Mesh bottoms up - retail sales of men's shorts

Discount Store News, June 19, 1995

Spring 1995 was one for the record books. Unfortunately for the apparel business, one of the records set was for the coldest spring in recent memory--chilling men's shorts sales.

In spite of the dismal season, retailers from ShopKo and Hills to Kmart are finding glimmers in the gloom. Most report brisk sales of activewear shorts fabricated from nylon and polyester in micromesh and dazzle looks. And much of the sparkle for spring 1996 active bottoms, they predict, will come from synthetic shorts.

While cotton and cotton/polyester jersey shorts have performed with less velocity than planned by most chains, they remain the core of the active shorts business. The stores are typically using mesh and dazzle on feature fixtures to draw shoppers into active departments, where jersey predominates. But if crystal balls had been working, many a buyer would have ordered synthetics in greater quantity. These mass channel translations of bright and lightweight basketball and soccer shorts have seized the imaginations and wallets of many consumers.

"It's incremental at this point," says Royce Bullock, merchandise manager for menswear at Kmart, of the business provided by mesh and dazzle. Kmart will seek more of this classification's sales in spring 1996.

Bullock says he is encouraged by the "very large percentage of synthetics" he sees selling in upstairs channels and is confident that the consumer is ready to support bigger and bolder assortments in the mass channel.

While "the jersey piece is the backbone of the non-denim shorts business," says Don DeLaura, vice president, divisional merchandise manager, Pamida, he is scoring good sell-through on micromesh and dazzle shorts with the Rawlings logo, with retail prices from $9.99 to $17.99. "The name is recognizable and the quality is good," he says, "and people are wearing them to do anything in now."

At Bradlees, Braintree, Mass., vice president, general merchandise manager for soft lines Jim Sparks says micromesh and dazzle have scored success from the first week they hit the floor.

Working against what he terms "a very aggressive plan" in all shorts, Skip Chustz, senior vice president, general merchandise manager, at ShopKo, Green Bay, Wis., says the chain is seeing particularly soft results in licensed goods. In contrast, he calls nylon mesh "the most pleasing part" of the business, with basic looks in navy, black, gray and white doing best with the more traditional, Midwestern clientele of this 128-store chain.

However, many manufacturers and retailers predict that fashion will add horsepower to active shorts sales--even in jersey.

Bullock says, "If we take textured looks into jersey, it's going to stimulate sales." Bullock extends a challenge to manufacturers: "The vendors are going to have to improve in fashion; we'd like to see more innovation. The consumers have indicated they're ready with their response to dazzle."

Some vendors take up that gauntlet with enthusiasm. "A new logo is not enough," asserts Hank Weiner, executive vice president of Stage II. "You need new fabrications in mesh, dazzle and jersey; new treatments like cut and sewn pieces or color blocks--new silhouettes like hangdowns, longer lengths."

Another means to project extra value is fabric weight. While consumers undoubtedly enjoy the extremely light feel of mesh, there is evidence that they appreciate a heavier hand in jersey. At Pamida, for instance, the men's jersey shorts selection has gone to 7-oz. private label, priced at $12.99, straying from the lower-priced 5.5-oz. fabric. DeLaura notes that customers can buy lighterweight jersey shorts at perhaps two-thirds that price at national discounters, but Pamida's lifestyle apparel strategy mandates a stand on the level of quality and value that the heavier weight delivers.

The success many stores are experiencing in fashion/active shorts has prompted marketers to track the category with the latest computer technology.

Al DiLauro, merchandise manager for Hampton Industries, which produces the licensed Rawlings line in dazzle and micromesh, says the business has quickly reached high enough volume to support quick response systems. "On the mesh side especially, it's become really like a basic commodity. Where retailers previously would have bought, say, 2,000 units, now they'll buy full rounders for six months, with refill on colors."

Most of the mass market active shorts display branded logos such as Spalding, Wilson, Rawlings, MacGregor and Jerzees.

Licensed team apparel has stalled.

At Canton, Mass.-based Hills, non-team shorts own more floor space than team, a change from the past several years. Jo Lepley, vice president of merchandising for men's and children's at Hills, says the change has been justified. "In mesh, we're doing a comparable fabrication to team in non-team," she says, "and the non-team has more than doubled in volume over last year." Mesh shorts retail at Hills for $9.99.

Merchants also have high hopes for an even better mesh and dazzle business next year. They are just as hopeful that jersey will improve in 1996. They believe that increased use of texture in drop needle, waffle stitch and other permutations can draw more consumer interest.