Custom Fit

In the apparel and accessories industry, the brand name generally makes the sale. However, sales are down, and marketers can't depend on brand recognition and brand loyalty alone. They need to offer something extra in-store -- a brand experience.Some department stores are causing further problems by pushing private-label brands, which can diminish the sheen of designer brands. So, marketers are stepping up with fashion-forward product innovation and better merchandising.A report published in February 2004 by Packaged Facts, which is a division of MarketResearch.com, New York, states, "Despite signs that the U.S. economy is bouncing back somewhat, the retail scene, in general, has battled a lack of consumer confidence. The shaky economy itself, and thus job insecurity, has caused Americans to spend less on many items, including clothes." Data from NPDFashionworld, a provider of market information to the apparel industry, supports that statement, showing total apparel sales in all channels down 4.9% in December 2003 compared to the previous year. But with sales at $167 billion, according to the Port Washington, N.Y.-based firm, we can assume that marketers will continue to bring new products to market and find innovative ways to keep them in front of consumers.The Packaged Facts report goes on to state that "the $30 billion fashion accessories market...has been posting strong sales. This standout success has motivated retailers as diverse as Macy's, J.C. Penney, Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor to expand the presence of such accessories in their selling-floor planograms.""Consumers are looking for experiences more than products," says Valerie Moore, executive director, strategic resources for Temerlin McClain, an Irving, Texas-based advertising and marketing communications company. "The fact of life in our country today is that there are very few things people are shopping for that they actually need; it's a lot about what they want. The experience they expect to get from a product is the differentiator that helps it to sell as opposed to the actual nuts and bolts of the product itself." Brands and Fashion MatterA recent DSN Retailing Today article says: "How they're merchandised and who they reach greatly varies, but unequivocally brands matter -- whether they represent fashion, quality or simply value."According to John Lessieu, vice president of sales for Kangol Headwear USA, New York, brand names are important to shoppers. "I would say the brand defines most consumers." For a company that began 65 years ago as a British hat manufacturer making hats for the British army, Kangol Headwear has become known more recently as a fashion-forward company, now outfitting the likes of Samuel L. Jackson (with his signature kangaroo logo hat) and various rappers and hip hop artists with their funky fur hats."We're a fashion brand at this point. People look to certain brands to be leaders design-wise, color-wise, whatever it may be. Our goal is to stay relevant with everyone but at the same time stay one step ahead for that consumer who always wants to have the newest thing."Kangol crosses many channels, from major department stores to independent fashion boutiques, hat stores and gift shops. Consequently, there is a challenge to present the appropriate merchandising in each location to get that brand message across, Lessieu says. Daniella Simon, CEO and designer of the New York-based company that bears her name, says both fashion and merchandising play an extremely important role in getting her brand of intimate apparel noticed in-store.The former attorney introduced a line of panties last year that is decorated with rhinestone wording. "I came out with this line and buyers ate it up," Simon says. "With the era of 'Sex and the City' and 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,' where everyone is thinking about fashion, fashion, fashion and designer labels, having a flashy look to the product -- even if it's not a designer label yet -- is really in style now."Simon began selling her products in Bloomingdale's and has recently moved into Marshall Field's and Holt Renfrew, a high-end department store in Canada. "Retailers are realizing that fashion is the way to go with lingerie and apparel in general now to jazz it up a bit, and I believe that's why we're moving into new stores all the time." Simon says when her product is displayed properly to show the rhinestone decorations, it sells. To celebrate Valentine's Day, many of the 125 department stores and boutiques across the country where the product is sold created special displays in windows and on tables.The Retailer. The Retailer. The Retailer."Similar to most of the apparel industry, we're in a 'do-whatever-we-can' mode," says Brian Robinson, manager of creative services for Merriam, Kan.-based Lee Jeans. "We've gone away in recent years from offering a variety of stock items to our retailers and have headed toward working more directly with them to come up with custom packages to fit their needs."Generally, that entails creating signage that will work with a store's fixturing. "The retailers have been successful in making their floors more flexible so they can rotate and move merchandise without having to rebuild," Robinson says, adding that the company's signage includes everything from different styles on individual fixtures to large-scale lifestyle photography for back walls and autopole presentations.In some cases, ensuring a similar message across all locations can be challenging. In the case of Kohl's Department Stores, the team at Lee sends imagery on a photo CD and the retailer makes the signs. "They like to keep control of their floors," he says. "They decide to use art or not, depending on what they want to communicate and what their message is." Karen Rambo, vice president of retail marketing for Dallas-based Haggar Clothing Co., says her company is facing similar scenarios. "What has changed the most is that retailers want their floors to be more flexible these days. They want their own specific look, their own fixtures and then they work with each of the brands on displays that call out the specific products," she says. "Retailers found that permanent displays of each brand didn't provide flexibility on the floor. However, if they use their store line fixtures and work with the brands on the displays, they feel that's