Business and Finance

Competition and a move away from tailored dressing, only exacerbated by a weak economy, are hurting the men’s suit business hard, and retailers are adding to manufacturers’ pain by demanding more discounts.

Suit vendors at a trade show this week described how men’s taste for more casual clothing, a flood of low-cost rivals from Asia, and a recent pull-back in spending due to tough economic times are plaguing the suit industry, the most economically sensitive category in the apparel business.

“(Suit makers) can’t withstand the competition and the downturn in the economy at the same time,” Mark Lipman, vice president of national sales for Los Angeles suit maker and wholesaler Marina Imports, said at the Magic Marketplace apparel trade show. “It’s a perfect storm.”

The troubles can be seen in some major players’ numbers. Retailer Men’s Wearhouse Inc’s second-quarter profit fell 40 percent, while profit dropped 44 percent for Oxford Industries Inc, a manufacturer and retailer whose men’s tailored division cut inventory by more than 25 percent in its most recent quarter.

One big problem is how men now dress faxless payday loan. Many pair a dress shirt with more casual pants, even jeans, when they dress up, a far cry from the buttoned-down, tailored looks of years past.

“Casual Friday,” a 1990s phenomenon that allowed office workers one day a week to dress down, was a big thorn in the side of the suit industry and the gradual shift to more casual looks has only intensified in the United States.

“The overall dress-up market has changed dramatically in the past 10 years,” said retailer Cy Rosengarten, owner of Suits 20/20 outside Chicago, who noted fewer menswear vendors were in attendance at the Las Vegas trade show this year.

Apart from men’s stores stocking sportswear at the expense of suits, the industry is also competing for the attention of fewer retailers amid industry consolidation and the decline of small haberdasheries in American cities. 

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