By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
Budget conscious consumers are buying T-shirts as a way of beating the heat and saving on energy bills amid the slumping economy.
Since last month, short-sleeved shirts have taken up over 40 percent of the total sales of female casual clothes at Shinsegae Department Store, which saw a 12.7 percent growth year-on-year in the month-long period. Their share has been steadily on the rise in the last couple of years, up from 36.8 percent in 2007 and 39 percent last year.
Sales of the garments also jumped at Lotte Department Store, showing a 40 percent annual rise. At the booth of a local casual brand TBJ, T-shirts account for more than 70 percent of all sales on recent weekends.
Shinwon, a local apparel maker, has recently raised production of T-shirts by 120 percent for all its sub-brands. So far this year, sales of T-shirts are more than 50 percent higher than last. TNGT, a casual brand of LG Fashion, also saw T-shirts sales grow by 128 percent year-on-year.
Practicality is the biggest virtue to hoist them as this year's top fashion item, industry watchers say.
``T-shirts are popular in the economic slowdown because they can easily make various styles by mixing and matching at cheaper prices,'' said Kwak Woong-il, a manager at Shinsegae.
``Customers in a weak economy have a stronger urge to find ways of expressing themselves at reasonable costs, and T-shirts exactly meet this need,'' said Yoo Jung-yoon, a brand manager of LG's TNGT. ``They are cheap, go well with many different items and also can be a very expressive item with flamboyant and expressive illustrations or phrases on them,''
A lot of local companies are also encouraging their employees to wear more casual wear than traditional suit-and-tie outfits as part of efforts to save air-conditioning costs in offices.
Aiming to make the most of the growing popularity, major retailers are set to put more weight on T-shirt sales.
Shinsegae will open a flagship store for imported T-shirts in its Gangnam store in Seoul, and also double their quantity at ``Blue Fit,'' a premium jeans shop there.