Thursday, February 21, 2008

J Crew's Women's S/S 08 Lineup

As we head back into the first months of spring, a few retail outlets come to mind for the usual spring shopping. This week we look at J.Crew's (NYSE:JCG) Women's lineup.

It seems as though this spring, the clothing is a bit more conservative than normal with a few odd quirks. In comparison with Anthropologie (NASDAQ:URBN), it seems as though much of their collection really is hit or miss. Half-jokingly, I compare some of J.Crew's collection with the older-woman style of Talbots (NYSE:TLB), moving away from a more youthful look. One very stand-out part of the S/S line is their obsession with the above pictured Paisley print (pictured above). This is certainly a different style direction than much of their pieces and might be a clash rather than a complement.

I think the brand may be getting a little too conservative for some of its core buyers in their early 20's. Perhaps perfect targets for Rugby (NYSE:RL)?

Sentiment: Neutral-Bearish.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

briefly looking through jcrews Q3 10Q it is interesting to note how radical the proportion and magnitude of direct sales has changed between comparable quarters. I suppose this trend in online shopping is to be expected, but I am still impressed. Also, it appears that catalog sales may be declining due to erosion effects spurred by the option to shop online. I still prefer catalogs over the online shopping experience.

Patrick Kavanagh said...

Well, to clarify- I'm bullish on their Spring/Summer collection. I really like the way they run their business.