The Retail Apocalypse Is Fueled By No-Name Clothes

A few months ago, Amazon.com Inc. representatives met with fashion designer Jackie Wilson as part of the expansion of Amazon’s surging apparel business. They wanted her to make a knit top for women that would be sold under an Amazon-owned private label. And they wanted the fabric to feel heavy and high-quality—the sort of attributes long associated in the shopping mind with name-brand attire. “They are not concerned at all about how many units they sell, and they’re not focused on margins,” says Wilson, whose company in Syracuse, N.Y., makes clothing for Kohl’s, American Eagle Outfitters, and J.C. Penney Co. “They’re concerned about customer satisfaction. They want five-star reviews.” Wilson’s knit top is in the vanguard of a private-label push that’s upended the $275 billion U.S. apparel sector. Amazon, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., and other big retailers are beefing up their clothing lines to grab shoppers whose loyalty to established brands such as Gap and Nike has waned. Even supermarket chain Kroger Co. is getting in on the act, attracted by profit margins that far exceed what they earn on bananas and paper towels. Read more at Bloomberg.