The management at Urban Outfitters Inc. promises that the first quarter of its fiscal 2002, which ended April 30, will be the last bleak quarter of the year.
Shareholders can only cross their fingers.
Net income in the quarter plunged 60 percent from the same period last year, and comparable store sales were down 5 percent, according to a May 17 report from the company. David Frankel, the new president of the wholesale division, was most recently president of CK Apparel Corp., the licensee for Calvin Klein Menswear in the United States. A Wharton graduate and former equity analyst covering footwear and apparel for Paine Webber Inc., Frankel has also worked for St. John Knits Inc. and Liz Claiborne Inc., in a variety of positions including sales, merchandising and new business development. The wholesale division, which had been without a president for eight months since the departure of Michael Schultz, sells to a range of retailers, including Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, and specialty chains like Wet Seal. It also sells to independent specialty stores.