Destination XL Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of big + tall men's apparel with retail locations throughout the United States.
The company operates under the trade names of Destination XL, DXL, DXL Big + Tall, DXL Men’s Apparel, DXL outlets, Casual Male XL and Casual Male XL outlets. As of February 1, 2025, the company operated various DXL retail stores, DXL outlet stores, Casual Male XL retail stores, Casual Male XL outlet stores, and a digital bus...
Destination XL Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of big + tall men's apparel with retail locations throughout the United States.
The company operates under the trade names of Destination XL, DXL, DXL Big + Tall, DXL Men’s Apparel, DXL outlets, Casual Male XL and Casual Male XL outlets. As of February 1, 2025, the company operated various DXL retail stores, DXL outlet stores, Casual Male XL retail stores, Casual Male XL outlet stores, and a digital business, including an e-commerce site at www.dxl.com, a mobile site m.destinationXL.com and mobile app.
The company operates as an integrated commerce retailer of big + tall men’s clothing and footwear. Through the company’s multiple brands, which include both national brands and its own brands, it provides a premium, personalized shopping experience, whether in-store or digitally, with a broad range of merchandise at varying price points, catering from the value-oriented customer to the luxury customer.
The company’s best-selling pant has 58 size combinations and a unique fit specification as compared to an average retailer who may have as few as 15 to 20 different size combinations. The company maintains a consolidated inventory assortment across all channels that enables it to manage its in-stock position of all sizes effectively, ultimately improving customer service. Moreover, the company’s planning and allocation methodologies help to optimize each location’s market potential without carrying excessive inventory levels.
The company’s DXL retail stores, e-commerce site, dxl.com, and mobile app cater to all income demographics and offer its customers merchandise to fit a variety of lifestyles from casual to business, young to mature, in all price ranges and in all large sizes from XL and up. In addition, the company offers a selection of footwear in sizes 10W to 17W on its website at dxl.com. The company’s Casual Male XL retail stores primarily carry moderate-priced national brands and its own brands of casual sportswear and dresswear. The company also operates Casual Male XL outlets and DXL outlets for its value-oriented customers.
Business Strategy
The company's strategic initiatives include marketing and brand-building; store development; new website platform; and developing successful collaborations with other brands, who are interested in finding a cost-effective way to expand their offering to include big + tall men's apparel.
Merchandise
The company offers its customers an extensive assortment of apparel consisting of both its own brands and over 100 well-known national brands, within the company’s ‘good,’ ‘better’ and ‘best’ price points. Regardless of the company’s customers’ age, socioeconomic status, or lifestyle preference, the company is able to assemble a wardrobe to fit their apparel needs. With over 5,000 styles available, it carries an extensive selection of tops in sizes up to 8XL and 8XLT, bottoms with waist sizes 38 to 66, and footwear in sizes 10W to 17W.
The company’s stores are merchandised to showcase entire outfits by lifestyle, including traditional, active, modern, tailored and denim. This format allows the company to merchandise key items and seasonal goods in prominent displays and makes coordinating outfits easier for the customer while encouraging multi-item purchases. This lifestyle layout also allows it to manage store space and product assortment effectively in each market to target local demographics.
Merchandise assortments in the company’s DXL stores are organized not only by lifestyle, but within each lifestyle, the assortments are shown in a ‘good,’ ‘better’ and ‘best’ visual presentation. With the ‘best’ merchandise assortments featured most prominently in the DXL store, its customers can visualize fashion trends and select their wardrobes within their desired price points in a convenient manner.
In addition to the company’s exclusive brands, it also works with several other national brands to offer a unique, curated merchandise assortment in sizes 2XL and above that are sold exclusively in its stores and on the company’s website and are not available on the brand’s own website.
During the first quarter of fiscal 2025, the company will be launching the brand TravisMathew, Fit by DXL online and in select stores. TravisMathew is a premium men’s lifestyle apparel brand that blends performance, casual, and golf-inspired styles. The company continues to explore strategic collaborations with other brands that are widely recognized and that could complement its curated assortment.
Value-Priced Apparel – ‘Good’ Merchandise
For the company’s value-oriented customers, it carries Champion, Lee, Wrangler and Reebok. In addition, the company carries the following value-priced private label lines:
Harbor Bay was the company’s first proprietary brand, and it is a traditional line that continues to represent a significant portion of its business, specifically in terms of the company’s core basic merchandise.
