Apparel

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — George at Asda is extending its Moda line to offer more fashion items for U.K. women over 40.

Over two years in development and following a series of intensive customer focus groups, the collection has been created by George's team of industry leading in-house designers with customers' feedback.

Santa Monica, Calif. -- SPL Realty Partners, exclusively representing Australian women’s activewear retailer Lorna Jane, announced 11 leases have been secured for Lorna Jane’s expansion into the United States.

The retail sites are located throughout the Southern California region including stores in Santa Monica, Woodland Hills, Glendale, Irvine and Huntington Beach.

A warehouse was also secured for the support of the network of retail stores and online fulfillment in Santa Monica, Calif.

Reading, Pa. -- Garrison Investment Group said that Charming Charlie, Berkshire Shoe & Boot, and Menchey Music have opened or will open soon at The Shoppes at Wyomissing, located in Reading, Pa.

The three new tenants total nearly 11,400 sq. ft. in the 103,108-sq.-ft. open-air lifestyle center, which is owned by the Garrison and managed by Levin Management.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Study results released Tuesday by IBM revealed that while U.S. consumers shopped this July and August, they were not buying clothes and notebooks for their children but rather items for the home.

According to IBM’s findings, the biggest retail gains this back-to-school shopping season came from home goods purchases which increased 30% in July and more than 25% in August over their respective months in 2012.

The folks at Echochamber.com, a London-based consultancy, have a knack for rooting out hot retail concepts around the globe. Here’s a recap of the retailers who make up their latest “Top 10 Unmissable New Stores” report:

New York -- Saks Inc. said Monday it has launched AT&T Wi-Fi at all 44 retail locations nationwide.

The AT&T Wi-Fi network connects shoppers with mobile tools such as the new Saks Fifth Avenue app, which offers features such as shareable wish lists, fashion look books, event calendars and more. AT&T customers with select Wi-Fi enabled devices will auto-authenticate to the in-store Wi-Fi service, so frequent shoppers will be automatically connected to Saks Fifth Avenue’s Wi-Fi each time they re-visit the store.

Bellevue, Wash. -- Eddie Bauer LLC said Monday it has named Daniel E. Templin as COO and CFO of the company.

Templin was previously CFO for VF Outdoor, which includes brands such as The North Face, Vans, JanSport and Timberland.

Eddie Bauer also announced that current CFO Marv Toland will move into the newly created role of senior VP Direct with responsibility for the brand's e-commerce and catalog businesses.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. said Monday it has named Rebekka Bay as creative director and executive VP for Gap Global Design, effective Oct. 1.

Bay is most noted for conceptualizing, developing and launching the COS brand for Hennes & Mauritz. She spent five years as creative director at COS.

Bay will be responsible for Women’s, Men’s, 1969, Accessories and Body lines worldwide.