The conference featured athletic competitions; a marathon-length talent show, including acts from Christian music to break dancing; and a fashion show, which revealed a broad range of dressy and casual styles, all tailored to little bodies.
Express for Men, formerly known as Structure, has seized on this shift in attitude as a business opportunity, balancing its inventory of casual styles with $90 jeans, $300 suits and $600 shearling maxicoats.
Nau's casual styles were designed with fashion customers in mind, sleeker and more adaptable to office environments than most outdoor apparel, and the materials included a range of recycled fabrics, such as polyester spun from old soda bottles.
Mr. Skinner seemed relatively unconcerned with the trends and suggested that the increasing focus on the home and casual styles are cycles that might already be nearing their end.
Another report, by the NPD Group, noted that overall retail sales of men's wear, an industry gravely troubled by the slow economy and the shift to casual styles, dropped $4 billion in 2001 from the previous year, but the youngest shoppers represent a bright spot.
In this camp is Allbirds, a maker of merino wool shoes in casual styles that has raised more than $27 million to date.
