End of the Line for Talbots?
We’ve been writing a lot lately about Talbots, and not a lot of it had been positive. The women’s apparel and accessories retailer/cataloger has struggled to turn a profit since it acquired J Jill for gobs and gobs of money in 2006.
Monday’s announcement that they were down 23% for the quarter and lost $145 million from continuing operations for the year doesn’t help.
Is the end of the line near for Talbots, which can’t seem to sell off J Jill? Or is the newly-announced $150 million revolving credit from majority shareholder Aeon going to help it get over the hump?
Talbots is considering a global sourcing deal with Li & Fung Ltd., the global sourcing and trading firm based in Hong Kong. Should this happen, it could be good news for Talbots. Think of it as Talbots outsourcing the back-end of its business, which would give it a chance to focus on marketing.
Will that be a done deal for Talbots? Maybe, maybe not. But it worked for Liz Claiborne in the fall. And Benedetta Casamento – who most recently was president of Liz Claiborne, Claiborne and Monet brands – came to Talbots last week in a newly-created position, executive VP of Finance.
Maybe the hiring of Casamento is the move Talbots needed to get over the hump.
