Barneys New York
Barneys New York is an American brand founded in 1923 by Barney Pressman that operated full-line department stores from 1923 until 2020. Barneys introduced major luxury brands to the American market including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Zegna.
Barneys New York filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019. Authentic Brands Group acquired Barneys' intellectual property and has licensed the brand to Saks Fifth Avenue for specialty departments within its flagship stores since 2021. As of 2026, Barneys continues its partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, with two branches operating in New York City and Greenwich. Along with this, the partnership with Laox Holdings continues with six standalone locations and four outlet stores in Japan. The skincare and fragrance line Barneys New York Beauty also operates under a licence with the South-Korean Gloent Group.
Operations under Pressman family ownership
Early history
initially opened a men's discount clothing store. His first store was in a space with of frontage at Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street in Manhattan in 1923. He raised the $500 to pay the lease by pawning his wife's engagement ring. Barney's Clothes were stocked with 40 brand name suits and a big sign with a slogan, "No Bunk, No Junk, No Imitations". Barney's sold clothing at discounted prices by purchasing showroom samples, retail overstocks, and manufacturers' closeouts at auctions and bankruptcy sales. He also offered free alterations and free parking to attract customers. And this first-of-its-kind store gained Barney Pressman numerous appearances on TV and radio shows.Pressman claimed to be the first Manhattan retailer to use radio and television, beginning with "Calling All Men to Barney's" radio spots in the 1930s that parodied the introduction of the Dick Tracy show. He sponsored radio programs featuring Irish tenors and bands playing jigs to advertise Irish woolens. Women encased in barrels gave away matchbooks with the store name and address. He also chartered a boat to take 2,000 of his customers from Manhattan to Coney Island.
During the 1960s Barney Pressman's son, Fred, helped transition from a discount store to a luxury retailer."
In a 1973 interview with Business Week, Fred Pressman stated that he became "convinced that the discount route definitely was not for us. My father and I have always hated cheap goods... I didn't want to sell low-end merchandise. Now, many of those who chose to are verging on bankruptcy." Fred Pressman's obituary in The New York Times stated:
With his father's blessing, Fred Pressman slowly transformed the store from a salty discount house that sold roast beef sandwiches in its pub to a purveyor of Italian designers with a cafe serving Perrier and light salads. He began to discard the types of suits that his father was prone to unearthing at auctions and bankruptcy sales, peppering the racks instead with then-obscure and top-name designers both, but continued to offer touches like free alterations that gave Barneys its reputation.
Pressman is quoted as saying, "The best value you can offer a customer is personal attention to every detail, and they will return again and again. Ultimately, the customer cares the most about how he or she is treated." Pressman died in July 1996.
In 1970, Barney's built a fifth story onto its original building and a five-story addition. The original store was renamed America House and the addition was named International House. The expanded store occupied the entire Seventh Avenue block, with of selling space and 20 individual shops.
International House, Fred Pressman promised, would feature complete collections of European designers, "from denim pants to $250 suits", not just a watered-down "potpourri of fabrics and models". The renovated America House, he said, would hold merchandise from "manufacturers who are in effect designers".
By 1973, the store was stocking 60,000 suits. It carried the full lines of designers such as Bill Blass, Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, and Hubert de Givenchy. It became the first clothing store in the U.S. to stock the full line of Giorgio Armani, after signing an agreement in 1976. Barneys is widely credited to have introduced Giorgio Armani to the American market.
Women's clothing was introduced in 1976 on the third floor of the International House. In the following year, the women's store relocated to The Penthouse, a new top-level enclosure. Barney's also added housewares, cosmetics, and gift departments to the store. Also in 1977, Barney's in-store restaurant was renamed The Cafe and began selling salads, soup and sandwiches.
Barney's to Barneys
The company dropped the apostrophe in Barney's in 1981. In 1981, the women's penthouse became a duplex. Barneys imported 80% of the women's and 40% of the men's merchandise. The $25 million, women's store finally opened in 1986 in a row of six townhouses and two larger adjacent buildings across the store along 17th Street. The addition included a unisex beauty salon and restaurant, antiques, and accessories, gifts, and housewares departments. It accounted for about one-third of Barneys' sales of some $90 million the following year.In 1988, Barneys opened a men's store in the World Financial Center. The store abandoned its Seventh Avenue flagship in 1997 four years after opening a new flagship, Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed Manhattan store on Madison Avenue at East 61st Street. It was the largest new store in New York City since the Great Depression. The building has 22 floors with 14 floors of offices above the nine-story store. The wood floors, a marble mosaic on the lobby floor, gold-leaf ceilings, and lacquered walls of the new Barneys store cost $267 million.