Oak Hill is a premium line catering to those customers looking for slightly more style and quality than the company’s Harbor Bay line, but still in a traditional lifestyle.
Synrgy targets the customer looking for a contemporary/modern look.
True Nation is a denim-inspired line consisting of vintage-screen t-shirts and wovens and is geared towards the company’s younger customers.
Society of One is an activewear brand that offers versatile styling options and is grounded by performance technology.
Moderate-Priced Apparel – ‘Better’ Merchandise
The company offers its customers an extensive selection of quality sportswear and dress clothing at moderate prices carrying well-known brands, such as Levi's, Columbia, Carhartt, and Jockey. The company’s exclusive brands in this price range include O’Neill, Nautica, Adidas Golf and vineyard vines. Within the company’s product assortment for Callaway, Majestic and Tommy Bahama, it also offers exclusive styles specially curated for the company’s customers.
Higher-End Fashion Apparel – ‘Best’ Merchandise
Within this higher-end price range, the company carries a broad selection of quality apparel from well-known branded manufacturers, such as The North Face, Polo Ralph Lauren, Jack Victor, Boss, Faherty, Original Penguin Golf, Michael Kors, and Tallia. The company’s exclusive brands in this price range include Brooks Brothers, JOE’S Jeans, 7 for all Mankind, Boss, Faherty, Original Penguin Golf and Robert Barakett. Within the company’s product assortment for Psycho Bunny, Lucky and Robert Graham, it also offers exclusive styles specially curated for the company’s customers. Polo Ralph Lauren builds one collection each quarter for the company’s customers that is exclusive to DXL.
Footwear
The company’s DXL website offers an assortment of footwear, with a broad selection from casual to formal, in varying price points. The company has a selection of more than 200 styles of footwear, ranging in sizes from 10W to 17W, including designer brands, such as Cole Haan, Timberland, Sketchers, New Balance, Reebok and Deerstags.
Store Channel
DXL Men’s Apparel Stores
As of February 1, 2025, the company operated various DXL retail stores that cater to its diverse customer base, with merchandise representing all price points, from the company’s higher-end brands to value-oriented brands, and all lifestyles, from business to denim. The size of the company’s DXL stores averages 7,300 square feet. The company’s DXL stores are located on real estate that is highly visible, often adjacent to high-performing regional malls or other high-traffic shopping areas.
During fiscal 2024, the company opened seven new DXL stores, re-located two DXL stores, converted eight Casual Male XL stores to the DXL format and completed five DXL store remodels. These new DXL stores offer an updated look and feel both inside and outside, with the store layout focusing on improving the company’s customer engagement and their overall shopping experience.
Casual Male XL Retail Stores
As of February 1, 2025, the company operated various Casual Male XL full-price retail stores, which are located primarily in strip centers or stand-alone locations. The majority of the merchandise carried in the company’s Casual Male XL stores consists of moderate-priced basic or fashion-neutral items, such as jeans, casual pants, t-shirts, polo shirts, dress shirts and suit separates. These stores also carry a full complement of the company’s own brand collections. The average Casual Male XL retail store is approximately 3,100 square feet.
DXL Outlet /Casual Male XL Outlet Stores
As of February 1, 2025, the company operated various DXL outlet stores and Casual Male XL outlet stores designed to offer a wide range of casual clothing for the big + tall customer at prices that are generally 20-25% lower than its moderate-priced merchandise. Much of the merchandise in the company’s outlet stores is offered at discounted prices to cater to the value-oriented customer. In addition to its own brands and national brands at the company’s ‘good’ price tier, its outlets also carry clearance product obtained from DXL and Casual Male XL stores, offering the outlet customer the ability to purchase brand and fashion product for a reduced price.
The average DXL outlet is approximately 5,100 square feet and the average Casual Male XL outlet store is approximately 3,000 square feet.
Direct Channel
The company’s direct business is a critical channel for growing sales and market share through new customer acquisition and digital engagement of the active file.
The company defines its direct business as sales that originate online, whether through the company’s website, its app, online at the store level, the company’s Guest Engagement Center, or a third-party marketplace. The company wants to serve its customers wherever and however they want to shop, whether in-person at a store, over the telephone, or online via a computer, smartphone or tablet.
