Retail downturn and $100+ “recession jeans”

There’s no doubt the recession is taking its toll on retailers, and this recent Wall Street Journal article is simply more proof that companies are pulling out all the stops to get people to buy something, anything, no matter how heavily discounted.

But I had to laugh when I got to the bottom of story and read these paragraphs:

“Premium-denim maker Rock & Republic is producing a Recession Collection of jeans priced at $128 to $138, or about $50 less than the label’s previous opening price point for denim. President Andrea Bernholtz said the collection, due in stores in March, was created after discussions with retailers on what consumers want now.

“‘If a starting price point of $180 is going to throw you into a tailspin…we thought we’d take lesser margins on our end and pass that on to the consumer,’ she said.”

I mean, really! Is this what a recession looks like in the New Millenium? People cutting back and buying jeans that cost “only” $130! I wonder what Levi Strauss’ original customers would have said about that kind of hardship.

At any rate, I continue suggesting investors avoid most consumer discretionary stocks right now (with one or two notable exceptions). These little anecdotes highlight why.

1. Mixed messages on the recession … I found myself in a lot of airports this past week (which also explains the lack of posts) … and...
2. More on the retailers … As my Money & Markets article was getting sent to you, the total retail sales numbers for June were getting...
3. New Law Lets You Skip Required Minimum Distri… On December 23, I wrote an article for Money&Markets that talked about a possible suspension of required minimum distributions...