rth America in the summer of 1993 caused swimwear sales to be lower than usual for the first six weeks of the summer season, but as the weather warmed up, sales increased significantly.Although nothing can be done to control the weather, weather climatologists can now make forecasts with a much greater degree of certainty than in the past, including which regions are likely to be warmer, cooler, wetter or dryer than normal. These insights on long-range weather trends are available from numerous sources, including private weather forecasting services, as well as university and government agencies.Presently, merchandising programs use historical sales information, projection of trends from suppliers and intuition of merchandisers. Although weather insights should not be taken at face value, it can still be valuable as an additional tool for merchandise planning. Strategic AssessmentChanges in the past 5 years There have been three noticeable trends within this industry in the last half-decade. The emergence of new fabrics has raised the quality and the price of bathing suits. It has also given both customers and designers greater versatility when choosing or making suits. In addition, new labeling systems have been designed to make it easier for women to find a well fitting suit from such variety of possibilities. New styles have been created to provide greater differentiation and new fit for varying body types. All these changes are detailed below. New Fabrics are making quite a stir. Many of the major manufacturers are coming out with new fabrics that offer longer life, better fit and increased speed for performance suits. Duponts new polyester-based Lycra offers greater durability (30 hours of wear before the suit started to bag, extended to 100 hours). It also inhibits mildew. Globe Manufacturing offers chlorine and mildew resistant fiber S-17 B and UV and oil/perspiration resistance by using special additives in its polyester-bas...
