Defined Benefit Plans

The Company maintains two defined benefit plans for certain employees in the U.S. and Switzerland. In accordance with authoritative guidance for defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans, an asset for a plan’s overfunded status or a liability for a plan’s underfunded status is recognized in the consolidated balance sheets; plan assets and obligations that determine the plan’s funded status are measured as of the end of the Company’s fiscal year; and changes in the funded status of defined benefit postretirement plans are recognized in the year in which they occur. Such changes are reported in other comprehensive income (loss) as a separate component of stockholders’ equity.

The Company’s pension obligations and related costs are calculated using actuarial concepts, within the authoritative guidance framework, and are considered Level 3 inputs as defined in Note 20. The Company uses the corridor approach to amortize unrecognized actuarial gains or losses over the average remaining service life of active participants. The life expectancy, estimated retirement age, discount rate, estimated future compensation and expected return on plan assets are important elements of expense and/or liability measurement. These critical assumptions are evaluated annually which enables expected future payments for benefits to be stated at present value on the measurement date. If actual results are not consistent with actuarial assumptions, the amounts recognized for the defined benefit plans could change significantly.

Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan

On August 23, 2005, the Board of Directors of the Company adopted a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (“SERP”) which became effective January 1, 2006. The SERP provides select employees who satisfy certain eligibility requirements with certain benefits upon retirement, termination of employment, death, disability or a change in control of the Company, in certain prescribed circumstances.

In fiscal 2014, the Company amended the SERP to limit the amount of eligible wages under the plan that count toward the SERP benefit for the active participant. As a result, the projected benefit obligation and unrecognized prior service cost were reduced by $4.5 million during fiscal 2014.

In fiscal 2016, the SERP was amended in connection with Paul Marciano’s transition from Chief Executive Officer to Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Creative Officer. This amendment effectively eliminated any future salary progression by finalizing compensation levels for future benefits. Mr. Marciano will continue to be eligible to receive SERP benefits in the future in accordance with the amended terms of the SERP. Subsequent to this amendment, there are no employees considered actively participating under the terms of the SERP. As a result, the Company included an actuarial gain of $11.4 million before taxes in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) during fiscal 2016. In addition, the Company also recognized a curtailment gain of $1.7 million before taxes related to the accelerated amortization of the remaining prior service credit during fiscal 2016.

As a non-qualified pension plan, no dedicated funding of the SERP is required; however, the Company has made periodic payments into insurance policies held in a rabbi trust to fund the expected obligations arising under the non-qualified SERP. The amount of any future payments into the insurance policies, if any, may vary depending on investment performance of the trust. The cash surrender values of the insurance policies were $52.5 million and $53.6 million as of January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015, respectively, and were included in other assets in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. As a result of changes in the value of the insurance policy investments, the Company recorded unrealized gains (losses) of $(1.8) million, $2.2 million and $3.6 million in other income and expense during fiscal 2016, fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2014, respectively. During fiscal 2016, the Company also recorded realized gains of $0.7 million in other income resulting from payout on the insurance policies.

The components of net periodic defined benefit pension cost to comprehensive income (loss) for fiscal 2016, fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2014 related to the SERP are as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended			Year Ended			Year Ended
	Jan 30, 2016			Jan 31, 2015			Feb 1, 2014
Interest cost	$	1,986		$	2,289		$	2,345
Net amortization of unrecognized prior service (credit) cost	(97		)	(233		)	194
Net amortization of actuarial losses	740			938			1,108
Curtailment gain	(1,651		)	—			—
Net periodic defined benefit pension cost	$	978		$	2,994		$	3,647
Unrecognized prior service (credit) cost charged to comprehensive income (loss)	$	(97	)	$	(233	)	$	194
Unrecognized net actuarial loss charged to comprehensive income (loss)	740			938			1,108
Curtailment gain	(1,651		)	—			—
Actuarial gains (losses)	8,707			(6,142		)	1,751
Plan amendment	—			—			4,529
Related tax impact	(2,945		)	2,080			(2,963		)
Total periodic defined benefit pension cost and other charges to comprehensive income (loss)	$	4,754		$	(3,357	)	$	4,619

Included in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), before tax, as of January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015 are the following amounts that have not yet been recognized in net periodic defined benefit pension cost (in thousands):



	Jan 30, 2016		Jan 31, 2015
Unrecognized prior service credit (1)	$	—	$	(1,748	)
Unrecognized net actuarial loss (1)	8,731		18,178
Total included in accumulated other comprehensive loss	$	8,731	$	16,430

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(1)

In fiscal 2016, the Company amended the SERP to effectively eliminate any future salary progression by finalizing compensation levels for future benefits. Subsequent to this amendment, there are no employees considered actively participating under the terms of the SERP. As a result, the Company recorded an unrecognized actuarial gain of $11.4 million before taxes and also recognized a curtailment gain of $1.7 million before taxes related to the accelerated amortization of the remaining prior service credit during fiscal 2016.

