Ellen Tracy Finds a Safe Harbor at Macy's

One thing you can say about the recession is that it has prompted the people behind designer labels to become more egalitarian.

Take Ellen Tracy. The brand used to stake out its ground exclusively at higher end department stores, but now the folks who control it have inked a deal with mid-level Macy’s for an exclusive sportswear line.

The roots of the deal go back to April of last year when Windsong Brands LLC and investment firm Hilco Consumer Capital, with others, formed a company called Fashionology Group to squire the Ellen Tracy brand from Liz Claiborne. At the same time, Fashionology acquired other assets from Hilco including the Caribbean Joe label. Then the parties formed Brand Matters to manage, market and license the labels involved.

The whole arrangement kept the investors and the business in different folds, which can work out in these kinds of deals. Changes in fortune involving the investment group don’t necessarily interrupt the real business of signing deals with manufacturers to make and retailers to sell the brands.

Since the all the dealing was done, Brand Matter has signed licensing agreements for manufacturers to produce intimate apparel, handbags, fashion accessories, jewelry, luggage and related products under the Ellen Tracy label. The intimate apparel, in one example of how the license has been handled, was set for higher end department and specialty stores where the label already was familiar and now is available from Lord & Taylor.

Yet, Ellen Tracy is better known for sportswear. Mark Mendelson, who was president of Ellen Tracy under Brand Matter now holds that title in the Ellen Tracy division of RVC Enterprises. It purchased operational and licensing rights for sportswear from Brand Matters in July, according to reports. Brand Matters retains the intellectual rights to Ellen Tracy. In August, Asian apparel manufacturers made a push for a Chapter 7 filing on the brand, which was in debt to them for $3.8 million. Yet, it is the nature of such complex business arrangements that they endure financial and legal plagues, and RVC is the entity that has entered into the deal with Macy’s.

In the new arrangement, Macy’s will offer an exclusive assortment of Ellen Tracy better sportswear focused on modern, related separates. This will include jackets, shirts, pants, sweaters, woven tops, knit tops and bottoms. Prices will range from $99 to $149 for jackets and $50 to $99 for pants, which will put the line in the better range in Macy’s price/quality structure. The line rolls out in about 100 Macy’s locations and online at macys.com in March 2010, with plans calling for expansion over time to additional stores.

The Macy’s deal will bring Ellen Tracy to the consumer who isn’t shelling out as enthusiastically for fashion today as was the case before the recession, and the contrast with prices the brand commands elsewhere may make it seem like a bargain. Macy’s more upscale Bloomingdale’s chain currently offers Ellen Tracy coats for prices between $185 and $453 online. Lord & Taylor, in addition to intimates, carries an Ellen Tracy black crepe one-button jacket for $398 and a pair of the designer’s black crepe modern pants for $228.

“My team and I are thrilled to bring the Ellen Tracy heritage and style to a more accessible price point. We look forward to entering, building and eventually becoming one of the leading brands in the better department,” Mendelson said as the deal was announced.

With the brand’s recent history and a consumer who’s more cautious about spending, a lower price may provide Ellen Tracy with the opportunity to make some new friends at Macy’s and perhaps reunite with old acquaintances who have grown a little more cautious in their spending in the economic downturn.