Apparel

No matter how many hours you've put into elliptical training and counting carbs, no matter how well you can maneuver your body into the actual clothes you wore in the 1970s and 1980s, there's no nice way to put this: The effect just ain't the same. Allegiance to plunging necklines and '80s tapered jeans is one aspect of baby boomer fashion that Sherrie Mathieson would like to forever banish. Another is wearing a denim skirt, of any length, followed by a scary fondness for heaps of gold neck chains.

The rebirth of Harundale Mall will take a major step forward tomorrow with the opening of A. J. Wright, a discount apparel and linens store launched last year by a national retail chain.Harundale, the first enclosed shopping mall on the East Coast, had been in decline for a decade before it was largely demolished earlier this year -- leaving only the Value City discount department store.The demolition made way for a $20 million project by Manekin Corp., to replace the old mall with a retail strip center, Harundale Plaza.

Summer quarrels over tank tops, skimpy shorts and slip dresses are still fresh in Sue Barnes Hannahs' mind as she contemplates back-to-school shopping with her teen-age daughter, Leslie."

With the Duke basketball team riding high and consumers snapping up apparel bearing the university's name, Duke University plans to announce a far-reaching code of conduct tomorrow to ensure that products bearing its name are not made in sweatshops.Duke students and anti-sweatshop groups applauded the code because it goes further than any other university code and will likely be copied by other colleges. Duke has one of the most popular names on sports gear and has 700 licensees that make apparel at hundreds of plants in the United States and in more than 10 other countries.

First, Loehmann's let men into the Back Room.Now, it's going to try to sell them clothes.Loehmann's, an institution in women's discount shopping, is opening a men's department today in 19 locations nationwide, including Timonium.The struggling retail chain, founded 75 years ago by Frieda Loehmann in an automobile showroom in Brooklyn, N.Y., was famous for its Back Room, where women undressed to try on designer clothes. Meanwhile, men sat outside on benches waiting for their wives.When Loehmann's renovated and nearly doubled the store size in Timonium in May, the Back Room was separated from the communal dressing room and became a department in the store.

Time was when the term "golf fashion" was an oxymoron.Golf clothes, those geeky plaid ensembles seemingly designed for old codgers, were about as unfashionable as divots on a putting green.And who, except those who actually knew how to blast their way out of a sand trap, really wanted to walk around looking like a golfer anyway?But that was all B.T. -- Before Tiger.Since the young golf sensation Tiger Woods drove, chipped and putted his way to superstardom, breaking records, drawing huge galleries, winning the Masters, all of sudden, the look of the links is more than just hip. It's what's happening.

Consumers showed they were in the mood to spend money on clothes last month, but were unwilling to sink themselves further into debt to buy durable goods, such as major appliances and electronics.Retail sales were mixed in November, with apparel stores showing increased sales over November 1995, but electronics stores such as Circuit City and Best Buy reporting declines."Santa's sleigh will be filled with apparel," said Kenneth Gassman, a retail analyst with Davenport & Co. in Richmond, Va.The apparel industry had been knocked badly in the past two years by a lack of interest in clothing.

February is usually a slow month for retailers. But shoppers avoided stores even more than normal last month, results yesterday from major chains show.Retail experts blamed low inventory levels, rising interest rates and continued lack of interest in apparel. February's lackluster showing may also be a result of January, when vigorous post-holiday promotions at some chains increased revenue, analysts said."The trend in apparel being somewhat weak has continued," said Sally Wallick, who follows retailers for Legg Mason Inc., a Baltimore investment house.

John E. Hess Sr., who owned a chain of women's apparel stores and was active in civic affairs, died Tuesday of cancer at his Roland Park residence. The former Salisbury resident was 66.He had been president and chairman of the board of Hess Apparel, which grew out of the Schleisner Co., a high-fashion store for women founded by Solomon S. Schleisner in 1906 in Baltimore.Mr. Schleisner was the father-in-law of Lewis Hess, Mr. Hess' father, who in 1928 went to Salisbury to open a branch of Schleisner's.

Two weeks ago, hundreds of public investors, adults of sound mind and judgment, paid good money for stock issued by Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. Their $10 a share on the barrelhead, the ultimate gesture of business faith and confidence, once would have been hard to imagine.Former Baltimore Orioles owner Eli S. Jacobs and Boston financier John Lakian nearly put Bank on the closeout rack with a botched, debt-sodden 1986 buyout. The venerable Baltimore suit and sportcoat company was near bankruptcy and losing millions by 1989.

