Go figure. Despite all the talk about healthy eating and exercise, American women are getting larger.
An estimated 40 percent of U.S. women now wear larger-size clothing, which is usually defined as anything size 14 and up. Given the lack of fashion options in this size range, it’s not surprising that this group of women tends to be one of the most loyal on the planet. If a retailer has something well-made and fashionable in their size, many large-size women will buy it without even a glance at the price tag.
With the apparel business generally in the doldrums for most of the 1990s, lots of retailers have tuned into this underserved group of female shoppers.
Saks Inc. has created a department in its Saks Fifth Avenue stores for large-size designer clothing called Salon Z. Lands’ End Inc. has added large sizes in its catalogs in response to thousands of requests from thousands of customers. Liz Claiborne Inc., one of the country’s largest manufacturers of women’s career apparel, has created the large-size Elisabeth line.
So why is Neiman Marcus Groups Inc. headed in the opposite direction?
Neiman’s North Michigan Avenue store is doing away with NM Studio, the department that carried women’s clothing size 18 and larger, including half sizes. By the time spring collections arrive early next year, NM Studio will be history.
So there must not have been much demand for large sizes, right?
That’s not the case at all, says Kit Hughes, vice president and general manager of Neiman Marcus Michigan Avenue.
“It’s a decision based on real estate. As a lot of other businesses grow, we need to give space to them,” Hughes explains. The other businesses that will gain space include petite women’s clothing and leisure apparel, she says.
To some large women, Hughes’ explanation reeks of discrimination against women of a certain size. Certainly, Neiman long has had the reputation for catering to women the size of Nancy Reagan, the type who still recite the mantra, “You can’t be too rich or too thin.”
Says one NM Studio customer: “I think it’s an insult that women can’t shop there unless they are sticks. There are a lot of successful larger women out there. You see them everywhere.”
And as this customer points out, Neiman stands to lose a lot of ancillary sales because these large women likely won’t be buying shoes, accessories or cosmetics there, either.
Hughes insists that doing away with large sizes isn’t intended to shoo away large-size customers. In fact, she has sent a personal letter to NM Studio customers offering them a credit on their first purchase from the Neiman Marcus catalog, which will continue to carry large sizes.
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Or they could just cross the street and shop at Saks.
The cost of goodbye: Florsheim Group Inc. really doesn’t want anyone to know how much it paid former Chief Executive Charles Campbell to go away.
Campbell, you may remember, resigned in June after a former secretary alleged in a lawsuit that he used company money to carry on a lewd lifestyle that included consorting with prostitutes and having midday trysts at Florsheim’s corporate apartment.
Instead of breaking out the cost of his severance package in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Florsheim says it took a $1.1 million charge that reflects both Campbell’s severance and the cost of an evaluation of its strategic alternatives.
While Campbell’s severance is not a fortune even if it represents most of the $1.1 million, there’s other information in Florsheim’s SEC filing that helps put it in perspective.
The severance cost for 186 workers who are out of jobs because Florsheim is closing a plant in Cape Girardeau, Mo., totals $501,000. That works out to an average of $2,694 per worker.
Happy holidays.