California Apparel News

Fueled by frequent-flyer miles and information gleaned from trend reconnaissance, buying offices are at once fashion psychics, publishing houses and devout capitalists poised to exploit the latest trend to the fullest.

It is a highly competitive industry based on the value of good information, and consolidation among big retailers has only increased the competition among buying offices (which prefer to call themselves consultants).

So in order to stay number one— and they all claim to be the best— some of the top offices located in the California Market Center in Los Angeles are having to peddle their apparel acumen overseas.

Selling the California Dream

Bregman & Associates Suite A793 (213) 452-0033

Stuart Berman loves California.

“There’s so much innovation coming out of the California market,” he says. “There’s a talent pool of young designers, the music industry, the beaches—there’s just a plethora of newness.”

While the rest of the country may be rolling with laughter over the state’s gubernatorial circus, Berman’s job is to convince national retailers that California fashion will never be in danger of recall.

The president of Bregman & Associates is a buying consultant for 35 retail clients and specializes in finding them hot West Coast brands in the young men’s, junior, misses, swimwear, accessories, home, dresses and sportswear categories. Berman took over the business from his aunt Ruth Bregman, a devoted philanthropist who spent 40 years in the California apparel industry.

Identifying the next fashion trend is like chasing a rainbow that could appear anywhere—and that’s precisely what gives Berman motivation. “It’s incredibly exciting trying to discover what the next big item is and then translate the fantasy of fashion into the reality of business,” he says.

Today his challenge is not gathering information for apparel forecasting, but finding someone to sell it to. “It used to be you could pick up the Yellow Pages in a state and have a laundry list of retailers you could call to represent,” he recalls.

That’s no longer the case. Citing the consolidation among and bankruptcy of many major apparel retailers, Berman says he has to be “very creative” to grow his business. To find new clients, he now prospects in overseas countries and targets more niche retailers. Bregman has also gotten involved in more off-price buys and sourcing for clients. Berman recently signed up a Canadian company comparable to Target Corp. that has a fleet of 300 stores.

The Canadian retailer is not accustomed to selling California apparel. That’s another reason Berman sees growth with international clients: Many have never seen a label that reads “Made in California.”

But growing Bregman & Associates also means identifying holes in the apparel market—holes that Berman says California companies are ideal to fill. “A major challenge is trying to find younger fashions for a younger missy customer—the 35-year-old soccer mom who’s not a frumpy missy customer,” he says.

Accessories, home and other categories also have tremendous growth potential, he notes.

But discovering new resources can sometimes lead to one of Berman’s biggest frustrations: getting a start-up company a big order that it is unable to fulfill.

Identifying trends is exciting, but following them makes Berman a little uneasy—especially when it comes to his daughter.

“I’m a little concerned about what’s happening in the tween market with all the low-rise pants, says the protective father. “She’s only four, but I’m already worried. Thank goodness waists are rising.”

The Fame Game

Barbara Fields Buying Office Inc. Suite B1221 (213) 627-6474

Investment banks want to know what Britney Spears is wearing.

Now more than ever, fashion trends are driven by our celebrity-obsessed culture, says Barbara Fields, who operates an eponymous buying office.

“It’s all about who’s wearing what,” she says.

The tidal wave of celebrity images through cable television, the Internet and print media has made youth obsessed with star style. “All you need is one person to wear one item, and boom—you’ve got a trend,” Fields says.

Fields has been in business for 25 years and specializes in the junior market. Her approximately 150 clients include the J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Gadzooks Inc. and several investment banks, all of which rely on her constant flow of conference calls and reports.

To gather information, Fields goes abroad. “Ninety percent of what happens in Europe will happen here,” she says, adding that she goes to Paris and London six times per year.

She also talks to trend-setting retail stores on a “minute by minute” basis; shops all over the world, spending countless thousands of dollars on sample merchandise to show her clients; and spends two days every week taking pictures at Southern California malls and shopping districts.

The final step in her information gathering is adding her own seasoned judgment. The result of her reconnaissance work—which includes a staff laboring seven days a week and offices in New York and London—are fees that are “extremely high.” But at the end of the year, she adds, “I make my clients a lot of money.”

And that’s when Fields begins ticking off her recent prognostications: “We were the first to recommend military like eight months ago; the first with initials.” She also saw the trucker hat craze coming a mile away. And what happens when clients question her forecast? “They don’t,” she deadpans.

Fields says what brings her the most satisfaction is rescuing a moribund retailer. One large junior retail chain was in “open-heart surgery” state and is now doing “extremely well,” Fields says, thanks to her.

Instant Messengers

Directives West Suite A1126 (213) 627-5921

Sandy Potter and Sandy Richman aren’t exactly diffident in their self-assessment. “We’re the best,” says Richman.

“We have tremendous credibility,” adds Potter. “So when we tell our retailers that they need to be doing something, they listen because they know we’re right.”

But, the owners of Directives West are quick to add, they’re just reflecting trends in the market. They’re not so much dictators as messengers. Fashion is its own dictator.

But being a great messenger requires delivering the right message, and wading through a dozen murmuring trends and picking the one that will skyrocket is a constant challenge. “Retail isn’t a science, and it has a lot to do with our own experience in it,” Potter says.

According to Potter, all retailers need two things: new resources and merchandise that differentiates them from one another.

“We are strong critics,” says Potter. “We spend a lot of our time out in stores, and we tell them what we see as their problems.”

One problem Richman says retailers may be suffering from is a dull palette. “The customer wants to wear more color, and retailers need to give her more color,” she says. “It’s probably the number one trend.”

Richman and Potter also see a resurgent interest in the career apparel sector, or suiting.

“I don’t know if you’d call it dressing up, but it’s a new way of dressing,” Richman says. “Some young people have never been subjected to it.”

Today their trend-forecasting information goes not only to conventional retailers but also to retailers that are more product-development oriented.

“The private-brand business is growing because it’s the way retailers differentiate themselves,” says Potter. “But they can’t operate in a vacuum. They need to know what we know.”

Still, admitting it is “difficult to grow,” Potter and Richman say they have also had to look outside the country for new business. In September, Directives West signed with an Indonesian department store chain.

Richman and Potter now see Asia and even Europe as strong potential markets for a pair of California consultants.

“California is a very important part in the trend piece of the business all over the world today,” says Richman. “It’s about how we dress and how we think. The entertainment industry has made this one world.”

Other Players

Bregman & Associates, Barbara Fields and Directives West are three of the largest buying offices on the West Coast, but they aren’t the only ones. Among the other buying offices in the California Market Center are: Anderson Off Price Buying Inc.Suite A1277(213) 629-1900Andrew Asch & AssociatesSuite A669(213) 688-4955Bobby Marks Off Price Buying ServiceSuite A1110(213) 627-0588Clothes Encounter Inc. Suite A1145(213) 689-0211