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William D. Rondina, CEO and chairman of The Connaught Group, an apparel company with annual sales of more than $150 million, has launched the Per Se fashion line and personal shopper service exclusively in Fairfield County: “Modern sophisticated clothes for the woman who makes her own rules.”
Those rules do not include clawing through racks and changing in a phone booth-sized dressing room. Per Se is being launched in 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 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.
“We wanted to go after a different demographic,” said Rondina. “We wanted something that was more out there, more adventuresome. 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 the 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.
Per Se now has three consultants working in its three Fairfield locales.
“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 collection 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, Per Se offers 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 the quality it brings 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 line also offers exclusivity, with the clients of the consultants being the only ones with access to the Connaught Group lines of clothing.
Caroline Bowen, president of The Connaught Group said the Per Se line is also 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.
According to Rondina, Per Se applies especially to business women.
“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 is currently looking for more consultants to operate in the Fairfield County area. The Web site is persecollection.com to find or contact a consultant and view the fashions.
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