Exhibit 99.1

Perry Ellis International Reports Strong First Quarter Fiscal 2017 Results

Perry Ellis International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PERY) today reported results for the first quarter ended April 30, 2016 (“first quarter of fiscal 2017”).

Key Fiscal First Quarter 2017 Financial and Operational Highlights:

“We are very pleased with our first quarter results, which were highlighted by solid growth in our core brands, robust gross margin expansion and increased adjusted earnings per share - marking a terrific start to the 2017 fiscal year. Our favorable performance continues to demonstrate the success of our strategy that focuses on increasing sales of our higher margin branded, international, license and direct-to-consumer businesses platforms. We are especially pleased to deliver these results in a continuing difficult global economic environment, further validating the increasing strength of our diversified operating platform and powerful lifestyle brands,” said Oscar Feldenkreis, Chief Executive Officer of Perry Ellis International.

Mr. Feldrenkreis concluded, “Our increased guidance for the fiscal year incorporates our positive outlook and an appropriately cautious view of the global retail landscape. We remain confident that our highly desirable portfolio of lifestyle brands – Perry Ellis, Original Penguin and Golf Lifestyle – and the continued traction of our strategy combined with our strong balance sheet and the efforts of our talented associates will position us to continue delivering long-term growth and increased shareholder value.”

Fiscal 2017 First Quarter Results

Total revenue was $261 million, a 2% decrease compared to $266 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. Increased sales across the Company’s core global brands, Perry Ellis and Original Penguin, as well as in its Golf Lifestyle apparel business were offset by 3% planned business exits as well as 2% reductions in off-price revenues as previously discussed on the Company’s fiscal 2016 year-end earnings call in April. The Company also experienced negative currency headwinds of approximately 70 basis points on total revenues.

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Adjusted gross margin expanded 180 basis points to 36.7%, from the 2016 first quarter, reflecting stronger margin in our Men’s Sportswear, Golf Lifestyle and Nike businesses, and cost savings realized through the ongoing infrastructure review. Margins also benefited from our Licensing contribution. (Adjusted gross margin includes certain items as outlined in Table 2, Reconciliation of Gross Profit to Adjusted Gross Profit.) GAAP gross margin for the period was 36.4% as compared to 33.8% in the prior year period.

Selling, general and administrative expenses totaled $69.9 million, as compared to $69.6 million in the comparable period of the prior year. Excluding costs associated with streamlining and consolidation of operations, expenses were $69.9 million for fiscal 2017 compared to $68.3 million in the prior year.

As reported under GAAP, fiscal 2017 first quarter profit was $14.3 million, or $0.95 per diluted share, as compared to $9.4 million, or $0.62 per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. On an adjusted basis, fiscal 2017 first quarter earnings per diluted share were $1.01 as compared to adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.99 in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. These results benefited from improved operating results and lower interest costs, which were partially offset by a higher effective tax rate. (Adjusted earnings per diluted share exclude certain items as outlined in Table 1, Reconciliation of GAAP net income and diluted earnings per share to adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share.)

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Adjusted EBITDA) for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 totaled $26.1 million as compared to $24.7 million in the comparable period of the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 10.0% from 9.3% in the comparable period of the prior year. (Adjusted EBITDA excludes certain items as outlined in Table 3, Reconciliation of Net Income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA.)

Balance Sheet

At the close of the quarter, the Company’s financial position was strong. Inventories totaled $154 million, even with prior year period, and compared to $183 million at year end, with continued emphasis on driving turn.

Update on Strategic Priorities for Fiscal 2017 to Enhance Profitability

The Company continues to focus on successfully implementing its growth and profitability plan.

George Feldenkreis, Executive Chairman, Perry Ellis International, commented, “As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, we now expect to generate adjusted earnings per share in a range of $1.95 to $2.00 for fiscal 2017, up from our previous guidance of $1.90 to $1.95. We do believe, however, that the strength of the U.S. dollar and the changing consumer spending patterns for international tourists in the U.S., along with the volatility in the global environment, will remain a headwind. Nonetheless, we remain focused on the strategic growth opportunities ahead of us. We believe that the sound execution of our business strategies and investment in our world-class brands, together with our strong balance sheet and the dedicated efforts of our talented associates will position us to deliver strong results in fiscal 2017.”

