Streetwear and urban vendors have faced a host of issues of late, including an economy that has drastically reduced the buying power of young consumers, the closure of many urban-oriented specialty retailers and a splintering of the category into an array of lifestyles and demographics. The changes have made marketing to young male streetwear customers more complex but also provided opportunities for streetwear brands to reach a wider audience — which could be particularly true if the retail climate begins to thaw this year, as many observers expect.
“We’ve had a nice resurgence in the tail end of 2009 and we see the business growing in 2010,” said Peter Mintz, a sales director at Akademiks, a division of New York-based Kemistre 8.
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Many retailers have reduced their urban streetwear buys in recent years, as the category underwent a contraction and young shoppers gravitated toward a more contemporary aesthetic — but that could change, added Mintz. “I think there was a major pullback by retailers in the urban category but some have realized they might have gone too far,” he explained. “That customer is still there. It might not be the levels of two or three years ago, but there’s still strong demand for this kind of product.”
Urban streetwear has branched into three distinct cliques, said Mintz, each serving a different kind of customer. “There are the traditional guys from the Nineties, like Rocawear and Sean John; then you have the second wave from the past five years like Akademiks, LRG and Coogi, and then a third group of younger labels like Crooks & Castles which have their own vibe,” he explained. “It’s a whole different landscape. The young guy today is such a wiser shopper, with a lot more options. He’s surfing the Internet to find the coolest stuff and can see what all these different brands are doing.”
Rather than try to be all things to all people in the streetwear zone or emulate what newer brands are doing, Akademiks intends to serve its core customer base with a classic streetwear aesthetic. “We are going to stay true to who we are,” said Mintz, adding the company sees a lot of opportunity to grow on base exchange stores serving armed forces personnel.
The anemic economy has been a crucial factor impacting the streetwear zone, said Gerry Matos, senior vice president of marketing at headwear maker New Era. “Obviously we’ve bumped along for the last 18 to 24 months, and there hasn’t been any great momentum at retail. That’s led to some really strong erosion in the urban landscape, with literally hundreds of stores closing.”
The high unemployment rate, which has hit younger consumers particularly hard, has been a key negative factor in the market, said Matos. Total income for 16- to 19-year-old consumers was down 28 percent to $15.7 billion for the first nine months of 2009, according to a December research report from Brean Murray, Carret & Co.
To spur sales, New Era is offering several new initiatives, including the debut of a new line of caps using licensed cartoon imagery from the Disney archives dating back to the Thirties. The company is also using a new photorealistic printing technique to bring a more vivid look to its licensed Major League Baseball and character designs, from partners like DC Comics.
“Another key for us is to expand our categories and continue to drive into apparel and accessories,” said Matos. “We had a broad test of our branded basics at Champs over the holiday, and it performed pretty well.”
Last year, New Era acquired Miami-based 5th & Ocean, a maker of team sports activewear and private label sportswear. “That deal brought an incredible amount of knowledge about apparel into the company,” noted Matos.
With the economy in mind, value pricing is a key selling point at S.L.A.T.E. exhibitor Mighty Healthy, with its jeans retailing for between $70 and $80. “One of our strategies is to underprice our competitors. We always want to be a little cheaper than our peers,” said Denis Iderman, who founded the company with Ray Mate in 2004 as a T-shirt line and has grown it into a full collection, including hard goods like skateboards. The strategy has gotten the brand into more than 150 accounts, including Zumiez and online retailer Kamarloop.com.
Akoo, founded in late 2008 by hip-hop star T.I., his business partner Jason Geter and Virginia Beach, Va.-based manufacturer RP55 Group, is a promising brand in the newer wave of streetwear players. “I think people might pigeonhole us as an urban brand, but what I always hear when they see the product is, ‘This is not what I expected,’” said Ralph Reynolds, creative director at Akoo, which targets streetwear, premium and contemporary shoppers.
For fall, the label will showcase an outdoors theme in its graphics, such as a hunter with ducks and hounds on the back of a poplin shirt. “It’s very Americana, with a Forties and Fifties feel,” said Reynolds.
Also in the lineup is denim in both clean and bleached-out styles, which retail for between $80 and $125, cardigans and lightweight wool plaid and chambray shirts.
Not to be outdone by the younger brands, Rocawear will import its mobile pop-up shop, situated inside a gleaming, expandable 18-wheel big rig, onto the MAGIC floor. The aim is to show retailers the appeal of the entire Rocawear lifestyle, said Jameel Spencer, chief marketing officer at the Iconix Brand Group Inc.-owned label. Following MAGIC, the shop-on-wheels will follow brand founder Jay-Z on his concert tour around the U.S. this year.
After showing in its own ballroom in Las Vegas for two seasons, Southpole is making a return to the MAGIC floor. The brand, owned by New Jersey-based Wicked Fashions, will introduce a new sublabel called Southpole Premium, which features trendier designs, such as skinny-fit denim.
In the core Southpole range, the line is divided into three main themes: preppy, utility and biker. The preppy collection includes argyle sweaters, colorful polos and logo track jackets; utility encompasses designs with exposed zippers and grommet details, and biker features studded jeans and fake leather trim on shirts. Wicked Fashions will also showcase RS by Sheckler, a skate lifestyle brand created with 19-year-old skating phenom Ryan Sheckler. It is targeted at the midtier and is sold primarily in J.C. Penney stores. Rounding out the company’s lifestyle offerings are A. Prodigee, a streetwear brand sold mostly at Sears, and White Tag, a tattoo-inspired label launched last year to bring the Ed Hardy look to midtier retailers.
“J.C. Penney wanted to see some trendier things to bring more fashion to their brand and White Tag fits that mandate,” said Janice Welles, director of marketing at Wicked Fashions.