The year of the knit

Discount Store News, Sept 15, 1997

In the sport shirt business, one primary question is always of concern: Is it a knit or woven cycle?

Call it the year of the knit. Knit sport shirt sales increased nearly 10 percent during the 12-month period ended in June as retailers generated $6.9 billion (excluding T-shirts sold as underwear) from the category, according to figures captured from consumers by the NPD Group.

Woven sport shirts pushed forward a mere 0.3 percent, producing sales of $5.1 billion for the period.

Retailers have been reporting margin improvement throughout the industry, and unit sales in both knits and wovens reflects these results. When analyzed by unit sales, the knit business grew 7.1 percent to 572 million as woven unit sales actually dropped close to 4 percent, or 308 million, for the 12 months.

Discounters outpaced the industry by generating a 12.7 percent increase in knit shirts sales, ringing up $1.4 billion. Wovens were bumped up 3.5 percent in sales to $916 million. Knit shirt units at the mass market level rose 11.6 percent to 198 million; woven units generated a 2.7 percent increase, which translates to 92 million units purchased by consumers.

As might be expected, Wal-Mart made the most of margins in the category. The company increased unit sales of knits 15 percent as it managed to increase dollars in the category more than 20 percent. In the woven arena, Bentonville managed a 4.9 percent sales increase on virtually flat unit volume.