Kalalou launches small apparel line

JACKSON, MISS. – Kalalou has launched a brief ladies’s attire line for retailers on the lookout for a method to diversify their present and décor assortments.

The gathering, referred to as LaLou, contains easy slip and wrap clothes, tops, skirts, free becoming pants and rick-rack trimmed pajama units in a impartial, earthy palette of terracotta, slate, mauve, cream and olive. The items are made in India of a cotton/linen mix, and one dimension matches most. Retailers solely have to commit to a few garment items.

The attire assortment, which debuted in Dallas final month, is an opportunity for retailers to tip their toe within the water of the attire class and not using a large footprint or funding, mentioned Josh McKay, vice chairman of gross sales.

“We simply need you to be higher ready for regardless of the economic system throws at us,” he mentioned.

The attire was showcased in a showroom completely revamped from the prior market — all the inside partitions had been taken down, and it was repainted and re-assorted with contemporary merchandise; the colour palette all through the showroom was mirrored in a big banner within the entrance window that proclaimed, “No surcharge, no value improve, no worries.”

The message was meant to underscore its partnership with the impartial retail base it serves, mentioned McKay.

“We all know this will probably be a low-margin marketplace for us,” he mentioned in Dallas. “However am I defending might margins, or my relationships?”

When requested to measure the temper of shops coming by way of the Dallas showroom final month, McKay divided them into three teams.

The primary is those that are “sheepishly quiet,” mentioned McKay. These are those who need to say, “We’re killing it.”

The second group is easy. These are the retailers prepared to confess, “We’re getting killed.”

The third group is what McKay termed the well mannered buyer. These are the patrons who say “We’re okay,” when requested, those who in all probability want issues had been higher however usually are not snug saying so.

“I feel that’s the place most individuals are,” McKay mentioned.