PARIS — Fashion colors and styling scored points and orders for American exhibitors at the 11th annual Salon International de la Lingerie.
The show reflected a strong emphasis on natural fibers — silk and cotton — and natural colors in robe and at-home wear collections.
Some 270 international companies exhibited 400 lingerie brands; last year, there were 233 firms with 300 labels. The four-day show ended Tuesday.
Jehen Quettier, the show director, said the exhibitor increase came mainly from European makers.
However, he added, Americans had a heavier representation than might have been evident, since innerwear giants Sara Lee Corp. and VF Corp. have acquired a sizable stable of European lingerie companies over the last couple of years.
Despite the diversity of products and the importance of the SIL as the first directional show for fall 1994, attendance for the first three days dropped 1 percent from last year’s show to 15,600 visitors according to figures from show organizers, the Federation de la Maille. This was due primarily to a 4 percent drop in French visitors. By contrast, the number of visitors from abroad rose 5 percent to 6,179.
No separate count on U.S. visitors was available, but exhibitors said that, as usual, they saw only a handful. One of them was Kim Anderson-Curry, vice president and divisional merchandise of lingerie and other areas at Saks Fifth Avenue.
Anderson-Curry said her open-to-buy is higher this fall but noted that budgets have not been made final. Attending the SIL for the second time, Anderson-Curry observed that the Paris show has a more feminine side than American trade shows, especially with the importance given to lace here.
She noted that the growing use of natural fibers and colors “reconfirmed some of our assumptions for fall,” adding, “It’s been more evident in foundations, and now it’s moving into other areas.” She cited robes as a key example.
Some 20 American brands at the SIL included Natori, which introduced its year-old moderate line under the Josie label; Maidenform and its licensed Oscar de la Renta daywear and foundations; Fernando Sanchez robes and at-home wear, and Jonquil Designer Lingerie, which does romantic-looking sleepwear. Warnaco’s French subsidiary, which manufactures Warner’s bras, showed styles designed exclusively for the European market.
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Two newcomers included Silx from the Pacific Silk & Clothing Co. and the American Showroom, a company that brings American brands to foreign markets, and exhibited daywear and sleepwear by Only Hearts, Nick & Nora, Shadow Boxer and Bagg It The Travelounger.
“The show has been very successful for us,” said Jack Weinstock, president of Pacific Silk, as buyers from Paris department store La Samaritaine placed orders at his booth. “We’ve gotten strong orders from stores in Spain, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark.”
Weinstock said fashion colors, at-home wear items and comparatively low wholesale prices due to Chinese sourcing, are giving Silx an edge in a competitive market here. Bestsellers included silk chemises, panties and camisoles.
The American Showroom has its exhibits at the Paris Sur Mode ready-to-wear show, but showed at the SIL for the first time to attract lingerie retailers from major department stores and specialty boutiques.
Marcy Miller, the American Showroom’s Paris-based agent, said 17 new accounts were picked up from Spain, Germany, Italy and Greece, as well as one Canadian customer.
The Fernando Sanchez collection is slowly but steadily developing business in Europe, according to product director Marie-Rose Vergult. Sanchez, like Natori, is trying to seduce Europeans into wearing at-home wear, but it isn’t easy.
“The at-home wear concept is new to Europe, and that’s ironic, because so many of them have second homes,” explained Vergult. “If resistance is here, it’s because of the recession.”
Also due in part to the recession, Natori reduced its luxurious at-home wear offerings, focusing more on traditional Natori looks, as well as its moderate Josie daywear, sleepwear and at-home wear.
“The reaction has been that we’re presenting a better, more balanced collection,” said Susan Borman Allen, Natori’s international sales manager.
She said the best-selling at-home wear items were pajamas and loungers of heavy silk in a gold floral Tibetan print on an eggplant or red ground.
One of the European vendors featuring natural themes, Anne Isabelle of Maisons-Alfort, France, showed white and ecru cotton terry and sponge robes with fine details like pleated ruffles, ribbon trim and embroideries.
Pluto of Belgium, a line of sleepwear and loungewear by Anne et Catherine de Clippel SA, Ninove, Belgium, also jumped into the natural story. Company officials said robes and pajamas in heavy cotton shantung got good reaction.
In foundations, Maidenform’s strongest products were sleek, seamless-looking bras in solid and floral patterned satin of nylon and Lycra spandex, and stretch lace bras of cotton and Lycra. Maidenform exports about 20 percent of its total business, mainly to Europe.
Peter Koopman, who is responsible for Maidenform’s European sales, said the company differentiates itself from European competition by delivering new colors and patterns four times a season.
Another foundations player, the Gossard brand by Cortauld Textiles of the U.K., is enjoying strong European growth, according to Michael O’Donnell, export sales manager. Helped by exports, 1993 sales grew 30 percent against a year earlier to about $60 million (40 million pounds at current exchange rates).