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Hartmarx, the local suit-maker which filed for bankruptcy early this year after U.S. banks cut off credit amid the global financial meltdown, is expected to select a buyer later this week. Emerisque Brands resubmitted its bid for the troubled clothier Tuesday. Emerisque is believed to be the only bidder that will keep Hartmarx's U.S. operations largely intact. The London-based private-equity firm is interested in "acquiring substantially all of the assets" of the Chicago-based suit maker, and said it intends to operate the company "as a single going concern." The firm said in a prepared statement that "we believe in the potential and future growth of the Hartmarx family of brands, and recognize the value of a 'Made in America' label in the United States and in markets around the world," the company said in a prepared statement.
Emerisque is expected to offer 80 cents on the dollar for Hartmarx's $114 million in debt. Those funds are owed to Wells-Fargo bank, which owns the debt. Wells-Fargo took $25 billion in taxpayer dollars last October as part of the federal bank bailout. While Hartmarx's board of directors will vote on the proposal, the bank still has the option to reject the offer. Workers at the Midwestern and New York state plants have promised a sit-in Wells-Fargo forces the plants to close in a liquidation sale.
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Back as recently as April 17, 2008, Sandra Guy reported in the Sun-Times that a big reason HartMarx was struggling was the loss of Marshall Field's (and sister May Department Stores) as a customer when these stores were bought out by Macy's. Other reports in the Tribune, Sun-Times and other outlets also noted that local business and employer HartMarx was dealt a severe blow when Macy's came to Chicago and dumped their apparel.
These days, local media coverage avoids bringing up Macy's role in effectively hurting HartMarx and our local economy. Why? Could it be that Macy's is one of both the Sun-Times and the Tribune's biggest advertisers? Count the many full page ads in these papers in just the past week. (The Tribune had about a dozen full page ads in the past week for Macy's and its Bloomingdale's.)
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo (not a big advertiser in this market) is part of the problem, but Macy's is a huge part of HartMarx's problems too. Sadly, our newspapers are too in debt and too beholden to advertisers to have the integrity to effectively present the whole Chicago story. Too bad the newspapers lack the integrity to report this.
To be sure, Macy's has brought back a little bit of HartMarx with the cache of Obama's HartMarx tux, but it is too little, too late.
Safe to say that the switch from Marshall Field's to Macy's was NOT just a name change as the media says, lest they offend their big corporate sponsor. Instead, they offend the people.
The real reason Hart Marx is hurting and our local workers are threatened is Macy's, not Wells Fargo. This why people boycott Macy's.