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Brand Extensions Get Weirder, Risking Customer Confusion; Armani TVs, Prada Cellphones

Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2007 — Beginning today at the Salvatore Ferragamo showroom on New York's Fifth Avenue, the famed leather-goods company is displaying a new sort of product: wristwatches.

Since the timepieces, called the Salvatore and the Tempo, come out of a licensing deal with Timex, they'll undoubtedly keep fine time. What's more, Ferragamo's excellence in footwear and handbags is notable — the company is even credited with inventing the wedge heel in the 1920s. But does the Ferragamo label make consumers want to pay $7,300 for a watch, even if it is 18-karat gold?