CHICAGO — Dresses and skinny jeans continued to shape the spring buy of many Midwestern retailers as they shopped Chicago’s StyleMax market.
Denise Hendricks, owner of Weathered Elements in Clear Lake, Iowa, a resort town north of Des Moines, picked up some skinny jeans and skinny Bermuda shorts from J & Co.
“We’re going to try them out,” Hendricks said during the four-day show that ended Oct. 31 at the Merchandise Mart. “They’ll sell. When I wear things in the store, people pick up on it.”
She noted that she must consider her competition, a SuperTarget store about 10 miles away. A couple of years ago, Target carried the same Nick & Nora pajamas as her boutique at half the price, which was less than her cost.
“They’re picking up what a department store sells,” she said of Target. “Now we have to really think about everything we buy.”
Kellie Poulos, who runs two specialty stores, Asinamali and Coucou in Evanston, Ill., ordered skinny jeans from LTB Jeans and straight-leg, boot-cut and cargo pants for spring from Fresh Ink.
“We have to have them,” Poulos said of the skinny jeans, adding that even customers of Coucou, which caters to women aged 40 and up, have requested the look.
“We have to be careful about our denim,” she said, citing the presence of a Gap just a few doors down.
Poulos ordered more trendy wide-leg jeans and gauchos from Level 99. The retailer also loaded up on wrap dresses from Andrea Lieu, sweater dresses from Tulle, mesh dresses from Sweet Pea and cotton poplin shirtdresses from Dick & Jayne, many of which can be paired with leggings, she said.
Amy Lechelt-Basta, who in October opened a European travel-themed boutique on Southport Avenue in Chicago, said dresses also constitute a key facet of her spring buy.
“We’re going heavy into dresses,” she said. “I love them. They’re very feminine, light and easy to wear.”
In particular, Lechelt-Basta opted for knit jersey dresses from Wilster and ruffled print cotton blend dresses from Yellowfield 8. She recently held a trunk show for Melanie Nicole, a Chicago designer who specializes in convertible jersey dresses.
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The market also featured an expanded 30,000-square-foot section called Pure Contemporary that included about 100 exhibitors such as Agave, Blue Cult and Peace of Us, said Susan McCullough, senior vice president of apparel for Merchandise Mart Properties, which runs the mart.
“We wanted an area dedicated to contemporary,” she said. “We displaced a lot of people to make it happen, but we wanted it to feel like a show within a show.”
The area, which will be showcased during the October and March StyleMax markets, had its own logo, DJ, complimentary coffee bar and display of suspended spinning jeans.
McCullough said the show hit last year’s attendance marks, although she declined to elaborate on specific numbers.
“This is one of our busiest shows,” she said. “The energy is very positive.”