Buyers' strategies will vary widely in children's wear

Discount Store News, June 10, 1985

Children's wear buyers agree bright, colorful graphics are one of the key elements they look for in licensed merchandise.

They also agree licenses are strongest in basic catergoies like sleepwear and underwear. And, there's no question that the licensing business warrants close and constant monitoring to keep the hottest characters in and the others off the floor.

But, buyers' overall strategies on getting the most out of licensing this year vary widely.

One of the big question marks for the upcoming fall and holiday seasons is Mickey Mouse.

Many retailers predicted children's wear bearing the Disney character, often posed in humorous new ways, will be very solid for the second half of 1985.

However, more highly styled "Mickey-wear" in young adult sizes has already peaked, they blieve, pointing to the trend which was inspired when J. G. Hook picked up the license last year after high-fashion Mickey goods from French designer Michael Bachaud hit fancy U.S. boutiques and department stores. The fad then filtered down to more basic designs (and prices) for children and the mass market.

While Europe's excitement with Mickey Mouse began two years ago during the character's 50th anniversay, American have had a delayed rection.

Still, discounter enthusiasm about the license varies.

Bradlees merchandise manager, girls' wear, Hans Leerink is approaching Mickey Mouse for fall "very cautiously."

Drawback Noted

He is chiefly concerned about the amount of black used in the Mickey/Minnie Mouse graphic.

"One has to be very careful because black has never been a strong color for small children," he warned. At the Braintree, Mass.-based company, as at other chains, character licenses have their greatest apparel impact on girls' sizes 4-6x and boys' 4-7.

At presstime, Leerink was waiting for summer sales results from his assortment of Mickey Mouse girls' wear items: long-sleeve fleece tops, priced at $8.99; shorts sets, retailing for $4.99; 3-pack panties, for $4.29, and bathing suits, market at $8.99. These prices generally relfect $1 to $2 higher retail tickets than their nonlicensed versions.

Bradlees will wait as long as possible to order its back-to-school licensed apparel, underscored Leerink, who places most of these orders for fall no earlier than June 1.

In contrast, K mart is going to make a significant Mickey Mouse statement chainwide for fall, reported Debra Grafton, vice president, general merchandise manager for the Troy, mich.-based company.

while the chain has carried Mickey goods since the birthday celebration two years ago, she traced a dramatic sales spurt during the last eight months.

Grafton will feature Mickey merchandise in girls' wear--including T-shirts, fleece, knit tops, night gowns and pajamas--with prices ranging from $6.97 for T-shirts to $15.97 for fleece sets.

However, she will be more heavily inventoried with Mickey goods in teenage sizes (including some ladies'). In the girls' department Mickey has many other "cute and young" characters to compete with, like Care Bears and Cabbage Patch, she pointed out, adding K mart carries a representation of virtually every popular license on the market.

However, character-licensed apparel as a percentage of K mart's total girls' wear mix is not on the rise, she revealed. If anything, it may soon start to decline.

Grafton reported a newer trend, inspired by the licensing craze, toward what she called, "fun screens." She described an influx of nonlicensed "imaginative graphics" from the cartoonist community--including colorful koalas, pandas, giraffes, zebras, etc., in animated, humorous poses.

K mart will be featuring these "playful screens" on T-shirts, activewear, sleepwear and lingerie this fall from small girls' to ladies' sizes. She projected they will become increasingly important for the chain.

Advantages of these nonlicensed "fu screens" are many, she explained. For one thing, markdown risks are much lower than with licensed merchandise since the life span is expected to be far longer and less dependent on outside influences--such as the success of a TV show, movie, or toy, or the financial backing of a licensor. Also advantageous is the fact that there are fewer graphic or color limitations.

Price points are similar to the licensed goods however, and profit margins are about the same.

Meanwhile, at Caldor, Mickey Mouse will be "very important" for BTS and Christmas 1985, particularly in boys' T-shirts, priced at $4.99, said Gary Levine, divisional merchandise manager for girls' and boys' apparel at the Norwalk, Conn.-based discount chain. He does not think it is "macho enough" for older boys who prefer sports-related licenses.

In girls' wear Levine noted Cabbage Patch will be viable for the rest of 1985, especially in basic categories, although not as strong as in 1984.

But at Caldor, like at Bradlees, Prange Way and T.G. & Y., merchants reported licensed children's wear fares much better in the basics--sleepwear and underwear--and fleece, too, than in ready-to-wear.