DENIM styles make the grade for BTS - back-to-school clothing trends

DSN Retailing Today, March 5, 2001

Ah Back-to-School, evocative of chalkboards and loose-leaf notebooks, or rather laptops; reminiscent of riding bikes, make that Razor scooters. The accoutrements may have changed, but it's still one of the year's make or break seasons for retailers.

With a slowing economy and a still slumping licensing business, stocking items that are sure bets is more important than ever this fall. The consensus among manufacturers and retailers is that sweaters and jeans will be the apparel offerings most in demand for boys and girls, in all sizes, during the Back-to-School season.

"A trend going forward in 2001, we've noticed for sure, is a shift away from twills and toward denim. We're reflecting this in a broader denim range," says Kari Emond, fashion director for Zellers. This includes shiny denim in its Request private label for girls.

These sentiments are shared by a number of other retailers as they get their Back-to-School assortments in place. "Denim is trending very well," notes Dina Sweeney, girls' buyer at The Children's Place.

Manufacturers have already been feeling the demand as orders have been rolling in. "Denim is a key fabric for kids--outselling twills--with 15 to 20 percent growth in [Back-to-School] sales and an interest in mid-to-light weights [12-oz.]," notes Cheryl Clairborne, merchandiser for VF Jeanswear's Wrangler Hero Boys division. "Assortments were 60/40 or 50/50, denim-to-twill, depending on the retailer in 2000. Into fall 2001, there's a shift toward denim, with 70/30 or 65/35 ratios of denim-to-twill."

Dark jeans are still predicted to dominate.

"Jeans are back-to-basics--five-pockets in dark colors, including overdyed black," says Keith Schlain, divisional merchandise manager for The Children's Place.

VF is offering crosshatched denim--a popular, slubby weave with a vintage appearance. It's also offering a zip-off model. The industry considers zip-offs a boys' "staple" now, says Kevin Taxin, senior vice president for Kids International Corp., whose company does private label for Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target.

Lily Sidorovich, president of Mobile Eight Apparel Corp., is also betting on denim. For boys and girls, there's an interest in detail at the knees, with seaming and split knee points in Mobile Eight's OTB brands.

"For boys, we have crosshatch models and several finishes, and our formatic jean is being introduced--our version of the engineered jean," she elaborates.

For girls, flares and printed jeans are popular. There's much more variety, including shiny denim and topstitching in brightly colored thread.

Sweeney says flares, darker washes, stonewash, black, sparkle and knee seam splits are all important denim details. Foil-printed jeans, especially in gold, are expected to have a golden performance this year as well.

"Girls are seeking trendier denim styles: denim with plaid, suede, embroidered contrast stitching, reversible color denim," notes Randi Gindi, vice president of merchandising for French Toast, who has already noticed demand for these details from buyers.

The new Gloria Vanderbilt girls' line (Glo), produced by Kids International, is launching June 30. It will debut at Kohl's, notes merchandiser Maura Kaplan, and includes airbrushed, dip-dyed, five-pocket jeans, flares and, like other collections, knee-seam details.

The hottest tops for "junior" citizens to wear with their new jeans are, again, sweaters. Sweaters have started to, well, out fleece fleece. Taxin says, "Poly fleece is slowing down; sweaters are taking the place of fleece, even as a layering vest. It's definitely hitting its peak." Yet fleece will still be a presence. Zellers is offering a vest at a sharp price point based on last year's success with this item. But, sweaters will be hot.

For boys this fall at The Children's Place, "it's sweaters, big time," Schlain notes. Sweater assortments will include wide ribs, solids, engineered stripes, medium weights and crew and v-necks. But only mock-turtlenecks because "kids don't like those 'Bazooka Joe' high turtlenecks," he adds.

"Sweaters have become a much more important category this year; we're getting more behind our sweater assortment," adds Emond. For girls at Zellers, in Glo and elsewhere, the rollback cuff is an important detail on chunky gauge knits, as are turtlenecks in all gauges.

Besides sweaters and jeans, there are a few other things expected to be big this year. Break out the Madras and pink Oxford shirts, the preppy look is back. Little knit dresses for girls, collegiate and classic looks like rugbys and polos for boys, these items will be cropping up everywhere--including at Gap Kids and JCPenney.

Preppy haven J.Crew is launching a new children's wear line beginning this month called J. Crew Kid, which will first roll out in select stores and on Jcrew.com. The line will be offered through the catalog this fall in a special insert featuring the Back-to-School collection.

"The preppy look is perfect for Back-to-School this year," says Pirkko Karhunen, senior design director for Lands' End Kids. "For girls, we are excited about rugby shirts and dresses with bright color accents for fall. Denim and corduroy continue to be important with kids for Back-to-School," she adds.