Menswear Hit or Miss

The most striking consistency on menswear across the high street for spring 08 is uniformity.

As in womenswear, trends over the past three seasons have been driven less by broad themes- such as nu-rave and indie rock – and more by product categories and styles within the categories. As a result, fashion consumers, particularly at the younger end, have become a promiscuous lot, flirting between one look and another, combining categories to create off-beat variations.

This season the most important styles, or micro-trends, include checked shirts (most of which include tab ties to keep sleeves suitably rolled up for a returning look this year); nylon parkas – many of which have drawstring details; tailored shorts in fine stripes or bolder madras checks; cropped trench coats; and pop-art T-shirt prints, from Uniqlo's inspiring Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat prints to the less innovative Roy Lichtenstein knock-offs at New Look and Zara. Other prominent items hanging around from last season include geometric patterned hoodies and 1980s-throwback nylon windcheaters.

If the merchandisers' bets pay off, the two most lucrative categories this summer will be shorts and lightweight outerwear. The drive towards semi-smart has resulted in steep demand for casual shirts, particularly softly laundered gingham or fine-striped styles. And most retailers will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of squeezing out the higher ticket prices these styles command compared with T-shirts.

Also, after last summer's meteorological washout most players have ramped up the number of summer coats on their rails. The runaway success of sub-£100 cropped trench coats has led to this style's even more abundant availability this season – Topman, one of the earliest adopters of the look, will be hoping the coat keeps tills ringing into this its third season. Providing more interest in terms of newness are the utility-look parkas in sports-tech nylons and wet-look sporty blousons, each vying for summer attention.

With less consumer interest in jeans this summer it's down to these coats to help salvage sales.