Hartmarx Buys Los Angeles Company

Hartmarx Corp., the Chicago firm known for its men’s suits and tailored clothing, has acquired Los Angeles–based Sweater.com Inc., as well as the company’s “One Girl Whohellip;” brand.

Sweater.com designs and markets women’s tops and sweaters to specialty stores around the country; it also sells them on its Web site. Hartmarx said the all-cash purchase, completed Aug. 29, totaled $12.4 million, subject to certain post-closing adjustments.

The founders of the “One Girl Who...” brand, Bruce Gifford and Dan Jaffe, have agreed to stay on for at least five years as president and executive vice president, respectively. The Los Angeles group will act as an autonomous entity within the Hartmarx Women’s Apparel Group.

This year has been a challenge for the Chicago company, which has seen the department store consolidation between Macy’s and Robinsons-May take a toll on its business.

“Fiscal 2006 continues to be an extremely challenging year for us, with our performance being adversely affected by the uncertainty, disruption and shipping delays caused principally by the consolidation and ownership changes in the mainstream department store sectors,” Homi Patel, Hartmarx’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

The company said it was attempting to diversify its product line and reduce its dependency on men’s tailored clothing products sold to mainstream department stores.

Hartmarx expects the Sweater.com acquisition to add $15 million in sales during fiscal 2007, or 2 cents to 3 cents per diluted share. In 2005, Hartmarx’s net income was $23.6 million on $600.3 million in revenues. —Deborah Belgum