In a tough market, women’s sportswear and dressmakers stick to what they do best.
Faced with a retail market that’s been buffeted by skyrocketing gas prices, women’s sportswear and dress manufacturers seem to be taking a more cautious approach to expansion.
“I was reading today that retailers are incurring losses across the country because of fuel costs,” said Julie Jordan Browne, sales manager of Natick, Mass.-based Telluride Clothing. “People won’t have as much expendable income to go shopping; it’s all going in the gas tank. That’s the biggest impact as far as the success of women’s sportswear collections.”
Clothing makers are sticking with what they do best and expanding their assortments, but in a way that builds on their strengths. And they’re being selective about where their lines are being sold. But they’re also riding high on the current craze for dresses, which is expected to continue into spring.
“We’ve been in an excellent dress cycle. Everyone’s gaining traction in dresses, and stores are funding the category to a much higher level than they have in years,” said Lisa Leavey, president of Suzi Chin/Maggy Boutique, a New York-based dress resource that features diverse
dress offerings with a misses’ fit and a young attitude. She said the company saw 15 percent gains in dresses last year and expects next year’s gains to reach 25 percent. Leavey attributed the gains to growing diversification within the category.
“Dresses had gotten to the point where they were for casualwear or for cocktail. Now there are options for work and daytime occasions,” said Leavey, adding that the widespread use of matte jersey and other knits was driving the increased availability of office-friendly looks. She said the company is tailoring its fashions to capitalize on this trend. “We’re constantly looking for new knits. And we’re also offering jacketed dresses, so you have coverage that makes a dress [for daywear] much more appealing.”
She attributes the success of the company’s dress collections, with wholesale prices ranging from $59 to $89, to a few factors: unique combinations of fabrics, such as matte jersey or silk
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dupioni with eyelet and broadcloth organza; good fit, and the company’s pursuit of exclusive prints purchased from various art studios.
Leavey said the company will add petite sizes to its range starting with its resort collection, a move that resulted from popular demand. “Once Saks went out of petites, along with some of the other big players, it seems customers have been starving for it,” she said. (Saks Fifth Avenue has since re-
embraced petite sizings.) “Our Suzi Chin line in particular is very conducive to petites — it’s young and very cute. And there are times when we have petite sell-throughs in our private label division that outperform those for missy looks.”
Building on strengths is also the name of the game at Tasha Polizzi, a Great Barrington, Mass.-based maker of resort-friendly women’s sportswear that is launching two new collections in the coming year, both well within designer Tasha Polizzi’s comfort zone.
“We want to go after what we are good at. I’m really good at shirts, and I’m really good at jackets,” said Polizzi. “The entire world is doing denim, but we won’t touch it, because we just can’t do it.”
So, for this year’s resort season, the company is coming out with Roadhouse, a collection of weekend-friendly, Western-inspired cotton shirts and T-shirts, wholesaling for $38 to $42.
“We were inspired by a few shirts I did for fall that were such an overwhelming success, with great reorders, that we are expanding on them,” said Polizzi. “And that way, stores don’t have to buy an entire collection.” She hopes that Roadhouse, whose look she described as “New York cowgirl,” will help the company expand its roster of retailers to include more boutiques, since it is more youth-driven than the rest of the label, as well as stores geared toward Western apparel.
Also on tap for Tasha Polizzi will be a jacket collection for early fall 2007 produced in collaboration with a Chinese factory. The collection features classic jacket silhouettes — think motorcycle and army — done in fake suede and fake fur. One of Polizzi’s favorite pieces is a jacket based on the one that David Carradine wore in “Shane,” in a fake leather resembling rumpled elephant skin. The jacket collection is projected to produce a 20 percent increase in the company’s overall volume, while Roadhouse should garner a 15 percent increase in sales, as well, said Jack Polizzi, the company’s co-owner. The company’s 500 accounts include Dillard’s; Simply Santa Fe, in Santa Fe, N.M.; Lundrigans, a four-store chain in Minnesota, and Orvis, for whom Tasha Polizzi will be creating specialty items in the coming year.
New lines are also the focus at Telluride Clothing, which is building on the success of a collection called Nic & Zoe it launched last year. The line is produced in partnership with Dorian Lightbown, a veteran designer whose husband’s premature death led her to start her own collection.
Nic & Zoe, which is named for Lightbown’s children, racked up strong sales at three of its main accounts: Nordstrom, Von Mauer and Chicago-based specialty store Mark Shale.
“We had really high percentage sell-throughs and healthy growth margins there, and we’re going to try and use that to open new business,” said Browne. Nic & Zoe is carried in 600 accounts nationwide.
A particular focus for Nic & Zoe next year will be solidifying business at primary department store accounts. “With the way the market is going, with consolidation happening across the country, that’s the safest way to grow,” said Browne.
She said she feels the line holds strong appeal for department stores partly because, after 16 years with Sigrid Olsen, Lightbown is a known quantity among buyers.
“Lightbown is known for her knits — she gets really different fabrics and stitches that set her apart from the industry,” said Browne, adding, “Our price points are sharp — we offer great value for the fine fabrications and details that we offer.” She said the line tries to offer unusual, flattering silhouettes with plenty of stitch detailing, such as a long crocheted cardigan with a deep V-back and contrasting stitching on the sleeves and placket, retailing for $129.
Still, Browne seeks to trade up on the company’s success.
“We are going after a better account base. Although our price points are great, I think we can hang with Trina Turk and people along that price range with no problem,” she said. Nic & Zoe’s predicted wholesale volume for 2006 is $20 million.
At Lilly Pulitzer, the strategy is to take what they know and run with it.
“We’re expanding our Palm Beach heritage and designing product that’s authentic to Palm Beach to service a customer that appreciates that lifestyle by expanding accessories, bringing footwear in-house and launching a
full-fledged men’s collection,” said Michael Wallace, vice president for wholesale sales at the King of Prussia, Pa.-based company. To that end, the company has made several notable executive hires, including designer Jane Schoenborn, formerly the owner of Buzz by Jane Fox, to head up women’s footwear, accessories and new product development.
Lilly Pulitzer also has benefited from the dress boomlet.
“We’re really having a big dress push — they are continuing to be a growing part of our business at retail and at wholesale,” said Wallace. On the flip side, Lilly Pulitzer also is paying closer attention to denim, with the category representing 20 percent of its total assortment in spring 2006, up from 4 percent previously. The dress-denim duality is part of a deliberate strategy, said Wallace.
“Girls’ closets are divided between day and social dressing, and we’re careful to clearly segment the two,” he explained “One is denim-based, the other is not. We don’t do product that bridges both categories, but we’re clearly defining the product for each and increasing the assortment for both.”
Jeans now will be available in several different fits, which company designers are working hard to perfect. “What we are finding is, years ago our customer would have worn Lilly print bottoms with a solid top. Now she is wearing solid jeans with a printed Lilly top.”
Also on tap for Lilly Pulitzer: a continued expansion of company-owned stores. The first of 10 opened at the King of Prussia Mall this year, and additional doors are being planned for locations that help further the brand’s tony image — à la the Ralph Lauren model — such as Dallas’ upscale NorthPark mall and in Greenwich, Conn. The company has 500 accounts total, a figure that includes 75 licensed specialty boutiques in which owners are required to carry 90 percent Lilly Pulitzer in addition to brands of their choice, as well as Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor.
“We’re strategically looking for new accounts in areas where the brand isn’t,” said Wallace. “But mostly we’re looking to grow from within, and look at increasing our business with a few retailers.”