The juniors clothing market has challenges all its own: finicky teens, quickly changing trends and tough competition from large retailers such as L.A.-based Forever 21 Inc. and others. The Business Journal’s Kari Hamanaka asked Orange County apparel executives to comment on the segment’s abiding challenges.
Gloria Brandes
founder and designer, BB Dakota, Costa Mesa
In the mid-’80s, there was not much retail space allocated to juniors, which led to a flood of junior wholesalers and retailers in the subsequent 20 years. Suddenly, there was too much retail space in juniors. The fiercest competition won out. There has been much consolidation, and retailers such as Forever 21 dominate the junior retail market and have forced the weakest and least nimble competitors out.
The juniors market has been difficult in the past 10 years, but I see the pendulum swinging back and certain stores allocating more space to the juniors price point. Juniors is more of a price point today than a demographic. Our Jack BB Dakota line is a Young Contemporary brand, which has a juniors price point brand combined with a broader, less age-specific contemporary look.
Today the price point is the issue, and some retailers are adding back retail space to brands such as ours.
Kevin Bailey
president, Vans Inc., Cypress
Often, companies choose to chase new, fast fashion-forward trends without bringing their individual brand’s unique points of difference into play and reminding the juniors shopper that standing out does not come from following the herd of sheep into the mass option of the month.
Fashion is about individuality and self-expression. We must believe that quality and creative design thinking are valuable and worth standing for and can only be found in original, creative brands with vision.
The bottom line in all of this is—be true to your brand DNA, hear the consumer and then communicate your brand vision in a way that is meaningful, through product and marketing.
Toby Bost
chief executive, O’Neill Clothing USA, Irvine
The juniors surf market is still suffering from the rise of a now relatively mature set of fast-fashion retailers.
Mall retailers like Forever 21 and H&M have offered the female consumer products that are not only of great value but at
the front end of fashion trends in the space.
Going direct from off-shore manufacturing to the retail floor is a fast-paced challenge for brands. Like any competitive environment, it has pushed brands in the wholesale marketplace to reinvent their product assortments and steer away from the overall speed these retailers can put newness on the shelves.
We’ve shifted our focus to heritage surf and technical products that lend themselves to a beach culture and lifestyle. The latest active assortment, called O’Neill 365, offers a number of athletic designs for the beach-inspired active woman.
We’re investing in these new categories and see a lot of potential to differentiate ourselves in the mall long term.
