Spiegel, Ebony Plan Clothes Catalogue : * Marketing: Fashions are to reflect trends among black women.

Spiegel Inc. and Ebony magazine, responding to a growing black consumer market, said Tuesday that they plan to launch a new clothing catalogue for contemporary black women.

The nation’s largest mail-order catalogue company, Spiegel is designing a line of clothing in conjunction with Ebony magazine that the companies say reflects fashion trends among black women.

The company’s catalogue, expected to be mailed to 1.5 million women in early 1993, will offer a new line of affordable clothing, called “E Style,” designed to fit black women better and reflect their fashion tastes, said Rob Longendyke, a Spiegel spokesman.

“We are targeting a fast-growing market that has not been targeted before,” Longendyke said. The catalogue will “offer a wider line of clothing for African-American women, all in one place.”

Spiegel approached Ebony to help design the new clothing line for the catalogue, in part because the magazine sponsors a fashion show that travels throughout the country and attracts customers that Spiegel wants. As part of the collaboration, Ebony said it will give Spiegel its mailing lists.

Spiegel’s decision to offer a catalogue for black women gives further evidence of an emerging black market that has been ignored by manufacturers, said Richard Giss, a Southern California retail analyst with Deloitte & Touche.

“This is a natural tendency for clothing manufacturers to narrow their marketing to include a segment of the community that has been ignored,” Giss said. “There are not a lot of stores with a broad range of merchandise for black people. With mail catalogues, retailers can target their merchandise through demographic studies.”

The catalogue will include some items already featured by Spiegel. It will be aimed at the black female consumer in a middle-income bracket. Although the clothing line is not yet available, Spiegel said it would be comparable in price to the company’s current merchandise.

Manufacturers have begun to pay more attention to black consumers, who are expanding as a middle class, industry analysts said. Essence magazine, for example, initiated a clothing catalogue in the late 1980s designed specifically for blacks.

Linda Johnson Rice, president and chief executive officer of Johnson Publishing Co., which owns Ebony magazine, said the Essence clothing catalogue has been successful. That is one reason for Ebony’s interest.

Johnson Publications, however, is already in the fashion business; the company owns Fashion Fair Cosmetics, which are sold in department stores, and a line of hair care products.

Black customers make up a significant portion of the apparel market--one that Spiegel said is growing at twice the nationwide rate--and they spend about $13.3 billion annually on clothing.

In recent years, Spiegel has had success distributing catalogues for large-figured women and for children. It now is attempting to expand its business to include more black consumers, Longendyke said.

Spiegel’s new line will include shoes, formal and casual wear in bright colors with special fittings for black women, Rice said.

“There has been a serious void in getting proper-fitting clothes for black women,” Rice said. “With Ebony’s expertise in fashion and with a keen knowledge of who our readers are and what they want in clothing design, the Spiegel catalogue should be competitive.”

Ebony’s market research found growing demand among female readers for affordable, better-fitting apparel in bright African styles, Rice said.

Terrie Williams, whose agency represents Essence magazine, said clothing companies are finding that black women represent an “important market” with potential for growth.

“There are certain fashions that are unique to black culture and black women,” Williams said. “Clothing companies are realizing that there is value in black women as consumers.”

Black Buying

In 1990, black households spent $13.3 billion on apparel products expenditures, nearly 9% of the clothing dollars spent nationally. The greatest chunk of that money--more than 40%--was spent on clothing for women and girls. A breakdown:

Amount Spent Segment (in billions) Women and girls $5.84 Men and boys $2.6 Children under 2 $.71 Footwear $1.82 Other goods, services $2.33 Total expenditures $13.3

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics