eBay announced plans with designer Narciso Rodriguez to introduce an original eight-piece capsule collection to be sold exclusively through the Narciso Rodriguez eBay Store beginning in Spring 2010. The collection will be called Narciso Rodriguez for eBay. Eight pieces will be available only through the Narciso Rodriguez eBay Store, offered at fixed price points from $75 to $350.

eBay Senior Vice President of Global Communications Alan Marks said, "With an apparel business approaching $5 billion annually and more than 88 million active users, eBay gives Rodriguez the opportunity to reach a broader audience and create an attractive new business model in today's competitive apparel retail environment."

A Wall Street Journal article about the agreement is worth reading for background, and states that Bain & Co. forecast the global luxury-goods market to shrink 10 percent this year.

Since 1997, Rodriguez's signature collection was previously only available at high-end department and specialty stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys and Neiman Marcus. But, for spring 2010, a new capsule collection designed by Rodriguez will be available only on eBay through the designer's own eBay store. This is his first capsule collection, and eBay is his first online sales channel.

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