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The Company continues to execute on the focused strategy roadmap articulated during the year. This includes:

About Perry Ellis International

Perry Ellis International, Inc. is a leading designer, distributor and licensor of a broad line of high quality men’s and women’s apparel, accessories and fragrances. The Company’s collection of dress and casual shirts, golf sportswear, sweaters, dress pants, casual pants and shorts, jeans wear, active wear, dresses and men’s and women’s swimwear is available through all major levels of retail distribution. The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, owns a portfolio of nationally and internationally recognized brands, including: Perry Ellis^®, Original Penguin^® by Munsingwear^®, Laundry by Shelli Segal^®, Rafaella^®, Cubavera^®, Ben Hogan^®, Savane^®, Grand Slam^®, John Henry^®, Manhattan^®, Axist^®, Jantzen^® and Farah^®. The Company enhances its roster of brands by licensing trademarks from third parties, including: Nike^® and Jag^® for swimwear, and Callaway^®, PGA TOUR^®, and Jack Nicklaus^® for golf apparel. Additional information on the Company is available at http://www.pery.com.

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Safe Harbor Statement

We caution readers that the forward-looking statements (statements which are not historical facts) in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations rather than historical facts and they are indicated by words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “budget,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “guidance,” “indicate,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possibly,” “potential,” “predict,” “probably,” “proforma,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” or “will” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon and similar words or phrases or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Perry Ellis’ strategic operating review, growth initiatives and internal operating improvements intended to drive revenues and enhance profitability, the implementation of Perry Ellis’ profitability improvement plan and Perry Ellis’ plans to exit underperforming, low growth brands and businesses. We have based such forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include: general economic conditions, a significant decrease in business from or loss of any of our major customers or programs, anticipated and unanticipated trends and conditions in our industry, including the impact of recent or future retail and wholesale consolidation, recent and future economic conditions, including turmoil in the financial and credit markets, the effectiveness of our planned advertising, marketing and promotional campaigns, our ability to contain costs, disruptions in the supply chain, our future capital needs and our ability to obtain financing, our ability to protect our trademarks, our ability to integrate acquired businesses, trademarks, trade names and licenses, our ability to predict consumer preferences and changes in fashion trends and consumer acceptance of both new designs and newly introduced products, the termination or non-renewal of any material license agreements to which we are a party, changes in the costs of raw materials, labor and advertising, our ability to carry out growth strategies including expansion in international and direct-to-consumer retail markets; the effectiveness of our plans, strategies, objectives, expectations and intentions which are subject to change at any time at our discretion, potential cyber risk and technology failures which could disrupt operations or result in a data breach, the level of consumer spending for apparel and other merchandise, our ability to compete, exposure to foreign currency risk and interest rate risk, possible disruption in commercial activities due to terrorist activity and armed conflict, actions of activist investors and the cost and disruption of responding to those actions, and other factors set forth in Perry Ellis’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those risks and uncertainties detailed in Perry Ellis’ filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are valid only as of the date they were made. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise.

Source: Perry Ellis International, Inc.

Anita Britt, CFO

305-592-2830

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PERRY ELLIS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA (UNAUDITED)

(amounts in 000’s, except per share information)

INCOME STATEMENT DATA:

PERRY ELLIS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA (UNAUDITED)

(amounts in 000’s)

BALANCE SHEET DATA:

PERRY ELLIS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Table 1

Reconciliation of net income and income per diluted share to adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per diluted share

(UNAUDITED)

(amounts in 000’s, except per share information)

“Adjusted net income per share, diluted” consists of “net income per share, diluted” adjusted for the impact of the costs on exited brands, costs of streamlining and consolidation of operations, legal settlement, and other strategic initiatives, and loss on sale of long-lived assets. These costs are not indicative of our core operations and thus to get a more comparable result with the operating performance of the apparel industry, they have been removed, net of taxes, from the calculation.

PERRY ELLIS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Table 2

RECONCILIATION OF GROSS PROFIT TO ADJUSTED GROSS PROFIT AND ADJUSTED GROSS MARGIN(1)

(UNAUDITED)

(amounts in 000’s)

PERRY ELLIS INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Table 3

RECONCILIATION OF NET LOSS TO EBITDA AND ADJUSTED EBITDA(1)

(UNAUDITED)

(amounts in 000’s)