UPFRONT 1997: Apparel

Image, style and dress-down Fridays spur ad spending by designers looking for perfect fit with price-concious consumersIt's getting harder and harder to differentiate between the top designers and the mass brands. The populist brands are borrowing the image approach favored by designers to build overall brand awareness. Meanwhile, couturiers continue to introduce lower-priced lines to give more consumers an entry point they can afford.In the $16.7 billion denim category, Levi Strauss is leading this image drive. The company, which spent about $75 million on jeans advertising last year, will take a unified approach starting this fall and consolidate advertising for its 501, Levi's for Women and Wide Leg lines. By focusing on its brand name, Levi's hopes to show strength and solidarity to combat the Tommy's and Calvin's that have crept into the marketplace. Levi's other brands, the casual Dockers and its newest dress pants, Slates, have witnessed encouraging 1997 sales, and will continue their separate campaigns.In 1996, VF Corp. spent $58 million to advertise its brands, including Lee and Wrangler, a 25 percent increase over 1995. That number should rise over the next year as well. Lee Riveted, a successful jeans line introduced last year aimed at a younger demo, will likely get a strong back-to-school push. Lee's Pipes line-skateboard-style wide leg pants which targeted boys when it hit stores a year ago-will debut this fall for men, girls and juniors, and seems a natural candidate for advertising as well. Everything old is new again at The Gap-not just the aura surrounding its retro-themed Old Navy chain, but its advertising, too. To supports its brand identity, Gap stores are getting a push from a major advertising effort, one that, at least initially, reinstates the retailer's original "Fall Into The Gap" mantra. For a 900-store chain that spent less than $1 million of its $24 million budget on TV last year, this $10-$15 million campaign is significant.Gap-owned retail outlets seem to be reproducing faster than clerks at Kinko's. The upscale Banana Republic ($750 million sales in 1996), has added gender-specific stores and embarked on a well-received print campaign. The lower-priced, higher-kitsch Old Navy ($800 million in sales 1996), a three-year-old, 130-store chain currently supported by a TV branding campaign, plans to open 75 more units this year. Continued TV support is likely. Baby Gap, also supported by image spots this year, will add 40 stores to its current 17 by year-end. Sara Lee will soon introduce intimate apparel and legwear lines carrying Ralph Lauren's name, to be carried by 1,500 stores by 1998. In 1997, Sara Lee is spending $40 million to advertise intimate apparel brands, including Bali and Wonderbra, which will receive a push as new styles are introduced in the fall.Spurred in part by the increasingly casual work environment, menswear sales continue to outpace overall and category apparel trends. Men's sales were up 7.3 percent in 1996, a figure that owes much to forays into affordably priced jeans and casual clothing by designers Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Nautica. "Tommy, Nautica and Polo Sport have given a B-12 shot to the sale of men's apparel," says Alan Millstein, who publishes Fashion Network Report. "They've stimulated retail."Overall, the apparel industry, to which consumers shelled out $161 billion during 1996, a 5.8 percent increase since 1995, shouldn't be expected to either soar or plummet in the next year. In Millstein's view, "1998 will probably be better than '97, but there's no reason to believe incremental spending will jump high any time before the millennium." -Becky EbenkampHOT BUTTONS* Levi's consolidating jeans ads* Menswear sales up* The Gap to increase TV spendingOVERALL:Spending up modestlyDARK HORSE: Liz Claiborne making a turnaroundCopyright ASM Communications, Inc. (1997) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED National

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UPFRONT 1997: Apparel

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