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Blair Corp., a national multichannel direct marketer of apparel and home products, saw a 4.5% decline in its net sales for the first quarter of 2006, the company announced. Sales for the period were $102.7 million, down from $107.6 million during the same quarter last year.

The Warren PA-based company reported a net loss of $4.6 million for the quarter, compared to earnings of $650,000 a year ago.

Blair officials said the falloff in sales for the quarter could be largely attributed to a “continuing softness” in response rates to the letter-mailing channel of its direct marketing programs. The company says it plans to address this response decline with a newly-designed special catalog in the second half of 2006.

Blair sells a range of men’s and women’s apparel through direct mail and through the Blair.com and IrvinePark.com Web sites. The company’s e-commerce channels $26.5 million in net sales for the quarter, up from $23.4 million in Q1 2005. During the first three months of 2006, Web site traffic increased 20% over the same time last year, and revenue attributable to pay-per-click search ads doubled.

“We have undertaken a series of initiatives including refocusing on our core business, restructuring our internal operations and increasing operational efficiencies,” said John Zawacki, president and CEO of Blair, in a statement. “We are confident that the development and implementation of these and other strategic initiatives…will improve our position as the premier direct marketer to value-conscious consumers and enhance long-term shareholder value.”

The company said year-to-year revenue comparisons were complicated by the sale last November of Blair’s credit portfolio to a third-party provider and by the inclusion in Q1 2005 of sales from the Crossing Pointe catalog and the Allegheny Trail business, both of which were closed later in 2005.