Apparel next for Amazon.com?

Dot-com champ Amazon.com is reportedly developing a multibrand online apparel store featuring goods from Lands’ End, Nordstrom, The Gap, and Old Navy, according to “The Wall Street Journal.” Representatives from Amazon would not comment, nor would those from the merchants contacted. The arrangement with the catalogers and retailers will enable the Amazon customers to shop for clothes while buying Amazon’s books, music, and other hard goods sold on Amazon’s site. The report says that the partner companies will handle their own fulfillment.

Amazon also signed an agreement with multititle mailer Hanover Direct to offer some of the cataloger’s merchandise to customers on a preview site on Amazon. Hanover’s titles include specialty-size women’s apparel book Silhouettes, men’s apparel catalog International Male, and bedding and home decor catalogs The Company Store and Domestications. Hanover expects a formal launch of the program in time for the holidays.