PVH Sells Bass Division

PVH Corp. (New York) has found a buyer for its struggling Bass footwear division. G-III Apparel Group Ltd. (New York), which produces such branded apparel as Calvin Klein, Cole-Haan, Dockers, Guess and Andrew Marc, has agreed to buy G.H. Bass & Co. for about $50 million in cash.

G-III said the new acquisition will be part of its Wilsons Leather division. Kristin Burrows, president of Bass, will report to Bill Hutchison, president of Wilsons Leather. The creative and sourcing teams at Bass will remain headquartered in New York, but other functions like retail operations and warehousing will be consolidated at Wilsons Leather’s headquarters in Minneapolis.

G-III chairman, president and ceo Morris Goldfarb said the company plans to improve product design, marketing and the in-store experience at Bass stores. “It’s not often you are able to acquire a company that has two iconic components to it — Weejuns and Bucs are the heart and soul of American footwear. It was a brand that wasn’t given the appropriate attention at PVH.”

PVH has in fact been seeking to unload the $250 million Bass division so it can focus on its higher-growth Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands. It began seeking a buyer for Bass following its acquisition of The Warnaco Group Inc. in February, said PVH chairman and ceo Emanuel Chirico.

“Our retail heritage businesses have really been struggling for the past few years. This significantly reduced that exposure,” said Chirico. “Bass is a heritage brand that is well known, but we have not been investing in the brand from a marketing point of view. That has the ramification of putting sales and gross margin pressure on the business.”