The Decline of Fashion
Source: www.jcwg.com
Topic: Fashion for Men
Sort Desciption: mix of apparel being sold; fashion for both men. and women has moved from more expensive. structured garments such as suits to less expensive ...
Content Inside: J.C. Williams Group 1 The Decline of Fashion Will Fashion Spending Ever Rebound? By Maureen Atkinson J.C. Williams Group Fashion apparel in North America has been a perennial under-performer for the past five years. As other product categories such as home products and health care have grown at a healthy rate clothing has lagged behind. Four key issues that have slowed down apparel in Canada are shifting demographics lack of innovation changing tastes and general deflation in the category. Canadian apparel growth rates have dipped from 7% in 1998 to 1.1% in 2002. Unfortunately for apparel retailers the important drivers of growth are not going to turn around soon. Despite this gloomy forecast retailers like Chicos in the U.S. are beating the odds and showing good growth. J.C. W ILLIAMS G ROUP ILLIAMS ROUP J.C. J.C. Williams Group 2 Background Apparel sales accounted for $21 billion of the $307 billion in retail sales in 2002. Over half of these sales go to womens apparel ($11.5 billion) with 29% spent on mens apparel ($6 billion) and the balance on childrens and other clothing. Growth rates have lagged behind total retail sales (1.1% versus 6%) and with an average annual growth rate of only 2.4% the mens apparel industry has been hit harder than womens (7%). The structure of apparel retail distribution has changed significantly in the last decade or so. From 1997 to 2002 unisex stores share of apparel sales has risen from 32% to 36%. New entrants to this category such as American Eagle Outfitters and Old Navy have driven this growth. For general merchandise stores including both department stores and discounters there has been a decline from 34% to 30%. The drop is mainly due to the softness of the department stores along with the demise of Eatons. In addition Wal-Mart has pressed this sector with lower prices. Specialty stores in apparel distribution also have experienced market share declines but the womens sector has held up be ...
retail sales demographics mens apparel