ATLANTA — Boosted by positive consumer response to fall trends, buyers at AmericasMart sought to keep the good vibes going for spring, buying new interpretations of current bestsellers, such as dresses as tunics.
Dresses, from Sixties-inspired bubbles and A-lines to Seventies’-style wraps and shirtwaists, are resurgent, buyers said. They also applauded new shapes and romantic tops, from flowing kimonos and vintage-inspired ruffled blouses paired with slim bottoms to knee-length shorts and skinny trousers and jeans, that are starting to catch on with customers.
Buyers searched for the unusual item or accessory to distinguish their specialty stores from myriad competitors. One common complaint — a lack of fashion-forward design paired with consistent fit for customers’ range of sizes and shapes.
Lawton Hall, senior vice president of AmericasMart Apparel, said he was “pleased” with attendance, but wouldn’t release numbers for the show that ran Oct. 19 to 22. There was a record number of temporary exhibitors, about 150 more booths than last market for a total of 600.
Buyer attendance picked up from Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana, areas still recovering from last year’s hurricanes, Hall said. Events, including the DIVA awards, a private showing of a Louvre exhibit at the High Museum of Art, and several showroom parties, helped boost attendance.
In an historic partnership with the Louvre, hundreds of artworks will travel to Atlanta from Paris over a three-year period, including pieces by Rembrandt, Raphael, Poussin and Velasquez that have never before left the famed museum.
Lisa Adams, principal of the multiline contemporary showroom Therapy With Lisa Adams, equaled her sales from last year.
“There was more of a sense of urgency,” she said, adding that she worked harder to get buyer attention, staging an in-house fashion show on Oct. 20.
Bob Rosenblum, co-owner of Rosenblum’s, a women’s and men’s specialty store with two locations in the Jacksonville, Fla., area, shopped the market with a new strategy, after a recent foray into the contemporary market didn’t pan out.
“We’re reconnecting with our original customer, moving back to better-bridge price points, raising the bar with more luxury, and classic, sophisticated styles that they want,” he said.
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The shift began this fall, with lines such as Theory, which had a 39 percent sell-through in two weeks, and Audrey Talbot, an updated classic line that also performed well.
Looking to do more business with fewer resources, Rosenblum cut the number of women’s lines to 40 from 70, spending 80 percent of his budget with core vendors, leaving money aside for new product. He also sought partnerships with vendors that offer exclusives and that help with returns and markdowns, citing Donna Degnan, Yansi Fugel and Tahari as examples.
Demand for dresses exceeded supply, Rosenblum said. For holiday, he bought gift items: novelty print pajamas by Bed Head and artistic jewelry by Shalla Wista.
Dana Spinola, owner of Fab’rik, a contemporary specialty store with three Atlanta locations and a Des Moines, Iowa, franchise store, was pleased with the number of new lines. Searching for premium denim lines that retail at less than $100, she bought khaki, white and colored denim from Fresh Inc. and lacy chiffon tops by Matty M.
Taking denim trends — clean, straight-leg shapes and a few trouser styles that have performed well — into spring, she bought from her leading resource, J Brand. For tops, she ordered canvas, pintuck mandarin-collar jackets from Tulle and paisley kimonos from Fashion Spy. She spent heavily on dresses and tunics, a category that has outpaced denim for fall, mostly in comfort jersey with satin trim, often paired with leggings.
Shopping for the busy May through Labor Day tourist season, Mary Derck, owner of Uptown Girls & Village Babes, boutiques in Grayton Beach and San Destin, Fla., picked up dresses to wear over jeans and leggings, and accessories and belts.
“My customers want easy-care fabrics and comfortable, soft, fluid dressing,” she said.
Citing Christopher Blue, Alberto McCauley and David Kahn as top resources, Derck expressed general frustration with the market’s failure to address mature women, rather than young hardbodies.
“I’d like to see more lines designed for women, age 45 to 60, the women who have the money to spend, and who want fashion, but maybe can’t wear the fabrics or the size zeros,” she said.
Shopping for everything from shoes to eveningwear for a multigenerational customer base, Karen Bull, owner of Karen’s Fine Apparel, a 3,000-square-foot specialty store in Duluth, Ga., looked for “fabulous” looks, rather than basics.
She bought spring deliveries, interpreting the nautical trend with higher-waisted pants and skirts, in red, white and blue or white and beige, in stripes and dots. She also ordered military-inspired jackets with high collars, novelty buttons and yoke details, along with romantic, Victorian lace and ruffle blouses.
Bull bought German and Canadian lines, such as Olsen Europe, Bianca and Simon Chang, all of which she described as fresh and modern, with better fit than from French or Italian designers.
Bull said fall business has been strong and that her biggest challenge is finding consistent fit for her Baby Boomer customers: women in a range of sizes and shapes who want updated fashion.
“It’s easy to buy clothes that are cute, but then the customer tries them on and they don’t fit,” she said. “There are real women out there with money to spend. But the market just doesn’t get it.”