Tandy Brands Accessories Inc. has been licensed by Sweet People Apparel Inc. to produce and market women’s and girls’ belts under Sweet People’s Miss Me brand in the U.S. and Canada.
The license is the second branded association in less than a month for Dallas-based Tandy, which recently was granted rights to market belts under the Elie Tahari, T Tahari and Tahari brands.
Rod McGeachy, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Tandy, said the Miss Me license, like the Tahari deal before it, is “part of our push to drive the branded part of our business, increasing what we do with department stores and specialty stores. Miss Me is just a white-hot denim brand with remarkable velocity right now. It has over 2,000 points of distribution, including a presence in the western retail channel.”
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He pointed out that private label accounted for about 65 percent of Tandy’s business in the year ended June 30. “Our goal is to move branded from 35 percent to at least 50 percent in the next few years, without any decrease in private label revenues,” he told WWD. “We’re making very good progress on that goal.”
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Miss Me’s distribution includes numerous upscale department and specialty stores not currently sold by Tandy, whose distribution has been strongest in the mass and midtier channels.
The additions of the Miss Me and Tahari licenses follow Tandy’s decision in July to exit noncore categories, such as eyewear and hunting gear, to focus on its key assortments of belts, small leather goods and gifts. In the fourth quarter ended June 30, it registered a net loss of $8.4 million, or $1.21 a diluted share.
Removing restructuring charges, including inventory write-downs and severance expenses from a 15 percent head-count reduction, the loss was $3.5 million. Sales slid 18.9 percent to $23.2 million.
McGeachy told WWD that in its strategic review, Tandy opted to narrow its product assortment and pursue additional distribution channels to achieve growth.