Ellen Tracy Women's Sportswear Signs Exclusive Deal with Macy's
Yesterday, Macy's announced a strategic alliance agreement with the Ellen Tracy owner, Brand Matter LLC, and its sportswear licensee, RVC Enterprises. Under the terms of the agreement, Macy's will be the exclusive department store retailer of Ellen Tracy branded women's sportswear, beginning in March 2010.
Macy's will offer its customers an exclusive array of Ellen Tracy better sportswear focused on modern, related separates. This will include jackets, shirts, pants, sweaters, woven tops, knit tops and bottoms. Price points, for example, will be in the range of $99 to $149 for jackets and $50 to $99 for pants.
The exclusive sportswear will launch in more than 100 Macy's stores and online at macys.com with plans for additional rollout over time to additional stores. The launch will include new Ellen Tracy shops in Macy's largest flagship stores, including Herald Square in New York, Union Square in San Francisco, State Street in Chicago and Dadeland in Miami. The two companies will work closely together on new ventures and brand extensions for the future.
Ellen Tracy is joining other exclusive brands at Macy's, including Tommy Hilfiger, Martha Stewart Collection, Rachel Rachel Roy and Donald Trump.
While fans of the Ellen Tracy have something to cheer about with the Macy's deal, some confusion has been caused by an Chapter 7 involuntary bankruptcy petition filed against Ellen Tracy LLC , which was approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York today. The petition was filed by three creditors seeking nearly $4 million in claims. The creditors were manufacturers of Ellen Tracy products.
The entity that is being forced into bankruptcy, Ellen Tracy LLC, is a former licensee of the Ellen Tracy name which ceased its operations some time ago. It has nothing to do with the brand anymore. Brand Matter LLC, on the other hand, is the entity that owns, manages, markets and licenses the intellectual property of Ellen Tracy.
