By Anne D'Innocenzio
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Tracee Steinke hoped to buy some pink tops, shorts and skirts for a trip to Cabo San Lucas and then found she was too late - stores are already spotlighting fall sweaters and pants.

As for the summer clothes, "all that was left on the racks were the throwaways that no one wanted," the Los Angeles resident moaned.

The solution to Steinke's problem might be to go to another store. A growing number of retail chains including Old Navy, Payless ShoeSource, Express, American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch are trying to increase sales by offering clothes more in sync with the climate, a change from the decades-old policy of stocking winter clothes in July and summer clothes in January.

That means consumers will find more lightweight clothes and sandals through August - not a rehash of spring and summer styles, but new fall products that can be worn now. And in some areas, they won't find a lot of heavy outerwear until October.

Consumers' growing tendency to put off buying clothes until needed is behind the shift. Unusual weather patterns have exacerbated the problem - last year, a warmer-than-usual fall left stores with mounds of bulky sweaters that were leftovers from July. And this spring, which was unusually wet in parts of the country, resulted in shorts and swimwear langushing in April and May.

Another factor for stores like American Eagle Outfitters, is that a growing number of children are going back to school earlier and need clothes that can be worn in warm weather.

Here's what some retailers are doing:

• Old Navy, burned by having too many fleece jackets last August, is delaying those deliveries until mid-September. It's delivering shorts and tank tops in spice tones this month and next.

• At Limited Inc.'s Express stores, consumers won't find many chunky sweaters in its early fall merchandise this month. Those will be featured in stores in October. Instead, customers will find paper-thin cashmere and lightweight knit tops.

• Family footwear retailer Payless ShoeSource has doubled the number of open-toed shoes available in August from a year ago.

These changes are part of an overall strategy begun several years ago when stores started delivering fabrics that consumers could wear through several seasons. But the latest moves, stores say, mark their biggest effort yet in the direction of climate-friendly clothing.

But some retailers, including Nordstrom, are successful in getting shoppers to buy the next season's fashions early. The store lures shoppers with its annual fall sale, which this year is scheduled from July 18 through Aug. 3. Shoppers are enticed to grab fall merchandise discounted by as much as 40 percent, before the price goes back up.