Miu Miu collection, a lower-priced line aimed at a younger audience, in 1992. The Miu Miu line, which shares Miuccia Prada's nickname, emphasizes earthy colors and a less haute couture look, evoking an overall more bohemian style. It was followed by the Prada Sport 'Linea Rossa' collection, which featured tennis shoes. The Prada line produces high-end ready-to-wear clothes and accessories for men and women in addition to a range of children's clothes, fragrances and cosmetic products and home products, whilst the Prada Sport and Miu Miu lines produce clothes and accessories for men and women, including handbags, shoes, wallets, and sunglasses.
Prada currently has 14 locations in the U.S., 6 in New York, as well as boutiques in Bal Harbour, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Honolulu, Waikiki, and Las Vegas. A boutique in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Boston is being planned.
Prada has three flagship "epicenter" stores as well that are much larger and carry more merchandise than regular boutiques. These are located in New York, Beverly Hills, and Tokyo. Source

As the country's oldest clothing retailer, Brooks Brothers is proud to uphold the same traditions and values for nearly two centuries.
In 1818, Henry Sands Brooks founded Brooks Brothers, the first ready-to-wear fashion emporium in America. Since then, we are proud to have become an institution that has shaped the American style of dress through fashion innovation, fine quality, personal service, and exceptional value in our products.

Just North of Little Italy and Chinatown is a fantastic clothing store that many women would die to shop at. Miu Miu, located just off of Broadway in Manhattan, is a chic, girly and super fun store. Stocked full of all sorts of clothing, from skirts and dresses, to boots and purses! Perfect for those who love Prada! Miu miu is also known as Prada's "Edgier, hipper, younger sister", and they couldn't be more right! Full of bright, colorful and comfortable clothes, Miu Miu is great for upcoming Spring and Summer fashion. Everything is well made and worth the money you spend in the store. You've never seen employees happier to help out there customers! They are quick, kind, and super helpful. The customer service is just outstanding. The location is a dynamic and eclectic part of New York, which just adds to the shopping experience. So easy to find and great for those days when you just want to shop, shop, shop! This is a perfect store to shop in for Spring 2012 and the upcoming season of Summer 2012. The fashion designers at Miu Miu really do make women feel beautiful! All in all, you'll be coming back again and again.

Our very own Kenneth Cole, born in Brooklyn with all the inherent street smarts of a genius New Yorker, this All American designer sold 40,000 pairs of shoes in 2.5 days from a tractor trailer parked in Central Manhattan. All his ingenuity, resourcefulness and innovative thinking has created the Kenneth Cole leather and fashion clothing sensation of today. Using the finest leathers and designing for quality first, trend second, the Cole brand is rapidly becoming a standard by which other designers are measured. His success over 30 years is legendary and his Spring Summer 2012 collection is as fresh as ever. Luxuriant leathers, sleek clothing and trend-setting casuals for men and women, if you want to turn heads, make sure you reserve a handsome portion of your personal and corporate budget for for styling yourself for success with scrumptious purses, laptop bags and briefcases and fun with his full line of quality footwear and clothing. No longer selling out of the back of a truck, his designs and quality have only improved over the years as he has gathered his international clientele. Sales associates are discreet, polite, attentive and well trained – a pleasure to shop in his elegant Soho store.

Simply elegant. Barbara Bui, combines the simplicity of good design sense with the elegance of her native Paris and catapulted into the hottest fashion markets of the world. Manhattan, Milan, Rodeo Dr, Frand, Italy, Monaco, Lebanon and Russia, just stroll down Prince in Greenwich Village and save the price of jet fuel by shopping in America. White is her basic color palate with ebony incorporated for drama. She excels at adding the jeweled colors of the season. Her Spring Summer 2012 collections radiate with this year’s sunburst yellow and ripe tangerine. Cooling with a bit of fresh live green, Bui designs to enhance a woman’s beauty by making the deceptive simple elegance a canvass for a woman’s natural grace. In fact, if Grace Kelly were alive today, she would be all over Barbara Bui’s clean and flowing garb, especially the gorgeous gowns that fall to the floor in perfect symmetry. Gowns, suits, tops , skirts, pants, knitwear, casual, formal, bags to make you whimper and shoes to incite passion, browse through all her accessories and shop wisely. Once you wear a Barbara Bui original, New York City shopping will have a whole new meaning for you.

