Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from the line of Neely Tamminga – Piper Jaffray.
Neely Tamminga – Piper Jaffray
On the product side, denim obviously sounding like it has some signs of life. I know that bottoms have been a real tough category for you and really broadly within retail as women have been deferring on that purchase. Could we actually see bottoms as a category start to comp closer to break even in the next 6-9 months or do you think it is just not down 40 or that sort of thing? Can you size that up for us?
Richard Crystal
I think there is an opportunity to get close to last year’s levels. We are still being conservative about it. As we mentioned, the denim business has really taken off for us as we have re-merchandised the entire collection. We have changed our fit, our washes, our marketing nomenclature and it has really been successful. Casual pants has stabilized a little bit. We have some good product in the wear to work business with also silhouettes taking over and we expect the mid pant business also to be good.
There is a chance it could happen. If our silhouettes change, customers don’t really have a lot of narrow and skinny legs in their closets and we think that is an opportunity as we move forward. Clearly we expect this to improve dramatically from where we were in the spring season. I wouldn’t get to the current or plus yet but there is a possibility.
Neely Tamminga – Piper Jaffray
Related to that could you talk about you were saying in terms of easier compares in Q3 that is certainly the case on a one-year or two-year basis but it is even more so on a three-year basis when you look back. I guess what I’m trying to ask could comps in aggregate, not just for the category of pants, but could comps actually hit break even potentially in Q3 or are you inventory constrained to do that?
Richard Crystal
Good question. I think we are planning conservatively. What we stated is we expect comps to improve from where we have been. We sort of want to stay with that at this point in time. Inventory constraints will have some impact. However, we have done some work to get better speed to market. We do always and have always had the opportunity to chase merchandise and still have that for the fourth quarter. If we see the trend there and the trend comes we could get the merchandise but right now what we are publicly stating we see improvement from where we have been in the second quarter. It is easier comparisons but again the visibility we are not totally comfortable with the visibility at this point in time.
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