Apparel

L.L. Bean has gone outside the company for the first time ever to pick a chief executive. The outdoors retailer named the chief merchandising and marketing officer of a Walmart-owned Chinese e-commerce business as president and CEO, effective Feburary 2016. [ABC News]

American Eagle Outfitters is adding brands to its portfolio that could diversify the company's reach and eventually lead to new store formats.

American Eagle has acquired Todd Snyder New York, an upscale menswear brand, and Snyder’s Tailgate Clothing Co., a vintage sports-inspired brand that operates a college-town store concept.

Todd Synder, founder and creative director of his eponymous company, will join American Eagle as executive VP, reporting to Chad Kessler, global brand president, American Eagle

Levi Strauss & Co. is turning to the Internet of Things (IoT) as a solution to improve inventory visibility.

Levi’s is partnering with Intel to run a proof-of-concept of the new Intel IoT platform at three of the vertical apparel retailer’s stores. The pilot allows the Levi’s stores to gain visibility into what’s on the shelf or what might be running low. The goal is to make the process of inventory management more effective, maximizing in-stock and on-shelf availability of products.

Genesco is expanding its reach geographically and generationally with its latest acquisition.

The company has entered into an agreement with the Aldo Group Inc. to acquire the 37-store Little Burgundy retail footwear chain in Canada.

More than 100 senior retail executives are already confirmed as speakers for a first-of-its-kind event called Shoptalk that will be held next May with a focus on next generation commerce.

Organizers of the event have confirmed speaker participants including Jason Goldberger, president of Target.com and mobile; Casey Carl, Target chief strategy and innovation officer; Joe Megibow, chief digital officer at American Eagle Outfitters; John Koryl, president of Neiman Marcus stores and online and Andrea Wasserman, senior VP and head of direct-to-consumer at Nine West Group.

Every day, it seems there is news of another large retailer opening a tech innovation center, launching a new engagement channel, or otherwise making its mark as an IT innovator. But while the big guys get all the attention, a lot of smaller retailers are also doing some very interesting and innovative things with technology.

Here are three recent examples of small retailers launching large initiatives in technology innovation:

Poler Outdoor Stuff activates Instagram indoors

American Eagle Outfitters has entered into an acquisition that could eventually see it open hundreds of new stores, and also enter a more upscale market. The teen apparel retailer has acquired upscale menswear brand Todd Synder, along with Snyder’s Tailgate Clothing Co., a vintage sports-inspired brand that operates a college-town store concept. American Eagle sees the potential to open as many as 200 Tailgate stores at universities nationwide, starting with Southeastern Conference and Big Ten colleges, according to the New York Times.

Two new offerings from Pinterest make the visually-oriented social media platform even more accessible for e-commerce.

First, Pinterest is launching a new feature called Pinterest Shop. Every day, Pinterest will offer what it calls “hand-picked” product selections. The curated assortments will include products from major retailers like Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, as well as from smaller boutique retailers.

Pinterest will roll out Pinterest Shop for desktop and mobile in the next couple of weeks.