Apparel

Fremont, Calif. – The latest chapter in the continuing rivalry saga of The Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. has opened with Men’s Wearhouse making a hostile cash tender offer of $57.50 per share for Jos. A. Bank. The offer, which expires on March 28, 2014, is worth about $1.6 billion.

In celebration of its 90th anniversary, Kleenex brand is partnering with fashion industry icon Isaac Mizrahi to produce four new designs to the Kleenex Expressions line of products.

"We're thrilled to be partnering with such an inspirational designer and we are excited about his creative contribution to our brand's portfolio," Anna Elledge, Kleenex brand manager, said. "Our teams have worked together to select the final collection to commemorate the Kleenex brand anniversary, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate this 90-year milestone."

Hampstead, Md. -- Preparing for a potential fight against Men’s Wearhouse’s unsolicited acquisition bid, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers is ramping up its "poison pill" defense.  

Jos. A. Bank said Friday that it is lowering its ownership threshold to 10% from 20%, which is the same ownership threshold as Men's Wearhouse's shareholder rights plan.

Such a plan typically allows existing shareholders to acquire more stock at a discounted rate to ward off the investor collecting a big stake.

San Francisco — In-store holiday sales during December 2013 are expected to come out ahead of in-store holiday sales during the same month in the previous year. Retail analytics provider Euclid analyzed nearly 25 million domestic shopping sessions during December, revealing that shopper traffic and window conversion improved as heavy promotions kept holiday shoppers coming.

San Francisco -- Custom apparel and accessory provider vPersonalize.com has launched a new full-custom, online store for customers to design and buy their own personalized apparel and accessories.

vPersonalize.com features a Web-based configurator that allows consumers to design directly on a 3-D model of a T-shirt, backpack or bag and get it custom-made almost exactly as seen.

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. — Cole Real Estate Investments has acquired The Shoppes on South Main in Bowling Green, Ohio, according to Mid-America Real Estate Corp.’s (www.midamericagrp.com) investment sales team, the firm that brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller, Chase Properties.

The 110,769-sq.-ft. shopping center features anchor tenants T.J. Maxx, Staples, Petco and Dollar General. Home Depot and a Wal-Mart Supercenter shadow anchor the center.

Oak Brook, Ill. — Inland Real Estate Income Trust has acquired the 159,258-sq.-ft. Wedgewood Commons Shopping Center in Olive Branch, Miss., a southeastern suburb of Memphis, Tenn. The purchase price was $33.9 million.

The property consists of four buildings and an existing structure suitable for the development of an additional 10,838 sq. ft. of leasable space, which would increase the center’s retail space to just over 170,000 sq. ft.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Overall fourth quarter online sales were up 10.3% year-over-year. The IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark indicates that soaring mobile traffic and sales were one of several key drivers.

Mobile traffic accounted for nearly 35% of all online traffic, up 40% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Mobile sales also remained strong, reaching 16.6% of all online sales, up more than 46% from the same period last year.