CHICAGO — Noting a shift away from logo-dominated clothing, contemporary resources are moving into the urban market, as evidenced by the recent Pulse trade show here.
The women’s and men’s urbanwear trade show, which ran June 28-30 at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, boasted its largest selection of vendors so far, 130, including lines such as XOXO and A.B.S. by Allen Schwartz.
“I think the urban market is ready for brands that don’t scream logo,” said Monica Strickland, account executive for XOXO. “The urban girl is ready to go to the next level. The customer is already reaching out to other places like H&M and Forever 21.”
XOXO, which is launching an urban collection for holiday delivery, did well at the market with camouflage cropped studded jackets with lace-up backs and matching camouflage pants that cinch up into capris, and a denim studded shrug with matching studded low-rise jeans.
“Urban specialty stores want to touch on fashion,” Strickland said. “The trend is definitely going toward fashion and less logo.”
Retailers are responding, she said, noting that XOXO picked up accounts with three major urbanwear stores: Man Alive, JBees and Van Dykes.
Ahryn Tolley, women’s buyer for Next, with four urbanwear shops in the Cleveland area, was energized by the fashion-based trend and ordered styles that were more feminine and less urban, such as chiffon halters from Baby Phat.
“Most of our customers are going that way,” she said.
Tolley also liked rhinestone-embellished tanks, T-shirts and denim from A.B.S. by Allen Schwartz, and jeans with matching tops from Apple Bottoms.
“Their jeans stretch really nicely and fit a lot of body types,” she said of Apple Bottoms. “It’s nice for that more curvy type of female.”
“We find that our customer is going toward premium denim,” added Tolley, noting that jeans by Red Monkey at $300 and up were hot sellers. “We’re starting to see that our customer wants something new and exclusive.”
Trends in outerwear also reflected shoppers’ desire for cleaner, trendier pieces.
“Urban is becoming more mainstream,” said Doris Velez, Rocawear’s junior outerwear national sales manager. “We’re seeing more of a crossover. We’re putting more fashion pieces into the mix.”
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One such item is a faux-fur reversible nylon jacket in white or black with a smaller rhinestone embellished logo on the front and hanging silver charms.
Rocawear’s bronze jacquard and leather logo jacket with matching handbag was one of its best-selling pieces, along with a jeans jacket-style black leather shrug with a subtle logo on the back.
Taron Brown, who owns Thorough Threads in Avondale, Pa., traveled to the market for the first time. He also spied a movement away from logo-dominated styles.
Brown opted for traditional urban favorites such as hoodies, sweatsuits and baggy denim from State Property, as well as an Omavi soft leather jacket with a baseball collar “that didn’t look too street.”
He ordered capris, tanks and fitted shirts from Lady Enyce, as well as thin crewneck sweaters with zippers on the front and back from Omavi.
“They’re kind of converting from logo to a more basic, casual look,” Brown said.