Hartmarx Corp., one of the country`s leading apparel manufacturers and retailers, will launch a direct-mail men`s clothing and accessory business called ”Direct Route” within the next five days, Chairman Richard P. Hamilton said Tuesday.
In addition, within the next month Hartmarx will start a division to
”expand its traditional lines into non-tailored clothing,” Hamilton said. He refused to give further details. The new division, which might be acquired from another firm, eventually will include manufacturing capacity, he said.
He also said the Chicago-based company will expand its women`s clothing business, whose retail and manufacturing operations accounted for some $200 million in sales last year, into a $300 to $400 million business within the next three years. That expansion will include additions to manufacturing capacity, adding more styles to its existing Austin Reed label and retailing more women`s business clothing in existing menswear stores.
Hamilton told shareholders at the company`s annual meeting that Hartmarx would begin to mail several hundred thousand copies of what he called an
”experimental catalogue” this week. The catalogue, which will initially feature men`s accessories, shirts, ties and underwear, will be aimed at upwardly mobile professional men in the 25-to-40 age group.
In May, a smaller-format version of the catalogue will be inserted in a men`s magazine, with two more 8- to 10-page mailings scheduled before the actual catalogue debuts in 1986. The catalogue, reportedly created to rival Brooks Brothers` efforts, gradually will be expanded to include women`s clothing and other items.
”We`re working our way toward a catalogue,” said Hamilton of the four mailings. ”It`s our first entry into direct marketing, and we want to do it gradually. But we`re very excited about the opportunities here.”
Sales of women`s clothing to other retailers is expected to grow by 15 to 20 percent a year, said Hamilton, adding that Hartmarx also expects to see the ”large, double-digit” sales increases of early 1985 continue through the year in the corporate women`s sections of its own specialty stores.
”This is an excellent strategy for growth in our specialty-store business,” said Hamilton of the corporate women`s departments. Currently, women`s clothing accounts for about 15 percent of sales in the men`s specialty stores, but Hamilton said it could go as high as 50 percent eventually.
Hartmarx will also continue its policy of ”selective, compatible”
acquisitions, said Hamilton, noting that the company`s continuing centralization will make it easier for it to buy other specialty operations. But Hamilton also hinted strongly that Hartmarx was interested in other men`s and women`s apparel manufacturing businesses as well.
