Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: A denim blast from the past
Check out who is still selling jeans.
It’s Gloria Vanderbilt! Not bad for an 80-something heiress.
Oh, wait, it’s the brand that’s selling, not the heiress herself.
Gloria Vanderbilt was one of the top performing brands at Jones Apparel Group as the company posted earnings that beat Wall Street expectations.
“Gloria Vanderbilt was one of the drivers along with l.e.i. doing better than we expected,” CEO Wes Card told Reuters’ Phil Wahba in an interview. “The strength in Gloria Vanderbilt really showed up in the margins because that’s the highest margin brand.”
Overall margins for jeans were the highest in six years, Card said.
But the company is also looking to a newer name to help sell stuff, too.
Boxers or briefs?
As sales of women’s clothing have languished, felled by complaints about a lack of new fashions or fashions that women actually want to wear (who can forget the Jessica Simpson in high-waisted jeans debacle?), men’s apparel has been pointed to as a bright spot in an otherwise weak market.
But what exactly have men been buying?
Well, it appears to be underwear.
According to data released by NPD, the dollar value of apparel sales in the first half of this year was down 7 percent compared with a year ago, with sales of tailored clothing falling the most — down 11.4 percent.
There were only two categories that showed sales growth — fleecewear up 2.1 percent (We wonder if sales of Snuggies were captured in that number?) and male underwear — up 4.8 percent.
Part of that growth was due to higher prices. The average price for a piece of male underwear in the first half of the year was $2.93, up from $2.86 a year ago, according to NPD.
But the real question remains — is it boxers or briefs that are fueling the growth? And could this be good news for Abercrombie, which has been championing the dressed-only-below-the-belt male model look for years?
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Resident Shop Talk Expert
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