Apparel

New York City -- Barneys New York is in discussions with its lenders about restructuring, Crain’s New York reported. Barneys, which operates nine namesake stores and 17 Co-op locations, is owned by Istithmar World, the investment arm of government owned Dubai World.

“Barneys New York is actively engaged in discussions with the company's small group of lenders to improve its balance sheet and further position Barneys New York for sustainable, long-term growth and success,” said a Barneys spokeswoman in a statement.

I love some of the quotes that came out of this year’s Finance Forum, held in late January in Manhattan. The annual gathering of retail industry executives, suppliers and consultants has a reputation for lively chatter and it didn’t disappoint this year, thanks largely to J. Crew Group chairman and CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler. The veteran — and notoriously outspoken — retailer wasn’t on the formal panel, but he had a few choice remarks to say from the audience during a question-and-answer session.

New York City -- The Jones Group reported a net loss of $21.1 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $40.1 million a year earlier.

Fourth-quarter revenue totaled $893.6 million, which was in line with analysts' expectations but lower than the company's earlier forecast.

Salt Lake City -- Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Co. said Tuesday that City Creek Center, a major shopping and dining destination, will open March 22 in Salt Lake City.

The 700,000-sq.-ft. regional attraction will feature Nordstrom, Macy’s and up to 80 stores and restaurants — one third that are new to the market. The center features a fully retractable skylight roof, a skybridge over Main Street and a host of water features.

New York City -- Target Corp.’s launch of its latest limited edition collection, by designer Jason Wu, went off relatively problem-free compared with its Missoni launch last fall.

There has been a lot of chatter in our industry circles — really, everywhere — about the recent big announcement from J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson regarding the iconic brand’s plans for the future. Anyone who’s visited a J.C. Penney lately — present company included — can see the brand needs to make some changes. They’ve been losing traction to competitors like Target and Kohl’s in recent years, and, in my opinion, have had some trouble defining themselves in a fairly crowded and competitive segment. Similar to the issues facing Sears, J.C.

Reston, Va.  -- Online retail spending reached $49.7 billion for the fourth quarter, up 14% over a year ago, according to comScore.  It was the ninth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. For the entire 2011 year, U.S. retail e-commerce spending reached a record $161.5 billion, marking a 13%  increase from 2010.

New York — J.C. Penney Co. on Friday said it fully backs its partnership with the popular television star and comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Its support comes after One Million Moms, an extension of the conservative American Family Association group, asked the retailer to dump DeGeneres as a spokeswoman because she is a lesbian.

Topeka, Kansas — Payless ShoeSource, a division of Collective Brands, announced that it has signed two new franchise agreements with partners Emart, a business unit of Shinsegae Group, Seoul, for stores in Korea, and Central Marketing Group, a business unit of Central Group, Bangkok, for stores in Thailand and Vietnam, bringing the total countries, which will have franchised Payless stores to 20 countries.

Payless and its partners said that in 2012 they expect six store openings in Korea, as well as five stores each to open in Thailand and Vietnam.

New York City -- Aeropostale said Friday it has appointed seven-year board member Karin Hirtler-Garvey as chairman of the board, replacing Julian R. Geiger who has stepped down as chairman and resigned from the board.

In November, Gieger left his chairman/CEO post with Aeropostale to join Crumbs Bake Shop as president and CEO.

Hirtler-Garvey is a CPA, and most recently was the chief risk executive for Ally Financial Inc.  Prior to that, she held various senior level management positions at Bank of America.