a winning combination."In the end, it's about working with the retailer to maximize sales, Rambo says. "We take a combination of what the retailer's visual guidelines are, what Haggar as a brand wants to communicate to consumers about our products, and then work together to create interesting and impactful displays."In the sporting goods arena, Russell Athletic's Angie Knight, director of marketing, says retailers' philosophies are no different. "A lot of retailers are taking over their floors again and trying to have more of a universal look that is reflective of their look or identity." The channels where Russell Athletic products are sold are very different, which adds to the challenge. "The customer base is totally different and their strategies are all different," Knight says. "We have to understand the retailers and their strategies so we can coordinate our efforts behind it."Tom Fourt, vice president of marketing at AAi.FosterGrant Inc., Smithfield, R.I., says almost every project his team does is customized. "Most retailers want to make sure they have a uniform presentation across all their stores," he says. "They may have wood tones in one and gray formica in another and we'll try to develop something that works best in all of them. Or, they may have a single look and we need to make sure our displays stand out."Jill Perrin, merchandising manager at Under Armour, Baltimore, believes retailers are much more accepting of displays. She explains that her team recently developed new fixtures to house existing products and launch new ones, and that it will do custom work to make retailers happy."While we use the same steel materials and try to tell a consistent Under Armour story, our retailers don't want to look like each other so we give Sports Authority a different unit than Dick's Sporting Goods and Galyan's," she says. "That may be a whole different design or a different shape, depending on the real estate they're giving us in their store." Dawn Sagorski, vice president of merchandising for Cable Car Eyewear, says in addition to core displays for its sunglass and reading glass lines, the company creates promotional or seasonal programs for drugstores. "It's up to us to respond to the appropriate timing of whatever product we're offering," she says. "I think not only is the receptivity to displays actually increasing, but buyers want newness more often."Sagorski says the promotional programs can be leveraged across accounts. "We support mass-customization, so we may apply the original concept, molds and tooling for all accounts but tweak the sizes for different retailers." The Berkeley, Calif.-based company is also trying to streamline."We can be looking at a 5-inch panel for one retailer and a 13-1/2-inch power wing for another, and yet another retailer might want a floor display with the same look," she says. "The concepts remain constant but how we choose to interpret them from a display standpoint can vary depending on the account's needs."Changing ChannelsThe growth of private-label brands has blurred the lines in the retail scene for apparel and accessories in recent years. Not only are stores becoming stronger brands themselves, but as they push their own private labels, the designer brands are forced to move into new channels.Temerlin McClain's Moore cites Macy's as one retailer that has boosted its own INC brand with a shop environment in its stores. "There's a lot of retail space dedicated to that brand because of the margins that it offers the store," she says. "As a result, the attention and focus on the traditional designer brands in the store have taken a lower priority. There's the Jones pad and the DKNY pad, but there isn't a strong brand presence for that merchandise; it's just all in one place. Historically, the brands have called all the shots in order to enable department store retailers to sell their products, but that seems to be a lesser factor as some of these proprietary brands take hold." J.C. Penney Co. developed its own brand program in part because the designer brands were reluctant to sell to the retailer, says Moore. "Its Arizona Jeans brand has changed the perspective of traditional department stores because it was so successful -- it was nearly a billion-dollar brand overnight," she says. "Other retailers have noticed that they're treating it like a brand, not a label, and have followed by creating their own brands. It has associations and consumer experience attached to it."According to Stewart Kawamura, national sales manager for Bluetorch Inc., there is a need for branded apparel lines in both the specialty store market selling extreme sports gear as well as at the mid-tier department store level. "We see a void because of the philosophy of branding as far as the markets go. There are a lot of private-label brands, but there aren't that many name brands that transcend the specialty store and boutique market."The Long Beach, Calif.-based company is hoping to change that. Its Bluetorch apparel line, which is based on the extreme sports television show, landed in specialty extreme sports stores in February. The company also recently became the North America apparel licensee for skate and snowboard brand Airwalk and skate company TSA. Both lines will be out for fall 2004, with Airwalk's distribution in mid-tier department stores and sporting goods stores and TSA clothing in higher-tier sporting goods stores and better department stores."The Airwalk and TSA names have been in the specialty store marketplace for some time," says Kawamura. "Airwalk has transcended that and is now in multi-sporting good chains and mid-tier department stores, so what we're seeing is a branded name actually reaching out to more of the mass market."Signage, displays and promotional items, as well as contest giveaways during the holidays, constitute the in-store efforts for the company. "At this stage of the game, P-O-P is almost necessary -- retailers expect it," says Kawamura. Jake Van Wyk, marketing manager for Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Sara Lee Underwear, adds, "We work as partners with our retailers to complement both what we're doing as well as what they're trying to do as a brand. Each of our retailers is a brand itself, and we're trying to fit within their parameters to help tell the total story for them."Innovation SellsHaggar knows that product innovations are also