By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOT For those in the textile and apparel trade, peak season came early this year. Traditionally, the higher imported volume of clothing, known in the industry as Peak Season, occurs in October so that stores are well stores in December through the next January when consumers shop for holiday gifts and after Christmas sales. But this year the high volumes of apparel arrived in July. Consequently, retailers offered deep discounts in their effort to give a big boost to sales. Men’s clothier JoS. A. Banks, for example, offered an unprecedented sale: Buy one suit, and get two of equal or lesser value for free! Talbot’s, a leading specialty retailer and direct marketer of women’s classic clothing, shoes and accessories, offered discounts of 25 percent. Some observers believe that the sales were an enticement to U.S. consumers who still indicate some lack of confidence in the economy. Retailers believe this mindset kept shoppers from making their usual heavy apparel purchases in September. Even given retailer’s deep discount sales, Emerging Textiles.com contends that U.S. retailers may be stuck with excess inventories at the end of the holiday season. Nevertheless, Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for MasterCard Advisors SpendingPlus, quoted to BusinessWeek Bloomberg News that overall October showed noticeable improvement compared to the same month last year. “Year-over-year overall apparel sales were up a sharp 8.2 percent, building on the 3.8 percent gain in September,” he says. “October saw the year’s largest year-over-year increase, which has enjoyed a 5.3 percent year-over-year gain.” New Peak Season by the Numbers No doubt, the deep discounts that contributed to the up tick in retail sales, were the result of the higher volume of imported clothing and apparel in July. Certainly, the volumes are increasing. In fact, Global Port Tracker published by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, estimates that in October U.S. seaports handled an estimated at 1.29 million TEU of overall retail goods, a 9 percent increase over last year. “October is historically the busiest month of the year as retailers stock up for the holiday season, but the peak shifted to August this year as retailers brought merchandise into the country early to avoid a repeat of delays on the part of ocean carriers seen earlier this year,” the report states. November is forecast at 1.19 million TEU, up 9 percent from last year, and December at 1.1 million TEU, up 1 percent. January 2011 is forecast at 1.08 million TEU, the same as January 2010. February, traditionally the slowest month of the year, is forecast at 1.06 million TEU, up 5 percent from last year, and March is forecast at 1.08 million TEU, up 1 percent. Numbers beyond March have not yet been calculated, but a solid recovery is expected in the second and third quarters of 2011 after the usual winter slowdown. Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by the consulting firm Hackett Associates, covers the U.S. ports of Long Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston and Savannah on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast. The important point is Global Port Tracker suggests that retailers are now building up inventory during the first half of the year and holding off adding more stock in the second half to avoid overstocked positions. Consequently, some market observers are making the call that July may be becoming the new October given the trend for retailers to hold off on adding more stock in the second half of the year until it is depleted. No doubt retailers are considering supply chain flows and how carrying inventory impacts their bottom line. Zara, the flagship chain store of Inditex Group of Spain, certainly became the extreme example when the company introduced its scheme of maintaining stock on a just-in-time basis. The company finds value in air shippi