Fashion conscious males spell business for retailers

20 Jan '06

2 min read

Young male's interest in their personal appearance was noticed by manufacturer couple of years ago, and so products in the men's face care, aftershave, and deodorant came in the market.

Male consumers have become more conscious about their personal appearance, caring to look good that brought in the lexicon, metrosexual.

Men are concerned with neat look to appear professional in an uncertain employment environment, say retail experts.

Jos A Bank Clothiers (JOSB), a chain of 318 stores for men's tailored clothing and footwear, said its sales soared 20.7 percent and catalog and Internet sales climbed 34.1 percent in December 2005.

Sales for December jumped 8.1 percent, said George Zimmer, founder and CEO of Men's Wearhouse, which sells tailored business attire.

Unilever (UN) introduced Axe, Procter & Gamble (PG) re-launched Old Spice, and Beiersdorf's Nivea for Men and Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Neutrogena Men entered markets for young and the mobile GenX's.

Another retail consultant said, good fit and the tailored look have become equally important, both for men as well as women.

This trend has set the cash registers ringing, as reflected in Wall Street figures.

Men's Wearhouse stock is now trading at $31.83, up 47 percent since January 2005. Jos. A. Bank's shares are trading at $47.38, up 64 percent in the past year.

Research done by WSLStrategic Retail shows 50 percent of younger men prefer buying at discount clothing stores, that's why a chain like Men's Wearhouse has benefited as its prices are around 20 percent to 30 percent lower than those at department stores.

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