Berkshire Partners: Bidding for Carters

prices for lululemon-branded items that offered performance, fit, and comfort and were stylish as well. The

WeaveTech, formally known as Johnson-Ware is a military and security apparel company entering into the high-end performance clothing market. Before the acquisition by CVX Partners, WeaveTech which was formed in 1905, relied exclusively on the military (70%) and security (30%) customer base. The need to change the company’s customer base from military and security to high-end performance clothing market apparently arose from the allure of the later market segment and the dwindling growth of the military and security market (Beer & Swiercz, 2015). The departure of Jack Davidson, a retired US Navy Rear Admiral, and WeaveTech CEO from 1983 to 2012 in addition to the conclusion of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars meant that the traditional market was losing its reliability. Due to the unreliability, there was a need to redesign the customer base and to take advantage of the high-end market segment.

New Look Jacket Inc. (NLJ) specializes in the production of Nylon Jackets and Leather Jackets. The company delivers successful financial records at the end of the 2012 fiscal year with the net income of $ 417,100, which is $170,850 greater than the net income budgeted for the 2012 fiscal year despite that the company operations goes through some turmoil. A more detail variance shows that the external factor largely responsible for the growth of leather markets that rapidly increase than anticipated making NLJ to catch with the increase in market demand.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. is a prevalent retailer of many kinds of sporting equipment. According to the company’s 10-K form, the company first started in 1948 and since then has had the vision to, “build leading brands that serve and inspire athletes and outdoor enthusiasts around the world to achieve their personal best; create value for our stockholders through the relentless improvement of everything we do; and make a lasting impact in our communities through sport,” (2016). The company has strived to accomplish this by offering a wide variety of sporting equipment, offering more than one way to shop with them, and by offering not only name brand equipment but many. In the past couple of years, offering more ways to shop with them has been a large objective accomplished by investing and building a website and increasing eCommerce. They also manage several different stores in different specialties including Dick’s Sporting Goods carrying sporting equipment, Golf Galaxy who carry golf equipment, and Field and Stream stores which specialize in fishing equipment totaling 741 stores in all across the country. The company is meeting several different types of customers’ needs by offering a broader line

American Eagle Outfitters shines through in the fashion industry. The store is constantly selling the latest styles, while still remaining to maintain a fair price. The Share the Love campaign is a campaign designed to donate money to families who are not capable of purchasing cold weather essentials. This will be done by using 5% of every purchase made by customers as donation money that will be donated to a local charity that has agreed to use the money in this way. The Share the Love campaign is expected to meet the goal of increasing quarterly sales volumes by 10% by generating more customers in general and establishing loyal customers.

Plus-size apparel becomes more popular these days and since this country’s average women size is 14, a growing number of clothing companies are trying to produce more garments of these sizes. Not only it would cater to people’s needs, but also means more profit. However, one of Gap’s divisions, Old Navy, is reported charging extra for its women’s plus-size jeans by huge margin. What more upsetting was, men’s plus-size jeans were priced in the same range as the regular ones, which contrasted from the women’s where the prices were charged higher by $10 to $15. Not only that, the men’s jeans are placed in the same section regardless size on Old Navy’s website, while the women’s are placed in two separate sections – regular section and plus-sized section. This company’s pricing transparency really made customers to question Gap’s integrity. The consumer emphasized that Old Navy was engaged in sexism and sizeism towards women.

At this time Doug Ewart holds the title of Chief Executive officer. “Mr. Douglas S. Ewert, also known as Doug, has been the Chief Executive Officer of Jos. A Bank Clothiers since June 18, 2014. Mr. Ewert has been the Chief Executive Officer and President of The Men 's Wearhouse, Inc., since June 15, 2011 and January 2008 respectively. He served as the Chief Operating Officer of The Men 's Wearhouse, Inc., from February 1, 2005 to June 15, 2011. He joined The Men 's Wearhouse, Inc., in 1995 and served as General Merchandise Manager from 1996 to 1999 and served as its Executive Vice President and General Merchandise Manager from March 2002 to December 1, 2005. He served as an Executive Vice President of K&G Mens Company Inc., from March 2001 to March 2002 and its Chief Operating Officer since March 2001. From 1999 to 2000, he served as Vice President of Merchandising and General Merchandise Manager for K&G Mens Company. Since April 2000, he served as Senior Vice President of Merchandising and Chief Operating Officer of K&G Men 's Company and its General Merchandise Manager from 1996 to 1999. Mr. Ewert has been a Director of The Men 's Wearhouse, Inc., since June 15, 2011; Jos. A Bank Clothiers Inc., since June 18, 2014 and Mwuk Holding Company Ltd. since August 2, 2010.” With all of the background changes within the company, Men’s

A long-time leader among discount stores, Wal-Mart began experiencing the effects of competition from a variety of sources with 2006 seeing the company reach all-time-low performance (Ferrell, Hirt& Ferrell, 2013). Grocery competitors, such as Kroger and Safeway, have had an impact in the grocery sector, which makes up 40 percent of Wal-Mart’s business. Perhaps most damaging, however, has been a closing of price gap in household and fashion lines between Wal-Mart and fashionable low-price retailer Target. Wal-Mart’s answer to Targets inexpensive yet chic fashion lines was to launch George clothing. The company took out ads in fashion magazines and held a showcase for the new line, but was unable to maintain stock of popular sizes and styles

Grayson Carter’s reputation in the business world is being a leading marketing firm that offers outreach promotions that benefit brands to reach their target growth. Some of Grayson Carter’s competitors include other marketing firms in the San Francisco area that have been around much longer such as Alaniz Marketing, iCrossing, Spritz, and Attack Marketing. The benefits and opportunities of working at Grayson Carter include: consistent schedule, full time work, mentorship on work/life balance, travel, monetary bonuses, sales incentives, growth within the company, positive work environment, competitive compensation, recognition for outstanding performance, organic growth, and promotions based from individual performance. Unfortunately there are no health or retirement benefits currently at Grayson Carter since the company has only been around for about a

In 2008, Charney – founder of the largest manu-facturer producing garments in America – gave $25m of company shares to his employees. American Apparel still owns all its retail stores, rather than franchising them, and Charney – who is obsessive about his brand, throwing tantrums about everything from stock allocation to necklines – still holds, for the time being, a 53% stake.” (The Guardian, 2010)

2. Richard M. Johns (2006). The Apparel Industry. 2nd ed. UK, London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 1-124.

1. A brief history of the brand: origins, key stages in its growth , etc.

Body Glove had a great product with the neoprene wetsuits and had gained significant market share through its niche fun life style image which challenged competitors. The business had a small but loyal customer base, and had attained no.2 market share. Whilst the business had significant growth, I don’t believe it ran completely effectively. An extract from the case state mentions they lost $1 million in sales due to a shortage of inventory and its forecasts on future sales were not accurate.

Like adding fuel to the fire, recession has affected the Levi’s jeans sales, which can be seen from the statistics that the

During the decade of the 1950s, the company’s customer base expanded to include the leather,