男装也有春天

    是的，各位满腹狐疑的女士们，隔壁工作间那位男同事或杂货店那位男士的衣柜确实比你们的更加琳琅满目。

    这没什么可奇怪的。在过去几年里，男性消费者一直在彰显无比强大的时装购买力。根据欧睿国际(Euromonitor)本周发布的一份报告，2013年，全球男装的销售增长率稍稍低于5%，略微超过女装。这种趋势是一些全球最大市场的真实写照——在美国，英国和德国，男装的销售增长率都超过了女装。

    “从历史来看，男装的销量变化并没有这么大，就是这么回事。经济衰退时期，由于男性消费者的品牌忠诚更高，男装销量往往更具弹性，”布里恩资本公司(Brean Capital)董事总经理埃里克•贝泽说。它意味着，无论经济衰退与否，对拉夫•劳伦(Ralph Lauren)情有独钟的男性顾客总会买一件polo衫。

    但正在起作用的不仅仅是市场变量。这种趋势实际上已经持续有一段时间了——自1998年以来，全球男装的销售额已经飙涨了70%；美国市场的男装销售额在同一时期激增了16%。

    这种趋势的起源不容易确定，但纽约利姆时装管理学院(LIM College)教务长、《男装：从商务到时尚》(Menswear: Business to Style)一书的作者迈克尔•隆德里根认为，这个趋势源自高科技职场纷纷拥抱休闲装的互联网泡沫时代。隆德里根说这个时代促使男士衣橱的规则逐渐松动，随后也打开了他们的钱包。“很长时间以来，你总是穿西装，打领带。所有的家伙突然说，‘我不必总穿成这样。’但接下来，他们打开自己的衣橱一看，才意识到自己其实并没有多少可穿的衣服。”于是，他们就不约而同地去购买休闲的职场服饰。

    根据欧睿国际提供的数据，从1999年到2000年，美国的西装销售增幅缩减了4.1%，2000年至2001年又下跌了21.1%，超过了全球市场的衰退速度。与此同时，男士高档粗斜纹棉布服装的销售额在上述年份分别上涨了0.4%和6.8%，从1999年到2008年则上涨了近200%。

    经济衰退时期，男装的销售额全面萎缩——2008年至2009年，美国的男装销售额下降了6.2%，全球市场下降了4.2%。但经济衰退的乌云中也有一线光明：它几乎消除了刚刚放松下来的职场衣橱的缺点——正如隆德里根所描述的那样，一些银行家尝试着穿卡其裤和polo衫去洽谈生意。

    休闲仍然为王，但现在多了一丝优雅的气质。隆德里根说：“目前出现了一股返回盛装打扮的潮流，但潮头所向并非三件套西装。”

    “男人们现在穿得既休闲，又考究，”NPD集团(The NPD Group)首席行业分析师马歇尔•科恩说。设想一件西服外套搭配一件领尖带扣衬衫和一条牛仔裤的样子。“他们想，‘我每天都要穿一身新衣服，”他说。“西装要比他们以前买的休闲运动装更贵一些，从而带动平均价格上涨。”

    2009年至2013年，美国的西装销售额增长了近10%，去年的销售总额达23亿美元。

    总体而言，“男性比以往更加在意自己的仪容和外观，”欧睿国际全球服装和鞋类市场分析师阿诗玛•孔德说。

    To all the ladies out there wondering, yes, that man in the cubicle next door or the guy at the grocery store does indeed have a better wardrobe than you.

    And that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. For the past few years, the gentleman shopper has been flexing his fashion purchasing power. In 2013, menswear sales grew by just under 5% worldwide, slightly outpacing womenswear, according to a report released this week by Euromonitor. That trend held true in some of the world's biggest markets -- in the U.S., U.K., and Germany, sales-growth of men's apparel topped women's.

    "Men's -- historically -- doesn't move as much, period. It's more resilient in a down time since they're more brand loyal," says Eric Beder, managing director at Brean Capital. That means a man devoted to Ralph Lauren (RL) will buy a polo shirt, recession or not.

    But there is more than just market variables at play. The trend has actually been going on for some time -- global menswear sales have skyrocketed 70% since 1998; U.S. menswear sales have spiked 16% since then.

    The trend's origins are hard to identify, but Michael Londrigan, dean of academic affairs at LIM College and author of Menswear: Business to Style, points to the dot-com boom era, when techie workplaces embraced an unbuttoned vibe. The era inspired a loosening of men's wardrobe rules and subsequently opened up their wallets, Londrigan says. "For so long, you wore a suit and tie, and all of the sudden guys are saying, 'I don't have to do that.' But then they look in their wardrobe and realize they don't have anything to wear." So, they went shopping for laid-back workplace attire.

    Suit sales' growth shrank by 4.1% between 1999 and 2000, and then dipped 21.1% from 2000 to 2001 in the U.S., outpacing the global decline in sales, according to Euromonitor. Meanwhile, men's super-premium denim sales shot up 0.4% and 6.8% over those same years and increased nearly 200% from 1999 to 2008.

    Sales overall slumped during the recession -- menswear shrank 6.2% in the U.S. and 4.2% globally from 2008 to 2009. But the downturn had a silver lining: It all but eliminated the downsides of the newly relaxed workplace wardrobe -- what Londrigan describes as investment bankers trying to negotiate deals while wearing khakis and a polo.

    Casual is still king, but it now has a more refined air. "There's a movement back towards dress-up, but not to a three-piece suit," Londrigan says.

    "Men are wearing dressy as casual," says Marshal Cohen, a chief industry analyst at The NPD Group. Picture a suit jacket paired with a button-down and jeans. "They think, 'I'm going to wear a new suit by day and by night,'" he says. "The suit is more expensive than the casual sportswear that they were buying before, so that drives the average price up."

    Suit sales grew nearly 10% in the U.S. from 2009 to 2013, totaling $2.3 billion last year.

    In general, "men are taking greater care in their grooming and appearance," says Ashma Kunde, global apparel and footwear analyst for Euromonitor.