Sears Names New Apparel Brand Covington

Sears, Roebuck and Co. said on Monday its new private-label brand of conservatively styled casual clothing will be called Covington and will replace eight other proprietary lines including Crossroads, Fieldmaster and Trader Bay.

Sears, the No. 4 U.S. retailer, had previously announced plans for a clothing brand for men, women and children as part of its effort to overhaul its apparel business, which has lost ground to competitors like Kohl's Corp. and Target Corp. in recent years.

Investors have been eager for details on the apparel line since it was first announced as part of a broad restructuring of Sears' 860 department stores last fall.

Some of the new line will be in stores in time for the back-to-school season, and the balance will be introduced in September, the company said on a conference call with analysts last week.

Sears said Covington apparel is expected to generate several hundred million dollars on an annual basis. The line of khaki pants, turtlenecks, shoes, sweaters and handbags aims to provide consumers with "better-quality, high-value wardrobe essentials," the company said. Items range in price from $10 for children's jerseys to $60 for men's leather boots.

One retail consultant said the Covington name conjured up class.

"The names sound good and is very British-sounding," Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Consulting Group, said. "It sounds classy, and Sears needed some classiness in its softgoods [apparel] line."

In its first-quarter earnings report last week, Sears said its apparel sales fell by a percentage in the high single digits, but the retailer reported good sales of items like appliances.

Nonetheless, Merrill Lynch retail analyst Daniel Barry wrote last week that Sears "has an uphill battle ahead" in its effort to improve apparel sales.