In 1989, the store formed a holding company with Japanese department store Isetan to operate stores in both countries. The first Tokyo store opened in November 1990. The agreement also called for the holding company to spend $250,000,000 to open 30 smaller stores of approximately. The earliest of these smaller format stores opened in Costa Mesa, California in 1990.
Barneys opened its first department store outside Manhattan in Chicago, in 1993, followed by another large store in Beverly Hills, California, in 1994.
1996 bankruptcy
In 1995, the Pressman family intended to close the investment relationship with Isetan consolidating the Barneys retail business and Isetan investment in the United States real estate for the Barneys flagship stores in New York, Chicago, and Beverly Hills. At the conclusion of this consolidation, the real estate investment and the retail businesses would be held in one company.During the consolidation effort, Isetan's final funding of the real estate investment was intended to be processed through a Pressman family holding company, PREEN and then directed to the real estate development. Instead of the funds flowing directly through the holding company to the real estate investment, they were given in exchange to BNY Licensing for the projected 50 year royalty stream due BNY Licensing from Isetan for their Barneys Japan business. Isetan was unaware of this transaction at the time.
Isetan had reported their investment in Barneys earlier in the year as a current asset expressing their intent and belief that it would be concluded in 1995/first quarter 1996. Isetan considered the handling of the final investment a breach in trust, and stopped efforts to consolidate the investment and the Pressman family business.
In December 1995, under the advice of John P. Campo of LeBeouf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and Anthony Grillo of The Blackstone Group, the Pressmans recognizing that consolidating the investment and the business was no longer viable, voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. It was believed that, only in bankruptcy court, could the agreement between the Pressman family and Isetan be dismissed and a new agreement be negotiated. The strategy failed.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early January 1996. During the bankruptcy some stores shuttered, including Cleveland, Ohio; Costa Mesa, California; Dallas and Houston, Texas; and Short Hills, New Jersey. In subsequent years, management would re-enter some of these markets with larger flagship stores.
Operations during 21st century
2000–2010
On December 20, 2004, the Pressman family sold its remaining ownership, less than 2%, to the Jones Apparel Group, which in turn sold the company in September 2007 to Dubai-based private equity firm Istithmar PJSC for $937.4 million.Included in Istithmar's purchase was an estimated $500 million in debt. "The luxury market took a sharp turn for the worse after Istithmar's acquisition of Barneys. U.S. sales of high end clothing, fragrances and accessories slipped 14% in 2009, according to Bain & Co. Although luxury was a star performer over the 2010 holiday season, spending trends have yet to recover to pre-recessionary levels. The privately held company doesn't reveal financial results but said that EBITDA rose by $30 million in 2010."
2010–2020
Howard Socol, Barneys' former CEO, resigned shortly after the change in ownership. The company failed to fill the position for over two years until it appointed Mark Lee to the post in September 2010. Lee is the former chief executive of Gucci Group and has consulted and sat on the board of many other fashion companies. After Lee's appointment, Barneys experienced changes in its staff, advertising, and website. Amanda Brooks, former creative director of Hogan, replaced longtime fashion director, Julie Gilhart. Lee's former Gucci colleague, Daniella Vitale, replaced Judy Collinson as head merchant. Former creative director Simon Doonan, now creative ambassador-at-large, was replaced by Dennis Freedman.Barney's advertisements and catalogs are usually shot in-house, but for Spring 2011 candid shots by art photographers such as William Klein, Nan Goldin and Juergen Teller were taken behind-the-scenes during New York Fashion Week. Some existing stores saw new renovations such as the Madison Avenue location's main floor and Co-Op levels. The traditional red awnings were changed to black. In 2011, Barneys' launched a new website called "The Window", which was the retailer's primary "social media landing page"—a window into the Barneys world, with news about fashion and happenings at Barneys stores.
As of February 2011, Barneys no longer sold Prada because of disagreements concerning prices and inventory control. Prada wanted to lease space, but control its own inventory and markdowns under a concession model. Barneys declined.
In May 2012, Perry Capital acquired a majority ownership of the company, which reduced its $590 million debt to $50 million. It will have three seats on the seven-member board. The former majority owner Istithmar World as well as new investor Yucaipa Cos will also be on the board as will current executive chairman Mark Lee.
In December 2013, Women's Wear Daily announced that the retailer would return to the portion of its original Seventh Avenue site being vacated by bankrupt Loehmann's. In January 2014, Barneys announced that it would feature transgender models in its upcoming advertisement campaign.
In February 2016, Barneys New York returned to its original Seventh Avenue location in Chelsea opening a four-story flagship store. Daniella Vitale was named chief executive officer, succeeding Lee, in February 2017.