March 2007

Commentary: Wake The Sleeping Giant

by Gabrielle Rohde


It’s official: The war against asking women to wear men’s apparel is over. The category has been growing slowly but surely over the last eight years as suppliers struggled to justify adding the necessary SKUs while not knowing if women would really buy. To be sure, it’s been an evolution rather than a revolution. But women’s apparel in our industry is no longer stuck in the Stone Age.

2007 brought with it an abundance of great women’s apparel in all categories including business wear, outerwear, activewear and golf. It’s a relief to be able to stop writing articles about the need for women’s wear or the fact that women don’t want to wear men’s apparel.

The story now is growth in what could be the most lucrative apparel category for many distributors. Let’s talk about how easy it is to sell to and for women when you give them what they want:

• Retail styles
• A great fit that flatters their figures
• Easy care
• Fashionable colors
Now that suppliers are offering all of the above, it’s time for distributors to awaken the sleeping giant – female buying power.

Women always have had bigger wardrobes than men. For them, apparel is about expressing themselves and looking good. For men, it’s often about utility – they need a shirt for work or a trade show. Give it to them and that need is filled, and it’s on to the next issue. For women, if they like the shirt you showed them for work, they want to know “what else you’ve got in that bag.” So, show them.

The women’s apparel category is all about selling more – more pieces, more colors, more sizes. Women layer, so they want cardigans and jackets. Women don’t like to wear the same style shirt two days in a row. They’ll buy five different shirts, so you’ve got to show them five different shirts.

Female customers are a distributor’s dream come true. Who doesn’t want an audience that wants to buy? Now that you have the product they want, you should be beating down their doors to show them everything you can.
Where to start?

Successful distributors start with their current customers to determine all the situations where women could benefit from wearing the corporate logo if they had the right garments. It could be outfitting saleswomen from real estate to telecommunications. Or perhaps the retail clerks could be better dressed so customers are impressed by their professionalism at the point of contact.

Casual Friday is old news, but having employees look good at work five days a week is critical to any company whose employees meet the public. Every financial company in the country – banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, tax preparers, etc. – is a prime target. Financial companies want to dress their female employees every day in shirts that are fashionable and professional, and market their brands.

One of the biggest opportunities lies at every business convention in the country. Women don’t go anywhere away from home without looking for a souvenir. It’s just the way it is. Cute, fun, decorated apparel is a natural fit. Most organizations sell some logoed product at their conventions but often miss the most obvious opportunity. Women can’t pass up something they want for themselves.

Some distributors will be happy to finally have a broader array of garments to choose from when the customer asks for women’s apparel too. But the good salespeople won’t wait. They’ll take the initiative and point out to their customers how using apparel to market a company brand is a great investment.