A key to being a successful integrated commerce retailer is having the ability to showcase all the company’s store inventories online, resulting in additional transactions that are initiated online, but are ultimately completed in store. In addition, the company’s stores are able to fulfill an order for an item that is out-of-stock in its warehouse. This capability has not only resulted in incremental sales, but it has also helped the company reduce clearance merchandise at the store level and manage margins.
DXL Website and App
The company’s DXL website and app have been instrumental in its growth as the company continues to see its consumers shift to online shopping helping to drive higher new customer acquisition for the website business.
During fiscal 2024, the company upgraded its website from its legacy infrastructure to a new, modern e-commerce platform, with various features and functionality, with final migration efforts scheduled to be completed by April 2025.
Digital Sales at Store Level
In the support of the company’s integrated commerce approach, its store associates use the company’s website to help fulfill its in-store customers’ clothing needs. If a wider selection of a lifestyle, color or size of an item is not available in the company’s store, then its store associates can order the item for the company’s customer online through its direct channel and have it shipped to the store or directly to the customer. The company’s customers also have the ability to shop online by store and pick-up the item in store on the same day.
Digital Marketplaces
The company continues to extend its reach through digital, third-party marketplaces. A portion of the company’s assortment remains available on Amazon.com and Walmart.com. Digital marketplaces provide the company an opportunity to drive awareness, grow its customer base and introduce new customers to the company’s brand.
Merchandise Planning and Allocation
The company’s merchandise planning and allocation function is critical to the effective management of its inventory, store assortments, product sizes and overall gross margin profitability. The merchandise planning and allocation team has an array of planning and replenishment tools available to assist in maintaining an appropriate level of inventory, in-stock positions at each store and the direct channel, and pre-season planning for product assortments for each store and the direct channel. Over the past several years, the company has made, and it will continue to make, investments in implementing best practice tools and processes for the company’s merchandise planning and allocation.
The company’s evergreen merchandise made up approximately 43% of its merchandise assortment in fiscal 2024. The company’s planning and allocation team estimates quantity and demand several months in advance to optimize gross margin and minimize end-of-season merchandise for all seasonal merchandise. The company develops customized assortment strategies by store that accentuate lifestyle preferences for each store.
The company’s merchandising data warehouse provides the merchandising team with standardized reporting for monitoring assortment performance by product category and by store, identifying in-stock positions by size and generally monitoring overall inventory levels relative to selling. At season end, the company analyzes the overall performance of product categories, overall assortments and specific styles by store to focus on the opportunities and challenges for the next season’s planning cycle.
The merchandise planning and allocation team utilizes a set of specific universal reporting tools in fulfilling their daily, weekly and monthly roles and responsibilities. These reporting tools provide focused and actionable views of the business to optimize the overall assortment by category and by store. The company is confident that its inventory performance is optimized by having all members of the merchandise planning and allocation team follow a standardized set of processes with the use of standardized reporting tools.
Store Operations
The company’s store associates are critical to creating the highest quality experience for its guests. The culture in the company’s stores is to be guest-centric—to engage and build a relationship with each of its customers. The second is that the company’s stores need to be clean, neat and organized to allow the ‘just-looking’ customer to find what he needs with ease. The third is that the company’s stores serve as mini-distribution centers. The majority of the company’s stores are able to fulfill customer orders that were placed online in one of its digital channels. The company’s associates are well versed in not only the product selection carried in their specific store, but also the product selection carried online.
The company’s multi-unit field management team receives extensive training on recruiting associates who are the correct fit for its stores. All store associates participate in the company’s DXL FIT Expert Training and Certification program as part of its commitment to deliver a great guest experience.
Marketing and Advertising
The company’s marketing initiatives are critical to driving its sales growth by increasing traffic to the company’s stores, website and app. The company’s brand initiatives invite its customer to experience not only the depth of the company’s assortment, but also the breadth of exclusivity across its brands by offering brands and styles that are not available elsewhere. The company is providing him with the freedom to choose his own style and wear what he wants. Big + Tall is all it does, and the company trades on the belief that it offers superior fit, assortment, and experience to him and through these initiatives the company is eager to develop relationships with its customers that are built on respect, trust, and belonging.
