This is a partial transcript from Your World with Neil Cavuto, June 23, 2003, that was edited for clarity. Click here for complete access to all of Neil Cavuto's CEO interviews.
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NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: So how do we make all of this and the long and short of it all? Let’s ask Tom Julian. He’s the trend expert for Fallon Worldwide in New York.
Tom, thanks for coming.
TOM JULIAN, FALLON WORLDWIDE: Good to be here.
CAVUTO: So there is a correlation?
JULIAN: There’s a definite correlation, when you think of the way the designers get their inspiration and the way they watch the marketplace. We started to see the mini start to come into the marketplace for Spring 2003, and it’s going to be very big for fall of 2004.
CAVUTO: In fact, it’s going to be really short skirts for the fall so that means a real big market rally, right?
JULIAN: Yes. And, you know, when you think in terms of them buying fabrics and their production requirements, they definitely have a better priced garment as a result because there’s not as much fabric. So, for this coming fall, design houses like Ann Klein -- they had a lot of micro miniskirts, a little bit of an ode to the ‘60s.
CAVUTO: What is micro mini? Essentially they’re wearing it over their head kind of thing, right?
JULIAN: A micro mini is probably about a 16-inch skirt, very, very short, and very revealing sometimes.
CAVUTO: All right. So where is this all going? I mean, when we had the mini and the maxi and the midi and all that; when you had the fall, the skirts went down with the midi and maxi look of the ‘70s, you have a bad market, right?
JULIAN: Yes. Very much so. And, again, it gets back to, all of a sudden, the retail market is challenged. They need to spur sales, and the miniskirt is a perfect way to do it. The one quote earlier about women feeling more confident, they want to show off their legs, they want to have a good time, well, that is an emotional purchase, and sometimes it’s a big fashion purchase.
CAVUTO: But is it an emotional purchase for men because they’re feel good looking or is it that they’re more bullish? What’s the deal?
JULIAN: I think when it comes to men, they definitely like playing the game and seeing the short skirts, and, therefore, being the power brokers.
CAVUTO: But it’s interesting, Tom. This isn’t like the Super Bowl indicator, which is about 80-percent accurate most of the time. This is 100 percent.
JULIAN: Yes, it is. And when you look at fashion cycles, fashion cycles run built around the economy as well as culture. The last time we had a big influx of miniskirts was in the early ‘90s, right after the 1989 financial debacle, and, all of a sudden, it helped the economy, and those miniskirts did very well for about three solid years.
CAVUTO: And this style thing came out of France, didn’t it? So, in a way, France is helping our bull market.
JULIAN: Well, the American designers as well because, you know, they show first now, and then the French designers and the Italian designers follow that. So now we’re in this global economy.
CAVUTO: Tom, thank you very much. Very interesting.
Tom Julian. So forget all those other statistics. This is apparently the one that matters.
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