Christian Dior, an influential French fashion designer. He was born in Granville, Manche, Normandy, France. Dior flagship boutiques are found in Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.

Being touted as a “Manhattan Flagship in the Works,” New York City clothing store Celine is quickly becoming one of the biggest players in the fashion world. Celine fashion clothing store is a subsidiary of French multinational conglomerate LVMH and has been allowed to shine with LVMH’s inspired outlook on business and fashion. With its Manhattan fashion clothing store located on famous Madison Avenue, Celine captured the imagination by offering inspired dresses, jackets, luggage and blouses designed by the impeccable Michael Kors until 2004. Following the coming and going of several world renowned designers, Celine began featuring prestigious collections by Phoebe Philo. Philo, a fabulous designer who became famous for her work with Chloe, has re-invented the Celine line with her own unique styles and visionary guidance. As a result, Celine has jumped astronomically in editorial credit ranking, listing it with the top 10 in most major markets, according to the label’s CEO Marco Gobbetti, and continues to make a cultural impact. As a leader in Manhattan clothing retailers, a hot and trendy brand and an astounding shopping experience, look no further than an afternoon’s fashion shopping spree at Celine’s.

J.Crew is a fully integrated, multi-channel retailer specializing in men's, women's and children's apparel and accessories. J.Crew was founded in 1983 with the launch of its catalog and expanded into brick and mortar retailing in 1989 with its first store at the South Street Seaport in New York City.
It has since become an American brand known worldwide for its collections of classic styles with a quirky, J.Crew twist. In addition to its men's and women's clothing, accessories, and shoes, the company has a Wedding & Special Occasions shop through its website, and a high end J.Crew Collection available in select stores. In 2006, J.Crew launched a children's line, CrewCuts. The company sells clothing with a "preppy" look similar to retailers Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren.
Currently J.Crew's catalog has a circulation of over 80 million, and J.Crew has 175 retail stores and 52 outlet stores. Their website was launched in 1996 and allows buyers to browse both J.Crew's online only offerings, and normal catalog and retail offerings. Source

Starting out as Daffy Dan’s Bargaintown, the new Daffy’s has revolutionized quality clothing stores by giving you the opportunity to wear the best designer collections while not breaking the bank to do so. Daffy’s became famous as the first fashion clothing store by making Madison Avenue and European designer brands available to all consumers. With their location in the heart of Madison Avenue, Daffy’s has been recognized as one of Manhattan’s premier clothing stores and is a must visit for anyone looking to do some serious shopping. With extensive selections of dresses, sweatsuits, sportswear and even houseware, Daffy’s is sure to have a little bit of something for everyone. Daffy’s fashion clothing store maintains the highest of quality control and makes a promise to its consumers to maintain these values. A family run business, Daffy’s allows its customers a chance to relax and feel at home with some of the best customer service available in New York City. Evolving from a single New Jersey store specializing in samples and irregulars to a 19 store corporation carrying the finest apparel available, Daffy’s has firmly established itself as one of the best New York clothing stores at bargain prices.

The Missoni boutique, located in Manhattan off of Madison Avenue, is a rather popular store, garnering plenty of attention with their vivid colors and unmistakable prints. Shocking blue dresses with strong brown compliments, bright yellows gently calmed with clean whites, even their most creative combinations seem to blend and contrast to create a gorgeous color pallet on their selections. The Summer 2012 collection is a perfect example of the uniqueness of the store. The brilliantly sophisticated collection is a massive favorite amongst the women of New York, as they rush to buy the dresses. For those interested in a little something for those summer getaways or parties, Missoni has an impressive swim suit collection that doesn't skip out on the fabulous summer fun color choices. The quality of the clothing is superb, all that we have come to expect in the best Italian designers. This vastly unique store is well put together, clean and alive with happy, helpful employees. The location is grand, in the middle of so many other top fashion houses, but still standing out amongst the crowd. A truly unique shopping experience that will keep you coming back again and again for more.

