Following its strongest fiscal year in nearly a decade, L.L.Bean announced it will open seven new retail stores across the U.S. and Canada in 2021. These include three stores in the U.S. and four in Canada.
Category: Apparel

Academy Sports’ Debt Ratings Outlook Raised To Positive
Moody’s Investors Service changed its outlook for Academy, Ltd. to positive from stable. The change in outlook to positive from stable reflects Academy’s outperformance relative to expectations since the IPO, and the potential for the company to maintain solid credit metrics as demand in the sporting goods category moderates.

Unifi Announces Strong Third Quarter Results
Unifi Inc. reported earnings on an adjusted basis improved 17 percent on strong improvement in margins and a sales gain of 4.6 percent.

Adidas Signs Football Deal With Boston College
Adidas entered a three-year partnership to become the official athletic footwear, apparel and accessory brand of Boston College’s football program through the 2023 season. The deal comes after Boston College on April 13 announced a lucrative deal with New Balance to outfit its non-football teams.

Dillard’s Amends And Extends Revolving Credit Facility
Dillard’s Inc. announced that it has amended and extended its $800 million senior secured revolving credit facility consistent with the company’s liquidity needs.

Blizzard-Tecnica Names Principal Sales Rep For Colorado And New Mexico
Blizzard-Tecnica announced it had appointed Charlie Hepburn to cover Colorado and New Mexico as its principal sales rep effective May 1, with Jamie Urbana as an associate rep to service retailers in the territory

Puma’s Sales Jump In First Quarter
Puma reported earnings tripled in the first quarter as sales expanded 25.8 percent on a currency-neutral basis. On a currency-neutral basis, the gains were led by the Americas, climbing 38.5 percent and led by North America. Asia/Pacific revenues grew 28.8 percent, led by China, while EMEA gained 14.0 percent.

VF Corp. Enters Into Agreement To Sell Occupational Portion Of Work Segment
VF Corp announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell the occupational portion of its Work segment to a subsidiary of Redwood Capital Investments, LLC.

Cotopaxi Bolsters Team With Strategic Hires
Cotopaxi announced four hires, including Cindy Grönberg Moldin, vice president of brand, Landon John, director of retail, Skylar Stice, director of operations, and Carie Behe, GTM marketing manager.

Adidas To Move Basketball Unit To Los Angeles
Adidas has merged its lifestyle and performance units within basketball and is moving basketball operations from Portland, OR to Los Angeles. The moves are expected to better position the brand for growth in the basketball category.

Delta Apparel Forms Strategic Partnership With Autoscale.ai
Delta Apparel Inc. announced a strategic partnership with Dallas-based Autoscale.ai to integrate its technology that automates the product design, marketplace listings and advertising management for online retail.

Macy’s Debt Rating Outlook Revised To Positive
S&P Global Ratings revised its debt rating outlook on Macy’s to positive from negative on encouraging signs that an accelerating economic recovery is emerging. S&P said it believes operating conditions for apparel retailers are “fast improving.”

Duluth Trading Appoints President And CEO
Duluth Trading Company appointed retail industry veteran Sam Sato as president and chief executive officer, effective May 3, 2021. Sato was most recently CEO of The Finish Line.

New Wave Group’s Sales Climb 12 Percent In Q1
New Wave Group AB reported a profit against a loss in the first quarter. Sales grew 12 percent in the first quarter.

New Balance Signs Boston Celtics Aaron Nesmith
New Balance signed Boston Celtics rookie, Aaron Nesmith, to a multi-year sponsorship deal, representing the brand’s fifth NBA player endorsement since returning to the sport of basketball in 2019.