In recent reports, analysts observe that retail inventories remain lean with outerwear in particular being better managed, which is expected to bode well for the category as blasts of arctic air continues to pummel most of the U.S. And in a recent report from Intelligence Node, the data analytics firm noted tempered markdowns in outerwear, which suggests the category is not having sell-through issues as it did last year due to warmer temperatures.
Intelligence Node said the top selling coat style was the parka. In the jackets segment, bombers were number one.
Planalytics said it is projecting a $273 million “weather-adjusted sales” gain for the apparel specialty store sector this month compared to last year with outerwear sales showing a 5 percent year-over-year gain. But to succeed with outerwear, fashion apparel retailers need to have the right assortments.
Related Galleries
In the Intelligence Node report, the firm identified bomber jackets as a top seller in the jackets segment, followed by puffer and then denim jackets. Regarding color, Intelligence Node said maroon was the top seller in jackets so far this season followed by beige/tan, indigo and magenta. Intelligence Node’s analysis is based on the online tracking of 1 billion unique products across over 130,000 brands in 1,100 categories. In outerwear, the firm analyzed over 55,000 products in the U.S. alone.
Other notable findings from Intelligence Node include that the overall average price point on jackets is $421, and is experiencing an average promotion of 10 percent. In the luxury sector, jackets have an average price point of $1,607. In the “accessible fashion brand” segment, jackets average $74. The top trending fabrics include polyester followed by leather and then cotton.
“Despite trending styles pointing towards natural and natural-live materials, utilitarian polyester still remains the most used fabric for jackets,” the researchers said in their report adding that the top collars include hooded at number one followed by mandarin and then lapel.
With coats, pea styles followed parkas and in third was trench coats. The researchers said the overall average price point in coats was $897. At the high end, price points averaged at over $2,000. At accessible fashion outlets, the average was $102. Regarding colors, black took the top spot followed by blue, brown and then grey. Wool was the number one fabric, and was followed by polyester, cotton and nylon.
With coats, the top trending collars were hood, which was followed by lapel and then collarless designs.