Hartmarx wraps up Sweater.com
The purchase of a women’s apparel e-commerce site will help Hartmarx Corp. diversify its business operations and rely less on its dependence on men`s tailored clothing, Hartmarx chairman and CEO Homi B. Patel says.
The acquisition of Sweater.com Inc., including its "One Girl Who..." brand, will add about $15 million in annual e-commerce sales to Hartmarx, No. 202 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites. "This acquisition is another step in our strategy of reducing our dependence on men`s tailored clothing products marketed through the mainstream department store channel and redeploying assets in luxury or bridge businesses sold to upscale stores,” Patel says.
Sweater.com designs and markets women`s knitwear, tops and related products to specialty stores nationwide and directly through the Sweater.com web site.
The all-cash acquisition includes an initial payment of $12.4 million. The total value of the deal was not disclosed. "The One Girl Who..." brand is marketed nationwide through more than 1,000 specialty store accounts and has developed a strong following among its core consumers, Patel says. “The brand complements our other women`s businesses, which target the 30-year-and-older woman with high disposable income looking for flattering yet comfortable fashion.”
Sweater.com will function as a business unit of Hartmarx, which produces and markets business, casual and golf apparel under its own brands, including Hart Schaffner Marx, Hickey-Freeman, Palm Beach, Coppley, Cambridge, Keithmoor, Society Brand, Racquet Club, Naturalife, Pusser`s of the West Indies, Royal, Brannoch, Sansabelt, Exclusively Misook, Barrie Pace, Christopher Blue, Worn and L. Paseo.
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