Clothing stores get ready to go back to school

Destinie Danforth, 11, wears a uniform to school but still likes to have her own clothes for weekends and after school. She said she and her friends will look for fall clothes at stores including Target and Macy’s.

“The Gap,” she said,  “is the one that my mom buys me stuff at.”

Cohen expects stores to have the most success if they are able to offer a wide variety of styles and refresh those styles often, allowing people to create their own look. He thinks American Eagle Outfitters Inc. will do well for those reasons.

“We’ve seen the consumer really reach for a more eclectic taste of product,” Cohen said. “Not everybody wants to look like everybody else.”

Telsey also is expecting Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Aeropostale Inc. to do well this back-to-school season. Hot Topic Inc. whose back-to-school offerings range from tight skinny jeans to baggy street pants, is among the retailers she expects to struggle.

That trend is definitely being echoed at Jane McGee’s house. McGee, a teacher, said her 17-year-old will only go into American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch or its sister brand Hollister. Increasingly, McGee’s 10-year-old also is favoring her big sister’s preferred brands.

Retailers also will be hoping to lure shoppers into their stores early, in the hope of capturing sales before they must begin steep discounting. Niemira said his trade group’s survey results show that slightly more shoppers will be out in August rather than September, but Cohen expects shoppers to wait until the last minute.

That could make retailers nervous and lead to more discounting, to the benefit of shoppers.

“It’s an excellent position for the consumer — the consumer’s in the driver’s seat,” Cohen said.

McGee expects to be among those last-minute shoppers. As a teacher, she said, she often dreads back-to-school shopping because it means she’ll be returning to work soon.

But she also doesn’t like to let her kids buy their full fall wardrobe until they see what other kids are wearing — and she can see whether her kids are having yet another growth spurt. That way, she can avoid wasting money on fashion misses or jeans that are too short by the time the bad weather hits.

“I tend to make my kids wait,” she said.

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