Walmart to sell online women's apparel brand ModCloth to Go Global Retail - CNBC

Walmart to sell online women's apparel brand ModCloth to Go Global Retail - CNBC

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• Walmart to sell online women's apparel brand ModCloth to Go Global Retail - CNBC
• Charity honoring LBI 9/11 victim says apparel company stole its logo - Asbury Park Press
• PHOTOS: New Triple Force Friday Apparel Arrives at Walt Disney World - wdwnt.com
• American Eagle among the brands on consumers' shortened apparel shopping lists this holiday season: B. Riley - MarketWatch
• A&A launches fearless apparel | Local News - Gettysburg Times

Walmart to sell online women's apparel brand ModCloth to Go Global Retail - CNBC Posted: 04 Oct 2019 11:17 AM PDT ModCloth was founded in 2002. Source: Modcloth Walmart is selling online women's apparel business ModCloth, which it acquired in March 2017, to Go Global Retail, the companies announced Friday afternoon. A Walmart spokesperson declined to comment on the terms of the deal. A press release said Go Global Retail will invest primarily in building out ModCloth's website, as ModCloth operates as a freestanding and independent fashion brand. Go Global Retail, founded in 2011, is a brand investment platform that has worked with other apparel companies including VF Corp., Guess and Billabong, according to its website. ModCloth was founded in 2002 as a trendy apparel business, selling its bright-colored sweaters and patterned dresses mainly online and targeting women ages 18 to 35. It's since opened a handful of stores where customers can try on items but inventory can't be taken home. Instead, they're able to order them, at no cost for shipping. ModCloth is also sold in Nordstrom. For Walmart, its deal to buy ModCloth about two years ago was part of a bigger push to grow online, following its acquisition of Jet.com in 2016, where it also gained Marc Lore, who heads up Walmart's U.S. e-commerce business. The price tag of the ModCloth deal also wasn't disclosed at that time. For the most part, Walmart has kept these younger and trendier brands — such as plus-size apparel brand Eloquii and men's apparel maker Bonobos — out of its own stores and off its website, so as not to dilute the way shoppers view them. Instead, it's used the deals to gain talent and to learn more about their customers. But those acquisition efforts have recently stalled, with Walmart's e-commerce business losing money and some of its acquisitions, including ModCloth and Bonobos, remaining unprofitable, according to a report from Vox. Instead, Lore and Bonobos co-founder Andy Dunn, who had played a key role in Walmart's string of start-up acquisitions, have both said Walmart plans to focus more on incubating its own brands for the foreseeable future. It launched a direct-to-consumer mattress brand called Allswell last year, for example. Ashley Hubka, senior vice president of corporate strategy, development and partnerships at Walmart, said in a statement Friday: "We believe that ModCloth's strong brand equity positions it for growth in the future. We feel good about the progress at ModCloth and believe that Go Global's team and scale out strategy presents an attractive opportunity for the employees and customers of this beloved brand." The companies said the deal is expected to close later this year.

