Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

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Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by storewanderer »

Looks like Kroger has tapped the designer behind Joe Fresh to create a new clothing line called "Dip" and all the existing Kroger clothing private labels (Great Northwest, etc.) will be rolled into this new "Dip" line. The color scheme is green.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Joe Fresh has been very successful for Loblaw in similar department size footprints to what Kroger is allocating to clothing in its marketplace stores. I know Canada is not the same as the US retail market, but I think this is a good approach and expect this to work out well for them in the Marketplace stores (the current program clearly wasn't working too well).

I will be interested to see how this is handled at Fred Meyer with much larger clothing footprints typically speaking... hopefully not another "cut" and "dumb down" move to the non-food side of the Fred Meyer format...
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by Super S »

Fred Meyer in particular seems to be confused in their clothing offerings. You have some name brands present, but you also have a high price point on many clothing items, some at department store high pricing levels. A store like Fred Meyer needs to have a lower price point, and a good private label could generate some volume that could help bring prices to a more reasonable level. A store like Fred Meyer should be "middle of the road" more like Walmart and less like Macy's.
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by babs »

storewanderer wrote: July 9th, 2018, 10:10 pm Looks like Kroger has tapped the designer behind Joe Fresh to create a new clothing line called "Dip" and all the existing Kroger clothing private labels (Great Northwest, etc.) will be rolled into this new "Dip" line. The color scheme is green.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Joe Fresh has been very successful for Loblaw in similar department size footprints to what Kroger is allocating to clothing in its marketplace stores. I know Canada is not the same as the US retail market, but I think this is a good approach and expect this to work out well for them in the Marketplace stores (the current program clearly wasn't working too well).

I will be interested to see how this is handled at Fred Meyer with much larger clothing footprints typically speaking... hopefully not another "cut" and "dumb down" move to the non-food side of the Fred Meyer format...
This is the right move for Fred Meyer. They've had an awful private label program. I can't think of another apparel retailer with a worse PL program. And their name brand clothes are so over priced that few bought them.

What I've heard over the years is that apparel either loses money for them or is breakeven at best. That's why you don't see full apparel departments at Kroger Marketplace stores.

I hope this works for them. If not, you might see apparel going away in many stores.
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by jamcool »

They added clothes to the Fry's Marketplace stores in Phoenix a couple of years ago (shades of the old Smitty's chain which preceded them)
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by arizonaguy »

Super S wrote: July 10th, 2018, 7:46 am Fred Meyer in particular seems to be confused in their clothing offerings. You have some name brands present, but you also have a high price point on many clothing items, some at department store high pricing levels. A store like Fred Meyer needs to have a lower price point, and a good private label could generate some volume that could help bring prices to a more reasonable level. A store like Fred Meyer should be "middle of the road" more like Walmart and less like Macy's.
This is exactly what I've seen in the Fry's Marketplace stores in Arizona. I have bought some clothes when they run department store like sales (50 - 70% off) but at regular prices there are simply cheaper options.
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by Super S »

babs wrote: July 10th, 2018, 8:53 am
storewanderer wrote: July 9th, 2018, 10:10 pm Looks like Kroger has tapped the designer behind Joe Fresh to create a new clothing line called "Dip" and all the existing Kroger clothing private labels (Great Northwest, etc.) will be rolled into this new "Dip" line. The color scheme is green.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Joe Fresh has been very successful for Loblaw in similar department size footprints to what Kroger is allocating to clothing in its marketplace stores. I know Canada is not the same as the US retail market, but I think this is a good approach and expect this to work out well for them in the Marketplace stores (the current program clearly wasn't working too well).

I will be interested to see how this is handled at Fred Meyer with much larger clothing footprints typically speaking... hopefully not another "cut" and "dumb down" move to the non-food side of the Fred Meyer format...
This is the right move for Fred Meyer. They've had an awful private label program. I can't think of another apparel retailer with a worse PL program. And their name brand clothes are so over priced that few bought them.

What I've heard over the years is that apparel either loses money for them or is breakeven at best. That's why you don't see full apparel departments at Kroger Marketplace stores.

I hope this works for them. If not, you might see apparel going away in many stores.
Then you have stores like Fred Meyer's Gateway store where they have installed extra security measures in apparel due to theft. I wouldn't be surprised to see this at least get scaled back.
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by babs »

Would be interesting to see what gets stolen. My guess is that it's not their current private label goods!
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by Brian Lutz »

I've also noticed that Walmart seems to be rebranding some of their clothing lines lately as well. In general I've found that Fred Meyer's clothing selection is generally pretty generic, but the prices on the store brands are reasonably good when you can catch a sale. I rarely buy any of the name brand stuff from there though (except possibly socks), the prices aren't as good on those.
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by Super S »

I went into my local Fred Meyer tonight (which just completed a major remodel) and noticed that the Dip line is prominently displayed. However, I did notice that certain other areas of apparel have been scaled back. Across the board, they have gotten rid of a lot of big & tall sizes. I noticed that the Carhartt and Dickies work clothing still available is not offered in anything above a 2XL, and selection on Levi's and Lee jeans is much more limited. The limited selection could simply be due to the apparel department downsizing during the remodel, but it doesn't seem like the best idea to not offer larger sizes. I also noticed a general lack of customers making me wonder if this line is even having an impact. While I can't speak for the Kroger Marketplace stores with apparel, I will say that Fred Meyer is known to carry some name brand apparel. If you mess with the formula too much it will send people away.
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