Retailers Suit Up for Latest Tailored Look
It doesn’t take much to excite Doug Ewert.
Selling suits can be boring, the chief operating officer of the Men’s Warehouse Inc. clothing chain admits, which means he can get enthused about any little alteration in the industry -- pleatless pants, side-vented jackets, you name it. So he was plenty pleased when he tuned in to the Grammy Awards recently to see some of the nation’s hottest young musicians strutting around in suits, not the sloppier garb of yesteryear.
“We love that,” Ewert said.
Granted, R&B; star Usher, the punk rockers in the band Green Day and rapper Kanye West might not be Men’s Warehouse shoppers. But the fact that they suited up for the big awards indicates that a trend that helped boost clothing sales last year still has legs.
Apparel sales rose 4% to $173 billion in 2004, marking the first increase in four years, according to a report to be released today by market research firm NPD Group.
And the sale of men’s tailored clothing posted the strongest advance, rising 24%.
“Younger consumers who never worked in a suit, owned a suit or even have seen a suit -- except in the movies or on television -- have gravitated toward the suit like they discovered it,” said Marshal Cohen, the group’s chief industry analyst.
California clothing companies are trying to cash in on the trend.
Banana Republic, a division of San Francisco-based Gap Inc., will offer eight styles of men’s suits for spring, more than ever before, and plaid blazers to boot.
Costa Mesa-based Volcom, one of the hottest brands in Southland surf and skate shops, sold suits -- complete with ties -- during the last holiday season. They weren’t standard executive-goes-to-meeting ensembles, but they found their customers.
“We sold out in about a week,” said Brandon Richards, the manager of North Hollywood-based Val Surf.
These days a strong seller at Val Surf is a $240 jacket designed by Huntington Beach-based Howe Denim. This, too, is not the typical blazer for the buttoned-down: It has “Dressed to Kill” written on the back.
Jade Howe, co-owner of Howe Denim, described the 4-year-old company’s fashion sense as “cowboy punk meets English country gentlemen” or “West Coast music-influenced lifestyle meets English tailoring.” Among its products: jackets with frayed edges, sports coats with flared cuffs and pinstripe wool suits with denim lapels. A new line includes button-down shirts with French cuffs.
Fall orders are up 200% this year over last, Howe said.
“We’ve been kind of waiting for this market to emerge,” he said. “It’s going very well.”
City of Industry-based Hot Topic Inc., which targets teens with punk styles and goth garb, also has begun testing tailored clothing in some stores.
With such fierce competition building, Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp. in Irvine passed on the blazers, instead offering tailored corduroy “street jackets” and cardigan sweaters, design director Nat Norfleet said.
“So many people were into the blazer thing that we didn’t get into it,” he said. “We do feel the whole dressy look is upon our industry. It’s sort of the next step.”
The tailored look wasn’t the only thing luring consumers to cash registers last year. Shoppers also spent more because retailers stocked clothes in eye-catching colors -- sunshine yellow, lime green and bubblegum pink, NPD’s Cohen said. The trend toward more feminine styles helped retailers such as Brisbane, Calif.-based Bebe Stores Inc.
Still, even as dollar sales rose, the number of units purchased fell 1%, according to NPD’s findings. That’s because consumers “traded up” -- forking over more money for fewer items, Cohen said. He predicted that apparel sales would rise 2.5% to 3% this year if companies delivered “new and exciting” clothing.
The apparel industry enjoyed steady growth through the 1990s, with sales peaking in 2000 at nearly $176 billion, according to NPD. Sales fell in 2001 and consumer confidence sank as unemployment rose and stores failed to produce must-have items. In addition, competition and consumers’ voracious appetite for bargains kept prices low.
Last year, the tide turned, with both men’s and women’s apparel rising about 5% while children’s apparel sales remained flat.
Men’s Warehouse, which claims about 22% of the U.S. men’s suit market with its namesake and K&G; chains, has been one of the major beneficiaries of the dress-up trend. The Houston-based company, which sells more than 1 million suits and 2 million ties a year, saw profit jump almost 18% to $50 million last year after dipping the previous two years as older men started replenishing their wardrobes and more young shoppers began gravitating to its stores.
Ewert said the first wave of shoppers bought the basics: suits in solid black and charcoal. Then they returned for something snazzier -- a pinstripe suit, for example, or flat-front pants.
“The guy buying the two, three, four-hundred-dollar suit is now accepting these new looks,” Ewert said. And tuxedo rentals, a part of the business driven largely by young customers, also are up.
“We’re having success with younger, more fashionable products in all product categories, from suits to shoes and everything in between, now that we’re getting this younger customer in our stores,” Ewert said.