Charity honoring LBI 9/11 victim says apparel company stole its logo - Asbury Park Press Posted: 04 Oct 2019 02:00 AM PDT CLOSE Autoplay Show Thumbnails Show Captions Last SlideNext Slide 'It's . . . like walking across his grave almost,' said the sister of Bill Kelly Jr., who died in the Twin Towers. LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP - A few months after Bill Kelly Jr. died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, his family and friends sat down to plan a charity that would bear his name. As they talked, his sister Casey Hamilton sketched out a logo in crayon: a four-leaf shamrock bearing the image of the American flag, with the stars in the upper left quadrant. It seemed like a perfect fusion of Kelly's Irish heritage and America's post-9/11 resolve. Since that day the Bill Kelly Jr. Memorial Fund has awarded nearly $900,000 in scholarships to students attending his alma mater, the University of Scranton. The shamrock-flag logo is ubiquitous at the nonprofit's primary fundraising event, a golf outing that takes place each October at the Jersey Shore. A few years back, however, Hamilton starting hearing things that didn't make sense.  "People would say, 'Oh, we saw your hat at Dick's Sporting Goods,'" Hamilton said. "And I would say, 'What are you talking about? We don't sell to them.'" Buy Photo Logo for the memorial fund set up in 2002 honoring Bill Kelly Jr.  (Photo: Peter Ackerman) Learn more about Bill Kelly Jr.: The incredible journey of a message in a bottle Related: Tillie of Asbury Park: Who owns the iconic face of the resurgent city? What they saw was a product of Black Clover, a Utah-based apparel company that also uses a four-leaf shamrock as its logo. Some of its gear features an American flag shamrock that, at a glance, looks virtually identical to the Bill Kelly Jr. Memorial Fund's logo. Concerned about confusion and the diminishment of the charity's brand, members of the Kelly family asked Black Clover to stop marketing the image. "It's a 9/11 charity, so I thought they would be like, 'Oh, we're really sorry,'" Hamilton said. "We figured they would just stop, to be quite honest." Related: 9/11 Ground Zero workers still battling the beast Screenshot of a Black Clover hat with an American flag shamrock.  (Photo: Jerry Carino) It didn't happen, and now the Bill Kelly Jr. Memorial Fund — which is headquartered in Long Beach Township at the family's longtime home — is suing Black Clover for trademark infringement. Surprisingly, on the eve of the charity's 18th annual golf outing, the apparel company is digging in for a fight. "It's like having someone walk on hallowed ground, like walking across his grave almost," Hamilton said. "That's kind of what it feels like." CLOSE The memorial fund established in 9/11 victim Bill Kelly Jr's name is suing an apparel company for trademark infringement. Jerry Carino, @njhoopshaven Legal battle lines drawn "I don't know how (Black Clover) came about making the logo," said Stephen Roth, an attorney representing the fund. "What I do know is even after we told them the logo was causing confusion, they still continued to sell the logo." Roth, an attorney at the Westfield-based firm Lerner, David, Littenberg, Krumholz & Mentlik LLP, said although the Kelly family did not trademark the logo until 2018, "it's not like a patent, where you have nothing until you get it registered. It's the registration of a mark that you already have rights to." He added, "The issue is: Did Black Clover use the mark after the Billy Kelly Foundation used it? There's no dispute about that. They clearly did." Buy Photo Bill Kelly Sr, JoAnne Kelly, and Casey Hamilton talk about their son/brother Bill Kelly Jr., the memorial fund that bears his name and the litigation they are involved in.  (Photo: Peter Ackerman) The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction against Black Clover's use of the American Flag shamrock, plus "an accounting to determine the profits Black Clover has made in connection with all products sold and services rendered under use of the American Flag Shamrock trademark, and an award to the Fund of all such profits." Said Roth, "Under settled trademark law, the damage period goes back six years prior to the date of the lawsuit." He also said any such award would be put directly into the scholarship fund. In an interview with the Asbury Park Press, David Gold, an attorney with Hackensack-based Cole Schotz P.C. who represents Black Clover, described the company's use of the American flag shamrock as an "ornamental use of its own, unique design" that is allowable under trademark law. Buy Photo Bill Kelly Jr. in his University of Scranton days.  (Photo: Peter Ackerman) He added, in an email: "Black Clover fully respects and appreciates what the Fund does and stands for, and indeed does a good amount of community outreach itself. That said, it would frankly defy logic to assume, as the Fund has alleged, that Black Clover nefariously singled out the Fund for its own financial gain. "Black Clover has not engaged in any wrongdoing, and we believe both the facts and the law bear that out. "When the layers are peeled back from what is an emotionally charged dispute on both sides, we have a fairly straightforward set of legal issues that should not be litigated in the press, but the court, which is fully equipped to address those issues in accordance with well-settled law." The Asbury Park Press reached out to Rutgers Law School professor John R. Kettle III, director of the school's Intellectual Property Law Clinic, for an objective view of the matter. Tributes to Bill Kelly were everywhere at the memorial fund's 2016 golf outing at Greate Bay in Somers Point.  (Photo: Courtesy of Sue Villanova) "Trademark law, bottom line, is a consumer protection law," Kettle said. "It protects consumers from being misled as to the source or origin of goods or services. All you have to show in trademark law is establish a likelihood of confusion. You don't have to establish actual confusion. If it's likely that people might think an apparel company is using a logo that is the same source as a foundation's, then that's actionable." On that basis, he said, "I can see the merits. A trademark owner has to take reasonable steps to prevent confusion in the marketplace. If they don't — if they allow others to use their trademark without quality control, then they could be deemed to have abandoned it." The fact that the fund did not register the trademark until 2018, he said, should have no impact on the case.   "Trademark law is based on senior vs. junior," he said. "Whoever used it first gets the territory." Kettle said these types of cases are not unusual, but most of them settle before reaching a courtroom. "Once (an incidental infringer) is informed of it, they run the risk of being willful trademark infringers, which can give much more severe damages or remedies to the trademark owner," he said. Yet here they are, in U.S. District Court. An initial conference is scheduled for Oct. 17 in Trenton. "It's unfortunate we had to take it this far," Roth said. Buy Photo A portrait of Bill Kelly Jr. sits over the mantle in the home of his parents Bill and JoAnne Kelly in Brant Beach on Long Beach Island.  (Photo: Peter Ackerman) Far-reaching impact Six days before the conference, on Oct. 11, the 18th annual Bill Kelly Jr. Memorial Golf Classic will take place at Greate Bay Country Club in Somers Point, Atlantic County. Roughly 300 people are expected to attend, including a friend from high school who was a new kid in town when Bill walked over to him in the cafeteria. "He invited him to their lunch table, and from that moment on the kid loved Billy," Hamilton said. "That's what he was known for. He would reach out and draw people in and make them feel comfortable. That's why, 18 years later, all these people still come and play golf." Bill's parents, Bill and JoAnne Kelly, get donations from all over the country from those who can't attend but want to contribute to the fund. Buy Photo Bill Kelly Sr. wears a shirt featuring the memorial fund's logo.  (Photo: Peter Ackerman) "There is a woman who for 18 years has sent $10 every year," Bill Kelly Sr. said. "I got a check in the mail this morning from a gentleman in Idaho who said, 'Can you please send me a shirt?'" He's sending it, a gray pullover with an unmistakable logo on the left breast: an American flag shamrock. For more on the Bill Kelly Jr. Memorial Fund, or to contribute, visit www.billkellyjr.com. Jerry Carino is news columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore's interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com. Support our Signature Journalism Become an Asbury Park Press subscriber today and get unlimited digital access and support stories like this one. JOIN TODAY Read or Share this story: https://www.app.com/story/news/local/culture/2019/10/04/bill-kelly-jr-memorial-fund-shamrock-logo-trademark-black-clover/3828309002/

