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Upscale clothing stores hem up casual Fridays
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Forget casual Friday and start shopping for a new power suit. Clothing retailers say dress-down days are over.
“Charleston has really moved up in terms of fashion,” said Marshall Simon, president of Gwynn’s of Mount Pleasant, one of the local retailers that dressed up television star Vanna White in January when she filmed nearly a month’s worth of “Wheel of Fortune” programs in Charleston.
Gwynn’s provided White’s gowns for nine of the 15 shows filmed in Charleston, and Simon said first quarter 2007 sales are sailing ahead of first quarter 2006 sales.
“Usually our first quarter is our slowest quarter and we’re way over last year,” Simon said.
Gwynn’s has experienced 20% increases annually, Simon said, but 2007 is off to a particularly strong start. He thinks other high-end retailers in the area are also enjoying the dress-up trend.
“We’re all doing fairly significant volume,” Simon said.
Those who have weathered the fine apparel business in Charleston for a long time have seen trends come and go.
Tim Shaw, who opened 319 Men on King Street in 1989, doesn’t look back fondly on the dot-com age of the late 1990s, when hoards of college students were starting Web-based businesses.
“The industry kind of shot itself in the foot when the dot-com craze happened,” Shaw said. “The bull market enabled everyone in this country to make money so easily that corporate standards were so relaxed, including the way people were dressing.
“You had all these fictitious businesses that were being established by people right out of college. Then all that deflated, the market corrected itself and people had to go back to work and earn money. They had to change the way they approached business.”
The suit is back, Shaw said, particularly among young men.
“In the last year to 18 months, I’ve seen a resurgence of young men buying suits,” he said. “Before, if a guy had to go on a job interview, he’d borrow a friend’s blue blazer. My suit business has made a strong comeback in the past three years.”
Shaw is selling 20% to 30% more suits and sports coats than he was selling 18 months ago, which contributes nicely to store volume, he said.
“Those are your high-ticket items. Basically, casual Friday is gone,” he said.
Susan McWaters, regional director for Belk department stores, said she has noticed more men dressing up, and stores are experiencing a surge in sales of dress shirts.
“We have definitely gotten away from the casual look in the workplace,” McWaters said. “Our men’s suit business is phenomenal right now. A tie is a fashion statement.”
Dressing up has gotten the attention of The NPD Group Inc., a New York-based provider of consumer and retail market research, which released its 2006 apparel trends data on March 6. Dress sales were up 7% last year, The NPD Group reported, while sales of men’s dress slacks were up 7.2%. The volume of men’s suits sold in 2006 rose 6.2% from 2005.
Following the dress trend in women’s apparel, sales of women’s sheer hosiery was up 6.5% in 2006, the first increase for the category in 10 years.
“Dresses are definitely a trend right now. We have more dresses in the shop now than we’ve probably had in 15 years,” said Janice McMenamin, owner of RTW Ltd. on King Street. McMenamin opened the shop in 1978 and said her business experienced a double-digit increase last year.
“I think it’s just because Charleston is such a desirable place,” McMenamin said. “We’re seeing more and more people here with second homes or visiting just to golf and shop.”
So what about other trends, such as contemporary worship services that encourage people to come in jeans and shorts, fine dining establishments that no longer require a jacket as they once did or the seemingly growing trend of flip-flops as acceptable footwear?
“I tend to think those people are from out-of-town,” McMenamin said. “If I see our clients at Whole Foods or the pharmacy, they might have flip-flops on, but they’re not the kind you pick up at the drug store. They might be Prada flip-flops.”
While Charleston’s warm weather climate and resort atmosphere might lend itself to slouch-happy dressing, local clients are not the only consumers helping Charleston’s high-end boutiques make profits. Sharlene Moulton, assistant manager of Christian Michi on King Street, said the store ships apparel on approval to clients across the nation.
“It is a very cosmopolitan city, so you have people really from all over the world that are coming in the store,” Moulton said.
Fundraisers, debutante balls and Charleston’s growing reputation as a place for destination weddings are keeping cash registers ringing for sequined gowns and architectural dresses.
Ellen Berlin, owner of Berlin’s at King and Broad streets, said the store has a strong local client base as well as a strong tourist base, made up of repeat visitors to Charleston. She also thinks more out-of-town business is being done in Charleston.
“They combine business with pleasure,” Berlin said. “They’ll come in for a golf weekend and have a couple of meetings.”
Dress sales are up and the hosiery business is back, Berlin said, and she thinks people in general are dressing up more.
She laughs about the casual Fridays concept, although she remembers when it was first introduced in the law offices and financial centers of Charleston.
“That went by the wayside pretty fast,” Berlin said. “Nobody wants to give their money to a guy in a golf shirt. If you’re meeting a client, you still have to dress up a little bit.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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