Swimsuit Season Marches In, Always Too Early

With much of the nation turning its attention to snow-clogged driveways or drenching storms, retailers are demanding that women think sunnier thoughts: It's bathing suit season, and racks of bikinis are rolling into department stores.

But as far as retail transactions go, women rank their annual bathing-suit expedition as one of the year's most unpleasant experiences, and experts estimate that four out of five women actually leave the store empty-handed. When retailers fail to make a sale 80% of the time--to women who are extra keen to spend their money and get this over with--there's a serious consumer disconnect.

Timing is part of the problem, said Gary Abeyta, publisher of The Swim Journal, a trade publication. Most women do buy one suit a year, he said, and sales peak in March and April, when you'd need a new suit for your resort vacation. "But that's not when most women want to buy bathing suits," he said. "They want them in May, but they've learned the hard way that if they wait until then, stores will be starting to move them out."

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Many women try to outsmart stores by buying online. Last month, Eddie Bauer introduced an elaborate online mix 'n' match tool, which allows women to shop by body type, for its Miraclesuit and other collections. But typically, Abeyta said, return rates are sky-high, with as many as three out of four online suits getting sent back the minute the horrified purchaser confronts reality.

Stores that are doing the best, he said, are the smaller specialty chains, like Swim & Sport and Just Add Water. "These stores have really trained sales personnel, so as soon as a woman walks in, they can size up her body type and steer her toward suits that will look the best," he said. The payoff is that women who find suits that are flattering are likely to stock up, buying several at once.

Trends to look for this season? "Two pieces are making a comeback, even though the obesity rate is higher," he said. "We are becoming more secure with the bodies we have."

It helps that this year, Sports Illustrated chose a curvy Beyonce for its cover, and inside, featured a shot of Tyra Banks in the same bikini she wore a decade ago, when she was the first African-American model to make the coveted cover. She weighed 140 when she wore it in 1996 and 161 pounds this year. (The bikini was modified.)

As far as fashion trends, Abeyta said that boy shorts and big embellishments like belt buckles are gone, making way for Bohemian suits and plenty of lace and crochet, whether it's the $500 La Perla bikini at Neiman Marcus or the $15 eyelet suits at Target. Orange will be hot, and the big shapes are triangle tops and bottoms that tie on the side.

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