Wovens tops in sport shirts - men's clothing - AM Apparel Merchandising

Discount Store News, Sept 6, 1993

Woven sport shirts are weaving their way back to men's hearts, as a number of retailers report stronger sales despite overall sluggishness in apparel sales.

"Wovens are really strong for us this year," says Larry Lemon, buyer for Duckwall-Alco Stores Inc., an 80-store, Middle America chain based in Abilene, Kan. "I see it good through the first half of next year."

Kmart's divisional vice president for men's fashion, Robert Moore, says wovens "are enjoying a real resurgence" that he expects to last through fall 1994.

It's difficult to pick a particular style or fabric responsible for stronger woven sales, but among those that appear to stand out are westerns, silks and 100 percent cottons. Retailers say wovens are selling in colors like lilac, green and red, and commanding better price points compared to knits. But exactly why wovens are pulling ahead of knits seems to be anybody's guess.

"Boy, if you could figure that one out, we'd all be geniuses," says Jim Phillips, vice president of sales for Brittania, the mass merchant line of Levi Strauss & Co. "It always amazes me that consumers all seem to change at the same time."

Kmart's Moore believes that while wovens sales are benefitting from a better mix of new trends--such as a move toward westerns, a greater interest in long sleeves and an infusion of fresh colors and prints--"we don't see anything that's dramatically new in knits that would drive any significant dollar business."

Woven' popularity is strong despite their generally pricier tags. Even at stores like Franklin, Mass.-based Stuarts Department Stores, which tend to rely on low tickets, wovens are out-pacing less expensive knits. Stuarts? knits range from $2.99 for T-shirts to $14.99 for a knit shirt with a woven chest band. Wovens go from $9.99 to $24.99 for silk.

This year, of course, has not been easy sailing for apparel sales in general, and men's sport shirts have also taken hits. Discount store sales of men's sport shirts got off to a slow start in the first four months, dropping to 15.2 million units from 15.6 million in the same period a year ago, according to figures compiled by MRCA Information Services, a Stamford, Conn.-based research firm.

NPD Group, a research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y, reported that data for all retail tiers indicate woven sport shirts did remarkably well during the first quarter of this year, rising 16.4 percent over the year-earlier period, to 37.8 million units from 32.5 million (see table). Related dollar figures rose 21 percent to $588 million from $486 million.

As research data indicate, one of the bright surprises for mass merchants this year has been westerns. "Western has always been good; it's just especially good this year," says Lemon of Duckwall-Alco. "Western wear is not an item, it's a look. It's from the whole country phenomenon. Country music is big."

Yet western shirts aren't popular only with traditional users, who prefer their shirts in traditional stripes and plaids. This year, fashion-forward westerns--some with Aztec designs, others with chest prints of southwestern scenes on solid colors--have attracted a broader range of consumers. Lemon says westerns' price points range from $14.99 for basic shirts to $34.99 for those with fancy embroidery treatments.

"More and more retailers are beginning to adapt to doing western shirts," says Ronnie Goldman, an account executive for Townsley, a New York City-based manufacturer, adding that westerns are popular in both regular woven and flannel materials.

Lemon figures that cool spring weather also helped drive his wovens business, which offers consumers a variety of heavier fabrics and long sleeves. Silks and denims are also moving well and driving wovens sales.

"We anticipate doing silks going forward. It's a good holiday business," says Horace Marshburn, divisional merchandise manager, men's wear, Henderson, N.C.-based Rose's Stores Inc. He adds that Rose's has also conducted tests indicating strong demand for short-sleeved silks.

At Value City, the off-price Columbus, Ohio-based chain, merchandisers are playing up silk and light (8-oz.) denim in variations including the now-popular hooded shirt. "Woven people have gotten ahold of hoods and reinterpreted it right," says John Ricciuti, a Value City men's wear merchandiser and buyer.

All the action this year hasn't centered just on wovens, however, and for many retailers knits are also doing reasonably well. At Duckwall-Alco, and numerous other discount operations, T-shirts are moving well. Popular styles include models sporting screen prints of western and wildlife scenes as well as a variety of official logos from the likes of Harley Davison, Looney Tunes and pro sports.

Knitted golf shirts are moving quickly at the 80 Value City stores stretching from New Jersey to Kentucky. "We're in great golf country," says Ricciuti. Likewise, Kmart reports strong sales of its Fuzzy Zeoller peque stitch golf shirt-recently upgraded to a heavyweight 100 percent cotton--for $18.99.