No slowdown in hoe-down - countrified clothing styles - Apparel Merchandising Supplement

Discount Store News, Sept 5, 1994

Designers and trend specialists have fanned out around the globe. They have culled trends from the couture in Paris and gleaned looks from the fashion lions of Milan. And they have returned with--Oklahoma?

With denim the fabric of choice among American consumers, mass merchants are finding that countrified accents play well. That the square dance look has surged in sophisticated Europe is ironic; the important fact is that denim is driving discount sales throughout the classifications--well beyond jeans.

"In previous seasons we primarily saw 5-pocket jeans as the driving force in denim; all other classifications in denim were fringe," says Gregory H. Blow, director of fashion merchandising and product development for Venture, O'Fallon, Mo. And now: "Denim dressing is major, even impacting non-denim items."

"From dresses to shorts to shirts and even accessories," he points out, "denim friendly is now a standard industry term."

Denim and jeans are not only familiar to consumers--the look and feel is widely adaptable, and designers are testing the limits.

Sears Merchandise Group trend manager Kathie Betts points to several such trends to watch for: "The jean body is being interpreted in silks and rayons," she says. "It gives a denim look, but it's silk or something soft. And denim is being blended with new fibers, like the wood pulp fiber tencel, which gives it a silkier hand."

While such exotics may not readily turn into mass channel home runs, denim styles across the board are driving looks, and looks are moving merchandise. Among these, country is a natural winner.

When Target strutted its private label stuff on New York runways in July, a third of the show was countrified denim--complete with Lil' Abner clodhopper boots, barn jackets, apron dresses, overalls, floppy hats and straw handbags.

Bonjour designers had similar things in mind when they introduced the Country Faire collection for spring '95. Andrea Levitt, Bonjour's vice president of merchandising for women's sportswear, says, "In denim-friendly tops, checks and stripes and plaids and the mixing thereof: that's the direction in patterns." She adds, "Neutrals will expand across sportswear; everything nature-inspired, eco-friendly." For Bonjour that includes sunflower motif screened T-shirts.

Other coordinating spring looks being captured for discounters by many vendors include baby print elastic trim detailing for tops, and the still-growing assortment of baby doll silhouettes in short dresses, short tops, even short shorts for junior sizes. Scoop necks in shaped denim shirts is another trend called "huge" by some.

Of course, not all customers will trade in their Walkmans for pitchforks. Hotter colors and sleeker cuts are still there as urban alternatives. Daily Jeans' Anti-Basic line provides cotton Lycra shorts and jeans with plenty of color and extra texture, plus novelty halter tops. Newcomer X-AM Jeans offers some parallel looks.

Style leaders like Sasson bring "soft" lacy woven tops up against "hard" denim shorts for feminine appeal, while also offering a "utility inspired" workwear collection.

Ever alert to accessory angles, customers are driving sales of denim backpacks. Wal-Mart has featured these with the Gitano label from Accessory Network at $9.96. Denim's flexibility in combining with other fabrics has made it easy to move other hot items like the floral print canvas bags that flooded through stores this year. At slightly higher price points, Stuarts' Neil Buckley, divisional merchandise manager, expects leather patch bags to do well next spring. "The wallet-on-a-string and the small organizers have really picked up with the young crowd," he adds.

At Venture, Blow observes, "The best area to maximize the season's trends is in the accessory department. We use photo boards, completely accessorized." These visuals, he says, "project the season's strongest trends, to enable the consumer to pull it all together."

A good fashion basic look that has worked for Sears is the short denim vest over the column knit dress. Kathie Betts champions this combination, which Sears has featured in ads and publicity kits--and in training sessions. "Our sales associates are trained to show the customer items related to the sale," Betts says. When the tubular dress is chosen, the associate may say, |You know, people are wearing these with vests.'"

Betts notes non-denim vests "add newness to any outfit," taking the place of a jacket, whether in woven, sweater knit, shaped through the waist, or other variations.

Denim skirts and dresses don't work for all discounters; at Stuarts, Buckley says the chain has scored just "a few hits in jumpers," and calls skirts' performance "only fair." But at stores like Caldor, where mass fashion--with a capital F--rules, merchants may be ready to increase the buy for spring or summer '95. "They have done well for us," says Mark Minsky, Caldor senior vice president and general merchandise manager for soft lines. "Shortalls were solid performers for us in '94 too, very successful."