DUSSELDORF — After a sluggish few years, the moderate women’s wear market in Germany appears to be picking up. New silhouettes have invigorated collections and rising consumer confidence is starting to have an impact on sales figures.
The result is that exhibitors at the women’s wear trade show CPD here were optimistic about the coming season.
“As far as turnover goes, 2006 was our best year so far,” said Ralf Schmitz, sales manager for Germany of the Dutch brand Bandolera. “We are now planning on opening new franchise stores in Germany in autumn 2007.”
The label Luisa Cerano, on the other hand, barely noticed the slump in the first place: The nine-year-old German brand, which entered the U.S. market 18 months ago and won best bridge designer for 2006 at the last Dallas Fashion Awards, has enjoyed overall sales growth of 37 percent each season for the last three years.
“Our next step is to focus on the American market,” explained the company’s head of sales Oliver Berger. This fall, the company, which has annual sales of around 62 million euros, or $81 million, will launch a new, more international ad campaign to cater to the U.S. market, featuring model Bar Rafaeli.
For German label Apanage, most growth is entirely outside the firm’s native country. “We have won over a lot of new customers here at CPD,” said Franz Krause, the brand’s product manager, “but the vast majority are from Eastern Europe, Russia, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland or the U.K. The German market is still very difficult. Buyers here are too pessimistic, and would rather avoid making any choice at all, rather than risk making a wrong decision. But no decision can also be a wrong decision.”
However, according to Jürgen Dax, director of the German Association of Apparel Retailers, buyers at CPD were in a “positive frame of mind and are entering the new season in a good mood.” Business in the last six weeks of 2006 brought sales increases, though stores “didn’t earn that much as there was a lot of markdown activity,” he pointed out. However, he said there was real optimism in the market, on the part of consumers, too. “They’re not so hesitant. If they like something, they’ll buy it, rather than mulling over it for three days as in the past.”
Related Articles
You May Also Like
The fact that over the last few seasons moderate women’s wear has started getting a lot more interesting is certainly inspiring consumers to buy. Staid German brands, such as Hirsch and Gerry Weber, have pepped up their collections with more trend-influenced pieces, and less-expensive labels, such as Bandolera, are moving upscale with better materials and improved quality.
This, of course, is in keeping with a general trend favoring dressier, more glamorous pieces. “Everything is getting much more elegant, with more coordinating outfits that can move from daywear to evening wear,” said Claudia Andresen, head of marketing at Hirsch.
The key look for fall is relaxed but tailored: a fitted waistcoat, paired with wide-legged, flat-fronted Marlene Dietrich-style trousers; a narrow blazer over a pleated knee-length skirt, or A-line and O-line coats, with three-quarter-length sleeves and big Sixties-style buttons. “Knitwear is also very important,” said Andresen, pointing to a calf-length belted cardigan. “With these mild winters we get now, pieces like this double up as coats.”
With details kept to a minimum, the emphasis is on quality materials. Matte finishes are mixed with shiny silks, and traditional Anglophile patterns, such as houndstooth, salt-and-pepper and Prince of Wales check, are as popular as ever.
Colors are muted; browns, grays, earthy greens and olives predominate. But to spice things up, shocking reds or light blues are added. “Purple is also everywhere, but it is not being bought. People are just not interested in it,” explained Apanage’s Krause. “Who wants to wear purple? It makes you look pale and old.”
But it is the new silhouettes that have really shaken things up. Versions of the drainpipe and skinny trouser have hit mainstream women’s wear, meaning that older consumers could soon be updating their wardrobes with the requisite oversize sweaters and tops to match. Or the inverse silhouette, with baggy trousers or wide pleated skirt, with a narrow tailored top.
Attendance at the three-day event, which ran from Feb. 4 to 6, reached about 45,000 visitors, a rise of 5 percent compared with the summer show, but down about 2 percent from the February 2006 edition. There was a visible rise in international visitors, especially from Eastern Europe, as well as an influx from new markets like Kazakhstan and the Balkans, and buyers from South Africa, Japan and India.
Showrooms around Düsseldorf reported strong traffic on Saturday and Sunday, though things quieted down considerably thereafter. All in all, buyer attendance in Düsseldorf over the fashion fair weekend was estimated at about 60,000, on a par with last year.
CPD, which is now part of an umbrella of shows-within-shows, including HMD for men’s wear, Body Look for intimate apparel and Global Fashion for sourcing, showcased 1,120 exhibitors. In total, 1,825 exhibitors presented their collections at the Düsseldorf fairgrounds and Fashion Houses.
— With contributions from Melissa Drier