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The advantages that an army/navy store has always enjoyed when it comes to casual fashion are if anything magnified in the current recessionary climate.

Sales are slipping at many department stores and the even the must-have apparel chains may be passed by when teenagers and young adults discover they really haven’t got the scratch to keep shopping there. Yet youth will be served, and the more cost-conscious fashion apparel customer has to shop somewhere.

Department stores may be privy to the same market intelligence you can draw on, but your store can continue to meet or beat your larger competitors in the casual fashion arena.

TURNING ON A DIME STORE

For one thing, in contrast to chain stores, where decisions on bringing in new inventory must go through a lengthy approvals process, the smaller store has the advantage of being able to turn on a dime. For another, the local retailer is better situated to get immediate feedback from local customers. Moreover, the army/navy store has been a haven for casual fashion ever since hippies wore fatigue jackets, and not only in military wear.

In other words, for the ANSOM reader, planning a casual fashion selection can be done in a shorter timeframe. Unlike a Macy’s or an Abercrombie, you don’t have to map out a “fall line” or “spring line” months in advance and hope that sales match expectations or run the risk of taking a big hit on that inventory should those expectations fizzle. What you do need to do is keep up.

This means keeping an eye on popular culture. Think of the many influences crowding in on potential customers, ranging from blogs and e-zines, musicians, movie and TV performers and sports stars to the current queen of casual chic, Michelle Obama, a fashion trendsetter in a way that no First Lady has been since Jackie Kennedy nearly 50 years ago. Watch what they wear—but then you need to determine whether those high-visibility personalities are setting the trends or merely appropriating them.

Of course, your customers may help you make that call by coming in and asking about a particular item that they seen at their school, in print media or on television. At that point it’s a question of whether you have it in stock or are able to bring it in very quickly.

A FORMAL DEFINITION OF CASUAL?

The term “casual” can mean many different things in apparel, and it’s important to define what it means for your store. For purposes of reach the high-school and college-age customer, “casual apparel” most likely doesn’t mean “business casual,” “resort casual” or the newest wrinkle, “smart casual,” which denotes a wardrobe that’s a little more stylish than business casual but not inappropriate for the workplace. For the student, a casual wardrobe entails a set of clothing that can be worn on the street or in the classroom.

In an article titled “Casual Fashion for High School, College Students,” author Nicholas Morine wrote that three most important factors for the consumer to consider are “comfort, cost, and convention,” or style. “Comfort is of supreme importance in that it’s hard to focus when you’re wearing a garment that is either too constricting or too loose, and cost is an obvious factor. When it comes to convention, or style, that is certainly an individual choice and there are many distinct avenues that are gaining in popularity.”

Musical awareness—and specifically, logos and images of both current favorites and long-disbanded ones such as Led Zeppelin—has figured in casual wardrobes in recent years. This may have been inspired “by a retro revival both amongst the musical tastes as well as the fashion preferences of many high school and college students,” according to Morine.

As a result, T-shirts and hoodies that feature band names or photographs are “extremely popular amongst many artistic students, with tour shirts purchased from an actual show being a hot commodity,” Morine wrote. “A few T-shirts that feature your favorite musicians and artists are good investments—they’re cheap and also display some personality.” More to the point, they also make an eye-catching display in your store.