Fairchild Books

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?2007 Fairchild Publications, Inc.
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Fashion Apparel
Womens, Mens, Childrens, and Teens

• Taken as a total entity, womens, mens,
  childrens, and teens apparel industry is the
  largest and most recognized part of the fashion
  business. Although the organization and
  operation, merchandising and marketing, and
  trends are similar, we will review each sector
  separately.

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Womens Apparel
Specialization by Product

• Womens apparel producers have always been
  specialists, producing apparel for a particular
  lifestyle, size range, and price range. Example
• Coat manufacturers do not produce dresses, dress
  manufacturers do not produce sportswear.
• Designers, too, balance diversification with
  specialization.

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Categories in Womens Apparel
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Womens Apparel

• Activewear

Maternity
Plus-size Lane Bryant
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Womens Apparel
Size Ranges

• Misses Includes regular even-numbered sizes
  220, tall sizes 1220.
• Juniors Includes regular sizes 317 and petite
  sizes 115.
• Petites Includes misses even-numbered sizes
  2P16P and junior sizes 1P15P.
• Womens and Womens Petite (plus-size) Includes
  even-numbered sizes 12WP26WP, straight sizes
  2652, and XL5X.

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Womens Apparel
Major Price Zones

• Designer Signatures The highest price zone i.e.,
  Donna Karen, Oscar de la Renta, Dior.
• Bridge Bridges the price range between designer
  and better prices i.e., DKNY, CK.
• Contemporary New zone favored by new young
  designers i.e., Cynthia Rowley, Laundry by Shelli
  Segal.

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Womens Apparel
Major Price Zones

• Better Medium to high, appeals to middle-class
  market offering fashionable apparel at affordable
  prices i.e., Jones NY, Liz Claiborne, Nautica.
• Moderate Nationally advertised makers that
  appeal to middle-class consumer i.e., Guess,
  Esprit, Levi Strauss.
• Budget Lowest price zone, known as promotional
  or mass market i.e., Kmarts Jaclyn Smith.

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Womens Apparel
Merchandising and Marketing

• Most fashion producers sell directly to retail
  stores rather than through intermediaries such as
  wholesalers or jobbers.
• Womens apparel producers aim their sales
  promotion efforts at both retailers and
  consumers. These efforts include advertising,
  publicity, and sales promotion.

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Advertising and Publicity

• Print
• Fashion, general interest and newspapers are
  prime outlets, as are trade magazines for
  advertising dollars
• Broadcast advertising
• Radio, lacking the visual element, usually has
  spot commercials
• Television is dominated by large producers
  (Levis, Sears, JCPenney) who can afford the
  costly campaigns
• Cable television is less expensive than network
  television and lends itself to smaller
  manufacturers and retailers of womens wear
• Publicity firms
• Retained to ensure coverage in editorial pages of
  magazines and newspapers

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Fashion Shows and Trade Shows

• Fashion shows provide opportunities to examine
  the newest collections
• They are the major public relations efforts in
  womens wear
• Newspapers, magazines, radio, television and
  Internet fashion editors and reporters tell the
  fashion stories to their readers
• Trade shows like MAGIC in Las Vegas and others in
  Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo and Hong Kong are
  held semi-annually

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Trunk Shows and Videotapes

• Trunk shows present a designers line to a
  retailers customers
• The lines representative, often the designer,
  mounts an in-house fashion show with sample
  garments
• After the show, the representative meets with
  customers to discuss styles and review items
• Customers, retailers, and manufacturers all
  benefit
• Videos are another tool to promote a designers
  line
• They are also used to help familiarize retailers
  sales staff with the product

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Trunk Shows and Videotapes
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Trends

• Emergence of manufacturers as retailers
• Vertical integration at Ralph Lauren, Benetton
  and Talbots
• Greater emphasis on licensing
• J.G. Hook produces nothing in house
• Increased offshore production
• Imports are a major threat to the domestic
  clothing industry
• Increased emphasis on Quick Response
• Shortened response time offsets some benefits of
  offshore production
• Use of computers and the Internet
• Besides CAD/CAM, selling and promoting the
  ability to instantaneously understand the
  customer needs may be the biggest benefit

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Mens Apparel

• The mens wear industry traditionally has been
  divided into firms that make different kinds of
  clothing

1. Tailored clothing Suits, overcoats, topcoats,
   sports coats, formal wear, and separate trousers
2. Furnishings Dress shirts, neckwear, sweaters,
   headwear, underwear, socks, suspenders, robes,
   and pajamas
3. Outerwear Raincoats, coats, jackets, active
   sportswear
4. Work clothing Work shirts, work pants, overalls,
   and related items
5. Other Uniforms and miscellaneous items

• The federal government uses these five
  classifications. Although it is not an official
  classification, sportswear (including active
  sportswear) has become a vital portion of the
  business and should be considered a mens wear
  category.

