AnnTaylor Stores, known for providing women’s business attire, has ventured into casual wear which generated additional revenues for the company. The retail giant reported decline in sales on its business attire for the past two years, citing the trend where women invest their money on necessities for their families.
For the past two quarters last year, the company reported slight profits. For fourth quarter alone, a mere $41,000 in profits has been reported by the company. Despite this, analysts said that this is still a positive development considering that a year ago, the company lost a staggering $375.6 million or about $6.66 per share.
This led the officials to expand its line by going beyond the business attire collection. The company is set to offer casual wear and other items that fit the women’s needs.
Now this is a friendly neighborhood retail store you’d want to go to. The Cache Fashion Store in Cape Coral offers a number of business clothes, apparel, accessories and other items at reasonable prices. Owner Ed Valero said that their clothing items alone won’t cost beyond $20.
Valero acknowledged that the economy is not in good shape at this point in time. He said that this led him to offer reasonably-priced clothing that still looks good. He said that he did not opt to offering branded clothing in his store because the prices are staggeringly high and he wants to stick to “what counts.”
The store opened in January and has so far reported positive response from the public.
Valero said that with this strategy, he gets to have more customers and it guarantees that they will return to buy some more. He said that they have new arrivals every week to continue piquing the interest of the public.
Billionaire television personality Oprah Winfrey has decided to auction off some of her accessories including items which have featured on the show but not been worn like designer clothing, sportswear, big bras and unwanted women’s business clothing for charity.
Winfrey has put up around 150 items which is composed of the aforementioned items plus designer bags and shoes for sale via the internet auction site eBay. The details of the auction have been outlined at her signature O Magazine.
Interested buyers can bid for the items starting March 1 with the target end date on March 11, 2010.
The proceeds of the sale will all go to Winfrey’s Leadership Academy Girls School situated in South Africa.
Winfrey is currently busy with her final few seasons of her eponymous talk show which has been announced to end soon. She’s been venturing to other modes of businesses and is believed to start her own talk show at her own television network.
Comedienne Mo’Nique revealed that her dark past helped her get into her character for the controversial film “Precious.” In the film, she portrays a pathetic mother who was cruel to her obese and illiterate daughter.
Her performance gained an Oscar nomination and she’s a favorite to win the Best Supporting Actress award on Monday’s ceremony. The comedienne said that she’ll be making a plus size fashion statement at the most prestigious awarding ceremony.
The 42-year old actress said that she was sexually abused by her eldest brother during her childhood years. This harrowing experience helped her in the film role. She added that whenever the camera rolls, she became her brother – the monster.
Mo’Nique said she did not tell anyone about her experience until she was fifteen.
The comedienne already won the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA awards on the supporting actress category.
As of press time, Madonna has yet to confirm the developments. Her rep has refused to make comments about the issue, as well as the representatives from Macy’s and brand management firm Iconix.
There have been reports that the fashion line may be called “Material Girl” or “Truth or Dare.”
Should the report confirm this, the pop icon may have a busy year. Aside from managing the line, she’s also in talks to shoot a film about a love affair between American socialite Wallis Simpson and King Edward III.
Madonna has collaborated with H&M in 2007 for her spring line called “M.”
Reality television stars Kim, Khloe and Kourtney – known as the Kardashian sisters are venturing into the clothing business by launching their own casual business attire line.
The line of clothes was presented during the New York Fashion Week. The American TV stars reportedly partnered up with fashion clothing chain Bebe to come up with designs for the clothes.
Kim Kardashian has sported on one of their latest creations which was a grey hooded mini dress hidden under a cropped leather corset as reported by a UK tabloid.
The line that was presented included fitted blazers, leather items and basic jerseys. The clothes that were also strutted in the runway were silk army jackets and white silk blouses that accentuate the wearer’s body.
The sisters are very talented and also have a store in Miami so a swimwear line may be on the horizon.
The sisters are part of the hit reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” Khloe and Kourtney are also part of a reality tv show shot in Miami, Florida.
One of the employees suffered burns after chemicals splashed into his eye while another one suffered more burns to his face.
Acting Executive Director Stan Krpan said that this case should serve as a reminder for employers to give a safer workplace to its employees in order to avoid these dangerous incidents.
He added that it is easy to comply with the law since the standards set in place are very clear and commonsense.
Three companies have announced its plans to conduct fundraising and have expressed hopes to raise more than £400 million via stock market flotations.
Promethean, a Blackburn-based educational firm, business clothing maker SuperGroup and EMIS, a healthcare software business based in Yorkshire, have confirmed this development.
Market turbulence has seen major floations happening in recent months which led the companies to join the bandwagon.
Promethean projects to raise about £250 million, SuperGroup estimates £125 million and EMIS targets £50 million.
SuperGroup has 40 retail stores in the United Kingdom and has 54 concession stores at store chain House of Fraser.
Promethean, reporting a strong annual grown in education recently, continues its focus on primary and secondary education. About 550,000 classrooms in about a hundred countries benefited from the company’s equipment.
As for EMIS, more than 800 employees have been hired to computerize patient records to keep up with modern technology.
Martin Smith, the chief executive officer of fire safety company Firewatch Group, is the new owner of Vanter Ltd, a company that creates business clothes and other apparel. Incidentally, the new owner is a novice in the industry.
The previous owner of Vanter Ltd – Hugh Anderson, reportedly failed to find a new buyer of the company after he retired. This led Smith to go ahead and make the purchase himself, even though his current business has nothing to do with the apparel business.
Smith reasoned that he wants the manufacturing industry in United Kingdom to continue flourishing and that he doesn’t want the business to lose steam and give in to competitors overseas.
Smith said that the takeover helped save jobs. Vanter laid off 12 people when it closed last December. He added that the takeover means that about five jobs have been saved and that they are planning to get three more employees in the near future.
Retail company Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc or JOSB is about to enter a high-end business clothing which involves tuxedo-rental among others. The company will be setting up a test launch in about 5 percent of its stores starting this month. The major rollout will be made to more than half of its entire store locations later this year.
Company Chief Executive and President R. Neal Black said that there’s a limited availability of this service in the market. He said that they have been the top-performing company when it comes to the sales of tuxedos but this time they are taking another one step further in their operations by giving more people the opportunity to wear their clothes.
He revealed that tuxedo rentals are expected to aid in increasing revenues in most of its stores.
Aside from this latest development, JOSB is planning to increase its number of stores later this year.
