NEW YORK — Next year, department stores are sure to have a whole new better sportswear area.
That’s because vendors have revamped and revived the better sportswear segments of their businesses by launching labels, revving up their assortments and raising the bar in offering trendy merchandise. This will ring true in a selection of new brands such as Kenneth Cole Reaction and City Unltd., which Liz Claiborne Inc. will launch to replace its now-defunct City DKNY business. The goal for these brands is to become major players in the women’s apparel industry, which is worth $97 billion at retail in the U.S.
“I’m not sure that this is happening because the better department wasn’t doing well,” said Trudy Sullivan, executive vice president at Liz Claiborne Inc., whose Sigrid Olsen line continues to perform well and new City Unltd. brand will hit stores for spring selling. “I think it’s more because this industry is about change and change in the department can only be a good thing.”
Claiborne hopes to see City Unltd. available in nearly 500 department store doors.
It certainly will be a good thing for these companies if they meet their own expectations. Kenneth Cole Reaction, which is being produced by Bernard Chaus Inc., is expecting to generate anywhere from $20 million to $30 million in first-year wholesale volume.
Then there’s Calvin Klein Women’s Better Sportswear, which also is going through some changes under the Kellwood Co. umbrella of brands. The company, which still has product being delivered to stores this spring under its previous arrangement with GAV, will have a new, redesigned collection ready for fall retailing.
The firm just hired Chris Jackson from DKNY to design the new collection. Jackson reports to Stephen Ruzow, president of Calvin Klein Women’s Better Sportswear and executive vice president at Kellwood. Ruzow said that, when the line relaunches, Calvin Klein Women’s Better Sportswear no longer will be broken into career and casual separates, but will be placed together as a full lifestyle collection.
“We always had a lifestyle collection, but it was broken into those career and casual areas. Now the line will all work together with colors coordinating,” he explained. “It’s really going to be displayed in the way women dress. They don’t have a casual closet and a career closet. They have one closet, and that’s how we see the new collection.”
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In addition, the H Hilfiger collection, which originally was launched as a department store better line in 120 Federated Department Store doors, now will be showcased in its own boutiques across the country. This time around, the line will be much more fashion-focused and a bit more upscale than in the past. The first 5,500-square-foot store will open Feb. 2 in Tysons Corner in Vienna, Va., followed by North Park Center in Dallas in February and Oak Brook Center in Chicago in March.
“There is a demand for more upscale, refined sportswear,” Tommy Hilfiger said in a recent interview. “For us to present it in our own stores gives us great opportunity and adds growth to our brand. H is different than the Tommy Hilfiger line, but there is still a very wearable aspect to it, with the women’s line looking more feminine, and cashmere sweaters already bestsellers in our stores. This customer is interested in Hilfiger product, but wants something a bit more upscale, something they can’t find in department stores.”
The new lines hitting the better arena will be in good company with other labels such as Lauren Ralph Lauren, Jones New York Signature, AK Anne Klein and Michael Michael Kors.