Bidders for Joseph Abboud are taking the rest of the summer off.

The men’s clothing label — whose luxe fabrics and earth-tone colors were a hit with the business crowd in the ’80 and ’90s — was recently said to have attracted bids north of $90 million from Iconix and HMX, according to industry sources.

But Iconix, a licensing company whose brands include Rocawear, Marc Ecko and the Peanuts cartoon strip, and HMX, which owns the Hart Schaffner Marx and Hickey Freeman men’s labels, appear “to have gotten cold feet,” according to one source briefed on the situation.

“Some negative things may have come out while they were doing due diligence,” the source added, referring to recent reviews of the books at JA Apparel Corp., which purchased the rights to the Joseph Abboud brand in 2004 for $73 million.

While the issues weren’t immediately clear, “it looks like they may be lucky to get what they paid for it,” said one person close to the talks. The source added the bidders aren’t expected to make another approach for “at least 30 to 60 days.”

In addition to price, a key sticking point has been what to do with JA Apparel’s suit factory in New Bedford, Mass., sources said.

In recent discussions, the most likely outcome appeared to be an arrangement in which Iconix would buy the brand, then license it to HMX, which last year hired the Joseph Abboud brand’s namesake founder as its creative director.

Indeed, sources said HMX and Iconix have reached out to the sharp-dressed designer, who sold his trademark in 2000 for $65 million. In 2005, Abboud left JA Apparel after a yearlong stint as its designer.

“Both bidders are interested in reuniting the designer with the brand again to create some fresh excitement,” according to a source.