Men's Wearhouse (NYSE: MW) issued second-quarter results after the bell on Wednesday. In terms of bottom-line performance, the retailer passed with flying colors. Earnings per share increased to 75 cents per share from the adjusted 72 cents per share observed a year ago. Granted, that's only a three-penny difference, but when it comes to expectations, well, they were blown out the door. According to Reuters, Wall Street was only preparing for 60 cents per share.

Unfortunately, the top-line picture wasn't so pretty. Total sales fell 3.5%, and same-store sales for all of the company's brands declined. The flagship Men's Wearhouse concept saw a comps dip of 2%.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) announced on Thursday that its same-store sales plummeted 29% in August. These results were worse than the expected drop of 23.9%.

Sales in all of its divisions were worse than expected, with sales at the Abercrombie & Fitch flagship store plunging 26%. Sales dropped 32% at Hollister, 37% at Ruehl (which will close at the year's end), and 26% at the company's children's retail outlet.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO), a fashion retailer that competes with Gap (NYSE: GPS) and Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), didn't do too well in Q2. Total sales went down 5%, and earnings per share on a GAAP basis fell a most awful 50% to 14 cents. According to Bloomberg, the adjusted earnings of 12 cents per share came up short of analyst expectations by three pennies.

Same-store sales hit the double-digit mark to the downside: they decreased 10%. Not a good number for this kind of business. Promotional markdowns helped to drive the gross margin down. The operating margin also took a hit.

Ann Taylor Stores (NYSE: ANN) reported earnings for the second quarter this past Friday. I didn't think the results were good at all, but the stock did close higher by the end of the trading session. On an adjusted basis, net income dropped like a rock to 6 cents per share from 53 cents per share in the year-ago period. According to Bloomberg, Ann Taylor beat estimates by 3 cents.

Interestingly enough, the market did agree with me early on. That Bloomberg piece mentioned how the shares experienced a decline upon the release. Later on, the shares rebounded as buyers stepped in to partake of a perceived opportunity.

Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), a retailer that competes with Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO), and Gap (NYSE: GPS), posted what I thought was a superb second-quarter earnings summary on Thursday after the bell. The figures were very appealing, and I would've expected a better after-hours reaction by the stock to the news. Then again, the market can never be predicted. It will do whatever the heck it wants.

Net sales increased 20%. Not bad, am I right? Wait, check this out. Earnings per share came in at 57 cents, compared to the 31 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. According to Reuters, that was a penny ahead of expectations. But that penny beat on the bottom line isn't what impresses me the most. It's the strong per-share profit expansion that I find compelling.

After filing for bankruptcy protection a month ago, Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. (OTC: EBHIQ) is already seeing the suitors line up. Iconix Brand Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ICON), which owns Rocawear, is showing some interest. Hilco Consumer Capital and Gordon Brothers Group LLC are also looking to make a joint offer for the embattled clothing retailer, and Golden Gate Capital is said to be interested. Hudson Capital Partners LLC may throw its hat in the ring, as well.

Tomorrow's the bidding deadline, and there's an auction lined up for Eddie Bauer's assets on Thursday.

Already in the game, CCMP Capital Advisors ponied up $202 million in a "stalking horse bid," meaning that it will make the acquisition if nobody else beats its offer.

For now, Bauer's is living on borrowed time -- and cash. The company got court permission to take a loan for $100 million to keep the operation moving until an acquisition or auction is complete.

The private equity firms rumored to be eyeing Eddie Bauer have retail and apparel companies in their portfolios, which suggests a possibility that the company could be turned around with the right investment and management team. If not, I wonder if they'll sell the window decorations at the auction . . . always wanted my living room to look like a mall.

Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES), a fashion retailer that competes in the mall with companies like Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), Gap (NYSE: GPS), and JCPenney (NYSE: JCP), told the market how it did in Q1 on Thursday after the bell. As I write this during the early afternoon on Friday, shares of Guess? are up well over 6% on very good volume. Was there something to this earnings report?

I didn't think the numbers were particularly fetching. Revenues declined nearly 10%, thanks in part to the effects of currency translation (maybe that should be no thanks). Earnings per share came in at $0.35, a massive 30% decline. And same-store sales in North America dipped 10% (take out currency, and the dip was 6%, which still wasn't good).

Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD), the retailer that runs stores such as Bath & Body Works, Pink, and the sexy Victoria's Secret, issued its Q1 numbers after the bell on Wednesday.

The bottom line didn't look bad. Not that it looked great, mind you. The company earned 1 cent per share. The fact that there was any profit at all was big news. According to analysts, a loss of 3 cents per share was more likely.

The revenue picture was not so pretty, however. Net sales dropped by 10%. And same-store sales decreased 7%. I guess buying lingerie isn't a top priority during a time when jobs are being cut and consumers look in terror upon their 401(k) balances.

Retail is abysmal right now, and apparel is getting totally hammered.

But one segment of that market is holding up pretty well: clothing for teens. The USA Today reports that Buckle (NASDAQ: BKE), Hot Topic (NASDAQ: HOTT), and Aéropostale (NYSE: ARO) were the only specialty stores this week to report positive same-store sales in March.

Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president at the management consulting and research firm Retail Forward, told the newspaper that "Teens are still growing and might actually need new clothes."

Shares of women's specialty retailer Chico's FAS (NYSE: CHS) rose slightly yesterday despite the company posting another quarterly loss.

The operator of 1,074 Chico's, White House/Black Market and Soma Intimates stores said its fourth-quarter loss widened on store impairment charges and severance costs, but absent those charges results exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

The loss for the quarter was $40.5 million, or 23 cents per share including the charges, and 14 cents per share without. Last year's fourth-quarter loss was $20.5 million, or 12 cents per share. Sales fell 9% from a year ago to $373.4 million, while same-store sales were off 13% overall (17% at Chico's and 5% at White House/Black Market).

After a long six months of watching retail sales continue to slip, we get a bit of good news today, as January retail sales actually moved a bit higher.

Before today's announcement, analysts had been expecting that January would be the seventh straight month of falling retail sales, and the consensus was that we would see around 0.8% in the month. The good news is that retail sales were indeed higher in January, with a reported 1% jump during the month.

Goody's, the low-priced apparel chain that operates 282 stores in the Southeast, will be liquidating its entire operation. The company has 10,000 employees.

Goody's had no choice but to liquidate after it couldn't work out a restructuring plan with its creditors. The company has been operating under bankruptcy protection since June.

Goody's is now seeking bids to liquidate its inventory and other assets, and will likely be holding going out of business sales very soon.

The company also earns the distinction of being the first major liquidation announcement of 2009. Regardless of how quickly a recovery comes, there will likely be many more like it over the next few months. The winners of all these specialty discount retailers bankruptcies are stores like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT). Goody's was probably a pretty feeble competitor even in its prime but the big box stores now have less competition than ever in the affordable clothing department.

It's a really bad time to be in low-end apparel. Levis Strauss, which is privately owned but has publicly-traded bonds and therefore reports its earnings, saw its second quarter operating income decline from $118 million to $52 million, driven by an 8% decline in revenue and increased selling, general and administrative costs.

President and CEO John Anderson commented that "The retail environment in the United States remained challenging. . . Increasingly difficult economic conditions in many markets worldwide are impacting consumer spending, but our brands remain strong."

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that the company's bonds that come due in 2015 have fallen to 95.75 cents on the dollar after 5.5 cent drop in the past week -- the debt carries junk ratings and, given the absolute garbage that's rated investment grade these days, that's saying something.

With all the awful reports coming out on fashion and apparel companies lately -- and the beatings the stocks have taken -- you have to wonder whether they're becoming a good contrarian play. People will buy new clothes eventually, won't they?

Consumer prices rose 0.2% in April 2008, the U.S. Labor Department announced Wednesday, a statistic below the consensus estimate as oil prices moderated during month, offsetting rising food prices.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected April 2008 consumer prices to increase 0.3%. Consumer prices increased 0.3% in March 2008.

Also, the core rate, which excludes the frequently-volatile food and energy component, rose just 0.2% in April 2008, inline with the Bloomberg News survey 0.2% consensus estimate.

On a year-over-year basis, consumer prices have risen 3.9% and the core rate has risen 2.3%. The core rate remains slightly above U.S. Federal Reserve's 'comfort zone' for inflation. The Fed uses the core CPI rate as one of its primary gauges of consumer-based inflation.

April 2008 CPI: 'Surprisingly tame'

Economist David H. Wang said the April 2008 CPI report was a bit of a surprise -- one that may help the U.S. economy. "The report was surprisingly tame. We do see rising food costs, but the energy component was not as bad as expected," Wang said. "Also, core year-over-year inflation is not too bad, and the Fed [U.S. Federal Reserve] will look favorably upon this, if it remains moderate."

Who can forget the advertising campaign a number of years back that threw social watch dogs into fits over Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF). That particular advertising foray employed the lithe bodies of teen and preteen boys and girls in a way which, while certainly drawing attention, underscored today's excessive use of underage sexuality in advertising. Parent groups and child protective agencies were enraged, as well they might be. However, a recent ad campaign launched by Beyonce and her House of Dereon, clothes for girls, makes Abercrombie's misadventures look about as harmless as a day at the zoo.

A blog post presented by our sister blog Styledash, reveals the shocking truth about the clothing ad campaign, which is the brainchild of Beyonce and her mother, Tina Knowles. Blogger Kristen Seymour espouses the danger in this type of advertising by describing the presentation in the terms of "Go on, baby, and earn your lunch money the old-fashioned way."

The gallery provided by Styledash is self-explanatory and might serve to turn the stomachs of little girl's parents everywhere. Certainly, Beyonce and her advertising agency have accomplished what they wanted to. We can also believe that Abercrombie & Fitch shall benefit slightly with a parallel focus to its own questionable advertising strategy. However, we need only to remember the enigmatic fate of JonBenet Ramsey to realize down which road this type of advertising strategy may lead.

(Thanks to Styledash for the tip, Additional thanks to Gawker)