Salvatore Ferragamo was a 20th century Italian footwear designer, providing Hollywood's glitterati and many others with unique hand-made designs and spawning an emporium of luxury consumer goods for men and women, with stores in some of the most important cities of the world. Ferragamo started his career in California during the 1920s, initially creating specific designs for Hollywood productions. One of his most celebrated pieces are Dorothy's ruby slippers for the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz.
The Company, Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A., founded in 1927, is one of the most prestigious and internationally known luxury brands, with more than 450 stores in over 55 countries. Footwear, handbags and small leather goods, scarves and ties, men's and women's ready to wear, bijoux, watches, fragrances and eyewear are the products created and marketed by Salvatore Ferragamo. Source

Manhattan is full of lots of lovely clothing stores, but not so many stores that are purely shoes and accessories. Roger Vivier changed that. One of the largest shoe selections you've ever seen, everything from pumps, to stilettos, to flats in a vast array of colors and styles. The shoes are high quality - very beautifully made and long lasting. When you step into this store, you honestly feel like you're walking into a fashion model's closet. You will truly be the envy of all of your friends. Few New York City fashion stores carry Vivier's collections, and if they do, they are very limited. Very stylish, the Spring-Summer 2012 line is colorful and fun. If you happen to wander in and you aren't looking for shoes, don't fret. They have three floors of accessories, purses, shades, and truly unique jewelry, as well as their extensive shoe selection. You'll find the perfect topper to any summer outfit here, and you'll turn heads with it. If you haven't been introduced to this lovely store yet, do yourself a massive favor and stop in. You'll never forget your experience in this beautiful and large store.

Bad-Ass Things With Hoods! The Hoodie Shop is a perfect convergence of style and fun - come visit and enjoy hagning out with awesome people at cool events, and choose from a selection of stylish (often hooded!) apparel.

Belgian born Diane von Furstenberg made fashion history with her signature jersey wrap dresses upon her arrival in New York City in 1972. Presently, the internationally-recognized DVF brand encompasses fashion, fine jewelry, accessories, cosmetics and fragrance. DVF, the collection, is sold in the most exclusive retail stores in over 50 countries including in the freestanding Diane von Furstenberg the Shop in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Antwerp. Her headquarters in New York City’s meatpacking district also include a theater space which has become a center for creativity and a launch pad for young artists.

Develops and produces a distinctive line of contemporary women's apparel and accessories, which it markets under the bebe, 2b bebe and bebe outlet brands. Current Chairman and Founder Manny Mashouf opened the first bebe boutique in 1976 in San Francisco. At that time, three categories dominated the women's wear market: junior, briouh women inspirational, sexy fashion.

A high-end high street clothing retailer with more than 69 stores in North America. It is owned by Polo Ralph Lauren. An international men’s and women’s lifestyle brand with a distinctly urban casual point of view, best defined as a play of opposites: mining vintage with new, hard with soft and eclecticism with minimalism. Each season, Club Monaco offers customers must have fashion and key pieces that together are the foundation of a modern wardrobe.

Brands/ lifestyles include Calvin Klein Collection, ck Calvin Klein, Calvin Klein, Calvin Klein Jeans, Calvin Klein Underwear, and Calvin Klein Home.

After 20 years in the surf, skate and snowboard business, founder Chip Wilson took the first commercial yoga class offered in Vancouver and found the result exhilarating. The post yoga feeling was so close to surfing and snowboarding that it seemed obvious that yoga was an ideology whose time had come (again).