Posts Tagged ‘retail’

It seems like the new fashion trend in NYC is not booties and opaque tights for the ladies and skinny jeans for dudes but Obama gear. Between the “Hope” t-shirts and  “Yes We Can” pins and the Obama/ Biden tote bags, I am experiencing some major fashion fatigue (I am in Zurich right now so no one is wearing that stuff). The lovely peeps (and my former collegues) at Metro the free international daily asked me when I thought Bam fans will finally be over wearing all that election tchotchke. I said after the inauguration in January, but I just logged onto the Barak Obama site and it seems his gear is now on mark down. Maybe the Obama gear fad is going end sooner than I think…

Thoughts?

Recession? Economic crisis? These days the fashion industry is (in Guy Trebay’s words) having a “Marie Antoinette” moment. I have to tell you, I kind of agree. Between the half million dollar fetes I attend almost daily for a new book, store opening or product and the INSANELY expensive press kits I get FED EXED to me even though offices are just down the street, it seems the fashion industry continues to debauch out even though Rome is burning. I think we are gonna have a rude awakening…

…when I get ready to analyze monthly retail sales numbers on Fox Business!! If you are near a TV, tune in between 1- 2pm. I really don’t expect the consumer to have spent very much of anything in July, but I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised by the numbers tomorrow.

A frequent reader pointed out how he thinks I made a mistake by saying Steve and Barry’s revenues were increased by not spending money on marketing. He thought I meant earnings so I want to clarify.

Dear reader:

This was not me speculating on how Steve and Barry’s made their cash, this was a quote from the chief executive when I spoke with him. You say,”You can’t increase revenue by not advertising- revenue is sales. You can only increase profit by cutting expenses.” I agree with you, but I’m directly quoting from the source that prob. knows his business best… or at least it seemed like he knew his business best when I spoke to him last year. Hope that helps.

XO, Hitha

Man, you know the economy is REAL bad when someone like Jeffrey Kalinsky can’t save a retailer like Nordstrom! The other day the retailer reported a fall in same store sales by 9.1% far worse than what analysts expected. Total sales dipped to $750 million from $803 million in 2007.  Jeffrey, who started the extremely well edited and influential Jeffrey boutiques in New York and Atlanta sold a majority interest of his stores to Norstrom and took on a full time gig. Problem is even his keen eye for knowing what’s hot way before it sizzles (I bought my Balenciaga motorcycle bag because I saw it first at Jeffrey six years ago), isn’t really working for Nordstrom right now.  The tourists aren’t buying into it either!

Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at Deloitte Research and auther of the group’s Leading index of Consumer Spending tells Women’s Wear Daily, “People’s spending on apparel isn’t likely to pick up anytime soon.”

Gee, ya think Mr. Steidtmann?? Maybe it has to do with that little housing crisis we are experiencing, or gas prices reaching (in some areas) to $4 a gallon, the rising prices in staples like milk and eggs or what about the fact that there are no jobs???  I sometimes wonder why we need a 50 page report to tell us what people in the middle of America can tell us in one sentence… 

Wal-Mart just announced the very talented Norma Kamali is going to be designing for the mass retailer. Under the long term licensing deal brokered by Cherokee Inc., Kamali will establish a lifestyle brand that will encompass women’s wear, children’s clothing, accessories, footwear and home products reports Women’s Wear Daily. Price points will be suitable for the “Wal-Mart customer” meaning, cheap.

OK, the reason WHY Wal-Mart has consistently reported high sales numbers has to do with the fact that they know their customer!! These people aren’t going to Wal-Mart to buy designer duds, they are going to Wal-Mart to buy pasta, pasta sauce and gas!! This is going to be a disaster…

(Gisele in an Ipex bra– and guess what peeps? She’s still sexy!)  

On Thursday Victoria’s Secret announced on an earnings call that the company will tone down the racey ads, windows even catalogues to appeal less to the men out there and more to the ladies. Translation: the company’s market share is down and they need to focus/infiltrate a different side of the lingerie industry. A lot of media outlets have been reporting how difficult this is going to be for the brand- and I agree- if they were going for a complete overhaul. But spokesperson for the company the brand told me on Thursday (before I went on air) they will never really break from it’s “sexy” branding.

 Even if they decide to start to focus on more staple products like the Ipex Bra, (probably the LEAST SEXY but totally effective bra on the market right now) or Pink by Victoria’s Secret, (wildly popular with the college demo.) scantily dressed skinny pretty models are still going to be hot. I don’t know what everyone is worried about.

In effort to get those numbers up and not lose COMPLETE investor confidence, Gap Inc. just signed a deal with the Marinopoulous Group to bring the Gap and Banana Republic to Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia. If they can’t make the sales numbers happen state side, might ast well go overseas, right?  And what about Old Navy? I guess they figured it was a lost cause so they decided to keep that one out of the mix!