William D. Rondina, CEO and chairman of The Connaught Group, an apparel company with annual sales of more than $150 million, who had launched the Per Se fashion line ”“ “Modern sophisticated clothes for the woman who makes her own rules” ”“ and personal shopper service exclusively in Fairfield County, has jumped the border into Westchester.
For residents of Westchester who already knew the Connaught”™s Carlisle collection of upscale clothing, the Per Se collection will now become available. At the same time, Connaught is also initiating sales of its Etcetera line via representatives based in Chappaqua and Larchmont.
As with Carlisle clothes, the Etcetera and Per Se experiences do not include clawing through racks and changing in a phone booth-sized dressing room. As with Westchester”™s Etcetera, Per Se was launched in Connecticut”™s Westport, Greenwich and Stamford with fashion consultants and without storefronts.
“I wanted to keep it close to home so I could watch it,” said Rondina, a Bridgewater, Conn., resident. “I wanted it close to New York and where I live. The demographics are right for us, the population is sufficient and the income is sufficient.”
The Per Se line was started in 2005 as a splinter of Rondina”™s primary line, Carlisle Collection. Etcetera is the newest offering.
“We wanted something that was more out there, more adventuresome,” Rondina said of his new ventures. “It”™s for people who aren”™t afraid to experiment with the way they look. I wanted to make it its own entity; I wanted it to grow into something larger than it has been.”
In early 1981, Rondina began his company, offering a line of high-quality, contemporary women”™s clothing by appointment only. Prior to Connaught, he worked as a design assistant at the Seventh Avenue firms of Ben Zuckerman and Christian Dior and operated his own design studio from 1973 until 1981.
“The consultants are independent contractors,” said Rondina. “They get the clothes from me and what I am looking for are entrepreneurial people who use their skills and abilities to connect with their customers and use my resources. It”™s for entrepreneurs; it”™s basically for type-A personalities.”
According to Rondina, clients of the consultants get the full range of the Per Se and Etcetera collections and therefore obtain a comprehensive and unified style.
“The consultant gets entirely what we put out there,” said Rondina. “What they really get is personal attention; they get somebody who understands their needs, who can take them through our entire offering.”
According to Rondina, his fashions offer cost advantages by using the same mills used by Chanel, Valentino and Armani, but the clothes are direct to the consumer.
“It really is a one-on-one experience,” said Rondina. “We do so much training of our consultants. They know all about our products, how it”™s made, how it fits; it”™s very different than an in-store experience where often times sales people don”™t have any idea of how that product got there or why it”™s there.”
According Rondina, Per Se and Etcetera and the quality they bring to the table offer a tremendous advantage in the current economic climate.
“People still wear clothes, people are still going to wear clothes,” said Rondina. “If you really understand and know clothing all you have to do is look at what we make. Most people are dumbfounded by the price that it is versus others out there.”
According to Rondina, the clothes also offer exclusivity, with the clients of the consultants being the only ones with access to the Connaught Group lines.
Caroline Bowen, president of The Connaught Group, said the clothes are designed to be multifaceted and each item applies to multiple styles.
“Investing in a jacket that can be worn with many different combinations is also a money saver,” said Bowen. “If you can make three outfits with one jacket rather than just a suit look, then you”™re saving.”
According to Rondina, the consultants have a large variety of backgrounds ranging from judges and attorneys to mothers returning to work after raising children. “We do try to get people who are tapped in to certain areas in a community that aren”™t touched,” said Bowen.
“The days when women had to look like men in the office are over,” said Rondina. “Working women are the women who really need clothing and are very important to us and find what we offer very appealing.”
According to Bowen, for a woman in the workplace establishing a look is an important way of presenting themselves as confident and assertive in the workplace.
“We are beginning to put together seminars for women on how to look their corporate best,” said Rondina.
Rondina said Per Se and Etcetera are currently looking for more consultants. The Web site is persecollection.com or etcetera.com.
