Management

In the fashion business, it seems, everybody wants to be Ralph Lauren. The company epitomizes the so-called aspirational lifestyle brand, able to book huge sales at premium prices for everything from clothing to furniture to dinnerware. Kate Spade, another designer-inspired company, dreamed of following that path. In 2008, it recruited Craig Leavitt, a Ralph Lauren executive, as its CEO. But while shoppers continue to fawn over its colorful totes, satchels and clutches — sales were up more than 40 percent in 2014 — the company is learning that creating a buzzy lifestyle brand is more difficult than it seems. 

Federica Marchionni is trading high fashion for flannel and sweaters. She's departing her leadership role at Dolce & Gabbana USA to become the next CEO of Lands’ End. Lands’ End made the announcement Monday, and said its current CEO, Edgar Huber, will resign in about two weeks. He's been on the job for three-and-a-half years and his bio shows a career centered around fashion and makeup. Marchionni is cut from a different cloth: She started in tech before moving to luxury brands as a senior vice president at Ferrari and president of Dolce & Gabbana USA.

A redditor wrote an open letter addressed to Victoria's Secret accusing their retail workers of sending women to Lane Bryant for bras. She believes that the employees are discriminating against certain women by not bothering to realize that they have the bras that they need. In her letter, "Kate*" identifies as a Soma lingerie employee. She wrote, "far too often we hear horror stories

Gap announced Rebekka Bay, the designer recruited in 2012 to help reboot the iconic brand, is out of the company. "In evaluating the right leadership structure for the brand," Gap is "eliminating the Creative Director role, resulting in Rebekka Bay's departure from the company, effective immediately," the company wrote in a press release. Bay's departure is the latest in a slew of changes spurred by incoming CEO Art Peck. In November, Peck named new presidents for the $16 billion company's Gap and Banana Republic brands, and last week shuttered its digital Piperlime business.

Sears Holdings cut 115 jobs at its headquarters and various corporate support locations as it seeks to reduce expenses in the face of years of losses. Employees were notified Tuesday that 100 positions at the company's Hoffman Estates, Ill., headquarters and 15 positions at other corporate support locations would be eliminated, effective immediately, the company said. The positions span various departments. About 5,500 employees work at the Hoffman Estates offices. 

Mattel CEO Bryan Stockton has resigned from the helm of the toy giant just weeks after announcing a corporate reshuffle aiming to restore the fortunes of the struggling Barbie manufacturer. Stockton will be replaced in the interim by board director Christopher Sinclair, one-time CEO of Pepsi. The resignation comes at a tough time for Mattel, which released disappointing preliminary fourth quarter earnings on Monday morning as it announced Stockton's departure. Worldwide sales during the all-important holiday shopping season fell 6 percent to $1.99 billion.

Paula Schneider is less than two weeks into her tenure as CEO of American Apparel, but she's already set about correcting years of missteps by the clothing chain's infamous founder Dov Charney. "We've made great progress literally in the last 10 days," she said, speaking to Forbes from the company's Los Angeles base following an introductory phone call with Wall Street on

Wal-Mart is launching a service allowing customers to pick up their tax refunds in cash at all stores nationwide. It's the discounter's latest move to offer more financial services, which is seen as a path to bringing more shoppers into its stores. The world's largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., says the process will take the same time as if customers were to file their returns electronically and then get direct deposit, which could take just a week, says Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Wal-Mart's U.S. division.

eBay has made billions reinventing ways to sell items on the internet. Now, in the face of declining growth, the company must reinvent itself once more. Facing stiff competition and the declining growth of its auctions business, eBay announced a shake-up of the company on Wednesday, saying it planned to cut 2,400 positions, or 7 percent of its global workforce. "It's going to get a little bit worse before it gets better," said Bob Swan, chief financial officer of eBay, citing declines of traffic and repeat customers in the company's online auction business. 

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch has resigned. His resignation is effective immediately. Michael Huseby will now be the CEO of NOOK Media and president of Barnes & Noble. Allen Lindstrom has been promoted and will serve as the company's new CFO.