"There's an upscale movement, and those with the better lines are doing much better than those with the lower-priced lines."
The company is once again offering a lower-priced line, as opposed to the upper-end Calvin Klein Collection.
An area of particular concern has been women's bridge apparel - the lower-priced lines of high-end designers - which performed abysmally this spring.
The merchandise there is now largely lower-priced lines that Bergdorf had previously carried little of, if at all.
Of necessity, they're designing lower-priced lines of ready-to-wear, from expensive "bridge" clothes down to jeanswear.
While others court a wider audience with lower-priced secondary lines, he concentrates on pleasing the elite.
But typically, changes were gradual, influencing expensive clothes first, then trickling down to lower-priced lines a season or more later.
He is experimenting with a lower-priced line "for women who don't want to wear blue jeans and sweaters after work and on weekends."
In 1922, the company introduced a lower-priced line, the Barley, named for the company's president.
Some wine makers, unable to find such grapes, have cut production and in some instances temporarily shelved their lower-priced lines.