Most retailers are reacting to the crisis by trying to curb expenses. Almost all have reduced the number of people they sent to the shows this year. Bloomingdale’s and other major stores cut back their Paris buying teams by about 20 percent. Few retailers say they will increase their fashion budgets this year, though many are hoping to keep them at the same level as last year. With the lower dollar and higher prices, however, the same amount of money will buy much less this time around, and most stores will have fewer pieces for sale. But the number of items being sold is down anyway-sales figures fell consistently this year, except for a brief rally in June and July. Customers are not in the mood to buy.
Retailers are puzzling out their sales strategies as they look at the new fashions, which display a retro mood of 1960s optimism; baby-doll dresses, A-line shapes and swinging looser styles. Some think the best bet is to play it safe, buy the classics and count on their usual more conservative customers. Others, like Marvin Traub, chairman of Bloomingdale’s, believe in generating excitement. Traub liked the snazzy collection of Claude Montana, with its asymmetrical hemlines and inventive tailoring. “We’re looking for things that are appealing,” said Traub. “This is the wrong time for stores to be conservative. "
The European fashion houses are worried that decreased visibility in the United States will hurt them after the crisis passes. In Paris last week, American retailers were hoping to parlay that fear into lower prices. Several companies are trying to work out creative ways to help the American buyers. At Karl Lagerfeld, president Ralph Toledano said the company had a new policy this year. Instead of quoting prices in francs, as in the past, Lagerfeld gave its prices in dollars, at an exchange rate more favorable than the one posted in the banks last week.
Love affair: Of course, the economic crisis is not confined to the United States. Even the buying power of the almighty yen has slipped in value in France recently. But the Japanese do not have the retail problems Americans have. The Japanese love affair with French luxury goods is still in full bloom. American retailers can’t help feeling jealous.
“For the last 40 years we: have been the champions of fashion, bringing it to America,: publicizing and merchandising it, said Lynn Manulis, president of Martha, a specialty store in New York and Palm Beach. “And to [have it] come to a grinding halt is a crying shame. " It may be too early to shed real tears, but for the Americans in Paris, it isn’t too soon for a sniffle.
