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August 17, 2005 Story

Charging Back to School
Clothing and Gadgets for New School Year Have Parents Shelling Out Hundreds of Dollars

Preppy attire is popular with both urban and suburban teens this season, said David Morrison, president of TWENTYSOMETHING Inc., a Philadelphia-based youth trends market research firm. Morrison said brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Polo and J. Crew are hot among high school and college students. "The street look has come and gone," he said. Besides American Eagle Outfitters, Bebe, Old Navy and Target should get a lot of back-to-school traffic, Morrison said. All told, consumers will spend an estimated $47.8 billion on back-to-school ($13.4 billion) and back-to-college ($34.4 billion) clothing, electronics, supplies and other items for the new school year, the National Retail Federation, an association of retailers, said. Families with children in kindergarten through high school expect to spend, on average, $205 for clothes and accessories. Supplies and electronics will cost them about $82 and $68, respectively. College students, however, expect textbooks and electronics to be their biggest expenses this year, the association said yesterday, citing a survey of 6,141 consumers. Freshmen, many of whom are moving away from home for the first time, should be the biggest spenders, averaging $1,151.68, the association said.

A spot check of high school-age shoppers at the Cherry Hill Mall suggested that many expect to spend more than the national average on clothes. Christopher Greene, 16, of Moorestown, estimated he would shell out about $250 on pants and shirts, while sisters Stephanie and Ashley Woodford of Voorhees expect their back-to-school clothing tab to be $500 each. To stretch that as far as possible, Stephanie, 15, said she liked the prices at trendy retailer Forever 21. "You can get stuff for $5 there," she said. "It may not last that long, but you can get so much more." Name-brand sneakers such as Nike and Vans, as well as retro-athletic shoes from Kenneth Cole, Diesel, Puma and Steve Madden, likely will sell briskly, Morrison said. In addition, Burt's Bees skin-care products, and food-scented cosmetics from brands such as Philosophy and Urban Decay, appear to be hits with students. Gifts cards from retailers are also expected to be popular back-to-school items because they help students control their spending, Morrison said.

But do not count out electronics entirely. There is still healthy demand for MP3 players, computers, and cell phones that can play MP3 audio files. "IPods are still it, without question," Morrison said.