Back to Cool
Like many mother-and-daughter teams this shopping season, Amanda and Carol Allan had a spring in their step during a recent jaunt to the mall for back-to-school clothing.
“Let’s find some bell bottoms,” Carol said with girlish glee as they approached racks of apparel with the cuts and colors popular in the 1960s and ‘70s.
“OK!” said Amanda, echoing her mother’s enthusiasm.
For 12-year-old Amanda and girls nationwide--particularly those with nostalgic mothers--the retro look is creating new excitement in back-to-school shopping. Boys too are snapping up ‘60s-vogue clothing such as zippered knit shirts and corduroys. Demand for retro fashion helped boost August retail sales a healthy 4%, and there are signs that September sales will also be strong.
That’s good news for clothing merchants, because back-to-school is second in sales only to the holiday shopping season. The retro rage is particularly important because it is a reliable source of sales at a time of uncertainty and change in consumer buying habits.
“The [back-to-school] sales season is spreading out,” explained Andrea Kent, director of the Retail Marketing Group at American Express. “Sales used to be concentrated in August. Now we’re seeing more and more buying in September.”
Back-to-school sales have been spottier nationwide partly because many school districts have staggered their opening dates in recent years. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, for example, some students are returning to school this week, but most will return next week.
Another factor making the back-to-school season less predictable is that consumers are increasingly value-conscious and patient, said Carolyn Johnson, a spokeswoman for the International Mass Retail Assn., a Virginia-based trade group.
“More and more consumers are buying only when they need something or only when they see a bargain or a sales event,” Johnson said. “Kids who do their own buying are looking and waiting for bargains too.”
In addition, many teens and preteens are spending less in August because more of them await the fall fashion cues of designers, retailers say.
“There are more magazines geared toward kids, and parents are allowing them to make more of their own choices,” said Carolyn Brookter, a spokeswoman for Dayton Hudson Corp., operator of the Target and Mervyn’s chains. “Young people are more fashion-oriented and more fashion-conscious.”
The growing fashion-consciousness of teenage boys accounts for the increased sale of preppy polo shirts as well as casual tops bearing cachet labels such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, retailers say.
Interest in designer clothing--like the retro frenzy--is generated partly by celebrity. Images of rockers, rappers and TV stars dressed in designer casuals or retro wrappings such as mini-skirts, hip-huggers and tops with animal print trim is resonating with teens, analysts say.
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Baby-boom-aged women are also responsive to the nouveau-mod look, said Alan Millstein, a New York-based apparel analyst who publishes Fashion Network Report. Many boomers are buying the clothing and encouraging their preteen and teenage children to do the same, Millstein said.
“The clothing recalls the ‘60s and reminds them of their youth,” he said. “They also want to look like their daughters. They enjoy the fact that their children have a similar fashion mind-set.”
Ironically, the “uniform look”--the antithesis of cutting-edge--is the other major trend in school-related apparel sales. Parents are purchasing items such as short-sleeve, white knit shirts and navy or khaki pants because more schools are instituting dress codes.
Although chains are stocking their stores with such merchandise, they have a bigger stake in trendier children’s merchandise such as the ‘60s look because a consumer will spend more to expand a fashion-oriented wardrobe.
Department stores, Millstein said, have been ringing up big sales on their retro inventories. Some of that business is reflected in August sales figures. For example, sales at May Department Stores, operator of the Robinsons-May chain, were up nearly 18% over the same period a year ago. Sales at Federated Department Stores, operator of the Macy’s chain, were up only 2.5%, but the company said sales of men’s and women’s casual wear were strong.
Among those with a big interest in the retro revival are North Hills residents Tiffany Feller and her mother, Danielle. Danielle opted for the vintage look by purchasing a corduroy jacket during a recent shopping excursion with her daughter at the Macy’s in Sherman Oaks’ Fashion Square mall.
A striped T-shirt and corduroys--items popular more than 20 years ago--were on 13-year-old Tiffany’s shopping list.
She and other girls in junior high can now be more in vogue because more retailers are changing their approach, said Elizabeth Hauer, senior vice president for merchandise allocation for Macy’s Western store operations.
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“We formerly had the same [fashion] look for girls 7 to 13 years old,” Hauer said. “But those 10 to 13 don’t want to look like little girls anymore. They want to look like their older sisters. Meanwhile, the older sisters are making selections based on women’s fashion trends. . . . Children’s interest in retro is linked to adult interest in the look.”
This new joint interest in the very dated has narrowed the shopping generation gap. Witness Amanda and Carol Allan, who traveled from their Rancho Palos Verdes home to a Sherman Oaks mall in their quest for bell bottoms.
During the search, the Allans encountered plenty of retro displays. A psychedelic top with plaid pants and a chain belt caught Amanda’s eye. It was a look she hadn’t seen before.
“I keep reminding Amanda that we used to wear all of this long ago,” Carol said.