It was race night at the NASCAR track in Richmond, Va., four years ago and Terri Livingston Kozel and Lori A. Livingston were on the hunt for T-shirts and other gear featuring their favorite drivers, Rusty Wallace and Carl Edwards. Avid racing fans who had followed the sport since they traveled to races with their dad as kids, the sisters were disappointed at each vendor they visited. They found the women's apparel unfashionable, and the men's T-shirts they liked were so long they couldn't tuck them in. "There was nothing edgy or fashionable," Livingston said.

ROME - -Newly introduced swimsuits that Michael Phelps and other swimmers wore during the Beijing Olympics won't be legal come 2010, but that's not something the gold-medal winner is concerned with now that the sport's governing body voted Friday to ban the high-tech apparel. After two years in which rapidly changing technology helped swim apparel dominate the sport almost as much as Phelps, FINA banned controversial full-body suits, including some versions of Speedo's groundbreaking LZR Racer, which was designed with help from NASA.

Consumers are cutting back on most discretionary spending, but plenty were willing to dish out a hundred bucks or more to buy Under Armour's new running shoe this year. The Baltimore sports apparel company said Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings beat analyst expectations thanks mostly to strong sales of the shoe, which it introduced in January. The results came as several analysts had downgraded their ratings on the company recently because they questioned whether consumers would continue to buy pricey goods during a recession.

No way, no how, did playwright Lynn Nottage anticipate the collapse of the U.S. economy. Nonetheless, a scenario she sketched out five years ago in Fabulation: or, the Re-education of Undine, rings true with audience members today in a way that it did not in 2004, when the nation was flush. In Fabulation, currently running at Center Stage, the title character is an upwardly mobile black public relations executive who suddenly finds herself bankrupt, unemployed, homeless and pregnant - and forced to move back to the projects to live with the family she disowned.

Under Armour to supply SEC tourney apparel Sports apparel company Under Armour Inc. said yesterday that it has reached an agreement to provide apparel to athletes competing in any Southeastern Conference championships, starting this year.. The NCAA allows athletes who participate in SEC championship games to receive a gift on behalf of the conference for playing in the game. Under Armour will provide the apparel that will serve as these gifts. The Baltimore company did not disclose financial details of the multiyear agreement.

Under Armour's appeal is such that people are still springing for $55 compression shirts in the middle of a recession. But even that loyalty may have its limits. The Baltimore sports apparel company announced continued growth in third-quarter sales and profit yesterday even as consumers cut back on most spending. Most importantly, it managed to maintain a gross profit margin of more than 50 percent, meaning that shoppers are still willing to pay full price for its merchandise. The average selling price of its product grew in the "single digits" during the quarter, according to the company.

If you're looking to take a break from the hustle of the city or flee the sameness of suburbia, historic downtown Westminster is the perfect place to spend a day dining and shopping. The town in Carroll County began as a hub for merchants in the early 1800s, when the Baltimore-Reisterstown turnpike was created to promote trade between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. The growth continued with the creation of the Western Maryland Railroad, which was built around the time of the Civil War. And today, downtown Westminster is filled with shops featuring unique clothing and home-decor items and places for family fun. So grab your walking shoes and get ready for some good, old-fashioned fun. 1 11 A.M. HIDDEN PEARL Start the day off at a shop with something for everyone.

Rock star Avril Lavigne, the singer with raccoon eyeliner and skull-and-hearts style, is about to start selling a clothing line at Kohl's Corp., the traditional discount department store from Wisconsin that has been dabbling in trendier fashion. The deal, announced early this month, would have been unfathomable five years ago, before Isaac Mizrahi teamed with Target Corp. to make discount shopping cool. Now it's just the latest iteration in the swelling establishment of "cheap chic." While the idea of marketing trendy apparel and home goods to the masses - an idea pioneered at Target - has been building for years, the cheap chic phenomenon is seeping into everything from candles to bath towels to baby blankets to lamps, and bringing together such unlikely combinations as Wal-Mart and Norma Kamali.

AnnTaylor Stores Corp. Shares declined $1.95 to finish at $21.95. Big costs for a restructuring and lower traffic at its namesake stores caused the women's apparel retailer to swing to a quarterly loss.

Warm weather left most retailers with racks full of clothing at the end of the third quarter, but sports apparel company Under Armour saw its business climb. The Baltimore company, which makes clothes that wick sweat from the body to control temperature, reported yesterday strong sales and earnings for the three months that ended in September, widely beating Wall Street expectations. Under Armour Inc. recorded sales growth in all categories of its core compression market. And it was helped by newer products, such as outdoor wear and golf apparel.