Apparel

NASHVILLE, Tenn.  — Nashville Apparel Company announced that it is re-introducing its Duck Head brand to the retail market in time for the back-to-school season.

Originally founded in 1865 by Nashville-based O'Brien Brothers, Duck Head was popular in the 1980s and 90s.

STOCKHOLM — H&M announced that it is collaborating with Versace for its autumn 2011 designer collection. Designed by its creative director Donatella Versace, the exclusive collection will look back to the vibrant heritage of the brand, full of leather, print, colour and exuberance in exclusive materials at fantastic H&M prices, according to the company. The collection will include ranges for women, men and selected pieces for the home. It will be available from Nov. 17 in around 300 stores worldwide, as well as on-line.

LOS ANGELES — Guess? Inc. has announced that Maurice Marciano, the company's co-founder and chairman of its board of directors, has notified the company of his decision to retire as an executive officer when his current employment agreement expires on Jan. 28, 2012, the end of the company's current fiscal year.  Marciano will continue to serve the company as non-rxecutive chairman of its board of directors.

SAN FRANCISCO — Williams-Sonoma that its board of directors has elected Rose Marie Bravo to the board.

It was the biggest story in the retail world last week when JCPenney announced it had hired Ron Johnson as its new CEO with the incoming executive vowing to transform the way America shops by reinventing the department store. Such statements normally elicit a yawn because they are so common, but Johnson is the former SVP retail at Apple and spent the past 11 years overseeing the development and growth of the company’s wildly successful and widely heralded retail operation.

New York City -- Modell’s Sporting Goods has opened a 7,500-sq.-ft. store located in the DC USA retail complex Washington, D.C.

It is the retailer’s second location within the District of Columbia.