BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR SUMMER
Byline: Arthur Friedman, with contributions from Dianne M. Pogoda
NEW YORK — Snow might be blanketing the Northeast, snarling traffic and business in and around the garment center, but manufacturers’ thoughts have turned to summer.
With sheaths and jacket dresses staying hot and spring bookings ahead of last year, dress firms are looking for a strong summer season.
Despite last week’s snowstorms, most firms said they were able to reschedule any market appointments and are confident they will make up the business. While the snow kept some designers from going on the road, most executives said they would either see buyers this week or next month here, or later this month at the Dallas and Atlanta markets.
With retail inventories lean, bookings are up at most manufacturers surveyed.
Summer dresses are easy, with casual bodies infused with lots of colors and prints, makers said. Sheaths, shifts, A-lines and shirtdresses are being done in soft or textured fabrics.
For evening, jacket and dress ensembles and columns remain on top, with long sleeveless shirtdresses and A-line shapes adding some diversity.
Lloyd Singer, president of ABS USA, said the spring-summer market is particularly important for daytime dresses, whereas evening dresses sell year-round.
“We have good momentum in dresses from the fourth quarter. That’s contrary to the overall retail environment,” Singer said. “We’ve never been so strong in dresses, and we’re planning our dress business to be up substantially for spring-summer. We feel dresses are going to propel the company in ’96.”
Important trends at the bridge-priced ABS Dress line include shirtdresses in stretch denim, cotton piquA and stretch ottoman, as well as colorful, bright prints in easy bodies.
The company is also expanding its better-priced Nouveau dress line for spring and summer to include more daytime styles.
Harriet Mosson, president of Liz Claiborne Dresses, said strong early spring retailing and bookings for late spring and summer are outpacing last year, and the division is poised for a solid performance.
“The little sheath dress is still a big thing and we’re chasing it aggressively in every delivery,” Mosson said. “For spring, we’re doing 35 percent of our styles in soft, flowing dresses like A-lines, fit-and-flares and trapezes, and our bookings are showing a 60 percent increase in colors such as coral, hot pink and bright blue, as well as a lot of graphic black and white prints.”
Jacket and dress ensembles continue to be strong sellers, Mosson said, as are two-piece looks. In evening, column dresses are more relaxed and are augmented by long shirtdresses and A-lines. Rayon and silk prints are important for day and evening, Mosson said, as are textured fabrics such as cotton piquA.
“I think everybody is happy to put fall behind them,” said Roberta Winley, sales manager for Nancy Crystal Dresses. “The stores are coming in with flat budgets, but spring-summer is the time for dresses, so we’re looking for a good season.”
The moderate-priced Nancy Crystal line is shunning the sheath for spring-summer, Winley said, because “it’s not for middle America and it looks like old news already.”
Instead Nancy Crystal is offering washable polyester microfiber piquAs and shirtings in slipdresses and A-lines, as well as long print dresses with embroidered trim for Southern stores. The company is also booking two-piece ensembles mixing pants with tunics or vests.
Bud Konheim, president of Nicole Miller, said the company had a record resort season at retail, making him bullish about spring and summer.
“Nicole is getting more into computer-generated prints this season,” Konheim said. “Spring-summer is all about color and pared-down, simple shapes that are sexy but not over the top.”
Konheim said the state of fashion today is to refine what’s been doing well rather than introducing something dramatically different.
“It took us two or three years back in the late Eighties to establish the little black dress,” Konheim said. “Now we’re doing the little color dress and it’s catching on.”
Overall, Konheim feels even though stores suffered a tough Christmas season, they are not heavily inventoried. He said Nicole Miller performed best in stores that rely on product rather than promotion and cited Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom and Miller’s 23 signature boutiques.
Spring bookings are up 40 percent over last year at The Warren Group, and the same pace is expected for summer, said co-president Richard Warren.
“Spring-summer is traditionally a good time for daytime dresses, so we’re seeing strong business in our DW3 and David Warren lines,” Warren said.
Sheaths and shifts are key looks in those better-priced lines, as are long prints.
Tom Murry, president of Tahari, said “business conditions in bridge are somewhat difficult,” with evening dress business outpacing daytime career.
Silk shantung and silk satin are important fabrics for late spring-early summer delivery, Murry said, done in bright pastels with details like top stitching and zipper trims. Jacket and dress ensembles will continue to be a key category, he said.
For summer-transition, neutral cotton failles and viscose linens are booking well in a “Kim Novak” backless zipper dress and an Empire tennis dress. In addition, columns are as strong as ever for evening, he added.
Alan Geller, president of the Kenar Dress division of Kenar Enterprises, said buyers are focused on wear-now apparel with seasonless fabrics.
“Not too many buyers are willing to project too far in advance, because they’re always reevaluating their open-to-buys,” he said. Market week orders are expected to be for deliveries as soon as February and March, with an eye toward April and May.
“Buyers are looking for what they’re missing, and trying to capitalize on the styles that tested well in December,” he added. “A lot of stores want to go narrow and deep now.”
Colors will include the staple black-and-white or champagne-and-red combinations, with the sherbert range also key for summer. Crepe remains the mainstay fabric, with novelty denim, cool seersuckers and soft, sheer garden prints also important, Geller said.
Special occasion dresses are always in demand, he said, because they are usually purchased with a specific event in mind. Day-to-dinner dresses are more of an impulse item.
The company’s established Kenar and Schrader dress divisions are recording gains of 25 percent in spring bookings, while a solid first-year performance is expected from its new AJ Bari division of social dresses. Kenar bought the Bari trademark last year when its parent, The Gillian Group, filed bankruptcy and liquidated.
AJ Bari’s average wholesale price is about $125, with silk suits and cocktail dresses, columns and chiffon tie-back styles, dropped torsos and sheaths among the key silhouettes. The main deliveries will begin in March and April, and the division is expected to generate first-year sales of $10 million, according to its president, Michael Ruff.