Elie Saab Summary Summary Elie Saab is a powerful brand in the high end luxury fashion market. Since their inception in the 1980’s in Beirut, Elie Saab has been focused on high end women’s evening wear. By 2010 they were the preferred brand for celebrities and royalty. They have been able to maintain their strong brand by intentionally avoiding the emerging affordable luxury market. The interesting challenge they face is to expand their markets while also maintaining their brand-defining exclusivity. The main issues they are facing: 1. Preserving their brand of luxury and exclusivity. 2. Looking for areas of growth. 3. Select the right partners for distribution. Team 3 recommends that Elie Saab expands their Ready To Wear line with casual wear to keep up with trends. We believe that this strategy conflicts with the main objective of protecting their brand of exclusivity and luxury. It would be very difficult for Elie Saab to produce a casual wear product while still maintaining its brand value. Team 3 also recommends re-evaluating current Elie Saab partners in its distribution channels. Neiman Marcus is a concern because they are currently at risk for bankruptcy. However, they are still one of the largest high-end retailers in North America and replacing such a partner may take too long and adversely affect sales in the short term. We both agree that Elie Saab should look into expanding into North America and the Asia-Pacific areas due to the growth and concentration of High Net Worth individuals in those areas. Based on our analysis, we suggest they establish a Strategic Business Unit for the Ready To Wear expansion in North America and Asia, creating regional offices in New York and Tokyo. In addition to the expansion in Ready to Wear, Elie Saab should also expand their portfolio of high end accessories. The expansion of the accessories portfolio can add an easy way to customize Ready To Wear pieces while also maintaining the benefit of the high ticket customizations in the haute couture lines. We also recommend Elie Saab expands their distribution for the Ready To Wear brand onto an online store on their website to increase online touch points that customers can use to interact with the brand of Elie Saab. Both teams also recommend Elie Saab expands their social media efforts. We recommend Elie Saab create separate instagram accounts for their Haute Couture and Ready to Wear lines. Elie Saab will live and die on the strength of its brand. With careful strategic decisions they can comfortably expand their markets and services while maintaining the ability to charge a premium price on their products and services.