Men's Wearhouse

Men's Wearhouse in Miamisburg, Ohio

Tailored Brands, Inc. (formerly known as Men's Wearhouse) is the holding company for various retail men's apparel stores, as well as two corporate apparel brands. The company has corporate offices in the Westchase area of Houston, Texas,^[3][4][5][6] and executive offices in Fremont, California. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under TLRD. The company was founded by George Zimmer in 1973.

History and operations

Men's Wearhouse in Saugus, Massachusetts

The company operates under the names Men's Wearhouse, Men's Wearhouse & Tux, K&G Superstores (an off-price retail chain featuring discontinued items), Moores Clothing for Men (a Canadian chain of men's clothing stores), Twin Hill Corporate clothing, MW Cleaners in the Houston and Austin areas, and most recently Jos A. Bank. In 1997, it purchased, then liquidated, the bankrupt Kuppenheimer chain.^[7]

Men's Wearhouse notably ran television and radio commercials featuring Zimmer, and the oft-repeated slogan, "You're going to like the way you look; I guarantee it."^[8] According to Business Week, Men's Wearhouse targets the common man, with "the neatly displayed clothes in Zimmer's stores [being] designed to cater to the unpretentious guy who wants to do as little as possible to maintain his wardrobe."^[9]

On November 17, 2006, Men's Wearhouse acquired After Hours Formalwear, a clothier specializing in black tie formalwear, from Federated Department Stores, the parent company of department store company Macy's. After Hours Formalwear was originally rebranded MW Tux, but has now been rolled up under the Men's Wearhouse brand. The formalwear group within Men's Wearhouse specializes in tuxedo rentals for men and boys for black tie events.

In August 2010, Men's Wearhouse acquired the trade and assets of Alexandra plc, which was in administration and Dimensions Corporatewear to develop its presence in Europe.

In 2009, Men's Wearhouse became a major sponsor of the United Football League and continued to sponsor the league in 2010.

As of 4 February 2013, Men's Wearhouse employs 15,261 people.^[10]

On June 19, 2013, the company dismissed founder and Executive Chairman George Zimmer for undisclosed reasons.^[11] The company later stated that Zimmer was dismissed due to "difficulty accepting the fact that Men's Wearhouse is a public company with an independent board of directors and that he has not been the chief executive officer for two years. He advocated for significant changes that would enable him to regain control."^[12]

Acquisition of Jos. A. Bank

On November 12, 2013, Ricky Sandler, CEO of Eminence Capital LLC, published a letter he sent to Men's Wearhouse CEO Douglas Ewert discussing a merger with Joseph. A. Bank Clothiers Inc.^[2] On November 15, 2013, Joseph A. Bank Clothiers Inc. withdrew "its all-cash proposal to purchase Men's Wearhouse for $48 a share after its self-imposed November 14 deadline".^[13]

In October 2013, Men’s Wearhouse received a $2.4 billion acquisition offer from smaller rival Jos. A. Bank.^[14] Men’s Wearhouse countered with an offer of its own, which sparked a five-month takeover battle between the two menswear retailers. After Jos. A. Bank rejected the initial counteroffer, Men’s Wearhouse announced that it would increase its all-cash bid if Jos. A. Bank revealed limited financial information and entered into negotiations.^[15] In an attempt to dilute shares and become too large for Men’s Wearhouse to purchase, Jos. A. Bank agreed to acquire the men’s outdoor clothing company Eddie Bauer for $825 million.^[16] Men’s Wearhouse immediately responded by filing a lawsuit to block the proposed acquisition, which was expedited by Delaware Judge J. Travis Laster.”^[17] The lawsuit required Jos. A. Bank to disclose documents relating to the deal and prevented it from closing the deal without giving Men’s Wearhouse 10 days' notice. In March 2014, Men’s Wearhouse reached an agreement to acquire Jos. A. Bank for $1.8 billion, on the condition that it dropped its acquisition bid for Eddie Bauer.^[18] A Federal Trade Commission investigation into the deal concluded in April 2014, concluding that the merger was "not likely to harm consumers"; the completion of this investigation was required for the merger to go forward.^[19]

Tailored Brands Holding Company

In January 2016, the company adopted a holding company structure and changed the name of its parent company from "Men's Wearhouse" to "Tailored Brands" and its stock symbol from "MW" to "TLRD".^[20]

Restatement

On April 14, 2005, the company restated leases and depreciation of related leasehold.^[21]

References