New York ? A globe-trotting wardrobe hangs in the closet: A brightly colored, short-sleeve shirt from St. John’s Bay is next to a pair of relaxed Sonoma slacks, and there, on the floor, are those perfect-for-the-beach espadrilles from Newport News.

Yet the owner of these clothes hasn’t taken a trip farther than the mall in years.

Instead, manufacturers and retailers are naming their garments after vacation destinations, giving cash-strapped consumers a taste of the good life at a fraction of the price.

J.C. Penney Co.’s labels include St. John’s Bay, Arizona Jean Co. and Stafford, a town in both Virginia and England; Kohl’s Department Stores has Sonoma; and New York & Co. touts its namesake clothes as modern, energetic and always evolving, just “like the city itself.”

Meanwhile, Coldwater Creek is a growing retail chain, Newport News gave its catalog a facelift and The North Face now has a store in Manhattan.

And then there’s Tommy Bahama’s upscale tropical chic clothes.

Brand names inspired by plausible places (it doesn’t matter if they really exist on the map) conjure up images in shoppers’ minds even before they see the clothes, says Irma Zandl, president of The Zandl Group, a trend analysis and consumer research company.

The labels “provide the brand with an immediate identity, image-building advertising and in-store display,” Zandl explains. And it doesn’t hurt that licensing fees aren’t attached to locations, she adds.

(Many mass-fashion retailers spend a lot of money on licensing deals to stock their shelves with well-known names such as Martha Stewart or even Winnie the Pooh.)

Newport News took the name of the Virginia city where its distribution center is located in 1993 after its new parent company Spiegel also tested the names Style America and Fashion Avenue, explains chief operative office Geralynn Madonna. The company actually is based in New York.

“A lot of people associate our name with the Newports of Rhode Island and California, which are beach places. We have a large swimwear business and a lot of casual clothes,” Madonna says.

Newport News, Va., though, isn’t directly on the waterfront; it’s near Virginia Beach, outside Norfolk.

J.C. Penney’s Arizona label is supposed to represent more of a vintage Americana and ruggedness than an actual Southwest influence on the styles, says Tami Wolfe, vice president and director of product development at Penney’s.

St. John’s Bay certainly is intended to be a pleasant distraction for the brand’s typical 35- to 40-year-old customers who live harried lives, Wolfe says, but because the clothes are a cohesive, complementary line of classic denim and khaki bottoms and simple knit and woven tops, the real “escape” is from daily decisions about what to wear.

The names given to apparel and gear by The North Face are meant to inspire customers to explore the outdoors and also to educate shoppers about what products might be appropriate for their needs, says spokeswoman Jill Pagliaro.

The names of mountain ranges, rivers and regions assigned individual styles are not random; the location is an indicator of an appropriate buyer and purpose, Pagliaro says.

For instance, the Ama Dablam stretch infusion jacket — named for a mountain in the Nepal Himalayas — is made for serious summit climbers, while the Mt. Tam Low hiking shoe is targeted toward casual weekend backpackers. Mt. Tam is in Marin County, Calif., not far from The North Face’s headquarters, and it’s a favorite weekend hiking spot of employees.

Using locations for labels isn’t a new idea, according to researcher Zandl.

“In the 1950s and 1960s, accessibly-priced cars for the middle class were often given the names of aspirational places to elevate the image of the product,” she says, pointing to Chevrolet’s Monte Carlo, Bel Air and Malibu models.

But, Zandl adds, it’s a tougher sell now because for years the emphasis has been on “designer” names, especially in the world of fashion.