Our 4-4-5 Retail Calendar (for North America only) measures out 12 reporting periods of four or five weeks, spanning 364 days per year -- one day short of the calendar year of 365 days. The consequence is that the reporting periods drift backward on the calendar by approximately one day per year. This requires a "leap week" to be added to the January reporting period (typically a four-week period) every five to six years in order to preserve the seasonal integrity of the months.

The January 2007 reporting period will include the required "leap week" and will therefore be a five-week month. This adjustment is consistent with the NRF's published retailer calendar. The January 2008 reporting period will return to a four-week duration.

Please watch for more information to come.

The software and consumer electronics companies are expected to introduce bits and pieces this year that could make significant strides toward that goal, said Stephen Baker, an analyst with market research firm NPD Group.

"What Joseph Abboud is doing is counter to the market," said Marshal Cohen , chief retail analyst at NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y. "It allows them to be more nimble and separate themselves and be in control of what they're doing. Their destiny is in their own hands. It's better than relying on traditional forms of importing."