driving sales. And while the clothing is designed to make the consumer look and feel good, the comfort and care benefits it offers sometimes supersede fashion.For its new Freedom Khakis line, the in-store merchandising highlights the brand's red and gold colors. "We feel these colors pop and make it easy for customers to locate the Haggar area on the retail floor," says Rambo. "We wanted to utilize our P-O-P and call out the consumer benefits of the line. Since retail is becoming more of a self-service environment, the P-O-P has to grab the consumer's attention and do the selling for us on the retail floor."The Stain Wheel is one component of Haggar's in-store displays. Consumers can spin the wheel to see how the stain-resistant, liquid-repellant and wrinkle-free pants can handle everyday stains. "It's a fun and interactive way for consumers to learn what stains this product repels and what the pants can do for them," says Rambo. Additional signage touting the product is placed with the wheel and depicts a carefree lifestyle image. Russell Athletic's Knight says when introducing a new product, the company's goal is to put a full in-store effort behind it. "There are so many new products that have technology associated with them that retailers realize they have to educate the consumer about the product benefits, so they are allowing that kind of in-store signage and information."The company will be introducing its Sweatless Sweats (with moisture management and odor control) this fall. Plans are under way for a completely integrated campaign to include P-O-P, TV and print ads. "I would say three years ago the company did not have the commitment to in-store merchandising that it does now," says Knight, "so we're excited that they see and value our in-store efforts." For underwear, color is the innovation and the team at Sara Lee Underwear knows that. "We're seeing that style has become much more of a component in the men's underwear category," Van Wyk says.The company's most recent launch of its Hanes ComfortSoft boxer briefs builds on the success of its tagless products. TV commercials and displays again feature Michael Jordan. The company is using corrugated shippers and pallets with different graphics than before. Getting Better All the TimeCarlsbad, Calif.-based Suunto USA recently shifted its focus and is now finding success with a display program that significantly improves on past efforts. "We've spent a lot of time and energy this past year on in-store merchandising," says Lauren Zimmerman, trade marketing manager. "We cut down on our advertising dramatically and took that money to focus on merchandising."The result is a display program being placed in REI, Galyan's, Eastern Mountain Sports and other specialty retailers to showcase the company's high-tech watches. Three sizes of displays are available: a six-foot display holding nine products, a two-foot counter display for three products, and a single-stand display for one product. Zimmerman says the old displays were very labor-intensive for the retailer. Hard plastic is now in place of the glass that would often break in shipping. The lighting is better, too. Customers can now see 180 degrees around the displays instead of 45, and the displays are prepackaged with dummy product to ensure they always look full. Moreover, catalogs and laminated information cards give consumers additional information. However, getting placement can take time. Case in point: It took the company three years to get REI to test the displays in six stores. "It takes a long time with the bigger chains because the P-O-P has to go through such a complicated approval process."FosterGrant's Fourt says his company has been motivated to create better merchandising since retailers started pushing accessories more. "Retailers are constantly looking for ways to increase the shopping cart rings associated with each customer, and accessories are a very logical way to do that. We've seen improved merchandising to encourage that, better pricing and better coordination between garments and the various accessories."Recent in-store efforts have focused on communicating both the medical need for sunglasses (to protect consumers' eyes from UV rays) as well as fashion. Today's merchandising is a bit different than in the past, he notes. "Due to the varying needs of the retail accounts out there, we offer a variety of different merchandising solutions to address their consumer, floor plan and space limitations," he says, including merchandising strips, full endcap display units and everything between.In December, FosterGrant acquired the Gargoyles Inc. brand portfolio, which includes the Gargoyles, Anarchy and Angels eyewear brands. Since these brands are sold in surf shops, higher-end sporting goods and specialty outlets, and specialty apparel outlets such as Pacific Sunwear or Pac Sun, Fourt says the challenge has been to create displays that highlight each brand."Our P-O-P matches up to the various brand characters," he says, adding that the displays for these locations are often smaller and hold less quantity. "It's not like shopping at Wal-Mart, where 150 million consumers a week are going through the store. A Pac Sun, for example, simply doesn't do that much foot traffic." The units tend to be more minimalist in terms of look and treatment, are very high-end, and often look like pieces of art, he says.Under Armour implemented its first-ever merchandising plan last year, and Perrin says the company's in-store efforts are now very important in the company's overall marketing plan. The company is offering seven new fixtures for this year that feature the same imagery as ads in Sports Illustrated or ESPN magazine. "We're keeping things consistent and simple," she says.For other companies, it's not just about better P-O-P, but simply more of it. "We're doing much more merchandising than we've ever done," says Kangol's Lessieu. "In two years, we've recognized the largest growth in the history of the company. To some extent, without a doubt, we attribute that to our in-store presence because prior to our growth, it was a question of how many people even knew about us. If we don't have some way to tell that story, be it a hang tag on the product or an actual display on the floor, we're going to have a hard time conveying the brand story to the consumer."

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