Retailers ride western trend - hats becoming popular in 2001 - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, Oct 23, 2000

Just when retailers were striking out with baseball caps, cowboy hats rode into town to lasso business. Caps still represent significant sales, but incremental fashion is expected to bring increases in the headwear category.

"We tried a few [cowboy] hats for fall and did well," says Sandy Sansavera, senior vice president and general merchandise manager for Ames Department Stores in Rocky Hill, Conn. "We'll have them for spring but in lighter colors and prints," he notes, describing his women's assortment.

After years of being dominated by the venerable baseball cap, the hat category will be transformed from commodity to fashion in 2001, even in men's and children's areas. Among the styles igniting sales last year were boaters, fisherman and bucket hats, which are expected to remain popular into next year.

There was also a surge late in the summer of kerchiefs. "We sold a great deal of kerchiefs, it was one of the hottest items in accessories," says Maureen Daly, buyer for Bradlees, referring to women's and girl's assortments.

To date, estimates are that hat sales are up about 5 percent over the same period in 1999. That's considered good since it wasn't an extremely hot, sunny summer or a cold winter. The influx of fashion in hats is credited with the gains, and marketers expect even bigger increases in 2001.

Fashion is being held responsible. "Before last summer, baseball hats were the dominant look with 90 percent of sales," observes Steve Russo, president of F.A.B in New York. Russo is hitching his firm's wagon to cowboy styles for 2001.

Target, as usual, was at the head of the pack. For Back-to-School 2000, the chain featured women's cowboy chapeaus sporting animal-print graphics. The styles will be repeated in spring 2001 at Target and other mass merchant stores.

"Animal prints will continue in the fourth quarter, but we'll see more straw, more prints--even Pucci prints for spring--as well as more molded brims," predicts Russo. Heidi Huckleberry, buyer for Boscov's Department Stores in Reading, Pa., agrees people might be ready to don cowboy hats once again.

The last time even city slickers went western was during the "Urban Cowboy" craze of the early 1980s. This time around, "It isn't so much the 'Urban Cowboy' look, but it's Americana merging with hip hop' says Craig Chorney, fashion director of Accessory Network.

This concept was nudged along thanks to Madonna's new CD and video where she is prominently shown wearing a cowboy hat. "Madonna doesn't hurt," says Russo.

Last year's popular silhouettes, including bucket hats, straw boaters and fisherman hats, will also play a role in the spring hat business. Retailers plan to play off the more fashionable nature of hats by matching them with other accessories.

Coordinating hats to outfits is the key to the hat business for The Children's Place. "We do our hats to match our ready-to-wear," says Nina Miner, vice president of trend for the specialty retailer based in Secaucus, N.J. "We determine the trend like a bucket or baseball style, and then we make it an outfit completer. The total look is what makes us special and adds to the sale."

Mass merchants say they'll borrow a cue from specialty operators. "We'll do more matching of visors with flip flops in Hawaiian prints," says Sansavera. Carrying a theme across several accessory products is a forte of Accessory Network. For spring 2001, for example, the New York-based firm is touting handbags with matching boater print hats. There are also straw fedoras to complement straw bags.

Color will also make a splash in hats for spring, says Kimberli Mackay, designer for Betmar, a hat manufacturer in New York. Like many categories in retail, hats are being marketed to a younger audience. "We have concentrated on broadening our collection to younger women. Buyers are asking us for styles to serve a younger clientele or younger attitude," she says. To that end, more colors will be added for spring, including bright orange, purple, orchid and teal.

The embellishments driving apparel sales are also seeping into hats. "We're using details like sequins or embroidery on the hats. Making them packable is also key," adds Mackay.

Licenses, faltering in some apparel areas, are still apparently alive in headwear. "We do well with classic hat licenses such as Winnie-the-Pooh," says Sansavera. At Target, a company representative also confirms that characters such as Hello Kitty have performed well in hats.

While caps have been somewhat soft industry wide, not all merchants struck out with the style. Kmart Corp. still singles out baseball hats as the best performers in the men's category with unconstructed washed and pigment styles leading sales. The company is adding muscle to hats with the Starter and Harley Davidson brands. Kmart is putting an overall corporate push on the Starter brand throughout men's apparel. The company predicts pigment-washed bucket hats will be good for spring 2001, along with straw hats.

Despite the transformation of the hat category, however, retailers are not moving the department out of its traditional home in accessories. "We're doing more links of prints with other products, but not creating shops," says Sansavera. "It is still too minor of a category to do that."