Lands' End
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| 240px | |
| Public | |
| Traded as | NASDAQ: LE |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | Chicago, Illinois 1963 |
| Founder | Gary Comer |
| Headquarters | Dodgeville, Wisconsin |
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Number of locations
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16 (2013)[1] |
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Key people
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Federica Marchionni (CEO)[2] Michael Rosera (CFO)[3] |
| Products | Clothing, luggage, home furnishings |
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Number of employees
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5,300 (2013)[1] |
| Website | www |
Lands' End is an American clothing retailer based in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, that specializes in casual clothing, luggage, and home furnishings. The majority of Lands' End's business is conducted through mail order and Internet sales, but the company also runs more than a dozen retail operations, primarily in the Upper Midwest, along with international shops in the UK, Germany, Japan, France and Austria.
History
Lands' End began as a sailboat equipment company in 1963 in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by Gary Comer,[4][5] along with his partners, 1963 Pan American Games gold medalist sailors Richard Stearns and Robert Halperin, and two of Stearns' employees.[6][7] As the business became successful, it expanded into general clothing and home furnishings, and moved to Dodgeville, Wisconsin in 1978.[5] The company is named from its sailboat heritage, after Land's End, but the misplaced apostrophe in the company name was a typographical error that Comer could not afford to change, as promotional materials had already been printed.[4]
In 2002, Sears bought the company for USD $2 billion in cash.[8] In addition to operating mail order and online business and Lands' End Inlet stores, Sears offered a Lands' End clothing line in a large number of its retail stores.[9] In 2012, the company formed an "online partnership" with the UK's Debenhams and House of Fraser department stores.[10]
In November 2009, Lands' End launched a new line called Lands' End Canvas, which offers a more fashion-oriented selection of casual clothing for men and women.
On December 6, 2013, Sears Holding Corp. announced that it would spin off Lands' End catalog business as a separate company by distributing stock to the retailer's stockholders.[11] Lands' End stock began trading on the NASDAQ on April 7, 2014.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rick Romell, "Lands' End begins trading as an independent company again," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 7, 2014.
- ↑ John Kell, "Lands’ End goes for luxury with new chief executive hire," Fortune, February 2, 2015.
- ↑ [1] Executive Bio Company Webpage,November 22, 2015.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Suzanne Kapner, "Sears Weighs A Spinoff of Lands' End; Core Chains' Losses Grow," Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2013.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dennis Hevesi, "Gary C. Comer, 78, Founder of Lands’ End, Dies," New York Times, October 6, 2006.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Rick Kogan, "Gary Comer: 1927 - 2006," Chicago Tribune, October 5, 2006.
- ↑ "Sears buys Lands' End", CNN, May 13, 2002
- ↑ "Sears stores carrying Lands' End", Internetretailer.com, October 17, 2003
- ↑ Corporate Overview, Corporate website, Undated.Retrieved: 10 October 2013
- ↑ Hadley Malcolm, "Sears to spin off Lands' End business," USA Today, December 6, 2013.
- ↑ Associated Press, "Lands' End Starts Trading as Public Company," ABC News, April 7, 2014.