Building brand awareness remains the company’s greatest opportunity for the long term. However, until consumer spending in the men’s apparel sector begins to improve, the company’s marketing efforts will remain more targeted and personalized, enabling it to engage differently with each of the company’s customers based on their shopping behaviors across all its buying channels. The company’s ongoing work on enhancing its customer segmentation will ultimately drive the company’s long-term marketing strategy, enabling it to create targeted and personalized content and messaging to the company’s various customer segments. The company maintains a stringent, analytical perspective to its marketing program, focusing on understanding incremental outcomes in addition to the ‘return on ad spend’ throughout all the company’s programs. This data-driven philosophy extends across all the company’s marketing initiatives as it looks at new ways to engage the company’s customers.
The company’s marketing programs include email, direct mail, direct marketing, digital marketing, social media, and streaming media, among others. The company ended its legacy loyalty program at the end of fiscal 2024, and in February 2025, the company launched its new DXL Rewards program on a new platform. The new DXL Rewards program introduces new loyalty elements, such as more compelling benefits, based on tier migration through spend rather than through points or other loyalty currencies.
Global Sourcing
The company’s global sourcing strategy is a balanced approach, which considers quality, cost and lead-time, depending on the requirements of the program. The company’s sourcing structure meets its operating requirements and provides capacity for growth.
The company has built a strong internal team with extensive experience that is responsible for managing an international network of vendors and suppliers across the globe. The company has established strong relationships with many of the leading factories and mills across the globe. The company’s sourcing network consists of over 30 factories in nine countries that are experts in big + tall sizing and production. In fiscal 2024, approximately 52% of all the company’s product needs were sourced directly. The company manufactures a significant percentage of its own brand merchandise in Bangladesh, India, and Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam and Cambodia. The company continues to reduce dependency on China, with less than 5% of its own brands sourced from China, inclusive of the company’s raw materials and trims; and has moved certain programs into countries in the Western Hemisphere that have duty-free opportunities, such as Nicaragua and Mexico.
Distribution
All the company’s retail distribution operations are centralized at its headquarters located in Canton, Massachusetts. Having a centralized distribution facility maximizes the selling space and in-stock position of its stores and reduces the necessary levels of backroom stock. In addition, the distribution center provides order fulfillment services for the company’s e-commerce business. In-bound calls for its e-commerce business are primarily fulfilled by the company’s distribution center, and if an order cannot be fulfilled by its distribution center, the order is completed at the store level.
The company’s supply chain technology provides visibility for imports and domestic deliveries giving its buyers accurate shipping information and allowing the distribution center to plan staffing for arriving freight, resulting in reduced costs and improved receipt efficiency.
The company’s warehousing application and labor management system enables it to streamline the company’s distribution processes, enhance its in-transit times, and reduce the company’s distribution costs. The company will continually work to make improvements and upgrades to its software.
For store shipments and domestic customer deliveries, the company uses large national carriers. The company is able to track all deliveries from the warehouse to its individual stores, including the status of in-transit shipments. In addition, the company is able to provide its direct customers with Authorized Return Service and Web labels, making returns more convenient for them.
To service the company’s international customers, it has contracted with a global e-commerce company for payment and shipment services.
Competition
Discount retailers with significant buying power, such as Walmart, Kohl's and J.C. Penney, represent a source of competition for the company.
Seasonality
Historically, and consistent with the retail industry, the company has experienced seasonal fluctuations in its operating income, net income, and free cash flow. Traditionally, a significant portion of the company’s operating income, net income, and free cash flow is generated in the second and fourth quarters. The company’s inventory is typically at peak levels by the end of the first and third quarters, which represents a significant use of cash, which is then relieved in the second and fourth quarter as it sells-down its inventory through the spring and holiday shopping seasons (for the year ended February 2025).
Trademarks
The company owns several service marks and trademarks relating to its businesses, including among others, Destination XL, DXL, DXL Men's Apparel, Big on Being Better, Casual Male, Casual Male XL, Harbor Bay, Oak Hill, Continuous Comfort, Synrgy, Society of One, True Nation and Wear What You Want. The company also holds a U.S. patent for an extendable collar system, which is marketed as ‘Neck-Relaxer’ and a U.S. copyright for a no-iron hang tag.
History
The company was founded in 1976. It was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1976 under the name Designs, Inc. The company was formerly known as Casual Male Retail Group, Inc. and changed its name to Destination XL Group, Inc. in 2013.
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