The Grand Rapids Press

As the annual prom season ushers in both dread and anticipation for West Michigan high school students, area tuxedo stores are hard at work trying to lure their adolescent customers.

When prom season hits, about 1.9 million teen-age boys start looking to get decked out for the biggest shindig of their high school careers.

With rentals averaging about $75 for a tux and accessories, competition for their business is as stiff as a freshly-starched collar.

Karen Aeschlieman, director of administration for the International Formalwear Association, said tuxedo rentals in the U.S. are a nearly $700 million-a-year business. Prom-goers account for from 10 to 20 percent of those sales.

And how to get them in the door is an "anybody's guess" business.

"It's a competitive industry, there's no doubt about it," Aeschlieman said. "You really don't know what works."

Most stores use a mega-saturation strategy, starting with a soft-sell early in the year by offering free rental to homecoming courts who agree to wear their tuxes while riding on floats. Others get involved in other school fund-raisers as a way to familiarize students with their company names or donate the use of their tuxes to prom chaperones.

With local prom season lasting from mid-April to mid-May, this time of year high-schoolers are bombarded with mailers from tuxedo companies advertising discounts. Some stores even lure students with free tuxedo rental for those who hand out flyers and put up posters at schools.

And as more teens find their way to the information superhighway, tuxedos are even being touted on the Internet.

A recent World Wide Web search using the keywords "tuxedo rental" and "prom" yielded nearly 37,000 hits. Several companies are urging Web-surfers to bring in a print-out of their Web pages for money off a tuxedo rental.

Alan LaFave, marketing director for Bay City-based Sempliner's Tuxedo World, said that with just a short time to muster business from prom-goers, businesses have to be creative.

Besides relying on repeat customers and maintaining records of graduation dates of everyone who rents a tux, Sempliner's uses a company called American Student Lists, from which they buy names by county, zip code, gender and age. The state also makes driver's license information available.

"There's only so many kids out there," said LaFave, "and in a three to four week time-span you've got a very limited window of opportunity. You know how you see Halloween marketed in September now? We can't get away with that in this business. Any earlier than March and kids just aren't thinking about it yet, especially boys."

The strategy most tuxedo stores bet their bow-ties on is repeat business.

That's one reason Creston junior Albert DuPuy returned to Afendoulis Cleaners & Tuxedos for this year's prom.

"I came here last year for another dance," said the 16-year-old. "Plus, it's close to my house."

Afendoulis has been dressing men for black-tie affairs for more than 60 years. The family-owned business has four West Michigan locations.

Becky Afendoulis Trierweiler manages the Michigan Street NE store. She estimated that this year, the company she owns with three of her siblings will outfit nearly 600 prom-goers -- about 15 percent of the year's receipts -- from a total stock of nearly 700 tuxedos.

"A lot of our customers today, their fathers and brothers rented tuxes here," she said. "We have a real loyal following."

One thing that separates them from chain stores, Trierweiler said, is that their entire stock is 10 minutes away at most.

"We've got a smaller inventory, but if I don't have something at this store, we can get it from another one in town," she said. "Customers like knowing that we're not going to be waiting for some delivery truck from out-of-state. That truly is what has allowed us to survive."

Stores also rely on one another to get through the season. When Trierweiler runs out of an item, she said she doesn't hesitate to call a larger chain store for help. She returns the favor when a larger store can't ship something in time.

As for Albert, his own reasons for choosing Afendoulis were as varied as the multi-hued swirls in the paisley vest he chose -- with help from date Julie Hansen -- to complement his ensemble for the big night.

"I don't have a clue about shopping," he said. "For me, it's a traumatic experience."

The deal clincher: a $15-off coupon he picked up at a local pizza shop.

"Other places have pretty much the same stuff," he said, shrugging. "So it's like, 'Why spend more money when you can get basically the same thing for less?'"

While teens aren't necessarily the most cost-conscious customers, Trierweiler said, "parents are, and that definitely causes us to make sure we have both the latest styles and the value prices."

At Sempliner's 28th Street location in Kentwood's Roaring 20s Plaza, employees are pulling extra shifts to accommodate the annual pilgrimage of prom-goers.

"With weddings and prom, it's definitely the busiest, craziest time of the year," said Sales Manager Joe Lang. "Some nights we even have a line going out the door."

At 7 p.m. on a recent Friday night, throngs of teen-agers gathered around the cash register.

"We just decided to go to prom," said Caledonia High senior Nicole Beckett as she rested her head on boyfriend Scott Everin's shoulder.

"It's in an hour-and-a-half," added Scott, 21. "I told her I'd bet money they couldn't do it, but they said they could, so here we are."

Fifteen minutes later, the couple has what they came for.

"We're getting our wedding stuff here too," said Nicole.

That's exactly what tuxedo stores like to hear.

"We think of proms as our future wedding business," Lang said. "It's their first experience with tuxedo rental, and if it's a good one, we hope they'll be back."

Today's tux is a modification of the formal white tie and tails, which dates back to the 17th century. The tuxedo as we know it is said to have debuted in Tuxedo Park, NY, in 1886 at a white-tie ball honoring Edward, Prince of Wales.

According to Trierweiler, who has heard stories from her father, company founder Sam Afendoulis, tuxedo rentals in this country really took off in the mid-40s when televisions started to become a staple in American households and President Roosevelt's black-tied image and actors' "morning suits" were beamed into living rooms.

While tuxedos of yesteryear could be rented many times because most were made of washable material, the average shelf-life of today's tux -- which cost stores an average of about $400 -- is hard to pin down.

According to Trierweiler, that depends on both the material and the manufacturer.

She prefers to buy American-made wool tuxedos, and spends "at least" $40,000 a year on the suits, shirts and accessories.

"If they're well taken care of, you can get about 15 rentals and still have them looking very good," she said. "But beyond that you're not going to get much out of them.

"Think about it: you have a satin lapel that's getting a flower pinned on it every weekend, dancing and perspiring ... we're talking heavy usage."

While she does see more creative attempts to mask damage to her merchandise from teens than from her adult customers, Trierweiler said there's really no more loss involved this time of year than any other.

"Kids are better now than they used to be," she said. "When I was in high school, it was a big deal for guys to give their dates a bow-tie as a memento. Now they're warned about the charge for non-returned items, so we usually see them again."