California Apparel News

The past holiday season’s unpredictable weather did more than put a damper on the tourist trade in the Southeast, it also threw the post-holiday’s traditionally booming swimwear sales off schedule.

In fact, many of the exhibitors at the Feb. 26–28 run of Miami’s Early Cruise 2002 Swim Show at the Miami International Merchandise Mart & Radisson Center said they were “playing catch up.”

This game proved a daunting task to the 38-odd sales reps who not only presented Early Cruise collections that were designed without the usual holiday-season sales input, but who also had to convince a small group of mostly Southeastern buyers who attended to add merchandise to their still-full stocks.

Judy Stein, executive show director of the Swimwear Association of Florida, which produces both the February and July shows, declined to give attendance figures, confirmed that attendance was a “little off from last year” but added that several of the manufacturers in attendance “held their own.”

Jay Berkowitz, Southeast sales rep for the Vernon, Calif.-based Sirena Apparel Group said his February Cruise business was “not as big as last year” and added that the “economy and weather got swim off to a late start.”

Many reps said the late start meant that most of the Early-Cruise merchandise shown was designed without that “essential” holiday sales input, disrupting the entire line-editing schedule.

“We normally get an indication between Thanksgiving and New Year’s as to what stores need and want, and work from there,” said Peg Davant, Florida sales rep for Nautica and Gardena, Calif.-based Apparel Ventures’ OP, Citrus and Sassafras junior lines. “So everything will be more hit or miss until we get that read, which is now pushed farther back into the season.”

But Jon Stierwalt, sales rep for the Jones New York and Mainstream swim labels, said his companies avoided this situation by shipping Cruise 2001 earlier than its competition.

“All of our stores got their merchandise early and were able to sell it before the cold hit,” he said. “The truth is, the sooner you ship the better your collections will be because then you have the consumer telling you what’s good and not the other way around.”

Many exhibitors said they expected the swim market to have made up for the lost sales by the July show, where they will all break with complete Cruise 2002 collections.

“This won’t have any bearing on my July,” said Carl Legault, sales rep for Montreal-based Shan Swimwear. “This will be a thing-of-the-past by then.”

Stein agreed, noting that the July show “is way too important” for the swim industry to be affected by a slow start to the season.

But some exhibitors were not so optimistic.

“The sales in July will only equalize the damage, but it still won’t make up for all the lost sales in November, December and January,” said Russell Kneib, Southeast sales rep for Body Glove, Budweiser and Ecko Red.

Local Buyers Rule

Larry Wieder, sales rep for the Dippers, Bikini.Com and Penbrooke labels, called doing the small-volume show a “necessary evil,” adding that the show was great for buyers wanting a “head start on trends or those wanting to buy off-price.”

“Would people be upset if we didn’t do it? Yes. Volume-wise, is it important? No,” he said.

The few buyers that did attend were “serious buyers who carry swim 12 months a year, and not just to accommodate seasonal offerings,” Berkowitz said.

Judy Johnson, owner of seven Florida-based Swim Mart stores, said she was looking to refresh her merchandise for Spring Break with trends popular enough to create “big stories” for her large swim stores.

Gloria Pearson, owner of the 11 Bert’s Surf Shops all over the Carolinas, said she had no choice but to buy her merchandise late and at off-price for Easter/Spring Break, which starts her season.

“By the time I get my suits in, Belk’s department stores already has them on sale,” she said.

Devorak Martinez owner of the Piada swim and lingerie shops in Carolina, Puerto Rico, said she wasn’t buying at the show, but came instead to see the trends and collect line sheets for later buys.

Trends for 2002

The dearth of guiding sales information left trends for 2002 “all over the place,” as one buyer noted.

But what we can expect to see more of at the July show are:

bull; Stripes, from the chunky Dr. Seuss type, to prim pinstripes, as seen at OP

bull; Triangle tops for juniors

bull; Logos, on everything from prints to hardware

bull; Halternecks

bull; Low, low bottoms

bull; Muted animal prints

bull; Color blocking replacing last season’s Pucci-esque prints But overall, it looks like the colors for 2002 are going to be fruity shades of pink, bright blue, coral and a range of green from apple to olive.

High-end swimwear, such as the Shan label are sticking to “sober shades with a twist of eccentricity,” according to Legault.