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Mens Apparel
Designer Names Today

• Today designer labels are promoted as heavily as
  well-established brand names used to be
• The name game is big business in all segments
  of the mens wear industry
• Designers have helped by becoming highly visible.
  They lend themselves to the fantasy of the
  customer who longs for wealth and excitement

• Kenneth Cole

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Mens Apparel
Merchandising and Marketing

• As with womens wear producers, mens wear
  producers back their lines with
• Fashion shows
• Trade shows
• Trade associations
• Advertising and Publicity
• Mens Trade Associations
• TFA, The Fashion Association, is now part of the
  American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA)
• NAMSB, the National Association of Mens
  Sportswear Buyers
• MAGIC, Mens Apparel Guild of California
• CMA, Clothing Manufacturers Association

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Mens Apparel
Merchandising and Marketing

• An ad for comfortable appeal from Abercrombie
  Fitch, owned by Ruehl.

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Mens Apparel
Industry Trend

• Diversification of products by producers
• Automation of production processes
• Increase in foreign sales
• Proliferation of mens specialty stores

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Childrens, Tweens, and Teen Apparel

• Like adult clothing, childrens, tweens, and
  teens apparel is divided into categories based
  on price, size, and type of product
• Price Budget, moderate, better-priced and
  designer
• Size Seven basic sizes
• Type of product Knits, dresses, sportswear

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Product Specialization

• Manufacturers typically specialize by product
• A producer only makes girls knits, another makes
  girls dresses, another preteen sportswear
• Knits remain popular for infants, boys and
  girls tops
• Although the same design and production methods
  are used for adults and children's wear, less
  fabric is offset by higher labor costs

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Merchandising and Marketing
Licensing

• Character and toy character licenses share the
  spotlight with a growing number of sports and
  corporate licenses
• The first character license was Buster Brown in
  1904
• Barney, Mickey Mouse, Pooh, and Snoopy remain
  popular for children
• Two major studios that produce cartoons, Disney
  and Warner Brothers, have retail outlets,
  designed to boost the lives of the movie
  characters

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Merchandising and Marketing
Licensing

• Sports licensing is another prosperous area of
  licensing
• Sports figures and teams enjoy instant
  recognition among children and young adults
• Both individuals and teams have capitalized on
  this, adding clothing, accessories and other
  items to equipment they sponsor

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Merchandising and Marketing
Licensing

• The four major sports leagues and many college
  and university teams routinely license their
  names for use on clothing
• The National Football League promotes campaigns
  and programs for boys and girls in different age
  groups
• They advertise in Sports Illustrated For Kids and
  the Superbowl, helping kids to not only play
  football but purchase millions of dollars of
  related apparel

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The Role of Fashionin Childrens Wear

• Should be viewed as a business that is
  fashionable rather than a fashion business
• Childrens styles adapt mens and womens styles
• They are not innovative, nor does new fashion
  start here
• Backpacks are one recent notable exception

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The Role of Fashionin Childrens Wear

• Kids take to the runway at this ENK event, which
  showcases apparel and products for infants
  through teens

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Industry Trends
Specialty Retail Outlets

• Store within store, children's areas are popular

• The new trend has been to have free separate
  stores devoted to children's wear
• GapKids opened in 1986
• BabyGap opened in 1996 after outgrowing its space
  allocation within GapKids
• Benetton 012, Laura Ashleys Mother and Child,
  and Kids R Us Baby Superstore are examples of
  this trend

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Industry Trends
Specialty Retail Outlets

• GapKids offers a variety of basics for children

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Industry Trends
Specialty Retail Outlets

• Catalogs
• Major catalog players increased children's
  offerings
• JCPenney and Talbots offer specialized catalogs
  for children
• Delias, a catalog for children and woman ages
  1024, skyrocketed to prominence

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Industry Trends
Specialty Retail Outlets

• The Internet
• Almost every retailer and some manufacturers are
  online with offerings for children
• As of 2000, over 27 million children had Internet
  access
• All four major professional sports leagues have
  sites with pages devoted solely to kids

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Industry Trends
Resale of Childrens Wear

• Secondhand and consignment stores are a logical
  outgrowth of parents concerns about the price of
  new wardrobe basics for children
• Since children quickly outgrow clothes, budget
  minded parents are turning to this alternate
  outlet