Stuart Weitzman Continues To Elevate His Brand, Practice His Ping-Pong Game

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Stuart Weitzman is celebrating 25 successful years in the shoe business by giving his brand a little upgrade. Frist, he's recruiting a younger, more fashion-forward customer than the 45-65 year old woman who traditionally made up the bulk of his customer base. (Lizzie Olsen was photographed wearing a pair of Stuart Weitzman boots a bunch of times this winter, if that tells you anything). Second, he's introducing a new higher-priced line called SW1 this fall, which will run you about twice what the original line cost, or basically what you'd expect to shell out for a pair of Jimmy Choos. And third, the brand has stopped selling through stores that are unable to sell the merchandise at full price, indicating that as Weitzman expands, he's also intent on becoming more exclusive.

But one thing he's not doing is letting his ping pong game slide. According to WWD, the designer had a convertible ping pong table installed in the conference room and when it's not in use for, you know, meetings, Weitzman works on his game with his coach of seven years. Oh, also, his personalized paddle is is covered with multicolored Swarovski Elements.
· Stuart Weitzman Discusses Growth, Asia and Ping-pong [WWD]
· Forget Diffusion: Stuart Weitzman Is Doing a Higher-End Line [Racked]