Surf ‘s Up for Spring Lines at Men’s Apparel Guild Show
The battle to predict men’s fashion whims for spring ’87 has produced some in-battles of its own.
There’s the fray over jeans: whether to stone wash, “white wash” or “wave wash” denims. The spat over whether the surfer image has peaked. Not to mention the question of what length swim trunks men will buy.
“Ninety percent of the country is still into longer lengths,” asserted Bill Levitt, a vice president of Tustin-based Ocean Pacific.
“Lengths are going back up,” contended another manufacturer.
“They should be long enough so you don’t get in trouble--short enough so you can perform on a surf board,” said John Bernards, president of L.A.-based Off Shore.
Reputations, dollars and business survival rest on these fashion predictions--and the ability to sell them to retailers.
The Men’s Apparel Guild of California (MAGIC) trade show, staged for four days last week at Los Angeles Convention Center, gave about 2,800 manufacturers--including 120 West Coast contenders--the chance to tussle over orders, and more than 40,000 retailers from around the country a chance to choose wares for spring ’87.
The fashion tacks were not altogether new, with many manufacturers clinging to the surfer bandwagon that proved successful last season. Even some East Coast lines, such as Fusion of New York, came on looking more like Laguna Beach than Long Island.
“We’re at the saturation point. There are not enough people to buy this stuff,” said Bernards, who displayed his Off Shore beach clothes in an area inundated by surf-theme lines.
“That look is really being done to death,” agreed Tony Margolis, marketing vice president of Generra, a sportswear maker that leans toward urban, street looks.
Surf giants, such as OP and Hobie Apparel, vied with each other, as well as the upstarts, for orders. Sideout Sport was one of the small fries nudging in. This line of volleyball togs, founded three years ago by a University of California student, had a tiny booth where one of the draws was a tanned and shorts-clad Sinjin Smith, billed as “the winningest player in pro beach volleyball.”
Sportswear from several sources showed the growing influence of knits over sheeting cotton, and faded fabrics over piercing-bright prints.
“The industry is going through a change, from the loud look to more toned-down looks,” said Levitt of OP, where new buzz words are “wave washed” and “wave cleaners,” both faded fabric looks.
Nowhere was the competition so lively as among jeans makers, who hyped their latest distressed denims as if revolutionary. Calvin Klein Mens Jeans hosted a Marina del Rey reception to flaunt its new “Wash Out” jeans. And Levi Strauss, which gave a choreographed, musical show every few hours, introduced a “white washed” fabric.
“We think this is going to blow them away,” said Bob Selna, Levi’s director of retail services. “After this,” another Levi’s official added, “we’re going to do a BLASTED denim.”
Beyond the waves of surf wear and racks of jeans, were companies attempting a touch of novelty. A California firm named Joe Boxer took on the preppy-underwear detail. And Allen Wah of Los Angeles presented a safari-inspired line called Bush Pilot.
“It’s for the guy who’s tough, but who’s tired of his khaki shirts,” said Wah, who summed up a designer’s plight: “You’re always searching for an image. A handle. A life style.”
The company logo was another popular handle, as firms such as International News of Seattle decorated sweat shirts and T-shirts with the company name.
Countering Coca-Cola’s foray into clothing, Pepsi-Cola introduced a logo-covered sportswear line, claiming its target customer is “younger and more aggressive fashionwise” than Coca-Cola’s.
The MAGIC show, based in Los Angeles since 1979, will move to the larger Las Vegas Convention Center in 1989. While in L.A., the show has been spread among a series of halls, annexes and temporary “bubbles” at the Convention Center.