The following chart summarizes the SERP’s funded status and the amounts recognized in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets (in thousands):



	Jan 30, 2016			Jan 31, 2015
Projected benefit obligation (1)	$	(53,443	)	$	(61,862	)
Plan assets at fair value (2)	—			—
Net liability	$	(53,443	)	$	(61,862	)

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(1)	The projected benefit obligation was included in accrued expenses and other long-term liabilities in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets depending on the expected timing of payments.


(2)	The SERP is a non-qualified pension plan and hence the insurance policies are not considered to be plan assets. Accordingly, the table above does not include the insurance policies with cash surrender values of $52.5 million and $53.6 million as of January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015, respectively.

A reconciliation of the changes in the projected benefit obligation for fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015 is as follows (in thousands):



	Projected Benefit Obligation
Balance at February 1, 2014	$	54,704
Interest cost	2,289
Actuarial losses	6,142
Payments	(1,273		)
Balance at January 31, 2015	$	61,862
Interest cost	1,986
Actuarial gains	(8,707		)
Payments	(1,698		)
Balance at January 30, 2016	$	53,443

The Company assumed a discount rate of approximately 3.5% and 3.3% for the years ended January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015, respectively, as part of the actuarial valuation performed to calculate the projected benefit obligation disclosed above, based on the timing of cash flows expected to be made in the future to the participants, applied to high quality yield curves. In fiscal 2016, the Company amended the SERP to effectively eliminate any future salary progression by finalizing compensation levels for future benefits. Prior to the amendment, compensation levels utilized in calculating the projected benefit obligation were derived from expected future compensation as outlined in employment contracts in effect at the time. In October 2014, the Society of Actuaries (“SOA”) updated its mortality tables which reflected longer life expectancies than the previous tables. In October 2015, the SOA also issued an update to its mortality improvement scale. The Company considered these updates in developing its best estimate of the expected mortality rates for its plan participants.

As of January 30, 2016, accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) included actuarial losses of $0.2 million that are expected to be amortized and recognized as a component of net periodic defined benefit pension cost in fiscal 2017. Aggregate benefits projected to be paid in the next five fiscal years are approximately $1.7 million in fiscal 2017, $1.7 million in fiscal 2018, $1.7 million in fiscal 2019, $3.7 million in fiscal 2020 and $3.9 million in fiscal 2021. Aggregate benefits projected to be paid in the following five fiscal years amount to $19.4 million.

Swiss Pension Plan

In accordance with local regulations, the Company also maintains a pension plan in Switzerland for certain of its employees. The plan is a government-mandated defined contribution plan that provides employees with a minimum investment return determined annually by the Swiss government, and as such, is treated under pension accounting in accordance with authoritative guidance. The minimum investment return was 1.75% during calendar 2015 and calendar 2014. Under the plan, both the Company and certain of its employees with annual earnings in excess of government determined amounts are required to make contributions into a fund managed by an independent investment fiduciary. The Company’s contributions must be made in an amount at least equal to the employee’s contribution. Minimum employee contributions are based on the respective employee’s age, salary and gender. During fiscal 2016, the Swiss pension plan was amended to update the conversion rate for future periods. As a result, the projected benefit obligation and prior service cost were reduced by CHF0.2 million (US$0.2 million) during fiscal 2016.

As of January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015, the plan had a projected benefit obligation of CHF15.6 million (US$15.2 million) and CHF13.9 million (US$15.1 million), respectively, and plan assets held at the independent investment fiduciary of CHF13.0 million (US$12.7 million) and CHF11.5 million (US$12.5 million), respectively. The net liability of CHF2.6 million (US$2.5 million) and CHF2.4 million (US$2.6 million) was included in other long-term liabilities in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets as of January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015, respectively. As of January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015, actuarial assumptions used by the Company to calculate the projected benefit obligation and the fair value of the plans assets included discount rates of 0.55% and 0.50%, respectively, and expected returns on plan assets of 1.40% and 1.25%, respectively.

During fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015, the Company recognized net periodic defined benefit pension cost of CHF1.7 million (US$1.7 million) and CHF1.4 million (US$1.6 million), respectively, resulting primarily from service cost. During fiscal 2016, other comprehensive income (loss) included a pre-tax gain of approximately CHF0.2 million (US$0.2 million) resulting from the plan amendment which was mostly offset by pre-tax net unrealized actuarial loss and related amortization of approximately CHF0.2 million (US$0.2 million). The Company also included a gain from currency translation of approximately $0.3 million in comprehensive income (loss) during fiscal 2016. During fiscal 2015, the Company included pre-tax net unrealized actuarial loss and related amortization of CHF2.5 million (US$2.8 million) in other comprehensive income (loss). As of January 30, 2016 and January 31, 2015, accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) included CHF2.3 million (US$2.2 million) and CHF2.3 million (US$2.5 million), respectively, related to the Swiss pension plan which consisted primarily of accumulated unrecognized net actuarial loss, net of taxes. As of January 30, 2016, accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) included actuarial losses of CHF0.2 million (US$0.2 million) that are expected to be amortized and recognized as a component of net periodic defined benefit pension cost in fiscal 2017.