The New York Times on the demise of the petite department in some department stores:
[...] the love affair with little women appears to be over. Three of the country’s most influential fashion emporiums Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s have quietly eliminated or drastically scaled back their petite departments in the past several months, infuriating many longtime customers.
Given that manufacturers produce clothing in only a handful of standard sizes among them, juniors, misses and plus size the abandonment of petite sizes at the highest levels of American retailing represents a sea change in fashion, forcing some designers to either stop making special sizes for smaller women or re-evaluate how much to invest in the business.
More in today’s article, “Where’s the Petite Department? Going the Way of the Petticoat”
Is this a shift in trends or is this just a case of these three department stores missing the mark? As the Times points out, this may be a case of these stores missing the mark:
What did change is that petite departments gained a reputation for traditional some would say frumpy career-oriented clothing. Chic looks, clothing executives said, never made the leap from regular sizes to petite. So the very word petite became synonymous with many women who shopped there working women over the age 50.
Over the past few years, other brands like JC Penney, Kohl’s, and Macy’s have upped the fashion offerings in their speciality size departments and have been met with positive trends. Walk into any of these stores today and you will see the traditional petite department, anchored by career-orientated clothing, alongside the more fashionable petite offerings. More so, these stores are also boosting their bottom line by offering this contemporary assortment under their private labels (see JC Penney’s a.n.a, Kohl’s apt. 9 & Sonoma, and Macy’s INC).
I don’t predict the downsizing of the petite department by Neiman Marcus, Sak’s and Bloomingdales is the beginning of a larger trend. JC Penney, Kohl’s, and Macy’s are still doing it right. Just because you are short, doesn’t mean you are also 50.
Besides, if a shorter woman can’t shop in your store – who’s to say she’s going to stick around to pick out clothes for her husband and her kids?