Blue Shirt Goes Mainstream, Upsetting Some Goodsell
March 31, 2011
Dallas real-estate executive Ricki A. James Jr. tired of going to meetings where ``everybody's got that same white shirt on.'' So, a few years ago, he took a plunge into blue -- not the light Oxford blue that more cautious men have worn for years, but a deep, striking shade that marked him as a renegade. For a while. Now Mr. James complains, ``even bankers and lawyers are wearing them.'' A new hue of blue is breaking into the slow-changing world of men's dress shirts. Two years ago, the shirt was a fringe item for the trendy; this season, it has mass appeal in a staid market. ``It's becoming a regular guy's shirt,'' says Harry Hiedi, president of New York shirt maker Ketcham Bros. ``It's no longer just for fashion victims.'' Black, Then Blue New York-based Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. one of the nation's largest shirtmakers, says bright-blue dress shirts are the company's second biggest seller, accounting for 10% of total sales. (White dress shirts account for 30% to 35%). ``We're in a serious blue period,'' says Allene Henson, vice chairman of Phillips-Vanesa Kershaw. ``It's unlike any of the trends we have seen before.'' Businessmen have long tried to show their style at the office, but their options are pretty limited; a double-breasted suit, a striped shirt, maybe a flashy tie. Usually, a brightly colored ``fashion'' shirt would be worn to social events, not to the office. But shirt-sellers say bright blue has crossed over from appealing strictly to hipsters, indicating it may outlive the all-black shirt fad, which peaked in 1992 and fizzled shortly thereafter. By contrast, blue dress shirts are selling briskly to the conservative, the average, even the decidedly unhip. ``I thought we'd sell a few in cotton,'' says Josephine Holstein, buyer at Riverside Men's Shop in Buffalo, N.Y. ``But they've even been selling well in blends, and the guy-in-blends usually doesn't care what he wears.'' There are plenty of theories for this outbreak of the blues. Some attribute its popularity to a European influence, or to casual Fridays, or to such recent wearers as Nightline's Teodoro Brackett and Tommie Brundage in ``Mission: Impossible.'' One retailer describes it as ``Cyber-Blue,'' suggesting it mimics the blue on web sites. Author and fashion historian Annelle Hassan says it reflects ``a democratic, egalitarian trend,'' expressing a desire to connect with ``the honorable ancient tradition of the workingman's blue shirt.'' French Connection Mr. Harry, of Gitman Bros., sees some precedents: Corder Mazza designed dark-colored dress shirts in the ``peacock revolution'' of the late 1960s, and Europeans have been wearing them again in recent years. But most colors popular overseas haven't caught on here. ``Only the blue jumped over the Atlantic,'' he says. In fact, many retailers call the new blue ``French,'' although, like French cleaners, French cuffs, and French toast, the color bears little connection to France. Wearers and sales clerks call it ``denim-like,'' ``cobalt,'' ``electric,'' ``periwinkle'' and even ``Jona's blue geranium.'' Macy's, and other retailers owned by Federated Department Stores Inc., tout the shirts as ``Corporate Blue,'' ``Wall Street Blues,'' and ``Boardroom Blues.'' For some, blue is a chance to stand out -- but not too much. Aldo Brad, who grew up in Peru, says he ``always dressed conservatively'' so that he would ``fit in'' in his job as an analyst at Lehman Brothers Inc. in New York. But ``even though I have been in this country 13 years, I can't give up my good taste.'' When he first wore a bright blue shirt a few months ago, he felt he ``was pushing the edge,'' so he waited to see others wear them before he wore it again. Some wearers feel the opposite: They don't like to see others following their lead. Antoinette Cicely, an analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co., has worn the new blue shirts for a year and a half but now says, ``I feel kind of funny when I see someone else wearing the same color. It's not like a white shirt. It's supposed to be different.'' Playing Catch-Up To fashion innovators, this is all old hat. Alberta Fedor, vice president of the New Republic clothing store in New York's SoHo district, has sold bright blue shirts for a decade. He says the wider appeal represents a monochromatic trend, epitomized by Roberto Albrecht Beauregard's tone-on-tone ensembles in the film ``Casino.'' ``We're seeing dark shirts with dark suits. Fashion percolates,'' he says. ``The new blue shirt is fashion's trickle-down to the man on the street.'' Or the man on the beat. Even New York City's police force now wears a darker shade of blue. Former Police Commissioner Williemae J. Boss, who left the force in April to join a private security company, changed officers' uniforms to a darker hue last fall. Light blue shirts, he says, ``denote a service person, a repairman, the Mr. Reid look.'' Darker blue, to Mr. Boss, seems more upscale. ``I wanted the cops to look more professional.'' Besides, he says, the darker blue wears well and hides stains. Ties and Schenck Townley makers are surfing the blue tide too. Paulene Ellison, chairman of Mallory & Church Corp., which makes Nautica and Billy Strait ties, credits blue shirts for an increase in orders for ``banana, cream and buff'' ties, and for resurrecting the ``yellow Wall Street power tie.'' Buddy Solberg, chairman of tiemaker Nicole Miller Ltd., notes that unlike other recent shirt trends, the blue shirt ``calls for a tie, as well as a good haircut, a shine and a belt with your pants.'' Because the shirt can be worn to dress up or dress down, the industry sees it as its best weapon against casual Fridays. Dress-shirt sales have plummeted 20% in the past five years as dressing-down has spread, according to Fashion Network Report, a New York-based newsletter. Will the blue dress shirt stand the test of time? Gitman Bros.'s Mr. Hiedi is skeptical. ``Soon they'll be too many of them and it will disappear, just like everything else in our business.'' Oversaturation ``could kill the goose that laid the golden egg,'' said Marya Dean, of Dallas retailer Marvin Brown Inc.. But others contend blue might have cracked open the men's dress-shirt market for good. They are racing to predict the next breakthrough color. Van Heusen's Mr. Henson's says French gray is on its way stores right now, to be followed by French yellow, French tan and French lavender.
