Hartmarx Corporation announced that it has acquired the business of Monarchy, LLC. Monarchy designs and markets premium casual sportswear for men and women to leading specialty stores nationwide under the Monarchy, Manchester Escapes and Garden of Earthly Delights brands.
Homi B. Patel, chairman and chief executive officer of Hartmarx, commented, "This acquisition is consistent with our stated strategy of reducing our dependence on men's tailored clothing products marketed through the mainstream department store channel and redeploying these assets in luxury and bridge lines sold to upscale specialty stores."
"While both our men's and women's luxury and bridge lines are performing very well, men's tailored clothing with the mainstream channel continues to encounter intense margin pressures, which is adversely impacting our third quarter. Operating results and strategy changes recently reported by several other men's and women's apparel suppliers continue to validate our asset redeployment strategy."
Mr. Patel continued, "Monarchy currently markets nationwide to Nordstrom and Bloomingdales as well as to more than 800 upscale specialty store accounts. Monarchy's brands have developed a strong following among its target customer, the 25 - 40 year-old fashion forward affluent consumer with high disposable income."
"Product categories include embellished denim using innovative washes, quality t-shirts with signature artwork, woven shirts and selected outerwear. We are very pleased that the founders of the business, Eric Kim and Henry Kim, have agreed to continue in their current responsibilities under seven-year employment agreements."
marketing@alchempro.com
