Weekly Shop Report

Designers are half puke half panicking as super slow Congress dropped the ball on extending duty breaks on imports before the end of the year. Imports? What imports, you ask? Like yarn, camel hair, combed cashmere, rayon and a variety of fibers ubiquitously used in footwear, accessories, apparel, etc. causing an unanticipated spike in production costs. Um, not what we need right now. Thanks Washington.

But in better news, in 2009, retail, beauty and fashion stocks roared back from a less-than-lackluster 2008 with the most surprising turnarounds from companies formerly suspected to be unequipped to navigate the murky economic waters. Companies like Bon Ton, Dillard’s, Ralph Lauren, even Tiffany’s saw stocks jump. Other retailers weren’t shining stars but fared much better than expected, particularly in the Misses departments.

End of year losers, Zale, Phoenix Footwear and Pacific Sunwear were in the black last week while Macy’s and Dillard’s fell behind. Our favorite underdog, Joe’s Jeans, finished in the black! But Bluefly is still struggling against rival/revamped private designer sale sights like Gilt and Rue La La. They painted the week red.

And in Hollywood, LiLo decided to expand her legging label 6126. She plans to launch a full contemporary apparel line Fall 2010.  We’re crossing our fingers it trumps the Olsen’s Penny’s line, and have even higher hopes that a pointed purpose will steer LiLo’s calamitous decision making.

All in all, the year started out effervescent. And that’s pretty much the best adjective available…in shopping.

Emma Dinzebach

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Posted by Emma Dinzebach at 12:00 AM
Bargain Hunting , bargain news , STYLE/BEAUTY , TRENDS |