Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from Scott Krasik with C.L. King & Associates, Inc. You may begin.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Hi guys. The categories that you pointed out that we are doing well at Casual Male seem to skew younger. Is there some evidence that you’re getting a younger customer in there?
David A. Levin
Well, as we’ve stated over time, we have plans to bring down the average age of our customer from 50 years old down to 45 years old, and we continue to see that younger guy lifestyle coming in. Our fastest growing lifestyle as a percent of sales continues to be 626 Blue which is definitely catered towards and influenced by Abercrombie and Arrow Pastel. For example, screen tees are just on fire right now. The good news is it’s a category we can catch up to relatively quickly, and we’re moving some more of our inventory dollars there. [inaudible] but anytime we’ve had pocket of weather, that’s category is doing very well. So, yes, we can [inaudible] younger influenced customers coming in and going for those categories.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Yeah, I don’t think 45-year-olds are wearing graphic tees. Maybe.
David A. Levin
No, you’d be surprised. We actually monitor that, and they are wearing our tees. Our best-selling T-shirts have a lot of rock influences, like right now Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and we can all remember those things.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Absolutely! Okay, what product are you focusing on for the European launch?
David A. Levin
What product?
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Is it going to be casual? Is it more dress? What’s the mix?
David A. Levin
It’s pretty well the balance of what we carry in our stores and we would carry on the internet. Certainly, we do more sportswear internet-based than we would do on the clothing side, but we’ll have a balance of all products.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
And do you have any expectation for sales for that business?
David A. Levin
We do. We haven’t put and it’s not going to be impactful on this year. We’re committed to not coming in and delivering a big loss in a start-up like this. Our cost is really based on the amount of marketing we’re going to spend, and on the internet, it is efficient, but we’re not geared to have this influence our earnings one way or the other for 2008. We have to get a feel for what’s selling, what sizes work, how many bigs versus tall—these are all things we’ll have to monitor and make adjustments as we try to mature the business.
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