The Joseph Abboud clothing label may soon be reunited with its sharp-dressed founder and namesake.
HMX Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx suit labels, has submitted an all-cash offer of more than $90 million for JA Apparel, the New York-based firm that owns the Joseph Abboud brand, sources told The Post.
The offer looks poised to edge past a rival bid, also valued at more than $90 million, made last month by Iconix Brand Group, the owner of consumer labels that include Rocawear, Marc Ecko and the Peanuts cartoon strip.
The offer from Iconix, whose business model is to license brands rather then operate them, has been hung up by questions about what to do with JA Apparel’s wholesale suit business, as well as the company’s Massachusetts-based factory, sources said.
Meanwhile, sources said HMX, which operates a handful of factories in the US and Canada, is looking to put the Joseph Abboud brand under the supervision of its original namesake designer, who last year was hired by HMX as chief creative officer.
HMX, whose predecessor company, Hartmarx, was scooped out of bankruptcy in 2009 by India-based apparel giant SKNL, has “been angling to buy the Joseph Abboud brand for a long, long time,” according to one insider. “It’s a key reason why they hired Joseph to begin with.”
According to a person briefed on the situation, HMX wants the Joseph Abboud label to become the basis for a men’s clothing empire that mimics the business model of Polo Ralph Lauren, whose collections range from tailored to casual, and luxury to mid-price.
Abboud, whose earth-tone colors and luxe fabrics were a hit with the business crowd in the 1980s and 1990s, sold the rights to his own trademark in 2000 for $65 million. He left JA Apparel in 2005 after a brief stint as its designer, and until last year was entangled in a series of legal disputes with the firm.
“[Designer] Joseph Abboud is a huge talent who can deliver great quality, great cuts and great design,” said Marc Beckman of Designers Management Agency. “But they’ve been taken downmarket for a while, and to go in and resuscitate the brand may take a long time.”
JA Apparel was formed by investment firm J.W. Childs, which paid $73 million for the Joseph Abboud trademark in 2004.
An HMX rep couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.james.covert@nypost.com