So long, sandals in winter and woolies in summer

NEW YORK (AP) — When times were good, retailers sold sundresses in February and heavy wool sweaters in August.

Now, Americans worried about the recession are buying only what they need today. This new frugality has merchants and suppliers overhauling every aspect of their businesses, from window displays to the fabrics they choose.

It’s changing some of the rules of retail.

Joan Danehy, a 63-year-old retired teacher from Cazenovia, N.Y., would always get a head start on spring, buying summer clothes for her grandchildren when it was still chilly in March. She would put her purchases aside and give out the items a few months later when the weather turned warm. This year, she passed by the colorful assortment at Lord & Taylor without buying.

“A year ago, I knew I was going to have money, but now there is this feeling that you are going to need it for something else, paying a bill or buying tires,” said Danehy, whose retirement funds have lost half their value. “Not that we were rich, but I didn’t worry about tomorrow. Now, the stock market affects every decision I make. I am really sticking to essentials.”

Consumers have long griped about merchandise being out of sync with the weather — lots of corduroy in the summer, for example. And while the industry had made some inroads in offering more timely fashions in recent years, it didn’t have much incentive to make big changes because shoppers kept buying. Retailers also liked getting items into stores early because the preseason sales helped them gauge how much to reorder.

The recession is forcing retailers to rewrite the rules. For one thing, the pullback by consumers has forced retailers to slash prices at an unprecedented rate to move merchandise.

That has destroyed profits. For the fourth quarter of 2008, retailers’ profits dropped 26.6 percent compared with a year earlier, according to Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics LLC. First-quarter profits are forecast to be down almost 22 percent.

Major retailers including mall-based apparel chains and department stores, are scheduled to report their earnings results over the next three weeks. The new consumer mind-set is expected to dampen sales again — and expedite the shift in what stores put on their shelves.

“This was a big problem for a long time, and it took a disaster for people to reassess what was wrong,” said David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, which advises stores on apparel buying.

Department stores, which have been the worst offenders of jumping ahead of the season, are taking some cues from so-called fast-fashion rivals, said Michael Londrigan, chairman of the fashion merchandising department at the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising in Manhattan. Stores such as H&M and Zara are known for constant deliveries of styles that can be worn right away.