PVH CEO: Second-half Turnaround | Mad Money | CNBC

Yeah, look, in this market in particular, for the business right in front of us, the second quarter, we've really seen some softness in the business, particularly as the first quarter ended and the second quarter started. I think that's reflected in our numbers and our guidance as we've gone forward. The positive things from our perspective is we've more or less been able to hold our guidance in place for the year, and we're looking for the second half of the year to start to see a bit of a turnaround. We're up against much easier comparisons as we get into July and beyond, the second half of the year, and I think we're positioned to capture that as we go forward.

Well, particularly in our areas, the discussion around tariffs and the trade dispute hasn't hit us at this point yet, so that's not the issue that we're seeing going forward. What we're really just seeing is a slowdown in growth, a slowdown in retail sales in general as we're looking at it. Big impact here in the US is lack of international tourism and tourism purchases. The strong dollar continues. Currencies from when I was here three months ago are down three to six percent, so we're really feeling it there.

Oh, it's a great brand. It hasn't led you astray for a very long time.

Down for here in North America. Overall, the Tommy brand grew on a constant currency basis about five percent, so nine percent, excuse me, four percent reported basis. So the business internationally continues to do positively, but comps in the United States... Look, I can't walk away from the comps here in the United States. In the outlet channel of distribution, where we have a big position, it's really under pressure. You're talking about a Macy's, you're talking about a JCPenney. These are companies that did not report good numbers. Is their inventory kicking around now? Is that what's going to happen? Is it going to go to TJX? Is it out there? So right now, I would say inventories are in relatively good shape. If things start to back up, we've really seen the retailers react to that, and we've reacted and really put it in our numbers. We took our sales down in the second half in connection with a real concern about the business going forward, but have been able to hold our profits together so far as we've come here. So we're looking for the business as we start to anniversary some tougher comps next year. The comps get somewhat easier as we get into the second half of the year, and that's what we're pointing to at this point right now. As we've come out of the first quarter into the second quarter, the retail backdrop here in the states is pretty challenging. That includes e-commerce, includes Amazon. Our growth continues very strong digitally. That business continues to grow 20% for us, our owned and operated and our partner sites that we do, macys.com, amazon.com. That business is up 20%. I think the strength of our brands really plays well there, but we are at a moment where brick-and-mortar retail, with the trade disputes, the rhetoric around trade tensions, really is impacting consumer spending.

Well, I think we're all struggling with that. When you look at the consumer and you look at wages and you look at just the general environment, you would feel much stronger. I think you have to put some things in perspective. This time last year, coming off of the tax cuts, the momentum that was there... This time last year, clearly our first four or five months of last year, our comp sales were up 11%. I mean, Tommy up high single digits and Calvin. So you're seeing now a retrenchment off of that. There was tremendous momentum. They came out of that first quarter and we knew we'd be up against that. We tried to put that into the numbers, and we delivered the earnings and in our sales estimates for the first quarter. But as we look at the second quarter, we felt we really had a pullback there, and still have been able to hold it together, but it's in a much more challenging environment. Look, there's no walking away from the fact that the consumer is feeling more pressure here and in China, and you can't walk away from the fact that the trade disputes and the issues are creating a bit of a hangover with the consumer.

So look, I think our board, myself, succession planning is a key issue for all companies. That's actually... I just signed a new five-year contract. I'm here for the next as CEO for the next three to four years. But I think we've put a plan in place where people can feel comfortable that we have a strategy in place, we have a management succession plan. You know, this will be my 15th year as President and CEO of PVH, and as you get older, people start to ask questions: how much longer are you going to do it? So I think this... I mean, that's just kidding.

I think in fairness, you can't fight the tape. I think the general sense is the consumer is under pressure. Retail is going to be under pressure for a while. I think we're best positioned to capture the growth and the market share that will come out of that, given our balance sheet strength and the way we've managed the business. If past is prologue, we have to just get through this.