Winston Churchill's PR man labelled them siren suits, your local plumber calls them boiler suits, sales girls refer to them as jump suits, your grandad might think they are combs.
"The funny thing about the dressing-down movement is that it has driven [up] our suits sales," says Simon Cundey, 32, director of Henry Poole & Co., the venerable custom tailor on London's Savile Row, where suits go for as much as $3,500.
"The funny thing about the dressing-down movement is that it has driven [up] our suits sales," says Simon Cundey, 32, who represents the fifth generation of his family to run Henry Poole & Co., the venerable bespoke tailor on London's Savile Row (see box, p. 52).
"I wouldn't call it a stampede, but even Bill Gates is wearing more suits," said Andrew Kozinn, owner of Saint Laurie, whose May suit sales were up 12percentt over May 2000.
But surprising or not, sales of men's tailored clothing increased 23.7percentt last year to $4.3 billion, with suit sales alone jumping 34percentt.
Wet-suit sales, a key indicator, grew to 700,000 last year in the United States, up from 400,000 in 1992, according to the Surf Industry Manufacturers Associationn, a California-based trade group.
Developing written material to suit sales strategies in order to maximise corporate profit and advertising revenue is not the same thing as responsible book publishing or authorship.
But in today's squeezed market, "It's not hip to be dot-com anymore," said Mr. Giddon, whose May suit sales increased 13percentt over last year.
According to the NPD Group, which tracks retail sales, suit sales in 2009 were almost exactly even with those of 2008 (a drop of just 0.01 percent), while sales of sport coats and jackets slid more than 13 percent.
Blacks projects that men's suit sales will be up 10 percent this fall and holiday season, and sports jacket sales will be up 11 percent, while women's ready-to-wear sales remain flat.
At Barneys New York, first-quarter suit sales were up 37percentt over 2003, proving anew that when it comes to survival gear, flak jackets and bulletproof vests have nothing on the good old suit.
