The committee is still accepting applications from potential sponsors from the airline, insurance and gas industries, while the winner of the apparel category is to be announced this month.

"But in general in the apparel category, there is a shift in the balance away from pure functionality and the nuts-and-bolts kind of issues to imagery."

Several years after mainstream clothing merchants introduced Web sites to combat online rivals, Sears.com and Walmart.com, among others, are entering the apparel category.

The apparel category continued to be weak, falling by 6.8 percent.

Its stodginess notwithstanding, the company has emerged as a leader in the online apparel category.

The apparel category experienced the biggest price gain, rising seven-tenths of 1 percent in February.

The "moderate apparel" category, encompassing the secondary lines of many designers, remains unaffected, for the moment at least.

The chain outsold the much larger Walmart and Target stores in the girls' apparel category during the 4th quarter of 2011 and the 1st quarter of 2012.

But the apparel category reflected some special circumstances.

It was the first increase of the year for the apparel category and was expected to be repeated again in April.