Customers like the attention of shopping by appointment

There's a growing industry of people who market clothing out of their homes.
PARKVILLE, Mo. -- The house sits high in a comfortable subdivision amid a maze of streets.
Passing a cardboard sign, a visitor follows voices through the home, down winding stairs to find a spacious family room packed with multiple rolling racks of clothing.
Never mind it looks like stolen goods from a department store. Cindy Lang is hosting a Carlisle Collection sale.
A customer, Linda Hayes, who has been shopping with Lang since she moved to Kansas City two years ago, is moving among the array. She soon emerges to show off her finds, including flowered jeans, beige print pants, a crisp white shirt and a shiny bronze and gold belt. Those samples go back to the racks; copies to keep will be ordered and shipped.
In a few days Lang will pack up the 400-plus pieces and ship them to another representative in another city who will once again pull out the rolling racks and invite shoppers inside her home.
Growing trend
Lang is part of a growing industry of people who market clothing from their homes or rented or borrowed spaces. Hayes, who says she spends her time managing her New York property, is like thousands of consumers who think shopping for clothes in an informal, private setting gives them unique choices and personal attention.
Four times a year, sales representatives like Lang become full-time merchants. The wife of a Beechcraft executive, Lang says she added 1,500 square feet onto her home when she became a Carlisle representative.
The label is one of at least half a dozen companies across the country marketing clothes through direct sales. Besides Carlisle, the best known include Worth, Juliana and the oldest, Doncaster, which began selling direct 25 years ago through the Junior League. A licensing division of the Bill Blass company also has a line sold through homes.
These companies fit a niche for people looking for alternative ways to shop. They like the convenience of finding upscale choices in less time than it takes to go from store to store.
The companies may well be enjoying a bonus in the Kansas City area, which in the last two years has lost two major fashion retailers, Saks Fifth Avenue and Jacobson's.
In the same vein, two former veteran Saks associates, Marilyn Breidenthal and Evelyn Hoy, have joined the private arena. Just as Worth and Carlisle representatives work personally with clients, they hold weekly trunk shows featuring upscale designer clothing lines and jewelry (on consignment).
They invite women to the a private clubhouse two days a week to view a series of prestigious designers. This fall they are hosting collections such as David Hayes, Tom and Linda Platt, and Mark Heister.
Classy and classic clothes
As for the direct lines, each is distinct but shares characteristics. The styles are fashionable, classy and classic enough to endure for years.
"I've been married seven years, and I have clothes I've had longer than I've been married," says Carlisle customer Susan McGreevy, a lawyer.
The clothes, frequently advertised in Town and Country, are expensive by most standards, with jackets beginning at $500. Pants may be well over $200. Doncaster has a seasonal sample sale, but most lines are rarely marked down.
Trend experts agree this business is probably an idea whose time has come; women have become frustrated with the demise of personal service at department stores.
"It is like having a personal shopper," says Susan Rolontz, the president of New York-based Tobe Reports retail consultants. "These consumers don't lust after runway fashions and don't want to spend their time on store rounds."
Many pluses
"It's a sign of the times," says David Wolfe, creative director of retail consulting agents Doneger Group. "People want to spend less time on recreational shopping."
Companies such as Worth and Juliana have seen growth ranging from 50 percent to 80 percent in three years. Amy Robinson, spokeswoman for the Direct Sellers Association, says the apparel segment is small, making up about 7 percent of the vast direct-sales business, which hit more than $29 billion in 2003, the last year for which numbers are available.
Another plus is the color consistency. Consumers can add coordinated blouses, scarves or new pants to last season's purchases.
"If I get something dark brown, I can go back and get another dark brown," says Rachel Whipple, deputy chief in charge of investigations for the Kansas City Police Department. She says she buys most of her clothing from Lang's Carlisle group, which she compares to designer lines Dana Buchman or Ellen Tracy.
The typical customer has a demanding career or busy schedule and isn't interested in the cutting edge.
Most appointments for shopping are booked one-on-one by the hour. McGreevy says she shops four times a year with Lang. She says saving time "is a huge factor for me."
Lang provides customers with time-saving tools before their appointments, including a review video of the collection and a list of past purchases.
Another plus is the guidance they get from representatives who have come to know their tastes. "Some people let me pick out their clothes," says Sandy White, a veteran retailer who presents Juliana shows in a space she rents from a Liberty law office.
Juliana's vice president of sales, Phyllis Frier, in Jackson, Miss., says she was a couture buyer for Neiman Marcus when an executive with the design team Badgley Mischka told her about the Juliana start-up. She was impressed after going to a sale and seeing two of her best Neiman customers.
Worth, which has a separate, less-expensive casual line called Worthwear, was spun off from the Carlisle Co. more than a decade ago. Doncaster, considered the most classic, also has a plus-size line called Elana.
For the representatives, the jobs require constant networking and considerable space and include the physical demands of setting up a show.
The financial rewards can depend entirely on effort.