Been there, bought that

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 18, 1995 | by Betsy Pisik

The Limited is a sea of basic black with shades of gray and a red accent. Again. The Gap is featuring denim and pastel tops. Still. Ann Taylor has neatly anonymous plaid jackets with matching skirts. Surprised?

Skinny belts. Chunky ankle boots. Little backpacks. Last year's loden is this year's forest, a shade of difference women's apparel experts say may not make green for retailers. The problem is finding a clear fashion trend to whip up excitement for the fall.

"I'm sure I won't buy as much this year as I used to," says high-school senior Susan Marrot of Silver Spring, Md. "I already have a lot of clothing, and I'm supposed to be saving for college."

A display at the front of the Gap store in a suburban-Washington shopping mall entices customers with a familiar combination of denim jeans and vests, a black turtleneck and sweatshirts. Venture into the store -- past last year's hyper-hot checked flannel shirts and muted rag sweaters -- and behold the Gap's early-season best-sellers: short-sleeved cotton sweaters in pastel colors and the store's famed $10.50 heavy cotton T-shirt. Just like last year.

"The Gap style is pretty classic," says a saleswoman, adding that autumn merchandise has begun to move. "Jeans are jeans; you wouldn't really expect too much change."

At least prices remain the same. The Limited -- whose in-house designers once ruled closets with their basics in rainbow colors -- is all over the fashion map with long tunics over challis skirts, cotton twin sets and semistructured suits. Posters looming above the new merchandise try to entice shoppers with words such as flexibility, classic and versatile.

Some companies already have lowered prices. At Merry Go Round stores, snappy sale signs direct customers to transitional-weight sweaters and very short skirts. At Limited Express, whole groupings of fall merchandise are reduced by as much as 30 percent --and it's still 90 degrees outside.

Actually, women are buying apparel, but they tend to do their shopping at department stores such as Sears, Macy's, Filene's and Lazarus. The department stores seem fresher, a better value and more convenient. "I really think a lot of the specialty stores are being hurt by the success of Sears, Penney and Federated," says Mark Schoifet, a spokes-man for the International Council of Shopping Centers.

One of the few bright spots this season will be children's clothing sales. Women with families are spending on home and children, not wardrobes. The Gap, The Limited, Benetton and even Talbots have opened divisions to cater to their customers' young ones.