Casual Male was bought out of bankruptcy protection by Designs Inc., which owned Levi's and Dockers outlets, last year. The company changed its name to Casual Male and now says that it plans to "accelerate the closing of its Levi's and Dockers Outlet stores and ultimately exit the business." In addition, Casual Male has transferred the operations of its remaining seven Candie's outlet stores to Candie's, Inc.

The company says its Levi's and Dockers sales base has continued to erode during the second half this year and initiatives that Casual Male has been working on with Levi Strauss & Co. have been" insufficient to offset these continuing negative sales trends." Up to 55 stores will close over the next 24 months, which will reduce the sales volume of the Levi's and Dockers outlet business to less than 10% of Casual Male's total sales. The remaining 30 stores will either be closed at the end of their respective lease terms, or otherwise be divested in a sale transaction.

Dennis R. Hernreich, COO/CFO of Casual Male tells GlobeSt.com that the stores, which are located up and down the east coast, are all leased. He says that the company is not yet sure what it will do with the space.

Candie's, Inc. will assume operations of seven of the Candie's locations for the next 12 to18 months, after which Candie's, Inc. will either purchase the stores from Casual Male, or close the stores. Casual Male plans to convert four of the five Candie's outlet stores not assumed by Candie's, Inc. to either its Casual Male outlet or Ecko Unltd. outlet store concepts during 2004.