Retailers played it safe style-wise at the three-day summer and fall market that ended Saturday at the Dallas Market Center.
With budgets ranging from flat to up about 10 percent, they were on the lookout for tailored shirts and blouses, casual dresses and fall knitwear to dress their customers’ increasingly casual lifestyles. And while buyers and vendors expressed concern about a recent spate of specialty store closures, the mood remained positive.
“The stores who come to January market are serious and mostly really good retailers,” said longtime sales representative Harold Wilson. “I’ll come out maybe even with last year and I’ll be happy with that.”
Acrobat misses’ sportswear was the top-performing resource in Wilson’s showroom. Sarah Briggs designer Sarah Bertrand Wilson did well with long-term trending such as silk tassels, hematite and spring navy. “I feel like the buyers don’t want risk,” Wilson said. “They want what they know will sell.”
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Three of her longtime accounts closed last year, including 103-year-old Miss Jackson’s in Tulsa, Okla.
“There’s no question stores are closing,” said Laura Young, president of sales and marketing at Brighton. “But we still have the same number of retailers — 4,500 — as 15 years ago.”
Brighton had more appointments than at the last year’s January show and bookings were up, she added. The accessories company stocks $1 million worth of inventory to get new accounts into business quickly, as well as ship immediate orders, she noted.
Carol Dickerson, who has operated J.W. Tweeds for 25 years in the mountain resort of Blowing Rock, N.C., did well last fall with accessories, shoes and lightweight sportswear, but lost “more money than ever” on coats and heavy sweaters. Nonetheless, she hiked her open-to-buy about 8 percent.
Dickerson shopped for “classic clothing with a twist,” scheduled to arrive in her store from March through July, including pants by Peace of Cloth, Finley shirts, Raffinalla sportswear and knits by Belford and Cullen. She also picked up Eliza M, a leather belt line that wholesales for $28 to $32.
Elizabeth Mast, owner of Talulah & Hess in Dallas, shopped with her sister, Amy Fonville, who owns Talulah Belle in Rochester, Mich. They invested in Eileen Fisher’s fall coats and ponchos, plus stingray wrap and friendship bracelets by BudhaGirl, a Dallas fashion jewelry firm that encourages women to make affirmations as they don the baubles.
“Our whole thrust is being mindful and we’re launching it big in the spring,” Mast said.
Fonville also picked up beaded pieces by Pura Vida Bracelets, which gives a percentage of profits to charity and manufactures in Costa Rica.
Noting sales rose last year, Mast increased her buy 5 to 10 percent, adding that the key to growth was to make visiting the store an experience and to remind customers to shop locally.
Karrie Sills picked up activewear for Locker Up, her year-old shop in the Houston suburb of Montgomery. Sills sold activewear for three years via home shows before committing to the store, and she fretted that three Montgomery boutiques had recently closed.
Sills ordered vivid Seventies prints by Trina Turk, Banded headbands, a skyline print capri by Alo and the newly introduced line of tennis togs by InPhorm. “With Trina Turk you can’t find a better print and with Alo you can’t find better compression on the bottom,” Sills affirmed. “I also bought Banded headbands — they stay put and each sale feeds three kids in Uganda.”
It was the first market since 1989 without the presence of Ritz Group, a contemporary wholesaler that shuttered its showrooms here and Los Angeles when the leases expired in December. “We’re taking a step back as a family and we’re going to reevaluate what we want to do,” said Brad Ritz, who owns the business with his wife, Kelly. “I’m really enjoying my freedom right now.”
The Ritz Group remains open and will continue serving existing bookings, he said.