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There's nothing casual about the impact of sales of non-military apparel at the army/navy store.
In fact, with the military look in vogue, especially anything camo, even most military apparel falls into the casual clothing category.
In the golden olden days, the army/navy store was denim headquarters. Before we all fell into The Gap and when denim was more of a "work" look than a casual one, America's youth found their blue jeans at the army/navy retailer.
Although military surplus retailers have reached the end of those blue-tinted halcyon days and have ceded the market to the specialty retailers and mass marketers of renown, the army/navy store is still a credible source for denim and canvas workwear, in a sense recycling the rugged blue jean back to its original appeal as a blue-collar uniform.
A piece of work
The popularity of BDU-style pants, cargo pants and work pants as casual apparel mixes the message brought to you by traditional work apparel.
Today's youth appreciate the utilitarian value of military-style and work wear, for any number of reasons, most prominently their ruggedness and durability, fashionable appeal and most of all, numerous pockets and hiding places.
There is a growing contingent of devotees to the rocker look, which entails tight, tapered black jeans and a far less baggy look than previously approved by MTV. It's somewhat of a return of the punk rock, Ramones look.
Despite their prominence as national brands and the resulting competitive factors, most army/navy retailers still enjoy sales success with Carhartt and Dickies work and casual wear. These are both traditional army/navy store brands, and long time customers (who still value loyalty over price) still expect to find these labels in the army/navy store.
Camo in plain sight
Everything camo - including non-apparel items - are still what the kids are buying these days. Teens, pre-teens and young adults, including a healthy contingent of young women (15-25 age group).
A visit to any mass merchandiser will reveal that it's not just a niche market. Camo is in full bloom - traditional patterns, monochromistic patterns, urban and the new digital ACU patterns - and every apparel retailer is on top of it.
Even though the rest of the world has horned in on the action, the army/navy retailer can and should still prevail by selling authenticity, customer service, merchandising prowess and by staying on top of trends, both locally and nationally.
Retailers should observe what the students in their communities are wearing. Camo apparel in school colors are still a big attraction in many areas, and retailers need to hone in on that and supply the local population to meet this specialized demand. Just as importantly, the retailer needs to promote the availability of community-centric apparel.
The army/navy retailer needs to canvass youth-oriented magazines, Internet sites (such as MySpace and YouTube) and television programming to espy what's hip, hot and hip-hop.
What is interesting today is that fashion trends in young America are fairly homegenous; there are no distinctions between urban and mall culture, gender, race, musical tastes or income levels.
This means that the army/navy retailer can confidently focus on stocking a fairly narrow range of items and colors, as long as it consists of the right products. These would include cargo pants, hoodies, BDUs and casual headwear such as ball caps, boonies, fatigue caps and watch caps.
In military-style apparel, colors and patterns that play to the audience include OD, khaki, black, heather, pink (for the ladies), Woodland, desert, ACU, monochrome and urbans.
No tease in tees
The almighty t-shirt, while certainly a commodity item, is still a category where the army/navy retailer can still compete with the Wal-marts and Hot Topics of the world.
Particularly hot these days are both traditional camo tees and solid color tees imprinted with iconic logos (star, skull, peace sign, etc). The simpler the graphic design, the better.
While the army/navy retailer can do well with iconic tees in black, OD, brown and khaki, the elaborately imprinted military themed t-shirt is perhaps just as crucial for meeting the needs of the traditional army/navy customer who is either ex-military, currently enlisted or a family member or other supporter of the military.
author: BY MARK HAWVER