PPAI Expo Daily - Tuesday

#ppaiexpo

January 12, 2016

PPAI

EXPO DAILY

™

APPAREL: TOP FOUR

By Julie Richie

As the top-selling promotional product category, wearables are always a great option for promotional campaigns. This

year, three trends stand out as shaping the promotional apparel market.

1. ATHLEISURE

continues to dominate the conversation in apparel. “A lot of workplaces are getting more and more

casual so I think athleisure is going to continue to maintain popularity and increase,” says Ty Cannon, national business

development manager at Cutter & Buck (UPIC: CUTT0001). “One of our philosophies is to create a lifestyle brand that

transitions easily from work to play,” he adds. Steve Zimmerman, national sales director at J. America Wholesale Blanks

(UPIC:Blanks), says, “The athleisure vibe is very strong for us. Athleisure is now a lifestyle that speaks to the mindset of

the end user. If it feels good to wear, that transfers over to buying.”

2. PATTERNS AND BRIGHT COLORS

“Patterns are really popular in almost every category—tees, performance and

fleece,” says Cynthia Baker, public relations and promotions manager at Heritage Sportswear (UPIC: HERI0002). Cannon

agrees patterns rule, nothing that “Camouflage is not going away any time soon. Maybe it’s the

Duck Dynasty

effect.

There are a lot of key words in pop culture out there around camouflage, and for a lot of people, weekend activities

include hunting and fishing.” And bright colors are still holding strong in 2016. “Bright, jewel-tone colors with neutral

tonal patterns and amazing fabrications with lighter weight, to accommodate the trend toward layering, are popular,”

says Zimmerman. But, he adds, black, white, navy and gray are his company’s best sellers. “Gray is a huge color for us

because every logo goes with gray,” he says.

3. EASY CARE AND LIGHTWEIGHT FABRIC

Taraynn Lloyd, vice president of marketing for Edwards Garment Company

(UPIC: EDWARDSG), says, “Trends for 2016 include washable suiting and suit separates, lightweight full-zip and quarter-

zip sweaters, and Batiste shirts/blouses with retail-inspired styling.” For uniform wear, “having suit coats, pants, skirts

that travel well and are easy to care for seem to be what everyone is asking about.” Edwards introduced this group of

styles and continues to see sales climb as a result.

4. TRIM FIT AND SPECIAL CUTS

“We sell out of smalls and mediums more than anything else and we’ve had to make

adjustments to our inventory,” says Cannon. To accommodate the preference for slimmer cuts, Cannon says Cutter

& Buck introduced a trim-fit collection of its best-selling woven shirts in response and relaunched its CBUK label, a

modern, contemporary line of golf wear with a much trimmer fit. Zimmerman adds that special cuts such as scalloped

necks, criss-cross hems, shorter cuts and extended back lengths are some of the retail ladies’ wear trends that the

promotional products industry has picked up on.

COSMIC FLEECE

J. America

Wholesale Blanks

USB Made of 100-percent spun

polyester fleece fabric with contrast-

colored pocket openings, this

athleisure fleece has a zipper with

reflective tape strip and extended

back length.

WASHED CHINO

TWILL & ULTRA

SOFT MESH CAP

Cap America, Inc.

A great example of the continued

focus on bright colors, this low-

profile unstructured cap comes in

13 colors and has a

fabric strap with two-

piece closure.

FASHION FLEECE

MV Sport/Weatherproof

A great example of the popularity of

comfortable athleisure pieces

that include patterns, this

popular fleece is on trend

and fashion-forward.

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