About those 70% markdowns

Clothing makers aren't thrilled about some of their merchandise being discounted so heavily this holiday season - and they might ask retailers to eat more of the markdowns. At stake is well over $1 billion, according to analysts' estimates. Just what the chains need, right? From Bloomberg:

Department-store owners typically set discounts with input from their suppliers and in previous years have had leverage in passing on markdown costs. This time, the retailers may be willing to shoulder more of the burden to help keep vendors solvent, said Michael Appel, a managing director at Quest Turnaround Advisors LLC, a Purchase, New York-based firm that provides crisis management services to retailers. “Their results are going to be so bad anyway, it’s not going to make much difference,” said Appel, who sits on the board of women’s clothing chain Charming Shoppes Inc.