You might not expect to see a detailed article on executive compensation in a fashion industry tracker, but Women's Wear Daily, "Your Daily Dose of Fashion Industry News," features exactly that today. In "Executive Pay, LBO Shift," WWD details the bigger pay for retail executives compared to their vendor counterparts. Top among vendors is Ralph Lauren, Chairman and CEO of the comapny that bears his name, with $25.9 million in pay last year. Though certainly a good compensation package, it is significantly smaller than the top retailer pay belonging to Target CEO Robert Ulrich who took home $36.4 million. In fact second and third place among retailers, belonging to Wal-Mart President and CEO Lauren Lee Scott Jr. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Chairman and CEO Michael Jeffries, both earned more than top paid Ralph Lauren.

The trend of fashion retailers earning more than vendors is reflected in a comparison of the total pay of the top 10 executives from both categories, with the top retail executives earning nearly $200 million while vendor executives were paid about $89 million cumulatively.