Happy holiday for sports coats. - Daily News Record

HAPPY HOLIDAY FOR SPORT COATS

If retail bookings for holiday '90 are any indication, the sport jacket is becoming a key item in both the contemporary and designer sportswear markets this year.

According to both resources and retailers, sport coat bookings and sales have picked up steam over the past couple of seasons.

The consensus is this category is playing an integral role in many holiday '90 collections. In fact, the relative small size of holiday lines plays into the hands of sport coats because small collections are easily built around these jackets.

Sport jackets are not traditionally big sellers for Christmas gift-giving, but they are big items for resort wear, as well as for the transition from fall into spring.

The talk in the sport coat market centers on:

* A growing trend towards resort jackets in cotton, linen and silk fabrications; * A move to more natural sport jackets and easy silhouettes; * Sweater coats that bridge fall-spring lines.

One retailer ordering sport jackets for holiday is Butch Blum, president, Butch Blum, Seattle. He agreed that the sport jacket classification -- especially light and airy knit sweater coats -- will have impact during the transitional holiday period.

'Sweater coats are a nice way of layering. They are as outerwear as well as sportswear -- and that's their charm,' he stated.

Blum said he views holiday, as an early spring delivery, rather than a season all its own.

He cited sport jacket increases of up to 50 percent during the last two or three seasons, partly on the strength of unconstructed styles. 'Casual fabrications ... will play big this holiday,' Blum stressed.

Allen Schwartz, president and designer, A.B.S. Men, said, 'This holiday we are color and jacket driven. The shoulder pads are softer than ever before; however, they are not deconstructed. My approach is classic with a twist.'

He said jackets are big sellers for holiday primarily because they can be worn in both the daytime and the evening. Schwartz stressed that retailers are most receptive this year to silk and nautical looks for holiday.

Designer Andrew Fezza claimed that his sweater coat has drawn retail acceptance for holiday. 'Knits are more powerful this year than ever before because they set you apart from traditional blazers. The knit sport jacket has a more natural approach than woven textures do,' he said.

He continued, 'Because business has been bad for many quarters, retailers are bored with the traditional looks they are forced to buy. They need an injection of excitement, I think the sweater coat offers that.'

Cary Brown, U.S. sales director, Byblos, said that his holiday line is essentially a cruise line rather than a bridge between fall and spring, adding that this holiday marks his first full collection for this market period. It includes more than 100 pieces.

He agreed that sport jacket business has gotten an excellent response in both cotton and linen fabrications.

He stressed, 'The clothing is not meant to be worn immediately. It's not geared for New York in December. It was designed as a cruise line for vacation-goers and for those looking to jump into lighter-weight fabrics.'

Brown said sport coats frequently act as a catalyst for the cruise line. 'All the other sportswear pieces work around it. The colors that are leading the pack so far are soft blues, greens, pumpkins, and classic black and white. This holiday will be our first big push into black and white colorations in over two years,' he stressed.'

Don Smiley, president, Paul Smith Sportswear, said that because retailers are cautions this year, the sport jacket is performing very well.

'Our blazer business is a soft-shouldered approach that offers a boxy silhouette in styles that are easy to wear. To attract retailers today you have to offer fashion that's not extreme,' he concluded.

PHOTO : Butch Blum, president, Butch Blum, Seattle

PHOTO : Allen Schwartz, president and designer, A.B.S. Men, said sport coats are going soft this

PHOTO : holiday.