WAKING UP THE JUNIOR MARKET
Byline: Karyn Monget
NEW YORK — Junior sleepwear is growing up.
Retailers and vendors are aiming at an expanding customer base of younger women who are beginning to realize that sleepwear can go beyond a big T-shirt.
The target customer ranges from junior high school girls to baby boomers who want to look and feel young, as stores take their own diversified approaches to the category.
For years, junior sleepwear — or sleepwear with a younger look — was primarily done in whimsical storybook prints. The difference now, say innerwear executives, is edgier, more fashion-forward styling inspired primarily by sportswear. Fabrics range from rayon and Lycra spandex blends to cottons in novelty textures, funky mesh treatments and lace overlays.
While the prints are amusing — retro motifs of breakfast foods, poodles at the Eiffel Tower, puffy clouds, pinup girls and surreal ice cubes — they’re not juvenile. Logos, of course, are hot.
Key styles in this new generation of junior sleepwear include a variety of long and short pajama looks; union suits; little crop stretch tops and oversized sleep shirts, and, of course, the perennial T-shirt. The general idea is to mix and match.
Some retail and industry executives say they are merchandising junior sleepwear that’s perfect for slumber parties to youngsters from 14 to 17. Others say their target customer is the woman in her late teens and early 20s who wants a more sophisticated interpretation.
Some vendors and merchants also are calling the classification young contemporary. They say women in their mid-20s and 30s, and older women — baby boomers who want to feel like kids again — are going for junior sleepwear.
For some stores, particularly department stores, junior sleepwear is seen as part of a strategy to recapture the teenage customer, whom they feel has deserted them.
“I think it’s very exciting. We are really going after the junior sleepwear business,” said Michelle Vlahoyiannis, sleepwear buyer at Macy’s West. “I believe it will be our biggest challenge this year.”
“The teenager has not been coming into the stores to buy lingerie,” Vlahoyiannis said. “There really hasn’t been anything for her to sleep in other than a T-shirt. We’ve discovered that kids don’t like sleepwear items that match. They like to mix and match, and many have been buying items at vintage shops.”
Vlahoyiannis said shop concepts with a “creative ambience” are being planned for two key junior sleepwear resources: Joe Boxer Girlfriend by Joe Boxer Corp., and Planet Sleep, which Charles Komar & Sons introduced in January.
“There’s a big range of kids from 12 to 20,” she continued. “Twelve-year-olds haven’t been finding anything that’s a bridge between children’s and juniors, and neither has the high school-into-college set.”
Rachel Falls, buyer of intimate apparel and sleepwear at Belk-Matthews Co., Gastonia, N.C., noted, “It’s definitely a growing category for us. Junior sleepwear and daywear is selling well to teens, as well as women in their 20s or older who want something youthful but not childish.
“But I don’t think these customers are out of their T-shirts yet, like Calvin Klein, or the sleep T-shirts we’ll be doing by Ralph Lauren,” Falls said. “One of the reasons we are getting back into junior sleepwear and daywear is because of lines like Mickey & Co. and Joe Boxer Girlfriend. These two lines have been really great for us.”
Falls added that she plans to expand the junior classification, but noted, “It’s hard to find something new in this area.”
“We don’t look at it as purely juniors — we look at it as young contemporary,” said Margaret Crandall, vice president and divisional merchandise manager of intimate apparel at Jacobson’s Stores, Jackson, Mich.
Jacobson’s, which has a core consumer base that is typically older and more conservative, houses sleepwear by Karen Neuburger, Josie, Anne Lewin and the licensed Jones New York line by Madison Maidens, in a year-old shop area called Young Contemporary.
Crandall said women in their 20s and 30s generally are buying the younger-looking sleepwear, but noted, “I think the teens tend to like the look of Karen Neuburger sleepwear.” The Neuburger line is known for its pretty, updated pajamas in softly brushed cottons.
Among vendors, Charles Komar, chairman and chief executive officer of the Komar sleepwear firm, said, “We’re extremely pleased. Bookings have been very significant for Planet Sleep, and it’s going to be 20 percent of our fall business.
“But,” he added, “what really counts is how it’s going to perform at stores. We are planning to support it with aggressive advertising and point-of-sale materials.”
Judy Vella, director of merchandising for Planet Sleep, said a main point of a consumer survey conducted by the Komar firm was that teenagers believed junior sleepwear should be “fun and comfortable.”
“The general complaint from teens was ‘It’s boring,”‘ said Vella. “High school girls said they wanted sexy-looking baby T-shirts and boxers. College girls, though, said they wanted big sleep shirts because they’re in co-ed dorms, and can’t walk around in little tops.”
“For years, teenagers have been wearing oversized T-shirts and men’s boxers to sleep in. But now, pajamas are all over TV in shows like ‘Clueless,’ and kids are starting to get hip to pajamas,” said Linda Rae Tepper, co-owner and designer of Nick & Nora sleepwear at Shady Character Inc.
Best-selling prints at Nick & Nora include a sky blue and white cloud number called Cloud Nine, a breakfast theme with stacked waffles and eggs called Sunny Side Up, and a poodles-and-Eiffel Tower design, called Poodle Parisienne,.
“We will continue to feature our Cloud Nine print in March, because it was so successful last fall,” Tepper said.
Jennifer Buckley, executive vice president of design and merchandising for the French Jenny and C’est Cool labels at Richard Leeds International, observed: “Kids today are not going to be watching MTV or listening to Smashing Pumpkins, and then go to a store to buy a long floral nightgown. That traditional junior customer no longer exists.
“Our customer base is more sophisticated, a little edgier and fashion savvy,” continued Buckley. “She’s as young as 16 or 18, but there also is a woman in her 30s or 40s who likes the look.”
Linda Aaron, design director of the Anne Lewin and newly licensed XOXO lines at NAP Inc., noted, “Junior sleepwear is just starting to be addressed. What we are doing with XOXO is fashion junior looks, like club wear — nothing goofy-looking. We are keeping it clean and modern.”
The XOXO sleepwear will be previewed in March. Fabrics will include blends of rayon and Lycra spandex, cotton rib patterns, lightweight cotton baby terry, and lots of mesh. Styles will include long and short pajama sets, chemises, robes and daywear items, including tops and HotPants, she said.
While not aiming specifically at a junior customer, the Josie line at Natori Co. reflects the influence of this younger customer who’s suddenly taking to the idea of wearing sleepwear.
“The approach of our Josie collection is definitely younger, but not junior,” said Josie Natori, ceo of Natori. “It’s more of a contemporary attitude. It’s for the woman who wouldn’t be caught dead in traditional sleepwear.”