I don't know anything about fashion, but this reads to me like yet another premature obituary, just like we always see about the music. Particular styles and brands will always ebb and flow, doesn't mean the river is running dry.
A shakeout is afoot in the world of urban apparel, as sales of once red-hot labels begin to cool, analysts and industry executives said.
The across-the-board slowdown is alarming some of the major department-store retailers that had allocated a growing amount of space to these brands on the belief that the double-digit sales growth of recent years would continue, sources said.
Federated Department Stores, which operates the Macy's and Bloomingdale's chains, for instance, is seeing recent sales of urban brands decline in the double digits, compared with year-ago levels, said one person, who added: "It has everyone worried..."
With its edgier looks tied to the inner-city streets and often to a rap star's personal image, urban apparel exploded over the last decade, as sales of more traditional men's wear made by Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Nautica went into a prolonged decline.
Women's urban labels soon followed, and before long "anyone who'd ever released an album thought they needed their own line," said Bernt Ullmann, president of Phat Fashions, the clothing company founded in 1992 by hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons.
Posted by jsmooth995 at December 15, 2004 12:47 PM