PHOTOS: New Triple Force Friday Apparel Arrives at Walt Disney World - wdwnt.com Posted: 04 Oct 2019 09:46 AM PDT This post may contain affiliate links; please read the disclosure for more information. Triple Force Friday has arrived at Disney Springs and we are bringing you all of the newly released merchandise! Triple Force Friday marks the official launch of new products  from three highly anticipated projects coming out later this year, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian, and Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. On Friday Oct 4th, World of DIsney and The Lego Store are open from midnight until 3 a.m. Disney Springs will also host other special events throughout the weekend.  Here is a peek at the new Star Wars apparel we spotted at the World of Disney midnight shopping event! BB-8 Kid's Tutu Dress – $34.99 Kid's Rey Costume – $69.99 Kid's Mandalorian Tees – $24.99 Each Kids Be A Hero Tee – $19.99 Kids Just Roll With It Tee – $17.99 Kids Rey Tee – $24.99 Knights of Ren Adult Tee – $34.99 Rise of Skywalker Double Sided Adult Sweatshirt – $64.99 Rise of Skywalker Ladies Tee – $29.99 Women's BB Be A Hero Tank – $34.99 Mandalorian Men's Tee – $34.99 Mandalorian Women's Tee – $34.99 May The Force Adult Tee – $34.99 If tee shirts aren't necessarily your thing, perhaps you'll prefer one of these other apparel items. Rise of Skywalker Hat – $27.99 Leggings – $39.99 Lanyard – $14.99 shopDISNEY.COM is also celebrating Triple Force Friday with additional items. So, was this new apparel worth the wait? What are your thoughts on the this unprecedented merchandising blitz? Which of the upcoming projects are you most looking forward to? Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and The Mandalorian are slated for release in November. The Rise of Skywalker will hit theaters in December.

American Eagle among the brands on consumers' shortened apparel shopping lists this holiday season: B. Riley - MarketWatch Posted: 04 Oct 2019 06:42 AM PDT A B. Riley holiday season survey found that 29% of shoppers expect to buy less clothing this holiday season, while 40% plan to spend the same amount year-over-year. "We believe part of this may be connected with their expectations for higher prices related to China tariffs," analysts led by Susan Anderson wrote. Not only do shoppers plan to buy less, what they do buy won't be the yoga pants and other athleisure gear that has been favored. The survey found that trendy items and denim will be among the top selections, with brands like American Eagle Outfitters Inc. AEO, -3.19%, Guess Inc. GES, +0.63%, and G-III Apparel Group Ltd. GIII, +2.51% brands like Calvin Klein and DKNY among those that analysts think will benefit. With the focus on "fashion" apparel, B. Riley says Under Armour Inc. UA, +0.51% UAA, +0.16% could be hurt. And with shoppers more cautious about spending on clothes, B. Riley says staple items sold by brands like Carters Inc. CRI, +1.81%, Children's Place Inc. PLCE, -0.30% and HanesBrands Inc. HBI, +1.65% could be a top choice. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT, +0.68% has taken a 15.5% tumble over the past year while the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.42% is up nearly 1% for the period.

A&A launches fearless apparel | Local News - Gettysburg Times Posted: 04 Oct 2019 09:00 PM PDT In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, A&A Village Treasures has partnered with a local artist to bring one-of-kind support through apparel. A&A owners, Anthony Kylor and Amado Mesa, joined forces with Jay Manhattan, the nom de plume of their friend and local artist behind the "Fearless" apparel, Kylor said.

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